what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Nords]

Monday we did yardwork at the rental property.

Tuesday I started pruning our bougainvillea in our back yard. To be fair, the last time I pruned them was in August, and we had a lot of rain in September. I'm using an electric hedge trimmer with a 21" blade on a six-foot extension, waving it as high above my head as I can, and standing on tippy-toe... the hedge is easily 100' long. This time I was using the loppers almost as much as the hedge trimmer. I got a little overenthused with the loppers and thinned out a mock orange bush-- it looks more like a mock orange lollipop now.

Wednesday I took it easy with "just" taekwondo training.

Today I finished the downhill side of the bougainvillea and began trimming the top. At least the top is only a couple feet across and I can hold the hedge trimmer at waist height. But again I was using the loppers to extract those one-inch branches that split off into eight shoots. I finished the first 50-60' and only have about 40' left.

In a few hours (near sunset) we'll stuff the trimmings into our four 65-gallon green waste cans and get them to the street for tomorrow's pickup. The bougainvillea hedge looks like I subcontracted to Wolverine of the X-Men, but at least next time I prune I'll be able to cut off the twiggy little blossoms instead of the big honkin' branches.

I'll be glad when this job is done (tomorrow or Saturday). This is one of those weeks when I'm making sure that I have at least six hours between the 800 mg ibuprofen doses.

I've been filling in my spare time today with laundry (which I also last did in August). Four loads through the washer, three hanging up on the drying racks, one in the dryer, one load of each left.

 

[MichaelB]

Went to visit with the grandkids yesterday. DW brought along some new clothes for her granddaughter and the three ladies spent the first hour trying on dresses and outfits. It was like a fashion show. Like her mother and grandmother, new clothes are her most favorite thing in the world.

The little guy hung out with me. We did some manly things and enjoyed the time together.

 

[MichaelB]

Dropped off DW at a seminar this morning. The drive back was amazing. Fall colors must be at their peak this weekend, the sky is clear blue and the temperature pleasant.

Stopped off at the local Mexican supermarket to buy some plantains, looks like DW will soon be making some "torta de platano". A dead giveaway we will soon have visitors. While shopping I had some breakfast: 1 taco each of tongue, brain, and pork rind.

 

[antmary]

Today will be my last sandal day...there's a wet storm coming into Northern California Sunday night - Yea! The trees will just love all that water after a very dry year. Today is the last laundry day of this year (using our clothesline). It will be sunny in the 70's, and I plan to spend much of today outside!

 

[FIREd]

Today will be my last sandal day...there's a wet storm coming into Northern California Sunday night - Yea! The trees will just love all that water after a very dry year. Today is the last laundry day of this year (using our clothesline). It will be sunny in the 70's, and I plan to spend much of today outside!

I am looking forward to the rain and the cooler temperatures!

 

[Gumby]

It turned out to be another beautiful Saturday in Connecticut. I washed the cars in the morning. Then we took the roadster out for a spin. The fall foliage is just at its best, I think, and we drove all the winding little back roads to admire it.

We stopped for a leisurely lunch at a nice restaurant in Sandy Hook, out on the deck overlooking a small river. Later, we stopped for the best ice cream in CT (and perhaps the world) at the Rich Farm in Oxford. We sat on a stone wall and watched the grazing Holstein cows who had provided the milk for our treats.

 

[antmary]

It turned out to be another beautiful Saturday in Connecticut. I washed the cars in the morning. Then we took the roadster out for a spin. The fall foliage is just at its best, I think, and we drove all the winding little back roads to admire it.

We stopped for a leisurely lunch at a nice restaurant in Sandy Hook, out on the deck overlooking a small river. Later, we stopped for the best ice cream in CT (and perhaps the world) at the Rich Farm in Oxford. We sat on a stone wall and watched the grazing Holstein cows who had provided the milk for our treats.

Sounds like heaven. Taking an autumn trip to New England is definitely on our bucket list.

 

[Nords]

Our 23-year-old water valves to our washing machine have had a long and full life, but even I'm getting scared to operate them.

I spent an hour cutting the plastic box out of the wall. Now we have to find new valves to fit onto the old threaded fittings, or else I have to buy a PEX crimper and the copper rings. We'll also need a new plastic box to hold it all in place. I'm hoping to get it all done without having to cut out a bunch of drywall...

 

[Walt34]

Went to the 82nd birthday party for a favorite aunt of DW's, and actually enjoyed it. Nice to stay in touch with family separated by distances and circumstances and had a funny chat with a nephew of DW's who has a degree in journalism about his future job prospects.

Later we went to a cousin's house for a follow-up party. He has a newfoundland dog, which is one of the larger dogs I've ever seen. At 162 lbs he's 10 lbs heavier than me and he wanted to sit in my lap.

"Yo! Dude! You are not a lap dog!"

But that was just his initial enthusiasm at meeting a potential new playmate. Afterwards he was well behaved. Oh, they also have a seven-year-old daughter, who, going by the page taped to the refrigerator door sometimes doesn't listen so well.

 

[freebird5825]

Aaaahhh...just back from another lake recharge. I think I'm getting addicted to the beach and the sound of the incoming waves all night. I'm going to miss that when the weather gets too wicked to go up there.
Mr B continues to crack the books all day and night, so I leave him some simple meals to nuke and off I go.
He says he's glad to have the P&Q to study. I take that type of comment from him in the most gracious way.
I made some gyros today for lunch using store bought frozen gyro meat slices. Mr B proclaimed it ok and asked me when I will make some REAL gyro meat. I had mentioned NWBound's link for the gyro recipe the other day. I guess I'm on the hook now.
My winter prep to-do list is getting shorter. I have all of the fallen leaves chopped, the water is turned off, hoses drained, Stabil in all of the outdoor equipment..just a few minor things left.
My last crops outdoors are Swiss chard, peas, and carrots. They could care less if the temps drop to freezing, all nestled inside my plexiglas enclosed porch. I may just try growing some winter greens out there just for the heck of it. I have lots of extra seeds.

Almost forgot...NE Patriots (Mr B's fave team) are playing at 4 PM today, versus my JETS. We'll keep it peaceful.

 

[freebird5825]

JETS 23
Patriots 23

2:06 left in the 4th quarter.

And we are still buddies.

LETS GO JETS !

OMG, JETS recovered a forced fumble on the kickoff.
Mr B just went down the hall to his computer.

Plenty of game time left....

UPDATE:
JETS 26
Patriots 26

Mr B is back in the living room now.
Damn...NE will be receiving.

 

[FIREd]

Drove to Mount Tamalpais and Stinson Beach this morning to get some fresh air. Came back to town just in time for game 6 of the NLCS between the Giants and the Cardinals. We live next to AT&T Park, home of the SF Giants. The ambiance is electric.

 

[easysurfer]

Got up early in the morning and cast my ballot (early voting). At the voting location, the computers were down so the place had to go in manual mode. When done voting, I joked to one of the judges "It's computerized...computers never go down." The judge and some others overhearing us had a chuckle.

Gonna do some "timeshifting" tonight and tomorrow. Plan on watching Monday Night Football live while recording the debate to watch in the morning. I like to make up my own mine as to who won/lost so will stay away from any news coverage until after viewing in the morning.

Picked up a package that I ordered from Amazon. A small (but cute and very usuable) slow cooker. Looking forward to use the cooker in a day or two.

Now, about to exercise...then soon I'm ready to watch some football .

 

[pb4uski]

JETS 23
Patriots 23

2:06 left in the 4th quarter.

And we are still buddies.

LETS GO JETS !

OMG, JETS recovered a forced fumble on the kickoff.
Mr B just went down the hall to his computer.

Plenty of game time left....

UPDATE:
JETS 26
Patriots 26

Mr B is back in the living room now.
Damn...NE will be receiving.

Sorry Mrs B. Tebow probably would not have dropped the ball.

 

[grasshopper]

Today will be my last sandal day...there's a wet storm coming into Northern California Sunday night - Yea! The trees will just love all that water after a very dry year. Today is the last laundry day of this year (using our clothesline). It will be sunny in the 70's, and I plan to spend much of today outside!

For the Grasshopper family, this is the start of sandal weather. Up till now those pesky little rattlesnakes were out biting on your toes.

Forecast for Eastern Cochise County below 5000 feet
Area Forecast For: Issued: October 22, 2012 15:03:27 MDT

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. Highs 78 to 83.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy. Highs 76 to 81.

Thursday: Mostly sunny. Highs 77 to 82.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Highs 74 to 79.

Friday night through Monday: Mostly clear. Highs 74 to 84.

 

[antmary]

Grasshopper, your weather sounds just lovely.
As for us, the storm is coming through as predicted...last night there were tornado warnings that came on over the TV! Just about one month ago the temps were in the 90's. It doesn't look like Kansas (er, California) to me!

 

[freebird5825]

Sorry Mrs B. Tebow probably would not have dropped the ball.

Yeah yeah yeah...

When I went to the Jets game a few weeks ago, they were handing out free posters of Mark Sanchez at the exits.
Now what did I do with my old darts set ?

 

[freebird5825]

I saw this neat little public service announcement link while I was checking my Yahoo email. I love the graphics.

CFP Board's "Let's Make a Plan" TV Public Awareness Campaign - YouTube

I think I will go take a nap while Mr B studies...and studies...and studies...
I am so impressed with his self-discipline.

 

[W2R]

I think I will go take a nap while Mr B studies...and studies...and studies...
I am so impressed with his self-discipline.

Sounds pretty boring for you, though. I'm more impressed with your patience as you wait for him to have a little free time.

 

[antmary]

I can't believe it! Earlier today we found that a tornado took out two of our beautiful old California Valley Oaks. Those trees were hundreds of years old So, DH & I started counting our blessings...no one was hurt, and no trees fell on the house....

 

[bbbamI]

Sorry about the trees antmary, that's such a shame.

----------------------------------------------------

As for my day, I welcomed my new leather sofa home!

Earlier this morning, a charity came by and picked up our old one...then, this afternoon they delivered my new baby. Perfect timing.

We bought a new leather recliner for DH earlier this year. Our budget spreadsheet suggested we wait until next year to buy a sofa. I listened to our budget for a few months, but it started to fall on deaf ears...our old sofa looked worse with each passing day...

I knew what I wanted in a leather sofa, and the first one I saw was exactly what I wanted. It is so beautiful and comfy...just perfect. I'm so tickled with it, I decided I should give it a name.

Today I dubbed it T-Bone.

 

[M Paquette]

I'm baaaaack!

We just completed the amazing fire drill of replacing one DSL Internet provider with another one, who was willing to sell faster service (12 times faster!) for not much more than we were paying. It turns out that when one third party has control of the digital part of a phone line, that nobody else can touch it until they relinquish rights to it. It took certified mail with return receipt to multiple addresses to get the old vendor to let go, even after they had turned off access (but not the raw DSL signal).

Oh, and to add to the Happy Fun Times, I'm thinking of giving our shiny new refrigerator we got 10 days ago its own web site. No, really. Here is this top of the line brand new fridge, all full of fanciness and gewgaws to make DW happy, but... The refrigerator section has trouble with the whole "cooling" thing. Yeah. That.

One repair company has been out, but couldn't fix it due to complications; the repair info and diagrams from the manufacturer did not come close to matching what was actually in the appliance, and the repair guy didn't want to risk breaking parts in disassembly that were not at all obvious in how to remove, and for which there were no part numbers to use in ordering replacements. Another company is going to try tomorrow...

The photos are pretty funny. There is a separate evaporator for the refrigerator section that is iced over now. It never got below about 50 degrees on its own, and we never detected air flow from the fan. The controller is sending power to the fan. I'm betting the fan isn't connected to its wiring harness. Since the freezer and ice maker work, we are cooling food in the fridge side with ice and a couple of the biggest Blue Ice blocks from our ice chest, cycling them between the freezer and fridge.

 

[freebird5825]

Sounds pretty boring for you, though. I'm more impressed with your patience as you wait for him to have a little free time.

Oh, I keep myself busy. Between playing with my container farm and going up north to the beach camp at Lake Ontario, I am hopping around.
Mr B set a goal for himself at the age of 59 after he retired from 22 years as a Senior Accountant for the county. He is a high energy super intelligent dude. Reminds me of someone very close to me...

I can't wait to throw him a graduation party.

He recently was invited to appear at a benefit to raise money for the Central Assoc for the Blind and Visually Impaired. He did this routine in full authentic costume.
Very appropos for what he is doing right now.
Father Guido Sarducci's Five Minute University - YouTube

 

[Walt34]

The guy's a howl onstage!

 

[NW-Bound]

...shiny new refrigerator we got 10 days ago...top of the line brand new fridge, all full of fanciness and gewgaws... The refrigerator section has trouble with the whole "cooling" thing... cooling food in the fridge side with ice and a couple of the biggest Blue Ice blocks from our ice chest, cycling them between the freezer and fridge.

Used to be that when we bought something, we could expect to just plug it in and it would work.

No, no more. It's not so easy anymore. Perhaps you need to plug your fridge to your router and allow it to access the Web to get firmware update, then reboot.

I have had some problems with my new home media server. What a piece of crap! It works, then it suddenly doesn't. Then it works again for a few days. And I am sure that the problem is in its firmware. Digital stuff is supposed to be deterministic. Just 0's and 1's, right? Modern day programmers have figured out a way to turn everything into crapshoot. What a piece of crap!