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Post by texasless91 on Oct 19, 2019 10:28:51 GMT
This is a thread devoted to those in their 50s & 60s and beyond who don't have children or grandchildren but live rich, full lives. Please feel free to join our stroll thru life and come back often for support and to share.
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Post by nybuckeye on Oct 19, 2019 15:43:34 GMT
Happy Sweetest Day, Chicksters.
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Post by kaycee on Oct 19, 2019 16:34:30 GMT
Karen, thanks for the start. I don't know what I was thinking on DN's car! He has a Ford Focus, not an Escort. My 240SX was rear wheel drive and I always thought that made it more stable since it was so low to the ground. I never drove it in snow or ice though. I think Friday is one of the worst days in Gatlinburg since people are arriving for the weekend. We must've gotten several inches of rain since last night. It's been extremely heavy and nonstop, but looks like it's starting to clear a little. There wasn't much wind, so that's good. Is Nestor affecting you at all? The rain is spreading out several hundred miles from the center. UCF plays at 7, so hopefully it will be better weather by then. FSU plays tonight too, but on the ACC Network which I still don't have. UF is playing SC now. What's on your schedule?
Chele, I never heard of Sweetest Day. Are you celebrating it?
Waving to all. Have a great Saturday!
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Post by nybuckeye on Oct 19, 2019 18:42:16 GMT
From Nationalday.com:
âSweetest Day hails from all the way back in 1922 when a dozen of Clevelandâs candy companies banded together to make the day a little sweeter for some of the cityâs most vulnerable people. they distributed more than 20,000 boxes of candy to ânewsboys, orphans, old folks, and the poor.â
The idea caught on with movie celebrities during the early days of the talkies. Starlets like Theda Bara, who was known as a âbad girlâ of film, was often seen distributing candy to people attending movies or plays as well as giving treats to patients in hospitals.
Eventually, the idea of Sweetest Day as a vehicle for promoting smiles and good vibes took solid root in the countryâs mid-section. Areas like Michigan, Indiana and Ohio really fused the meaning of the day with good, old-fashioned mid-western values like honesty and caring for your neighbors.â
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Post by texasless91 on Oct 19, 2019 19:06:30 GMT
Chele, I don't remember hearing about it outside of the Midwest. Did you celebrate it? Was today pizza day? Is Iggy's birthday today or tomorrow?
Sorry about the fire pit effects, Linda. The gas ones are a lot more fun to be around. I hate smelling like smoke. Good that you are wearing essentially the same strength readers in your house. That should save a little. Dale and I were just talking about my putting on the electric mattress pad when I change the sheets tomorrow, so must be that time of year for both of us. Yours warms from the top and ours from the bottom. Both are nice. I just call it D Earth and don't have to worry about remembering how to spell Diatomaceous. Don't blame you for it not being on your list of favorite things, but it's very necessary, especially where you live. I don't think my knees and hips would be happy doing that today. What kind of fish will you have tonight?
Kathy, sorry you're getting a dose of Nestor but I know you're happy not to have the wind. I think DB/DSIL may be getting that. I hope you don't have plans to go anywhere today. SC seems to be hanging tough with UF. After they beat GA last week, I would be very afraid if I were a Gator. We're watching Clemson and Louisville right now and the Tigers are up by a bunch. Texas and Michigan both play this evening and both games start within an hour of the start of the Yankees/Astros game. We'll DVR baseball and move to the bedroom and switch between the football games, probably not getting to the 4th quarter on either one. I think the Ford Focus is also rear wheel drive, but that's not best for snow (nothing's good on ice). DN#1 had a Ford Fusion and lives on a bit of a hill. Every time it has snowed since he moved to his new house, he has to park at the bottom and walk home. He bought an Impreza in the spring and is so excited to try out the AWD in the snow. It does help to put bags of sand or kitty litter in the trunk on a RWD vehicle over the axle. Also, if you carry a shovel, you can shovel some of the sand or little under the tires for traction. You may be right about G'burg's busy-ness on Fridays. This time of year isn't good regardless of day due to the influx of "leaf-peepers". Did you hear about G'burg being in contention to break the Guinness world record for number of scarecrows? They have over 4,300 right now, which means there are more scarecrows than people (a little over 4,100) living there right now.
My lower body is feeling stiff and sore today but otherwise I'm ok. Arya was curled up next to my back for most of the night, so I had a little extra heat, which felt good. I watched my gardening shows, cooked butternut squash, eggs, and beef for my little sweet potato, and cut up a couple of pomegranates. Dale found some things at the longest yard sale but said the number of vendors was way down this year, so he wasn't gone more than a couple of hours. We are expecting some rain this afternoon and it's only gotten to 60. Hard to believe how quickly the tempertures have dropped in the last couple of weeks here.
Waving to Liz and Becky.
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Post by kaycee on Oct 19, 2019 19:27:33 GMT
Karen, the Focus is front wheel drive, but probably wouldn't be good in snow either way. There have been all kinds of problems with the transmission on that car and I think it's been replaced at least once under warranty. They buy Fords since DBIL's father worked for Ford, so they get the employee rate. I'm not sure it's worth it with the luck they've had on some of them! DS broke from the ranks and bought a Subaru last time which she's very happy with. This was after her Fusion's engine unexpectedly bit the dust despite being well maintained and not that old. Gatlinburg's harvest displays are cute and I have been there when they had a lot of them. I didn't know it was a record number of scarecrows though. SC was leading UF, but there were a couple of really bad non-calls leading to UF scores. I hate to see that. UF pulled ahead after that, so rough day for Muschamp and SC.
Linda, I'm thinking I don't even want to know what kind of creepies could get in. The ones in FL are bad enough. My pest control company treats the perimeter of the house 4x/year and that seems to work. Hope your knees don't get too mad. No electric blankets here. I had to turn the AC down a little bit since it was feeling so humid in here with all the rain.
Chele, no wonder I've never heard of Sweetest Day. I don't think it's celebrated here. It does sound like another Valentine's Day.
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Post by nybuckeye on Oct 19, 2019 21:25:43 GMT
I had never heard of Sweetest Day until I had been in Ohio for a few years. We donât celebrate it as Iggy calls it another âHallmarkâ holiday. We went out to breakfast and then stopped at the plant nursery on the way home. Iggy wanted pots with attached saucers. We also picked up a bag of potting soil. I saw a green live pumpkin filled with succulents and it was just as gorgeous in person. We came home and Iggy pulled some mint a d oregano and transplanted them and planted seeds for flat leaf parsley, cilantro and thyme. Now the plant stand has plants. We also brought in Rosemary and Basil. They are sitting on the fireplace with my peace lily because they are in pots too large for the stand. We donât use the fireplace because it is wood burning and effects my sinuses. We did not get the pizza because Iggy didnât listen to me at breakfast and ate something greasy. I will go and get it for dinner some time next week after his stomach calms down.
Kathy, I have a short steep driveway as I think I have mentioned. We moved in at the end of January and it was snowing. I was driving a pretty teal Grand Am at the time. It was front wheel drive but I had to gun it to get up the driveway. The next winter I had a cherry red 4WD Ford Explorer. Front wheel drive is better than RWD in snow as Karen mentioned but up a steep hill it still gets hairy. Any party planning go on this weekend? What kind of decorations are you and DS thinking of? Iggy just left me to go watch football upstairs. I was bugging him asking stupid questions. âWhy is Purdue called the Boilermakers? What are Boilermakers? Isnât that a drink? What kind of mascot do they have?â It was annoying the pith out of him. My job is done. đ
Karen, tomorrow is Iggyâs birthday. I havenât given him his presents yet. I got him some bold, wild print socks, about a dozen. I also got him two second hand, out of print âcookeryâ books that were shown on the opening of a British show called âPie in the Skyâ about a police detective who loves to cook and opened a restaurant. He loved the character and was interested in the books on the shelves during the opening. I know I wouldnât like the traffic you encountered in Gatlinburg. I donât miss traffic snarls. We got close to 70° and Iggy was going in and out, so I turned the heat off. The next couple of nights will only drop into the 50s, so we might not need it.
Waving to Becky, Linda and Liz.
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Post by texasless91 on Oct 19, 2019 22:10:23 GMT
Kathy, you've heard the acronyms for Ford, haven't you? "Found On Road Dead" and " Fix Or Repair Daily". You DS and family have definitely had their share of problems with them from what you described. What Subaru model did DS get? I didn't have a chance to check out any of the displays yesterday because I was too busy trying not to hit the vehicle in front of me or the pedestrians thinking a crosswalk is where ever they were. There was apparently a town in Great Britain that held the record for the number of scarecrows (3,800 and some) and Gatlinburg had a bunch so they decided they wanted to beat the record this year. And it appears they did but haven't gotten the official proclamation yet. I saw some highlights of UF pulling ahead on the Clemson game. I also saw that Wisconsin got beat at the buzzer. I told Dale that sort of makes up for Michigan losing to them a few weeks ago.
Good that the plant stand is actually a plant stand now, Chele. Did Iggy do well on plants with saucers? You definitely have herbs now. I love cooking with fresh herbs. Oops on the greasy food. But it will give you a chance to celebrate his birthday a bit longer. Hope he gets over his indiscretion quickly. He will love those cookbooks. Does he wear a lot of "bold" socks? Dale was always conservative on socks, shirts, and ties. You probably wouldn't like the traffic in Sevierville or Pigeon Forge either, but Gatlinburg is the worst. I was talking to one of my MG friends yesterday at the lecture and we agreed that traffic this year in all of the county is worse than ever this month. Of course, she has about 15 years of history to my 4, but I believe it. Dale prefers to go toward Newport instead because traffic isn't so bad. We didn't get above 60 outside all day and it's been holding at 72 inside, but our heat may kick on tonight. We are getting light rain right now, which makes it feel even cooler. I may have to put on warmer socks and a sweatshirt after I post this. I'm cold sensitive and have Raynaud's, which doesn't help.
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Post by nybuckeye on Oct 19, 2019 22:31:37 GMT
I had to look up Reynaudâs, Karen. Keeping warm is very important for you then. Iggy is very clothes conservative but last year he showed interest in a bolder sock and I finally found some I think he will like.
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Post by borntexan on Oct 20, 2019 0:18:43 GMT
Thanks for the start Karen.
Kathy Stay safe.
Linda Enjoy fish dinner.
Chele Thanks for the explanation.I had never heard of it either.
Karen I will take your rain and 60's.It got up to 92 here today.Same expected tomorrow.Enough already.
Chele HBD to Iggy.I'm glad you went out for breakfast.I'm sorry he ate something greasy that affected his stomach.
Waving to everyone.I'm tired.It has been a busy day.
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Post by nybuckeye on Oct 20, 2019 13:42:38 GMT
Becky, I hope your internal battery recharged overnight, since you had a busy day yesterday. It is hard to believe you are still in the 90s. It is 52° and sunny right now and supposed to get to 72°. It ks perfect weather.
Linda, some people can drive in snow no matter what car they drive. I am definitely not one of them. I have seen the candle stands for fireplaces. Very nice. How was the apple pie? Glad you enjoyed your seafood dinner. It is worth the drive to get good seafood.
Liz, how was the ladies lunch?
Karen, Kathy, I hope you had a good football day. I will be rooting for the Nationals in the World Series, since the Astros beat my Yanks.
Iggy loves the two books and has been reading them to me this morning. He also loved his wild socks. He thought he had sent me a link to them, but they were all my idea. I guess we both found them separately. I done good this year. I am making a simple dinner for him; roasted chicken thighs, roasted red peppers and zucchini and baked potato. His tummy seems better today but no rich, fatty food.
Have a great Sunday.
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Post by texasless91 on Oct 20, 2019 18:10:05 GMT
Chele, Happy Birthday to Iggy! Glad he is enjoying his cookbooks. LOL on the link for the socks. I'd chock that up to so many years together that you know what he likes. He seemed to be pretty conservative, but good that he's jazzing it up with the socks. Raynaud's can be a real inconvenience but, fortunately, not serious. DM had it as well, but hers was secondary to her heart problems where mine is not connected to any medical issue. So treatment is just keep the hands (especially) and feet warm. I think jazz singer Michael Franks' wife has it too, which is what's behind his song, "Popsicle Toes". The Astros are our #2 team, so I'll be rooting for them in the WS, but will be ok if the Nats win, given that they never have even been there. Sorry about your Yankees. We call them "the best team money could buy" because their payroll is so ridiculously high. It's a testament to their tenaciousness that they made it to the ALCS, given how riddled with injuries they have been all season. I had a bad feeling about the Michigan game last night. I read a Sports Illustrated article this morning that their season is pretty well done. If they lose to Ohio State (which wouldn't surprise anyone but them), I wonder if Harbaugh will be on the bubble. I can't believe a QB the caliber he was recruited and is playing as his 1st stringer a no-talent like Shea Patterson. I'm shocked when he completes a pass. Not a good year for The Blue (yes, I see you smiling).
Did you get a good night's sleep, Becky, and are you feeling more rested today? We stayed up into the 3rd quarter of the Longhorn game, but had to check the score this morning and was happy to see that they won (by 2 points). Probably good that we didn't stay up til the end because it would have taken me a while to fall asleep after that nail biter. Ditto with the Astros game. Everyone except the Kansas head coach seemed to be in shirt sleeves in Austin, so we thought you must still be pretty warm. I wish we could merge your weather and ours, as we would both be pretty comfy. We're still upper 50s/low 60s and I thought it was supposed to get into the 70s today but I don't think we'll make it.
Linda, glad you enjoyed your fish. I haven't had "caaaaad" in a long time. How are Bob's sinuses today? Did you buy any Christmas stuff yesterday? People from up north learn to drive anything in the snow and the winter roads are maintained so much better. You get into Virginia and further south and the road crews don't get a lot of experience properly treating snow and ice. Everything we own is either 4WD or AWD, but if it snows, we stay home because the roads are horrible and people don't know how to drive. Let me know what you think of Ad Astra. It looks pretty good and we usually like Brad Pitt, so it's probably already on the Netflix list.
I saw the FSU results, Kathy. Sorry. Did you listen or get a trial of something to watch it? Did you watch the UF game? SC just about took 2 in a row from ranked teams. TN plays SC this weekend and I'm not expecting much. I guess you saw that Bama won (no surprise), but TN did beat the spread, so that was pretty much a win. 1st string QB got knocked out with his 2nd concussion in 2 weeks. He started the season as #2 and started playing better than the 1st guy, but if he's going to get hurt every week, he's not going to be playing much longer.
Liz, you've been quiet all weekend. How was the luncheon with the neighborhood ladies? Will you start the telecommute tomorrow?
I've had a busy morning. Changed the bed, including the mattress pad, so we're ready for cooler weather. Two loads of bedding laundry and a load of workout laundry is done, I changed the couch and chair covers and they are in the washer. Just have to wash the mattress pad and that will be done. I cleaned the shower and both bath tubs on the main level, in anticipation of giving Arya a bath so she will be clean and pretty for her vet appointment on Wednesday. Bath is done as well. Bassets don't need bathed very often and it's bad for them because of their oily coat. So she was a little surprised by it, but only tried to exit the tub once and Dale had her blocked in. She is chilled out now. So am I. I got all the stuff together for master gardener meeting tomorrow night and then emailed my globetrotting childhood friend who I think is in Taiwan right now. I never go anywhere, so I live vicariously through him.
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Post by kaycee on Oct 20, 2019 21:52:30 GMT
Chele, Happy Birthday to Iggy! I'm glad he liked his presents. Lol on the Boilermakers questions. Sounds like something I would do.  Gatlinburg really just has one main road going through the town and into the park. All those tourists from Florida clog it up this time of year. It can be slow going, but it's not like the crazy highway traffic around here. They said we got over 3 inches of rain yesterday from Nestor, so yesterday was a washout. Now that it's dry, the heat is returning. Karen, I've been through Gatlinburg when the traffic was like that and it does take patience. I think there may be a loop around some of it, but that probably gets backed up too and at some point, you've got to get on that main road to get into the park. I could see the ending of the FSU game coming when FSU kept loafing around and letting things get away from them. They were only ahead by 2 points and Wake had been kicking field goals all day, so it was pretty predictable what happened. I listened on the radio while watching the UCF game. At least UCF did well. I watched the UF game and SC was leading for quite a while before UF had at least one score where a penalty should've been called. I also watched a bit of the TN game and they did better than I expected. I didn't realize they'd been having QB issues. I bet Arya looks pretty after her bath. Hope the vet visit doesn't upset her too much. DS has a Subaru SUV, but I forget the model name. DN's car is just a basic small car and not a hybrid. I just saw an article saying that Ford is extending the warranty on the transmissions due to all the issues. Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday evening. I'm planning on watching Poldark which is in its last season. |
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Post by borntexan on Oct 20, 2019 22:16:39 GMT
Chele My body battery charged to 25 and is down to 5 again but I don't feel tired.Yep it's 91 right now.This is getting old.Hopefully we will get the 2 cool fronts predicted for the next 7 days.I'm glad Iggy liked his BD gifts.
Linda I can't believe your temp was that low.We got in the upper 60's this morning but that didn't last long.
Karen The Longhorn game wasn't even shown here that I know of so we saw the score this morning.It must have been a wild one.I will definitely be pulling for "The Stros."
Waving to Kathy and Liz.
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Gatlinburg really just has one main road going through the town and into the park. All those tourists from Florida clog it up this time of year. It can be slow going, but it's not like the crazy highway traffic around here. They said we got over 3 inches of rain yesterday from Nestor, so yesterday was a washout. Now that it's dry, the heat is returning.