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

[lynxstch]

Good morning all. 25 now, and going to be a heat wave of 38-lol. That's better than it has been. Called the post office at 9--supervisor isn't available till 10:30 so I left a message for her to call me then. I sprayed the heck out of the lock yesterday with WD40 and was able to get my key in and open it. Tried this morning, can't open it again. Time for them to come and replace the lock.
Not much going on today. Going to do a load of laundry, gather trash, and make grocery list

@easyas123 Good luck when you go car shopping. Sister in Law is doing that today. She had a flat on the van last night. She is at the tire shop, spending $171 each on 4 tires. I told her she's nuts, just replace the one that went flat, especially if you are going to buy a new car in the next few days or so.

Have a nice morning everyone

 

[tazdev3225]

Good morning. We're above freezing today here in Philly. It actually felt warm walking the dog at 7 AM.

@easyas123 - Good luck with the car shopping.

Not much going on here today. Food shopping and then trying to figure out the pictures again. They are definitely on the hard drive but the computer I was trying to upload to froze again. Best Buy got it running once but I think it's trash now.

QOTD - My family never had a traditional meal, but I was from South Philly, the home of the Mummers. We moved out of South Philly when I was 10 and I hated New Year's Eve in the Northeast, it had no soul. As soon as I was old enough, I went back down to South Philly and stayed with my grandmother every year. New Year's in South Philly revolves around food, the parade and visiting everyone. Both my grandmothers and my great aunt lived within a city block from each other. Then I had an aunt a few blocks away. You had to visit them all and you had to EAT!!! My one grandmother always had Pepper Pot Soup and of course whatever we wanted from the bakery my grandparents owned. My great aunt had Lentil Soup and the worst spaghetti in the world, but I preferred that to the soup. My other grandmother had her homemade chicken soup, fresh kielbasa and chrusciki. Can I say I felt sick for a couple days after. To explain the spaghetti: my aunt was German and not a good cook to begin with. She cooked the pasta in tomato sauce, almost like spaetzle, and it was always gummy. The meat sauce was made separately, and we have never figured out how she cooked it all day and the onions remained hard and crunchy, almost raw. I loved her dearly and miss her and ate because even though she was not a good cook she tried. My son was only 4 when she passed away and he still remembers the raw Easter eggs in the hunt she had every year for the kids. We all learned to throw them out as soft boiled or raw eggs are not fun to eat when they have been out in the yard.

Things changed over the years and eventually it was just my aunt's house we headed too (my mom's sister). Of course, it still revolved around food but now it was ham and roast beef, my uncle's chili, I made meatballs and sausage, my mom made potato salad and there were several other salads plus cakes.

No matter what we always went to what we considered the "real parade." After the Mummers go down Broad Street for judging (there is some serious prize money involved in all the divisions), the parade came down to Second Street. Most of the Mummers came from down that area. Unfortunately, as the world changed so did my parade. We stopped going down because my aunt put a stop to it. As I left her house with the grandkids the last time we had the open house, we walked out to a bunch of drunkards making some inappropriate comments to my daughter and several urinating on the side of the house. We never saw that when I was growing up.

We still have our traditions though and now we just go to my mom's house. We still have a ton of food: turkey meatballs, ham, my brother makes ribs, and my mom makes the Pepper Pot Soup, salads and everyone chips in something. I don't even watch much of the parade anymore although I still have a few string bands I will root for.

It's a fun tradition and I have come to realize as I have gotten older that it's not the food or the parade but FAMILY that always made the New Year traditions so special. When my mom is no longer able I will carry on the tradition, and I hope my kids will do the same.

This year we are celebrating the day before (the closest to the Scottish Hogmanay I will get for now) and on New Year's Day I will go to my son's house for the one tradition I can do without - FOOTBALL. But I will see more of the family and LJ.

Hope you all have a great day and I hope to see some of the other traditions posted.

 

[Judique]

Good morning. It is 27 degrees here now and heading into the mid 30s today. It is a heat wave! My sister in Missouri said they had temps in the single digits for days last week with wind chills at -20. We weren't quite that bad thankfully.

It is hard for me to get back into work but I must. I have been having trouble getting my head into work lately. Probably just a bit of burnout and anxiety in life. Not ready to retire yet as I need the work to keep me busy now. Once I move I will reevaluate and see if I can find other things to do.

Have a nice day.

Good morning all! It's going to 40 here today and I can't wait!

The storm was a killer all across the country so I'm glad it's over. Not normal for us to get much of any kind of bad weather this early. No snow here, just cold. One morning it was 7 degrees.

And, out of three vehicles in my driveway, I have two with dead batteries. On Xmas day as we were filling the back of my hybrid with food and gifts to go to friends house, I left the liftgate open for 10-15 minutes. It's electric and opened with no problem. Closed it, got in the car and it wouldn't start.

We were officially late at that moment so moved to DD's Honda. Honda started just fine and we moved all the stuff to her car, keeping it running just in case. I had to use the manual key to open the hybrid doors and reach back to get our stuff. Fortunately the seats were down so not a big deal. At that time I didn't know how to open the liftgate manually.

Had a great dinner - we ate around 3 and had all the trimmings plus desserts. Grands and DD were also with us as it's DGD's godmother and family. They live about 5 minutes away depending on traffic.

@Snowysmom - I retired at age 65 and I knew when it was time. My mind was telling me I was tired of dealing with the everyday issues and just wanted to do nothing for awhile. I got out while I was 'up' and respected, I guess. Some others with my position tried to drag it out and stay forever and I remembered all too well, tales of their bosses trying to move them to the doors. I'm glad I left when I did as it's given me some time to be reasonably healthy and active. The unfortunate part is that Covid happened and kind of closed stuff up for awhile, stealing my time.

As to keeping busy the days fly by but I don't feel that productive compared to my former work schedule. At work it often turned into 10-12 hour days. I'd say I earned my retirement schedule <g>. I was invited to return on a part time schedule but declined. Once out and about and 'free' of responsibilities I was pretty happy. To each his own though.

 

[PollyannaMom]

QOTD - Do you or your family have a traditional or good-luck meal on New Years Eve or New Years Day, or any other tradition you observe?

Not really.

I normally don't even stay up (or I fall asleep on the couch, wake up and watch the ball drop, and then actually go to bed. )

This year, though, DH's Lodge decided to have their Christmas party (which is usually in early-mid December) on New Year's Eve instead. So I'll be going to that. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Judique]

Continuing on the car saga, skip if you are not into car problems, haha.

Next day, it was still too cold to bother calling AAA. I did not want to be outside even for a few minutes. Will possibly call today or even tomorrow, when its warmer outside. My van's battery is also dead, and needs a jump.

I spent a lot of time reading the owner's manual on the hybrid. More than likely my 12volt battery needs replacing as it is 5 years old. I also have a reset button on my dash which I can try, but I'm thinking that might have been sketchy in the low temps.

The big 'if' is the car was not dead before I opened the liftgate and left it up with interior lights on while loading. 'If' I'd started it first it may have started. Hard to tell now. Besides the manual, I did some internet car blog reading and learned that a lot of people were having 12Volt battery issues with these cars, calling the batteries 'cheap'. I don't feel that way since mine has lasted as long as any other car I've had - about 4-6 years. It's a 2017 and lots of people were reporting issues at as early as 15 months on cars that were 2019 to 2021.

Just to be clear I'm not talking about the lithium ion large battery that runs the electric motor, but the acid battery that is used to start the motor and supply juice to the accessories. The large battery should last a lot longer and shouldn't be affected this early in the cars lifespan. In other words a hybrid has 2 batteries. Pure electric cars have the same set up as a hybrid.

Lets hope for me that it's just the 12volt battery. Anyway I learned a boatload of tech stuff in my reading. Enough to make me dangerously annoying to the mechanics, lol. First thought was to have it towed to the dealership. Won't be doing that.

@lynxstch - now I'm worried about my John Deere battery. We will see on that one. It's unusual for our area to go single digits. @Breezy_Carol - not sure how long your Andrew has lived in Calvert County but he'll probably tell you it doesn't usually get the lows that northern and western Maryland suffer through in winter. I consider it a southeast of the Potomac thing after living here all these years. My in laws would have snow in Bethesda and we would have rain.

 

[Kirby]

I'm supposed to go car shopping - AKA go sit in the several cars I have on my list to see how well I can see out of the back - this week. I'm not really feeling it, but I'm going to do it. Tomorrow or the day after! Being short of stature I like to go sit in them to see how well I can see out of the back, plus I want to see how the back seats fold down for the dogs. THEN I'll drive them...backwards, I know!

Good luck with the car shopping! I know how you feel about sitting in the car. I like to sit and check out the back seat to see how much leg room there is. I don't want a car that me or someone else has to scrunch up in. Plus, DH is 6'4". We make sure that there is enough head room for him and if he can see out the front window without bending down to look if he needs to drive my vehicle. I also like a higher off the ground car. And my back up camera is the most favorite feature in my car. Heated seats for the winter comes in a close second. I drive a 2016 Chev Equinox.

QOTD - Do you or your family have a traditional or good-luck meal on New Years Eve or New Years Day, or any other tradition you observe?

Our only tradition is for New Years Day. We eat black eye peas for good luck. I have a friend that grew up in Minnesota that says there is no way she will eat black eye peas. That's what they fed the cows on the farm she grew up on.

DH and I went to Walmart yesterday afternoon just to kill time and look around at the Christmas stuff. I swore I was not going to buy any more Christmas wrapping paper but I did. I bought on tube with old trucks with Christmas trees in the truck bed. I told DD that that paper almost made me want to decoratively coordinate all the wrapped presents and our tree next year. The key word is "almost". Since everything was 50% off, DD bought four blow up Christmas animals for our menagerie next year. A bulldog, frog, shark and, well, I can't remember the last one. This is what this years group looks like.

 

[Judique]

Being short of stature I like to go sit in them to see how well I can see out of the back, plus I want to see how the back seats fold down for the dogs. THEN I'll drive them...backwards, I know! I had the cross off the one vehicle I really wanted because I need 4 wheel drive and it doesn't have it, but I have a list of 4 or 5 I'll check out. I want the chore done of picking out the vehicle so that when the time comes later this spring we can just order it, assuming it is not available....my husband had to order his new truck in August and he's hoping to get in by the end of January!
Barn cats made out just fine in this cold weather, saw them catting around in the field behind the house yesterday morning. It was 18 degrees, those cats are hardy I'll give them that!
Anyone have any NYE plans? We don't, no reason other than we like to stay off the roads that night if possible and just have a few cocktails at home. Plus we find forced staying up late a chore Although we were very impressed with ourselves for staying up till 9:45 last night!!! I know a lot of folks have traditional or good luck meals on NYE and/or New Years Day -

Priorities for car buying! I can't imagine not sitting in a model first before buying or ordering. In fact I'm pretty mad at the car scene right now as I can't just do what I want. I have the Toyota Highlander guy constantly texting me to say 'a car is coming available'. "Come give us a $500 deposit for a chance to buy it'.

Can't/won't do that. Ugh. So I'll drive the cars I have. I may even go get my Jeep from my older DD if I see a need for it. (Not permanently but if I need to tow something, as I had a tow hookup on that.)

Social plans for New Years: DS and wife and baby will entertain us for New Year's Day brunch. Starts at 10am. New Years Eve will be spent at home by all. No special celebration, just dinner and maybe a glass of wine and apps. I'll fall asleep before midnite and probably wake up right after.

Cats: my Kittykitty outdoor cat worried me because of the cold. He survived the first night on my deck under the chair cover on a cushion. The day before I tried to bring him in but he came to eat and then moved away before I could put him in my cage. He will go in the cage willingly but if he senses I'm going to close the door he's usually gone. Next day after the first cold night I grabbed him and brought him inside to the 2 tier cat cage and he's still in it. He was pretty angry at me to say the least, and still is as he will hiss if I get very close. But he's eating when he feels like it and is using the litterbox I put in the bottom. His food is still there that I put in this morning. But he ate yesterday's food overnight sometime. He's sleeping a lot but cats do sleep a lot. I have to keep him clear of my indoor cats as I have no idea whether he has communicable health issues. Taking him to the vet right now is not going to happen so he'll stay isolated for a bit and may get to go back out if he chooses tomorrow.
After the cold night I felt that he was unwell. We will see. He's about 4 now, which I heard is outdoor cat possible lifespan - I read that somewhere and not sure how valid it is.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Good morning.

Did anyone brave the malls or stores yesterday for post holiday shopping or returns? Jack wants to go to Lands End by the mall today to buy some shirts. I wonder how bad it will be.

We had left over shrimp creole last night and tonight is left over turkey.

Anyone have any experience with full face snorkel masks? They look good but also have some dangers related to CO2 rebreathing. I am not a good snorkeler - can't swim and breath - so though this might be better. I want to get something before our cruise in January to be prepared for Hawaii in March.

Anyone have any NYE plans?

We have dinner reservations a La Casa Pasta at 6:15. We also like to be off the roads before the heavy drinkers are out. Years ago we used to celebrate with our across the street neighbors. The walk home was pretty safe.

QOTD - Do you or your family have a traditional or good-luck meal on New Years Eve or New Years Day, or any other tradition you observe?

Not really. Did like to watch the Rose Parade and Mummers Parade, when we could.

I retired at age 65 and I knew when it was time.

As to keeping busy

I retired a few months before turning 65, which I wanted to wait to until starting SS. The work was getting physically too much for me. No regrets. I spent the first few months just enjoying not working. Then, started volunteering more at church. Now between that, yoga, grandkids, and traveling, I am very busy.

not sure how long your Andrew has lived in Calvert County

He actually lives right over the line in Ann Arundel County but still Dunkirk. (Not in county for the water park fee.) He has been there since June 2016.

Heated seats

Know why they call them heated seats? Rear defroster was already taken.

 

[lynxstch]

@lynxstch - now I'm worried about my John Deere battery. We will see on that one. It's unusual for our area to go single digits.

We don't usually get that cold either, but the cold snap last week, made me glad I had removed the battery and have it downstairs on a trickle charger to keep it full. Good luck with yours!

 

[lynxstch]

He's about 4 now, which I heard is outdoor cat possible lifespan - I read that somewhere and not sure how valid it is.

Our neighbors had 2 cats while they lived here, which they abandoned when the moved. They are now my 2 of my outdoor cats, and they are at least 7-8 years old. I have one inside, that was an outside cat, I brought her in about 5 years ago, and she's about 10 now. My outdoor ones were very smart in the cold spell. They slept in their nice warm boxes either under the porch or in the woodshed, which is almost completely closed in. They would come out to eat and drink and then disappear again. The sun is out today, so they are all laying on the front porch taking sun baths.

 

[PollyannaMom]

@Judique and @lynxstch, thank you both for taking care of cats in need!

 

[lynxstch]

Yippee, they sent the maintenance man and he changed the lock on our mailbox. Took him all of 5 minutes, after my having to complain for 4 days. He showed up at exactly the same time as the mail carrier did, lol. She had to wait for him to replace the lock before she could sort the mail and put it in the boxes. I undecorated both bathrooms and the spare room, and my back is telling me to stop. I am going to take a hot bath instead of doing more. Don is watching more of the Mandalorian. He likes it, it's just something I can get into

Have a nice afternoon

 

[Judique]

Good morning.

Did anyone brave the malls or stores yesterday for post holiday shopping or returns? Jack wants to go to Lands End by the mall today to buy some shirts. I wonder how bad it will be.

We had left over shrimp creole last night and tonight is left over turkey.

Anyone have any experience with full face snorkel masks? They look good but also have some dangers related to CO2 rebreathing. I am not a good snorkeler - can't swim and breath - so though this might be better. I want to get something before our cruise in January to be prepared for Hawaii in March.


We have dinner reservations a La Casa Pasta at 6:15. We also like to be off the roads before the heavy drinkers are out. Years ago we used to celebrate with our across the street neighbors. The walk home was pretty safe.


Not really. Did like to watch the Rose Parade and Mummers Parade, when we could.


I retired a few months before turning 65, which I wanted to wait to until starting SS. The work was getting physically too much for me. No regrets. I spent the first few months just enjoying not working. Then, started volunteering more at church. Now between that, yoga, grandkids, and traveling, I am very busy.


He actually lives right over the line in Ann Arundel County but still Dunkirk. (Not in county for the water park fee.) He has been there since June 2016.


Know why they call them heated seats? Rear defroster was already taken.

Rear defroster! I'll have to remember that one. First thing I turn on are my 'rear defrosters' and my heated steering wheel. At that point the car can warm up when it feels like it.

Ah, the water park and Breezy Point. My son in law found out the hard way that in summer Breezy Point just didn't let anyone in that wasn't a county resident.

I returned things as I went along before Xmas. Just have one more return and I'm debating whether I'll actually keep it. I'm finished it with the shopping scene until spring.

 

[Kirby]

Good morning.

Did anyone brave the malls or stores yesterday for post holiday shopping or returns?

DD and went to Target, Walgreens and Walmart. None of the stores were near what I've seen in the past.

Know why they call them heated seats? Rear defroster was already taken.

 

[Judique]

@Judique and @lynxstch, thank you both for taking care of cats in need!

He was one of a pair. They showed as baby kittens under the deck of someone nearby. They both would come snooping around. Very skittish. Then the female came no longer after maybe 2 years. She was very pretty. Taking them full time was out of the question as I already had 2-3 cats depending on older DD. Now I have 3 plus feeding Kittykitty. I should note that my cats are all older -14, 12, 10ish.

I'm going to let him back out and he'll always be welcome to seek shelter. I have an Igloo for him, but this year he's mostly nested under the chair cover on my new chair pads. (I did cover them up and put towels down for him.) If it is raining I put his food in the Igloo and he'll eat out of the rain or wind in there.

He normally lets me touch and pet him but he's just starting to come around and even look at me. He obviously doesn't like captivity and might be happier running around the house but I can't risk interactions with the other cats right now. We will see how it goes. I can easily isolate him because of the rolling cage.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Good afternoon friends,

Busier morning so checking in now. I did enjoy as always reading each of your morning shares and thank you so much for them. Dad did laundry and went to Ralph's. We are so blessed to have a kind friend, Aurora, who works at Ralph's. Remember the expired chewy bars? Dad brought them with him today along with a printout of the purchase for them made by my friend. Our Ralph's did have this same product but guess what? Like the package he was trying to exchange, all the boxes on the shelf today had also expired! Not good at all! The same story was found at a second Ralphs later on. Dad explained the situation to Aurora who refunded him the money I had given to my friend to buy them. So, he will keep an eye out for a fresh package to come. Meantime, please remember to always check food expiration dates carefully before purchasing. I need to finish up some mail right now but will check back in later. Always, dear Quacker family, much love and appreciation to each of you!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

We went to Lands End and Jack bought three flannel shirts. I ended up with a pair of yoga pants. Went to Cabellas and looked at snorkel masks. Final stop was the grocery store for milk and bread.

@Judique it was the Chesapeake Beach Water Park that had special pricing for Calvert County residents.

Better get ready for yoga.

 

[easyas123]

Has to be pork and sauerkraut. Had never heard of that till I moved to MD.

As you know my in-laws lived - and my husband grew up - in the McCool/Loanaconing???? area and my MIL SWEARS you simply must have pork & sauerkraut.
We don't, and amazingly we have survived!

I was from South Philly, the home of the Mummers

My heart...the Mummers parade, big memory of my childhood.

I normally don't even stay up

My people!

now I'm worried about my John Deere battery.

If it helps, we have a older (have had since new, it's about 13 years old) JD mower...just a regular ride on lawn mower, we've never once removed or worried over the battery in the cold. My big JD farm tractor does just fine as well, as a matter of fact we just got it out to move something and it started right up.

Good luck with the car shopping! I know how you feel about sitting in the car. I like to sit and check out the back seat to see how much leg room there is. I don't want a car that me or someone else has to scrunch up in. Plus, DH is 6'4". We make sure that there is enough head room for him and if he can see out the front window without bending down to look if he needs to drive my vehicle. I also like a higher off the ground car. And my back up camera is the most favorite feature in my car. Heated seats for the winter comes in a close second.

Thanks - you understand my "pain" so to speak! I'm 5' even, my husband is 6'2" and so while I can drive all the bigger trucks, he sometimes has hard time being comfortable in other vehicles. I want to be comfortable, but I also want him to be comfortable. He already barely fits in my fun car (luckily it lives in the garage and doesn't make the regular rotation much!) so it will be best to get something half way decent for both of us. We recently had to drive my SIL's Expedition and we were like "ahhhhh"...reminded us of the Yukon XL we used to have, like riding a couch down the road! So we are most likely headed toward something along those lines.

He's about 4 now, which I heard is outdoor cat possible lifespan - I read that somewhere and not sure how valid it is.

That's interesting! I've never heard that.

Did anyone brave the malls or stores yesterday for post holiday shopping or returns?

I went to a local Garden center yesterday and got a 1/2 off giant (well, to me! It's about 5' tall and hideous) light up flamingo as a fun gift for my folks. It's beyond obnoxious, so perfect! I went out today and needed to kill 30 minutes before a appt. and went into Home Goods. I was surprised it wasn't that busy-

Anyone have any experience with full face snorkel masks?

I don't BUT...my Mother, my husband and one of my brothers have RX snorkel masks. The LOVE them. My son has some sort of RX dive mask (he's got underwater demo & welding certs, so he got it for that).

Know why they call them heated seats? Rear defroster was already taken.

Ba Boom! Nice one!!!

Dad brought them with him today along with a printout of the purchase for them made by my friend. Our Ralph's did have this same product but guess what? Like the package he was trying to exchange, all the boxes on the shelf today had also expired! Not good at all! The same story was found at a second Ralphs later on.

Wow - that's is something else, can't believe they both has expired items. Were they that much expired? I bet they were probably still good.... ha ha I just used a pot of Vicks vapor rub that expired in 2014!! I can't not believe I had something that old in the medicine cabinet! After I used it I did toss it out (it was fine for what I needed it for, no harm *and no I am not saying use all expired meds*! Just that THIS one was fine, just not nearly as effective most likely)

 

[AuntieMe3]

Happy Tuesday everyone. I really enjoyed reading about everyone's Christmas celebrations. We had a great couple of days. My dad, DD and I went to my aunts house for a small family get together, all adults...the youngest was my cousin was is 19. Small group compared to previous years, 2 family members are dealing with health issues so we all tested before we went. We all had a great time. Almost all the ladies did a gingerbread house competition and all the guys were the judges...I tied with one of my cousins and we both got $100 from one of my uncles. We also did a white elephant gift exchange and had a delicious dinner. We were north of Los Angeles and it was almost 80°....20° warmer than our house which was still too warm for Christmas. LOL On our drive home, it was still 70° at 10p.

Christmas Day was just a nice relaxing day with my dad at our house.

Yesterday I came down to a local hotel casino to celebrate my best friends birthday. We went to a nice dinner, had some drinks and a little gambling. My friends come often so they get comped rooms, food credits and discounts on just about everything else. It's a really nice place...I'll be home tomorrow.

Here's a pic of my winning gingerbread house....

 

[Judique]

If it helps, we have a older (have had since new, it's about 13 years old) JD mower...just a regular ride on lawn mower, we've never once removed or worried over the battery in the cold. My big JD farm tractor does just fine as well, as a matter of fact we just got it out to move something and it started right up.

Good to hear!