|
|
Post by staytuned on Jun 26, 2023 13:48:12 GMT
Good morning, everyone! Another month on it's way out end of week. July and August are usually the hottest, most humid months up here. This week looks like a soggy one, but not tropical yet. Hope everyone has a spectacular day!
 |
|
|
|
Post by labbypaws on Jun 26, 2023 13:49:39 GMT
It has been warm, humid and rainy here. Luckily I have gotten my walks in without any rain. More expected today through Thursday.
|
|
val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,761 
|
Post by val2525 on Jun 26, 2023 21:45:25 GMT
It's 102, sunny and humid here with a nice breeze though. I ran my errands earlier today thank goodness. Power company has us on a yellow alert, with requests to conserve power between 3:00-8:00 pm. I did my part - did the laundry this morning  New billing cycle starts tomorrow and I'm curious to see how bad (or not) the new bill will be  I wish I could get a time of use plan, but apparently they aren't available for apartments. Or not this complex, anyway. One of the 2 AC units outside my office window is emitting a REALLY high pitched noise. I called the office to report it since they worked on one of the units out there several times last week. At least it's not my unit (whew). |
|
|
|
Post by labbypaws on Jun 27, 2023 11:29:11 GMT
Great performance last night by the Thunderboomers! Wow, excellent light show too. More this afternoon.
|
|
|
|
Post by denise15601 on Jun 27, 2023 13:15:49 GMT
Same here, Labby. From 3 weeks without rain to daily rain and storms.
|
|
|
|
Post by staytuned on Jun 27, 2023 15:30:08 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by jesmelric on Jun 27, 2023 17:59:01 GMT
Hello everyone, can't believe it's the end of another month!! Well we had a heck of a weekend. Friday around 5:45 pm the power went out. And it's 100+ here  Tried to call Centerpoint and because there had been storms Wednesday, cities to the north of us were still getting power restored so they had a message that said: Due to excessive calls report any outages online. And I wasn't getting a good enough signal without wifi, but DD called and she looked it up for me and said it had been reported and affected approx. 145 homes in the area. NO ESTIMATED timeline for repair! So thank goodness we have a generator and DH went to get gas and get it all set up. A bunch of heavy duty power cords coming in the kitchen window; one to the deep freeze, one to the fridge, and then to our room for the (back up stored in DH's shed) window unit, fan, lamp, tv.
So Friday night it's me and DH and Janey all in the bed. She's not used to sleeping in there and she's a snoring and twitchy sleeper anyway, and DH was being twitchy and snoring on and off and for some reason I had an attack of some gas I was desperately trying to hold in (after almost 34 years it's the last shred of dignity we have). So awful trying to sleep. Then at 11:47 everything went dead. He put less gas in the generator than he realized and it ran out of gas. So we had to get up and he fills it while I hold the flashlight. Then he goes to the bathroom and I go back to the bedroom with the flashlight and there is a GIANT COCKROACH running around the floor! (If you don't live in the Gulf Coast area, Google it. Or maybe don't) I am spraying frantically with poison and DH is mad because he doesn't want to smell it so we are fussing, but thank goodness he killed it for me. I'm lucky if I got 3 hours sleep as I had my annual mammogram appointment I had to be at 7:50 am.
Then I have to leave Janey in the room with the window unit when we leave so she won't overheat and I realize the window unit is making a gurgling noise like it's an aquarium. DH looks at it and says the condensation hose is backed up. Ugh. I got it for $40 at a garage sale about 10 years ago, it's had it's life but I just need it to hold out a bit more, Home Depot is down the street from the hospital where I get my mammo. Then I hear from a friend that some contractors were clearing a lot down the street and knocked a tree into a pole and that's the cause. Sure enough on the way home we see two Centerpoint trucks at that lot setting up a pole. We get home and thank goodness the window unit is still working, but by this time it's literally spitting water all over the floor 
So DH gets the old one out and the new one in and about an hour later power is back!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! Makes you realize how the HE*L did people, especially down here, live without it??!! And Centerpoint sends an email that it was: due to high winds. WTH? We had some storms Friday, about 3 hours after the power went out! And we saw the trucks in the lot!?
Well I slept like a damn rock Saturday night. Sunday we went to the bins and that is an adventure in itself, lol. So crazy when they bring out the new bins and they have everyone on that row line up (BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE!!) then when they say go, it's like animals at a feeding trough, lol. I stay away and just work where I'm at and wait till it dies down. Too old for that. I did make some good finds, though.
|
|
kritter
Mod Squad
When we lose sight of how we treat animals, we tend to lose sight of our humanity
Posts: 19,894
|
Post by kritter on Jun 27, 2023 19:45:07 GMT
You need to get some cats. The only giant cockroaches I see are already dead and dismembered or in the final stages of death with at least one cat standing watch in case the f*cker decides to make a last dash for freedom.
|
|
val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,761
|
Post by val2525 on Jun 27, 2023 21:46:05 GMT
Yep. Cats definitely take care of any roach problems. A can of Aqua Net hairspray works well on bugs too, if you don't have any regular bug spray handy.  |
|
|
|
Post by staytuned on Jun 27, 2023 22:19:44 GMT
I will attest I've seen the biggest cockroaches in my life in Texas and South Carolina. Never saw one in Florida, but they have other super-sized bugs I have seen.
|
|
|
|
Post by labbypaws on Jun 27, 2023 22:31:43 GMT
We had no internet from 10 AM until 6 PM. Ugh.
Had a major thunderstorm this afternoon.
Ugh Jes. At least the power finally came back on.
We had the burner/AC service guy here. We have a yearly contract. I have kept my fingers crossed that our unit still runs after all these years.
|
|
|
|
Post by staytuned on Jun 28, 2023 15:55:28 GMT
Looks like our sunny day is already hazing over from the fires in Canada. I can actually see the smoky fog from here so need to go to grocery store that should still be out of it, grab a few things and get home before it gets bad here. Looks like half OH is getting it.
|
|
|
|
Post by jesmelric on Jun 28, 2023 17:47:28 GMT
You need to get some cats. The only giant cockroaches I see are already dead and dismembered or in the final stages of death with at least one cat standing watch in case the f*cker decides to make a last dash for freedom. Unfortunately Janey is not much of a cat girl. Also not much of a roach killer  It sounds like a perfect way for them to die!!
Still blazing hot here, who would have thought we'd be longing for normal temperatures in the mid 90s with a heat index of only 100 or so. They are saying the high pressure should move out Monday with more chances for rain coming in. I sure hope so!! It feels like we will never have cool air again.
For anyone who is interested it looks like SYFY channel will be doing a Twilight Zone marathon starting Monday. Yay! Not sure why I associate it with New Year's and the 4th but ever since they have run it that way, I guess it's just become part of those holidays and it doesn't quite feel right without it. DH is making a brisket which will take 2 days and be a big pain in the butt, but he wanted to do it. Brisket is fine but I'd take pork ribs any day.
Labby, losing internet is a close second to losing power lol. Hard to believe it wasn't all that long ago when the internet wasn't a thing. When we bought this house in 1999 I had just gotten Webtv for my birthday. Not only was it rudimentary, there wasn't even that much stuff on the internet back then!! |
|
|
|
Post by denise15601 on Jun 28, 2023 22:57:33 GMT
Wow Jes! I am glad that everything turned out okay, but what a hassle!
My grand-bugs, Jaxson's Madagascar hissing cockroaches have passed away. They were about 2 inches long. Otherwise, I have never seen a cockroach.
We still have an air code red here(from the Canadian fires) and although we aren't supposed to mow, my mower finally worked, so I had no choice. Apparently, the blade drive belt is bad since sometimes it takes 20 tries to get my blades to engage. Today, it only took 7 tries. I have been waiting for 3 weeks for a guy to come and look at it.
|
|
|
|
Post by chapeaunoir on Jun 29, 2023 0:45:44 GMT
jesmelric - that sounds like one of those nights where you think things can't get any worse, and then they do.  For some years I lived in an old converted hotel off highway 99 - we had a new tenant move in and she brought cockroach eggs with her. Ugh - all 10 of us living there had to leave so they could roach bomb the place, but not until we all had those horrible little buggers. She was a tidy, pleasant older woman and was horribly embarassed that she had carried in the roaches - I have a feeling she had left another fleabag due to a roach problem and then moved into OUR fleabag. We're having our official two week bout of summer here - it'll be in the low 80s. Fortunately, we have trees to sit under - air conditioning isn't very common here unless you want to go to the mall, which is mostly closed now.
|
|
val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,761
|
Post by val2525 on Jun 29, 2023 15:24:10 GMT
We're back down to normal temps for the next week at least - mid 90s.  The apartment office must be doing patio checks today. I just saw two of the office staff out in front of my building, looking at the patios. Or maybe they're checking for wasp nests (although my money is on the patios). Management is really good about keeping the complex looking good and that includes making tenants clean up their patios if tenants have crap on the patio. Works for me. Nothing screams "tacky trashy apartment complex" quite as much as an old indoor recliner on the balcony or storage boxes covered with a tarp They have a patio decorating contest at Halloween and Christmas with HEB gift cards so it's not like they're overly militant about it all. I've been meaning to suggest they have a spring/easter or summer patio contest as well. Quite a few tenants have summer decorations on their patios. Hmmnn. Maybe I'll suggest that after New Years  Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my Ikea order to come in today as I ordered some patio plants. Ikea has really nice plants that are indoor/outdoor, hold up well outdoors, and are reasonably priced. I learned my lesson last year. NO potted plants on the patio unless the bottom pot is filled in and there's no real place on the plant for wasps to nest in  So more green stuff, less colored flowers. I think I'm going to move my yellow dining set to the patio (it's actually a small outdoor patio table with 2 chairs) and move the exercise bike and other workout stuff to the dining room. I don't want the bike in the office, but I don't want to get rid of it as I'd like to start using it. I'm decorating the patio so it's nice to view from the inside. That would give me a nice view while biking I also have a new, smaller chair coming in for the bedroom, for the cats. I need to get rid of the papasan chair as it's way too big and any apartment I move to after this one will have smaller bedrooms. The ones here are unusually large for an apartment. The cats love the chair so I had to find an equally comfy but smaller replacement. No, my cats aren't spoiled at all |
|
|
|
Post by chapeaunoir on Jun 29, 2023 22:53:31 GMT
I swear, people keep chickens on their balconies in some of the apartment buildings just south of me - definitely one has a rooster because I hear him crowing sometimes when I go by there - their neighbours must just LOVE that - in the winter dawn is late but in the summer it arrives like 4:30 a.m. Yay.
|
|
|
|
Post by jesmelric on Jun 30, 2023 17:41:51 GMT
Happy Friday everyone  I am waiting to see if the VV will do a 4th of July sale, trying to see when we should cook the brisket as it takes 2 days. They always wait till the last minute to announce so it's frustrating trying to plan other things. Ugh.
Well it's supposed to be a very hot weekend, but the heat is supposed to back off starting on Monday, with rain chances coming in towards the end of next week. I hope that forecast holds together; they often change it up as it gets closer. We definitely need some rain.
Well DS (he and wife are currently separated) applied for a new job yesterday, would be a great thing for him. He's supposed to hear something by the end of next week, I would appreciate any prayers, vibes, good thoughts, etc for him. His friend works there, so hopefully that'll give him a bit of a boost, he'd be good at the job, too.
I hope everyone has a good weekend. I am going to the thrift store, or not lol. If not I probably need to catch up on some housekeeping. Ugh.
|
|
|
|
Post by staytuned on Jun 30, 2023 18:50:33 GMT
I had to look up what a "papason" chair was. I actually have a folding camp chair with round padded cushion like that, I believe it's called a "moon" chair. Chap, we had a rooster and three chickens many years ago and that rooster crowed any time he felt like it during daylight hours. Yeah, he was loud and obviously couldn't tell time. I checked SyFy channel and yes, there's a Twilight Zone marathon. Unfortunately, it's not the old original episodes, but the 2019-2020 episodes, which I never cared for. Maybe they'll learn and put on the original ones next time. Looks like rain the next 3 days. Would have liked to go somewhere today but really nowhere I needed to so doing odds and ends around here. Plus, I got notice of how much next car insurance bill will be and went up another $80 for 1/2 year. They're sure making up for giving us a break back in 2020. Greedy bastards.
|
|
val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,761
|
Post by val2525 on Jun 30, 2023 19:01:45 GMT
Plus, I got notice of how much next car insurance bill will be and went up another $80 for 1/2 year. They're sure making up for giving us a break back in 2020. Greedy bastards. Tell me about it. I have USAA and they keep jacking up my rate every year. It's insanely high now, IMO, considering I might drive the car once or twice a week (at the most) and it's an older car now (2015). Plus I have a good driving record. I need to sit down and get my policy info together and get some quotes. I hate to do that though. You really can't do it online - you'll get bombarded by texts, emails and phone calls and not a single site will actually give you a full quote online |
|
|
|
Post by labbypaws on Jul 1, 2023 13:43:16 GMT
I bought this one last year. Very sturdy and has a little table to put stuff on. Came in handy for the reunion. A bit expensive. A few years ago, when I flew, I bought a cheap one at Walmart. I still have that one. Brought it home last year. I bought a cover for it for storing. A bit small but it fits.  |
|
|
|
Post by Emerald_Door on Jul 1, 2023 13:45:03 GMT
My son was here for a week, which was great because we hadn't seen him since Christmas. On Monday he starts a new job as a medical physics resident in Little Rock, AR. At least he's a little closer to home than when he was in Colorado.
|
|
|
|
Post by labbypaws on Jul 1, 2023 13:48:53 GMT
I just checked my insurance last night as this is the renewal month. They kept it the same. It just is expensive as heck though. Travelers Home and Auto.
|
|
|
|
Post by denise15601 on Jul 1, 2023 15:17:45 GMT
I have American National insurance. I pay $1,000 a year for auto and $1,400 a year for my house. But if I don't have a claim, I get about $700 back in November.
I am locked into the company since I have an underground oil tank and no other company will insure my house unless the tank is above ground. That is way too expensive, so I am stuck.
|
|
val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,761
|
Post by val2525 on Jul 1, 2023 18:02:04 GMT
It appears my insanely high rates are because of where I live. TX has 3 of the largest US cities, which means more accidents and auto repairs. Plus about 10% of TX drivers don't have insurance at all. Medical cost increases affect insurance as companies have to pay out for injuries in a car accident. And lastly, it seems me hitting 65 gave USAA the perfect reason to jack up my insurance. I really wish I lived somewhere walkable so I could just get rid of the car and the insurance I actually prefer to take the bus/cabs/walk everywhere and just rent a car for a weekend now and then for the errands I just can't do by bus or on foot. Mostly sunny and 96 or so today. We "cool" off a bit after today, with highs in the low 90s |
|
kritter
Mod Squad
When we lose sight of how we treat animals, we tend to lose sight of our humanity
Posts: 19,894
|
Post by kritter on Jul 1, 2023 19:00:46 GMT
Did you look to see if it would help if you raised your deductable or went to basic coverage that is required by the state? Since your car is older, you might want to adjust those items to see if your rate will adjust. Since I don't drive the jag much anymore, I took coverage for it off and just carry what is required by the state. Since the truck is new, it has full coverage. Blue Book your car's value to see if full coverage is worth paying for in case it is wrecked and the insurance company just totals it out instead of repairing.
Check car insurance through AARP. I have both my house and vehicle coverage through them and their rates are lower than other companies that I contacted.
When I turned 65 back in the day, GEICO also jacked up my car insurance and thats when I went to AARP for coverage.
|
|
|
|
Post by frakinfashion on Jul 1, 2023 19:02:45 GMT
val2525 Manhattan is calling you. Or maybe one of the outer boroughs.
|
|
val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,761
|
Post by val2525 on Jul 1, 2023 19:08:01 GMT
Thanks kritter ! I have my Medicare supplement plan thru AARP but it didn't even occur to me to see if they offered auto insurance. Duh! I still have a little bit to pay on the car note, so I don't want to drop the optional coverage yet but I do have it set to the lowest amounts. I'll check out AARP. For anyone with stucco (or cement, or brick) walls - these are great! www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFF9LRZ6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_detailsYou need to hammer them in slowly and evenly so as not to bend the nails, but other than that they're awesome. I used one this morning so I could put up an Ikea wall plant on the patio. I'm going to use them at Christmas to hang my Christmas lights. Woo hoo! The new "cat" chair came in. It's little. It looks like a kid chair, but all the reviews said adults fit in it. Whatever. I suppose as long as a cat will fit in it, that's all that matters. Simon fits. Trixie may not like it, but there are plenty of other beds in the apartment she likes so it's no big deal if she won't use the new chair.  They all sleep in the papasan chair, but only one at a time, so a smaller chair shouldn't be an issue. But dang it looks tiny Although it does give me more space in the room |
|
|
|
Post by staytuned on Jul 1, 2023 19:59:31 GMT
I really wish I lived somewhere walkable so I could just get rid of the car and the insurance I actually prefer to take the bus/cabs/walk everywhere and just rent a car for a weekend now and then for the errands I just can't do by bus or on foot.
Exactly my thoughts. There is 0 public transportation around here anymore. I'd love to be able to hop on a bus or best scenario, be within walking distance of groceries and use an "old lady cart" to wheel groceries home.
Simon looks so darned cute in that chair!
|
|
|
|
Post by labbypaws on Jul 1, 2023 20:38:04 GMT
Don’t forget that if you take one of those safe driving seminars it could lower your rates. I think AAA has them?
|
|
New billing cycle starts tomorrow and I'm curious to see how bad (or not) the new bill will be 
I wish I could get a time of use plan, but apparently they aren't available for apartments. Or not this complex, anyway. One of the 2 AC units outside my office window is emitting a REALLY high pitched noise. I called the office to report it since they worked on one of the units out there several times last week. At least it's not my unit (whew).
Tried to call Centerpoint and because there had been storms Wednesday, cities to the north of us were still getting power restored so they had a message that said: Due to excessive calls report any outages online. And I wasn't getting a good enough signal without wifi, but DD called and she looked it up for me and said it had been reported and affected approx. 145 homes in the area. NO ESTIMATED timeline for repair! So thank goodness we have a generator and DH went to get gas and get it all set up. A bunch of heavy duty power cords coming in the kitchen window; one to the deep freeze, one to the fridge, and then to our room for the (back up stored in DH's shed) window unit, fan, lamp, tv. 
It sounds like a perfect way for them to die!! 
Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my Ikea order to come in today as I ordered some patio plants. Ikea has really nice plants that are indoor/outdoor, hold up well outdoors, and are reasonably priced. I learned my lesson last year. NO potted plants on the patio unless the bottom pot is filled in and there's no real place on the plant for wasps to nest in 
So more green stuff, less colored flowers.
I am waiting to see if the VV will do a 4th of July sale, trying to see when we should cook the brisket as it takes 2 days. They always wait till the last minute to announce so it's frustrating trying to plan other things. Ugh. 
