Fearless February

[Lavande]

MAE everyone
That's Morning, Afternoon, Evening - a way to address everyone living in different time zones!!!!

Great to see you all this Friday morning!
Sunny & 10 degrees here - Yikes!!! We did have a warmish day yesterday & supposedly a warmish weekend is on the way. Guess I won't complain too much, ha ha!

Well, as usual yesterday's plans changed. I ended up with my son & his youngest train enthusiast here when I got home from Curves yesterday. We just hung out here for a while, had a nice visit. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of the kids & my DIL this weekend while my son is at work.

Dill, I meant to say your on camera performance sounded awesome!!! That should be saved as the newest family jewel!
I definitely consider Curves as a big part of my 'social life'. I have been so isolated since moving here & making new friends at this age is not easy. I still feel like an outsider around here even after living here nearly 12 years. Everyone just seems to keep to themselves around these parts. I'm OK with that & extra grateful that my son & his family are just 8 miles away.

Cyn, I'm hearing rumors about more snow on the way Monday into Tuesday. Not thrilled because I am also thinking about gardening! I hope you don't get too much this time around!

Papmom, glad you are feeling OK!
I have had some monumental hot flashes brought on by shoveling snow - crazy but true!
I think if we experience anything unusual when exerting ourselves is a warning to STOP! Why put yourself at risk for the sake of moving snow around?? Am I right or what?? I hope everything is OK with your doggies. I've noticed appetite changes in my dogs this winter too.

Star, I planted lilacs on one side of the chicken house years ago. They now reach up to the roofline - problem is I can't get to the blooms for cutting. YB did a massive trimming on them a few years ago & I had practically no blooms - hope for some this Spring. I also have a rather large forsythia blocking the view of the chicken yard but the blooms are great in the Spring

Our friend LBH is currently touring Cambodia & Vietnam & posting her pictures on Facebook! Wow, what a trip!!!

OK, time to get myself together & out to Curves!
Have a great AF Friday one & all.

Lav

[treegirl]

Morning all!

Pap, so glad that you seem to be OK - we also had those 4 inches yesterday, and are to get more all weekend - be careful! I hope you were OK on your walk to work today - 2 below here when I went out with the dogs. Sorry about your friend's mom - I hope she gets good care and heals.

Dill - really? That's what LOL means? I thought it meant Lots of Laughs. Oh for goodness sake! It reminds me of the mom that kept texting her son: LOL XOXO. She thought it meant Lots of Love, hugs and kisses. The son thought it meant Laugh out Loud, let's play tic tac toe...

Star - I love February; it's garden catalog time! I got a great book last year that I'll find the title of for you - it has similar kinds of ideas for start-up vegie gardens, one of the best collection of ideas I've ever seen. Now if I can just carve out enough time to implement them this spring! So glad to hear about your electric fireplace. We finally 'bit the bullet' and installed a gas fireplace - mostly as a backup heat source if we lose power, as we don't have a generator. Using wood in the fireplace just sucked all the house heat right up the chimney. It's great to just push a button and have a fire, but I wasn't prepared for the constantly-going pilot light. That drives me a little crazy, but I'm trying to learn to let it go...

Lav - I need to get some more food out for my birds - did you mention making a wreath with safflower oil? How did that work? I've seen some recipes for gelatin-based blocks, but nothing with other kinds of oil. If I can find coconut oil at at store here, I'll try that. They wouldn't touch the food I made with the red palm oil. (But neither would I! The dogs loved that stuff though).

Well, I ended up doing the 2+ hour (one way) drive to La Guardia airport yesterday, arriving at rush hour. Holy Cow, not for the faint of heart...that airport is decades behind the times, and there is absolutely not enough room for all the people and cars. And honking horns?! I was a wreck by the time I got HB. I got out, gave him a hug and said 'You drive'. Just glad I got through it without incident. If it had been bad weather, he would have taken the train - but it's the same line where there was the terrible accident just days ago, so I didn't want him to have to do that. And after a 7 hour flight, who needs another 3+ hours on a train? But I think I'm done with airports for awhile...

Happy Friday all - be safe, and stay warm!

[treegirl]

X-post, Lav! Enjoy the warmth when you have it!

Did I ever mention the 'A Way to Garden' site, by Margaret Roach?! I'm on her newsletter list, and there's a great story this week about fast-growing willows...check it out everyone!

[Lavande]

Cyn, I think you did mention that gardening website before - I will take alook

I've used Sunflower oil for the chicken wreaths with good results. They eat pretty much anything I give them (aka....piggies).
I'm trying to get away from cooking with olive oil since they've discovered heating it makes it unhealthy. I save the olive oil for salad dressings & such.
Canola oil is usually GMO & I don't want that anymore so I have switched to coconut oil, sunflower oil for cooking. On rare occasions I'll go for peanut oil or grapeseed oil. So, I always have them in my pantry to share with the chickens
You are a brave, brave woman to be driving anywhere near LaGuardia - that place makes me a nervous wreck
Stay warm!!

[dill]

Papmom, I meant to say I'm sorry to hear your friend's mother broke her hip and is such pain. I hope the surgery went well. I'll say a prayer for her.

[papmom3]

Evening all. Big snow in the forecast. I'm done with it!! I will not be shoveling. I'll get my nephew over here if I have to.
I didn't walk to work today-drove due to the cold. Parked the car and it promptly died as I tried to readjust my parking attempt. Had to be towed and $200 later I have a new battery. I swear the money drain just can't get clogged up like my bathroom drains!!!
Bad news for LM-his kidney values are much worse despite all my efforts. I'm to increase the fluids a bit and continue the appetite stimulant. I know its just a matter of time but except for the inappetence, he's still my LM for now and seems happy and not in any pain. All I ask is that if he does take a turn for the worse, it doesn't happen in June. I don't think I can lose a 3rd pet for the 3rd June in a row. And right behind him is Mickey who all of sudden is drinking a ton of water and doing a lot of air licking. After dropping $500 in 2 days and facing another $200 bill for him at Tufts on the 24th, I just can't afford a $300 blood test to see how bad his kidneys and liver are. Sigh.
All this talk about gardening! I miss gardening but just don't have the time, energy or money for it anymore. I will need to live vicariously through all of you I guess!!
Cyn-do you think you can manage to stay at home for a few days now? Jeez, all that driving you've done in the past week!! I would want to curl up in bed and hibernate for a while!! I too enjoyed your Princess story!!
Lav and Star-you are expecting 40's this weekend??? You lucky dogs you!! I met another employee today-Assistant Dean of Students. he's from North carolina and recently moved here. Needless to say he is NOT appreciating our "beautiful" (cough cough) winter LOL!! But I must say he did look good with his new hat with the fur trim/ear flaps, puffy coat and squeaky clean super warm boots!! He'll get his money's worth over the next few weeks for sure!!
Still loving the job! Spent some time with my new boss learning some things I'll be responsible for and it was a very pleasurable meeting! She is so down to earth and easy to talk to. I didn't have to watch what I said or worry about being judged. It truly is a breath of fresh air. I want to thank you all for supporting me these past 4 years in my 2 job hunts. You were there for me when I got discouraged and encouraged me to never give up. Especially you Star-when I saw what the outcome of your 2nd job hunt was, I knew I could do it to. Thanks for being the trailblazer!!
Time to get some sleep!

[SnoopyC]

Good morrning all...

Pap, thanks for telling me I'm a trailblazer. When I think about switching jobs twice in one year, I am nothing but thankful. I just really appreciate my new job with a great manager, and I can tell your leader is fantastic too. It makes all the difference. Treated with dignity and respect, we can do our best and be really productive in addition to feeling calm and comfortable. Yayyyyyyy!!!! I feel for you regarding the weather, and Cyn. It really gets to you by this time of year. Drains you. I plan on getting out today, maybe even walking or riding my bike this afternoon. We'll see. I have to go to the grocery store, so if it is warmer and sunny, it will be easy. Sorry about your doggie getting older, it is sad. You take the best care of your pets, though, they are like family. I noticed that my older cat ate less and became really thin. It was just part of the aging process. Aging is not for sissies, even for dogs and cats. Hope your weekend is fun and you get to relax.

Cyn, what a drive into the city. Whew. Let me explain about the foundation blocks. Think of how they look, on their side with two areas empty. Laid on their side, there are 24 areas to plant, plus in the middle. Does that make sense? So, each side of the square has three blocks, with six areas to plant. I could always make a smaller one too. I'll have to see. Still settling, getting used to driving, finding different ways to and from work. I took a wrong turn on the way home yesterday, but found a short cut that shaved 10-15 minutes off my drive.

Lav, it IS hard to make friend at this age. But, think of Dill's neighbor who joined things! I am just not that ambitious right now.

Dill, we are lucky to have nicer weather to look forward too. Enjoy.

[treegirl]

Happy Saturday all -

Pap, I'm SO sorry about LM, darn, it does happen despite our best efforts. I hope he remains comfortable for as long as possible. My heart goes out to you. And the car battery? Aaargh, just what you needed! Be careful in the snow to come - so glad your nephew will be on call.

Lav - no more cooking with olive oil? Darn, I'll have to google that, I've missed that info... I do like coconut oil for cooking so that's OK. How does your bird seed stick together with the liquid oils?

Star - enjoy your first relaxed Saturday in the new house! I love that you found a shortcut - I'm a real map-reader (the paper kind!), and can get a little obsessed with finding the best routes from one place to another.

Dill - hope that you are able to enjoy a little warmth, like Star. There is a big winter carnival here this weekend - ski jumping, human dogsled races, chili cookoff, ice sculpting. A couple of years it was too warm - had to make snow for the ski jump, and ice sculptures melted as soon as they were made. Not this year! It's nice to have a celebration, since our winter is here to stay for awhile.

I need to re-do my office (physically). I've lived without my books since the fall of 2010 when we staged our house for selling it in the desert. Enough! I need my books for work, and want to set up a craft area too...but the room still has to function as an extra guest room, so we'll see how that works. After I make more headway on taxes I'm going to make a plan...

Happy day all -

[Lavande]

Good morning friends!

I was up early with the dogs but haven't done a thing but drink coffee & play on the internet, ha ha!

Papmom, I'm sorry about LM. It's hard to let them go but it's hard to watch them suffer too :hug:
This weather has been perfect for killing car batteries and such. I need to go out & look at the level in the propane tank. I'm sure it needs a refill & that's always a good grand or more this time of year, ouch!
Great that you are liking your new job!

Star, I think the friend situation (or lack thereof) has been an important lesson for me. I can still get in touch with my old friends & gather them for lunch once in a while & that's fine. I've learned that I really do not need day to day interface with someone like I did when I was younger. Sometimes just a walk thru the supermarket is enough to lift my spirits.
I hope you have fun planning your new garden. Are you on Pinterest? There's a million gardening ideas on there

Cyn, the seed rings hold together just fine with any oil I use. I bake them at 400 degrees for 30 minutes & they come out solid.
There's so much confusion right now surrounding the use of any oils in cooking. From what I can gather is they all oxidize when heated & therefore are carcinogenic. Our best bet is to not heat any of them. The 'Forks over Knives' plant based eating folks & 'FatFree Vegan' followers don't use any oil in cooking. I've tried sautéing veggies in a little veggie broth - it works but I need to make it a habit!!!

Hi there Dill, what's on your plan today?

I have my daughter & her crew coming today to pack up & take some of their belongings that have been stored in the basement.
Tomorrow I will be watching my grandsons from lunchtime thru dinnertime.

Guess I will be busy!!!
Have a great AF day everyone!

Lav

[dill]

Papmom, I am so sorry to hear of your doggie troubles. I so wish dogs had longer life spans. I have had many dogs over the years and they have filled my life with so much love! My Tessa has been limping very badly. I was afraid it was her hip dysplasia but the vet said it is a sprained ACL in her knee. She should recover if we baby her and don't let her run for the next 6 weeks. That will be hard! We took one of our long walks in the woods yesterday and had to have her on the leash instead of letting her run. She was totally exasperated!

Lav, where would I be without you? I appreciated your mention of olive oil being an unhealthy oil for frying. I did not know that. I googled it and was totally surprised to learn how it can actually become toxic when heated! Thanks for the translation of MAE! LOL!

Cyn, have you made any headway setting up your craft/guest area? I had a room that was like that but since has been converted to a craft/play room. It's a hide away for granddaughter and I. Your winter festival sounded like lots of fun! Did you see the sled races?

Star,The cinder block garden idea sounds nice. Thanks for the description. If you do it, will you plant 12 different herbs? You must plant some dill! LOL

Granddaughter comes later today for an over night. And the weather here today will be up in the 50's!! That will really feel good! Have a lovely af Sunday, all.

[treegirl]

Morning all -

Dill - I had to smile when you asked if I'd done the craft/guest room. Big dreams at 7 AM yesterday! But the day kind of fell apart. Plus, I realize that I have to keep that room functioning mainly as an office - I run too many businesses out of that little space to dedicate it to pure pleasure. Oh well. The master bedroom is larger...maybe i'll put a craft corner in there. I brought back my mom's sewing machine, and I'd like to have a place to do some fabric projects (like hem the curtains!).

Yesterday turned out to be very convoluted and interrupted (thx, HB). At the end of a wash cycle, the septic alarm sounded again. Hmmm, we had kind of thought that it had self-healed, and believed the guy that said 'there's no way that pipe can be frozen'! Wrong. So, more shoveling to open up around the septic in the yard - I'd been keeping the top shoveled off, but i realized as the guy was coming over that they were going to have to move the top off to the side. So, 24" of snow removed in a 4 ft square area - it seemed totally ridiculous to be shoveling the yard! We're back to square 1 now - the question is whether to conserve water for the rest of the winter and have it continually pumped out, or let this guy come back with a big rig and try to find the 'distribution box', which might be not buried as deeply as the rest of the line. Seriously, I am dreaming of a condo in town at this point. But we'll see what happens.

The birds are feeding fast and furious this morning - they must know that the snow is coming. Can't quite figure out if it will be 9 inches or 18, but I guess it doesn't matter! I still have water in buckets, and have powered everything up - maybe that will ensure that we won't get hit too badly. Good luck Pap!

Dill - I also laughed at you asking how the festival was. I didn't even leave the house yesterday! I did want to watch them making the ice sculptures, but that wasn't in the cards. Maybe we'll go later for the Volunteer Fire Department Breakfast, that's always fun.

Wishing all a great day - enjoy that early Spring weather if you've got it!

[Lavande]

Good morning friends

Cloudy here but warming up to 50 as well Dill, yay!
Looks like light snow for Monday & Tuesday. New England will be getting hit hard again - sorry Papmom.

Dill, I have so many healthy eating, nutritional type newsletters emailed to me I can hardly keep up plus I have them on my Facebook feed. I'm only too happy to share the news with my friends. Science has really been looking hard at what we eat & how we prepare it in terms of our health & longevity. Just because we ate something that was considered healthy when we were younger doesn't necessarily mean that it still is considered healthy. We have to stay informed & be willing to change old habits so we can live our best lives!
My granddaughter spent the night here too & probably won't be going home until Tuesday! Her parents are dealing with huge plumbing problems in their new old house, yuck! My grandsons will be arriving around noon & here until after dinner so it's going to be a wild time, Ha Ha!!! Enjoy your granddaughter's visit too!!

Greetings Star, cyn & Papmom. I hope everyone has a great AF Sunday!

Lav

[Lavande]

Cross pot - Hi Cyn

[papmom3]

Happy Sunday all! Snow has held off so far but very grey and heavy out there. Not horrendously cold tho. We did get about 4 inches last nite but very light. I'm all shoveled out so I can go to my Sis's for dinner. Just have to clean off the car.
The appetite stimulant seems to be working for LM. He's eaten his last 3 meals, all home cooked. I've upped his fluids too so that should help. He's alert and not in pain so I'm cautiously optimistic.
I spent the day doing laundry, vacuuming, cooking, and dishes plus making the house more Mickey friendly. I pulled out the bed part of the foam couch in the office and covered it with a spare comforter. Takes up room in the office but now he can go in there without fear he'll hurt himself jumping up on and off the couch. It's only about 4 inches thick now. Decluttered that space as well. Only thing left to do is file away all my papers on the roll top desk (course I could just close it LOL!!).
I also switched out the LR rug for a patio rug that is easily cleaned when LM poops on it (he is the most non housebroken dog I've ever seen!!). He loves to poop on rugs but also uses the pee pads. The patio rug actually looks good I think-clean lines and no fuzz balls. I'm finally making headway in the decluttering project. Course the attic and basement are getting a bit filled up LOL!!
Didn't even touch my taxes today but if the weather hype comes true, I'll probably have a snow day tomorrow.
Cyn-that winter carnival sounds like fun!! Nothing like that around here. Boo Hiss. So sorry about the septic. I'm very grateful for my city hookups.

Dill, Lav and Star- you must me on the same latitude as my friend in VA. She said they were expecting 60's today. Her mom is doing well. Was up in a chair yesterday and had a lot of visitors. Wiped out today. Not in too much pain. Will be transferred to a rehab facility tomorrow.

Star-your gardening idea sounds awesome! See if you can get the concrete blocks off of freecycle instead of paying for them. Its an awesome gardening idea!!

Lav-have fun with the kids today!!

Dill-hope your pup feels better soon. did they give her any pain meds? I feel for you and the decreased activiity. It's been going on 2 months with Mickey and he wasn't that active to begin with. He hates his crate now and makes it loudly known!!

Time to hit the shower and get ready to pick up my dad.

[SnoopyC]

Good morning...

Sorry to hear about the continued snow storms up in New England....just a rough winter up there. We had 50s and took our grandson to the park around the corner from our new house. It was so fun. Nice to be outside, I really feel for Cyn and Pap, those winters take there toll.

Cyn, sorry to hear about the septic. I know when we were in the middle of winter a few years ago our hot water heater broke and it was horrible to have no water, try to find someone to replace it, it went on for days. All service people are not equal. You sound like you are as prepared as you can be, keep safe and warm.

Pap, the best thing about your weather is you get days off, to take care of your doggies and your self. So happy you don't have to attempt the long drive in this type of weather, either. Hopefullly this weather pattern will change soon. It is hard to watch our pets get old, loving them and making them comfortable is the best we can do. It still hurts.

Lav, I have cooked veggies in water or broth and they taste fine. Probably healthier too. Have fun with your grandkids.

Off to get ready for my week. We really enjoyed the house this week, relaxed and settled in some more.