Last Friday of August

[Birdie]

Good Morning ladies! Looking like another very warm and humid day in northern FL. I was planning a house sitting trip to the Alpaca Ranch in TX, but hurrykane Ida put a screeching halt to my leaving here on Sunday. She says she plans on being all over LA, MS and parts of lower AL and TX on Monday! I, of course, said something like, Holy Storm Surge, Ms Ida, go ahead and visit AcadianMom if you must. However, she’d be glad to catch up with you in 10 or 20 years not this year! Taking the rig down to the tire place today, just to make sure I am ready to roll on them.

FL has had a very wet summer with rain almost daily and sometimes 1-1.5” in one day. Cali girls we would send to you but need to watch where and the timing or you might get mud slides. Not unusual for over 3” a week. My butterfly flowers love it. A few more butterflies now but not as many as last year at my place. Last year I was covered in butterfly eggs, worms and chrysalis. This year not as much, but our friend Liz Reynolds, is having lots.

We are having lots of COVID here in out county. County east of us is currently the proud owner of highest in the state. Funeral home in the county south of us sez, as of 3 weeks ago, they had not buried a vaccinated person, but had done a lot of unvaccinated people. If you didn’t get your shot, smarten up. My boss, unvaccinated, is going on 3 weeks in the hospital and was put back on the ventilator Wednesday and the family is asking us to pray for a miracle. We anticipate getting our booster in Oct here at the Village. Wearing mask, distancing and hand wash/sterilization going on. Staying out of town as much as possible.

I am the owner of a kitty cat, Eve, as she was dropped off on New Years Eve. She is about 3-4 years old, and a tortoise shell with a shortened tail. What a mess she is too! Woke me up patting my face and crying this morning as she was starving! She has me trained, I got up and fed her. No, she won’t be making the trip with me.

Decided I might as well add my bitty news since it’s been a while. Wish me luck on my next attempt to get to TX. I owe this folks a lot, they were the biggest part of the flooring crew on my mobile home. Then last year they came and put up bead board on my storage room on the patio. So I haven’t been to house sit since I think maybe 2018. Bet the horses and mules and alpaca remember me. Cattle won’t care and dogs and cats will jump for joy. The rest will live and eat with the change. You guys stay safe and have some more fun.

[PeggyinCT]

Good morning Everybody. Birdie, it was so good to hear from you. I haven’t kept up with the Hurricane news after Henri. Just hope Ida doesn’t cause a lot of damage as people are mentally and emotionally exhausted. So sad about the state of Florida; such selfish leadership. I hope the schools stand strong with their mask mandates. The governor can’t withhold their funding forever without the unions protesting. What a mess

Tina, it was good to hear from you too. Please give my best to Sharon. Now you know why Roadtrek people enter and exit through the side door!!!

Irmi, happy to hear that everything worked out and you are on your way to Webster. Keep driving the motor home. I’m sure Steve’s appreciate a break.

Barbie you looked beautiful in your dress and I love that only cost $5.00! You know how to shop.

I bought a new I- phone and as I do everything on my phone I have a lot of figuring out to do. Enjoy today. Peggy

[Colliemom]

Good Morning. Birdie, it was great to see you post. Enjoyed reading it. Great start to my morning. Martha, looks like you are in ground zero again. Hope you don’t get any damage. Irmi, great job driving the MH. I always encourage women who are afraid to drive motorhomes or trailers to try it. Never know when an emergency will arise. Best wishes on the next chapters of your lives now that you have sold your MD property.

It’s a rainy morning here as well. We need it as things were getting dry. I am glad I nixed my camping trip as forecast looks pretty much wet most of the weekend plus getting hot and humid next two days. Today is going to be a lazy one for me. But first off to get a haircut. Want to get online and order a couple new side tables for my living room, dogs need new beds, I need some new duds, etc. Gonna spend some green if I find what I’m looking for.

Spent yesterday visiting a friend camping at Traverse City Park. Like Judy, I don’t like that park either. Traffic was horrendous in town too. I’m sure the locals will be glad when tourist season is over as are all of us in northern Michigan. But Traverse City, like a lot of places up here have growing pains as more and more people are moving north. It has exacerbated since the pandemic too as more people are leaving the cities, working from home, homeschooling or virtual learning with the kids. Property and homes are being snatched up as fast as they hit the market. Lady across the road here, sold her house the day it hit the market, another couple on the lake sold first week they listed. And these are mid $200,000 - 400,000 homes, not cheap ones. House prices have skyrocketed as it’s a sellers market. But if you sell, you better have some place to go or you will be out of luck because of the shortage of homes. Things are changing too fast up here, I hate to see it. A way of life is changing.

Covid cases remain low here. Masks are not mandated as it is being left up to businesses, restaurants, etc., to decide. Medical facilities etc. require them, school districts are making their own decisions, some much to the anger parents, others just staying neutral. Gaylord schools decided to see how the parents felt. Thry offered to make a classroom just for kids who’s parents wanted them to wear a mask to school in Grades K-6. They had enough response, that they will be having a class for each grade, K-6 for kids wearing masks. So there will be 6 classrooms with masked kids. I thought that was a smart way to handle it. The rest of the grades don’t need that as they can be vaccinated. Thty are also offering virtual learning as well.

Gues I had better get moving here. Have a great day out there but stat safe too.

[Shirlv]

Morning All, weather on the shore is the same. Very concerned about hurricane Ida headed in Martha’s direction. Spending a lot of time on YouTube watching renovations of old home, building tiny houses and gardening. Also surviving on Amazon Prime video and Brit Box. AT &T has changed its name again but assures me they haven’t changed. Do they realize that is not good news. Already had my scrumptious breakfast of a hard boiled egg and a slice of pizza. I have no problem rationing ice cream, chocolate and the raisin nut bread but pizza not so much. Good thing I only indulge every couple months. I always seem to be talking about food but that is my life. Martha, keep in touch and stay safe.

[Bethers]

Wow, what a busy morning coffee you started, Birdie! I love it. I, too, am hoping this hurricane fizzles out, or misses Martha and all our friends. Hurricane season still has so much time; just another thing to worry about.

I'll be going into work later today as my only room is family of the managers and I'm told not to expect them to leave before noon. Okey dokey. I'll probably go in 10 or so and pull blankets and such from some other rooms to wash.

Have a great day everyone.

[cnq50b]

What a busy morning already!

Good hearing from you, Birdie. Nice to know you're out & about, Tina. And Barbie, you looked fabulous at the wedding. Thanks for sharing the pics here.

I've been trying to keep up but have been busy with Jordi & like Peggy, I am switching to an iPhone. The screen on my Samsung took a hit a couple of weeks ago so after getting it fixed, I decided to look at what trade-in offers were out there. The kids want everyone on iPhones so I thought I'd try it out. Got an iphone 12 max pro (6.7" screen) & while switching to the iphone is ok, this phone is just too dang big to handle! I'm going to return it for the iPhone 12 pro. The challenge is they (kiosk at Costco) lost/deleted my original order so returning it has become an ordeal. Hopefully today we'll get it sorted out & be on the way to finalizing it all. The biggest downside of the iPhone I've noticed so far is the lack of a notification light showing that a call or text has been missed. Now I see why my kids don't notice that they missed my text or call. You don't see anything until you actually open up the screen.

Jordi is growing way too fast. He is into his terrible 2s already - headstrong & defiant (he thinks he's being cute). I'm trying to cherish the time I have with him knowing that I'll have more free time in Jan when he starts preschool.

Love the food recommendations here... when someone mentioned a roast, I decided 'yeah, that sounds perfect' & went out, bought one & cooked it - been eating off of it all week. I love pizza too so now you've got me wanting one. Egg & pizza sound like a perfect breakfast to me.

Well, I've got to get busy. Today is my DILs day off, but I'll be watching both kids at their place this afternoon & evening so they can attend an adults-only event.

Stay safe everyone & keep those food recommendations coming.
Catherine

[Redetotry]

Good morning from hot hot hot and humid Southern Illinois, it is supposed to start to cool off Sunday but that seems such a long time to wait.

Sue I think the schools there made a great decision. If the numbers show the masks work well it might convince some of the anti mask parents. I'm just baffled by the number of people taking the horse wormer medicine Ivermectin. I guess there is also one for people but they seem to be taking the one for horses, guess maybe it's easier to obtain. They were warning people on the news last night about the dangers. One of my unvaccinated friends is thinking about taking it. I asked her why she would take an unproven drug over the vaccine that has been through so many tests. So far no answer other than she thinks she has a very good immune system. She is visiting her daughter in Germany who has two children under five! I don't know if the parents have been vaccinated but rather doubt it. Sounds as though properties are selling well all over. My friends daughter and family are moving to Minneapolis and found prices crazy and people offering more than asking prices and skipping inspections. They finally found one but can't close until Sept 20. They need to be there for start of school the 7th and liked to have never found a long term hotel. Plus scheduling a moving van or a U haul is a nightmare.

Birdie I hope you have a safe trip to Texas and the storms miss you and Martha!

The morning is slipping away. I put the chicken we are having for dinner tonight on to bake earlier while it is a bit cooler.

I want a new iPhone 12 (Catherine I almost decided on the larger iPhone) but thought it might be to large. Peggy do you like the iphone you bought? I have the iPhone 6 model currently and it is starting to have problems. I'm planning to buy from the Apple web site as they say they will help you set it up with your current carrier and plan. Technology is definitely getting ahead of me!!

Sue I read your post again and I'm trying to decide if you are saying the schools are offering two class rooms for each grade one for masks and one for no masks or all classrooms will have mask requirement?

[cnq50b]

BJ, not only is the iPhone 12 pro Max too big, it's heavy! On a call with my daughter the other night, I had to switch hands holding it - I felt like I was holding an ipad up to my ear (OK, I might be exaggerating a little). The standard 12 is .5" shorter than my samsung 9+ but the screen is only .1" smaller. I think you'll find all of the phones are bigger than they used to be. Try to go where you can actually pick one up in your hand & see what it feels like. You can also google 'iPhone 6 vs iphone 12" to see the comparison. This showed me the standard 12 is the same weight as my samsung & the difference in dimensions.
You might get a good deal in a few weeks when the iphone 13 is supposed to come out.

[Redetotry]

BJ, not only is the iPhone 12 pro Max too big, it's heavy! On a call with my daughter the other night, I had to switch hands holding it - I felt like I was holding an ipad up to my ear (OK, I might be exaggerating a little). The standard 12 is .5" shorter than my samsung 9+ but the screen is only .1" smaller. I think you'll find all of the phones are bigger than they used to be. Try to go where you can actually pick one up in your hand & see what it feels like. You can also google 'iPhone 6 vs iphone 12" to see the comparison. This showed me the standard 12 is the same weight as my samsung & the difference in dimensions.
You might get a good deal in a few weeks when the iphone 13 is supposed to come out.

Thanks for the good suggestions. I have the large iPhone 6 and it is about the same size as the standard iPhone 12. I read books and watch Netflix on it. It would be good to compare in a store but we have some of the highest cases of Covid in the country so I'm trying to avoid as many stores as possible.

[chalet05]

Just a thought - I use the speaker on the phone and seldom hold it to my ear.

Martha, if someone hasn't already given instructions for blocking - at least this is how my phone is. In 'recent calls', click on the circles 'I' at the right of the caller's name which will take you to choices for contacts, scroll to the bottom and you can block caller.

Enjoyed reading you posts and send you all well wishes, just having too much not so good news this week.

[JudyJB]

Other problems with Traverse City SP is the fact that it is almost impossible to turn left when you leave because of the traffic. So you have to turn right and then find a place to do a U-turn or a road to turn around on. This is compounded by the fact that few roads go through around the bay and the few that do go at least a couple of miles out of your way.

Anther complaint about that park, and the one I am in now, is poor design of the dump stations, which also contain the water fill stations. There are a very few full hookups here, and none in Traverse City SP, plus no electric sites have water hookups. There are water fill stations in the park, but all are designed so you cannot hook up a hose. This means every one of the RVs in the 80 or so electric only sites here at West Branch, and the 300 electric-only sites in Traverse City, must stop at the dump station/water fill station to get water. This creates long lines in late afternoon when a lot of people are checking in and a few others are trying to dump their tanks!! And here, because of trees and the dump area being down in a depression, you cannot tell which direction is less busy so everyone lines up at one side or you have people entering and exiting in the same driveway!

I could make a future career of giving advice to public campground designers, but no one seems to be designing any new ones and few states have improvement money!! All it would take would take here at West Branch, at least, is to put a new water fill station at the edge in the nearby boat parking lot. I have been at several campgrounds that have separated the dumps and water fill areas by a couple of hundred feet, and it works out much better.

OK, getting shady on the east side of motorhome, so time to stop whining about campgrounds and go outside to tackle digging through and cleaning out the bin and pass-thru on that side. Has been too hot or raining the last few days, but high of only 84 today.

Nice to hear from Birdie and Peggy!! Didn't someone here once install an automatic cat feeder so the cat would not wake them up to be fed in the middle of the night??

[MandysMom]

Good morning! I slept good and didn't wake early with neck pain, for a change. Our air (AQI), is supposed to get very bad through the day and worst early tomorrow. No great surprise with fires to north, south and east of us. At least 4 new fires yesterday alone. Caldor Fire, the numbe 1 national priority, western edge is about 60 miles up hill from us. When winds lay down (low to dead still), smoke lays low rather than moving, and that's situation today. One would think that is a good thing, not pushing flames, but it also prevents work with retardant dropping planes as their spotters can't see where to direct them and pilots of big planes (DC-10 ) flying at 200 ft above ground in high mountains and steep valleys, just can't fly without visual contact with ground and surroundings. So, remains to be seen what happens today and tomorrow. As of last night, up on the top where ski lift ends, they could see flames approaching. Yes, money talks, (thinking Tahoe basin), but, whatever it takes, this fire needs to be stopped. Not everyone who lives and works up there are millionaires! As to mudslides if we had rain, it's predicted our mountains are so dry, they will suck up moisture, Faster than we can get it and likely still be short on replenishing reservoirs in spring. To have a mudslide, there needs to be more rain than can be absorbed, which would take a lot at this point! when what little snow fell last winter, then melted in spring, most went into ground rather than running off to fill streams and rivers and reservoirs.
Someone asked about my hearing fire planes. Yes, when fires are going, the former Air Force Base, McClellan, is a big fire base for planes of all sizes, from small spotter planes to even the 747's(which are not being used this year due to contract issues and per load costs). Lots of DC10's and slightly smaller, plus a group of military planes refitted for tanks of retardant. Their flight path is often pretty close to over my house, though now they are so busy, outgoing flies slightly south of me heading east and inbound for refuel and refill comes back either right over us or slightly north. We hear them from dawn to dusk daily when they fly. Often coming back very low as runway is about 11 miles to my west (shorter, of course when in air vs street). And, so far today, as predicted, I'm not hearing as much activity.
I switched from my old iPhone 5s to my iPhone XSMax (iPhone 10), in May 2019. I've been pretty happy with it. I also needed new GPS, so decided to put $$ I would have spent on gps into the higher level phone (maxed out memory and size). I tend to keep phones 5+ years, so buy at highest I can, so they are good for the longest. I read, use navigation, Facebook, Internet, email, etc , quite happily on the XSMax. Only time I tend to go to iPad is for videos, such as my painting classes. Yes, my hand got sore at first holding the big phone, but as the muscles and ligaments amd tendons got stretched and used, they got past the soreness. If I'm on long conversation, I tend to put it on speaker and lean it against something, which works for me or use my headset. If you want the bigger phone for ability to see screen, I highly recommend pairing it with a set of ear buds or Bluetooth headset. You don't have to buy the goofy looking Apple earbuds, as many less expensive brands work just fine. When I'm driving alone , such as on my trips in 19, I use my Plantronics Voyager, which runs about $70. Charge lasts a long time (weeks if unused in case or more than a day in daily use), and is only in one ear so you can use while driving. I can answer a call by saying Answer out loud once I hear caller ID say who it is. I think I've had it at least 3-4 years and it's held up well with good clear audio and microphone is good too. Means you arent holding "iPad" size phone to ear too!
I hear fire plane heading out!
I need to dress and get to store before smoke is worse.
Have a good rest of day and weekend,
I haven't seen a single butterfly or dragonfly thus year, with our dry dry landscape, heat, and the smoke. Also, almost so songbirds to be seen or heard. I miss nature displaying.
Velda

[Cudedog]

Our air (AQI), is supposed to get very bad through the day and worst early tomorrow. No great surprise with fires to north, south and east of us. At least 4 new fires yesterday alone.

Good morning, Velda, and everyone! Nice to see all of the posts on here. Birdie, happy to know that you and your group are still helping the Monarchs!!

Air quality here at my house is currently "unhealthy", at least it's not (yet) "hazardous" as it was during the fires last year.

I have major fires burning at all points of the compass from me!!

Caldor Fire (south and a bit east)
Antelope Fire (almost due north)
Dixie Fire (north and a bit east)
Monarch, River Complex, McCash and McFarland fires (all north, and a bit west)
Several new starts in the north San Francisco bay area (south and a bit west)

(I have posted details on the main fires - and more on the Dixie fire, which has burned over about 75% of Lassen Volcanic National Park, on the "More new fires in California" thread, for those who might be interested.)

I'm seeing on yubanet.com (one of my main "go-to" websites for fire news) that there were 113 new fires yesterday alone!
https://yubanet.com/fires/

And we haven't even reached our "main fire season" yet, with the usual 60 mph + Diablo Winds yet to come!!! If these fires that I mention aren't out by the time Diablo arrives (and they likely will not - it's going to take a bucket of rain to get these monsters gone) we are going to be in Big Trouble here in California.

I haven't seen a single butterfly or dragonfly thus year, with our dry dry landscape, heat, and the smoke. Also, almost so songbirds to be seen or heard. I miss nature displaying.
Velda

I often see the small, colorful, dragonflies in my backyard, pretty much every day - from the tiny blues, to greens, to reds (! yes, tiny red ones - they are beautiful). None of the large dragonflies, though. Butterflies few and far between.

A few birds as well, but not nearly so many as in past times.

What a year!!

Anne

[Irmi]

Martha, I hope you are packing your motorhome to get out of dodge or going to your sons house. I feel for you because of everything you need to do when these storms hit. Been there, done that. Please check in when you can.

[Cudedog]

Martha, I hope you are packing your motorhome to get out of dodge or going to your sons house. I feel for you because of everything you need to do when these storms hit. Been there, done that. Please check in when you can.

Martha, I hope you are already out and on the road, moving toward's your son's house. From what I am reading, this might be a very bad one.

I will take my fires most any day over a major hurricane.

Sending prayers for your safety your way, Martha.

Anne