Weekly Chat Thread June 5th - 11th

[staytuned]

Good morning, everyone! Mid to upper 80s last week, low to mid 70s this week and finally supposed to get rain next weekend. Enjoying the lower humidity while it lasts. Happy last day of school for kids around here is tomorrow so no buses and dawdling kids to get delay going anywhere, but orange cone/barrel/flagger season is already happening. Hope everyone has a sunny, comfortable day!

[val2525]

Partly sunny, chance of rain, humid and mid-80s here for a few days. Later in the week we start hitting the 90s. The "cooler" temps were nice while they lasted

I'm waiting on the pest control to get here this week and treat my patio, then I'll put down the fake grass rug I got and pull out the patio decor.  Pest Control is supposed to be out weekly, rotating buildings so that every building gets treated once a month but I think they only do the outside perimeter unless you request indoor service. I'm considering getting some outdoor perimeter spray and treating my patio monthly, regardless of if the pest guy made it by that month or not.

HEB apparently decided to celebrate National Donut Day last week by having Donut Week. For every bag of HEB coffee you bought, you got a half dozen free donuts. They're good, but not as good as Krispy Kreme.  OTOH, they ARE free and free makes everything taste awesome. Except for wine. Some wine really does taste nasty, even when it's free  

[sunsetpainter]

We haven't had any rain in over 2 weeks. The grass is heading back to brown, but at least it doesn't need to be mowed (just the weeds every so often which seem to THRIVE on drought!) Been watering the garden at least every day, sometimes twice since it's been so hot too.

That rotten raccoon has figured out how to get the food out of the trap without actually going into the trap! I told DH we're gonna need a bigger trap! lol

[val2525]

I think your raccoon and mine must be distant relatives

I had an old friend call me over the weekend. Haven't talked with him in probably 25 years. It was nice to chat

[chapeaunoir]

Mostly 60s and low 70s here on tap save for one day where it's *supposed* to hit 80. 

We were on 'the dry side' this last weekend and it was HOT, but fortunately not as hot as it could have been. Unfortunately I had one of "those" days and my run ended up being more like a slog. After 5 miles I was done and I had another 4 miles to go - bleh.  I slogged through the rest of it - this was in contrast to the time before about three weeks ago when I went through the 10 miler (different course) and was wanting to run further but decided I'd better not over-train so stopped. However, the scenary was nice! This looks north along the Wenatchee River - it was a quiet day. Periodically little groundhogs would poke their heads out of burrows and pop back in again. Once there was mom and several little ones. 

[val2525]

Holy cow. I was pricing cat trees at Chewy and I can't believe how much the prices have jumped! Even on the little trees

[Emerald_Door]

Jun 5, 2023 16:17:35 GMT val2525 said:

OTOH, they ARE free and free makes everything taste awesome.  

My son once said, "My favorite flavor is 'free'."

[denise15601]

My precious grandson on his last day of 5th grade, standing beside his pond where he rehomes rescued frogs.

[frakinfashion]

Handsome boy!

[RetroMonde]

SO CUTE- both your grandson and rehoming rescued frogs!! 💕

[Tabby]

And you've just got to love his fashion choices! 

[denise15601]

I sure wish he would show his teeth when he smiles. He used to have a slight gap between his front teeth, but it is now gone. But apparently he is scarred for life.
And, yes my daughter spends way too much for his matching outfits.

[val2525]

My power is out. I don't know if it was an accident of some sort to equipment or a brown out. Sure hope it's an accident. Because if we're having brown outs now, it will get worse as we get hotter. I'm going with accident though. Peak energy time is a bit earlier in the day. Thank goodness for cell phones 'cuz the internet is out too. 🤣

[val2525]

I would pick today though to let my phone battery totally die so I can do a full recharge

Ah ha. CPS robocall just informed me we'll have power back in about 2 hours. Same for the internet provider. Second outage in a week now that I think about it. Guess I better go hunt down a book to read.

[chapeaunoir]

Great photo - he's getting tall!  That's cool that he rehomes rescue frogs - that's a nice pond. 

Our upper 70s day turned out to be an 86 degree day and muggy. I went out for a short run and was soaked right through to my underroos even with only 3 miles.  Bleh. I do not do well in the heat. 

[denise15601]

I didn't know that "frogging" was a thing. After it rains, my dd and Jaxson travel the back roads. The things that look like leaves on the roads are really frogs that might get run over.
So they catch them and either put them into a stream by their house, or the pond.

[frakinfashion]

Well, it was twilight zone here in the city yesterday. Orange sky from the Canadian fires and advisory not to go outside unless absolutely necessary. Reminds me of the good old days of the early Covid massacre. Today looks better but it is still considered "unhealthy" to go out. Not so brave, new world.

[staytuned]

Jun 8, 2023 17:34:49 GMT frakinfashion said:

Well, it was twilight zone here in the city yesterday. Orange sky from the Canadian fires and advisory not to go outside unless absolutely necessary. Reminds me of the good old days of the early Covid massacre. Today looks better but it is still considered "unhealthy" to go out. Not so brave, new world.

Not orange sky here, but we're affected here, too, with an overcast sky. It looks like it's about to rain with 0% rain predicted til Sunday. I read yesterday N95 masks were being given to residents in NYC because air quality is so bad.

[labbypaws]

It is bad here too. I went out walking very early the past 2 days.

[staytuned]

labbypaws, how are the new additions to the family doing? And the other 4 legged members taking to them?

[val2525]

I just saw the list of states with poor air quality thanks to the Canadian forest fires. There are 20 states with air quality alerts The hazy air is even disrupting air flights. Holy cow, that's one big forest fire! Might be a good time to pull out the 'ole COVID masks, folks, if your area has a fire-related air quality warning. Looks like you have it really bad, Fraken.

[denise15601]

It has been really hazy all day. BUT it just rained a little!!!!!! We haven't had rain for almost 3 weeks.

[treetop]

We’ve been having air quality alerts in Saint Louis for the past couple of weeks. It was reported that you couldn’t see the arch yesterday due to the haze that had settled in.

[labbypaws]

Same with us Desire.

The gang is ok. Still adjusting. Trying to get one of the new ones to calm down while I walk the other. He has a hissy fit. I can take the two of them but I saw their reactions to a squirrel and a ground hog and I don’t think I can hold them both if I don’t see the animals first. They are a pleasure to watch though. Full of energy. We sign the paperwork on them tomorrow.

The little guy is another story. He is confused when we take him out. We are going to go back to basics and not allow him to play outside.

Two more days and I go back to work. Thank goodness.

[val2525]

Those of you in areas with the smoke and air alerts - you really should be wearing a N95 mask outside. You're breathing in particulate matter and that's really bad for your lungs.

[staytuned]

Hallway walls are being painted. Our building's scheduled for tomorrow, but they obviously started early. Parts of the wall were coated in white primer which I smelled as soon as I left around noon and when I returned around 2pm, there were 6 guys on different levels starting to paint the corners and parts of handrails (which I really need, especially hauling stuff upstairs). Warned DH as he's going out after work to make sure he doesn't touch anything when he comes home. Don't know why our otherwise white walls are now going to be painted dark brown. Guess it means we won't be able to notice bats until they start flying around.

It's a lot sunnier today, but there's still definitely something in the upper atmosphere that doesn't look right. I feel bad for those of you exposed to the worst of it and hope the wind shifts away and a good soaking rain helps clear things out.

[val2525]

Jun 9, 2023 19:01:32 GMT staytuned said:

Don't know why our otherwise white walls are now going to be painted dark brown. Guess it means we won't be able to notice bats until they start flying around.

Maybe because brown won't show dirt and stains as quickly? Who knows. They paint apartments some of the gawd-awfulest colors imaginable. I lucked out. My complex went with a light taupe on the stucco, a green toned brown for metalwork and garage doors, and bright (REALLY bright) white for the trim (around windows, between floors). Looks pretty good. One complex nearby went from a really nice ivory/terra cotta combo to baby poop green and brown.

Looks like the rainy season here is over and summer is moving in with a vengence. We're forecast to be 100 or so by midweek next week. Hello summer! Maybe I should see if my bathing suit fits. I wouldn't mind a quick and easy workout in the pool in the mornings before the sunbathers and kids start filling up the place.

[staytuned]

We all thought back when the blueish carpet was ripped out and replaced with large squares of thinner, dark brown and black carpeting it was because dirt and stains wouldn't show up easily or if something bad spilled, the squares could be replaced. There's a huge stain obliterating the pattern on bottom floor that's been there for months already. The white walls never got bad that I noticed. Just took a peek out and the trim around the doors is dark gray. Will see what the walls look like tomorrow. I just hope it's not "poop" brown. Maintenance guy said one thing about the dark walls is they're going to have to upgrade to brighter lighting to go with darker interior. The stairs are black so good lighting is essential if coming or going at nighttime.

[val2525]

Oh geez. Dark walls make no sense if you have dark flooring on the stairs That's an accident (and lawsuit) just waiting to happen.

[val2525]

www.cnn.com/videos/us/2023/06/07/statue-of-liberty-smoke-nyc-air-quality-orig-jm.cnn

Timelapse video of NYC disappearing into the haze from the Canadian fires. Yikes!