Book Board Chat

I have seen my first butterflies of the year, as well as Robin, Forsythia, and turtles! Spring has sprung! We began April with a surprise heavy snow but it was gone within days. We had some 40s and 50, now we'll have summerish 60s and 70s. There's a Star Magnolia blooming on the corner, and we walked the botanical garden where the saucer Magnolias are budded out.
there are daffodils, crocus, scylla, and snowdrops too.

Beth, I hope your treatment , whichever you choose works for you.So sorry this is happening.
Patsy, hope the leg gets better too.
Also happy Vietnam Veteran's Day Jim, thank you for your service.

Happy Easter all!
Wow, Jim that must have been quite an experience!
I love the peeps dioramas@

Well yesterday we got a bunch of snow...but it's a degree or so above freezing so it's a heavy sloppy mess. Our lovely neighbors shoveled the walk, so kind! I cleared my car, I may be going cross town to watch a friend's new dog while she goes to an appointment--the city has been clearing the main roads, so it should be ok, but she may decide to change the appointment because it is on the far side the opposite way.

Diane--hope DS will be ok.
Patsy-- sounds like a good decision, hope the therapy , exercize etc helps out.

Jim, I enjoy reading about the old times too. when we read about them travelling, it shows how much more difficult it was. Even back in the thirties...I was looking at a 1930's newspaper in connection with genealogy, and found it reported "out of town" visitors from our city as notable occasions. ie Mr. and Mrs. Jones 34 first st. received a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Jon Smith of Madison. Nowadays it takes us 15 minutes to get there but it was a day trip in the past.

Happy Birthday June!

We continue to have lots of sunny weather, warmer than historical highs, yay! I have seen my first Robin, Sandhill Crane and Redwinged Blackbird, of Spring. Have actually been walking outside.

I miss coffee and the paper in the morning, we had a pretty good one here, now it's online, not as good, I don't subscribe.
I agree, people in their sixties and seventies look and act younger than the older people we saw when we were young.

One of those life is as strange as fiction things happened here. One of my brother's long time friends died suddenly, and had him listed as contact person. My brother had ignored some calls from an unknown number for part of a day and a night . It turned out it was the Medical Examiner notifying him of the death and seeking next of kin information and arrangements. The brother came from Alaska and started they making cremation arrangements and he and my brother began to clear out the house which was filled with the stuff accumulated in 40 + years from the family's parents who lived their lives out in it, and those things of his friend. The house was in a trust which would divide house sale proceeds among the 4 siblings. It was assumed the contents and bank accounts would go to the brother with splitting to be arranged between the others.

My brother was calling around to various friends of the deceased to let them know of the death, when one of them, a woman said to him; "You do know we were married don't you?" NO he did not, it changed almost every thing with her supposed to get house contents and accounts, not the brother. They had already filled one dumpster. She said their marriage papers were at the house in a paper grocery bag--there were dozens of bags of paper and some had already been thrown out,and they could not find them, so she had to send to Chicago for replacements. She had to prove the marriage, and get a lawyer and start probate, and arrange for the house to be emptied. She lived separately although they were still friendly and visited each other . She has two children, (not by the friend) and a full time job.
So my brother continued to help empty the house, and to find a couple other people to help move, and or buy some of it. He will be paid by the estate. There were nine heavy duty tools, such as table saws, and drill presses packed into a garage. There were 7 or so looms from floor size to table size to lap size , because the mother had been into weaving. A room full of so- so books. and tons of other stuff. 3 dumpsters going on four. He had known various girl friends during their forty years or so friendship but had never heard of this one. Amazing!
This is the third friend that died in the last three years that he was listed as contact for and he ended up helping families with final arrangements and estates. They were all single (except for the surprise wife!) men with out of town relatives. Be careful what you sign up for 🙂

We had a bout 3 days of sub zero, and a week of icy roads but now we are having a record breaking sunny and warmer February--it is sunny and sixty today. We keep saying "Can't last" but it's sure been nice, mostly 35-45 but usually it could be20s teens and subzero even. We walked outside today in the West side park we like so well.
Vinnie was quite sick last week, but on the mend. We have been lucky, staying well, and have not yet caught any of the flus going around.
I heard some fantastic harpsichord music recently in a local church designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the musician was a nationally known player and also a very fun and informational speaker.
Patsy, I hope you leg will heal soon.
Jim, the ship sounds amazing!!!
Diane--lucky you to be having outside flowers so soon. I do have a vase of nice Valentine flowers so I'm not entirely deprived.

We like Gus's diner which isn't far from us, it has 50's decor and good food, scroll down to see cute area with red stools.
https://www.gussdiner.com/

Lying, yes it happens way too much, Rudy Giuliani being found guilty because of massive evidence of his lies about Georgia election workers and fined $ 150 million, Fox admitting deliberately and knowingly lying about the 2020 election and the 2020 Dominion election system and having to pay 787 million...Still lots of people and media lying about the election and other things. Good thing courts look at actual evidence and don't give much weight to political speeches, editorials, and false news broadcasts.

Barely going out, there are a lot of very rutted icy streets in the city, Thankful many drivers do the smart thing, slow down and keep their distance--but of course there are still some of those reckless people who drive faster and cut in and out. In the few times we have gone out we have seen a number of two and three car accidents and some cars off the road.

Happy New Year!
We had two less months of winter, but now were getting slammed, about 15 inches of snow in three days, followed by sub-zero weather for this week. Luckily neighbors on either side have helped DH with the snow clearing. His car is starting, mine is dead. I should have been starting it every day and I didn't.
the plowers have been out, but there is a fair amount of ice under the leftover snow on many streets. Luckily we don't have to go anywhere. I am sure the starting services are backed up--debating when to call.
Try to limit the political news I see, but DH is a news junkie nowadays so I get his venting...People on my facebook bring some politics too, but not a whole lot.
Older brother has lost his third old friend in about two years. This one was only 64 and fairly fit, found on a walking trail in their neighborhood, probably heart. I knew him, he was very intelligent with good sense of humor, no partner, no children. Bro is getting to be an expert at finding and notifying out of town kin and helping them make arrangements at a distance. I don't know how he does it, he is so good at helping people.

I shouldn't have mentioned the mild weather...it's 14 degrees this morning, brrr!

Hello everybody!
Beth, I hope you get approved and get relief quickly. Hard to have that happen while you are moving. I am slowly getting rid of things, hope to do more after holidays.

Jim, you two are gone on cruises so much, you must barely use your stuff 🙂 We have about two and half rooms of stuff that at the very least could go down to one.

Hi Jane, we continue to have late fall weather instead of winter...I'll take it. Makes driving easier and we're even still walking outside on some days. DH saw 6 deer at the conservancy one day--they know where to hide from the hunters.

Diane--your tree looks wonderful! I got my little one out, I leave the lights and ornaments on it, they are all unbreakable because of the C-A-T. so I just straighten it out a bit, and maybe switch out a couple ornaments. Some are little vintage Sun pins, I like them to represent the solstice, when days will be growing longer.
June, how are your cats? Vinnie has a few problems, lost weight...but the Vet gave an anti-nausea med and he is eating much better.

Hi to Lynne and Gail and Patsy!

Jim--mine (acer) has a little triangle at the top front of the PC box with the circle that looks like 12 o'clock,t. To close down there is a very tiny circle on the Windows screen accessed by pressing windows key. It took a while to figure out, different than old one.
Wow Jane, congrats on the honor for the WIZ! He is talented as well as beautiful! Sorry about your sister, glad the pain is better, very good to get to visit and have Christmas with her. We've barely had snow, may get some by Christmas. Good for driving.
Diane-- cool ornaments, they could have a spot light on them...
Gail--still learning on our new one...can do basics, but the photo program is different. Google said I could reinstall the old one, and I tried, but now we have a weird hybrid . DH is the main one who uses that and it is driving him nuts.
Had a lot of fun at Teslacon, I'll write a post about it soon.

Snow on the ground here--only an inch but it's staying, temps 24 or so and sunny.Getting ready for Teslacon, One blouse did not arrive so going to try on some alternates. I need something semi-Victorian to wear with " harem pants " in a small black and white print. I have number of things to try.

Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I had a small Thanksgiving dinner here with my brother and nephew on Sunday , and we will be going to my sister -in-law's tomorrow to see Richard's large family. We've had some very nice unaccustomed sunny weather during November and had one short snow and are back to colder temperatures.
Hi Gail, hope you are feeling better each day. Patsy, sorry about the card mess--a friend recently had a $700 false charge and I had one of those "the zip code is wrong on your package" emails. I did almost fall for it because I was expecting a delayed package, but I stopped in time to go re-check the details.
Love the travel picture , Jim:)
Teslacon--the steampunk convention will be the seekend after this. I'm mostly using things we already had. I'm quite interested to see how the Egyptian curse thing gets related to steampunk. Also, I am on a fan page, and some people have shown pictures of things like beaded collars that they actually made. It will be fun to see that. My brother is going sailing on a catamaran in the Bahamas and won't be coming this time.And my younger friend had a knee operation so will come for limited time. DH is not one for longer days...We'll probably vist the Fashion Show, and the Masquerade Ball (I have Anubis ears!) and the Sunday Tea Pot Races. Maybe do even fewer panels this year.
Diane-You are doing well with keeping up with family...I feel kind of guilty for not contacting my cousins yet this year. If you and DS can get the tree up and lights , you could take your time putting on the ornaments.
Hi to June, Jane and Lynne!

Jim and Patsy--glad you are having a good time cruising! Jim, that some very nice stops. what did you see that you liked best? Patsy--saw the pics of your sister and you and you both look great, I bet your having a wonderful time.

Jim, nice on the doors. I am finally re-doing our vintage/antique inner front door--I an touching up the stain, adding a fancy old doorknob and plate that I spray painted back to brassy, and going to put some stained glass decals on.

Lynne--sorry to hear about the shingles--hope it's done for good.

Jude--I hear ya. I am in the shot parade too. Shingles, Covid, and Dtapp down . Flu, second shingles and possible RSV to go. I did not want to get them all at once or too close together. Have not ad bad reactions before and I think multiples can cause them. A couple at a time is enough.

Diane--glad the wedding trip went smoothly and that you had a good time. Sound like lovely families. People are fortunate who have that. We are lucky that way, though there are fewer of us these days.

We've cooled down some here, kind of shock to the system when it drops 25 degrees...but today was nice, sunny and almost sixty. We have some color but it's happening gradually, many trees still green but some leaves blowing around and on the ground.

We went to lunch today with Richard's sisters and his brother and brother's SO, at Erin's Snug, an elegant Irish pub style restaurant. It had been a while, and it was fun getting together and hearing news.
Jim--yeah, we're getting up there-- doing pretty well but you never know what is around the corner. A couple of DH's cousins have passed away, they were younger than we are. Glad to hear you and your lovely wife are still able to travel. Hopefully the Covid won't be that big an issue. A few people I know have had a really bad--tons of coughing and fatigue--Flu that is not Covid but that knocked them out for a week.
Patsy I hope you and Sis have a fantastic trip.

Diane--Hope the trip goes ok and that you meet someone fun to chat with. I don't know What I'd wear to a wedding these days. Luckily the last one I attended was at an outdoor venue and quite informal.

Beth-- I know what you mean about stuff taking longer. We're trying to get bids on our roof and other projects--only one gave us an estimate quite high . Another one gave a big presentation but did not impress ( they wanted to talk to my husband not to me, and I am the one who mainly interviews and decides),we did not ask for the estimate. And another one never called back. I guess it will wait till next year--a couple did tell us it looked ok for a while yet, and we have no leaking.
On the brighter side, I called an electrician from the neighborhood and he made an appointment right away and came on time and and did a good job changing out the light over the front door (which we really need at night) and the living room ceiling fan, which hadn't worked in years. The old one was brass with dark wood blades, and the new one is small and white, blends with the ceiling. The room seems larger and airier with it there. We will be having him back soon, because he told me he can convert the kitchen in-the-ceiling fluorescents to LED for a trouble free future for less than 200 dollars . Half of them were not working and needing new ballasts and we did not want DH going up on a ladder. New set up won't need ballasts and will be easier changing bulbs.

I am sorry, it is Ellen, not Elaine.

Hi to all--not much going on here..weeding, watering and walking. We had no rain for several more weeks, and some extra hot weather. the flowers and shrubs are suffering, even the trees. Now there've been a few rains, thank goodness. One thing about the dryness, few bugs, and almost No mosquitos, yay! I have not had to cover all up and wear a net hat in the back yard at all. the big tree take down probably helped some with that. In spite of the concerns about the bee population, I have had plenty of bees around, and did not put in special plants for them.

The neighbor got three black chickens, so elegant, and very cute pecking around and dust bathing when they let them out. They are named Axl, Slash, and Izzy after members of Guns n Roses rock band. I watered neighbor's small garden while they were in Italy (before the chickens)--they saw Guns n Roses while they were there.

Good to here from Laurie (wellingtonct) , sad about the passing of Elaine, may she rest in peace. Hope your move works out well Beth, I sympathize on having to only keep some of the treasures you have. (and on all the work!) Hope Patsy has a great trip with her sister. June--I may give Cussler a try again we need some variety in our reading.
Jim--I gave Edge Bing AI a try on finding some info on products I was interested in. It was a better response (shorter and more focussed) than google's big page of ads, info from ads and sometime completely irrelevant items
Diane--hope it's a good trip. Hi to Gail, Jane, and Lynne!

It would hold the bookboard and all their families, lol!

Jim--I think there's beginning to be a lot more varieties in decorating. We are seeing dark colored houses, navy, black, dark green, even in the deluxe development here. Dark jewel colored accent walls, also even whole rooms are being done in jewel colors like deep emerald, peacock blue etc, and some very colorful large motif wallpaper panels. The idea of white walls etc with different color accents when a change was desired was not a bad thing but I think some people are tired of it. Mid-Century Modern is popular and the Boho sixties look with lots of plants. The younger folk now call a Trend or aStyle : Core. So there's Cottage Core, Cabin Core, Witch Core, Vintage Core etc and Dark and Light Academia with Lots of books and some antiques,, which I fit right into, lol Also some are tired of pale minimalism and going the other way towards maximalism.

Hi to all!
Well it's been a while, not much happening here. It's been very dry, been watering more than any year ever...also watering young neighbors tiny garden, they went to Italy. It is very hot there and they were planning a lot of hiking, I wonder if they changed to more indoor stuff. Still walking, longer walks on some days. Not seeing as many Sandhill Cranes this year. We're walking a different Nature Preserve with more shade and better footpaths. We have seen a deer with babies there, and turkeys with babies as well. Saw a couple herons at our old pond place even though the pond was half dried up. There was visible smoke for about a week and warnings to stay in.
Hope Beth of vt is ok and enjoying the new kitty.
Jim--Love the antique camera! Our phones are not the newest and the cameras are just ok--DH sometimes takes the Ebay/digital on walks but mostly we don't take time to get pictures.
Hi Gail--sound like a great visit with the kids!
Saw on facebook that Carol, bookdelle, was getting flooding, hope every thing is alright for her.

Gail & Diane--as teens a lot of kids go through a "allergic' to family stuff stage. SILs kids did fairly recently--but the older guys now like them and are back. I always liked them though, when I was first married and working and had two families to meet with, family gathers became less often. I miss being to ask about old family "history" the most. Diane, I hope your walking is feeling better each time.

Beth--Love that darling kitten! You will have a very entertaining year or two till he matures!

June-- I have read some of the Pendergast books, they are unique, kind of modern Victorian Gothic. We have been reading some of Victoria Houston's stories as lighter intermissions, her stories are set in a resort town here in Wisconsin.

Jane --hope your knee and other issues get better for you. Just love the flowers, got some nice begonia and petunias, redid the front container from an urn to a teal planter. do you get many water birds near you? You're pretty close to the mighty Mississippi?

I was lucky with my check up and tests--the Doc, said I guess there's not much I could do for you (in a Good way !)
Diane- I am enjoying the Ann Hillerman books, I think she is doing great with Bernadette Manuelito and the other characters.
Hi Gail-- it is so nice that you can do that, family ties are so much stronger when you can see people like that. When I was a kid, we lived together with my Grandma and Aunt, and a quite a variety of folks used to visit from different generations and sides of the family. Not usually to stay but a few did. It was a lot of fun. As my Grandma's health failed and she passed away we saw less and less of extended family. Most are gone now and nobody has family reunions, although I see my Uncle's children ( old like me) sometimes and recently re-connected with some cousins on my Mother's side.

Patsy--hope you are all recovered from your fall. That is amazing about the FOL! it was good you were able to participate. Hope you have a great time on your fall trip.

Lynne--oh that poor kitten, glad you found her and named her and cared for her.

Jim--maybe they thought the hourly change would be easier, sounds like it definitely was not.

Diane-glad you had a good visit with your brother. I was very happy to have mine here when he was, even though it was because of a health scare. He is doing fine now.

June--Your just enough further south to get s slightly earlier spring and more hot weather. What are reading these days, more Cozies?

Beth--glad the therapy is helping and your walking is improving--hope you will reach your goal.

Gail--you must be really fun to visit! We are now the eldest in DH's family, but it is his oldest and youngest sisters who shoulder most of the holidays and get togethers. Our house is too small and we don't have the entertainment options (video games, pool table etc for the youngsters), I instigate a few Lady Lunches at restaurants during the year to maintain a bit more contact, and those are fun.
Hi Karen!

Hi Y'all!
Finally getting more Springish, even Summerish weather here, nice, sometimes hot temps, some sun and some rain and the trees and plants are going crazy. Weeds too. Smells so good from all the Crab Apple trees in bloom. Daffodils and Tulips are blooming. Darn squirrels bit the heads off of half my Tulips. I bought a pretty pot of blue Pansies and put them in a container with a few of those little grape Hyacinths and a Dutch Hyacinth blue bulb near the front door --that smells good too.

We can walk outside now and have seen a few Sandhill Cranes, a few Herons, an Egret , a bunch of American White Pelicans, at various times and today some Canada Geese with about eight young Goslings. They were pretty close to the path, and Papa Goose hissed at us as we passed.This mostly at the Ponds about 25 miles away .

Happy birthday Jim!

So sorry to hear you lost him Beth. Those little ones have a big place in our lives and hearts. My Vinnie is aging and having a few problems now and I do worry about losing him too.

Hi Kathleen Nice to hear about your sons' careers and travels, you've the right to be proud:)

Gail--sounds like great event is planned! Dessert sounds so good. Lucky you with Spring moving in, I only have a few crocus but the 12+ inches of snow is gone and it will be summery this week.

Diane-- I just never got into jigsaw puzzles even though my ex and in-laws often had one going. Word games are more my speed. For brain I have figuring out "what next!??" on the computer, even with the new one.

June- I loved Wysocki's cats and have few cards with them I saved--Frederick the Literate!

Beth--Sure hope your therapy helps, sometimes it does do wonders, really helped my bro after his neuropathy attacks.

Jane--we did not get hit with as much as you did with either the snow or the wind though it was very stormy. Just having my older bro over early for bagels, fruit, a little ham and dessert.
Hi Jim and Lynne!
Happy Easter and Passover to those who celebrate them!

Diane--hope your brother continues to improve.

Beth--that is sad about the loss of that festival, it sounds wonderful I I used to love to dress up and go down to State street with some friends in my thirties. It is true also that several years in a row of freezing rain also put the damper on it. (pun intended)
Hi Patsy!

Jim--and to think we now have amusing ( I won't say lovable) serial killers like Dexter. And have you seen Sneaky Pete? A con artist in more and more trouble. My husband and brother loved it, I couldn't stand his manipulations after a while and stopped watching it.

Jim--there's politics from both sides on tic toc and more on twitter--but maybe the party hardy crowd doesn't know and doesn't care. Some students are very aware of politics, history and current events (and know more than I do :). I heard Miami had some brawling troubles and imposed curfew during their Spring Break--I guess the trouble was not necessarily students. We used to have a big Halloween Night Street Party here that got bigger and bigger (100,000)started having trouble and they changed it to a fenced off, limited number, limited times, paid event, and that helped calm things down. Before, people were coming from other cities, both students and non-students to "get drunk and raise hell"

Lynne--sound cool!
Finally got a nice warm 60 degree day--melted the twelve inches of snow we got last week. We walked at the botanical garden and there were lots of snow drops. And birds! --tons of redwinged blackbirds and robins. DH told me I slept through a big thunderstorm last night. Yay! finally got the taxes in, and they look pretty good, we'll see what the tax guy says.

Thanks Lynne, I do wonder how well they work

Lynne--I hope you will give us a review of the mini chainsaw, I've been thinking of getting one for the decrepit lilac bush--cheaper than hiring someone to do it.

Patsy and Gail--good for you for not falling for it. I hear that sometimes on facebook , scammers get ahold of a friend list and make "emergency calls from that too.

We're having intermittent snow and melting, did walk outside twice, but mostly pacing through Farm and Fleet or Menards. We have seen /heard Sandhill Cranes, Red Winged Black Birds, Robins and Swans--so Spring is in Swing.

Diane--hope your brother will be ok--two friends also had a lot of trouble with joint replacements, hope his works out.

Jim--glad you had a pleasant cruise!

June--nice to hear of daffodils, I'll be buying some in the store, they won't be here for quite a while. I did visit the small but nice Spring Garden show inside at Olbrich Gardens. It smelled so good! Of course they had Hyacinths and other sweet smelling plants.

Seems like everybody want to get together now that it's a little nicer. Had six get togethers in 10 days, with a baby shower coming up on Sunday! A little too much. Two events were with my maternal first cousins whom I seldom see. One I had not seen in fifty years! Their Mother and mine were twins and we have a definite family resemblance. It was really great seeing them.

Best Birthday Wishes for a great year to come to June, Lynne, Gail and Diane!

Happy Birthday Gail!

We finally got the new computer going--it is fantastic! the old one had improved for a while but it was back to being slow and stalling and Richard was having trouble loading pictures. I had bought some easy transfer software, but we ran into some difficulty with it, and called in my brother, and between us got it done. He gave us a different monitor, because the old one (which was actually quite nice) had the wrong kind of HDMI connector for the new computer

What an exciting game, Jane!

Patsy, sorry the book sale procedures have changed--I know you enjoyed stocking your area and working with the people there. Glad your eyes are healing. I will be driving a friend for an eye procedure next month.

We got some snow and ice, but then some warmer days so it's mostly gone. It even was warm enough on a couple days that we walked outside, and I filled the bird feeder with only a light jacket on. We so some Sandhill Cranes! though we have yet to see a robin:)

June --good to be reminded about taxes...I got some stuff together for it but still need to fill out prep sheet and get it in. I was disappointed Ebay did not provide a 1099, I thought that that was the point of all the hoop-jumping we did last year. Apparently you have to have a larger number of sales to get one, and Richard isn't doing a whole lot ( it mainly supports his collecting...) I wish IRS had a category for hobby sellers. And I'd like to have a 1099. Also, they did not provide a breakdown of sales taxes collected--it's just swept in with other fees.

Gail, hope your house is Ok.

cars--Had some tires issues, including a flat while away from home. Now have four new tires....LOL back in the day we bought a whole car(used) for about the same price! Back then we really gambled on a couple of longer trips in that car. First DH thought the junker could do anything, and we did have rather good luck with it not breaking down.

Beth, Your business success with Ebay still blows me away, you really have accumulated sales acumen and are a very hard worker!

June--seventy would be a dream! It has warmed up here though, and melted the recent snow and ice. due for more snow and colder in the next week.(20s) I'm considering an air cleaner machine for allergies. Mine are not severe, mostly annoying. Cat hair, mold, and dust and who knows.

DH treated for breakfast at the Firefly coffee and cafe in a nearby town on Vday. No candy but we shared a good sized piece of delicious sweet buttery Raspberry Crunch coffee cake. I've been cutting back on sugar so really enjoyed it. I love that place, it has a large open room in an older building, not cramped, plenty of tables, a big window, a sitting area in front of a fireplace with bookshelves with free books. Friendly service with delicious reasonable priced food and good coffee. Wish it were closer.
Oh and they feature changing displays of local art on their walls . This time it was whimsical shadow boxes with 3D needle felted animals with "real" accessories. The sloth had a running shoe, Lol!

Happy Valentines Day!
Well, our city is catching up on our winter, had a really cold spell, and several snows, fluffy, heavy and medium. But also some sunnier warmer 30 to 40 weather. They had a Winter Festival going which started out with some 30 ish weather which was perfect for Kiting on the Lake and ice skating in many spots, then it warmed up a bit much--slushy. But some young folks were wearing shorts or no coats (really not that warm) and some students made a "hot tub" on Lake Mendota watched over by the traditional Lady Liberty who occasionally visits .
Lynne--Sorry to hear about your hen and chicks .

Jan and Gail, you really got hit worse than we did. Though we did get thick ice too for about a week, the city plows did a better job than usual on our street but of course we got mini-icebergs in driveway --DH about did himself in clearing it. We saw/ heard multiple cars spinning their wheels trying to pull away from the kerbs, which had frozen snow lumps with slick ice underneath.
Yes, Florida People , glad you have it nicer in the winter--my cousins visited and really enjoyed it! But when the hurricanes come, we're glad we're far away.
I do like hearing about your Spring so far ahead of ours.
Sandhill Cranes have been seen and heard flying over not far from us, it is really too early for them, hope they do OK.

Happy New Year!
The fireworks waited till 12, I woke briefly but they were short.

It's been warmer here, most of the snow melted. The thirties seem good and the 40/50's positively balmy:) We got a dusting of snow last night but it will melt. DH got a cold but it is not Covid (we tested) or severe respiratory flu, so that's ok.

Yesterday it was partly sunny, we took a short ride to Prairie du Sac on the Wisconsin River. We didn't see as many Bald Eagles as we hoped, but we did see one juvenile roosting in a tree, and another off the highway, devouring something in a field, so Yay! Also lots of seagulls, geese and ducks.

Jane--yes, the train show was at Olbrich in a separate small but nice room-- it was a circus theme but not garish--the trains were fun to watch as they weaved in and out of the lovely plant displays.
Gail--oh lucky lucky you! A snow owl that close!
June--the kitties are always cozy. I have read the new Gamache, quite the thriller! and now I am reading the new Elvis Cole.
Bon voyage Jim, have a great time!
Hi Jude--I think I would love Oregon except for too much rain...it would grow great gardens though:)
Glad it's warming up for you Diane,

We got snow here but not like the rest of the state and country. The high winds and subzero temperatures are extreme, but we mainly stay home.
We will go to Dick's sister's tonight--her house is always decorated to the max and there will be tons of food and homemade candy.

I will be having my older brother Pete and my nephew Clay over for a mid-day meal tomorrow. We will call my brother out west--he is camping near the Arizona/California border. We are so thankful his health recovery is holding, even improving, after last year's scare with creeping paralysis and neuropathy. He received amazing care from the UW Hospital here.
There is still covid, standard flu and respiratory illness going around, we are avoiding crowds and sometimes even wear masks again.
I visited the Olbrich Tropical Conservatory and the Christmas Train show there, it was a fun and warm event

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Sunny Solstice! wishing you all Love Peace and Light in the coming year!

Good to see you Beth-I think "they" (Microsoft, Chrome, etc) keep sending updates that are not compatible with our Win10 on top of Win 7 computer enhanced by new free Avast anti-virus. I get the slowness and freezing, one day the camera program wouldn't work, one day all pictures were suddenly "write protected" and couldn't be edited. I googled a fix for the pictures and it worked for a while but seems to be happening again. Then the slowness mysteriously clears up after another download update ....until it happens again. I have a new computer in the corner but just have not felt like setting it up, going to try and do it without DB this time.

The new Louise Penny book is out--World of Curiosities and the new TV series based on the Gamache books--both best sellers. I loved the new book and liked the series. I follow the Louise Penny Book Club fansite on Facebook. There is the usual, "it's different from the books" "X character is badly cast " comments but I think the majority there recognize that movie/tv shows can't possibly be exact copies of books. The book series is a favorite with us.

Love the pictures of Christmas horse and Granddaughter--they sure are photogenic!

I loved the horse, and book sets too--but I also am trying to cut back so will pass.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Jane--what fun about the race!

Hope Beth and all the folks getting snow are alright.

mysteryhorse/Jane--Breyer has a gorgeous horse for Christmas! Also fairly reasonable combos with books and horses. Remember when we used to discuss them on the Olde BB?

Book and Horse Sets

Snowbird | 2022 Holiday Horse

Jim, thank you! the Ghostly Ball was truly great fun--incredible costumes, some with lights, including a performance of the Witch Dance (can find a version on youtube if you are curious) a "Midnight" Parade of people in Victorian nightgowns carrying (mostly battery run) candles and candelabras, and we even got up for the final dance "the Time Warp". That's something about the Exxon Valdez--the seas are very dangerous and ships are not toys, sailors need to be doing their jobs! Hope you have a good trip and a great visit with family.

The seaweed had little charms in it of crabs, sea turtles etc that don't show up in the pics Teslacon activities description will come later....

Pete and I

Dick and I

It's a beautiful sunny morning here and it will be unusually warm: 70! then tomorrow it will drop to mid 30s, and be slightly colder than usual November.

Teslacon starts today but he more interesting events will be Fri--Grand Opening Fashion show and Spooky Art expo, Saturday -the Ghostly Ball and Sunday--Tea Pot and Tea Cup Races.
I've got our outfits all ready, as Ghosts of the good ship Pennsylvania whose boiler blew up in 1858, "some" said later that the the boiler blew because the Engineer left it unattended to go talk with some Ladies. Pete's the Captain, Richard is the Engineer, I'm The Distraction, with a handy flask of Absinthe cementing my charms... I made Pete a small ornate badge saying "the Engineer Did It." A second costume for me is Ghost Photographer, a Victorian Investigator of the Supernatural.

Oh, Jane! Playing costumes on horseback must be the ultimate thrill!

Me, not Vinnie:)

Happy Halloween! I'm not doing trick or treating this year. Last year no one showed up. Guess who ate the candy.

We had some chilly days/nights but then it warmed up and we have had about two weeks of beautiful sunny weather and gorgeous color.

Fun to see the Sunshine Kids, they are looking good!

We have taken a couple nice rides into the hilly areas, and of course our daily walks to enjoy the color. Did some raking too. We have still been seeing Sandhill Cranes and a few herons though most birds have left our area. I get a lot of finches and sparrows at the feeder, some nuthatches, and once in a while a woodpecker. There were a few juncos around for two days but they moved on.

Getting ready for Teslacon next week. Mainly using things we have. I saw my brother today and we got a new idea. He is still into sailing, attended a wedding at a lighthouse of two fellow sailors recently and wore a very nice nautical outfit with a "Captain" hat. He wore it today to Halloween coffee group and he had made them paper sailor hats, and we were joking there was room on those to write things like first mate etc or ship's name. The we started saying it should be sunken ship names like Lusitania, Titanic, the Edmond Fitzgerald. We ended up thinking maybe we could be ghosts, from a sunken ship, for Teslacon, which this year has a theme of haunted, spooky, supernatural events.

JoAnne--we have many more "shots fired" reports in our neighborhood which has been peaceful for us for thirty years...and not too long ago a man was found dead(shot)in a car a few blocks away, and there was gunfire near the local McDonalds near a shopping center where I go to the library. Most incidents seem drug related, but that also can cause innocent bystanders to be hurt.There is a police station within a half block of the last episode. Police presence is being stepped up .But it seems like incidents happen in many areas here, even the more expensive. It still seems peaceful here, we don't see sketchy individuals or groups hanging around...but we are not out much at night.
Our area is a (relatively ) less expensive one (prices went nuts for a while, also property taxes) . Home ownership on our street has been turning over, but it seems like, as before, we get hard working young couples and singles, and the rentals get the same. Lots of the older houses have gotten very nice renovations as well.
Diane--it seems like body chemistry and personality can really vary in a family , myself and brothers all had quite different personalities and lived different lives. I think the younger adults of today are facing much more challenging world when it comes to making a living and establishing a lifestyle. Settling down in one area is a lot harder as stable jobs and affordable rents/housing are hard to find .The constant barrage of news of disasters like the hurricanes, tornados and wildfire, and inflammatory political events can give some people disabling anxiety and depression where they have difficulty thinking and making decisions. I can't imagine actually experiencing the storms themselves and or coming back to the wreckage.

Just a fly by
Patsy--Virginia Rose went to Richmond Virginia.

Hope you will be safe Diane and Patsy , and all the people in Florida. That is a very bad storm.

Hello all! The weather is getting cooler, the trees are starting to change. I brought in 2 ferns and a Mandeville plant that would die when the weather drops to 50 or so which it is doing at night. They are large-Too Large, and they can't be where the cat can get at them. I put in spare room like I did last winter but it just won't work I think. I may put them on the local free plants page on Facebook or take them to the Totally Free event at the east side community center.

We went to Richard's nephew's wedding reception , it was at a "wedding barn" place, really more of a Pavillion, very nice. The couple had told us twice: casual, so DH wore shorts--when we got there people were fairly dressy, only one other in shorts. It was a very large wedding group.The weather was perfect, sunny but not hot. They re-enacted their vows, since they had already gotten married in a very small ceremony. during covid because of insurance issues. The vows took place outside (but with chairs) on a scenic hill. The dinner in a tent was delicious, and we did not stay for the dance as we did not want to drive home in the dark. It was about an hour from town.

I had two fun lunches with old friends. It seems so strange to be able to say with Liz, we worked together 50 years ago... She had seen a lot of changes, lost a lot of her family, got married and still married about thirty years, raised two boys.
The second friend I had worked with for about 25 years, and had not seen her for 5 years.

I'm not much of a follower of news/gossip about royals, but the reign of Queen Elizabeth did preside over the end of the British empire era and the beginning of the modern United Kingdom. A lot our laws and institutions came from or were modeled on British ways, but royalty was one that was rejected. The royals and the Queen were still a source of leadership and affection of the British and fascination by US citizens.

Diane--glad to hear you tested clear, hope you get stronger every day.

It's been beautiful here and we have been getting enough rain this year, keeping it green. Birds are starting to migrate. I put out my feeder again, the hawks seem to have moved on. I thought it would take a while to get birds back but have gotten lots of sparrows, many finches, and a few nuthatches visiting, yay! Squirrels and chippies too--they are looking kind of thin--we'll fatten them up for winter. The Mandeville I ket over winter is finally blooming profusely--I put it out in May after frost date and it has taken it this long to have more than a few blooms.

Ran into a woman friend that I had worked with 50 years ago and not seen since-- (makes me feel old to say ) we talked in store and then a long phone call, will get together for lunch next week. Also met with a friend of about 30 years that hadn't seen since before covid...so lots of fun memories and updating on others . Of course there have been some deaths, a couple were surprising.

What a great story Jim!

Diane--sorry to hear that, hope it heals soon. A friend just had it, took about three weeks, he is still not totally over cough. re: dream, I once dreamed I had bought a beautiful new dress. In the morning I went to my closet and couldn't understand for a while that it wasn't real.
Jim--way to go with the gambling wins! Nice that you are getting some complimentary trips--you deserve it because you've been such a good customer to them.
We've received some pretty flimsy packages from Amazon, but luckily the books (reading books) did not get wet or anything. Individual sellers there seem to do a better job. Early on we decided against breakables , though DH has shipped some framed pictures/memorabilia with glass. He mostly buys online--had an oops a couple weeks ago--item had very bad mold problem--but we were stuck with it-it was as is from an auction house. Luckily it wasn't an expensive item.

We had some heat in July, but August has been quite nice, and we've caught up on rain now too which is good.

Can't believe it's August already!
Belated Happy birthday Jane!
Beth--good to hear Jerome is doing well. and Wow on Ebay! Dh hasn't listed much, not seeing many hits/much exposure. You list a lot, that must be the way to get more views.
June- congrats on the new kitty, she is lucky to get such an experienced cat mother! I had Surprise Lilies for many years, they seemed to have finally disappeared.
JoAnne--glad the deck and front are looking good. Trex is supposed to be excellent.
Have a great trip JIM!
Hi Gail and Lynne and Diane:)
The 3 young hawks have fledged and are noisily hunting the neighborhood. they are very pretty and interesting but I hope they move on so we can put out the feeder again. The other birds, squirrels, and chippies are all in hiding or moving away.

Beth--Hoping everything works out well with Jerome's procedure. Glad you had a good time and heard good news from your niece.

JoAnne--thanks for the recommendation, will check it out. We use the subtitles even when it's in English--we have trouble with the accents sometimes.

This was a good year for fireworks--very few! Neighbors kitty corner on left moved out, they were the ones. Last year It lasted fairly heavy for the holiday weekend with sporadic sometimes very late at night for July and into August. Mike's poor little dog would shake, and was afraid to go to do his duty, I had to carry him out. Much better this year--new people over there did not do any, new neighbors on right just did a few on the fourth, not big either.

Beth-- it seems you have a deeper relationship with your niece, it is natural to want alone time for deeper conversation, especially because she now lives away. It was nice of you to include your sister shows your not petty,

We only have one tv. Mostly dh had the clicker and had golf or football on usually on mute and I read. Since we got Amazon Prime with Brit box we often watch an episode or two of a series after supper, Morse, Endeavour, Lynley, etc occasionally a movie, there are thousands we have not seen.

We'd be in deep trouble if we had to move! We moved a bunch of stuff around and got rid of some when my brother was staying with us last year, but DH started buying more books again, and Bro left some stuff here so it remains about the same. I could be busy all day long like some of you if I were to commit to more clearing. We are expert procrastinators so we have a fair amount of leisure created by ignoring things that could be done.

For example, I bought and received a new computer, but the old one started working better, so I have not set up the new one. I plan to do it myself this time without older bro who is my "expert". Need to get and figure out transfer software to make it easier.

I use to like HGTV when they had some shows with low cost projects but when they went to tearing out walls etc and doing full remodels, and lots of flipper shows, I stopped watching.

Old wireless keyboard died--replaced it but new one had very hard to see lettering- yes I am half touch, half hunt and peck . So Now I bought a large letters light up model--Fantastic! I often am on the computer in the dim room when DH is napping, I won't even need the small lamp. Cheap thrill!

Oh Jane, what a beautiful horse and rider--great photo!

Hi all!
There have been some big storms thru here, lots of branches and some trees down around tow, power out for some--but we were lucky, just a minute or two of lights out and small branches on lawn.
Jim Glad it was good trip, and unfortunate about the extra charges
.
Gail--congratulations on two good marriages and on being happy where you live, many don't get that. And yay for not needing a new roof. Probably do that this year or next.

The computer had been acting glitchy and I had researched, so we bought a new box. Now it's working better (probably was screwy updates and "corrections" ) and I don't feel like doing the transfer.
JoAnn--Yuk on the cereal. they should refund that. Lots of deliveries on our street, and for ourselves they rarely ring the bell. Luckily we were watching for the computer and got it right away.
Jane--the horse show sounds great! New horse and Sunshinegirl did a bang-up job:) good to have a family get together too. I was supposed have one, and went down to the lakeside Union Terrace, but it had been cancelled last minute because it had been raining, and bro hadn't reached me in time. He was there tho, so he and I had a nice visit, the rain had stopped, and it was nice not crowded like usual.

Jim--great picture of a well travelled couple! I like that you seem to enjoy the dressing up--my DH would not. He does make an exemption for the Steampunk convention tho we don't attend the formal dinner there.
Yes Covid is still a problem here. They do keep reminding people here of the rising cases, and there are testing and vaccination stations everywhere. There is a lot less mask wearing--we had pretty much stopped wearing masks but still avoid crowded places. High risk people still wear them. We probably should consider ourselves high risk because of our ages I suppose. We did get the latest booster.

Beth --hope this is the last time for the gout. You really find great things,

Diane--DH used to take his Dad for the Macular Degeneration shots, not pleasant but it helped. Hope you won't have to do it for long for the retina.

Having allergy runny nose etc, but I cannot resist smelling Lilacs when they are in bloom:)

Diane that is a cool picture...we did not see it, sleeping.
Jim--glad to see you back, sorry about all the standing, you both must have been ehausted. One would think they would have something to help those that are older/or have disabilities. If you go somewhere again, maybe you could ask for a wheelchair , Sometimes you can get one near the entrance, even if not needed for walking they can come in handy for someone to sit and wait.

Diane --Glad to hear your visit went well--it's nice to have the house for yourself too. I am still having trouble with multiplying piles,(mail/paper work , personal books, DHs collected and ebay books, coats, shoes...) small piles but they can get out of hand quickly.When we painted, I had gotten all the piles out of the living room mostly, but having Bro in the spare room did take some space. However, I do Not want the spare room to fill up again. I got rid of a couple bookcases but I think I will be bring them back, better shelves than piles.

Beth--sorry about your emergency and DHs trouble, hope treatment is successful and goes smoothly.
June--wow a jackhammer would sure wake us up! Hope the waterproofing works well.
Gail--we've been pretty lucky with avoiding calls. We let almost everything on the home phone go to voice mail--they rarely leave messages. We don't have a lot of friend and family calls, those are mostly cell. Even on the cell I don't answer out of state prefixes. The funniest I did get were a spate of Chinese language calls, no idea what they wanted or why they thought we could understand them. Always hung up right away on them and they stopped soon.

June--I agree...football, basketball and golf seem to keep extending commentary longer and longer, and also talk over some of the play about irrelevent things rather than focussing on the actual action. DH often watches things with the sound turned off.

Joanne--I hear the secret codeword for picking up treasure is "Sucker@#!!"

Diane--Hope your niece respects your requests. When I was a kid, we had some 2nd/or3rd cousins from out of state that would sometimes "drop in" with no notice" with 3-4 kids. My aunt ( that we lived with) got so mad one time, she sent them to a local bar to get their own food instead of having us rustle up something. she did let them stay the night but was quite cold about it. For a super-mannerly woman she managed to be quite rude. I'd never seen her like that ever before.

We went from rather chilly to hot and humid--good side of it is everybody's Magnolias, Crabapple trees, daffodils, tulips etc burst into bloom!

The HVAC guy came today to start up our new central air we had installed last fall, yay! it is pushing 90 here.

JoAnn, remember your fine BB frinds here when it comes. You'll need help spending it...

Beth--glad you are getting some relief from the gout.

Jane--wow on the new horse and SSG! she has really grown.

Still sad I had to take down the bird feeders because of hawks nesting nearby. We did have a very exciting day when about fifty Pelicans visited the small west side pond we walk by! They formed into two "rafts" and cruised back and forth "Hoovering" up everything. Maybe no little frogs, fishes or vegies will be left for the Great Blue and Little Gree Herons. We also saw an Egret in that area, very pleased.

Hi Shelly--Laurie/Wellingtonct lived on Washington Island,( Door County) Wisconsin and had Icelandic horses. I have lost track of her information and don't know what is current with her. There are a number of ex-Ebay BB folks on Facebook.

I accidentally clicked the wrong thing, and we got an infestation of pop-ups. I ran Windows Defender, it was gone but back the next day. I downloaded Avast free version--first scans --it was still there. Then I ran another deep scan and Avast optimize, cleaned up my Start List and denied notifications. It seems to be gone and the computer is working much faster as well. Maybe we can put off new one for a while yet.

So glad to see Spring weather here, little green things coming up.We visited a town about 35 miles away and saw a lot of Loons and American White Pelicans ! Also, at a place called Audubon Pond for the first time saw a large flock of Swans (we think Trumpeter) ! Both Swans and Pelicans were extinct in WI until they were brought back in the late 1900s.I never saw them growing up. There are noisy Red Wing Blackbirds all over the place in the wetlands, and Robins in the yard. There is an Owl nest at Olbrich Gardens and we could just see a bit of the baby owls ear and round head, so cool! There is a Hawk nest in our neighbor"s tree so I think I will be emptying the bird bird feeder. Don't want see the smaller birds get taken...Chipmunks and squirrels better hide too.

Happy Birthday Jim!

Gail, we're having that too--a taste of warmer weather, then cold again and even snow flurries. the rain is welcome because we got only half of our usual snow and things are dry. Hope your husband is feeling better, it took my husband to years to heal from his wrist fracture. The actual fracture healed fairly fast, but the ligament and muscles were torn and took a long time. He could do most things but not heavy lifting or twisting motions.
Happy Easter!

Joanne--so sorry to hear of the passing of your son Bobby. He was fortunate to have your love and support thru his illness. It is good you have your other son. Wishing you peace and strength and all the time you need to recover during this difficult time.

Happy Birthday Diane! You are so lucky to have a March birthday in a place that has spring flowers!

Welcome Shelley:)
Belated Happy Birthday and happy Fall Lynne!

Good to see you Jane, and hear your news. Hi to JoAnne, Jim, June and Patsy! Hope I didn't miss any one.

We had our water heater Red Tagged and shut down by the power company guy who came to install a new meter, so we got a new one and had the exhaust vent updated which was what was wrong. The old water heater was rated for 12 years, going strong at 15, but we figured as long as plumber was coming, might as well.
Oh the love of tchochkes (sp) and the accumulation of things we 'might need" --chipping away at it. Got rid of 2 shower curtains, some of DH's clothes he never wears, the ragged Xmas yard deer, some books, a few other things. Next will take back shower chair and walker no long needed by my brother, to the lend out place. Hope neither of us end up needing them any time soon.
Had one sunny 70 degree day just to tease us, back to cloudy and rainy and cold. but glad no snow and ice.

Spring is finally coming! I saw my first Robin and also saw a Horned Owl on a nest, and a pair of Sandhill Cranes in a field:) It's been cold but sunny. Sposed to warm up a bit next week.

Jim--cruise sounds lovely! We had some delicious fried fish at the Norske Nook, a restaurant in a small town a bit north of us. Unfortunately we did not have room for a piece of their fabulous pie.

June--congrats on retiring from book sales--it will be nice that you can limit books to personal reads. It's been quite a task getting with Ebay changes. DH has scaled back a lot, but he had a couple nice sales and so is continuing for a while. It finances his book buying mainly.

Hi JoAnn--good to see you...glad you're being careful of falls, it's so easy to slip. We barely have taken walks outside for months, but it's possible to fall just going out to the car, or in the grocery store parking lot.

Beth--glad the foot is improving, hope it clears up completely. You are amazing in in your shopping and selling-- your consistent hard work pays off.

Diane--yes postage is expensive. DH often overpays in my opinion for the online auctions to ship him stuff.

Beth-- sorry that gout has been so painful, it is good you are finally getting some relief. Yes it seems like treatment gets more complicated all the time, with more appointments and waiting to get the appointments.

JoAnn--sounds like you're moving along pretty well with getting rid of stuff.Glad your son is back in his residence, and that your other son could come to be with you then.

Yes, Ebay selling just keeps getting more complicated and invasive Jim. They asked for tons of confidential information, if they ever get hacked someone will be able to inflict complete identity theft on us. It took us nine months to get it all straight and there still is a State Tax problem(Partly Wisconsin's fault) Maybe it is easier being a "personal seller" but since we already have declared it as a business for years, I don't think we could change it now.
June--sorry to hear about the water problem--glad you did not have to get a new furnace. We get a little in, and don't have a sump pump but do have a drain that seems to work. Hope you can find a solution.

Jim--It sounds like the cruises work well for you as a way of staying away from Covid. A very pleasant way to be with screened people and have great meals etc. I didn't think of the Bengals, Year of the Tiger connection, very clever!

I'm sure the Chinese don't want any athletes and or visitors to get sick or die nor do they want to be known as a place that lets that happen. The threat is probably you will be sent to quarantine and or straight home and not get to compete or to be a spectator at all. I really am amazed when I see events here with unmasked people milling around, I don't know how folks can do it. Even with vaccinations and masking there is still possibility of getting it. Deaths in US are around 800,000 now. Sure some had pre-existing problems but they would most likely had several more years with their families. and would not have had such a miserable death as Covid is. It does seems as if the omicron is slowing down now.
Beth-sorry you and husband were so sick,-hope that you and family recover soon, and that the snow melts fast so you don't have to shovel.

JoAnn--doesn't it seem like that when it rains it pours? It can't just be one thing that needs fixing. I hope you got your heat back on and are roastie toastie.

I went to the dentist for a toothache and they sent me to the orthodontist for a root canal. When they took the x ray for the procedure they discovered an infection on the opposite side as well so I get to have another root canal,..The insurance covers part of it but of course my part is $$$$...oh well at least I can get it done.

I am glad you are well and content Diane. I too am thankful for health, home, and husband.
June --I think you are right about banks etc being behind. The IRS is also behind , it took us months to straighten out a a small problem we had with them.

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year, the year of the Tiger!

Most of the snow missed us, just got a dusting, but it has been very cold , under twenty a lot and sub zero some nights. And wind.
Younger brother who was staying with us proclaimed himself "Well enough" and left in his camper van for warmer places out West. His physical and occupational therapists said he didn't need more appointments and to continue on his own. Not sure what his specialist said but they didn't insist he take more IVG, He can walk without a walker and do most of what he wants to do. He has always hated winter here, and more recently has become very sensitive to cold with his feet and hands going numb. So now he is camped in a nice campground near the California Arizona border and quite happy about it. He took along Pedro the darling doggie too. Pedro was not liking going out in the frigid air, even with a coat. We will miss them both, quiet without them, and our routine changes again.

Made some stir-fry tonight, it was quite good, chicken, celery, red pepper, onion and lots of mushrooms. I had accidentally bought some General Tso's sauce and thought it might be too sweet but it was pretty good--I added a little dark sesame oil, garlic and Sriracha to it.

JoAnne--glad you got out with friends, I too am sure looking forward to spring. We got some snow, and tomorrow night it will be sub-zero, normal for us. I have newer parka, and boots, and mostly wear two layers, long underwear and regular pants. We try to get out and walk in a big box store like Home Depot, at off times when there's not too many people. People are good here about wearing masks too.

We are a quiet bunch aren't we.

I'm learning a sea chantey The Wellerman, onmy ukulele. It was popular on Tik Tok, I came across it on You tube. I'll sing it loud, maybe it'll wake folks up:)

There once was a ship that set to Sea
And the name of the ship was the Billy O'Tea
The winds blew up, her bow dipped down,
O blow my bully boys blow!

Soon may the Wellerman come,
To bring us sugar and tea and rum!
And when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our ship and go.

wow Diane! what an experience she had.. one would think that a pregnant surgeon that close to birthing would not be allowed to work on a delicate procedure. Glad upur daughter is ok so far. Hope the healing is swift and thorough.

Have good time Jim!
Beth--you always amaze me with the variety of items you find and sell! We are wondering if you had any ideas about or experience with a problem we are having. DH is having some problems with an auction listing. It appears on his active list and he received a notification that it was listed, but when we search ebay it does not appear. There were some item specifics that were suggested so we checked them and relisted but still no visibility.

lol Brian:) we all complain about covid stuff one way or another...
I'm not a sushi/ sashimi person but fine with others liking it.

It's sunshiny here but Very Cold...10 degrees with a little wind--feels like minus 5--ugh! Thank goodness for 3 layers of clothes plus a down coat. I would stay inside except the doggie has to go out. He is quite furry and has a coat, but his tiny little feet start freezing and he limps or lays down, we shortened up walks a lot. We got some booties but he hasn't gotten used to them yet. Practicing inside and he kind of staggers and trips and slides, but he does get treats to compensate.

Jim--it was and is a learning curve--in the beginning they had to treat it like it was transmissible all ways---better safe than sorry---time went on and they and we learned it is primarily respiratory and air transmitted. Who knows there may arrive new variants that are transmissible on surfaces. that's why we have to keep paying attention to the announcements, although I'd be more than happy to never listen to another one. I do not follow covid news on a daily basis but check in maybe once a week. I also avoid as much political news and commentary as possible--too aggravating, not good for my mood or my health.

Way to go Diane!
JoAnne--yes the wisdom of our grandparents is still good today. Glad they were all masked at the ER. You must have been exhausted after being there so long. Hope you're feeling better now.

Way to go Diane!

Jim, I am glad the cruise ship you were on was so good at precautions. Not all are and there have been some that had covid spread among passengers and staff.
Brian--Yes it is frustrating that we can be vaccinated and boosted and still have to be careful. I do think trains, planes and boats can all be sources of catching covid. It's a gamble, many people can be exposed and don't get it or only get a mild case, then there's there's those who get hospitalized and make it out (some of these get "long tail" and have long lasting problems from it) and then there's the ones who die. 70 + percent of deaths are of people 70 and above so those peeps(like me!) need to be extra careful
Recently, the unvaccinated of every age are dying at a much higher rate than the vaccinated. the re-opening of stadium/arena athletic and concerts etc are increasing exposure a lot too. There is no perfect way of preventing the spread but vaccination and quarantining help. Staying away from unnecessary crowd events help.
Restaurant food has been shown to be a lesser risk than person to person contacts longer than ten minutes.
The CDC and government officials are trying to balance out the need for people to work (the Economy) and the needs to socialize with limiting the spread. This is an unprecedented event in the modern world, new things are learned every day and response changes. The mutation into new variants doesn't help either.
My friends who work for hospitals say the icu's are overwhelmed and not all can get prompt treatment. this means more people of all ages die. There is much regret and pain for the unvaccinated patients and their families wishing they had a least taken the minimum precautions of vaccination and avoiding people. Most thought they had some kind of magic immunity that would protect them. But no, there are people previously "in very good health, rarely sick" that also die from it. Others think God protects them, I personally know of a couple that believed this, The husband died and the wife was extremely ill but survived.
" May the odds be ever in your favor!" --the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Happy New Year to all, may it be a better year for all!

Hi Brian-- briguy, great to hear from you.
Jane , so sorry to hear about the covid in your family, hope you all have the least symptoms and the fastest recovery.

We are vacced and boosted, and have been very careful about avoiding crowds and events. But older brother went to a music event at a church . they did check vacc cards and all wore masks, but he said it was not distanced-people were side by side. So he came down with some minor symptoms and decided to get a test because he wanted to visit some friends New Years Eve, well he tested positive and had been with us at Christmas without masks, so he let us know. None of us had symptoms, but I called my clinic and told them I was exposed, they said they are only testing if you have symptoms. but I had just visited two separate friends who have issue and felt I'd better find out so I could give them early warning if I were positive. I found a place nearby to do a drive-in PCR. (more thorough but could take a lot of time for results tho) A friend in the medical field recommended Home Tests, so DH and I went to five drugstores before we got some. You do two tests with 24-36 hours between them and we all came out negative. I was able to tell my friends not to worry. And the PCR came back today and was negative too.
Here in town a friend's grand-nephew came down with covid after their Christmas gathering and had seriously impaired breathing and got treatment in hospital. He will be ok, it was lucky they didn't say, oh just a cold, he would have died.
So we were just beginning to relax a little, and now it's back to being extra careful. It is frustrating. We are lucky to be retired and don't have to go to work with contact with others, those are the ones I'm really sorry for.

Merry Christmas to all!

Hi Jim--glad to hear from you and to hear your cruiseship does not have a bunch of covid. Our circle is quite small--I only know one woman whose husband has died from it. He had refused to be vaccinated, was in good health,and thought his Faith would protect him. A close friend now personally knows six people who have died from covid --4 were not vaccinated, 2 were "break through" cases. One couple she knew, the husband had died from Covid, his wife was sick--their daughter begged her Mom to go to the hospital, the Mom said "no it's just regular flu" --the next morning she was found dead. Other people have light cases, but she also knows of some who had the more severe type and were in the hospital.

My friends who work for clinics and hospitals in my city say their ICUs and covid wards are almost full. A few hours from us, Green Bay WI is getting help from the US Navy to set up additional covid wards in because theirs are now full. It's spreading because people thought it was almost over and began socializing and going to large events more. t's worth doing what we can to avoid getting it.We got our boosters, wear masks, and avoid shopping in crowds.

JoAnn--good to hear you have some help with things--clearing out is a lot of work. My friend in an assisted living likes it very much.

Gail--7 Christmas trees, so festive! You must have a storeroom just for Christmas trees and decor! DH is kind of a grinch, so I'm the one who decorates, I don't do as much I used to.

Thanks June--I'll keep an eye out for those. Bookmobile Cat, what's not to like? I remembered you read a Lot of cozies.I used to read the Midnight Louie mysteries and the Cat Who, but pretty caught up on those.

Gail--long odd shaped packages cost the most! 74 for Christmas oh my! I wouldn't have liked it when younger but now it sounds very good, I get chillier sooner these days. Now that I am a dogwalker I find I bundle up more, it's not like popping out to the car. Pretty soon I'll have a ski mask, I bet.
Beth-- I hope you are feeling better.