Thursday, November 2nd

[Colliemom]

Morning from the 45th. Still dark out there but supposed to be a good day. So will be outside taking advantage of it, to get some chores done. Thinking the mobile service might be here today or tomorrow to check over and service my snowblower for the upcoming Winter. Said Tuesday they would be in my area later this week. Not much week left now, LOL.

Nice to see so many posts yesterday. Sharon, great to hear Buddy's coming along and yes we do enjoy hearing about his progress. But let him run through the leaf poles, He’s still got puppy in him and learning things about his world. Reminds me of how our parents probably felt after They finally got the leaves in the yard raked up, only to have us kids going and jumping in the piles and throwing them all over Dogs need to be exposed to things and people so they gain confidence. Piper was afraid of people when I adopted her, but going in our walks and meeting people etc. gradually helped her overcome that fear. She still tends to shy from small children who come running up too fast though. I see a lot of people with dogs in stores here, especially young ones and in a way it’s good, because it’s exposing them to different environments and people. Beth, loved your writing a book quote. Peggy, glad you are all settled in MX for the winter. And yes, the use it or lose it as we get older becomes more important. It’s one of the reasons I do so many outdoor chores myself. Need to keep those muscles toned. Karen, I share your sentiments on the Hallmark Christmas movies. They seem to always center on young people in the big cities for the most part. Seems the creators don’t have much imagination these days. I love the Christmas in Evergreen series, The Christmas Card, those that feature a save the family business or Inn and fall in love along the way and there’s been a few other cute ones too. Shelia, hope you get the credit card thing straightened out. This is gong around and some of you may have heard about it
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/bet ... -say-scam/

Finishing up a sign I’m making for the Thanksgiving display, so guess I will go and finish a bit more while I wait for daylightto cone around. Then will head outside and start blowing those frosty leaves into the woods. Have a nice day everyone.

[SoCalGalcas]

Not the first, but the second. Wow, November all ready. My oldest daughter will turn 70 the end of the month. I wanted to get her something for this special birthday. It is difficult finding presents for people “who have everything “. In one of the catalogs I received, there were 12 hankies offered. So I snapped up that for a present. She like hankies better than Kleenex, and hankies are difficult to find .
Sharon, keep the Buddy stories coming. I really enjoy them. It’s interesting to see how he is progressing.
My DS just got a GIANT Sonwzer. SP? She is a huge dog, but still a puppy. It is difficult for me being around her as she is so exuberant and happy to be around people I am afraid she will knock me over.
The ghost on the rumba is darling!
Lyn

[BarbaraRose]

Lyn, is it a Schnauzer?

Dogs are allowed (or at least tolerated) in just about every store/restaurant out here. Everyone brings there dogs into WM. I even saw a cat one day.

Being lazy this morning. Need to get busy here! It is a gorgeous day out there! No excuses!

Enjoy your day!

[Colliemom]

Well, my day didn’t get off to a good start once I got outside. I was planning on using my gas blower to blow the leaves that were down, since I put the tractor away last week. Blower is out of commission. Starter rope can’t be pulled, although if I gently pull, it will eventually come all the way up, but if I carefully let it down again, it locks up. Me thinks something broke. Service guy is coming tomorrow anyway. I might be just trashing this one and getting a new one. I think it’s about 5 years old. Had a repair done on it last year at this tine too. Got a lot of hours on it.

So went and got the tractor battery and put tractor back to work. Got my leaves done and also the sub entrance. So I guess in the end it worked out for the better, time wise. Was able to switch out the fall decorations for Thanksgiving ones. And take the dogs for a2 1/2 mile walk. So tomorrow will clean up tractor and put it away for keeps this time. Then I will put driveway markers out, put my shrub covers on and be done. Piper has an early morning vet appt., so that will be first on agenda. Right now supper is calling.

[JudyJB]

Too windy with heavy surf to do much of anything in this campground, so I managed to unhook and dump my tanks in the wind and then drove out to buy a new cell phone. I got an iPhone 15 to replace my old iPhone 8 because my old phone is 4G only and Verizon is now almost entirely 5G. Hated to spend the money, but the old phone was not doing anything that required internet unless I was connected to an outside internet source.

I looked at other iPhone 15s, but the pro and max had options i really did not need. I ended up passing on the Verizon store's case and face cover, but paid almost that amount at Target. Plus, I picked up a few other things I needed at Target because too tired to go out to Walmart. Later this week I need to find a place to get a haircut, so need to work on that for my next trip out.

Talked to one of my younger cousins yesterday for almost two hours. She and her brother lived next door to me when I was growing up, so even if she is a lot younger, we had a lot in common. She invited me over for Thanksgiving with her male friend and her brother and his family. (She is not married to this person because she swore when her husband died young that she would never let his carpenter's union stop paying her his pension. She was mad at how they treated him when he had heart failure at a relatively young age. They have been together for almost 30 years, so I hate to call him her "boyfriend.")

[Acadianmom]

Judy, your cousin is my kind of people, holding a grudge for 30 years. lol I have the same problem with my son and his girlfriend. They have been together for 12 years so feels silly calling someone in their 40's a girlfriend.

Lyn, I have a friend that has a Giant Schnauzer. I told her she might as well have a horse in the house. I think she ordered it from California.

Yesterday I went to my eye doctor appointment at 2:00. Hung around town for a while to give my eyes time to clear before I got on the highway. Went and had supper with my Meetup Group. I had a reuben sandwich and it was very good. I don't think I had ever had one before. It was dark when I started home and all the lights had halos around them. That was kind of unnerving. There was an accident on the highway with a firetruck, ambulance and police cars all with their lights going. I was hoping I could get by them with out having an accident. I had never had my eyes dilated and tried to drive at night.

I brought my motorhome to the campground this afternoon and my neighbor followed me to bring me home to get my car. I wanted to have my car for the weekend. I visited with my friends and we sat around a campfire for a while. I came home to get the cats in. I was in and out too many times this morning to fight them trying to get out. In the morning I will go out thru the utility room and leave them shut up. They won't be happy but I don't want a coyote to get them staying out all night.

We had a few cold days and it was back up to 79 today. Next week it will be back in the 80's.

Martha

[BarbaraRose]

You can refer to their boyfriends/girlfriends as their "partners" or "significant others".

[snowball]

I really enjoy a Rueban Sandwich I ordered it one day at a fast food place the name of which has escaped me... was so disappointed it wasn't grilled nor do I think it was on Rye (I think is the bread it's typical bread) so I always ask how it's made... probably doesn't win me good points... but I do like it when it's prepared right...
woke up with predicts of rain/snow combination of the two off an on all day... so slashed the fish truck had leftover chili have a question... I've heard a lot of times that adding coco powder to chili really helps it so I did but don't know if I added enough don't know what it's suppose to do and how do you know if you added enough??? ok so more than one question it's been forever since I've made chili from scratch usually use a mix for lack of a better word bear creek chili add meat water and you have chili but mom doesn't eat beans so made the chili took out enough for her and then added the beans to the rest... I enjoyed it had chili when I was in Vernal Ut at a restaurant was disappointed it tasted more like canned chili than fresh made...
Sue wasn't a problem with my card was a questionable text so far nothing on my account that I didn't do...
got mom's shower done read scriptures and got a message from niece she would be over after dentist appt.. at 3 so thought I would wait to go to the store till she got here finally fixed supper then sent niece a text to see if she was going to be going by a grocery store on her way here (not knowing which dentist they go to) she said they would be going past one so asked it she could stop and pick me up some milk she got here after 8 I think I could have gone to the store... guess both that went to the dentist (daughter and husband) didn't have a great time afterwards... well will go to the store tomorrow...
started another project perhaps some of you saw the pile of yarn I posted on FB usually with this yarn you pull out the strand of yarn from the middle lots of yarns do this all the time... occasionally you will find one that the strand isn't visible and I will did around and pull out some and find it occasionally more than some will come in this case it's like the core is so tightly wound it can't be pulled out top layers come away from it .... it's going to be a mess to wind up... finally cut of a part and found a strand coming out of the center of that bunch so started a hat like I've made before not sure for who but making it... only have my count wrong so guess I will pull it out and start over I kinda think I may know what the problem is and if it's what I think it is need to go back to almost the beginning but want it right... started the border on the afghan down to 5 rows I think so 4 days and it will be done except for the trimming the fringe then even though I have the yarn think I will work on the shrug and see if working on it consistently will get it done and I still need to make some fingerless gloves... for two of my girls
you all have a great day
sheila

[MandysMom]

Sheila, Mel always added cocoa powder (the unsweetened stuff for baking), either day old coffee, or coffee crystals, and a can of beer plus cinnamon. Amount added depends on how much meat. For the batch I just made, a tsp cocoa to 5 lbs meat, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, a tsp coffee granules. A can of beer. It's hard to explain ,but each enhance the flavor. Making from scratch, without a powdered mix, you also need chili powder (I used 1/4 cup), oregano (I used 2 tsp), cumin (I used 1 tsp), garlic, onion, fresh peppers (I used 1 large bell pepper a medium size jalapeno, seeded and diced small and 1 large onion, both diced. I used a lb pack of bacon, which I cut in 1 in strips and air fried, not crisp but rendered. I used some of the collected fat from air fryer to fry peppers, onions, and fresh garlic. Son, Chris, browned and crumbled the ground beef, about a lb at a time, plus I had a thawed pack of stew beef I diced about 1/2 in cubes and browned (meat totaled just under 5 lbs). A qt of boxed chicken broth made the liquid. Plus a can of tomato paste and one of Rotel original. I brown meat, then use that skillet to sauté veggies, then it all gets dumped in my big soup pot and rest of ingredients added. Then it gets simmered several hours. It's not as spicy as Mel's , but Chris amd I like it, and traditionally eat it 3-4 days. I do not eat beans, but Chris does. So I pull out some of the big batch to add to a can or two of chili flavor pinto beans in sauce and warm those together for Chris, while I eat the no bean chili. It's more complicated than opening a can or packet of seasoning, but oh so much better done right. Mel's Mom ran a coffee shop while he grew up, and it was told me by others, that truckers went out of their way to come in on chili day, which she did weekly, making it from scratch. This was Mel's adaptation of her original recipe (which I have in pencil on a piece of scratch paper put away.)!! you can make chili with whatever meat you like: ground or diced beef, pork, chicken, etc.
Velda