Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[Pea-n-Me]

Ooh, I found the lady with one of those stoves I was talking about the other day. I love this thing!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1737076697638030

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2040860160034316

 

[Snowysmom]

EasyAs Thinking of you. It is nice that the people helping with your beloved furbaby were so kind and caring.

Pea-n-me That stove is interesting.

Good morning. It is 77 now with temps heading back into the 90s. We have smoke in the sky from wild fires in Canada. Makes a really weird color in the evening, kind of a sepia color. It looks like a serious weather event is about to happen. Kenny's dog got sprayed by a skunk. He got into the house and upstairs before they really noticed it. His whole house smells. They washed him with hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dawn. He said it worked well. Then Clifford got to sleep in his crate, no bed for him. I am getting ready for our short trip to NH next week. Kenny is bringing his large dog and equally large crate. I am bringing up some of his stuff and meeting at Market Basket for some shopping so I can carry the grocery items for them. They have a highlander with 3 rows but the dog takes up most of one row. Jeff and family most likely will not be coming. His FIL is on hospice at home and not doing well. It is a matter of days or maybe a week or 2 now. Aimee is spending most of her time with him.

Have a nice Wednesday.

 

[lynxstch]

Good morning. Back to the heat again today, will be at least 96. We'll get a break on Sat when it will be 84, but of course it's the weekend, so they're predicting storms Saturday and Sunday. We're back to needing the rain again.

I was happy to check the fridge this morning and see that the temps have evened off and everything is working. Now I need to go to the grocery store and restock things. Summer is coming over to go with me as soon as she gets out of court. Hopefully this gets resolved one way or the other at 9 am. She says she's not going back again, no matter what happens. She is supposed to be taking her witness with her, as long as the girl doesn't back out again.

Have a good day, stay cool

 

[Judique]

@easyas123 - so sorry that you lost your boy while you were on the road. I know it makes you feel so helpless although other than love him which he knew you did, there would have been little to do. It's my feeling that once they are on the way out and they are older we should let them have their journey as holding them here is more for us not them. Still, if I could bring my pets back I would.

So many dogs, cats, birds, goldfish and even a lobster who stayed for a day or two after escaping the pot one afternoon and surprised my father on the kitchen floor next morning. We were kids then and it was fun, maybe eventually not for the lobster.

I imagine your boy as a gentle giant, a bit gruff but loving to those that surrounded him. For me, I had the brash and snappy Yorkie until recently, but who lay quietly on my lap whenever he got a chance. I had to let him go. My Norwegian Elkhound left me one morning while I was working but DD was home with her that day. My Keeshond was stolen from me (at almost 12 yo) and I've held that loss with me and in my heart for so long. There were more all equally loved but I've had so many pets up to six at one time.

I think there's a sense of guilt when they pass no matter what. They give us so much yet depend on us totally and we want to do the best for them. I have grieved every passing, not forgotten them but have opened my heart to others as time moves on.

 

[lynxstch]

We are currently at 100 degrees and it feels like 109. Hotter than Hades. Walmart wasn't all that busy, so I got in and out fairly quickly.

Summer may have lucked out in court. They were there for 3 hours. 2 Walmart witnesses kept contradicting what they had said earlier, and kept saying "I don't know". Summer's witness proved that you can scan multiple orders with just one code to scan at the registers. The states attorney kept contradicting what Walmart witnesses said. The judge kept looking at Summer and shaking his head like he was thinking 'unbelievable'. The states attorney was sitting there with his head in his hands, they knew they had messed up their own case. Summer gave a closing statement and the judge looked directly at the other side (attorney and witness), and told them she made a very convincing argument. She had some things printed out and the judge said he was going to read them tonight and make a ruling. If it's not in her favor, she'll be called and they'll set up a date when everyone can be back in court, if she's cleared, she'll get a letter in the mail dismissing the whole thing. The bailiff told her he thinks the judge is going to decide in her favor. When she was ready to leave, the judge gave her a big smile.

 

[Judique]

We are currently at 100 degrees and it feels like 109. Hotter than Hades. Walmart wasn't all that busy, so I got in and out fairly quickly.

Summer may have lucked out in court. They were there for 3 hours. 2 Walmart witnesses kept contradicting what they had said earlier, and kept saying "I don't know". Summer's witness proved that you can scan multiple orders with just one code to scan at the registers. The states attorney kept contradicting what Walmart witnesses said. The judge kept looking at Summer and shaking his head like he was thinking 'unbelievable'. The states attorney was sitting there with his head in his hands, they knew they had messed up their own case. Summer gave a closing statement and the judge looked directly at the other side (attorney and witness), and told them she made a very convincing argument. She had some things printed out and the judge said he was going to read them tonight and make a ruling. If it's not in her favor, she'll be called and they'll set up a date when everyone can be back in court, if she's cleared, she'll get a letter in the mail dismissing the whole thing. The bailiff told her he thinks the judge is going to decide in her favor. When she was ready to leave, the judge gave her a big smile.

Sounds good for Summer. Hopefully she is cleared. It sounds like Walmart doesn't have a handle on its own procedures which I can absolutely believe. I know stores profits are really cut into by losses going out the door but still accusing somebody (and being wrong) because your employees don't have thorough training on a newer system is kind of outrageous.

And mistakes happen. I shop at Costco a lot, mostly because we have a small 'country' Costco with plenty of parking and it's rarely packed. There are a lot of them in our area like maybe a dozen within 35 miles of me. Self checkout is what I use, but the employees are extremely helpful and help get you through your order quickly, scanning stuff in the basket for you. When they start I stand back because 2 people stirring a pot doesn't always work and sometimes things get scanned twice or not scanned at all. Before I go out the door I always double check because I don't ever want to be stopped for a mistake and there is nothing I need to take. Overall they are very good and now they have a 'quick' register to return to if there is a refund needed or something missed. Better to scan the receipt, count and find an error than be thought of as a crook.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I am so hopeful for Summer. Praying that things go her way tomorrow!

 

[Snowysmom]

Lynn It sounds like good news for Summer. Walmart and companies like them do not know what is going on alot of the time. If the judge was thinking it was crazy and the attorney was disgusted by it all, then it was a mess for sure. Fingers crossed for Summer!

Judique I like your post about pets. I would love to have all my doggies back with me. I think about them alot and how much joy they brought. The lobster is an interesting story and I suspect it did not end well for the lobster.

Good morning. It is 64 here now with temps heading to the 80s. Jeff's FIL passed away last night. He had a very bad night Tuesday They were able to get him into a hospice facility yesterday morning. And according to Jeff they were wonderful and got him settled and sleeping. I watched the kids while Jeff went to be with Aimee and family for awhile. He said people kept visiting all afternoon. Then when it was quiet and they settled him for the night, he quietly passed. After all he had been through I am glad he had a peaceful passing.

Have a nice day.

 

[Judique]

Lynn It sounds like good news for Summer. Walmart and companies like them do not know what is going on alot of the time. If the judge was thinking it was crazy and the attorney was disgusted by it all, then it was a mess for sure. Fingers crossed for Summer!

Judique I like your post about pets. I would love to have all my doggies back with me. I think about them alot and how much joy they brought. The lobster is an interesting story and I suspect it did not end well for the lobster.

Good morning. It is 64 here now with temps heading to the 80s. Jeff's FIL passed away last night. He had a very bad night Tuesday They were able to get him into a hospice facility yesterday morning. And according to Jeff they were wonderful and got him settled and sleeping. I watched the kids while Jeff went to be with Aimee and family for awhile. He said people kept visiting all afternoon. Then when it was quiet and they settled him for the night, he quietly passed. After all he had been through I am glad he had a peaceful passing.

Have a nice day.

My condolences to your extended family on the loss of Aimee's father. May he rest in peace.

It's finally morning after a restless night. I've been busy with odd jobs and obligations here and there and have a neglected house to show for it as well as some yardwork to catch up on. I've managed to keep doing my watering and that's about all since returning from my beach trip.

Meanwhile I discovered that my overall maintenance on my dryer located in my basement and out of sight unless needed has been severely lacking.

DD does laundry pretty much weekly. She came to me and said, 'there's water in the dryer'. Huh?? Down I go and there was enough dampness in there to wet a paper towel. Wiped it dry and pulled it away from the wall and unhooked the duct leading to the outside. Inside the duct there was an accumulation of damp lint. I can't remember when I last cleaned it, but combined with all the rainstorms and humidity it appears it's been too long. Took the duct outside and turned the water to the hose on high and flushed out a lot of lint. Reassembled and good to go but on to the back story. (This old ducting will be tossed today if I'm successful in my new project.)

Sometime around retirement either the previous year or the year after I bought a new set of Speed Queen - washer and dryer. One day while using the dryer DD says 'it's really hot on top.' Called a repairman (through Speed Queen warranty) who found nothing wrong. It's working as it should. Well, I didn't feel comfy with that answer so he hooked the old dryer back up. Now, about 8 YEARS later I'm dealing with lots of damp lint in the old one, which still works fine other than probably consuming tons of electricity because of the lint buildup is/was still trying to do its job. The 'new' SQ has set there as a decoration ever since initial purchase.

Anyway, turned the Speed Queen dryer on without putting the duct on the end and it started up fine and again the top got pretty hot. A light went off in my head and I attached the duct. It cooled down to the touch. Ran and dried a load while I sat in the basement - no problems and hot inside but much cooler on top. Could the duct have detached from the machine in the initial days and gone unnoticed as a problem? Anything is possible. Anyway I moved it out from the wall and the attached duct blew off and the top started to warm up. The fan/blower (whatever it's called) is much more powerful in the Speed Queen than in the old GE. That's when I started to do dryer research, you tube videos and whatever. (I'll do anything to avoid calling a 'guy' or ordinary housework.) One thing I learned is that the prevailing opinion on installing ductwork on dryers is not to use the cheap expandable aluminum foil ducting. It actually can burn. I ordered a set of semi rigid aluminum ducting plus elbows and clamps and tape for the Speed Queen. The installation itself is not rocket science and I have loads of space and all the tools needed, plus it doesn't require brute force. Later on it's this morning's project. If I need help DD is working at home and will have her lunch break or I can wait until she's off at 5.

I'm going with the realization that the actual ducting is a mechanism to keep the dryer heat within a certain heat boundary where it dries the clothing without burning down your house. Don't laugh, other than knowing that a clean duct and lint traps etc helps prevent fires I hadn't ever given the whole process much thought. I now recognize that the 'free' installation initially on my Speed Queen was somewhat shoddy and probably blew off soon after being installed and went unnoticed by me and the repairman who probably thought it was just pulled off from actually moving the machine. And he probably reattached it, pushed it back in, where it worked for a bit until it got blown off again. We will see as I now have a lot more time for experimentation and research. Meanwhile I still have 2 working dryers, one that needs more cleaning and now I probably won't ever go to sleep again with a dryer running at night in a basement.

 

[lynxstch]

Good morning. Another 92 degree day coming up, but then temps start coming down a little bit.

It's nice to be able to open the fridge and take out a can of soda or some juice that's actually cold, lol

It's been 3 days so the grass could use cutting, but I'm trying to hold off until tomorrow.

The friend I travel with is heading for NJ with her husband. They're driving from CO, left last night at 10 to spend 2 weeks with her husband's parents, and a lot of the people she grew up with. They found out Monday night that her FIL was in the hospital, they did gallbladder surgery yesterday morning. They're driving as far as Independence MI today, staying there overnight and then another long drive to NJ. I think they might be staying in a hotel tomorrow night too. Weather is just as hot there as it is here, and now they have the Canada smoke hitting New England on top of it.

@Judique Sorry about the dryer issues. I clean my dryer ducts fully once a year. I even take the back off the dryer and vacuum out anything that might be inside. I do believe it makes the dryer run more efficiently and last longer.

Have a good day everyone.
Edited to add. It's 3:48 pm, 100 degrees outside, 'feels like' temp is 111. This heat wave has to end, it's miserable to walk outside. I fed the cats and made sure the outside ones drank some cool water after they ate, before going to hide in the shade.

 

[Judique]

And the dryers are fixed! I had a difficult time with the Speed Queen attachment of the duct at the bottom of the machine. Neighbor came over and helped me by confirming it would not hold with a clamp because the pipe extending out was too short - about 1 inch and all crimped. He taped it up completely. The remainder I had already completed using a 90 degree elbow at the bottom and the new rigid ducting. Ducting easily slipped on at the top and clamped tightly. Dried some sheets and the top was cool the entire time. Stopped it early, opened the door and removed the items. The top got warmer. It appears certain cycles have a cool down period and so long as the hot air is being blown out through the ducting the top will stay cool.

In any case, I see that this must be cleaned on a schedule and hopefully the rigid will work more easily as it shouldn't catch lint as quickly since it has a smooth and continuous interior. I've marked my calendar to clean it in 6 months. Up until this most recent lapse it was getting cleaned more often.

 

[Snowysmom]

Judique and Lynn Your skills in household maintenance are amazing. The dryer fixes are great and glad they worked.

Good morning. It is 59 here now with temps heading to the low 80s. Today would have been my 50th wedding anniversary. These days are when I really miss Chris. I talked with Jeff yesterday and Aimee's mom. The funeral is next Wednesday and Jeff would like me to be there. I am leaving NH a day early to come back for that. It is in Boston which is my nightmare of driving to and in. Aimee's mom told me the church is right off the Expressway. So hopefully easy to find and I hope there is parking.

Ethan and Owen are in a show at their music camp and I will be going to see that. It was funny when I went to pick them up yesterday as Kenny had to work late, the guy at the desk said, you must be Nana. He said the kids told him Nana was coming to get them. So cute!

Have a nice Friday.

 

[lynxstch]

Good morning . Only going to be 90 today or so they say, I hope so, the heat is getting to everyone.

@Snowysmom I will still say Happy 50'th Anniversary to you. An anniversary is still a special day, even though Chris is gone. I hope you have some happy memories of all those years to carry you through today.

I may try and do the mowing before it gets too hot, or I may just say the heck with it and wait until Sunday when it's only supposed to be 84.

It's been very quiet in the neighborhood. No kids outside playing, I heard a couple of people mowing, they finally finished putting a roof on the house next door (not the good neighbor), so I don't hear a lot of loud music playing and the workers singing along. (So loud that I could hear it through the closed windows!). Even traffic has seemed to be a lot less going up and down the road. I guess people are staying inside.

Have a good day

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Happy Anniversary, Snowysmom. Do something nice for yourself that Chris would’ve enjoyed, too. So sorry about Aimee’s dad. I’m glad his suffering is over, but sad for his family. I’m sorry you have to cut your trip short - sounds something like what I had to do last month on mine.

Lynn hope you get some reprieve from the heat, and glad your new fridge is working out. Waiting to hear how Summer makes out. Hopefully it goes her way. Take it easy on your back. Still no Tiger sightings? You are right about our air quality, it’s been awful from the fires and a lot of people are staying inside. We were out in it the other day and it affected us, we were sluggish and people’s noses were running all day (irritation, I think). DD’s contacts were painful, etc. (I put some pictures up on the Tall Ships thread, you can see how yellow the air was but the news has better pictures.) I don’t like the sound of pancreatic surgery. They must’ve found something and done a Whipple procedure, maybe? Hopefully early, if so.

Judique glad you found the problem with your wet, and hot, dryers. I want to lol but it’s not funny, right. Dryers scare me ever since we had a couple of things happen. One, we went out one night w the dryer on. Thankfully my mom was here and smelled burning coming from our laundry area and shut the dryer off. When we came home we found that lint inside had started to burn and was all scorched. DH cleans it out regularly since and we don’t run the dryer when we’re not home and paying attention. Before that, when my mom still lived on Cape Cod by herself, she came here to visit for the weekend and apparently left her dryer running. When she got home, it was still on, never shut off! And the clothes inside were in tatters. It was a miracle there was no fire. I feel the same way about dishwashers, we only run it if we’re home and paying attention. Have read stories about fires from the heating element. Sometimes I shut just that off (so they air dry) if I’m not paying attention. I read something the other day that we should unplug appliances when not in use as a pet had started a fire w a toaster when they jumped up on the counter. (It was a dog but I suppose could be a cat, too.) I was always fearful of fires then we had a big one here from lightening. I would not want to live through that again. Anyway, impressed with your skills. I mentioned recently we got the whole house warranty from Sears but of course everything’s been working ok. The last time we had a guy here for the dryer he had the front off and I was kind of shocked at how simple it was inside. Found some socks and coins in there, that was about it. Do you have gas, or electric? Our dryer is gas, idk if that makes a difference.

Easy, still thinking about you and hope things went ok in the last couple of days for you and your family. I’ve been on the fence the past week or so about doing surgery w Toto for his lump(s). The largest one, which is the size of my outstretched hand over his chest, got bigger when we went away. It had been going down, we thought, with the turkey tail suppplement, but DH didn’t bring it to the kennel, and it seems to havre gotten bigger since then, even though he’s back on it. (I think the stress caused him some problems w that and his skin, have had to do medicated baths, too.) And he has one near his jaw and neck that could be trouble. I keep hearing mixed opinions on whether to do surgery, and, of course, I always avoid it unless absolutely necessary since one of my dogs died unexpectedly during surgery at a relatively young age. So not sure what to do. Have a visit with our vet next month. Did you ever follow up with the vet to ask what they think happened? I remember calling our vet after our last GS passed unexpectedly at home and mulling over what it could’ve been from. It’s hard to say, exactly, but if they kept your dog there over the weekend they must have some idea.

PollyannaMom how’s your summer going? You’ve been kind of quiet. I hope you’re out having a good time and getting some good photographs. I wasn’t thrilled with how my Tall Ships pictures came out. With all the chaos of getting a harbor cruise scheduled with everyone when they could go, I never thought to bring my better cameras. But the haze made everything seem off anyway and the ships’ visit was winding down, too. Still, I wanted DS to see the ships, especially, since he hadn’t seen them since he was little, and I think he enjoyed it (even though he was forced to pull a double shift the night before and wound up getting no sleep at all, met us right after his shift, so he was exhausted). I myself wound up not feeling well, was nauseas since I left the house, had to bring a vomit bag with me just in case (thankfully didn’t need it but I couldn’t eat anything, really, all day). One of those days if I didn’t have something scheduled I would’ve stayed home and tried to figure out how to feel better. But I still had a good time and was glad we got to do it. Next time I think I’ll make more of an effort to go in for the Parade of Sail, with my dSLR and tele lenses. I have to get out w them more often anyway.

i cannot believe it’s Friday again! Seems like it was just Friday a day or two ago! Time is going by fast. Today I think I am going to go shopping for my FDIL, she had a medical incident yesterday and though she was discharged from the ER, she’s still feeling unwell, so I will bring down some soup we made last night and go to a Chinese food place because she really likes noodles. I’ll just drop those off but not stay. I also need to get over to my elderly friend’s house this weekend so DH can hang up her parents’ pictures for her where she can see them. He got the wires to do it but then realized there was nowhere to put the wires on the really nice frames she has, so he bought some shelves for her instead. I’ll bring her something to eat, too. The soup was good, we just did a beef vegetable similar to one I used to make years ago. A little too much Italian seasoning for me so next time will cut down on that, but otherwise I enjoyed it. I love soups. I also have more chicken marinating in garlic parmesan idk why but craving that. Maybe will grill it and bring some to FDIL too she likes that. She is not a big eater at all so it’s hard to know what to get her.

I hope everyone has a Good Friday and a good weekend!

 

[lynxstch]

@Pea-n-Me

Poor Toto, I hope you can get some resolution for him other than surgery.

Summer hasn't gotten a phone call saying they have to go back to court, so she's waiting to see if she gets a letter saying all was dismissed. If that's what happens, she also needs the court to make sure the trespass charge goes away too so she can shop at Walmart again. I know she won't work for Spark again, and I don't blame her.

Still no Tiger, I'm resigned to the fact that she's gone for good. It's been 10 days with no sign of her. I know she wouldn't let anyone take her in, she would never let me, despite the # of times I fed her. She would let me pick her up and hold her, and purr, but she would never let anyone else anywhere near her.

I just went outside and realize we now have the smoke from the fires on top of the heat and humidity. I've given up the idea of mowing today, it can sit there and grow. I'll stay inside where it's nice and cool.

Sorry your visit to the tall ships didn't go as you hoped. That's something I would love to see again. I did see them once in Boston, but that was a long long time ago.

Have a good weekend.

 

[lynxstch]

Wow, we not only have haze from the Canada wildfires, but there is literally smoke blowing through here. I just quickly mowed the lawn before it gets warmer out, and I had to put a mask on, all I could smell was smoke.

My friend is on the road heading for NJ and her MIL told her last night it's actually horrible there. She has COPD and has had a mask on, even in her house. Friend and her hubby stopped in Independence Missouri for the night, are heading towards Ohio today and will finish the trip Saturday. She herself has breathing problems, so she's going to have to be extra careful.

 

[Judique]

The air is bad here today and DD who sometimes has some breathing issues is affected a bit. She stayed inside.

I broke my rule and started John Deere around 6:15am - usually don't start mowers before 8am. I knew I'd be doing some raking and bagging and wanted to do some early. I stayed in the way back area not close to our houses. It was very humid. I kept going in and out until about 11am when I finally stopped for today. Inside I waited for my body temp to stabilize before getting the shower that was really needed badly with all the sweating I did. Had a little lunch and fell asleep for hours. I was supposed to do a few errands but it's Friday and southbound traffic is terrible by noon so I skipped until tomorrow morning. I have to go by Costco and get a stuffed Avocado chair for my oldest DD. She's in Florida at Vistana using friends timeshare. It's hotter here than it is there - at this moment they are 76 degrees and we are still 84. Tomorrow is another 90ties day but starting Sunday it's supposed to be high 80ties.

DD made stuffed green peppers for dinner using our home grown peppers from my pot on the deck. She put a bunch of cherry tomatoes in the Ninja and pulverized them into tomato mush. We didn't have any canned or jarred ones. Added rice seasoning and ground beef, then I topped my portion with organic Pacific brand tomato basil soup! She ate hers mostly dry but I like them saucy. Actually tasted great to me, but before the soup I knew I would not finish it. Also now looks like tomato soup for lunch tomorrow as that stuff is too expensive to just toss the remainder. Not sure if there are any stuffed peppers remaining as I've been doing other stuff, but if there are I'll eat them tomorrow again.

Those two plants in the pot are growing loads of peppers. They are not huge but big enough to stuff. So far I've picked more than a dozen. My veggies are growing faster than I can eat them and 2 neighbors that would like them are out of town as is my DD so stuff is collecting fast.

 

[Judique]

I mentioned recently we got the whole house warranty from Sears but of course everything’s been working ok. The last time we had a guy here for the dryer he had the front off and I was kind of shocked at how simple it was inside. Found some socks and coins in there, that was about it. Do you have gas, or electric? Our dryer is gas, idk if that makes a difference.

I have electric dryers although I do have gas in my house. A few years after I moved in and the oil furnace died I had a gas furnace installed as it was already on my street and it is much cleaner than oil was and cheaper (and a more comfortable heat) than the heat pump systems. I've just never plumbed for the gas dryer or stove.

I'm curious enough that I want to open up the old dryer to check for lint, clean it out etc. Yes, I know they are a simple machine as we have done dryer repair before, just not on these two. My son replaced the belt on my original Maytag that I got when he was born. (He's 42.) He looked on the internet and found instructions. We kept that one until the heat went out, and none of us are electrically inclined, although the replacement looked simple enough, it's 220 V electricity. I'm not quite that crazy for home repair to mess with high voltage.

Doing home maintenance ourselves - it's not a cost thing (until it is). It's mostly having strangers in my house. And every time you have to call it's a new set, as things change, companies get bought up, shops close, etc. It's not like I need service that often but stuff eventually needs replacing and I've lost plumbers, electricians and other stuff because someone retired, moved or whatever. Plumbing and Heating guys are especially mobile around here.

Toto - hope the lumps are not too distressing or uncomfortable for him.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I love stuffed peppers. We had Stouffer’s stuffed peppers the other night. I keep them on hand for when we don’t feel like cooking. There’s always a lot of extra tomato sauce so we cooked a leftover half a box of pasta and had that with them. Yours sound delish. Did you get a picture?

 

[PollyannaMom]

PollyannaMom how’s your summer going? You’ve been kind of quiet.

Mostly just didn't have a lot to write about, but the busier parts of the summer are starting. I'm exhausted right now (watched the kids today) but will try to catch up tomorrow.

Hugs to all who need them!