Time for a shiny new thread!

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!

Thank you Ana for the shiny new thread ... you are #1

Good morning everyone.

A sunny Sunday with sunshine.

Emergency kits available in the break room

19 Celsius outdoors.

And happy birthday to msMercury.

Good Morning Ana, Fogfighter and everyone! Welcome to the redorated Break Room!

Wishing Mary a Happy Birthday...homemade Birthday cake to share!

Wide Awake Double Dark brew is ready too.

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Gerry

Good morning Gerry Fogfighter Ana Connie Draclvr Hagatha OldBroad and everyone else who gets the chance to pop in.

Happy birthday Ms Mary!

What a great way to start our day wide awake double dark brew and cake!

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Mart, Birthday Cupcakes in the Break room. Shopping is on he agenda. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good Sunday morning. Another toasty day ahead, but I think it's supposed to head back into the 80's this week with MAYBE some rain.

Did the chuck roast in the crockpot yesterday. Will clean it up and shred it this morning and put back into the broth for sandwiches. My god-daughter's boys are kinda picky, so I'm also making some smash burgers for them. A big pot of home made mac and cheese, a sour cream cucumber salad and a tomato salad with onions and balsamic vinegar and we are good to go! Yeah, here I am cooking again after I swore off it before my kids went back to Denver!

I'm sure the pool will get a workout today.

Good morning everyone!

Yet a day with 19 Celsius and some clouds. Pretty pleasant.

Emergency rations with instant coffee and knäckebröd available in the break room.

Happy Monday GameBoomers!

Good Morning Fogfighter, soot, connie, Draclvr and everyone! Wide Awake Double Dark Brew awaits!

Fogfighter any gaming on your agenda today? Soot I hope you have a good day for walking. Draclvr your salads sound delicious! My mom use to make a tomato and red onion salad with vinegar that I loved! I never got it to be as tasty as hers. I have not had homemade mac and cheese in years...that sounds so good too!

Enjoy your Monday everyone!

Gerry

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

Good Monday morning. A relief from the temps and a good inch of rain yesterday.

Although I won't have to start watering the tomatoes and peppers today, it put a huge damper on the visit from my god daughter and her family yesterday. Oh, well... we ate well, but the boys were bored! I was so happy that her mom, my very close friend from almost 60 years ago was able to come along. Her husband passed about 3 or 4 years ago and she sold their huge brownstone in the city of St. Louis and moved to an apartment. They have a gardening space and gave her a generous area to grow herbs. She brought me the most beautiful arrangement of herbs in a pretty glass vase. She told me what each of them is and I've never heard of some of them such as African Blue Basil! They are so pretty I can't imagine using them!

Good Monday morning everyone. Enjoyed my walk this morning with 'feels like' temps in the mid 80s, climbing to the 90s this afternoon and then in 100s later this week. Off to continue the day with chores and projects...but first a cup of WADDB and bagels.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone

Hi Boomers.

Having a very frustrating time with Dell. Twice they have returned my laptop without repairing it, claiming there is nothing wrong with it. However, twice a tech has gone into my laptop remotely wnd found the problem immediately.

The issue is that the keyboard doesn't talk to the computer. I can type all I want but nothing appears on the screen. No idea why a tech can't find that problem, but it seems Dell won't fix my computer. So frustrating. I rarely lose my temper on the phone but I flipped out completely. Wonder what my blood pressure is!

How maddening !! I sincerely hope you can get that sorted soon, hagatha 🤞

Sometimes flipping out is what it takes to get them to listen to you. You pay extra for them to fix this and then they refuse to fix it...

I have no idea what may be going on with your laptop, obviously. This is not exactly a fix but I can mention that I for years made my old Asus laptop stationary and attached a USB-Keyboard, because more user friendly keys. If you happen to have a USB-keyboard you can always try that one. More like a workaround but may be useful if in a pinch. Wireless keyboards might work as well but there is always that extra hazzle to make them connect. USB-Keyboards tend to be plug and play nowadays. If you can make do with a simple keyboard they are also really affordable nowadays. Though there are also fancy expensive ones. I personally use a decent Logitech keyboard with lit keys. Very user friendly. Office version. Not the gaming keyboard.

Good luck and be careful with the blood pressure.

The usual emergency kits are available in the Break room.

Over here yet a pleasant day with 19 Celsius. Mrs Sun is shining.

Not much gaming will be done today, I'm afraid. I recently bought new neat fanless computer. Now installing the latest Debian Linux version which was released this weekend. Almost like a puzzle adventure game. Figure out how to make it work in order to advance and continue to next challenge. Will hopefully work, eventually.



Happy Tuesday GameBoomers!

Good Morning Fogfighter, connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha, Mad and everyone! Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready to start your day!

Draclvr what a thoughtful gift from your God daughter's mom...a very long time friend! Fogfighter that is good advice for Hagatha about using a USB keyboard...logitech are the best and compatible with most computers. I hope you get it fixed hagatha.

Soot enjoy your walk today...hopefully it is cooler. Connie what are you up to today? Mad always nice to see you pop in to the Break Room.

Enjoy your Day everyone!

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels in th4e Break Room. Gerry, I will be refiguring finances today. We went car shopping yesterday. We are now the proud owners of a new HYUNDAI ELANTRA. Our old car was a 2009 and was starting to cost too much in repairs. Not thrilled with car payments again, it's been 11 years. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Gerry Fogfighter Draclvr Mad Hagatha and all who follow. I've used Fogfighter's technique for using a USB keyboard with my laptops over the years. However, with that said it's sad Dell computer cannot (will not) fix the issue with your laptop Hagatha. I did enjoy my walk this morning Gerry and got a peek of Jupiter and Venus closest approach to each other in the night sky. It's raining now and I'm enjoying it. Might have groceries on my docket today but for sure will enjoy a cup or two of wide awake double dark brew and bagels.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Good Tuesday morning. Nicer temps in the 80's, but maybe thunderstorms later today.

Fogfighter, I just read an article about the new Debian release this morning... sounds interesting, so good luck with it!

Congratlations on the new vehicle, Connie! I would hate making payments too. I am still driving my trusty 2004 Dodge Dakata truck with a stick shift transmission. It has AC, heat and a radio and that's it. Other than maintenance, I haven't spent anything on it. Well, I did replace the driver's seat because the mechanism to recline or move the seat stopped working - and it was just a manual adjustment type. But they will pry the keys to my truck out of my cold dead hands!

Good Morning connie, soot, Draclvr, Fogfighter and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready to start your day!

Connie I'm still driving my 2004 Subaru Forester same year as Draclvr's truck. I don't think I could master all the tech changes in a new car...especially the computer touch screen on the dash. I like just putting the key in the ignition and starting the car...don't think I could handle a dashboard that looks like you are flying a plane!

Soot I'll have to check out the morning sky and see if I can see the planets.

Lately I have observed a hawk hanging around my yard. His presents has kept the other birds away from using my birdbath. Well yesterday I watched the hawk fly and perch on the edge of the birdbath. I was able to get some pictures on my Ipad as he actually went into the birdbath and rolled on his side getting his wings went and bathing for several minutes! He was amazing to watch! For at least 10 minutes he was in the birdbath.

I will have to call it a hawk-bath if he keeps it up...it's a good thing it has a concrete top or he would tip it over!

Have a great day!

Gerry

Good morning everyone!

Pleasant 23 Celsius today. No hawk nearby. Would have been great to enjoy Gerry's Hawk Show. Please keep us updated.
Meanwhile I have to make do with WADDB and installing the Debian. Seems promising so far. New computer behaves well too.

Happy Wednesday GameBoomers.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels in the Break Room. Gerry, I would have loved to see your Hawk bathing in the birdbath. Music Bingo at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Connie, Fogfighter, Gerry, Draclvr and everyon who follows. What an awesome sight Gerry to watch the hawk in your birdbath. I have a large terracotta clay deep saucer for the birds to use as a birdbath and water source. But the chickadee's use my hummingbird ant moats for their baths and the squirrels use the same ant moats for their personal drinking fountains. Hope your install of Debian is smooth Fogfighter. I'll bet your new Elantra gets great gas mileage Connie. Grocery shopping is on my docket today with an errand or two. But first it's time to enjoy WADDB and donuts.

Have a great Hump Day everyone 🐫

Good Wednesday morning. Slightly cooler temps for a few day, then back up into the mid to upper 90's.

I wonder what kind of hawk availed itself to your bird bath, Gerry! Some of them are quite huge! We have a juvenile Cooper's Hawk that is learning how to hunt for himself. He was very happy with all the mice when hubby brush hogged off the pasture.

After some rain the last couple of days, I am going to start working on weeds again. *sigh*

Later I'm heading over to a friend's house - she is having computer issues.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

We had some rain yesterday afternoon and I noticed a Dove ? (I don't know my birds) in the tree outside my bedroom window. It stayed there on the same branch, in the same spot for hours. It finally left sometime after 7 but unfortunately, I didn't see it leave. It didn't appear to be hurt, just hanging around, but I would have liked to see it fly off.

The birds I do know are Sparrows and they have been acting strange lately. Just a short while ago there were a couple on my window sill when I looked out. Usually if they are right there when I look they get scared away. This time one of them started climbing the screen and hanging there looking in at me or looking up at something. I don't know. This is not the first time this year that the sparrows have been clinging to my screens as if they want to come in. They sometimes get in our garage too and my brother has a hard time getting them out. Not sure if the garage ones were Sparrows or something else.

I'm supposed to be cooking something later, but at this point I am feeling kind of lazy and not sure I'll get to it or not. Some kind of citrus roasted chicken thighs. We'll see.

A couple of days ago my brother and I received (separate notices) in the mail regarding our recently departed brother, something that I'm pretty sure is some kind of pension benefits but it doesn't even explain who they are or why they sent us this, I guess assuming that we know. Then the next day we received (separate) invoices saying that we owe them money for payments made after death. Had us both quite upset, but for now, we are just ignoring it all. I haven't had any contact with the partner of my brother as I just could not take his evasiveness and lack of information anymore. We never did learn cause of death even.

Anyway, sorry to be laying this on you all again. Thank you for listening!

Have a good day all!

I hate to hear you are having to deal with this after your other brother's death. There are scammers out there who prey on family members for sure. It would be nice to know just WHO or what company is saying you owe them money. Payments for what? But if there isn't even a letterhead to say who they are, I'd be very leery of these things. Since he and his partner never married, you and your brother are next of kin and if he had any pension money, it would go to you. So, that may be totally legit. But again, no letterhead or explanation of what company is odd.

I'm sorry if I was mis-leading. The letter is from IMRF which I Googled. It's just that the letter pretty much goes straight to asking us to fill out forms without really explaining in the letter who they are and why we would do this. They probably figure that as beneficiaries of this plan we are aware of it, but we aren't. I'm sure the partner put a claim in for his share and they then sent us this. I can only assume the partner was on the bank account and whatever as he really didn't seem to want to share any information with us, in which case if there was some extra payment made then the partner received it, not us. Last contact was in April and he did actually mention the IMRF. He also mentioned that he had not been able to pay the funeral home but did receive the ashes but was waiting to buy an urn and that he was "going to put a bill into the bank to pay for the funeral expenses" (something like that). Anyway, I just don't feel the partner handled the situation right with us although I want to believe he was just devastated and probably handled it the only way he could. If I don't believe that then I am forced to believe he had done some underhanded things. Since the partner was not very forthcoming and seemed to want to handle everything himself, we stepped back to let him do so. If the funeral home had not needed our consent, the partner probably never would have even told us anything at all. That's what I think anyway. The death benefit is really not worth the hassle to be honest.

Edit: Just read your new post, ob. What I was saying was rendered unnecessary so I deleted that part.

Glad you received my private message, oldbroad, will get back to you when my visitors have left.

Oh, I misunderstood when you said they didn't say who they are. If your brother and his partner never married and your brother never set up his retirement fund to make sure the partner got it, there is not a lot you can do unless you employ a lawyer. I get a small pension from my 2nd husband's previous employer, but even though it's only about $45 a month, I'll take it! I filled out the forms and that was all it took. I've been getting it for 25 years now which adds up to $13,500 that I wouldn't have had before.

With the partner not being very forthcoming, it's even harder to deal with it all.

I saw your post before you deleted it Marian and figured you had not seen my post.

Drac, I'm sure this is just a one time death benefit, not an ongoing payment that we would receive. It does feel like a betrayal to my brother not to get it but I'm not sure we will. The amount would feed us for a couple of months but the aggravation already caused is just not worth it.

The partner not being forthcoming really set me off which is why I stopped contact with him. Each time there was news of my brothers health, into hospital, into rehab, back into hospital, death, it was 7 to 10 days before he emailed me. Never answered any of my questions about what was going on but he did ask me about some stuff (something about his email addresses which didn't even make sense to me, but I answered him anyway). He later told me that he had checked into a hospital himself because he was suicidal. I don't know if that is true or not but I did end up finding (through Google) that his sister had filed a missing persons report. This is why I want to believe he handled things in a way that he thought was okay and was able to do. Everybody handles grief differently, however, I just find something "off" about the whole situation starting with why my brother was weaning himself off of his meds. He had told me that himself but didn't give a reason. Just a whole mess but the bottom line is, no more brother and nothing can fix that, so...

If getting that death benefit does not involve your brother's partner in any way, I would go for it. But then I cashed a check in the last few years that was payable for twenty cents or so, and I realize not everyone feels that way. It really was like twenty cents or so - the bank teller and I had a good laugh about it and I told her that I would try not to spend the money all in one place.

From what I can figure out, I believe the three of us were all listed as beneficiaries and the partner put in the claim which is how we received these mailing. He probably received his payment already as well as the "overpayment" and he should be repaying that, not us. Literally, after taxes and if we have to repay the overpayment, this might cover 1 week of meals only.

I understand about the twenty cents. I actually am that way also, as a rule. My SS payment covers my bills but my food money comes out of my savings. If our house was not paid for, my brother and I together, would not have enough in SS payments to cover rent for an apartment.

Same here. Thank goodness my house/property is paid for. I can hardly imagine what I would be doing otherwise. It doesn't bear thinking about!

Good Morning Fogfighter, connie, soot, Draclvr, oldbroad, Marian, Mad, and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready!

Fogfighter good luck with the computer and installing Debian. Oldbroad it must be a stressful time for you dealing with all those issues after losing your brother...I'm thinking of you and hoping all gets sorted out soon.

Hope you all have a great day!

Gerry

Oh dear!

Quite a mess Oldbroad. I hope it will turn out well.

Take a deep breath and a cup of coffee.

WADDB almost certainly helps.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels in the Break Room. Going to a Birthday Party at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good Thursday morning. Laundry is on the list for today.

Got my friend sorted out. All it was, was a bad ethernet cable. I had taken two with me as I suspected that's what it was. While I was there she asked me to show her how to view photos from an SD card and a couple of other things. We talked about Windows 11 and she decided to get a new computer as they do a lot of stock trading on-line. So, I'll be setting that up for her when it arrives. She gave me a big bottle of wine and a $50 gift certificate to Applebee's! The bottle of wine was more than enough, but I understand how much this means to someone who lives out in the country and is completely clueless about computers.

Happy Thursday to you all!

New day, new thoughts. I never did do my cooking yesterday. I already started it today. Made the cup of broth I need (from a convenient cube) while I made my cup of tea and looked for the pan I want to cook the meal in but I'll be darned if I can find it. I can't imagine where it is. Maybe my eyes are not awake yet. Anyway, that's the start. One step at a time. That's how I manage to cook these days. Being Thursday it's time for me to start thinking about my Saturday grocery list again already. I wish my work days had gone as fast as my retirement days do.

I hope you each have a good day!

Good morning all.

Canada is in the midst of a wildfire catastrophe. I just looked at the map and there are countless out-of-control fires, especially in the Prairies. One of them here on the Island is very close to Port Alberni, and the smoke here is thick enough that I don't want to go outside for fear of an asthma attack. The local band near the fire is under evacuation alert. I hope they're okay and their homes survive.

Computer just arrived half an hour ago by Purolator and has been repaired. I'm still being told that there was nothing wrong with it. I'm a bit shocked that Dell tech would try to gaslight a customer; all you had to do was turn on the computer and try to type the password, and the issue would be obvious. And twice online techs were able to see the problem. I'm sorry I had to blow a gasket to get the repair done, but that's what it took.

Hagatha, I mentioned your Dell plight to my friend yesterday while I was working on her computer. The technician was there 2 days earlier to get her new router set up. I don't know where he got the ethernet cable, but she told me an earlier tech had "repaired" it with a new plug on the end. I took one look at it and could see bare wires from the cable to the plug and said, there's your problem with not connecting to the internet right there. Plugged in a new cable and boom - connected. IDIOTS!

I think this laptop was a bit of a lemon, though. My first Alienware laptop was a beast than ran non-stop with almost no issues for 8 years. This one has has two issues that required sending it to Dell for repairs. I think what I really need is a desktop, since I now do much of my gaming on my Steam Deck (which, btw, is a fantastic little machine). My office isn't set up right for a desktop but I kind of threw it together when I moved in, with just some IKEA shelving for books and a cheapo wobbly desk. Eventually I'd like to have a built-in wall unit with a desk and a single Murphy bed for overflow guests.

Good morning everyone!

Pleasant 20 Celsius outdoors and mrs. Sun is shining.
Emergency kits with instant coffee and knäckebröd are available in the break room while we wait for the real stuff.

Glad to hear your Steam Deck is doing well, Hagatha. I hope the IKEA shelves behaves too. A decent working space is great.
I personally use fanless low power desktop computers on my IKEA desktop. And a pretty large monitor.

Happy Friday GameBoomers!

Good Morning everyone! Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready!

Happy Friday! Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Gerry

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

Good morning everyone ... oh my! but time flies when you are busy. I thought I stopped in yesterday only to discover I didn't. Grandson headed to college yesterday so was a busy day for us ... and we capped it off with a Chic-Fil-A dinner instead of cooking...and no dishes! Hagatha, I prefer my desktop too for gaming. Yes indeed Draclvr, ID-10-Ts do not help any situation in the tech arena. OldBroad, I am so sorry to hear the news about losing your brother. Enjoying a cup of wide awake double dark brew and bagel before I head out for groceries and errands.

Have a great T.G.I.F. day everyone

Good Friday morning. Soot, these weeks just seem to fly by! Read a great meme the other day.

Summer isn't over until September 22nd.
So sit your pumpkin-spiced a** down
while I finish my Margarita! Thank you.

Happy Friday everyone. I hope you all enjoy it! I absolutely have to get that cooking done today before my chicken rots.

Good afternoon everyone.

As I type this on my phone, a nice young man working for Dell in India is working on my computer remotely to make sure everything is working properly, including fixing the blue screen of death that happens when my laptop sleeps, and a complete reinstall of Windows.

He called this morning, said he'd been following my case, and wanted to make sure Dell lived up to the warranty. Can't ask for more than that.

Unheard of customer service, hagatha!

He's going to call back on Monday to make sure that the windows reinstall worked properly. Alas, I have no sound from my on-board speakers, so there's more to be done.

Hopefully just a driver issue.

I checked the drivers and they're all up to date. I do note that the sound menu in Settings is quite different from what I'm used to, so it may be just operator error, but the on-board speakers are showing as disabled and there is no option to enable them. I'm sure it can all be worked out.

Good Morning connie, soot, Draclvr, oldbroad, hagatha. Wide Awake Doudle Dark Brew is ready! I'm enjoying my first cup!

Soot you had a busy couple days...nice to see you back. Hagatha I hope all gets fixed with your computer. Since I switched to an Apple IMac computer several years ago I never have issues with the OS...Windows was always too "buggy" for me.

Hope you all have a great Weekend!

Gerry

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

Good morning Gerry Fogfighter Draclvr Connie Hagatha and all who follow. Yes indeed Gerry and here I thought retirement was going to be slow and easy. Yes Hagatha window's can be a little persnicity at times. Meeting on line with grandkids this afternoon to play an RPG game. So I'll need to prep to get ready for the game but first things first, time for some wide awake double dark brew and bagels.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Good Saturday morning. I only have time for a quick cup of WADDB. The temps are heading for 99 - 100 degrees F today and I need to get out to the garden and pick tomatoes before it gets too hot to breathe out there. Blech.

What RPG are you playing with the grandkids, soot?

Good morning everyone.

It's overcast and cool today. I'm hoping that means we get more rain -- the fire near Port Alberni is still out of control and it's become huge.

Sadly, my computer still goes into the now black screen of death when it goes to sleep, and when I restarted it, Windows didn't load properly and tried to repair itself. Not my favourite way to start the day. I did have the presence of mind to take pictures of the error messages so I have it all documented. I guess we'll be back to the drawing board on Monday.

Gerry, I avoid Mac/Apple for the simple reason that they just aren't good for the type of gaming I do. Fortunately I have my Steam Deck and it runs every recent game I've tried on it, although my Fallout 4 game with many mods does tend to crash a couple of times a day.

Oh, that doesn't sound good at all, hagatha. I hope the tech can help you out on Monday, but if a simple reinstall is doing this, it's not a good sign.

Yeah, I avoid Mac/Apple for the same reason - I wouldn't be able to do any of the type of gaming I do. Even the most recent adventure games do not support Mac. And there is also what we call the "Mac tax" where you pay double for the exact same components. Windows may have its foibles, but I find them so much easier to deal with than the few Macs I've worked on.

Good Morning connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha, Fogfighter and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready.

Soot did you have fun playing a game online with the grandkids...which RPG game sis you play? Hagatha I only replay old games these days. I can still play Myst on my newer Apple computer and all my old Adventure Games including all the Tomb Raider games on both the old Apple and old Windows 95 Sony computer. Back in the day there were adventure games that were on disks for both Apple and Windows computers.

Hope you all have good weather and enjoy a peaceful day!

Gerry

Good Morning everyone!

16 Celsius today. Almost on the chilly side after the warm summer. WADDB helps.

I recently bought an old Settlers game from GOG who revive some older software. Unfortunately I never managed to make the mouse cursor behave. Despite trying various suggested fixes. Oh well. It was super cheap and worth trying. Might eventually even find some solution. Meanwhile the widelands.org are making a very good free Settlers alternative.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Bad storms here last night. Snapped a wind spinner in half. Someone's patio umbrella is on the porch roof. Nothing major, a small tree limb down out back. Shopping is on the agenda today. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Connie, Fogfighter, Gerry, Draclvr, Hagatha and all who follow. Draclvr and Gerry we are just starting Root, The Roleplaying Game...which is different from our DnD 5e gaming. Yesterday (and probaly one more session) was move 0 to discuss characters, the region and rules. Enjoying a cup of WADDB and bagels this morning before I get started on the day's tasks.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday

Good Sunday morning. Oh, my. 100 degrees F here yesterday. Brutally hot. I'm heading out shortly to hook up the hose and start watering the tomatoes. Even the pool was 88 degrees, About all you can say is that it was wet.

Glad to hear you escaped any major damage, Connie. Did the storm cool this off or just make it more muggy and miserable?

Good afternoon everyone.

It's a lovely sunny, cool day. I just ventured out to buy a few of my new favourite frozen dinners -- they are all-natural vegan dishes, and absolutely delicious -- as good as anything I could make. It's an Irish brand but the food is made in Canada. It beats having a peanut butter sandwich and an apple for dinner. I also stopped in at the farm market for some ice cream bars. They're made locally and much nicer than any of the big brands. One thing about living where I do -- it's a foodie paradise.

This afternoon I might sit outside and enjoy the nice weather, as there's a breeze blowing the wildfire smoke away from us right now.

Good Morning Fogfighter, connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark brew is ready to start your monday morning.

Fogfighter enjoy that cooler weather. Connie it must have been a scary storm. Glad all is well with you. Soot I don't know the game Root...I'll check it out. it must be nice to play a game with the grandkids...especially with all your gaming experience!

Draclvr I hope it cools off for you this week and you get some gentle soaking rain for your tomatoes. Hagatha how nice you can enjoy your yard with the cooler weather and no smoke!

Have a Happy Monday!

Gerry

New week!

21 Celsius. Pretty good. Time for WADDB.

Happy Monday GameBoomers!

Good morning Fogfighter Gerry Hagatha Draclvr Connie and all who follow. Did you find the owner of the patio umbrella Connie? Glad all you had was the spinner and a small limb. It's a "hoot" playing games with the grandboys ... they make me look like a novice. Chores and projects will fill my day but I will enjoy a cup or two of WADDB before I start.

Have a great Monday everyone

Good morning, Danish, Donut and Bagels in the Break Room. Actually it wasn't a patio umbrella, it was our flag pole that was standing in the front yard with 2 flags on it. It just looked like an umbrella the way the flags were wrapped around it. It put our next door neighbor's tree limbs in 2 other yards. The storms only make it feel hotter and muggy. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good Monday morning. Dreadful heat here again for two more days. Same here, Connie. The storms just make it feel hotter and muggier. Maybe the mid-to upper 80's by Wednesday.

First day of school here. I love seeing all the pictures of the littles and their first day back to school. The guy who lives down at the horse rescue as their maintenance and night closing employee has a step-daughter who is 9. The bus drops the kids who live on the road down to the Ranch at the top of the gravel road - which is almost a mile and a half back to the Ranch! So, I often pick up RayLynn if her mom or sister can't. Mom has to work today and sister has a dental appointment, so I'll be meeting her at the bus to run her home today.

As promised, the Dell rep is back working on my laptop. Complete backup and now reinstalling and updating my OS. He's spent many hours on this.


Ugh. Of course now One Drive has been reinstalled and has scattered my files all over the place. None of my pictures are on my hard drive. My document files seem to have been put in random places on One Drive but not anywhere on my hard drive.

I'm getting another call tomorrow so I guess we'll be putting my files back on the hard drive and uninstalling One Drive. The next computer I buy, the first thing I'll do is uninstall it.

Good morning everyone!

I feel your pain Hagatha. I'm afraid the best I can do is to offer emergency kits with instant coffee and knäckebröd.
Over here 16 Celsius and rising. I'm writing this on the new fanless PC. The first thing I did was to remove the pre-installed Windows harddrive (M.2) and insert a new one for the Debian. There are other quirks in Debian Linux but no One Drive. Still keeping the physical windows drive in case there is a need to use Windows again. It sure feels bloated and sometimes annoying but is pretty stable and can run a lot of software. Might come in handy one day.

Happy Tuesday GameBoomers!

Good Morning Fogfighter, soot, connie, Draclvr, hagatha and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark brew is ready.

Connie and Draclvr I wish I could send the beautiful weather I had yesterday to you! The humidity was gone here yesterday the temp was perfect, the sun was shining and there was a nice breeze! A great day for walking!

Soot I bet those grandboys think its a hoot to have you able to play games with them too! Hagatha I think Dell should give you a new computer! Fogfighter that is good news the Debian is stable.

Hope you all have a great day!

Gerry

Good morning everyone. I enjoyed a muggy but mid-70s walk this morning. I'm off shortly to pick up a friend from the Firestone store who's dropping off a car for routine maintenance. But first things first so a cup or two of WADDB.

Have a wonderful day

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

Good Tuesday morning. A lovely "cool-down" to a mere 90 degrees F today. Guess it's better than the 98 yesterday!

hagatha, OneDrive is like a plague that keeps coming back. I'm going to be setting up a new Windows 11 computer for a friend and #1 on the list is going to be dumping OneDrive.

A grocery store run is on the agenda today. I'm looking forward to stopping at our new produce stand location. The old "ice plant" has been renovated and our local produce stand has moved down there. They have grown so much over the years and there was no parking, so I'm excited. The ice plant is where they would store large ice blocks cut from the river during the winter. People would come get blocks of ice cut to fit the old "ice box" refrigerators before we had electricity.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Still muggy here. We had about 1-1/2" of rain yesterday / last night. Thankfully, a normal, non-damaging rain.

I would not be dealing with that person from Dell, hagatha. You must have a lot of patience.

Hope you each enjoy the day!

Oldbroad, the fellow from Dell who has been helping me has been amazing! He's gone way beyond anything I would have expected. It was the original tech people that were so awful to deal with.

It's a beautiful morning, cool and sunny. We just a small rain shower and everything feel nice and fresh. Unfortunately, the wildfire near us is still raging away.

EDIT: Computer all repaired except for some downloading from One Drive.

Of course, I just had to look at the new Alienware laptops and the new 5000 series graphics cards are out......

Good Morning everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready.

Draclvr what is a OneDrive? I am not computer savvy...never heard the term before. Hagatha that Alienware computer sounds like a great gaming computer!

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Gerry

Good Morning everyone!

16 Celsius and WADBB. Good start of the day.

As I understand it One Drive is some helpful Microsoft tech for backing up Windows 10/11 users' files in Microsoft's cloud.
Unfortunately the One Drive tech can cause various problems and lots of headaches for the users.

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

Good morning everyone. Hot and muggy is the norm this time of the year ... we'll be in the 101 feels like temps this afternoon. Correct Fogfighter, OneDrive is a cloud storage service "build in" to Windows. Given it's integrated into Windows, I don't mess with it but turn it off, don't use it and keep it empty. Time for WADDB and bagels.

Have a great day everyone

Good Wednesday morning. We finally have an actual cool-down. Yesterday still got to 93 degrees F. Today starts some time in the 80's. Still muggy like you soot.

Gerry, OneDrive is a plague in my opinion. It used to be useful to store files in the OneDrive cloud. I have a lot of files stored there. But I could CHOOSE whether I want to use it. In Windows 11, it is forced on you. And if you have files and photos on your local drive, they will all disappear into the OneDrive cloud whether you want them too or not. Just ask hagatha!! The first thing I do is use Revo uninstaller to get rid of it - you can unlink it, but it always seems to rear its ugly head again.

Think I'll use this slightly cooler weather to start cleaning up my perennial beds. They look awful after these many weeks of heat. I was going to hire the little neighbor kids to do it, but they are now so busy with being back to school and sports and activities. We finally have lots of tomatoes. I need to go check and see if there are enough of my hot Garden Salsa peppers that are ripe for a batch of my fermented hot sauce. The Colorado grandkids have gone through all of theirs from last year already.

Good Morning Fogfighter, connie, soot, Draclvr, and everyone. Wide awake Double Dark Brew is ready.

Thanks for the explanation of "One Drive" Fogfighter , soot and Draclvr. It's Windows issues like that that make me happy with my iMac computer! I can even call Apple and make an appointment at my local Apple store if I have an issue...it is a nice feature when you are not computer savvy. There tech support is fantastic.

We finally got some rain overnight. My weather is still cool...it will be a nice day for a walk.

Have a great day everyone!

Gerry

Good morning everyone!

17 Celsius and WADDB to start the day.
Indeed the one drive situation is a mess. I too try to shut it off when I think about it but I don't use Windows that often nowadays. It's possibly reactivated during some recent windows update. Congrats to the iMac Gerry. No wonder they are praised a lot. But Apple is not for me.

Happy Thursday GameBoomers!

Good morning Gerry Fogfighter Draclvr Connie Hagatha and everyone. Yes indeed Gerry that's the same reason why we switched our mom over to an iMac...it always worked. Time for wide awake double dark brew!

Have a wonderful day everyone

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

Good Thursday morning. Whew! The real actual cool-down has finally arrived.

Not sure I'm ready for it, but tonight is the first night of league bowling.

Good morning everyone,

We're still in the midst of a cool stretch and it's s such a nice change. The wildfire is still showing as out-of-control, but the sky was clear last night. Today will be a pottering around day, mostly tidying up my study.

My sister and her partner came for a visit last week and brought with them two huge boxes of memorabilia my mother saved over the decades. The loot ranged from childhood "art" to every single letter I wrote until the age of email.

I have to say, my letters from boarding school in Nairobi were hilarious. I was thirteen at the time. I guess it would have been 1967 0r 1968. Much of the text was about my arch-nemesis, Sister Pauline, who in spite of her best efforts, could not make me cry when I was sent to her for being bad (which was every single week for crimes such as talking after lights out, studying instead of playing tennis, and brushing my teeth after breakfast). My Canadian upbringing clashed with the strict British boarding school rules and at the age of thirteen I was considered a rebel. I got the boot after the second term.

Also in the box are three little handmade dresses from my earliest years in Ceylon. I do remember wearing the little party dress with embroidery on it.

Happy Thursday! My internet has been out all day. Hopefully, it will stay on tonight. It had been going so well for the last week. Only went out for a brief moment after one loud clap of thunder a couple of days ago. Even my download speed was good, right up around where it's supposed to be. Ah, well.

Today I received a "notice of data security incident" from my life insurance company. I knew I should have cashed it in when I quit work like I did the other two policies I had. I suppose my info would still have been there though.

Hagatha, "studying instead of playing tennis, and brushing my teeth after breakfast" ? Those don't sound like "crimes" to me. It is fun sometimes looking back at some stuff like that.

I hope you each have enjoyed your day!

Good Morning Fogfighter, connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha, oldbroad and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready.

Draclvr how did you bowling go? Hagatha I was looking thru family photo albums last weekend...brought back so many happy memories of a simpler lifetime. Oldbroad I hope your internet stabilizes...your issues sound like mine...slow and intermittent loss. It may be time to cash in that insurance too.

It is going to be another beautiful day today with less humidity making for great walking weather. With the lack of rain the leaves have started to dry and fall, and the low growth is dying so you can see further into the woods that border the country road I walk on with my 2 neighbors.

Hope you all enjoy your Friday!

Gerry

Studying instead of tennis.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. No cool weather here. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning Connie, Fogfighter, Gerry, OldBroad, Hagatha, Draclvr and all who get the chance to pop in. Old pictures and memorabilia are fun to sift through for sure. I enjoyed a nice walk this moring in the low 70s and hope we get some rain showers later today. Grin...I remember rebel days like those Hagatha. I believe you're correct OldBroad, your data would still have been in their computer system...stay alert for fraud. Groceries, shopping, chores and errands are on my Friday docket today. But time for those later, for now I'll enjoy WADDB and bagels.

Have a wonderful TGIF Friday everyone

Good Friday morning. How did Friday get here so fast!

I bowled well last night which I always hate to do! My average has nowhere to go but down and my handicap is too low! Best news is that my back and knees fared very well.

I have a fox that was hunting Wally, my barn cat yesterday. I saw the fox on my security cameras the night before and then while sitting outside visiting with a friend who came to get some tomatoes, I saw Wally running towards the old chicken house with the fox in hot pursuit. I ran over there and sure enough the fox was sitting there. Wally had run into the chicken house. But he was pretty freaked out and he ran down the hill into the woods. Later that afternoon I saw the fox following his trail. Luckily Wally had come back up to the house and was with me. I suspect it's a youngster out on his own for the first time. Didn't see him on the cameras last night and hope he moves on to hunt meadow voles somewhere!

Good morning everyone.

More cool weather today, but sunny. I suppose at some point I should mow my lawn. It isn't growing much now and I wanted to give the newly-seeded area some time to settle. Maybe that can be one of my afternoon chores.

It's a Pilates morning and then some grocery shopping -- nothing too exciting. Tomorrow I'll get up to Qualicum for the Saturday Market they have every week.

Happy Friday to you all!

Drac, poor Wally. I hope the fox forgets about him and moves on.

Good Morning Fogfighter, connie, soot, Draclvr, hagatha, oldbroad and everyone. Wide Awake Double Dark Brew is ready to start your Saturday morning.

It will be another nice day here...tomorrow the humidity will be back. I've been so lucky to have beautiful weather for the last few days...great for nice long walks!

Enjoy your day everyone!

Gerry

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

Good morning Connie, Fogfighter, Gerry, OldBroad, Hagatha, Draclvr and all who pop in. Woo Hoo Hoo .. the weekend is upon us. Keeping Wally's safety in my thoughts Draclvr. Playing Root with family this morning so time to tank up with WADDB and bagels to prepare.

Good morning Boomers — may your coffee be strong and your RNG merciful!

Good Saturday morning. Hubby's big breakfast done and now it's time to have my WADDB and listen to the hummingbirds. Because my window is open! Beautiful day in the 80's ahead.

Saw the fox on my video camera again last night. But Wally was harassing Miss M, my semi-house cat this morning as usual.

I finally have enough tomatoes to can, so I'm going to make some spaghetti sauce... I'm completely out. I can't stand the thought of the store-bought stuff!

I'm also heading in town to attend an open house for a cat rescue. I've been supporting them for several years, but they now have a physical facility. I purchased a couple of things to donate to their "Kitty Thrift Shop." Due to people not spaying and neutering, the need for this rescue is huge.

Good morning all.

It's going to be a hot one today. I just spent an hour sitting outside with my coffee, Willow in my lap, listening to my waterfall and the many birds that flock to my garden. Later I'm off to Qualicum for the Market, to pick up some more oils and balsamic vinegar and return their bottles. If I have time after that I'll go for a walk.

Happy Saturday

Happy Saturday!

Good Sunday morning to everyone. Rough start for today as we have no internet . No worries as it'll be just like it was all those years ago before they turned the internet on. Today is a day of rest. So, will enjoy WADDB, bagels and a book.

Have a great day everyone

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Soot, I hope your internet returns soon. Shopping at Sam's and Publix is on the agenda today. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone!

Sunday with sunshine and some 15 Celsius. Winter is coming, eventually.
I hope Soot's interent comes back too, sooner rather than later.

Happy Sunday Gameboomers.

Good Sunday morning. I always hate when we lose internet because it is almost always due to a loss of power! Even more so than lights, is the inability to get water - out here in the country we have our own well and the pump is down! Down at the horse rescue, they had to get a propane powered backup generator in order to at least be able to pump water... when you have over 300 animals, water is pretty critical. We were all down for about 4 days several years ago and we took clean 5-gallon buckets down to the rescue and filled them so we could at least flush toilets!

Finishing up my spaghetti sauce today. Spent too much time on cooking supper! But it was worth it - beef short ribs braised in sofrito (chopped onions, carrots, celery and garlic), red wine and beef broth.

Another glorious warm day ahead.

I feel your pain, soot. My one week run with good internet is over. It keeps going in and out again and the download speed is slower than dried up molasses. This morning I kept looking at my router and all looked fine. The instant I sat down and touched my mouse, it went out. I make posts by keeping a very close eye on it.

Nothing on my agenda today (as usual). My stomach has been an issue the last few days but so far today, it seems to be okay, fingers crossed. I'll see what happens after I eat later.

I suppose it is nice outside, cooler. I had my window open all night. No air really actually makes it inside though so my house is still hot.

Enjoy Sunday everyone! Looks like a good time to hit the "post reply" button.

Good morning.

No Internet is such a pain.

I have a backup that's supposed to give me 4 hours of Internet if my power goes out but unfortunately all my devices and up working on it permanently, and very slowly, and I have to disconnect it in order to get everything back to normal. It's not supposed to work that way but they keep sending me this same technician who really doesn't know what he's doing.

As soon as my contract is done with Shaw I'm switching to Telus. The only reason I haven't done it already is that I'll lose my email address and have to change all of that over, which would mean notifying everyone I know. That would be difficult for me as so many people have simply ghosted me since John died; I wouldn't know who would even care about my new email address. Sad state of affairs I know, but that's the reality of losing a spouse through death or divorce. People vanish.

That aside, It's a lovely day. I got my garden tidied up and now I'm going to sort out some of the boxes in my garage.