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Post by staytuned on Aug 21, 2023 13:39:24 GMT
Good morning, everyone! Plowing right through August and looks like we're having the hottest week of the month. Kids around here go back to school starting Thurs. so it'll be back to timing errands to try to avoid buses. Bad enough road work is all over taking advantage of nice weather while it lasts. Hope everyone has a purty day!
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 21, 2023 18:17:39 GMT
Looks like the hurricane season is about to get into full swing. There are 3 named storms in the Atlantic, one numbered storm and a disturbance off Africa. Hilary did some serious damage in SoCal and will be causing some weather related issues as what's left of her moves north through multiple western states. The numbered tropical disturbance is off of the TX coast and might bring us some rain tomorrow and Wednesday. It would be nice to get some rain. Guess I better get to work. This is a VERY busy week. The next paycheck should be a good one
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Post by staytuned on Aug 21, 2023 18:51:00 GMT
We're supposed to leave for North Myrtle Beach on Sept.7th so you bet we're keeping an eye on the Atlantic.
I like to check EarthCam webcams around the country. Was very strange to see Fremont St. downtown Las Vegas going from temps from 100 up to 109 and last couple days wet and 75. They got a good soaking last 2 days in the area and flooding. Hope it shifts down by you, Val, for a good soaking and cool down.
Humidity is awful today. I went over this morning to make sure MIL was up, got her mail, helped her with breakfast and after just over an hour, even sitting in the only room with a/c, by the time I got home one mile away, I felt like I'd gotten out of a shower and didn't towel off. Nothing drains my energy like humidity. Thank goodness for central air in the apartment. Today's "adventure" is trying on tops to see what to take on vacation. Criteria is lightweight, no wrinkle, fast dry and first choices hide my muffin top. I hate trying on clothes with a passion.
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Post by labbypaws on Aug 21, 2023 20:27:40 GMT
We have 2 coworkers in OBX now. They usually go in September but have been affected By hurricanes a few times. Another co-worker just got back.
I remember camping at Lake Arrowhead down in Myrtle Beach in the late 60's and early 70's. Used to camp right on the beach. The campground is gone now. We used to ride the waves with rafts (Small flotation devices). It was the one vacation spot I didn't mind going. That and Disney World back then.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 21, 2023 21:41:12 GMT
I think I have all my Christmas decorations now. Placed a final order today. If I don't move up to second place, the contest is rigged You'll be able to see my apartment from the space station when I'm done I can't have a tree inside, not with Twila and Simon, so I tend to go overboard with the rest of the inside decorations. I would say I go overboard with the outside too, but I've always gone nuts with the lights - it's a family tradition. No inflatables though. They're noisy and a PITA.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Aug 21, 2023 22:37:45 GMT
Going nuts outside with the decorations means more people can enjoy them. The DH has a coworker who goes by the name of Kornfed who is a Christmas lights wizard - his entire house is upholstered with them by the time he's done. It's really amazing. He also decorates his coworkers' office doors, wrapping them like presents - people love it.
The smoke has receded a bit here and it's somewhat chilly and damp, but warming up. With more cool air and rain coming in the smoke may move off for a while. I hope all goes well for people affected by the storms!
Found out that several friends of mine are in the midst of racing Paris-Brest-Paris, which is a 750 mile time trial (non-stop - people sleep in fields, along the side of the road, crash in tents at control points, etc. It's held every four years. This is a big deal locally as northern Washington and British Columbia always have a big showing here, with people all over training to try to qualify (they have a cap as it's a world-wide field). This year the organisers have a really cool GPS rider tracker and you can see where the people you're following are and follow their progress. They're all about 26 to 30 hours in and it appears none have stopped for very long yet, judging from the time stamps - they're going to have to snatch a few hours nap by the side of the road at some ponit. My running friend has done maybe five editions of the event and says he always hallucinates on the fourth day (it usually took him close to the cutoff to cover the miles as he cruises at a steady pace). So far, the front runner of my friends is 69 years old and this is her 10th edition of the event, the others are younger, which shows that age is no barrier. Anyway, it gives us people to root for.
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Post by Dawn R on Aug 21, 2023 22:56:20 GMT
Hot and humid here. I cut some grass, then I went thrifting for a few hours which was a total bust. I found a fall sweater for me and one thing for resale after 3 hours and three stores. I think Mondays are not good days for thrifting. I usually go on Tuedays and Wednesdays.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 21, 2023 23:57:58 GMT
Twila is bad about sneaking up to the sofa when Trixie is laying on it, reaching up a paw and swatting Trixie (to Trixie's annoyance, of course). Last night, I was sitting on one end and Trixie was on the other end. Twila hopped up in the middle to get petted. While I was petting her, I saw Trixie reach out a paw and swipe Twila. When Twila turned around, Trixie immediately began washing her paw and gave Twila a "hey, don't look at me, I'm just sitting here minding my own biz and washing my paw" look. Twila glared at Trixie indignantly for a couple of seconds and then gave up and turned back to me for more petting. Cats are soooooo funny some times.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 22, 2023 1:04:13 GMT
This a first. HEB duplicated my order and I got two deliveries. The first time, when I paid, it gave me a technical message "can't process" and completely wiped out my cart - no order in pending, nothing in the cart. So I filled the cart again and checked out. Success on this one. I ended up getting both orders. At least it's basics and nothing that will go bad. Well, maybe the grapes - a double order of grapes is a LOT of grapes I may have to freeze some of them.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Aug 22, 2023 3:11:08 GMT
My ex-MIL made grape pie.
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Post by Emerald_Door on Aug 22, 2023 11:19:42 GMT
Speaking of Christmas decorations, there's a house in our town that fills their yard with inflatables every year. Unfortunately, every time I drive by, all of them are deflated and lying flat in the yard. I call it Nightmare on Christmas Street.
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Post by denise15601 on Aug 22, 2023 14:06:02 GMT
My friend, who won the best in the US for Halloween decorations last year, has started to decorate already for this year. He raised over $10,000 for St. Judes.
And for Christmas, Chick-Fil-A decorated his house for free.
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Post by Dawn R on Aug 22, 2023 14:32:52 GMT
Grape pie!! Is it any good?
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Post by staytuned on Aug 22, 2023 14:37:05 GMT
We have 2 coworkers in OBX now. They usually go in September but have been affected By hurricanes a few times. Another co-worker just got back. I remember camping at Lake Arrowhead down in Myrtle Beach in the late 60's and early 70's. Used to camp right on the beach. The campground is gone now. We used to ride the waves with rafts (Small flotation devices). It was the one vacation spot I didn't mind going. That and Disney World back then. We've considered checking out the Outer Banks, but at least a handful of times a hurricane aimed at Myrtle Beach took a quick hook north and slammed into OBX instead. Since we always go in high season for hurricanes, we'd rather stay with better odds and even if there's a major downpour, we park high enough in parking garage and stay in higher floors to avoid anything getting flooded, and NMB has flooding problems.
Funny you should mention rafts. When we first went to MB, we read all the beach rules and stopped at one of the zillion beach shops (there are still a lot, but not nearly as many as before) and got one. First time DH tried it out in the Atlantic, he caught a wave, came sailing in and as soon as he made contact with the beach, the raft was flat, lol.
Lake Arrowhead campground has been replaced by condos. Apache Family Campground isn't that far from there with a pier, restaurant, etc. with rental trailers as well as tent and RV camping. Also a couple other huge oceanfront campgrounds farther south. Downside is they're huge and lacking the smaller, more relaxing atmosphere (to us, anyway, but we're used to wooded outdoor camping).
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 22, 2023 14:47:52 GMT
I'm not a fan of inflatables. Most people seem to let them deflate during the day and it looks like trash all over the yard My dad used to love putting up lights at Christmas. He made a really cool tree for the yard one year. He cut plywood in a big triangle tree shape and put pie plates on it, drilled holes in the pie plates and inserted C9 lights thru the holes. My mom thought the concept sucked, but even she had to finally admit it looked really cool at night when it was lighted. Lights went everywhere - eaves of the roof, around all the doors and windows, woven in the bushes, on trees, and one year on the roof. This was back in the mid-60s before it was popular to decorate that much, and back when the only outdoor lights were C7 and C9s. He just liked the way the lights looked and didn't really give a hoot what the neighbors thought. He took his time putting it all up though, and it looked really nice when it was done. As far as I know, no one ever complained. I remember the 60's tinsel tree and revolving light we had too. My mom hated it, my dad loved it. I thought it was cool. I can do more this year since I'm downstairs I found some hooks that work on stucco (and don't damage it) so that's opened up more possibilities. I got some multicolor electric luminaras for next to nothing from Kohls. I'll probably run them along the outside walls of my unit like an outline, from the far edge of the patio to the other end of the building (all along the front of my unit). With the multi-lights in the window, it should look pretty neat. Yesterday I ordered a nutcracker banner that comes with multi-color mini lights, set of 2. I'm going to try and hang them the outside wall on either side of my patio. The walls are columns so it should look nice. The best part is I already had most of the decor and I spent less than $40 for the extra stuff I bought this year
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Post by jesmelric on Aug 22, 2023 17:34:41 GMT
My friend, who won the best in the US for Halloween decorations last year, has started to decorate already for this year. He raised over $10,000 for St. Judes. And for Christmas, Chick-Fil-A decorated his house for free. Oh I would love to see that! My yard already looks like Halloween; it looks like hay The rain will be to the south of us, so no relief for the heat or drought.
I did a giant photo session Saturday. I started at 8:45 am and didn't finish till 6:30 pm. I did take several breaks. Sunday I recuperated lol. Now if only I could sell some of the stuff...
Grape pie doesn't sound too appealing. Frozen grapes are delicious though.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 22, 2023 18:25:45 GMT
Most of the grape pie recipes I found call for concord grapes, so the pie probably tastes similar to grape jam. I did find a couple for red grapes, but I think I'd rather freeze some. Too hot to bake anything. Speaking of hot, looks like we have some rain headed our way in a couple of hours. The tropical disturbance was named last night, Harold, and is moving into TX but SW of us, although the radar indicates it's wide enough that we may get some rain from it. That would be nice. Also, official records show that this past July was the hottest on record for earth in 174 years.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Aug 22, 2023 18:44:22 GMT
Grape pie!! Is it any good? It was a little weird, and very flat.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Aug 23, 2023 3:27:05 GMT
We used to camp at the Outer Banks before it became 'civilised' in a old beach shack and also a tent. We had a few storms there, but there were the best waves ever, and not crowded!
My friends are mostly still out there racing in France - the fastest finished in about 60 hours (750 miles), one's battling exhaustion but still moving - the really experienced woman who has done the event 10 times is pacing along perfectly - nothing like experience. We're all following their progress on the tracker now - they ride day and night. The winner was, for once, an American (from Detroit) who came in at 41 hours. Sheesh - what a machine! Once over the finish line he collapsed, but they revived him and he was looking well and smiling shortly thereafter. The event has been going since 1891.
Our house right now is mostly swathed in heavy plastic sheeting, tape, drop clothes and paper as the house painters are here. The soffits have to be replaced as well. They are very meticulous, even caulking any spaces in the siding and then smoothing them. Right now it's light green and dark green, and we're going with light blue and dark blue this time, my suggestion for bright purple and dark purple being voted down because the DH says we'd never sell the house with a paint job like that lol.
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Post by staytuned on Aug 23, 2023 3:59:13 GMT
Chap, hasn't DH wanted to go for that race? Sounds like he would have kicked butt. I can't fathom riding a bike that many miles in one race, let alone doing the qualifying races leading up to it.
I always joked I'd like to have a house without HOA and paint it purple with pink polka dots just because I could.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 23, 2023 16:31:34 GMT
Right now it's light green and dark green, and we're going with light blue and dark blue this time, my suggestion for bright purple and dark purple being voted down because the DH says we'd never sell the house with a paint job like that lol. You'd just have to wait for the right buyer, but it would sell. I'd buy a purple house over a boring gray or brown house any day. Although my favorite house color is light yellow with white/green trim. The green with green sounds nice (not a fan of blue). Now that the apartments are painted here, they look nice and crisp but really boring. We have a lot of trees and the complex has a garden look - I agree with the maintenance manager who said he thought they should have gone with a green palate to bring out the roof tiles and compliment the trees. Although the current beige palate does compliment the hay on the ground that is supposed to pass for grass
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 23, 2023 18:50:08 GMT
Your avatar is making me hungry, Shirley! That's one thing I really miss from Tampa - the Cuban sandwiches. I googled for SA and several Puerto Rican restaurants popped up that have good reviews. One even has a food truck - I emailed the office suggesting they see if the truck will come here. It would be a nice change from the same old pizza, BBQ and frozen fried trucks we usually have. I think I'm going to have to move over Kritter's way. There are a lot more restaurants (and variety) in her area than mine.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Aug 23, 2023 22:58:12 GMT
Chap, hasn't DH wanted to go for that race? Sounds like he would have kicked butt. I can't fathom riding a bike that many miles in one race, let alone doing the qualifying races leading up to it. I always joked I'd like to have a house without HOA and paint it purple with pink polka dots just because I could. He says this distance would be just too long for him with the sleep deprivation, etc. It really takes a certain type of person who can withstand that sort of event. He's done 24-hour events a number of times (we did one together once before when were just friends). Ultra events like that actually favour older participants - the 40, 50 and 60-somethings really do well on those because even if speed goes down, endurance doesn't really decrease much with age, one knows ones-self better, and life experience in general helps. We had green and dark green for our house but decided to go with something different - we have to take into account our dark climate, and we both like blue (if I can't have purple lol). We have a Cuban sandwich shop near us - I haven't tried it yet, but on nice days you can see people sitting outside in old chairs eating and watching the world wag by. Vietnamese sandwiches are really popular. ETA: Four of my friends have pulled into Paris and completed the event, they all finished at around 11:00 pm to 1:00 am save one who came in yesterday night. One is still on the road and appears to be struggling, but is only 100 miles from the finish. We're all cheering her on - there have been heartbreaking stories of people collapsing 50-60 miles from the finish and being absolutely unable to go on. The guy who did it in 41 hours set a modern-era world record (I believe 'modern era' is after it went from Pro to Pro-Am event in the 1930s, I think).
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Post by staytuned on Aug 24, 2023 2:54:38 GMT
We have had what's turning out to be quite a lot of rain. Was off and on with thunder since around 3:30pm. DH was out all night and came home soaked saying he was surprised the Kia Soul made it through standing water on the roads. Still coming down and won't stop until tomorrow morning 5-8am. Was watching TCM channel that's commercial free and the storm and flash flood warnings with irritating accompanying noises interrupted the movie at least a half dozen times in 2 hours lasting a few minutes each because it had to keep flashing from English to Spanish. Never saw that channel interrupted before so knew it's bad out there. Tomorrow is going up to 90 with heat index 102 so really hope power stays on. Guess it's out turn.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Aug 24, 2023 8:09:53 GMT
Our last friend made it over the finish line in the race, scraping in just under 4 hours before cut-off. OK, we can all sleep now lol.
staytuned - hopefully your power will stay on!
It's drizzling lightly tonight and it is lovely! We're looking at the last of our hot (for us) days this week and maybe the end of it. The DH was saying that during the hot sunny days, the trail on his commutes was really quiet. The first gray, cool day, the roads and trails have tons of cyclists - it's obvious we're looking for our usual dank weather to come back.
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Post by staytuned on Aug 24, 2023 14:03:13 GMT
It's as dark and gloomy this morning as it turned around 2pm yesterday. I was glad I left earlier than usual to run errands and came home when the sun was hiding. We got nailed in rain everywhere. Lots of flooding, road/freeway closures, parking garage collapse and a long time establishment roof collapse. DH and friends were a couple blocks from major flood right around where there used to be a NAPA store I worked at and left right before it started flooding. Whenever it used to rain hard, that part of the road flooded really bad. Any vehicles trying to get through would literally cause waves to come up over the sidewalk and hit the buildings on either side. We'd come out from the businesses on both sides of the road and stand along the sidewalks and anybody who actually got through would get a round of applause.
Thanks, Chap, I really hope power stays on, too.
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Post by labbypaws on Aug 24, 2023 14:07:05 GMT
We have had what's turning out to be quite a lot of rain. Was off and on with thunder since around 3:30pm. DH was out all night and came home soaked saying he was surprised the Kia Soul made it through standing water on the roads. Still coming down and won't stop until tomorrow morning 5-8am. Was watching TCM channel that's commercial free and the storm and flash flood warnings with irritating accompanying noises interrupted the movie at least a half dozen times in 2 hours lasting a few minutes each because it had to keep flashing from English to Spanish. Never saw that channel interrupted before so knew it's bad out there. Tomorrow is going up to 90 with heat index 102 so really hope power stays on. Guess it's out turn. My brother used to live at Shoregate Towers. Their parking deck collapse. www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/willowick-parking-garage-collapses-wednesday-night
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 24, 2023 16:22:45 GMT
Residents of the apartment complex said they have had issues with concrete falling on cars before.
Investigators said they're still trying to figure out what caused this garage to collapse—and working to determine if weather played a factor.
Seems to me if concrete was already falling on cars before this, weather isn't the issue. Shoddy construction is, and the bad weather was just the final straw.
We have a couple of 100 degree days forecast for the weekend, but other than that, the rest of the 10 day forecast looks like normal temps. I hope it stays that way.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Aug 24, 2023 16:41:30 GMT
Bed Bath & Beyond is back, online anyway. Overstock bought the intellectual property and brand name, and combined the two companies. I didn't know that, so imagine my confusion this morning when I typed in overstock.com and kept getting sent to BBB
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Post by staytuned on Aug 24, 2023 16:47:52 GMT
Check Google reviews on Shoregate Towers. Not surprising about the parking garage after reading the many 1 star reviews, many recently. Luckily, only 3 people were injured who were in the garage at the time and no one was killed.
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