Welcome to GameBoomers Break Room #11

Time for a shiny new thread just in time for fall (Unless of course you are in Australia !

Come one, come all, share your daily thoughts, conversational chit-chat, maybe a joke or two and all the little things that really don't need its own thread.

There are plenty of seats available, so don't be shy and come chat!

To see where we left off, click HERE.

Happy chatting!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Thanks Ana, I'm glad to know hagatha is alright. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the new week and hug someone.

And I thought it was just Friday a few minutes ago!

Lex, I watched the coolest segment on 60 Minutes last night that was all about the Isle of Man! They featured the TT race, but showed a lot of your beautiful island and some of its history.

Ordered more Kenyan Special Reserve, but it's not here yet, so an extra pot of German Fair Trade coffee from Aldi is brewing!

Happy Monday!

Mornin Connie,

This Eagles you are going to it is a Legion? The reason I ask is there were Eagle Legions up in northern Indiana where I use to live. Every Friday most legions would have this "all you can eat" Walleye or Lake Perch along with a very nice salad bar. It cost $16 either way. It was some of the best eating on the planet. The slabs of fish were huge and the salad bar was out of this world. It's been 12 years since I have been back up there. I've been looking for an "all you can eat" walleye joint around here for some time now and have not found one. I'd settle for any kind of "all you can eat" fish fry from a legion or similiar establishment. They know how to do it. Walleye seems to be very scarce in Florida even to buy

I'm taking a danish by the way thank you very much!

Waiting on that dark roast coffee, can someone please wake soot up. For the time being I'll have some of Drac's German Fair Trade coffee, sounds great

Orion, the American Legion is a veteran's organization chartered by the US government back in 1919. We also have the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary chartered the same year and the Sons of the Legion. There is also a Riders of the American Legion, but it's not chartered by the government. I will let Connie fill you in on the Eagles, but it is a fraternal organization.

You'll have to put up with my less than stellar German Fair Trade coffee until I get some of that Kenyan Special Reserve ordered!

By the way, welcome to the GB Break Room!

Thank you Drac for the legion info and the welcome!

That Kenyan Special Reserve sounds very good. Where do you order coffee like this. Really getting tired of this Traders Joes 100% Aribica we have been buying. Its really hard to find good coffees, it's a trial and error thing for us always looking for something different/better

Good morning everyone. Orion, my grandpa used to make delicious fried lake perch. I never see lake perch anymore, only ocean perch. I don't think it's as good.

I hope you all have a nice week!

Will, doesn't that just dill your pickle. Woke up this morning, looked out the window to a snow storm. Gee it's not even halloween yet, so I decided to bake, I made empire cookies. I love the smell of baking in the house when the weather is bad.

My grandpa did the same oldbroad along with fresh caught Bluegill, one of the best fish I have ever eaten. Its been a long time but I can still taste it. I don't really like Ocean Perch, just not as good as Lake

I looked up Empire cookies, judith. They sound delicious!

I had to look the Empire cookies up also!

I used to make those regularly but in my area they were known as German Biscuits …. Delicious !! 😊

Add me to the list who had to look up Empire cookies! They look REALLY yummy and the perfect thing for a snow storm! Holy cow, SNOW!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Orion, the FOE is a a fraternal org. founded in 1898, for God, Home and Country. We are a charitable org. people helping people . The Aerie I belong to is the second smallest in Fl. We are small, but mighty. Lunch and Prime with a friend today. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Just got my new order of the Kenyan Special Reserve, so I made an extra pot this morning. Orion, I get this coffee from Gevalia, a Swedish company. You can find them in an internet search. There are lots of others out there too that sell really good coffee - but, of course, it's always expensive!

Have to take one of my kitties, Miss M in to the vet this morning. I'm just going to drop her off as she appears to have another UTI and they will need to get urine using special litter. She also has a history of crystals in her urine, so she eats this REALLY expensive dry cat food!

Then a run down to the Ranch to deliver some horse meds and a stop at the grocery store for a few things I'm sending out to my two oldest grandkids in college in Colorado.

Good evening everyone ... hope your day was good to you and wishing everyone a quiet and relaxed evening.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Got that Kenyan Special Reserve coffee for everyone this morning!

Was able to bring my kitty, Miss M, home yesterday. I had feared she would need surgery for bladder stones. Her sister had them and we ended up humanely euthanizing her. She was just a barn cat, but I still miss her. My grandkids named her Voldemort! Miss M is full of antibiotics and pain meds and has crystals in her urine, so she's back on the special cat food... $48 for a 6 pound bag! The vet also did a laser treatment on her abdomen for the inflammation inside. So, $640 later, she's pretty much staying under my feet which is not like her at all.

Another much too warm and windy day, but I guess things are going downhill rapidly after tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday!

Yup snow: winter has arrived. My empire cookie recipe came from my grandmother, she brought a lot of wonderful recipes from Scotland.

Judith, not sure I'm ready for snow, but this too warm weather is just weird!

Good afternoon everyone. I brought a pot of Hawaiin Fruit Tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room. Connie, are there any cinnamon crunch bagels left? I miss the snow down here but don't tell L4L
Have a great evening everyone!

Thank you connie. Very nice organization, people helping people. I can only guess you are rather busy nowadays




Thank you Drac. I'll give it a look. Hope Miss M comes around and gets better. Now to check out those empire cookies


I am gonna be running around today looking for a new vehicle. Gotta get rid of that Nissan Rouge Sport for too many reasons. Hopefully Toyota, Hyundai, Ford or Honda will help to make that happen. This might take a couple days.....

Everyone have a good day

Good morning everyone. Dark roast Sumatra coffee with Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room today.

Have a great Thursday

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Drac, it's warm here too right now. Soot, I miss the snow too. Orion, we are extra busy over the holidays, but it gives more meaning to them. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

It's a good thing soot stopped by early with that Sumatra coffee because I'm extra late this morning! Trying to help a friend find some place to take his walnuts for processing because it was in the middle of nowhere!

Nothing much going on today - just league bowling tonight.

Thursday is just one day closer to the weekend!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Karaoke at Hacienda tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Kenyan Special Reserve brewing right now! I really like this coffee.

Running in town today to take care of my friend's kitties while they are on their last camping trip. Tomorrow is the big Trick or Treat at the campgrounds, but I have a feeling it's going to get rained out. There is a 70% chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon starting at 4:00. Also stopping at the PO to mail a box to my oldest granddaughter who is finishing up her last semester at Colorado State University. Three bottles of my smoked hot sauce and two small jars of that strawberry syrup should help her survive mid-terms! Since we missed her high school graduation because of COVID, we will be flying out to Denver for her college graduation in mid-December.

Then it's date night tonight... dinner somewhere and a couple of beers at the American Legion.

Hello all. Life is back to relative normal. My sister came and picked up my mother yesterday. My mother is a mixed blessing and her visit was very stressful without John here to mitigate. However, we both survived it and she's in Victoria now for a few days before flying back to Hamilton.

I was outside today doing some cleanup chores in the garden and experienced a sudden pain in my thumb, which is ominous. My hands have been hurting since I started packing for my move and I guess this is just an extension of that. No gaming for me for a while, I think. Too bad -- I was dying to get back to BG3 but it will have to wait. I think I need to get one of those horizontal mice, too.

Dude has completely recovered from his surgery and is back to being a playful little boy, but also pacing and whining to go outside. There was a large male cat sitting on top of my fence the other day and I suspect Dude wants to go out and mark his territory. I'll try walking him again in a few days if he doesn't calm down. However, you would never know that he had major surgery a month ago, apart from the shaved tummy and scar. The only difference is that he isn't wheezing when he runs now; his lungs and heart are no longer compressed and he must be feeling better.

OK. NOW all is right with the universe! Hagatha, so glad to hear from you! We figured you were under water with your mom's visit, but so glad to have you back again!

And talk about a mixed blessing - Dude is not only back to himself, but now in top form after his surgery! I take it he is not satisfied with his catio?

I haven't had a chance to set up the catio, but my guess is he won't like it after having had that taste of absolute freedom. I'll see if he calms down over the next few months. If he doesn't stop I might consider a cat flap since the pacing and howling and banging on the window and jumping down from the window with a loud plop every two minutes really is driving me nuts and it keeps me awake all night sometimes. I've never seen anything like it. Much as I love the little guy, it's intolerable and the choice is to let him out or rehome him. The only good thing about the pacing is that Willow uses it as an excuse to ambush Dude as he paces down the hall. It's pretty funny.

The Stellar Sea Lions have a a winter haul-out nearby, somewhere just down the hill. Tonight I went out to look at the moon and I could hear the barking. It's very loud. I'm in the middle of the peninsula. I can't imagine what it would be like to live on the water close by.

Probably not with the catio, but maybe worth a try? I know mine wouldn't be satisfied!

Yeah, barking sea lions would be very cool... from a distance!

It's a really pretty night, with a bright moon and very still. The barking was a surprise as I hadn't heard it from my house before. Just another great thing about this place.

I think if I do what I did with my Rachel, which was to unlock the flap in the morning and lock it at night so that once they're in for their late-night snack, they can't get back out, they should be okay. I'm pretty sure Willow would be fine since she's such a lazy girl. Dude will wander a bit but he's got competition and he might decide the garden is enough. There is absolutely no way he's been an indoor cat all his life, though. Not a chance. I wonder if he's been adopted a couple of times? His previous owners lived in an apartment, I was told. But he's very self-assured out there.

Of course, Willow is now so fat I'm not sure she can get through a flap!

Nice to have you back, hagatha! I hope you will give the catio a chance.

I would give the catio a chance but not with my hands the way they are. I had trouble brushing my teeth just now.

Also, the catio is one where you have to put the cat in and take it back out, and frankly Dude will just escape.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Halloween party at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone we made it to the weekend! Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

Good morning everyone. It was very cold here last night -- down to minus 2C -- and the heat coming on woke me up, fortunately at 7 am ( a nice change from the feline dawn chorus at 5 am). Today I'll be raking leaves and putting them in the compost bin; our City waste collection here takes a bin of organics every week so I can easily dispose of yard waste. Then I'm putting my feet up and watching TV.

I hear that we sometimes have a few days of being snowed in here because our streets are never plowed. I think my new CRV will be extremely helpful in that regard. Everyone here has an SUV. Now I know why.

That's pretty chilly, hagatha! We are heading that way by mid-week. Yesterday was a horrible 85 degrees here! But a cold front moved through last night and the high today is only supposed to be 45. Supposed to rain, but I'll believe it when I see it! A lot of the Halloween festivities in town for the kids were held last night because the forecast for today is so awful for trick or treating.

My son lives in Denver and I see they are expecting up to 14" of snow today!

That dark Sumatra coffee sure hits the spot this morning, soot!

Cooking down the last of the tomatoes today and just going to freeze it. My son is having a clay bird shoot out here next Saturday and I'm making a big roaster of chili for them, so just going to use the frozen tomatoes for it.

Happy Saturday!

That is cold Hagatha and as Draclvr notes we have cold temp's headed our way this upcoming mid-week ... but not in the freezing range. Those below 0 C temperatures are more in our winter season. Draclvr, I must admit I enjoy the dark roast coffee blends the most. In fact, I still remember a couple of cups of coffee I had 'down under' in Brisbane's International Airport (Australia) while on a refueling layover at the airport ... it was a blend that had a fragrant and deep rich taste I will 'never' forget and unfortuneately have yet to match.

Happy Saturday Hagatha and Draclvr!

Dan, I'm lucky to live in a "foodie" area where there are many local roasteries. The farm market five minutes from here sells beans from one roastery that are as good as any I've had anywhere. I've been drinking the medium roast for a couple of months but bought some of the espresso beans last week. I'll see how those are next.

Well, winter has settled in. -1c with the wind chill it is -8c. at one o'clock this afternoon, calling for snow late this afternoon. it came a little too fast this year.

Isn't this early... even for where you are, judith?

Ugh, Judith. That's rough. I hope it's not the sign of a hard winter to come. Stay warm and safe.

Our weather here in the UK is currently mostly day after day of RAIN and I am very grateful that my area has so far not been badly flooded.
But some parts of Scotland have seen catastrophic floods 😱 So awful for all those affected.

Very glad to see you posting again hagatha 👍

Stay safe, everyone 🙂

Rosaboobie has posted some pictures of flooding in her area of Rogart on Facebook. Terrible.

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday to you. Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room. It won't be long before we are visited by all of the cute little ghosts, witches, faeries and princesses. Send some rain our way Mad. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Grocery shopping is on the agenda today. Enjoy he day and hug someone.

So nice to have that dark roast waiting for me this morning - stayed up way too late reading last night!

Usually my neighbor walks her two little grandson over for trick or treating, but mom and grandma and trail riding down in Arkansas, so not sure they'll be back!

Cold and rainy today. Seems like a good day to do a little gaming!

It's another nice but cold morning here, chilly in the house. My propane fireplace runs off a thermostat and if the temperature in the house drops below the setting it switches on. I got up to a nice cozy living room and a very happy Willow, but it's a bit disconcerting! I'll have to remember to turn it way down before I go to bed.

I don't think there are many children in my neighbourhood so there won't be any little trick-or-treaters here.

I did hear fireworks the other night when the sea lions were barking; I suspect the fireworks were set off to shut them up. I've been told by a neighbour that nobody here puts their house up for sale in the winter because of the barking. It's charming at first but after a few weeks it would be awful.

I might get to some gaming today after my walk. I think I'll drive down to Rathtrevor Beach and walk along the water's edge, and then do some grocery shopping.

Soot. You are very welcome to have some of our rain - but it’s just how to get it to you

It’s actually a lot better today with some sunshine, so hoping for more of that this coming week.
(Even though the forecast IS for more rain )

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Joint meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone and welcome to moanday Monday. I've got Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room. Connie I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel please. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Yikes, had to turn the furnace on last night! Not horribly cold, but 28 degrees F is enough to make this drafty old farmhouse cold. That dark roast is just the thing this morning!

Going to get my flu shot and hit the grocery store for some makings for chili and cornbread for the trap shoot my son is having out here on Saturday. Don't have a number yet, but it looks like at least 25 people.

Stay warm, kids!

We turned on our propane heater this morning as well. 24 degrees here.

I hope everyone has a good day.

I'm just warming up the house with a hot, strong coffee in hand. I have to turn the heat down at night because the blower in the crawl space is so loud it wakes me up. It's really chilly for the first hour.

I'm off up to Campbell River today to grab a back-up hard drive from a friend up there, and for a visit. It was the last backup of one of John's computers and it wasn't ready when I moved.

I have to say, I'm enjoying my new vehicle. The Accord was fast and sleek, but it was also very low to the ground and I'm finding the extra height o the CRV to be a blessing on the highway. The highway on Vancouver Island is almost empty most of the time so the drive is really enjoyable; some tunes and an open road.

I love my Smart thermostat! I just tell Alexa to turn on the heat! I have it programmed to turn on about an hour before hubby gets up. That way the bathroom upstairs is nice and warm for him.

My house is all wired up for Alexa but I don't use it. I'm just thrilled to have my front gates finally set up on a remote!

I do think that my fireplace was set up on a thermostat so that it comes on early on a cold morning. The heat pump's blower is far too loud for sleeping.

There was a bit of snow on the highway today and my car has ice on the windshield. I really need to get my garage cleared out but there's nowhere to put anything.

Good Morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Happy Halloween, bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Happy Halloween 🎃 Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room to help you prepare for the evening's activities with the little trick or treaters. Connie I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel please. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Some spooky dark roast to start this very cold Halloween morning!

Don't know if my two little neighbor boys will be over or not tonight. I think mom, dad and grandma are back from trail-riding in Arkansas, so I have some candy in my skeleton bowl just in case!

It's pretty cold here, too. Winter is upon us!

I think Dude has more than recovered from his surgery. Yesterday he spent over an hour running up and down the hall at top speed. It was so joyful that even lazy girl Willow joined in for a few minutes. He no longer wheezes when he runs.

I've never heard another cat "meow" like he does. His normal meow is more like, "Mkah?" or "MGah?" Little weirdo.

Maine Coons have a very different sort of meow than other breeds. I have a Maine Coon so am well acquainted with it.

Happy Tuesday and Happy Halloween, everyone!

Our first snow fall is happening now and it's sticking!

Ana, have you heard any more from Geri? I hope she is doing alright.

Happy Halloween!

Oh, no, oldbroad! Don't be sending any of that white stuff south now!

Yes, that's probably it. He doesn't have the full-on male Maine Coon face and he's quite small but one of my phone apps zoomed in on a photo of him and ID'd him as such. He looks more like a big kitten than anything else.


We're headed for rain and warmer temperatures tomorrow. I have a morning walk planned with a neighbour but I think we'll still go if it's raining. I need the exercise.

I think it's safe to say Dude is one of a kind!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning all,

You can send truckloads of that stuff my way oldbrrrroad bypassing Drac and have it dumped on my front yard so I can build a snowman and make a few angels before I BBQ. Born and raised in snow I sure do miss it. Its been 12 years since I have seen the stuff. I told my wife awhile back if it ever snows in Orlando I would shovel the entire block

On second thought you have my permission to dump one truckload on Drac's front door but save the rest for me please

Everyone have a good day

Well, it didn't really amount to much at all considering it seemed to be snowing pretty hard at times. Not much cover on the sidewalks, mostly grass, cars, and rooftops.

Happy Wednesday all!

NOOOO! All truckloads of snow must be sent straight to Orion's front yard!

I'll take the snow down here I grew up with snow and since moving down here don't see much any more unless I'm on a trip up North in the winter. Are there any bagels left Connie? Have a wonderful evening everyone.

No snow for me! My driveway is short and very steep -- it's the reason I traded in my Accord for the CRV. Even so, it's steep enough to be slippery in snow, all-wheel drive or not.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. I'll take some of that snow. Manicure and lunch out today. Trivia at CVI tonight. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

Looks like we are gonna need a blizzard oldbroad with a lot of trucks

You living in Canada hagatha I can only guess you get plenty of snow. How warm and how cold does it get up there? Your daylight hours are very short that first day of winter, according to Alexa 8 hrs. Here in Florida on the shortest day, Dec 21, we get 10 hrs of daylight. That driveway of yours has to be a pain hagatha

Added to the snow drive - connie and soot

Took Mocha and Teddy, our two Pomskies, for their bi-monthly haircuts this morning. Waiting for that text to pick them up. Can't wait

We had a Maine Coon, Casper the not so friendly cat. He was a 22 lb beast. We let him out for the night a couple years back and he never came home. He was 15 when he disappeared. He became an outdoor cat for number of years. He owned the block. He became, I wanna say, feral. He would come home to eat all the time but would never come in. With some work we finally got him to come into the house but he was never comfortable. There were times he would go off on me while sitting on my lap biting and scratching. Little by little he was coming around but then was gone. We loved him!!

Everyone have a great day!

EDIT: I got them. Time for a treat, dehydrated London Broil strips that I prepare for them on a monthly basis. They love it!

I've got a truck on stand-by, Orion. I'm sure there will be plenty to go around soon enough! It's sunny today.

Happy Thursday!

"Yikes, had to turn the furnace on last night! Not horribly cold, but 28 degrees F is enough to make this drafty old farmhouse cold."

Just how old IS your farmhouse. Draclvr ?? [I love old houses ]

The oldest house I've ever owned myself was 'registered' in 1845.
Apparently it was built before then but my Solicitor was unable to find written evidence of its origins ....

My next oldest property was built in 1878.

Mad, here in the middle of the US our "old" homes aren't nearly an ancient as some in Europe. This one was built in 1917. My friend Jennifern purchased an old stone house that was built in 1845. It was the home of the grist mill owner. Stories say it was built by slaves. It sits above the banks of a local river where they built a dam and then ground grain into flour for the local farmers. It's only about 5 miles from where I live and with the 17 acres and 3 cabins on the river is a beautiful property. Jennifer restored it completely while making sure it has modern touches like running water and heat besides the 7 fireplaces!

Now on the east coast there are many homes built in the 1700's which have been restored.

My 1845 house was a moderate dwelling but was fabulously built into the banks of a river in a village on the North Yorkshire Moors.

Countryside very much in the mode of a certain Brontë Story 🌟🌟🌟

I'm learning to live with a bit of chilliness in this house.

The kind of heat pump installed here can't really be turned down more than a couple of degrees at a time because turning it back up more than two degrees makes the emergency heat kick in, I've just found out. So if I want the heat down to 18 degrees at night, I can only turn it up to 20 degrees in the morning. If it's too cold I wait until the house warms up a bit before turning the heat up again. It's actually supposed to be left at a constant temperature but that's no good for a light sleeper like me who wakes up if the blower comes on. I might get used to it in time but the one time I left it on it woke me up, and that's with ear plugs. It's a drag, but that's how these modern heat pumps work. Bummer. But I have my nice fireplace for cold evenings.

I had a heat pump in a house many years ago and really didn't like it. It did a great job of keeping the house at a constant temperature. But if you wanted 75 degrees F, that air is COLD when it's moving around! I much prefer the heat from my furnace.

T,G,I,F, Good Morning everyone!! Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room. Connie I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel please. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Oldbroad, thanks for keeping that truck on stand-by. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

I've been getting to the Break Room too late to get the coffee going, so thank you, soot! Dark roast for me this morning.

It has warmed up nicely for today and tomorrow for my son's trap shoot. He brought over the burger last night and I'm going to make the chili today. Also going to make a small pot of my white chipotle chicken chili too. Need to head in town to pick up stuff for cornbread and some hot dogs. Poor Bella the Bloodhound will be spending the day in the house - with all the shooting, she will be terrified. After she was dumped down by the river several years ago, someone shot her for getting into trash trying to survive for two weeks before she showed up here. So she doesn't like guns or thunder!

Have a fabulous Friday!

That sounds absolutely wonderful, Mad!!

Yes. I loved living there, Marian. But life has many twists and turns - which don't always allow for what we would want !!!!

I understand that, Mad - many times over. You are certainly right!

It sounds like a cozy happy little place, Mad!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. I'm going to the flea market today, and then grocery shopping. Trivia at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone and welcome to the weekend. I've got dark roast Hawaiin Kona coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room. Connie I'm up for a donut or two today. Weekend chores, projects and gaming will fill my day. Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

Good morning! I haven't had Kona coffee in a long time, so looking forward to a cup or two this morning.

Can't sit around too long. Today is my son's trap shoot out here. Made a big roaster of chili yesterday - I hope I didn't get it too spicey! The ground chipotle I made this summer is much hotter than I expected! Making a white chipotle chicken chili this morning and I'll keep that nice and mild. A few hot dogs in the oven and a couple batches of corn bread for the guys and I'm ready to go!

Beautiful fall day ahead! Enjoy your Saturday!

The last time I had Kona was in Hawaii ten years ago! I've bought coffee that claims to be Kona since then but it's not the same.

I spent two hours yesterday cleaning up and bagging leaves. Small leaves I let stay on the beds because they mulch over winter, but there is a huge broad-leafed Maple of some kind straddling my property and the neighbour's property, and it is dropping plate-sized leaves like crazy. I just had the gutters cleaned and they're already stuffed with leaves again. I also laid down fertilizer on the beds for the shrubs and trees. I really enjoyed raking up the leaves. It's good exercise and my garden looks nice and tidy now.

I think I'll make a nice big pot of ratatouille, and then maybe some bean chili, get my cooking over with for the week.

I am thinking Hagatha, the Kona coffee you had in Hawaii was "freshly ground from fresh beans" which is why it tasted better

When do you just sit and relax, Draclvr, apart from your “coffee and Wordless” minutes ?? 🙂

My Coffee and Wordle was about all I got today! Once the gardens are all put to bed for the winter, I will spend a LOT of time just sitting and relaxing!

Well, good for you .. enjoy it 👍👍

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels in the Break Room. Nice quiet day here I hope. It was a busy week. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Noting like a good, strong coffee in my heated mug! I woke up very early to the sound of a hungry cat and then remembered that the clocks turned back last night, so it wasn't so early after all. B.C. was supposed to stop changing the clocks, but it's been five years and still we're plagued with it. It usually throws me off for at least two weeks.

I'm planning on having a nothing day.

I totally agree with that heated mug! They keep telling us they will stop this stupid time change here too, but they never do. I don't have any problems with it, but hubby is more like you. I just hate the early darkness in the afternoon.

Trap shoot was fun for the "boys!" I didn't shoot, but they went through a lot of clay birds. My son had several last minute cancellations, so instead of about 20, there were 8. The chili was exceptionally good and they went through a lot of it, but I still froze 2 gallon bags of it. Didn't need to make the white chicken chili. But I had the chicken thawed out, so am going to make some chicken and dumplings today.

I'm going to use some of this "longer" day to do some gaming. LadyK had a few Halloween quizzes over at Mystery Manor and was giving away game keys. I got a consolation prize, so got some DLC for my Metro Exodus game. Played last night for awhile and had fun evading mines and killing mutants!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Same here with the time change, they talk but it never gets done. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Another lazy rainy day. Good for gaming. I think I'll back to BG3 now -- it was interrupted by my mother's visit. I hope I can remember how to play!

This Wednesday I have a handyman crew coming over to do some work here; putting up by big TV, hanging some the larger art that I can't lift, and most importantly building a small foyer with a cat flap in my garage so that the cat litter can be out of my house. I still haven't decided about the art, though.

Here I am... late again! Your Wednesday actually sounds kind of fun, hagatha. Putting up those things really makes a home. My friend has her litter boxes in the basement and to keep her dogs from going down there, installed an interior kitty door which wouldn't work for your garage. But it is SO stinking cute! Interior Kitty Door

Heading in town to go the bank. Closing out my oldest granddaughter's education account as she will be graduating a semester early in December. Already have the flights and hotel booked! We missed her high school graduation because of COVID, so we're looking forward to this trip out to Denver, Colorado.

Happy Monday!

Good evening everyone

Connie, I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel if there are any left

Sleep well everyone

Drac, the interior cat flap will work. The garage is attached, so a cat flap will be installed in the interior door. My only concern is the nose from the flapping so close to my bedroom, so I've bought one of the soft plastic ones with a magnet. The hard plastic kind is just too noisy, especially when one of them decides to take pot shots at the other when they're coming through the door. The clattering is pretty annoying.

Oh, definitely you will need a soft flap. I just thought that interior one was so stinking cute!

LOVE that kitty door!!!!!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

I'm here early enough to put on the Kenyan Special Reserve coffee to go with Connie's goodies.

Can you believe it is supposed to be 80 degrees F here today! I thought this was heading into the 2nd week in November!

Today is laundry and a good cleaning of my floors - the cat and dog hair is epic!

Happy Tuesday!

I vacuumed the house a couple of days ago. I use the main vac for the house and my Dyson for the carpets. One carpet filled the Dyson twice, and it was all cat hair.

My built-in vacuum is pretty cool. It pulls out of the wall and you just attach the desired head to it. It's long enough to reach the farthest corners of my house. When you're done. you take the vacuum attachment off, put your hand over the suction, and it pulls itself back into the wall. It's very quiet, too.

It's a lovely day. Once I'm done with my coffee I'll be going for a walk.

Good evening everyone Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry Berry, Peppermint and Cinnamon Apple Spice teas for the Break Room this evening. Connie, I'll have an asiago bagel for an evening snack. If we could only sell our dog and/or cat hair Hagatha Hope everyone had a good day.

Asiago bagel? Is that a thing? Wish they had those here!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Lunch and Netflix with a friend today. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning. I hope there is an asiago bagel left from last night - I will take one of those over the cinnamon crunch any time!

Forecast for today is 84 degrees F. Good grief.

Had an exceptionally huge coyote try to get a chicken yesterday afternoon. I've seen this guy twice before, but never this close up. He's so big I suspect it's a coy-dog. Bella the Bloodhound saved the day. She chased him down to the edge of the woods and then about 5 minutes later I saw him moving in the woods and Bella took after him again. I had my shotgun, but I didn't dare shoot down into the woods for fear I would hit her. About an hour later at 5:30, the hen came back and I got her locked up with the rest. I told my neighbor because she has about 80 chickens which she free-ranges. She sent me a picture of a bobcat their game-cam picked up Monday night!

Ah, the excitement of country living!

Happy Wednesday!

I'm glad your hen made it back.

Thankfully we have no coyotes on Vancouver Island. We do have Black bears and Cougar, but not in my vicinity because there are just too many people. Interestingly, Grizzly have started to swim over to the top end of Vancouver Island in the last ten years or so. Hopefully they won't make their way down here.

We have a healthy population of Black Bears here too. And the occasional Cougar/Mountain Lion is seen, but they are usually lone males. Thankfully, no grizzlies!

So the contractors unpacked my 65" TV that was still in the moving company's box with al the padding, and the movers had damaged the TV by denting a corner and it no longer works. I contacted the moving company, but I don't expect to get anything out of them. It was a beautiful TV.

Was your move not "insured" hagatha ??

I always took out insurance against the removers for every one of my many moves because something always got lost or damaged.

It was not an expensive procedure and I never failed to get compensation ....

I did have insurance but I haven't heard back from them and I emailed this morning. The problem is that the move was three months ago. I'm not strong enough to get the TV out of the box, and they didn't unpack it for me at the time of the move, which I found odd. I'll wait and see, but as I say, I don't expect much out of them.

Oh, hagatha, I'm so sorry to hear this. What a disappointment. I hope you pursue it with the moving company.

Oh, if they didn't unpack the TV at the time of delivering your items, I'm not sure what your position is.

But as Draclvr says .. DO pursue the matter. I imagine a large television like that will be rather expensive to replace ??

And if possible try to get some legal advice ??

We have an "Insurance Ombudsman" department here in the UK who have the power to force Insurers to pay up if you have a valid claim.

I had to use them against a company myself a few years ago - AND - with their help I won my case !!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. A Pedicure is on the agenda today. Black bears and coyotes are making themselves quite comfortable in back yards here. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

You always hear these horror stories with movers. Some never get their belongings delivered, GONE!

You wonder why they did not unbox that TV?..........They know they damaged it. We are gonna be moving out of Florida in the next 4/5 years and we are gonna have to deal with movers

Today you have to take pictures of everything when moving before they pack and check all before they leave and have all insured. You can't trust anyone anymore at the same time accidents happen but they should have told you, taken responsibility

I hope you get what you deserve hagatha, compensation

TV's are, what I consider, "dime a dozen" today as long as you are not buying the "latest greatest"

Check these out

Good morning! Fresh pot of Kenyan Special Reserve this morning. Hubby and a good friend headed up to our big 120 acre farm to set up the deer stands for opening day Saturday. So I get a nice quiet morning to enjoy coffee and do my Wordle!

Not much on the agenda today. Floors clean and even moved my big heavy computer desk/book shelves away from the wall yesterday. Oh, my! The cat hair back there was epic! One of the things we have to keep up with here in the fall is dead Asian lady beetles. They swarm and get inside your house and smell REALLY bad! All this warm weather has kept them going much longer than usual. These guys are an invasive species and a big PITA!

League bowling tonight. Happy Thursday!

Orion, the movers came with decent reviews. However, I think you might be right about them knowing they damaged the TV. Why else would they not unpack it and put it back on the wall? Lord knows I paid them enough for the move. The TV was 65" OLED so not exactly a cheap tv, plus it has a sound system attached to it which I can't use without the TV.

My cats are going nuts this morning. They like the little foyer I had built yesterday, with its flap. I've moved one litter box in there so they get the idea. I also need to put a lamp in there so they can see. I'll hit Canadian Tire on the way out this afternoon and get them all set up.

I've never had a removal firm that would "set up and test" a TV to see if still worked after delivering it.
They would put it in place but the the testing would be up to you.
[Obviously, I don't know how removers work in Canada.]

However, whether it's "set up" by the removers or not, it SHOULD be put in place AND inspected for any easy to see outer damage.

There is a "time limit" for reporting damage caused to items here. But it's not always applied to things the removers themselves chose not to unpack on the day.

Pursue them, hagatha !!

I will call tomorrow, but the fact that they didn't respond speaks volumes.

They didn't even bring the TV into the house. Just plopped it in the garage, which is why I had to pay someone else to bring it into the house and unpack it.

Well that’s definitely another action to report - and boost your complaint, hagatha

Have you considered writing to the company instead of phoning ??
(To be more formal.)

Good morning everyone. Sumatra bold roast, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Hagatha, I agree with Mad...be sure to write a letter to the company with a 'noted' coordination copy to the insurance company--and use tracking, a delivery notice card, and/or reference numbers to ensure both receive your letter. You may also have the option of "rating the service provided" on their website or other online sources which list these services. Good luck! Wishing everyone a wonderful day!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Hagatha, I'm so sorry about your TV. You should definitely write to the movers. Karaoke at Hacienda tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Connie, I'll have a Asiago bagel this morning with coffee. Have fun at Hacienda tonight.

Good morning, all! Ah... Sumatra dark roast is perfect.

Nothing going on here today and I like it! Sunny and cold and should be a good morning for opening day of deer season here tomorrow. Which means a couple of days all to myself! I used to go too. I would be up in my stand by about 5:30 am in the dark. I would settle in with a cup of coffee and watch the woods wake up around me from 15' up in the air. It was magical. And sometimes VERY cold and even snowy!

Have fun at Hacienda, Connie! Date night for us tonight.

We're definitely into rain season. I need to do one last leaf cleanup, but I'm holding off until more leaves are down. The large-leafed maple has finally dropped the last of its leaves, so I'll bag those up today, at least. We have a weekly organics pickup so I can stuff a bag of leaves in there every week. It will take until January to get rid of then all but at least there's a pickup now -- apparently up until last January you had to bag them up and take them to a composting facility.

I can see light at the end of the garage tunnel. I've got someone interested in taking the huge metal shelves in the garage, which I realize I no longer need. One of the contractors who were here this week also said he'd take the rest of my moving boxes and let the people at his church know that there are free boxes available. I now also have a bookcase available to use, which will get rid of at least 4 boxes of books. I think once that is done I'll be able to actually use my garage.

And the garage will be available just in time for winter! Nice progress!

The cats are also loving it because I have the little foyer door into the garage open and with their flap they have full access to the garage today. They are going absolutely nutty these days; good friends and keeping each other entertained. Dude is no longer howling to go outside all the time as a result and Willow doesn't spend all her days sleeping on the couch.

What an improvement in cat behavior! Dude must have been mostly bored plus now I'm sure he is feeling much better.

That's fantastic news, hagatha, and more relaxing for you, if they keep it up !!

They have been playing all day. And they talk to each other constantly. It's pretty cute.

Sounds like excellent company!

Have a good weekend everyone, despite the world collapsing around us!

Glad to hear that everything is falling into place for you, hagatha: now all you have to do is sort out the insurance claim on the TV...

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Music Bingo and karaoke at the Elks tonight. Thank You to all who have and are serving. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone.

Bold dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room.

Connie, I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel this morning with my coffee.

Thanks to everyone who have and are serving.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Shopping is on the agenda today. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

Good morning, double dark roast coffee for the Break Room. Connie I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel please. Wishing everyone a great Sunday!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

I'm back in the morning to put on a pot of Kenyan Special reserve!

I took my two days to myself to stay up really late reading and sleep in. Tackled the countertops in my kitchen which had become cluttered and messy. I'm FAR from being called housekeeper of the year, but this was out of control. It was starting to look like one of those hoarder houses! MUCH was pitched into the trash and other stuff found new homes. It's amazing how much you can get done when you have the house to yourself!

Happy Monday!

I'm outside clearing leaves today.

I'd been very diligent abut keeping leaves out of my pond but the other night we had a massive leaf drop due to high winds and by morning my pond pump had seized, completely blocked overnight with leaves from my red Acer that hangs over the pond.

If the pond starts to be a big hassle and expense I'll turn it into a dry riverbed. It's a lovely feature, but I can see that it needs a lot of maintenance, and while I factored that in when I bought the house, this was unexpected! I'll give it a full calendar year before I decide, though, because the birds love it and it's lovely to watch them splashing around in the waterfall.

We ALWAYS turn our pump off overnight when we aren't there to clear the leaves. We live in the woods, so when leaves are falling we clean it out several times a day. But at night, it is turned off to avoid it clogging up. That might be a good compromise for you.

The pond maintenance firm I work with didn't think it was necessary but going forward I think it will have to be shut off at night in the Fall. I've looked at pricing and fortunately it wasn't an expensive pump so the cost will be mostly labour.

Ah, the joys of home ownership! My new garden has been a learning curve this year, and considering the exhaustion from the last year or so, it was inevitable that at least one thing would go wrong. I'll know better next year.

For sure this past year or so has been quite a trial. In the fall at least when leaves are falling, your pond maintenance firm should be aware that for a few weeks, the pump should be off at night and if you are away from home for several hours. We even turn ours off if we will be gone for the afternoon in the fall - especially if it's windy. By next year, you will have it all figured out!

Good afternoon everyone. Draclvr that Kenyan Special reserve was marvelous and the perfect companion to Connie's Bagels

Have a great day everyone

So, my pond guys came out just now and the problem was that the outdoor GFI had been tripped somehow. The pump is fine. I am going to have a skimmer put around it in the Spring, though. I'll still need to skim leaves out regularly, but I won't have to worry about the pump getting clogged overnight if there's a big leaf fall.

Awesome news! Nice simple fix. The GFI probably tripped when the pump started straining - which is what it's supposed to do. Excellent news and much cheaper too.

No kidding. I was getting ready for a big expense and I've had too many of those lately (the fridge needs replacing, for example). I like this firm. They come out right away, they're pleasant, and they charge very little for maintenance.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

New coffee maker this morning. I think I'm going to like it a lot! Even the Kenyan Special Reserve seems better. It has an option on one side for the single serve coffee/tea pods and came with a pod you can put your own coffee or tea in. I made two quick cups of my blood orange herbal tea last night. I've been lusting after it for several months, but they knocked down the price a lot for Black Friday sales and I pulled the trigger.

Trip to town for groceries and then running down to the horse rescue at 3:00 to pick up the caretaker's step-daughter from the bus. She is such a little sweetie - 8 years old and we have the nicest chats while I drive her the 1 1/2 miles down the gravel drive to her house at the Ranch. Yesterday it was all about how we both love to read. Her mom is so grateful, but I told her it was 10 whole minutes out of my day! She said Josh was going to make me something for Christmas because they were so appreciative. Got no idea what it is, so guess I have something to look forward to! I think today is the last day I have to pick her up.

Happy Tuesday!

I've been buying coffee beans from the local farm market here. They sell four different types of bean from a local roastery. I ran out of coffee today and the market isn't open, so I decided to go to the actual roastery here in town.

It was coffee heaven. They must have 50 different beans and roasts. They also have many teas. I had a fabulous cappuccino while I browsed the shelves. I've never browsed coffee beans before. It was quite the experience.

Instead of my usual, I bought two others to try; a medium roast from Brazil, billed as "mild, nutty, chocolate, very smooth," and an Indian Peaberry, billed as "sweet, floral, maple syrup and candied nuts." I can't wait to try one of them.

Also, their Assam Chai is wonderful, too. Now I don't have to order my chai from Victoria any more.

That sounds like sheer bliss, hagatha! I can just smell it! Out here in the country, we have no such thing, more's the pity.

I was so pleasantly surprised when I walked through the door. It's in a warehouse/ light industrial area, and I was expecting it to be a bit sad, but it's brand new and clean and modern and the coffee is about the best I've had anywhere. Vancouver Island is a very foodie area, especially between here and Courtenay/Comox. There's a lot of farm-to-market here, even in the big grocery stores.

Hagatha, sounds heavenly to me! Good food and good coffee... reasons to live.

Good morning, Danish Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning all. I woke early and it had nothing to do with cats for once. Lots of coffee for me this morning and then I'll spend some time in the garage. I have one more load of junk to be removed, I have abut 6 boxes of books for the library, and I have one or two runs to the Salvation Army Thrift store. Then I should be okay to put my car in the garage. It's already getting really cold at night so it's high time. I've been having my coffee in front of the fire lately while the house warms up.

Good morning. I was out of Kenyan Reserve, so put on a pot of the Aldi Fair Trade coffee. Oh, how I wish there was a coffee roastery in my area!

I will need to start putting my small truck in the garage soon too. I just have a couple of things to move so I can pull in. Hubby keeps his huge truck in the machine shed.

Nice sunny day ahead! Happy Wednesday!

I have some difficult decisions to make, too, in clearing the garage. John had several boxes full of slides, and while some of them are from his youth, and those I intend to keep in the house, the rest are from his pre-digital bird photography. There are literally thousands of them. I can't bring myself to get rid of them, but I'll never look at them, either, They'll go down into the crawl space and then my younger sister will curse me roundly when she comes to clean out my house after I'm gone. I just feel so sad that so much of him is in those slides that will never be seen again.

That's hard. I have found things like my 2nd husband's little voice recorder he used instead of taking notes. I had to throw it away - too painful. I asked his daughters first and none of them could bear it either.

Hagatha, I am sure that there would be plenty of takers for the bird photographs, perhaps even a natural history institution of some kind where they could be displayed.

Drac, it sounds like your next venture should be setting up a coffee roastery...

Have a good day everyone!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Lex, I will just have to wish for a coffee roastery out here in the middle of the woods!

Aldi Fair Trade coffee again this morning. My order of the Kenyan Special Reserve is running late.

Hubby ordered a batch of oatmeal craisen cookies today, so I guess I'll be baking cookies later! League bowling tonight.

Happy Thursday!

It's really cold this morning. While I wait for the house to heat up I'm putting on the fire and sitting with Willow, reading the news on my tab. She remembers when she was a kitten and I used to play bird videos for her on my tab; when she wants me to do that she'll come up and tap the tab and then my face. Who says cats can't talk? Both of them are once again frantic to go outside. Yesterday morning another cat came right up to the French doors and looked in. Dude just wants to go outside and be a little man defending his territory. I think Willow was hoping for another playmate.

Perhaps you have learned to speak "cat!" I always say I have learned how to speak "Bloodhound."

I've always felt my cats and I understood each other very well. Dude, not so much, but we're getting there.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! It's sure quiet in the break room today. That's OK... I'll just put on a pot of that German Fair Trade coffee and sneak out!

Connie, I had league bowling last night. I'm not a very good bowler, but I missed a 200 game by just a few pins the first game! Of course, my next game was a 135.

Another warm day here, but temps crashing to 25 degrees F tonight. And I just read in another thread that oldbroad is sending me a truckload of snow!

Date night tonight. Happy Friday!

Good morning. I'm swilling a quick last coffee and stuffing Willow into her carrier for a quick trip to the vet for a claw trimming. After that I'm going for a long walk in the 'hood, since it's a lovely day. Then it's off to the blind store to get a quote for a bathroom window blind and a blind for the bathroom skylight. The early morning light is going to be a huge problem soon.

Hello everyone; awhile back I mentioned we were having a snow storm, well that's all gone & today it's going up to 55F, I'll take that over snow anyday. Have a great day.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

OMG I think I'm hyperventilating. Just got my mail. Jury duty notice. I can't win! My weekend and the next 2 months are shot to H-E-L-L!

I can sympathize, Oldbroad. About 20 years ago I was given jury notice two weeks after I'd just started a new job. There was no way my new employer was going to tolerate that. I was able to get out of it for medical reasons, but I actually would have loved to sit on the jury for it. It was a criminal case and I was warned that it could go for months. Shortly thereafter a major court case started. It might have been that one.

I just got summoned in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I asked for a postponement until the end of February (which was granted), at which time I have ample reason to ask to be excused. Whatever they may think, the courthouse is 45 miles away and I have not had a car since the end of May. No bus to get there either - the times are all wrong. No way to get to the bus pickup station if there was a way, either.

I sympathize so much because it always sends me into a tailspin when I get summoned, worrying what they might do to me if they refuse to understand. This time I am determined not to be upset for weeks on end.

I would not mind serving if my circumstances were different, but I am not a magician and can't just appear there via teleportation.

I really don't care to serve again as I just don't believe in the system frankly, however, I just feel such dread and terror thinking about having to go there. I am not an outgoing active person like most of you here. I do not like talking in front of people or having people look at me. I flunked out of high school (for not giving oral reports) and have not been hired by jobs because of this. I have always hated telephone or face to face reception type work. I have always been afraid to try things. The first time I bowled it was with 3 male friends in high school (probably when we were supposed to be in class). One of the guys was my boyfriend. I made him go in the washroom before I would try it because I was embarrassed. I never learned to swim or drive or know another language for the same reason. Not wanting to go to jury duty is about a lot of this, and now I have a lot of stomach issues too (but no doctor for a medical excuse). I don't even know if I could make the journey there without embarrassing myself and a bus full of people. I'm not vaccinated (mostly also due to these reasons) and I am actually afraid to go anywhere these days because this city is rampant with crime right now. None of this is something the courts would understand. I may try to postpone it so I'm not going in mid December but I hesitate to do that for fear of getting more on their radar. This is just a "stand by" notice so maybe I would not have to go like last time but since I didn't have to last time, I figure I will this time. I know this probably all sounds stupid to most of you but this is me. I have not been able to change in all these years though I have tried at times.

They used to let you be excused if you were 65 or older; now it shows 70 (which I am not).

It doesn't sound stupid to me, ob. We all have our issues and I am no different. And although I am fairly active by no means am I outgoing - although I can put on an act when I need to.

I will be 70 years old in 16 months, so chances are the next time I am summoned, it will not present these difficulties. 70 seems to be the age here too in which you can excuse yourself without the need for additional paperwork.

I can also understand about being afraid to go due to crime - and especially this time of year, when it could be dark when you are done for the day. I can't drive at night, so this presents yet another problem for me. I am very nearsighted and now that I am older my night vision is just completely kaput.

Thank you Marian. Your words mean a lot to me! I am not very good at putting on an act and that is probably why I was picked for jury duty the one time. I was so nervous I just started babbling and blubbering and I think they liked that. Each time I would start a new job, I would try to let go of the phone/reception thing but I never really did. I never got used to it, never liked it, but my co-workers didn't know that it scared me and I hated it. I just always lacked confidence I guess, which is why I ended up staying at my last job for as long as I did even though I grew to absolutely hate it there. I didn't have the confidence to try to go somewhere else after awhile.

Sorry I can't do anything to really help, ob, but I am glad what I said helped a little. When I read about how you felt about your job, it reminded me of something I read once: that the unknown can be more frightening than the monster we have come to know. The "monster" in this case being your last job. Yes, I understand that too. Hopefully this latest summons will work out for the best. I know it's difficult, but try not to lose too much sleep over it in the meantime. Not at all easy, I know!

I hope everyone has a good weekend. And enjoy your weather, judith!

Good evening everyone ... the week has kept me busy ... which is good. Off to do dinner dishes and then it'll be time to call it a day.

T.G.I.F.

Oldbroad, I don't think ANY of this sounds stupid. To the contrary, it all sounds perfectly reasonable to me - from your perspective. And your perspective is the only one that counts. It just doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Your comfort zone does not include interactions with the public. I used to be that way to some extent believe it or not. I much prefer to be out of the public eye. But I got a job I loved - doing inspections out on my own - and slowly had to learn to interact with people. It wasn't easy for me, but I mastered it with some degree of success. Just because I sound like I am outgoing and in control now doesn't mean it was always like that. I wish I had some advice or help to offer, but I don't know exactly how I got to this place of confidence. The WORST thing you can do is think any of your issues are stupid because they are NOT!

This last time I got called for jury duty - which is simple for me logistics-wise - there were at least 6 or more people who said they were not capable of performing their jury duties and they were promptly dismissed. So the worst that can happen is that you will have to show up and say you can't and be sent home.

Thank you Draclvr. In my nervousness I don't even know what I'm saying half the time. Once I'm sure I would have been picked but I just lost it and started almost shouting "I don't know, I don't know" and waving my hands around and I was quickly dismissed then. I didn't do it on purpose. I really just couldn't handle the questions anymore. I've said weird things at, at least two wakes in the past too because I was nervous around all the people. Upset a friend of mine a little bit, though I certainly didn't mean to.

Oldbroad, it's not impossible that you have a social anxiety disorder. I have a 19 year-old grandson who struggles with it mightily. He wants to do college and it is not going well. He wants nothing more than to be "normal," but it's so hard for him. My son has considered taking 6 months of emergency family leave to help him deal with it. But he is making some slow but steady progress with the resources available at Colorado State University to provide the mental support he needs.

What I'm saying is that I understand more than you know. Frank tells me that having a weird grandma who doesn't send cookies, but sends him hot sauce helps enormously!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Drac, Congrats on your almost 200 game. Shopping is on the agenda today. Dinner and karaoke at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the weekend and hug someone.

Put the coffee on and now I'm headed off to do my morning Wordle. Another blessed day all to myself as hubby went hunting again this morning.

Cold and sunny this morning, but I'm waiting for that truckload of snow oldbroad was going to send me!

Happy Saturday!

Good morning all.

It's pretty cold here, too. I woke up at 4 am with the heat pump coming on, so I guess it's time to start putting the heat way down to 17 degrees at night. I'm enjoying a cup of coffee so strong and mild it tastes almost syrupy. Lovely.

It's a beautiful sunny day, and again I'll go for a walk once I've done my morning chores.

Then it's off to look for blinds for my bathroom skylight and some bookshelves. I can get them now because I had a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday-- my rebate cheque for the property taxes I paid for my Campbell River home this year. I had applied for deferment, which we can do here once we're 65, and then forgotten about it in the rush. Our property taxes in Campbell River were astronomical once the mill shut down, so it was a nice unexpected bonus. Seniors can defer the property taxes on their principal residence indefinitely until the property is sold, which is a real help.

Oldbroad, I suspect that you might be excused from jury duty on medical grounds, but even for that you may have to turn up and be sent home (as mentioned above): however it might be worth checking with the Court whether you can get a doctor's letter or certificate to send in.

Good afternoon everyone. Connie, I'll have an asiago bagel. Starbuck's French Roast, Lapsang Souchong tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Wishing everyone a wonderful Saturday. Some weekend chores are crossed off but I have miles to go before I sleep. I'll be back...

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Connie, I'm ready for a blueberry bagel this morning. Thanksgiving is just around the corner! Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

Since it's a rainy November day I'll spend some time in the garage. I keep thinking I'm close and then I find myself stymied by something heavy that I can't move. Right now there's a large wool carpet in the middle of the room and I can't even budge it. I'll have to keep chipping away at the edges.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning all.

Yesterday afternoon turned out to be lovely, so I went for my walk and then cleaned up leaves for a couple of hours. Today I think I'll go pick up a small power washer and a blower to to make the job easier. There are a LOT of leaves! Also, I'll need the power washer for next Spring, to clean up the pathways around the house and the covered back patio.

Had a dermatologist appointment this morning for a checkup, so good afternoon!

Kind of chilly and dreary here today, but we have gotten a smidgen of rain! Having a cup of peppermint herbal tea right now.

Two of my most treasured tools - after my electric tomato press, of course - are a battery powered blower and a power washer. Our blower is really high powered, so I can blast all my mulch back into the flower beds after the chickens have scratched it out. We don't do leaves out here in the country - especially since we are in the middle of the woods! When I lived in town for a few years, I just ran over mine with the lawn mower and let it mulch down into the grass.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!

I'll have a bagel and danish Connie. I brought a pot of Gerry's double dark roast, Scottish Breakfast Tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room.

Drac, I'm still working out just how much power my smallish chargeable mower has for mulching leaves. It's definitely ok for a small amount. I wouldn't even dream of sending it over a lot of the large maple leaves, though. Some of them are as big as dinner plates. I did my last mow today and I'm noticing that at least half my lawn is moss in some places. I'm tempted to just let that be.

The Sea lions are barking like crazy today.

It seems that the neighbour's cat likes to come over and peer through the French doors every morning now. Not sure how to deal with that, but I'm not happy about being woken up. It might be in for the shock of its life if I opened the doors and sicced two cats on it. Willow is a lazy girl but she's BIG.

Good morning everyone. Dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Looking forward to Connie's bagels later this morning. Hagatha, you have a new neighbourhood friend...I assume the cats are talking to each other which wakes you up?

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Boomers! Have an excellent day!

Good morning. I'm so glad to see your Kona coffee, soot! I had some real Kona once... Hawkavonpuka, a member here and at Mystery Manor and who has passed away, sent me some from Hawaii once! It was amazing. In return, I sent her a box full of my dehydrated garlic, ground chipotle and a bunch of other stuff. I still miss her.

I came downstairs this morning to both the cats sitting intently by my desktop computer which sits on the a little roller cart on the floor next to my desk. I pulled it aside and there was a little mouse. There was no way for me to catch it, so I just left the cats to their own devices. Now they are chasing the poor little soul around the living room. I don't want mice in my house to poop on everything, but I feel sorry for the little thing.

Got my turkey out to start thawing in the refrigerator yesterday.

Have fun bowling tonight, Connie! I'm off this week because of Thanksgiving.

Happy Tuesday!

Good to see you, SQ! Hope things are okay.

Drac, I had the same situation a couple of weeks ago, only it was one cat and one very small mouse. Not sure what actually happened after that, whether my cat took care of it for me or whether the mouse found its way out. We did not find any mouse droppings anywhere. Happily it was resolved quite quickly.

I hope everyone has a good day.

I took some books to the Nanoose Bay library for their dollar shelves and then packed up my car for a donation run to the Salvation Army Thrift store in Parksville. Wow. Nothing like the one in Campbell River. This one didn't provide parking for drop-offs near their loading bay and when I went in the front door to ask about it the woman at the till, who had exactly one customer in the store to watch, was so rude I just left. I'll try the one in Nanaimo instead. Otherwise I'll just have the junk collectors swing by; they will sort out the good stuff and donate it anyway, and they don't charge much to haul it.

We're back into wind and rain after a few lovely days. I'd better get my stationary bike up and running for the winter so I don't turn into a marshmallow.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. I will be off to Ozello with my youngest and his wife tomorrow morning. We will be home on Sunday. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! Have a wonderful time with your family for Thanksgiving, Connie!

Hallelujah! We get to stay home and have Thanksgiving dinner alone tomorrow! My DIL - step-son's wife - is so sweet and always invites us to their house where she hosts her family. But her father is the most insufferable selfish person I have ever met. Her brother is hosting dinner this year because they have a brand new grandchild. Her dad is furious they aren't going to his house - and my DIL would do all the cooking - that he is refusing to go because it "inconveniences" him. So, we don't have to endure this horrid person and can have a nice peaceful meal tomorrow. YAY!

Doing some prep work for the meal tomorrow and will brine the turkey tonight. I always look forward to cooking this meal.

Glad you have more resources for donations, hagatha. Chipping away at all that stuff can be so frustrating. If I could get my husband to get rid of ANYTHING, I'd be doing it now!

Happy Wednesday!

Good morning all.

I'm putting together my list for the second day of handyman work around here.

First I need to buy some shelves for the study. I was looking at nice wooden bookcases in a couple of local stores but honestly, IKEA sells such inexpensive shelving I think I'll go that route and just have the handymen set it up for me. I'd do it myself but the units come with a cut for a 3.5" baseboard and my house has 5" baseboards. Eventually my desk will arrive -- I hope. It's been back-ordered for months now and I think if it gets bumped again I'll cancel the order and get something else. I need to get my computer and all this paper off my kitchen island.

Good afternoon everyone. HI SQL ... hope all is well at your end. Drac, I've had Kona coffee a number of times when traveling through Hawaii...yes indeed, it's marvelous! And congratulations on your quiet Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Best wishes for your home upgrades Hagatha...it'll be nice when all done. I am done for the rest of the week and will enjoy the time off. Connie, enjoy the trip and have fun ... are there any bagels left? Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I will be on my way shortly. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Connie, have fun and be safe...I'll have a Danish this morning. Dark roast Kona coffee and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US!

It's just me, hubby 14 pounds of turkey and 2 bottles of wine today, just the way we like it! I brined my turkey last night and just put a pumpkin pie in the oven in the garage. I love cooking this meal.

The Kona coffee is perfect this morning while I'm cooking, soot! Have a wonderful day with your family, Connie!

Good morning.

Draclvr, that sounds wonderful. For the last few years John and I eschewed the big celebration at our house and had a modest turkey dinner for two. Far more relaxing, and we still got to enjoy the turkey with all of the other goodies that go with it.

After yet another dawn chorus I just ordered a white noise machine. All of the advice you hear out there is to ignore the meowing and the cat will get the message after a while. Too funny. The experts have not met my Willow. She's the most stubborn animal I have ever known. It's not even necessarily about food, since I started using automatic feeders a while ago. She just...wants me to get up.

Today should be my last day of leaf raking. I find I quite enjoy it. It's good exercise, too. After that I'll clean around all of the exterior door and window frames, which are covered in spider webs and other detritus. I'll tackle the windows tomorrow if I have time.

Hagatha, Willow sounds like a very talkative and personalbe cat...hope you complete your leaf raking exercise today. Enjoy the quiet time Draclvr! I'm on dish duty today...which is OK as I get to listen to my music.

Thanksgiving is not a thing over here but I had some American beer with some friends for the occasion

That's close enough, Fogfighter!

Dan, Willow is adorable. She sits on my lap and presses her cold nose up against my nose, and then licks my face. I'm pretty sure she does this to stop me from being mad at her. It's her M.O. with Dude, too. Whenever he gets mad at her for being a jerk she flops over onto her back and looks completely innocent. She is a master manipulator.

Happiest Thanxgiving to ALL

Good morning everyone. I've got turkey sandwiches, bagels, donuts, dark roast Sumatra coffee and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room.

Happy Black Friday to one and all! turkey turkey...

Good morning! It's Black Friday and everyone is so excited, right?! Even back in the day, I never got the "appeal" of getting up at the a**-crack of dawn to fight other shoppers for deals. Now it looks like more of a Hunger Games ordeal! Not for me...

I'll take a nice quiet day of no cooking and fabulous leftovers!

Happy Friday! Hope you are enjoying your long weekend, Dan!

I cannot understand why people stand in line outside when you can just order stuff on line.

EDIT: I'm drinking the Brazilian coffee I bought the other day. It's very nice but I wouldn't want it to be my regular coffee; it's very chocolatey, almost like drinking hot chocolate or mocha. It's also very sweet. Nice as a speciality treat.

You and me both Draclvr! I am thoroughly enjoying the time off.

Yes Hagatha, I don't understand the need to stand in line either

...turkey, jellied cranberry sauce, xtra mayo sandwiches today!!

I was never one to stand in line for whatever was being offered at a reduced price !!
Even before the advent of on-line shopping
I would rather do without ....

I remember being with my grandfather one day when he was reading the newspaper. An ad was telling him that he could save 50% if he shopped at a certain store that weekend. He said, "Well, I'm going to save 100% - I'm not even going to go down there."

Yep!

A wise grandfather!

Very wise indeed Marian

Marian, that sounds like my grandfather!

*Drac sneaks into the break room because it's so quiet*

Oh, yeah, everyone is either in a food coma, enjoying their time off or visiting with friends after Thanksgiving! I think this morning needs one of the coffee pod makers so we can just make a quick single cup and sneak back out!

Happy Saturday!

Good morning and Happy Saturday everyone! Drac, I think you hit the nail squarely on the head

Green Mountain Dark Roast coffee pods, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room.

Take care all!

It's cleaning day around here, plus maybe putting up a couple of pictures. My sister and her partner are visiting tonight. I was going to wash the windows but it's a dark and gloomy day so the dirt and cobwebs aren't visible. I think I'll leave them for another day.

I was getting ready for some therapeutic leaf raking after all the mentions on here, but the wind has actually cleared most of the leaves, leaving a couple of small neat piles in corners of a paved area: I have never seen nature dealing with falling leaves so tidily!

Wish our wind would push the leaves into nice piles. Mostly the wind blew leaves into my pond and all over the lawn. I'm steadfastly ignoring the fact that my leaves are all over the road, too.

Once they're on the road, they're not yours any more! They "ran away from home!"

I'm with Drac on that one!

Hope you all have a restful day to continue to recover from all that over indulgence...

... and on the subject of food and drink you may find this article of interest https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#i...LLjWwZqxcWtkChCgLJDPMgbjTmwVJXzmmWMcspZQ

Good morning everyone and Happy Sunday to one and all.

Lex, your link is not to an article but to Google Mail

Dark roast Kona coffee, English breakfast tea, bottled Fiji water and an assortment of Panera Bread bagels this morning.

Have a wondereful Sunday

Good morning!

Lex, that link just took me to my Gmail account.

Cold and drizzly outside here. Good day to stay inside and do some gaming! Having a video chat with our family in Germany at noon.

Happy Sunday!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. I had a wonderful time with my son and his wife. We went to an Alpaca farm, they used to show them. Now they are a rescue. The Alpacas come right up and nudge you looking for treats, you can go right in with them. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Double dark roast, breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Connie, glad you had a wonderful trip. Enjoying another day off today. Have a great Connie, Draclvr and everyone else who drops in.

I had big plans for today but woke up feeling completely worn out. I might struggle down to the store later for food. Otherwise, I feel a day of TV coming on.

Enjoy the time off Hagatha ... you earned it

Nothing wrong with a day off, hagatha. And have more than one if you feel the need

I rather enjoy what I call a "slug day" for myself now and then! Just catching up on laundry here today. Had to venture out into the cold to pick up the horse Ranch caretaker's step-daughter from the bus. It's just 3/4 mile down the road and another 1 1/2 miles back to the Ranch, so it only takes me a few minutes. I usually get to hear all the 2nd grade chatter about her day! She's such a sweet little kid.

One more venture out into the cold to feed the barn cats later and I'm in for the night.

I've spent much of the day on the couch with Willow. Dude will sit with us, but not for very long. He's still pining to go outside.

I just got some terrible news from a couple I've known for 48 years, since I was in university. He has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She tells me he has chosen not to get treatment and has opted for MAID. And last week another old friend told me her cancer had returned. I was hoping I'd get a chance to visit them in Winnipeg once my life calmed down a bit more. I'm really sick of cancer.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room, Hagatha, I'm so sorry about your friend's cancer. I"m really sick of cancer too. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Count me in as sick of cancer. I've buried a husband, a father and far too many close friends.

I've got time to put on a pot of Kenyan Special Reserve before I head in town to the grocery store. Doing the shopping for my cooking marathon Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. I cater a breakfast for the volunteers at the horse rescue Ranch every December. This makes my 10th year doing it and we have over 40 people signed up - the most ever! I pretty much have it down to a science and do everything ahead of time. On Saturday morning I just bake - luckily I have a stove out in the garage too. New recipe this year - Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast!

Happy Tuesday!

This is the article for foodies to which I tried to provide a link a couple of days ago, but for more you have to subscribe to her Spectator newsletter (or at least take up there free trial...)
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-doughnuts-took-over-my-life/?

Doughnuts, butter cows and cafe culture

Sat, 25 Nov, 10:30 (3 days ago)

Spectator Life
The Take Away
Food, drink and recipes
By Olivia Potts


Welcome to The Take Away, The Spectator’s food and drink newsletter. Every fortnight I’ll bring you recommendations straight to your inbox, focusing on the best things to eat, drink, try, read and listen to from The Spectator and beyond.

My most recent Vintage Chef recipe is all about doughnuts. Proper doughnuts: dough stamped into rings, fried and then coated in sugar or dunked in a simple vanilla glaze. It’s made me think about the kind of places you find these doughnuts. It’s impossible to smell a freshly fried doughnut, or bite into one, the soft glaze cracking and giving way to the plump, sweet dough beneath, and not be transported to a funfair. Like roasted chestnuts and Christmas markets, or vinegary chips and the seaside, doughnuts and the fair are inextricably linked.

I am not a little obsessed with US state fairs, which feel like the doughnut’s spiritual home. These started as agricultural fairs (a little like our county shows) designed to showcase and boost the economies of local farms and dairies, but they soon grew into enormous tourist attractions, must-stops on would-be politicians’ baby-kissing tours.

Dan Solomon’s piece from 2017, ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy of the State Fair Food Finalists’, gives a taste of some of the most common edible offerings, while Meghan McCarron examines the food at Iowa’s state fair in this brilliant article for Eater.

Fairs may provide more than than classic fried dough now, but deep-frying remains the king of the cooking techniques: the Texas State fair is the domain of Abel Gonzales Jr, sometimes called ‘fried Jesus’. Gonzales made his name with a fried PB&J sandwich, but since then has also come up with fried cola, fried beer, and fried butter.

The latter may be the most remarkable, but in a way, it’s a logical conclusion to state fair excess: like the fairs themselves, butter sculptures of cows originated as a celebration of the dairy industry, but soon morphed into a celebration of Americana, getting bigger and wilder every year. For Norma ‘Duffy’ Lyon, butter sculpture was a lifelong vocation. She has created butter Elvis, butter Harry Potter, butter ‘American Gothic’, butter ‘Last Supper’ – alongside the classic butter cow that tradition demands. Lyon died in 2017, but her legacy lives on in the form of her apprentice, Sarah Pratt. Pratt revealed that the sculptures are broken down at the end of the fair, and the butter is reused year-on-year, meaning that it smells rather like blue cheese when she’s working with it. So it’s probably for the best that we have people like Gonzales ensuring that the millions of state fair visitors have something more palatable to eat while they’re there.

Each newsletter, I ask Jonathan Ray for the perfect wine match for my recipe. For doughnuts, he recommends Shepherd Neame Double Stout, 5.2% vol, (£4.50 per 50cl; Noble Green Wines):

‘I reckon that doughnuts as tasty as these are best enjoyed warm from the rack just as the glaze sets but is still a bit gooey. I’m thinking mid-morning, a bit too early for wine but a bit too late for yet another coffee. I toyed seriously with the idea of a rum-infused hot chocolate as the best match but opted instead for what I crave most come 11 a.m.: a fine beer. Having grown up in God’s chosen county of Kent, I was weaned on the beers and ales of Shepherd Neame, Britain’s oldest brewer, founded in 1698 and still family owned. There isn’t a dud in their range, with Bishop’s Finger Kentish Strong Ale and Spitfire Amber Ale probably the best-known. This immaculately crafted stout, though, based on a long-hidden coded recipe from the 19th century, is probably my favourite. With a wonderful, complex malty character – think Ovaltine with a kick – decent alcohol and plenty of mocha, roast coffee and bitter chocolate notes and a rich burnt caramel sweetness to it, it might be a surprising match for these scrumptious doughnuts but (trust me) it works a treat!’

Thanks, Lex! I've been curious about this since you first tried to post it. There can be a box of donuts in the kitchen at the Ranch and I will walk right by it. The only donuts I like are warm fresh cake donuts with NO glaze or sprinkles!

I am now curious about those beers from Kent!

I agree; doughnuts are meant to be eaten straight out of the oven. John had a craving for jelly doughnuts in his last months and I had a standing order with the local bakery for a half dozen every two days. I'd pick them up still warm. I don't often eat them, but those were delicious.

The first time I lived in Ireland, the nearest town had a truly fabulous baker’s shop which served up 21 different types of fresh bread daily AND in the main window had a working machine which prepared and cooked fresh “American Doughnuts” whilst you watched

So you could walk in and wait for a few to be ready and then take them away to eat - piping hot - and they were extremely delicious !!

Needless to say my little Daughter and I were frequent customers

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Chilly here this morning. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

Got the pot of Kenyan Special Reserve brewing. Looking forward to that first cup of coffee in my heated mug.

Hagatha, I meant to ask you about MAID. I know it's legal in Canada and wish they would make it legal here as well. Does a physician have to be involved?

It's so windy here and with the cold temps makes it miserable.

Happy Wednesday!

Draclvr, MAID has a couple of steps. First, the patient makes an application, which is reviewed by, I believe, two doctors. The approval process takes about two weeks. Once it is approved, there is no set time limit -- it is up to the patient to decide when it is time. The procedure itself is very clinical, with a doctor arriving on the day. It's fast and painless, by all accounts.

Hello everyone. Draclvr, that pot of Kenyan Special Reserve is a savior for me today...ended up taking the day off to get dental work started. Hagatha, sorry to hear about your friend. Connie, are there any cinnamon crunch bagels left? Have a wonderful day everyone.

Thanks, Hagatha. The idea of autonomy for decisions like this is so wonderful.

MAID is a hugely divisive issue and our legislature (Tynwald) is currently debating the introduction of a law allowing it here. Leaving aside religious objections, the autonomy of decision is attractive, but the difficulty is providing sufficient safeguards to prevent over-hasty choices and the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Going back to doughnuts, I remember growing up in rural Africa and an Italian opening a small bakery near our house: on the first day he was giving away freshly made ring doughnuts to make his presence known - no glaze, just a dusting of sugar - fantastic!

Have a good day everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning. Stayed up too late reading again... my favorite thing to do since I retired!

Put on the Kenya Special Reserve and am settling in with coffee and my morning Wordle. Then I'll start with as much of the food prep I can do today for the brunch Saturday. Most will be done tomorrow, but there are a few things I can do today like make the sausage gravy for the biscuits.

Night off from league bowling tonight which is good since I will be so busy tomorrow!

Happy Thursday!

Lex, that discussion about vulnerable people is also taking place here. Our law doesn't adequately cover grey areas.

We're having a rainy, slow morning. I've been waking a but later, thanks to a white noise machine I finally bought in desperation. It does seem to help me sleep through Willow's 5 a.m. rendition of "Il gatto sta morendo."

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

This really made me smile!

Happy Friday, everyone.

Hagatha, that made me smile too!

I got a lot done yesterday, but the marathon of food prep begins today. Got a final count yesterday of 45 people. Yikes! Have to up my game a bit and get out the bread maker to do a couple batches of cinnamon rolls!

Wish me luck! I'm going in, not to emerge until tomorrow afternoon!

Happy Friday!

That's a lot of people to feed, Draclvr! I'm going to a potluck next week and need to work out what to make. I'm thinking of an Indian dal curry with vegetables, and maybe a pot of Basmati rice with peas and spices. The host is vegetarian, so I thought I'd run with that.


I have the white noise machine set to "Rain" because it can be set very loud and still feel natural for sleeping. Some of the other settings are weird; who could sleep to the sounds of a foetal heartbeat? Or a tap dripping.? I can get behind Ocean Waves and Gentle Waves, and maybe even Thunderstorm, but Train? Or Music Box? Or, the weirdest of all, "Shush," which is literally someone saying "Shhhhhhhh." over and over? Anyway, I think it must be working since I'm actually sleeping to a normal time.

Hagatha, I think perhaps you should be selecting a noise or finding a potion to make Willow sleep or at least be quiet at 5 am... how about a recording of your own voice and/or a timed food dispenser?

I am having a techie time here moving to Sky Stream and trying out Nvidia GeForce Now to avoid having to get a new gaming machine

Have a good weekend everyone!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Dinner and Trivia at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Connie, I'll have an Asiago bagel this morning with coffee...thanks. Hagatha, we set our white noise machine to "Rain" also to drown out the external noise. Good luck with your move Lex. Hope you get to enjoy the day Draclvr.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

I think I'll go to the Christmas Bazaar at the local library later this morning, after I finish my coffee and clean up the house. There are a number of artists and artisans in the area and they'll probably be showing some of their work.

Good afternoon! Well, I survived another cooking marathon for the horse rescue... no need to send out a search party! Served almost 50 people and it was all really good. Got the first dishwasher load going. Thanks for that dark roast Kona coffee, soot. Just what I need to sit down and relax. Need to mop my kitchen floors, but that will have to wait until later.

That Christmas Bazaar sounds wonderful, hagatha. Have fun at trivia tonight, Connie!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Shopping is on the agenda today. After shopping going to get a live Christmas Tree for the porch. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Connie and everyone else who gets the chance to take a break. French roasty coffee, breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Connie, I'll have a danish this morning with coffee.
Hagatha, how was your visit at the Christmas Bazaar yesterday? Draclvr, do you have help with your cooking marathons?

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

The Bazaar was fun. I didn't buy anything but it was nice to get and have a look at what the local artists are doing.

I'm off to Qualicum today for lunch with a friend. it is an absolutely awful day, very high winds.

Good morning! So nice to walk into the break room and have that French roasty coffee ready and waiting this morning. I REALLY slept in - I think I was tired!

Soot, no, I do all the food prep and cooking myself. Everything is home made, except that I do use my bread machine to make the dough for my cinnamon rolls. But Saturday morning when I'm cooking everything, that's when hubby jumps in and starts putting the casseroles into big beer coolers and loading up all the crock pots into the truck. Luckily, the trip down to the Ranch is only about 1 mile and there are lots of people to help unload.

The coolest tool I use is an apple peeler from about 1875! I can peel 5 pounds of apples in two minutes!

Antique Apple Peeler

Only thing I have on the schedule today is to vacuum and mop my floors. After 3 days of neglect, the cat and dog hair is epic!

Happy Sunday!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning... I'm early! So, I'll put on the coffee to go along with Connie's goodies.

Plumbers are coming first thing this morning to install a new toilet in the downstairs bathroom. The old one is one of those horrid things with a seat about 2 feet off the floor. Hubby is going to have a knee replacement in the near future and he decided to put in one of those high-rise toilets to make it easier for him - he's 6' 6" tall. I've wanted to do it for years, so I rejoiced when he said to get a new one.

Finally all caught up with dishes and filthy floors after the cooking marathon. So, guess I'll head for the laundry.

Happy Monday!

After to day's junk/donations pickup I think I might be able to put my CRV in the garage! It will be strange; I'm so used to pulling into the little parking area on the side of the garage and doing a four-point turn to face out. Also, tomorrow my office desk finally arrives. Once that's in place I can get the contractors in to put my IKEA shelves together and and put up what will be my new TV and that should finally be that. All I need now is a small filing cabinet for current papers.

It's another very windy, very rainy day. I'm staying in and watching Netflix with the cats.

More progress, hagatha! I've cleared out our garage so I can put my truck inside. When the weather is awful, it's so much easier to unload groceries inside rather than in the winter weather. Plus, no iced up windshield!

I'm looking forward to being able to unload into the garage, especially on a day like this. It's raining so hard that even Dude has realized he doesn't want to go outside, and that's saying something! In fact, it's raining so hard I think my pond might overflow. I'm pretty sure the previous owners would have put some drainage around the pond; they were very detail-oriented.

EDIT: Woohoo! Vehicle in the garage!

I think it's the first time there's ever been a vehicle in that garage. The floor is absolutely clean, no oil marks or grunge anywhere. The previous owners had their cars parked out in the parking area when I viewed the house, and the garage was absolutely empty. It's almost a shame to muck it up.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! Well, sort of - I'm really late this morning... started a new book last night.

You won't care about a little muck when you don't have to go out in nasty weather to use your car, hagatha!

Heading to town to do a little grocery shopping. Have fun bowling tonight, Connie!

Happy Tuesday!

I'll need to get a dehumidifier in the garage because for the foreseeable future I have to keep my big filing cabinet out there. It's full of older papers that I have to keep in case of a tax audit.

My desk finally arrives today, which means I can get my laptop and papers off the kitchen island and into the office.

Hello Boomers, hope you are all well! Sorry it's been a while. Everyone here is doing okay healthwise except for hubby who can now barely walk at all. All down to the effects of the chemo which destroyed nerves. He still hasn't had any word about his follow-up appt which was due to take place last month. I have been trying to get in touch with his oncologist but no joy. Even tried phoning his secretary with the same result.

Grandson and DIL are both back at work, DIL full time and Grandson on phased return. DIL didn't need any chemo or radiotherapy and they will monitor her closely for the next five years. Grandson still gets very fatigued which is to be expected but he is happy to be back at work.

Looking forward to Christmas although it will be just the two of us to cook for. We will see the family at some point during the day.

Must try to drop by more often but there are days when I can't face talking to anyone, not even family. I'm hoping this resolves in time.

Take care everyone, and much love!

Mary

Nice to see you MsMercury.

MsMercury, we are always here when you feel like dropping in. Like oldbroad said, it's just nice to see you! Pretty good news about your DIL and grandson... You and your hubby have definitely faced some challenges.

It is good to see you here, Mary.

Mary, it's so nice to hear from you. I'm sorry that your husband is having trouble walking. My John, with the cancer in his sacrum, also could barely walk once the nerves were damaged, and he ended up using a cane or a walker just to get around, even in the house. It's such a challenge.

It is good to hear that your other family members are doing well, though. I'm sure that's a big relief for you. Stay well, and do come by when you have the energy.

Mary it's so good to see you here, big hugs. Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Music bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Always good to hear from you, Mary 🌺🌺🌺 Take care now.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Manicure and lunch with a friend today. Karaoke at CVI tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Looks like it was pretty empty in the Break Room this morning! My internet blipped out for several hours.

Have a great Thursday! League bowling for me tonight.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Karaoke at Hacienda tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning connie, Draclvr, Mad, hagatha, Marian, oldbroad, Mary and everyone else who gets the chance to take a break. Hawaiian dark roast Kona coffee, breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Connie, I'll have a danish this morning with coffee. Wonderful to hear from you Mary.

It's getting cold so a nice hot dark roast sounds about right for the day.. We're expecting snow tonight or tomorrow.

Didn't make it to the break room this morning. Had to take hubby to the eye doctor for another eye injection and he can't see well enough to drive home. We usually go out to eat on Friday nights, but when the meds wore off, his eye was pretty sore. So, I thawed out a package of chili I had frozen a month or so ago. Perfect!

Hagatha, we hit 70 degreed F here today. Just unnatural - I'd really prefer your cold weather.

Think I'll do a little gaming tonight!

I was going to do some gaming but instead spent an hour blowing catnip bubbles for the felines. Willow loves them. Dude? Ran away and hid.

My house is really quite cold. Not impressed with the heat pump. The pump itself is quiet but the blower/furnace combo is so loud nobody can sleep with it on. I'm actually going to set the fireplace to come on when the house hits 18 degrees C so the heat doesn't come on early in the morning and wake me up. I've had a heating company out here twice and I've been told both times that the system is working the way it's supposed to. I was of the understanding that the furnace shouldn't come on unless it's too cold for the pump, but this system apparently doesn't work that way. I just can't imagine anyone sleeping through the noise. I'd rather just have a furnace and air conditioner. At least those can be turned down and up again. Anyway, it's the one big disappointment I have with this place. When the heat pump wears out, which could be in three or four years, I might just change the system altogether.

I would heartily agree with replacing the whole thing with a real furnace and AC when it dies. Nothing is better than heating and cooling that actually work for YOU. One of the things we have that I love is a gas fireplace. I can turn it on with a remote and curl up on the couch with my book and a glass of wine and be cozy and warm. When I go to bed, I just turn it off.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Shopping is on the agenda today. I love my fireplace. Christmas Party at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! Made it to the Break Room in time to put on the coffee for a change.

I'm putting up our Christmas tree today. I've put it off because this is our first Christmas without our 16 year old cat Pita. She is the reason I have all plastic ornaments and was not allowed to have a toilet paper holder! My favorite picture of her is in the middle of the tree calmly looking out at me... Our other two cats completely ignore the tree!

Happy Saturday!

I foiled the heat pump last night by placing a little oil space heater in the kitchen, about twelve feet from the main thermostat. The hallway remained warm and the heat didn't come on in the night. The added bonus is that because the hallway was warm already, I only had to turn up the heat by 2 degrees C. Perhaps what i need to do is put a small electric baseboard heater somewhere near the thermostat, so I can control what's going on.

We're having a nasty gale this morning, not the expected snow but a foul blowy wet day. My friend in Campbell River tells me there's a massive winter storm up there. This is a good day to curl up with Netflix or maybe play a game.

John and I stopped having a tree when we had our cat Rachel. She would not leave the tree alone and it became a disaster zone, with the tree falling over and ornaments broken.

Good afternoon everyone. The coffee and bagels are wonderful Draclvr & Connie. Sounds like a good day to stay inside for sure hagatha. I used to anchor our Christmas tree with guy wires when we had kids and cats...worked wonders for keeping the tree upright. And then with our labs we had to keep ornaments high enough out of tail wagging range. Chores, projects and some game time this afternoon.
Have a great weekend everyone

Gale force winds here, today, along with even MORE of the endless rain of the last few weeks. Awful

So it's really nice to visit the warm and snug Break Room !!

That sounds dreadful, Mad. I don't mind the rain but the wind is something else altogether!

We have had very little rain so far, but it's getting awfully cold in the mornings. I have been waking up to 20 degrees.

Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend.

Oh, we’ve had some of that cold, too, Marian. And LOTS of ice. But only sprinkles of snow, thankfully

The “seasons” seem to be disappearing altogether !!
(Summer turns to Winter and back again to Summer with very little of Spring or Autumn )

And then there were the floods

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. The Christmas Party was a huge success, a good time was had by all. Today I will hopefully finish my Christmas shopping. The Pouncer, my orange tabby likes to pull the ornaments of the tree. He likes to bat the ornament hangers around, I find them in strange places all year. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone and Happy Sunday to one and all! French dark roast coffee, Scottish breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. The weekend is still keeping me occupied with chores and projects. Enjoyed a DnD session yesterday and might catch a movie later this afternoon or evening. currently enjoying a light rain fall as we really need the water. Take care everyone and have a wonderful Sunday.

Good morning. It smells so good here in the break room this morning!

Connie, when I was "trying" to vacuum up all the cat hair yesterday, I found an ornament that Pita had batted into a corner under the couch last Christmas! Had to have a little sniffle over it. She is why all my ornament are now plastic!

Not much on the agenda today. Cold, but sunny. We sure could use some of your rain here, soot.

Happy Sunday!

More rain. Yesterday's storm brought down some small branches and a ton of leaves from my Wisteria, so I'd better get out there and clean the pond again. But first, some of that nice coffee.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! Put the coffee on for other late arrivals. Another night staying up much too late reading!

Other than a trip to town to deposit my farm rent checks, don't have much on the agenda. Got the tree decorated yesterday. Need to get the smallish gifts for the Colorado grandkids wrapped, so I might do that today too. I want to take them with us when we fly out to Denver Friday. My oldest grand daughter is graduating from college on Saturday! Pretty excited for her!

Happy Monday!

I had a nice day gaming. I have noticed that as I get older, I can't sit all day -- my legs swell up and I get cramps in my legs and feet at night. I've been hopping on my e-bike a couple of times a day just for a 15-minute ride, and it makes a huge difference. For that reason I've put my bike in my office so there's no excuse for "forgetting." I also chase Dude up and down the long hallway a few times a day; he loves it and it seems to keep him calmer.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Christmas shopping done, will wrap next week. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning. Just popping in to put the coffee on and then heading for the laundry.

Hagatha, the vision of you chasing Dude up and down the hallway made me laugh! Have fun bowling tonight, Connie!

Happy Tuesday!

Draclvr, he'll get Willow going sometimes, but she really wants to play hide/ambush instead of running games, so I'm the substitute runner. He starts shouting and races past my office a couple of times just to let me know that the game is on.

I'm off to shop for some goodies to make appetizers; I've been invited to a neighbourhood party down the road. I have to say, this is a really friendly neighbourhood.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! Just popped in to put on the coffee.

Just doing all the last minute things to get ready for our trip out to Colorado over the weekend. Laundry is done, so today will tidy up around the house. I hate being gone and coming home to a messy house. It can be messy while I'm home, but not when I walk in after several days! Getting the Christmas gifts for the grandkids wrapped so we can take them with us.

When I got up this morning, I saw 4 deer grazing in the pasture and a huge red tailed hawk high up in a tree. Cool!

Happy Wednesday!

I'm definitely sleeping better since I bought my sound machine and started using the oil heater near the thermostat. I can't hear Willow in the morning, and the heat pump doesn't come on at night and wake me up. I suspect my heating bills will be a bit higher, but that little heater really heats the area. The house only drops 1.5 degrees C overnight. The other advantage is that I don't have to crank up the heat in the morning. Just a degree or so more and the house is nice and warm.


I think I'll start putting out songbird feeders. If I move the hooks to hang under the gazebo I won't have a problem with seeds sprouting, and it will give the cats something to look at. I haven't been feeding hummingbirds this year. There is a shortage of white sugar and the stores are limiting it. I'll grab a bag each time I go out and hopefully by the time we have a really bad cold snap I'll have enough to start feeding them. The Anna's start nesting and breeding in January.

Have a great family visit, Draclvr !!

Good afternoon everyone. Draclvr, the coffee was marvelous with connie's bagels ... what a marvelous sighting of deer this morning, I enjoy our squirrels, chipmunks and birds ... best wishes in packing for the trip. Connie, have fun at Bingo tonight. Good to hear you are sleeping better hagatha. Hey ho Mad...hope you had a good day and get a good night's sleep!

No deer here but not long ago a squirrel tried to attack me (or maybe was trying to get into my open door) while I was checking the mailbox and last week a raccoon was going in and out of our garbage can and then moved to the garage roof.

I didn't call about jury duty. Today would have been the day. I suppose I'll hear from them in a month or so (if I was supposed to go).

Oh, raccoons... cute, but SO destructive!

I'm sure they will find you about the jury duty in due time. I saw several people get out of it the day I had to go. They were very generous about letting people get out of it.

I went to a neighbourhood party tonight, the fellow who lives just across the road from me. I met about 25 of my neighbours (some I had already met but never really had a chance to talk). What a great bunch of people. This place is paradise. Anyway, I now have three people to walk with, and probably a lot more once Christmas is over.

Good morning, everyone dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the break room have a great day. Looking forward to a bagel or 2 Connie.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning. I love popping in to the Break Room and smelling coffee and donuts! Just grabbing a cup of that Kona coffee and sitting down to my morning Wordle game.

Hagatha, your neighborhood does sound like a paradise of friends and neighbors!

Packing for the trip tomorrow. Flight isn't until 1, so we don't have to leave super early. It's about a 1 hour drive to the airport in St. Louis. My son shared the plans for the weekend yesterday. We will all drive up to Ft. Collins tomorrow night - a little over an hour drive - because grand daughter wants to go out to her favorite Japanese restaurant. Hubby is pretty apprehensive about that, but he will just have to try something new! As long as there is more than sushi - which I loathe - I'm OK. Then we will drive back to Denver. Saturday, we will drive back up to Ft. Collins for the graduation ceremony, which will thankfully be small - just her degree program. Which is Micro-Biology something with a bunch of big words behind it! I studied a lot of biology, chemistry etc., in college getting my degree in Wildlife Biology, but NOTHING like she has! We are very proud of her.

Happy Thursday! 

Drac, I remember when I lived in Denver, the locals often referred to Ft. Collins as Ft. California, due to the influx of folks from California moving in.

Congratulations to your granddaughter, and I hope you have a good trip!

Happy Thursday, everyone.

LOL, Marian! My son says Denver has become kind of a little California too with the influx of people from California moving in. He said they are used to paying insane amounts of money for cracker box homes there, so are delighted to run up the cost of real estate in Denver to astronomical heights!

I lived in Denver back in the 90s and most certainly could not afford to live there now. It was before the housing prices started to go sky high.

Even way back then, though, after a couple of days of having moved there, I had another driver, seeing my California license plates, lean out his window and yell at me to go home. It was a relief to get those California plates off my car and have the Colorado ones on it instead. Yikes.

House prices here are utterly insane. My place in Campbell River more than doubled in price in 8 years. Back then when we bought that place I could never have imagined paying what I did for my current home. It's lovely, but, sheesh! Young families with kids are completely priced out the single-family-home market and are buying condos instead.

Well, THAT was rude, Marian! Yikes, indeed!

Here in the Midwest real estate prices are high, but not astronomical.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and bagels in the Break Room. I got my Christmas wrapping done yesterday. I only lost one present, easily replaceable. Pedicure and lunch out with a friend today. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Connie, a pedicure sounds great. Maybe I'll see if I can find a nice spa nearby. The last place I tried was a bit dicey.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Shopping is on the agenda today, Trivia at the Eagles tonight. I did find the wayward Christmas present, it was in the bag with the pets stocking stuffers. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Glad you found your wayward gift, connie.

Have a nice weekend all.

So the great Portable Catio experiment is over. I had put it together a while back but the weather's been so terrible I just forgot about it. A couple of cat-owning friends have urged me to try it because their indoor cats love their little portable outdoor enclosures (the tents).

Dude was whining to go out more than usual this morning, so I scooped him up and put him in the catio, which was situated under some shrubs near the pond. He spent the next hour howling and smashing his face against the bars trying to get out. I was sure he'd try to escape when I let him out, but he dashed back inside.

Willow saw the catio, struggled mightily, turned into a buzz-saw when I tried to put her though the door, got away from me, and headed straight for the back door. I don't think I'll ever be able to get her into it.

Now I have a large useless metal catio.

Good afternoon everyone. Still recovering from a surprise retirement party yesterday morning at work which I thought was a pre-christmas safety briefing! My out of town son and daughter were a part of the surprise as was a morning a half-mile walk around the grounds of our work complex where my dispersed co-workers were waiting to meet and greet me with signage flashbacks from my career. I was totally surprised...a wonderful day...and now enjoying a great visit with the kids. Connie, are there any cinnamon crunch bagels left? I am glad to hear you found your wayward present! Take care everyone--Have a great Saturday!

You're retiring soot?

Dan, that sounds like a wonderful send-off, and your co-workers obviously appreciated you to plan such a great event in your honour.

Great stuff Dan: glad it was a good party!

Hagatha, it sounds like the catio was an even greater success than most cat toys: perhaps you could use it to house some other creature that likes to live outdoors (and be a source of interest for the felines)...

... alternatively perhaps you could create a passage into it via a catflap...

Good morning one and all. Dark roast Kona coffee, English breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Yes, OldBroad, I am retiring from the Monday through Friday 9 to 5 routine. Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday.

Happy trails to you, soot! Enjoy your retirement!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Soot, enjoy your retirement. Going to the Eagles later today to pack up the gifts for our W.S. Elementary school families for Christmas. Each family will receive toys, clothes, and a gift card. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Congratulations on your retirement, Dan!

Lex, there's no good way to create a tunnel from the house to the catio; it would have to be an enormous hole in the wall and that would void the warranty on my house. Plus, they now see it as a bad thing, so I'll see if I can find a place to donate it. Maybe the SPCA. There are also a lot of local charities here. I'll check with the local "library ladies," who seem to know about all of them.

Congrats soot! I'm so jealous.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Enjoy your retirement, soot !! 👍👍👍🍷

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Hello Boomers! Hope this finds you well!

Enjoy your retirement, soot, and best wishes for this new chapter in your life!

Are you all ready for Christmas? How quickly this year has gone. I'm greatful for a good ending to what has been a challenging year for our family. Having said that, our youngest son has just come down with Covid. He's feeling rather rough and will be having a quiet Christmas. It was his partner who was diagnosed with bowel cancer earlier in the year. Happy to say she is doing much better and has returned to work. There's not much happening here. Gifts all bought and wrapped up, glad to get that out of the way. It will just be Hubby and me for dinner on the day although we will see the rest of the family at some point.

Take care everyone, and much love to you all!

Mary

Mary, nice to see you here. It sounds as though your life has settled down a bit. Enjoy it.

Good morning! We survived our Colorado trip!

Mary, I'm sure you will be glad to see this year in the rear view mirror! But a relatively good ending...

Congratulations on your retirement, soot! There is nothing better!

Our flights were on time, but all the airlines have compressed their seating so that it makes it uncomfortable for my hubby who is 6' 6". Lots of driving this time as Ft. Collins where Colorado State University is located is a 1 hour 15 minute drive - in good traffic. We all met at a Japanese restaurant up there Friday night after we flew in and it took 2 hours because of stop and go traffic for an hour. It was horrible - especially in the dark and unfamiliar place! But I scored a pic of hubby eating Japanese food with chopsticks which is going to be sent to all his buddies! Next day it was back up there for the graduation - much better traffic! So, now we have an official Microbiologist in the family! She is heading to graduate school in January - something in Biopharmaceutical studies.

Hubby was very happy to be able to keep up... he has to have both his knees replaced. Of course, they are all in their 20's and my son and DIL are in their late 40's, so they don't think anything of walking 12 blocks to the Irish college bar! Between all the airport and other walking, according to my Fitbit, we were doing at least 3 miles every day. We are both glad to be home parked in our respective comfy chairs!

Happy Tuesday!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Good to see you Mary. Lunch wit a friend today, Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning all. I have a party to go to tonight, which required a trip downtown yesterday in search of something to wear. I settled on on black jeans with very subtle sparkles, a nod to Christmas.

Tomorrow there's a potluck lunch, which requires cooking. Not sure what I'll make. Maybe just a great big salad with fruit, since everyone else usually brings starchy things or meaty things.

Good morning! Coffee's on!

You are really getting to know your neighbors, hagatha! It sounds like such a fun community.

Still catching up on laundry from the trip to Colorado.

Are you enjoying your retirement yet, soot!

Happy Wednesday!

Good morning, Donuts, Danish, and Bagels in the Break Room. Tomorrow Robert and I are going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra with friends. This will be the 3rd year we have gone to see their Christmas show. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning. Just put the coffee on, but I have to run in town shortly.

Connie, that sounds wonderful! Everyone I know who has seen the Trans Siberian Orchestra loves it!

Only 4 days to Christmas! I took all the Colorado grandkids' gifts out there with us last weekend. My son, DIL and granddaughter who live here are coming for dinner Saturday. Our other granddaughter is in the Army and deployed to Poland right now. And our grandson will only be home for a short time and we may or may not get to see him. When they are all grown up, it's hard to get everyone together!

Happy Thursday!

Had a great time at the party last night but unfortunately Willow is back to howling at my door early in the morning and I'm absolutely exhausted. She just howls louder and louder until I wake up.

I'm off to the spa for a pedi and then maybe get some Indian take-out for dinner tonight.

Hagatha, I'm so excited! I just read in the local paper that we are getting a real live Coffee Roastery in the town next to the Missouri River. It's only about 10 miles away and should be open by the end of the first or second quarter of next year. I can't wait!

Hey Ho and good afternoon everyone. Draclvr, the coffee has kept me going with a couple of Connie's bagels ... retirement does not start until New Year's day the 1st of January. Still plugging away at work and it's a task cleaning my cube area, shredding documents and electronic filing to our sharedrive for others to carry the torch. That coffee roastery sounds marvelous! Hagatha, enjoy the spa and dinner this evening. Thank you everyone ... retirement will be another adventure for me.

Hopefully, a wonderful adventure, soot. Congrats.

Draclvr, having a roastery nearby is such a wonderful resource. The one we have here is so very good that I really look forward to trying new roasts. They have over 25 different medium roasts alone. I just bought a bag of beans from Kenya -- very expensive but boy do they smell good.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Off to see Trans Siberian later. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning, everyone dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the break room.

T.G.I.F.

Have a great day.

Looking forward to your cinnamon crunch bagels 🥯 Connie!! Enjoy the concert!!

Hagatha, it says they will be importing from Columbia, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Ethopia. I am so excited!

The coffee is hitting the spot this morning, soot! Have to make a run to the neighboring town to pick up our Christmas rib roast... Don't even want to think what it's going to cost! But we only do this once a year. My son and his family who live here will be coming to eat with us tomorrow. Making an apple pie and a cranberry/whipped cream side today.

I appear to have picked up a lovely sneezy/drippy head cold on our travels, so I'd better use gloves and mask up while I'm cooking as I'm a walking virus factory right now! Grrrrr.....

well, babysitting the grand kids today and making macaroni salad and jello salad for our party tomorrow. My brother that lives in Arizona was supposed to visit this afternoon but he just called and said both him and his wife are testing positive for covid so he won't be coming over. Secretly I am almost happy - I would love to see my brother but that would be totally cleaning my bathroom and kitchen and with all the baking I still have to do and cooking, I am not sure that the house would be clean. But, hopefully I can get this last bath of gingersnap cookies in the oven after my jello mold. I am starting to hate Christmas!

Oh, heck !! Hope you feel better VERY soon, Draclvr

mbday, are you doing your annual holiday rib roast this year? I picked mine up today. Good thing I don't have a mortgage or I wouldn't be able to pay it this month! LOL! Actually, it's cheaper than it was last year.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Shopping is on the agenda today. Christmas karaoke at the Eagles tonight. Birthday cupcakes for L4L. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Dark roast Kona coffee in the Break Room. Connie I'll have a birthday cupcake this morning. Welcome to the weekend.

Mmmm. Coffeeeee.

We had sleet last night, much to my surprise since it had been pretty bright and clear all day. It got me out of having to drive to a gathering I wanted to avoid anyway, which was good -- I don't like the idea of driving on icy roads in the dark.

I'm off to Home Depot and Costco today. Boring but necessary.

And I'm just now sitting down with a glass of red! Whew! No time for coffee this morning. Doing Christmas dinner for my son, DIL and granddaughter today. Good thing I did the apple pie, Brioche rolls and cranberries yesterday! Normally I would have plenty of time, but granddaughter has to work at 4, so we're eating at 1.

Well, that's all the break I get! Back at it!

I ditched the Home Depot plan in favour of a very long walk in the 'hood, followed by another long walk in the 'hood. It's a lovely day, bright and clear.

Sounds like a much better plan, hagatha!

Our early Christmas dinner was fabulous, but I'm almost too tired to finish cleaning up! Hubby did most of it, but I still have some things to put away.

Merrry Christmas, everyone



Since you guys are into wordplay, anyone want to test my Nordic style crosswordpuzzle?

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. My next to the oldest son and his wife will be here today to celebrate Christmas. They are celebrating with her family tomorrow. The rest of the family and friends will be here tomorrow. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning, everyone. Nothing exciting going on here except for a trip into town to get some food. I'm having a neighbour over for drinks and munchies tonight since we both have nothing planned. Tomorrow my sister and her husband are visiting overnight. We'll probably go for a walk and eat something non-Christmassy since neither of us wants to cook.

Fogfighter, I think folks over in the Garden of Puzzling Delights forum might be good candidates for testing your crossword puzzle.

to all.

Good morning! Fogfighter, I'd definitely like to try your Nordic style crossword puzzle in the Puzzling Delights forum. Perhaps my Norwegian side will figure it out quickly!

Pretty much nothing on the agenda for me today. Hubby is going in town to his son's house for a little Christmas Eve visiting. A new baby nephew will be there, so I am staying far away. I am a walking virus factory right now and don't want to give this junk to anyone else!

Good morning Draclvr (and all). Crosswords attempt published. I'm sure Norwegian knowledge will be mighty helpful but it should also be possible to solve without special Scandinavian skills.

Happy Christmas to all, have a safe and Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Merry Christmas eve to everyone... wishing you all a restful and quiet evening. See everyone tomorrow!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

🎄🌟🎄 It’s Christmas Day here, now, so Happy Christmas to All Gameboomers Everywhere 🎄🌟🎄

My sit down to read time is always at night when you all are in bed, but it's a delight to check in to see all of your posts. Just too late for a response, I just want to say have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day. Here a white Christmas with snow. Some traffic problems reported.
Merry Christmas boomers!

my Boomer friends! Will stop by later!

Much love,

Mary

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Having family and friends join us to celebrate Christmas. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

It's finally here!

A quiet rainy day at home for us. No white Christmas for us, fogfighter! It's almost 60 degrees F here this morning... just wrong.

It's raining heavily and windy. My sister is coming back over on the ferry from Vancouver -- hope her ferry doesn't get cancelled.

Woo Hoo Hoo ... so good to see you Mary Draclvr hagatha connie Fogfighter BeaSong Mad and all other visitors. Dark roast Kona coffee in the Break Room with connie's treats.



Have a wonderful day.

everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

The day was quite fine. Now time to get some rest before New Year's Eve.

Over here cloudy and snowy. Thank heaven for indoors.

Happy Wednesday boomers!

Good morning, Danish Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Going with 2 friends to spend the day and night with 2 other friends. I put extra goodies in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning connie, Fogfighter and all other visitors. Dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room with connie's goodies. Connie, I'll start with cinnamon crunch bagels ... and then keep them coming
Have a great day everyone

Good morning! Ah, the day after. Peace and quiet!

Since we had already done the Christmas rib roast dinner with my son and his family on Saturday, yesterday I went totally non-traditional and did some reverse seared BBQ pork steaks on the pellet grill. With a little potato salad, it tasted might fine in the middle of the winter!

Happy Tuesday!

Hi ho, everyone. My sister and her husband were here last night for an ersatz Christmas dinner of roast chicken. Today has been absolutely lovely. I've been for two hour-long walks today. Got to get back into shape.

That sounds VERY lovely, hagatha! I got in a nice walk down to the woods and back today and it felt heavenly to get moving after too much eating the last few days!

I spend quite a bit of time in the little marine park near my house. I think I might put John's ashes in the water there. It's in view of where we used to go fishing 35 years ago, right in the middle of the Passage in our 14-foot boat just off Sangster Island. It's a lovely spot and I think it's the right one.

That sounds like the perfect place, hagatha!

I put on some coffee, but you're on your own for goodies this morning! The Break room is very empty!

I DID get some pictures of caramel cinnamon rolls from my two sons! They both are using my mom's old recipe with all her scribbles in the edges, so my sister and I say they are channeling Grandma in heaven! My son in Denver is taking all the kids skiing this morning, so he is up early getting his in the oven for the perfect breakfast!

SNOW! It just started snowing!

I've got some seasonal Kenyan coffee beans right now, very expensive but awfully good. It's a nice treat.


It's another rainy day. I'm off to Home Depot to grab some packing materials for a friend who doesn't have a car.

Good afternoon everyone. I'll have to try some Kenyan coffee beans hagatha...I've heard the coffee is very good. Thanks for the coffee this morning Draclvr ... it got me through the day.

Hump day!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. We all had a good visit with friends. It was like Queen for a day, waited on hand and foot . Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Welcome back, connie! Sounds like being Queen for a day agrees with you! How fun!

Got some of that good Kenyan Reserve coffee in the mail yesterday, so put on a pot! Smells so good!

The snow didn't amount to much, but the temps have dropped and we might get some tonight that sticks. No league bowling this week, so I can just stay home and watch it!

Happy Thursday!

Good afternoon everyone. Glad you had fun connie...the bagels were marvelous this morning with Draclvr's coffee...thanks Drac!

Have a great day everyone

Yet another rainy, windy day. I'm glad I took advantage of the nice days we had.

I finished my Kenyan coffee beans yesterday. I think I'll have to back and get some more, or maybe try another one of the speciality seasonal roasts they have. My Christmas present to myself.

A wonderful Christmas present to yourself I might add hagatha!!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

It's very quiet here today. I had a walk planned for the morning but it is a truly foul day out there. I think I'll stay in and make soup instead.

Man, it is quiet in the break room today! Just sneaked in a for a minute. A fairly unpleasant day here too. Some snow last night, but it didn't stick and is gone now. So, just wet and cold. Good day to turn on the gas fireplace and stay home!

What kind of soup are you making, hagatha?

Good afternoon everyone. The weather sounds quite frightful hagatha and Draclvr ... it is chilly brr down here too but not too chilly brr. Celestial Seasonings Zinger teas in the Break Room. Hot soup on a cold day sounds marvelous!

I had three chicken carcasses in the freezer so I made a big pot of stock. I'll go through my recipes tomorrow and decide what to make, but it might just be good old chicken soup with barley and carrots and leeks, maybe some mushrooms.

Good morning everyone. I'm brewing some coffee. No sugar, no milk. Still tasty and warm and plenty enough for all of you.
Enjoy the last Weekend of the year.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. It's cold here for Florida too, fireplace lit. Fish fry at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Thanks, Fogfighter! I made hubby his big biscuits and gravy breakfast this morning, so I'm late to the Break Room. Strong and black - just the way I like my coffee!

Cold, but sunny here today.

Hagatha, I love to make my own bone broth too - SO much better than the stuff in the store. It seems like a good day for a nice pork shoulder roast in the crock pot with a jar of sauerkraut all afternoon! Good German food for a cold day!

Happy Saturday!

Good morning everyone. The coffee is wonderful Fogfighter...I like dark roasts. Connie, I'll start the weekend with donuts today. Chores, projects, dungeons and dragons and music in between.

Have a great Saturday everone.

Soot, do you play D&D board games?

My sister and her partner Seymour are big board game players but they've never played anything like a D&D. I was looking at the Skyrim board game yesterday. It looks rather intriguing. I thought I might grab it and one of the expansions for it, and see if they want to give it a try.

No hagatha we don't play a D&D board game, we play a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG). We do like and play many other board games.

Hope you are all having a good Sunday and have something lined up for tonight's calendar change

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Shopping is on the agenda today. New Year's Eve Party at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good Morning everyone. Delivering black coffee to the Break Room.

Over here freezing. Some but not much snow on the ground. Agenda for today is to stay awake until midnight. Agenda for next year is to be creative and produce a few more more crosswords.

I'm up far too early this morning so I'll definitely be having some of that coffee. Not likely I'll be awake for midnight, though -- not that I have anything planned anyway.

We're having unseasonably warm weather. Not a snowflake in sight. No freezing at all. It hardly seems like winter.

Good morning everyone. Keep the black coffee flowing Fogfighter and wiht a cinnamon crunch bagel from connie I'll make it through the morning. We'll be watching Star Wars tonight with the Death Star exploding at midnight ushering in the New Year.

Take care everyone.

Happy New Year's eve

And I'm really late to the break room, so it's nice to smell Fogfighter's coffee! Not much on the agenda today. We would have gone in to an afternoon party at a local bar, but they sold out of tickets while we were out of town. Last year it was warm enough that we all mostly stood around outside on the patio! This year, not so much. Right at freezing right now.

I will make a nice dinner for us tonight and we'll call it good! Tomorrow morning we will go in to our American Legion for a steak and Bloody Mary breakfast.

Happy New Year's eve!

Well, I'll be asleep by 11:00 as usual since I woke up very early this morning. But Happy New Year's everyone!

The new year 2024 is already here over here in Europe. So far so good. Now it's Americas turn.
Happy New Year!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Happy New Year all my Boomer friends. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Happy New Year! We are heading in town shortly for a steak and Bloody Mary breakfast at the American Legion. Hubby is chomping at the bit!

And, NO! I'm not cooking! A much younger crew has been doing this breakfast for 11 years now!

Good morning everyone and Happy New Year. Dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room.

Happy NewYears, Gameboomers. May we all have a great year !💜💙♥️

Good morning everyone. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. I think I'm going to really enjoy this new retirement routine! Chores, projects, gaming, Jack Reacher and music are on the docket today.

Have a wonderful day!

That's right! Today is your first day of official retirement! Now you can do what you want whenever you want! I say I don't need to go to heaven when I die - I'm living it right now in retirement! We are loving Season 2 of Jack Reacher.

Holiday decorations coming down today and a run to town to get a few groceries.

Happy Tuesday!

Soot, welcome to retirement. The best thing about it is not having to rush off anywhere in the morning. It's nice to just sit and contemplate the day with a cup of coffee.

A very to everyone

I have not been feeling very festive but will try to snap out of it, starting with: to you all!

That'll do, oldbroad! Feeling festive is not a requirement!

oldbroad, boy can I relate with you on that mood! My family apparently placed bets unbeknownst to me on how quickly I would remove every trace of the holidays from my home. It happened on Dec 26th and I was so happy to have my home restored to normal.

I haven't put up ANY decorations for about 13 years even though I actually love Christmas lights. But, decorations in our homes always stayed for at least two weeks after Christmas. I don't see the point in putting them up just to take them down right away. Ours did not go up nearly as early as some people do though. Maybe a week to ten days prior to the holiday.

I used to do more decorating when the grandkids were little. But we pretty much only see my son who lives nearby, my DIL and my granddaughter who is 17 now. I do put up a skinny tree just to say I did, but that's about it. And when Christmas is done, it's all GONE! I didn't get my tree down this year because I was fighting a nasty cold, but it's all gone now!

Our neighbourhood was very festive. Apparently a lot of people here take it seriously. I managed to bah humbug my way through it all unscathed.

Although it is just myself, my wife Linda and our 19 year old cat (Badger), we have a large artificial tree and various lights some of which we have had for over 20 years, so up they all go about 10 days before Christmas to be taken down on 6th January (there being some debate I think as to whether it should happen on 5th January...)

Soot, from my perspective it is important to have enough projects in retirement to balance out the chores and recreation, and/or enough money to avoid having to take up some sort of part-time employment!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room, I love decorating inside and outside for every holiday. Looking at them makes me feel good. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. I know I'm going to really enjoy this new retirement routine! Chores, projects, gaming and music will be the norm.

Enjoying Jack Reacher.

It's Hump day!

Good morning everyone. We're still having unseasonably warm weather with lots of rain. I'm going to look at a couple of local gyms and also price out a few rowing machines to see which is a better option for me.

I'm with Lex, since moving to Canada from England in 1973, we have still kept up with the "Twelve Days Of Christmas" and leave our decorations up until the 5th of January, we could never decide if the twelve days were up on the 5th or 6th, and play it safe by taking everything down on the 5th!!!

I like that logic copper

Different countries different traditions. Over here in Sweden some of us stick to the 'sacking' of the Christmas tree on January 13. Any remaining edible decorations, like candy, apples or gingebread cookies are to be devoured.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Manicure and lunch out with a friend today. Trivia at CVI tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Dark roast Greel coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room today. connie, I'll have a blueberry bagel with my coffee. Have a great day.

A couple of neighbours and I are going tomorrow to check out a gym that does a boot camp style circuit training. While I can certainly use a boot, no question, I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I will check it i out, though. It might be good.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

T.G.I.F. good morning everyone. Dark roast Kona coffee in the Break Room. Hope everyone has a great day!

Good morning and oh, my that Kona coffee smells good, soot! T.G.I.F. takes on a whole new meaning when you are retired!

I could use a boot camp too, hagatha!

Happy Friday!

I figure that since I'm on my own now I need to be as strong as possible. I keep in mind how physically helpless my maternal grandmother was by the time she was my age, and how fit and vital my paternal grandmother was at the same age.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Working the kitchen for our dinner at the Eagles, trivia to follow. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Already afternoon here. Pretty cold outdoors. Thanks for the Danish and stuff. Warm coffee helps too.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Taking down Christmas decorations today. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning, dark roast Kona coffee in The Breakroom. Connie, i'd love to have a bagel. Have a good day, everyone.

Good morning and I'll sneak into the Break Room for a cup of that Kona coffee. We are prepping here for a significant snowstorm tomorrow night and Tuesday, so I'll make a quick run in town to the grocery store for a few things.

Happy Sunday!

Best wishes to you Draclvr and your neighbors that snowstorm headed your way. Stay safe and warm!

Woke up to 18 degrees and first snowfall of the winter.

I hope everyone has a good day, and take care.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and Hug someone.

Good morning everyone! Dark roast Kona coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water in The Breakroom. Connie, I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel with my coffee this morning. Wishing you all a great Monday.

I had a busy couple of days rushing around. Went to Qualicum on Friday to help a friend start packing. Saturday two neighbours and I went and checked out the gym, among other things. I think I'll sign up.

Fingers crossed I've found a handyman to take care of the remaining work I have to get done around here so that I can finally clear out the rest of my garage. I'll see if he has any ideas about where to put a catio, but given the terrible experience with the portable catio I'm going to have think about it carefully. I may end up simply letting them out, but definitely not unless there is a cat flap for them to get back in, which is how my previous cats survived living in a coyote-infested neighbourhood. I'm still on the fence about it. A lot of the time they are absolutely miserable, both of them. Willow has permanently decamped to the bedroom, where she sleeps rolled up under the blankets all day, and Dude is still pacing and howling.

We're supposed to be getting snow tonight but so far it's been heavy rain and wind. Temperatures are dropping, though. I stocked up on essentials like coffee and cat food.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good Tuesday morning everyone, dark roast Kona coffee and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room. Connie, I'll have a danish with my coffee this morning. Heavy rain and thunderstorms last night and we lost power for a time but all is well this morning. We can use the rain...just not the severe weather. Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday.

Good morning! Went to bed about midnight with an inch or so of slushy icy snow and got up with most of it gone. I'm seeing places north of here with 6" of the white stuff. Just kind of a dreary cold day... a good day to make some soup and snuggle up in front of my computer and do some gaming. I have Psychonauts 2 queued up!

Happy Tuesday!

Ditto on the snuggling up at the computer. I have no chores today and plan to take advantage of the rain and heavy wind to catch up on some correspondence. Then it's gaming for the rest of the day.

Good Morning Connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha and everyone. It feels good to stop in to the Break Room to see you all. It has been a difficult few months for me since my dear Bill passed. I've put on some "Wide Awake" double dark brew coffee to go along with soot's dark roast Kona coffee. Congrats on enjoying reitrement soot.

I woke up to heavy rain, wind and melting snow...a foot of snow had fallen Monday and it is almost all gone...3 inches of rain fell during the night and it is still raining...hopefully we don't lose power. The temperature was 52 degrees at 1:30am! Crazy weather.

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Gerry

Good morning all - naturally when I saw this, I thought of GB...!



Your Yearly Dementia Test! (only 4 questions this year)

This one has some different questions than last year.

Yep, it's that time of year again for us to take our annual senior citizen test.

Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles.

As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert.

If you don't use it, you will lose it !!

The spaces below are so you don't see the answers until you've answered.



#1. What do you put in a toaster?











Answer: 'bread.' If you said 'toast', just give up now and go do something else. And, try not to hurt yourself. ; If you said, bread, go to Question #2.



# 2. Say 'silk' ten times. Now spell 'silk.' What do cows drink ?













Answer: Cows drink water. If you said 'milk,' don't attempt the next question. Your brain is already over-stressed and may even overheat. Content yourself with reading more appropriate literature such as Women's Weekly or Auto World. However, if you did say 'water', proceed to Question #3,



# 3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from ?












Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said 'green bricks', why are you still reading this ? ; PLEASE, go and lie down ! But, if you said 'glass,' go on to Question #4



# 4. Please do not use a calculator for this for it would be cheating:

You are driving a bus from Jurong to Changi. at Bukit Batok, 17 people got on the bus. At Clementi, 6 people get off the bus and 9 people get on. At Outram, 2 people get off and 4 get on. At Marine Parade, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. And at Eunos, 3 people get off and 5 people get on. You then arrive at Changi.

Without going back to review, how old is the bus driver ?













Answer: Oh, for crying out loud. Don't you remember your own age?!?! It was YOU driving the bus! If you pass this along to your friends, pray they do better than you.



PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!

Sorry for all the spaces... You'd be tempted to cheat otherwise...

If you had fun with this, send it on.. I did... I already know that even when you missed a question, you went on to the next one, didn't you...😂😂😂😂😂



Congratulations.. life is like that , even when you fail , you keep going and persisting. Failure is no reason to give up... Stay blessed... ❤

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Gerry, love and big hugs. Routine Dr. appointment today, lunch with a friend after. Music bingo at the club tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. So good to see you Gerry, we got lots of rain too...we need it. I'll have that dark roast with a bagel from connie. Great test Lex... good news is I passed

Have a wonderful day everyone 😊

Good morning and welcome back to the Break Room, Gerry! We have missed you. Thank you for putting the coffee on as I slept in today - another night up too late reading!

I talked to my step-daughter in Virginia yesterday and she said they have gotten 3 inches of rain in just one day. Here in the mid-west we could get all that moisture and still not be out of our drought classification. It's so dry here. Crazy weather indeed.

Lex, the bus driver one cracked me up!

Happy Wednesday!

So good to see you here, Gerry!

One of the heaviest rainfalls I ever saw was in Richmond, Virginia. It was also flooding, and I remember looking for a place to spend the night that was up on a hill.

Have a good day, everyone.

There has been extremely bad flooding in several areas of the UK and now there is the threat of snow in some of those same areas.

Horrific for all those poor folk

Good to see you Gerry!

We had rain all night Monday then snow last night before some more rain. Mother Nature can't make up her mind.

Lex, I only got the first answer!

Good Morning everyone! Thank you for the warm welcome back! Double dark brew awaits you all!

Have a wonderful day!

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. A pedicure is on the agenda today. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Gerry, Connie and all who follow. I'll enjoy the double dark brew all morning Gerry with one or two cinnamon crunch bagels from Connie. Chores and projects are on the docket today with some gaming later this afternoon. Have a great day everyone.

Oh, bless your heart, Gerry! Double dark brew is perfect to start off another cold day. At least the sun is shining!

Working on a computer for the daughter of a friend today. This one is a puzzler...

League bowling tonight.

Happy Thursday!

We're supposedly about to have some major winter weather, and getting snow later today. It had better be later because Willow has an appointment early this afternoon.

Well it's a frosty one this morning, -31c or -24f. It's a good day to curl up with a good book.

Good Morning Connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha, judith and everyone. I've put on a fresh pot of double dark brew for you all to get started this morning.

We have another rain storm coming tonight...expecting over 2 inches with high winds and the possibility of power outages. The whole state has flood warnings. Monday we had over 10 inches of snow that melted over night from warm temperatures and 3 more inches of rain! Crazy weather so far this year.

I hope you all stay safe and warm.

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Karaoke at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Gerry and Connie. I'll definitely enjoy the coffee Gerry with Connie's treats. We have rain and severe weather headed our way for later this morning. Wishing you all a T.G.I.F. good morning.

Good morning! Smells good in the Break Room Gerry and Connie!

We are supposed to get rain quickly followed by temps plunging over 30 degrees into the single digits. Of course, right around commute time later this afternoon. The roads are supposed to be crazy slick. I have to go pick up my little 8 year old neighbor girl at noon because they are letting school out early. Her mom has to go to a doctor's appointment. I'll drop her off at her house down at the Ranch - they live with our caretaker down there - and once I get back home, my big butt is staying parked in my gaming chair!

Happy Friday!

Good morning everyone. Chores and projects are on the docket for today and I am looking forward for Gerry's coffee and Connie's treats.

Have a wonderful day 😊

Good Morning soot and everyone. Double dark brew is ready and waiting to go with Connie's breakfast treats. We are in the mist of another rain storm and flooding, but the sun may come out this afternoon.

Hope everyone enjoys a happy day!

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Shopping is on the agenda today. Karaoke at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning!

It's hard to stay warm here... temps plunged over 40 degrees yesterday. The wind all night was the worst of it when it's near zero degreed F! I managed to capture my 18+ year old barn cat and brought her inside. She is VERY unhappy to be locked in the bathroom, but hopefully she will figure it out as it looks like she's going to be in there until next Sunday!

Getting stuff ready to go to our final, last, please-god-let-it-be-over Christmas for my husband's family this afternoon. He made one of his famous hams and I'm just bringing sweet corn from the garden.

Happy Sunday!

Good morning all. I woke up early today and decided to actually get up. The sun is shining here for the moment. We had more snow last night but not the high winds they were predicting. More snow/rain is expected later today I think.

My internet has been spotty the last few days so I am stopping in now while I can.

Have a good day everyone.

Oldbroad, I saw you logged in today for what is quite early for you. I hope your internet stabilizes. I am the grand-prize winner when it comes to internet problems, so I understand how you feel.

We had some snow earlier this week and now rain is in the forecast.

And yes, I hope everyone has a good day.

Good morning everyone, well we are in the middle of a polar vortex, right now it's -37c with the wind chill. Stay toasty everyone.

Judith, I looked up your weather forecast on Weather Underground and it is just staggering how cold it is!

That is "oh my goodness cold!"

My home town in NW Iowa is in the middle of a full-blown blizzard with a couple feet of snow, high winds and a high temp today of -15 degreed F. Tonight will get down to -25 degrees F which is not QUITE as cold as you are, judith!

It's been -10 C here for the last couple of days, beating the record for this time of year.

My pond maintenance contractor insisted that leaving the pond and fountain/stream on all winter was the best option since the pump is buried, but the last few days have seen even the fast-running water start to freeze.

I've been out several times a day cracking and removing ice to keep the water moving and this morning I poured 10 large buckets of hot water into the little stream, which was starting to freeze up. The pond is now only half-frozen but of course as the evening draws in it's getting cold again and the ice will start encroaching. I'll be out there at 10PM with my buckets of hot water, hoping that it will keep running overnight! Hopefully I can keep it going until the weather starts to warm on Monday.

I guess first thing Monday I need to get a quote to install a heater into the system for next year. I want to keep it working in the winter because it's a great source of water for birds and squirrels, especially when it's this cold and everything else is frozen.

Good Morning Connie, soot, Draclvr, oldbroad, hagatha, Marian, judith and everyone. More double dark brew is ready to start your day. Our rain storm brought another 3 inches of rain yesterday, but by afternoon the sun came out and I was able to get out and take a 2 mile walk! It was so nice to see the sun...it has been a couple weeks since I've seen even a glimpse of sunshine.

I can't believe how bitterly cold it has been for most of you! It has turned colder here and the wind has shifted from the South to the Northwest so temperatures will be dropping and be more like winter this week, but nothing like you all are experiencing!

Hope you have a nice warm place to curl up and enjoy a good book or play a game.

Enjoy your day!

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Stay safe and warm all who are where it is so bitterly cold. It will be cold for us latter this week, but nothing like you are getting. We need to make a Sam's trip for the club today, then my shopping. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone and Happy Sunday to one an all Break Room visitors. Oh yes, coffee and treats ... my timing is good this morning ... the coffee will help offset the winter chill!


Thank you both Gerry and Connie. Chores and projects will be my staple today and we're also enjoying the Homeland series. Have a great day everyone!

It's a beautiful morning. I've been sitting with with a good strong coffee in front of the fire with the cats. They've become little heat-seeking missiles, curling up beside the fire or the space heater in my office. There has been no whining to go outside.

It's still cold but my pond was just fine this morning; the ice I chipped away hasn't reformed, so I guess I'm in the clear until this evening.

Good morning! Or, perhaps nearly afternoon... Man, I need that coffee this morning!

It was -7 degrees F this morning. I have issues with the pipes to my washing machine freezing. I've done everything I know to do... we keep the crawl space heated and the pipes are insulated. We just finally kind of gave up. I have been known to crawl under there when it was -17 degrees F! But that was many years and pounds ago. So I ran a load of clothes through before I went to bed at 11:30 and then got up at 3:30 to run the load through again. I did the same thing the night before... those are going to be some clean clothes! Running a couple of loads through this morning too. I'm still not sure if the hot water is frozen or not as that is the pipe that always freezes first. But I know the cold is working.

My elderly barn kitty is doing OK in the bathroom by herself. I try to spend as much time as I can in there with her. I have come to the conclusion that she is at least partially blind. It would be nice if she would just spend whatever time she has left inside, but I know my other two cats would bully her mercilessly.

Happy Sunday!

Good morning from me also; back to my normal time. We've got the -7 degrees F here also. My brother's cat lays by the heat vent right across from my washroom early in the morning, now that she doesn't have to fight for that spot. Unfortunately, I often have to get up during the night (early morning is my night) and she won't stay put there while I'm up. This morning though, she moved but stayed pretty darn close (for her). I assume and hope she went back to the vent when I went back to bed. I do my best not to disturb her there but sometimes I just have to.

Stay safe!

Cold over here in Europe. To add insult to injury we got plenty of snow. At least in my part. But I hear it's pretty wintery elsewhere too.

Staying indoors mostly. Hot coffee helps.

Still bitterly cold here in Edmonton, woke up to fog, couldn't see anything out the window, it's now -31f or -35c. Hubby goes out twice a day to start the car & let it run for a few minutes even though we have it plugged in.

That's just so brutal, judith! Hubby is going out to the chicken house every couple of hours to gather the eggs or they will freeze. It's still -1 degrees F here in Missouri at 2:30 in the afternoon!

I just keep running loads of laundry through the washer and no frozen pipes yet!

I've got a pot of soup going: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mexi-stroni-soup/

There's enough for everyone!

Boy, that soup sounds good, oldbroad! I have bookmarked it so that we can make it one of these days.

oldbroad, I just bookmarked that soup! It sounds heavenly! Might be just the thing later this week! I love recipes from Taste of Home. I used to have a subscription their magazine.

Thanks for the soup oldbroad. Perfect for a cold day. Over here -8 Celsius, and falling.

Good Chilly Morning to everyone. Looks like everyone is having colder then normal temps! Hope you all can stay warm today...maybe enjoy some of that delicious soup oldbroad made!

Extra dark double brew awaits...to take the chill out!

Enjoy your day

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Gerry, Connie and everyone. The coffee and treats are marvelous. DIY home projects will keep me busy today and also prep for the freezing temps. Wishing you all a wonderful Monday.

Good frosty morning! It's already up to zero at 10:30! Heat wave!

Just now sitting down to my morning coffee and it's almost lunch-time. SO glad you had it already here, Gerry! Had to capture and get a barn cat into a cat carrier! Wally has been squatting a peeing constantly. A UTI is not a huge deal, but a blockage in a male cat is an emergency. So, dropped him off at the vet this morning. Also made an appointment for my 18+ year old barn cat I have in the bathroom. She's not eating much and I want to be sure she doesn't have kidney failure, bad teeth or anything else.

The things we do and the expense we incur for out pets!!

How was your soup, oldbroad?

Happy Monday

Goodnight.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at he Eagles tonight. Drac sending good vibes for your barn cats. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Dark roast Sumatra and English breakfast tea in the Break Room this morning. Connie, I'm up for Danish this morning with my coffee. Keeping you little ones in our thoughts and prayers today Draclvr. Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Good morning! Another heat wave - it's up to 2 degrees above zero!

I'm doing a little cleaning and getting ready for my step-daughter and her boyfriend to arrive either tomorrow or Thursday. Given that Tom is almost as old as her dad, boyfriend sounds kind of weird! Perhaps "male companion" would be better! They missed the Christmas party last weekend because he is having some medical issues, but are heading here from Virginia for a 70th birthday party in the family this Saturday.

Wally's urine looked "suspicious," so they are doing bloodwork this morning. Don't know what that means.

I've had a frantic few days. I'm helping a friend pack and find a new place -- she has no car. We finally got her locked into an apartment yesterday and celebrated with dinner at a really nice brew pub in Qualicum Beach.

Today I have the handyman here to put my bookshelves together, so hopefully I can have my books unpacked tomorrow, freeing up my garage. It's the last big thing that needs to be done around here. Once I have my garage space I can buy the equipment I need for outdoor maintenance.

On another front, my sister in Ontario is at the end of her rope working full time and constantly checking in on my 92-year-old mother, who lives in a different city We're going to have to convince her to move into a retirement home. She's very independent and stubborn, but it's time.

Best wishes Hagatha ... that is not an easy task. Our family went through the same process with both dad and mom. Draclvr, I don't know what that means either but will keep you and Wally in our thoughts!

it is a cold one today and i am not venturing outside. Inside chores are not too much fun but I am feeling guilty if I don't do something, so, moved the fridge and cleaned underneath that. It was better than i thought it would be. I was expecting dog hair under there but basically just dust and cobwebs. We should start getting warmer tomorrow. I think up to 9 degrees. i might even go grocery shopping. have a good day everyone.

Draclvr, I hope the two kitties are okay. A UTI is nasty for a cat, because you usually don't notice until it's very bad. If only they could talk.

Good Morning everyone. I've made a pot of double dark brew this morning. We had snow and ice yesterday and lost power twice. Temps have dropped into the teens and wind chills are in the single digits...we are now in a deep freeze for the next week. The roads and driveways are a sheet of ice...anywhere it was shoveled yesterday turned to ice.

I will be staying home all day indoors again today...not sure if I will even attempt to get the mail.

Hope you all stay warm and your temps go up today!

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Chilly here this morning, Robert lit the fireplace before he left for work. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. Chores and projects to complete and then we'll have fun with Sentinels of the Multiverse. Thank you for the coffee and treats Gerry and Connie. Gerry, we lost power three times the other night during the freezing rain...glad it didn't last long! Stay warm!

Good morning! We might actually get up to 32 degrees F today! But then, by Friday, back down to zero for a couple of days.

Well, one kitty back home. He had blood and elevated protein in his urine, but after bloodwork and a $400 vet bill, we don't know why. They gave him a long-acting antibiotic injection just to say they did. I had to laugh when they all raved about what a SWEET cat Wally is! He loves me and hubby, but won't come near anyone else. He is a feral who was dumped out here as a 4 month old kitten. Will be taking the ancient barn kitty in tomorrow. I'll be surprised if I come back home with her. She is definitely at least partially deaf and blind, doesn't eat much of anything and if she has teeth or kidney issues, I can't just throw her back out in the barn. And she is just miserable here in the house, even though it's warm.

Company arriving for a few days, so need to finish a little cleaning and some laundry.

Happy Wednesday!

Hope you make quick work of your chores Draclvr -- we will keep you and ancient barn kitty' in my thoughts and prayers.

I woke up early this morning to about 6 inches of snow and it's still coming down heavily. Once I've had my coffee I'll get out and clear snow from the pond, but since the temperatures have warmed I don't think it will freeze. One complication is that the prescriptions that were supposed to arrive today in my mailbox will not be getting here since the local roads aren't ever plowed and the mail truck won't be able to get in. Of course, this being coastal BC, the snow will turn to rain and everything will be ice. Good thing I did a last-minute shop last night to ensure that I have enough of everything for a few days.

Relentless snowfall over here too. Some trains and airplanes cancelled, I hear. Not so cold today. Just below freezing.
Nice to be able to stay indoors, mostly, today. Thanks for the coffee and bagels. That warms. Thinking about a new crosswords puzzle. May appear in forum later today. Unless I lose internet access. Have a nice day Boomers.

Wow. Everything started to melt and now we have another heavy snowfall warning for tonight and tomorrow. It looks as though my blinds won't be installed on Friday, after all, since nobody is getting in here until the snow is gone.

The good news is that the handyman got my office shelves up yesterday and my books are all unpacked! Some of them haven't seen the light of day for 9 years, since we moved from West Vancouver. I even had enough room left over to unpack all my TV show and movie DVDs. Now I feel like I'm at home. And now I can start to organize my garage.

I have only a few pictures left to hang and I should be done.

That must be such satisfying progress, hagatha! Books and DVDs and now the rest of the pictures! Home sweet home.

Good morning everyone. That's great news Hagatha. I brought a dark roast Kona coffee to tide us over until Gerry gets here and looking forward to Connie's treats. Have a great day everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

There may be a lot of snow but it's warmed up considerably. It is supposed to snow again today. We missed our garbage pickup last week and I suspect we'll miss this week, too.

Good late morning! Didn't have time for coffee this morning, so I'm having some with lunch.

Squeaky, my ancient barn cat will live to see another day! Her kidney numbers were still in the normal range and all the other bloodwork looked perfect. She started eating yesterday, so I think she was just traumatized at being brought inside. As I suspected she is blind in one eye and doesn't have much hearing left.

Company arriving this afternoon for a few days.

Nice day today, but back down in the zero weather starting tonight and tomorrow.

Happy Thursday!

Glad to hear Squeaky is okay, Drac. It was good of you to have Squeaky checked out.

Marian, I see so much animal abuse in the horse rescue and in the other cat and dog rescue groups I am a part of, I feel a responsibility to do the best I can for my own critters.

Good morning Boomers.

Sunny morning, pretty cold here. I'm going to travel by train today. Tickets sold out but I got one, and a seat. Some delays and some trains cancelled. But I expect to get there eventually.



There's coffee in the break room. Black, without milk or sugar. Enjoy the Friday!

Happy Friday everyone and happy, safe traveling to you Fogfighter!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Be safe Fogfighter. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

T.G.I.F Good morning Fogfighter, Oldbroad, Connie and everyone who drops in later. Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea, and bottled Fiji water. Have a fun trip Fogfighter. Have a wonderful Friday everyone.

Good morning! Where are you headed, Fogfighter?

Just have time for a quick cup of coffee this morning. Family arrived yesterday from the East Coast to stay for a few days.

Very cold here too... back down to the deep freeze!

As we head towards the weekend, mark these words...

And on the 8th day, God created seniors. Most seniors never get enough exercise. In His wisdom, God decreed that seniors become forgetful so they would have to search for their eyeglasses, keys, and other things, thus doing more walking. And God looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God saw there was another need. In His wisdom He made seniors lose coordination so they would drop things, requiring them to bend, reach, and stretch more. And God looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God considered the function of bladders and decided seniors would
have additional calls of nature, requiring more trips to the bathroom, thus providing more exercise. God looked down and saw that it was good.

So if you find, as you age, you are getting up and down a lot more times, remember it's God's will. It is all in your best interest even though you mutter under your breath.

Nine Important Facts to Remember as We Grow Older:

#9 Death is the number 1 killer in the world.

#8 Life is sexually transmitted.

#7 Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

#6 Men have two motivations: hunger and sex, and they can't tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich.

#5 Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe they won't bother you for years. 😆 😁

#4 Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.

#3 All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

#2 In the 60's, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.

#1 Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers. What you do today may be a burning issue tomorrow.


Please share this wisdom with others; I would do it now but I need to go to the bathroom.

I made the characters bold and bigger so you could read this.

This made me chuckle and thank you for the bold bigger font!

Great post Lex ... thank you for your wit and instruction ... I am on track as a senior

That was a good read, thank you, Lex !!

Good Morning everyone and Welcome to the weekend. I have the double dark "Wide Awake" coffee brewing to start the day soot. Lex thanks for sharing those words of wisdom! Hagatha so good to hear you are settling in and feeling like you are home. Draclvr enjoy your visit with family. So glad to hear Squeaky is doing okay too.

We are getting frigid arctic air coming down from Canada this weekend...will make it difficult to walk...feels like well below zero temps! A good time to puzzle and do some gaming!

Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!

Gerry

Thanks for witty reminders Lex. So true.
Dracvlr, Connie, oldbroad, soot: I was heading home after a visiting parents. Eventually the train made it though there was a two hour delay. People bravely endured waiting outdoors in near arctic cold without complaining too much. I on the other hand still shiver just thinking about it.



Perfect to have some of the Kaki's sister wide awake coffee now. Take care everyone and enjoy the weekend!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Lex, thanks for starting my day with a smile, and the Big print was appreciated. Shopping is on the agenda today. Dinner and Trivia at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone. The double dark wide awake coffee is marvelous Gerry! I'll have a cinnamon crunch bagel Connie. Welcome home Fogfighter. Stay warm everyone and enjoy your weekend!

Good morning!

Just cooked the big biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon breakfast for everyone this morning. That's just too much food for me in the morning, so I just poured some coffee and visited with them. Birthday party at the American Legion Post in the nearby town at 1. Hubby's nephew is turning 70.

SO cold again this morning -1 below zero. I got up at 3:00 am to run a load of laundry through the washing machine trying to keep the pipes from freezing. So far, so good. Supposed to be back up in the 40's all next week... I'm ready for it!

Happy Saturday!

I'm off to "help" a new acquaintance pack for her move. Today I'm also "helping" her paint a wall. I'll be telling her that after today I won't be "helping" her any more, since I seem to be the only person actually doing any work. She's new acquaintance, someone I met in my Hospice group for people who have lost their spouse. I thought she was sort of interesting but last night I received a 14-message drunk-texting screed about how it wasn't possible for me to be snowed in last week and I should have been there packing. Sometimes you just gotta back away...

It has warmed up overnight and the snow is melting nicely. Hopefully we'll get a garbage pick-up. They missed last week and this week and today is supposed to be a catch-up service.

Hagatha, that definitely sounds like a relationship to back away from quickly!

It's warming up nicely, +6f today. I took a small pork loin roast out of the freezer & will cook that later today with some nice potatoes around the roast. Happy saturday everyone & keep warm.

A heat wave, judith! That pork roast sounds wonderful.

In the end I DROVE away, since she was still in bed when I got there at 11:15. No wonder nobody else is helping her.

What?! Oh, my. Glad you fled!! I assume that's the end of the assistance from you!

Good Morning everyone! As usual I've put on the extra double dark brew to get you all started this bitter cold morning! Hope you all stay warm and maybe enjoy some gaming or football today.

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Crazy weather, 30's this morning. Later in the week it will be in the middle 80's, then back down again. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone ... the coffee and bagels hit the spot this morning Gerry and Connie ... wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday.

Gerry, It always so nice to walk into the GB Break Room and smell that coffee!

Family who were visiting just headed back to the East Coast. It was a nice, short visit.

VERY cold start to the day with 5 degrees F. But after some yucky freezing rain tomorrow, we are supposed to be back into the 40's during the day. I'll take it!

Happy Sunday!

Good Morning Draclvr, judith, Connie, soot, hagatha, and everyone! Glad you enjoy the coffee Draclvr. I've got a fresh pot of Wide Awake dark brew ready and waiting. It is cold here this morning, but by Thursday we will be warming up above freezing! Looking forward to being able to get out and take a nice long walk at the end of the week.

Hope you all have a peaceful Monday!

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning. Ice, Ice, Baby! We've got lots of ice. It rained last night and because the ground is so cold from all the sub-zero temps, it is pure ice out there. Good day to grab some of Gerry's Wide Awake dark brew and settle in for some gaming today!

Happy Monday.

Good morning everyone. Wide awake brew will hit the spot this morning Gerry with a Danish or two from Connie ... thank you both! Avoid the ice, ice Draclvr and have fun gaming ... stay warm.

Good morning all.

We're back to balmy weather and the snow is gone.

I've got a few contractors arriving this week to install blinds, fix my new gate motors (!), which stopped working two days ago, and finish with hanging art and so on. I seem to be very tired all of a sudden. It doesn't help that Willow is now waking me up at 5:30, but even so, I feel drained.

Good Morning all and welcome to Tuesday in the break Room! As usually the dark brew Wide Awake Coffee is ready for sipping!

We actually had full sun yesterday morning so I was able to take a nice long walk in the sunshine for one hour and 45 minutes! It was glorious! The clouds moved in after lunch and later today we are expecting mixed precipitation...sleet, freezing rain, and snow. I hope to get a walk in before it starts.

Wishing you all a stress free day!

Gerry

Good morning everyone. Gerry I welcome the dark brew wide awake coffee this Tootin Toosday! Good news that you were able to get out for an exercise walkabout! We've got rain in our forecast for the week which is good as we can always use the moisture and we don't have freezing temps as we're back to normal winter temps.

Have a wonderful Tootin Toosday everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! Settling down with a cup of that coffee, Gerry! We are back above freezing and hopefully all the ice will be gone by the end of the day.

There are some epic videos out there - even about a dozen salt trucks in the ditch. This one of a fire truck sliding out of control went viral. It happened about 30 miles from me.

Sliding Firetruck

Oh my Draclvr ... I never did like driving on ice, especially with drivers who had no clue ... hope no one was hurt!

That sliding firetruck video is horrifying! It looks like they got through it without damage, though. Yikes.

I wish everyone a pleasant Tuesday.

I guess there was quite a bit of damage where it hit that blue car. It all started when another car hit a fire hydrant and a truck hit that car and another one!

Wow. No people harmed, I hope!

No injuries by some miracle!

Good Morning soot, Connie, Draclvr, Marian, hagatha and everyone. I'm glad you are enjoying the Wide Awake double dark brew soot and Draclvr.

We had 2 inches of snow overnight and as the temperatures rise today we are expecting heavy rain. All the snow should melt away. Roads are a bit icy right now...

I'm working on a puzzle...tiny pieces are making it challenging! I've been thinking of playing a game of Myst today...I haven't played it in years...have any of you revisited Myst?

Enjoy your Hump Day!

Gerry

Same weather here. Rain but plenty of snow on the ground. So kind of messy outdoors. I think I need some of that WADDB before venturing outdoors.

No Myst for me but I recently bought the Riven from GOG. Affordable and installs and runs fine on Windows 10.

Happy Wednesday!

Good morning Gerry, Fogfighter and everyone. Hey Ho Gerry, the Wide Awake double dark brew is a marvelous way to start the day. And then will grab a treat from Connie when she comes. Have a great day y'all.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning! Grabbing my coffee and settling in front of my computer. Last night we had extreme fog.. I couldn't even see from the house to the barn. All the ice is finally gone and good riddance!

Only thing on the agenda today is a visit to the dentist for a checkup and cleaning.

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday to you all!

We had the fog last night too and the rain all day yesterday, freezing rain the night before. Glad I don't have to go out anymore.

I hope you enjoy your Myst playing, Gerry. It is downloaded on my computer waiting for a replay and I am trying to decide between games right now. Fogfighter, I really liked Riven when I played it years ago.

Hoping to catch up on some internet stuff today as I was unable to get on much yesterday.

Good morning, all.

It's been raining here constantly. It turns out the modern gate controls that use a reflector and a laser eye get fogged up and the gate won't work. Apparently I need to apply a de-fogger to the reflector and wipe it down regularly. I can see myself running out in the rain in my dressing gown at 11 pm to wipe everything down when I want to close the gate. Fortunately there are no houses immediately opposite mine, just a line of large trees.

Been messing around with my keyboard for a couple of days. The "e" key was misbehaving, not typing at all or double-typing. I think it must have been a bit of grunge or dirt; it seems to be working now that I've cleaned under the key a bit with a very sharp pointy tool that came with the cleaning kit I bought on Amazon. Note to self -- stop eating at the computer!

hagatha, I eat at my computer all the time. Every now and then I pick my keyboard up and turn it over and shake/bang it on my table. My monitor pays the price though when things seem to squirt from somewhere.

Oh, same here, hagatha and oldbroad! I know it's a terrible habit, but I like to read the newspaper on-line while I eat lunch!

Anyway, I can confirm that the small pointy tool did the trick and the "e" key is now acting normally.

Good Morning Fogfighter, soot, Connie, Draclvr, oldbroad, hagatha and everyone. Happy soot to hear you and everyone are enjoying the double dark Wide Awake coffee...its my favorite...just put on a fresh pot for you all to enjoy! Connie I so enjoy your bagels in the morning with an egg.

Fogfighter, Riven is a great game...I still have the original boxed version...I should try and see if I can load it on my old computer...it would be fun to play again.

Like you hagatha, Draclvr and oldbroad, I too eat at the computer and now have a few keys that are "slow to respond".

Happy Thursday to you all!

Gerry

Yay for the pointy tool

The DDWAC is just what's needed to start the day.

And congrats to those of you who still have original boxes. I'm afraid I have over the years lost all my original boxes.

Happy Thursday everyone

Good morning everyone. Gerry, the double dark Wide Awake coffee is much appreciated this morning. It'll be nice to have the coffee with a cinnamon crunch bagel from Connie. We have original boxes too FogFighter...I imagine one day they will go the way of the Dodo bird. The wet days continue for us. Stay warm and have a great day everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. I also eat at my computer, is there anywhere else? Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Exactly correct, connie!

Fog and rain continue here also, soot.

Have a good day all!

Gads, what a miserable day! Cold, foggy, rainy... So, to cheer myself up, I ordered all my tomato and pepper seeds. I actually start my pepper seeds in February because some of them take 3 or 4 weeks to even germinate.

League bowling tonight, so one bright spot in the day!

Happy Thursday!

Good Morning and Wecome to another soggy day! Rain and fog still here too. A good morning for more double dark Wide Awake coffee to start the day! Enjoy!

Draclvr amazing you are getting ready for Spring planting! Hope you enjoyed a good bowling match!

Have a Happy Friday every one!

Gerry

Good morning all, we have been having some stormy weather here, but fairly mild temperatures apart from one day when the hail was vigorous enough to look like snow on the ground: fortunately yesterday was calmer when I had to fly off the Island for a day trip!

If you really want to have a sticky keyboard, try spilling well sugared coffee on it... (recoverable by rinsing with water and leaving to dry somewhere warm)

TGIF

Good morning everyone! Gerry, I am ready for your double dark Wide Awake coffee this morning. We are mild, wet and rainy again today. Lex, glad to hear the weather was good for your trip yesterday. Yes indeed Fogfighter ... T.G.I.F.!

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Karaoke at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Gerry, the coffee smells amazing this morning. Another dreary, drizzly day today, but at least it's not so terribly cold.

Lex, I would have a heart attack if I spilled something like that on my Razer Black Widow keyboard! It is definitely not waterproof, so a good rinse and dry wouldn't save it.

Enjoy your Friday, everyone!

Good day everyone; well after that cold snap we had, I think we are in a January thaw, it's 33f right now & going up to 38. Very sloppy out there, will be going through a lot of wind shield washer flluid. Have a safe & happy day everyone.

I’ve been playing the NYT Wordle puzzle every day since it started - but it’s suddenly disappeared 😯

Does anyone know if it will be coming back ??

It hasn't disappeared here, Mad. I started playing it but now I let my brother do it everyday except Sunday.

Mad, I play it every day and played it just this morning. Got a lucky TWO!

How strange !!

Are you playing via the NYT ??

I wonder if it’s just no available in the UK then …..

Could one of you please PM me the site address you use so I can try it ??

Thanks, Mad 🙂

There's an shortcut on my desktop that points to
https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html?success=true

Thank you very much, oldbroad, that site is available to me !!

It’s totally different to where I have going all this time though so I don’t know what the heck is going on

That would be the same link I use too, Mad!

We're about to have torrential rain and most of the Island is under a flood warning.

I keep forgetting about the NYT games. I played them all every day when John was in the hospital those last few weeks. Kept my mind busy.

Glad it works for you Mad!

I hope you don't get flooded, hagatha!

Good Morning everyone. Sounds like we all are experiencing the same dreary sunless weather! I hope to spend time gaming, working on a puzzle and watching a couple new movies this weekend.

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Gerry

Howdy everyone, I use that NYT link for Wordle, but then I move on to these https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/ and this https://dordle-game.com

and here is a bit of cute and funny to help brighten the day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqYk9cLz4qU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXezLv_5RaY (with hagatha's household in mind)

Good morning everyone. Enjoy your gaming, puzzling and movies this weekend Gerry. Lex, that is one caring rooster! Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Good morning everyone. Finally normal winter weather over here. Sunshine and some snow. No arctic blizzard.
Though the streets tend to be dangerously icy and slippery. I did the penguin walk to stay safe..

Happy weekend

Good morning. Yup, very dark and dreary here too. But no need to do a penguin walk as it's just muddy!

Granddaughter is home on leave from the Army. She was deployed to Poland for 5 months, but will be going back to Arizona for more training in counter intelligence. We are meeting her and her mom and dad at the American Legion for a burger for lunch. Will be SO good to see her!

I'm off to do my daily Wordle and then I usually do the NYT Connections game too.

Happy Saturday!

Good Saturday to you all!

Hey everyone! Time for a new thread and you can find it here.

Ana