Last Saturday of September

[Colliemom]

Morning from the 45th. Cloudy and 48° which is much warmer than it was yesterday’ at 35°. There was a light frost yesterday, but not that much, mostly on edges of roofs. Some areas did get a hard frost though. Rain showers in the forecast and highs in 50’s.

Anne, got some good news for you. You want to come out here, I’ll be 270 miles closer to you this next week. You won’t have as far to drive,

O’Sharon, glad your painters are able to keep moving along. Getting to be that time of year where outside stuff is hit and miss. Barbie, glad you got the micro installed. Anita is on the move again, this time by train. Wish we could go places from here by train, but there is no passenger service in northern Michigan. There is a study being conducted however about having passenger service run from Ann Arbor to Traverse City and Petoskey. But it will take a long time because they have to make sure that the rails are in good enough shape to run passenger trains and also they need to have stations along the way. Right now they are used primarily for freight trains . Karen, so glad to hear you are doing much better. Either the new meds helped or long Covid just finally decided to up and leave. Judy, so sorry about your DIL. Hope she is doing well as can be expected.

Shelia, glad you had a nice cruise. Sitka is a wonderful place. Beth, I did the same as you did when I went to AK. Went with a couple friends, husband and wife. She and I worked at the State park. We drove out by way of the Canadian Rockies, because they had never been there before and then from there to Prince Rupert, British Columbia and picked up the ferry. We sailed up the Inside Pasage, stopping at Wrangell, Ketchikan, St. Petersburg, Sitka and Hoonah. We did not have time to disembark the ship of course, because Thry are only loading/unloading vehicles, passengers, until we got to Hoonah, which is the largest Klingit Indian village in AK. We were going to be docked there for a couple hours. I did get off and walk over to the cemetery that was across from the ship dock and look at the spirit houses. We also got to watch the crew do a life boat drill, which was very interesting. It was midnight when we got to Sitka, the tour bus was there if anybody wanted to take a tour of the town and they opened Saint Michaels Orthodox Church for us. So my visit to Sitka was in the dark. I love the ferry because we didn’t have as many people and we don’t need all that entertainment and everything else because there is too much to watch along the Passage. I think you see the real Alaska when you cruise up the Inside Passage like that. We changed ships in Juneau, which was an overnight for us, disembarked the next ship atHaines and drove our way around Alaska, spent two nights at a Lodge, 90 miles into the interior of Denali NP, before heading back home. We saw so much and I have so many memories of our trip.

Looks like a hurricane heading to Florida. Stay safe those of you down there.

Guess I had better get moving here. I just washed Pipers bed and took it out of the dryer and now I have a load of clothes in there. Have a couple things that I want to take along with me and as soon as they are dry, I can finish packing up my stuff. Want to run the vac and just pick up a little here and there. I always like coming home to a clean house when I’ve been gone.

Have a wonderful day everyone

[Shirlv]

Morning Sue, safe travels for your upcoming trip. It’s a clear, sunny 59° this morning. The high today will be 71°. I have been spending a lot of time on the balcony. I beat the blue jays to the two strawberries on the plants. Lol Having lunch today on the crab deck with #1 daughter. I have been making piles of clothing for the thrift store. I’m getting rid of mostly dress clothing, does anyone dress up anymore? Strange how your taste changes. I now prefer winter clothing and food as well. Hurricane season is here so a big concern for those in harms way. Be safe

[OregonLuvr]

A cool 50 here this morning. I love it. I am such a "fall kinda gal". I hate the heat of summer. Winter can go either way LOL sometimes pretty darn cold. Going to warm up to 83 this afternoon. Then after several days of the high 80's we drop down to the 70's on Wednesday...YES.

Sue have fun on your trip. Sounds very exciting to me. Since I have been stuck in my house for 9 months with zero desire to go anywhere it sounds like fun. I had a busy day yesterday out and about. Went to the lab and xray, results are labs good, chest xray no change so that is good. Then tried to hit the DMV but there was umpteen people and almost every chair filled so I just turned around and left....too many people in a confined space for me. Then went and got a much needed oil change in my car. Now the poor thing needs a bath. I was tired last night but not the exhausted feeling I would have had after the first stop, so life is getting better here. Shirl I got rid of all my "grown up clothes" when I retired. I figured I would save one outfit to "marry em, and bury em" if needed. Well lost that in the fire so now would have to go shopping ugh. The Crab deck sounds like my kind of place. Except you have those itty bitty crabs and I am used to the Dungeoness or King crab. When I was back there we found a place in Chesapeke Bay that you got the salad bar and a bucket of crabs. I would have starved to death if they had not had the salad bar LOL smallest crabs I had ever seen LOL The lobsters back there were awesome tho. Much better than the rock lobsters out here.

OK enough yammering, I am ready for a second cuppa coffee.

[monik7]

Sheila, it's been so great to hear about your trip. I've never been to Alaska so it's nice to read about it and cruise life through your eyes. So sorry about your son-in-law. I hope his recovery will go well. Karen, it appears you're still improving from your long Covid. Hang in there. You'll be able to make that trip to the coast soon. Anita, another trip! You go girl! Beth, it sounds like you've just about made the decision to return next year to your current job. I hope you'll be allowed to make hiring decisions, so you won't have to go through a similar situation as happened this summer. Shirl, I love reading about your apartment gardening especially about wicks. I think I may give wicks a try. Judy, I marvel at all your travels and how you handle any problems that come along. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to do that with the ease that you do. I bet you'll say it's not all easy and I' sure it's not, but you definitely handle things so much better than I would.

Busy week for me. My new Tesla was delivered to my doorstep on Monday. I think it's so neat they do that. The buyer has to live within 25 miles of one of their centers to qualify for delivery otherwise you have to go to the center to pick it up. I'm only 15 miles away so it was wonderful to walk out the front door and there it was. Electric cars and Teslas in particular are a whole new world. I've spent the last 2 months while waiting for delivery reading the manual and watching the many videos Tesla provides covering all aspects of the car. As soon as it arrived, I got my iPhone set up as the key and connected the car to Bluetooth. I had a wall charger installed in my garage a month ago in anticipation of the car's arrival and was anxious to try it out the first night. I was able to schedule charging on the touchscreen to start charging at 11:00 p.m. to take advantage of the lowest electricity rates. Yay, all went perfectly. There are still many more new things to learn but all has gone perfectly so far.

I'm scheduled for an ablation procedure on October 27 and hopefully it will correct my atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat). I admit I'm really scared from reading about the procedure. Because she knows I'm so worried, my daughter has invited me to join her on a trip to Italy and Greece before the procedure to take my mind off of it. Since junior high, I've been fascinated about history and archaeology in particular. I have so many books about the subject. For the longest time I was determined to major in archaeology in college, but when the time got closer, I came to the conclusion it just wouldn't be practical knowing I wanted to get married, have kids, etc. I knew under those circumstances, leaving home to spend extended time at "digs", sleeping for weeks in a tent, leaving my husband to care for the children, etc. wouldn't work so my dream was put aside. With this wonderful offer from my daughter, we will leave Oct. 4 and fly to Rome, see the sights there, then go to the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, Herculaneum and back to Rome. We'll then fly to Greece and start at Santorini, then Crete and Athens. We'll return Oct. 21.

This got way longer than I planned, but as you might guess, I'm thrilled with the new car and this very special trip with my daughter to see the sights I've dreamed about since I was a child. I wanted to share it all with you. I don't think I'll be able to post pics during the trip but will definitely do that when we get back.
Sandi

[Shirlv]

Sandi, your plans sound wonderful and I am happy for you. Your plans sound more exciting than my friend building rocks. Today she is buying chicken wire and you bought an electric car. Lol. We will look forward to your return. Have fun.

[Acadianmom]

I was on a roll this morning. I wanted to go get gas in the truck so half way washed the truck. It was green from mildew. Went to the feed store and got 2 bags of cat food for the outside cats. On Saturday the feed store lets people sell thing on the porch. The only thing I was interested in was a sweet dough pie. One lady had 6 kinds of peppers. I don't know if they were all hot but some were bright red. I don't cook with peppers. Went to Walmart and got gas. The local rescue was having an adoption event and selling sandwiches. I stopped and got a BBQ sandwich. Went to the post office and came home. I should have gone to Lowe's and picked up some bags of potting soil but I ran out of steam. The temperature was 94 but it felt hotter than that. I wish Harold had put running boards on the truck. He always had running boards put on a new truck except this one when we needed them. I don't want to fix a 10 year old truck and don't want to buy a new one. I might have to start carrying a stool.

Sandi, they would have to deliver a technician with the car if I got a Tesla. I am so technically challenged I would never get things set up. When I got my Honda 10 years ago the first thing the salesman did was connect my phone to the Bluetooth. I couldn't hear anyone that called and they couldn't hear me. I disconnected that. That sounds like a wonderful trip you are taking. I had to outline a text book about archaeology for a high school credit so I have been interested in archaeology since then. I changed schools during my senior year and the new school didn't have some of the classes I was taking. I watch all the tv shows about Egypt and other shows about expeditions. One of my college roommates never married and has traveled all over the world. I chose to have kids so now I camp.

Shirl, I have more dress clothes than I'll ever need and I got rid of a lot. At one time I had to dress up to go to work. I need to start working on my closet again. I don't know what is so fascinating about a closet to my cats. I guess it's because they usually can't get in them. If I open a closet here comes a cat. I would like the crab deck. The small crabs are a lot of work but I like them.

I'm watching the storm predictions. This morning they have moved the cone to the West. I hope I don't have to evacuate. I talked to the guy that owns the cattle here at the feed store. He will have to move the cattle if there is a chance the storm heads this way.

Martha

[Shirlv]

Martha, I
I don’t know how long I drove my Subaru before I found out the volume knob for the radio also increase the volume of phone calls on blue tooth. I still have to watch video twice a year to change the clock. I think car designers need to hire more seniors than kids. Lol. Karen, I agree with your comments about small crabs. Some people here think steamed crabs are a dinner. If I am invited they better have a hotdog on the grill and pasta salad. Guess that’s why crab cakes are my favorite. Didn’t go to the crab deck but there is another restaurant close that has outdoor dining. Was a little breezy so we ate inside and chatted nonstop. I had a shrimp por boy and fries. Daughter had a salad with berries and nuts, she takes after her father. Lol I’m guarding the strawberry plants, no fruit but the blue jays are looking and stomping on the plants with their big feet. I’ll have a small Cobb salad for dinner.

[chalet05]

Well, if we ever get through all glitches, we might get on the ship tomorrow! My online Zoom Covid test was never started by the host! Now have another scheduled with different company. First company has physical location in Seattle so thought they'd be reliable.

Had a wonderful lunch and dinner with friends yesterday! Lots of memories and stories.

Sandi, so excited your car came! What color? I'm still learning about my Subaru! Wish we were going to Sitka, but Skagway was replaced with Icy Point Strait. I have never been to Ketchikan and only spent a couple hours in Juneau. Diane's grandson and I are busy watching college football. Sheila, glad you found a stuffed animal! Thought it really neat you and son had a visit while you colored.

[Cudedog]

Morning from the 45th. Cloudy and 48° which is much warmer than it was yesterday’ at 35°. There was a light frost yesterday, but not that much, mostly on edges of roofs. Some areas did get a hard frost though. Rain showers in the forecast and highs in 50’s.

Anne, got some good news for you. You want to come out here, I’ll be 270 miles closer to you this next week. You won’t have as far to drive,

[monik7]

Sandi, so excited your car came! What color?

It’s “pearl white” Anita. It’s the only color I like out of what they currently offer. Plus, there was no extra charge for white. All the others were an added $1,000 on the Model 3: deep blue, red, dark grey, black, and silver.
Sandi

[monik7]

Something to add about my upcoming trip. During a phone conversation with my daughter this afternoon, she said she has a “big surprise” for me but she’s not going to tell me about it until we get over there. She said it’s “Epic!” Now what do you suppose it could be? Darn, I have no idea and am going to have to wait.

Martha, you watch a lot of the same TV programs as I do and I’ve been fascinated by Egypt as long as I can remember.
Sandi

[JudyJB]

If anyone has any business-type clothes to get rid of, don't forget that women's shelters often want them for women who are going on job interviews. Ditto for shoes. I got rid of mine a long time ago when Ford, where I worked at the time, switched to every day being casual, with jeans and even t-shirts if writing was not on them. I used to keep a slightly dressy pair of black slacks and a short-sleeved sweater in my van in case I had a surprise meeting at World Headquarters or with another customer.

And, Anne, why not head for the coast?? I am freezing my tush along the coast even during the day. Most days, the highs are 60-64, with nights down to 50. Been running electric heater at night. It is still daylight, and most people are wearing medium-weight jackets right now!!

Went out and finally found a rutabaga so I can make pasties tomorrow. I made the pie crust and it is now sitting in the refrigerator.

[BarbaraRose]

I got a text at work from Debbie asking if I was going to the potluck here this afternoon. I told her I had to work until 6, so no, but if there is tri-tip there again, could she grab a piece or two for me if there is some left over. She said there would be tri-tip so she would save me some. When I got home and stopped at her house, she had a whole plate of it for me! Yum! I had some for supper and will have some tomorrow for supper as well. I need to buy some BBQ sauce at WM while at work.

It was in the low 100's today and the humidity is very high again! Ugh!

Sandi, I am so glad you are going on that trip with your daughter and glad that you two have a much better relationship now. Can't wait to find out what the "epic" surprise is!

I see people out here with sweaters and jackets on when it is in the 90's! Crazy! I don't wear a sweater or jacket until it gets down to the 50's. I guess I still have some thick MN blood in me!

Sandi, I would have gone with red, but I like bright colors. I plan to stick with older cars so I don't have to try and learn about all the gadgets and gizmos, etc. It would be too overwhelming for me. I can barely figure out my phone.

Anita, I hope you make it to your cruise tomorrow! Have fun!

Gas is going way up again here. Some places already pushing $6 gln again. I paid $4.89 just over a week ago.

Martha, I hope the hurricane doesn't go your way. Keep an eye on it tho! Romeow loves my closet and sleeps in there all the time.
"One of my college roommates never married and has traveled all over the world. I chose to have kids so now I camp." This just cracked me up!!

I put Lola's harness on Romeow tonight and he just stood there for a minute and then just fell over! I decided to take advantage of his playing dead, and clip his claws! It worked! Got all of them done. Hoping, tho he will get more used to the harness. This one is pretty bulky and a little small for him so I will look for a less bulky one in a bigger size.

Well, I didn't get to sleep until about 2:30 am last night so I need to get to bed much earlier tonight, like soon!