What did you do today? 2019 version.

[Chuckanut]

Today is Mt. Saint Helens Day. 39 years ago the mountain erupted suddenly, forever changing the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. 230 square miles of forest was either completely destroyed or scorched. Sadly, an estimated 57 people were killed. Scientists did not anticipate the sideways eruption that went well past the safety zone established for a more traditional eruption straight up into the atmosphere.

It is said that the quality of wine grapes in Washington and Oregon improved dramatically after the eruption leading to an abundance of very good new wines and providing a big boost to the fledgling wine industry in that area.

I remembered the eruption with a glass of wine from Washington state.

 

[pacergal]

Today is Mt. Saint Helens Day. 39 years ago the mountain erupted suddenly forever changing the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. 230 square miles of forest was either completely destroyed or scorched. Sadly, an estimated 57 people were killed. Scientists did not anticipate the sideways eruption that went well past the safety zone established for a more traditional eruption straight up into the atmosphere.

It is said that the quality of wine grapes in Washington and Oregon improved dramatically after the eruption leading to an abundance of very good new wines and providing a big boost to the fledgling wine industry in that area.

I remembered the eruption with a glass of wine from Washington state.

omg--I remember that day, I was working at a local hospital and we were watching it happen outside the window. Security folks went around at end of shift handing out masks and they had a spot in the parking lot to help folks wash the ash off the cars. Unbelievable drive home in the darkened skies and inches of ash continuing to rain on the ground.

 

[Lewis Clark]

.... I've always done my own painting inside and out, but with back, knee, and shoulder issues I simply can't do it anymore, at least not in a reasonable amount of time on a project this size. And I'm done with ladders of more than two steps...

Sometimes it is worth it to just support the economy ... : )

 

[jcfradio]

Today is Mt. Saint Helens Day. 39 years ago the mountain erupted suddenly, forever changing the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. 230 square miles of forest was either completely destroyed or scorched. Sadly, an estimated 57 people were killed. Scientists did not anticipate the sideways eruption that went well past the safety zone established for a more traditional eruption straight up into the atmosphere.

It is said that the quality of wine grapes in Washington and Oregon improved dramatically after the eruption leading to an abundance of very good new wines and providing a big boost to the fledgling wine industry in that area.

I remembered the eruption with a glass of wine from Washington state.

I remember that day well. We were living in Medicine Hat, Alberta, 1300 km to the east, but by the next day, our cars had a coating of ash on them. I also remember watching the news on the Spokane TV stations showing how, even at mid day the skies looked like it was evening. Twenty years later it was a real treat to visit the Visitors Center at the Mount St. Helens National Park. They have a great movie showing the story of the eruption. At the end of he movie, they raise the screen, open the curtains and then you are staring at the side where the mountain was blown away. Very impressive and well done.

 

[Ologist]

Surname Pa

Well, about 1/3 of the Indian population has the name Patel.

We rode the metro to La Sagrada Familia. They have added quite a bit more to the church, but we did not buy tickets to go inside. Walked back to our hotel on La Rambla from there, observing the foot traffic getting heavier and heavier as we got back to touristy areas.

Saw that on residential streets, cafes offered an espresso plus a small croissant for as little as 1.60 euros. On La Rambla, they charged 25 euros for a large Sangria, made with wine they bought for probably 1 euro a liter.

The surname Patel is Gujarati in origin (from the North Indian state of Gujarat). It originally meant village headman or elder. Large numbers of Gujurati’s immigrated from India to U.K. and its colonies all over the world. Since the 1970’s quite a few cane to the USA. They would be professionals such as Engineers, Doctors and IT professionals. They in turn sponsored their businessmen relatives. Quite a few Patel’s run motels and small grocery stores all over the US. They are a hardworking, law abiding people who are an integral part of various countries in the world.

 

[SnowBound]

Walked through the grass. Wow, did that make me feel happy. Also watched DW rototill the garden. Glad she enjoyed getting it done.

 

[NW-Bound]

The surname Patel is Gujarati in origin (from the North Indian state of Gujarat). It originally meant village headman or elder. Large numbers of Gujurati’s immigrated from India to U.K. and its colonies all over the world. Since the 1970’s quite a few cane to the USA. They would be professionals such as Engineers, Doctors and IT professionals. They in turn sponsored their businessmen relatives. Quite a few Patel’s run motels and small grocery stores all over the US. They are a hardworking, law abiding people who are an integral part of various countries in the world.

I worked with quite a few Patel engineers myself.

It is quite common in old-world countries that many people share the same surname. One can go to Montreal for example, then open the phone book to see pages and pages of the same French surname.

This is even more pronounced with some countries like India and Vietnam. And come to think of it, why don't we all share the same surname of Adam and Eve? Does anyone know what that is?

So, I was not making fun of the name Patel, just pointing out to Nemo that if he were to go look for his friend Patel, he would have a hard time tracking him down.

 

[pb4uski]

Been in London this week so walking miles and miles, people watching and visiting museums. Oh and laid down on a couple of $120,000 mattress and boxspring sets at Harrod's just to feel like that was like!

Now if you had pulled the trigger on that $120,000 bed set you would have dethroned RobbieB as the Blow That Dough! king!

 

[Nemo2]

So, I was not making fun of the name Patel, just pointing out to Nemo that if he were to go look for his friend Patel, he would have a hard time tracking him down.

There was another guy....Gupta...probably not many of them around.

 

[NW-Bound]

Now if you had pulled the trigger on that $120,000 bed set you would have dethroned RobbieB as the Blow That Dough! king!

It's a bargain!

You only need to spend $120K on a mattress to feel like a million bucks!

 

[NW-Bound]

There was another guy....Gupta...probably not many of them around.

Ah, who uses names anymore? Too many people in the world now to share just a few names.

Let's use something like SS numbers which are supposed to be unique, if it were not for these identity thieves.

 

[Nemo2]

Ah, who uses names anymore?

"Resistance is futile" The Borg

 

[USA]

I have a 1950’s drop leaf table I took to the patio to start refinishing. Picked peppers & tomatoes. I’m tempted to take a swim but DH says he’ll let me cook dinner. He’s brave!

 

[braumeister]

The last couple of days have been so delightful. Thursday and Friday they put a new roof on, finishing around 10 pm last night. Today our half of the street was resealed, so no driving on it and we had to park about ¼ mile away since yesterday. I am looking forward to Monday with great eagerness.

 

[Gumby]

Worked in the garden this morning. Planted sweet potato slips among the okra and basil among the tomatoes. Squished a couple dozen Colorado potato beetles and scraped off some egg masses. Cut some rhubarb and then sprayed everything with Neem oil. Planted some French tarragon in the herb garden at home and put the lemon tree outside for the season. Sprayed Roundup between the driveway pavers.

The young wife made rhubarb buttermilk sherbet. We're about to try it for dessert.

 

[steelyman]

This is not a particularly fun thing to note, but I got on a mini-roll over the past few months adding charts ‘n graphs to my formerly numbers-only spreadsheet that tracks my retirement portfolio.

One was a column chart showing breakdown of investments with respect to style (active vs passive/index) and tax treatment (tax-free/Roth vs traditional).

One thing that immediately jumped out was a somewhat substantial investment in an actively-managed fund that could be moved to a similar, but passive, fund. Comparison over a relatively long time frame showed the index/passive fund delivered superior returns (surprise!).

Point-point, click-click, the money will be moved at COB Monday. I think a worthwhile thing to do if you happen to wake up early on Sunday morning.

[ADDED] I also signed up to receive The Slott Report by Ed Slott: http://irahelp.com/. I’d learned a lot from reading one of his books but more recent ones don’t seem to have as positive reviews. The newsletter does mention the SECURE Act which has been discussed here recently.

 

[USA]

Made another round on 1/3 of my table project. Looked at info on asst living we toured. I believe the time to shop is b4 needed.

 

[bbbamI]

Got my blood test results from my six month checkup. My concerns were my bad cholesterol and A1C. Thankfully the numbers on both were down from last November. So far I'm outrunning diabetes. I guess I'll continue exercising and grazing on kale.

Maybe I'll go hog wild and pig crazy and celebrate with a cookie.

 

[traineeinvestor]

Survived the oral defence of my thesis (on science fiction).

Subject to getting my supervisor to sign off on the minor revisions, I should graduate in October.

DW's already telling me I need to find another project.

 

[NW-Bound]

Ordered 2 more inverters for my DIY solar storage project. This will bring the total peak power output to 7.2 kW.

Ordered a minisplit AC of 18,000 BTU/hr. This will help offload the 5-ton central AC (60,000 BTU/hr), make use of the collected energy, and save a bit of utility bill.

Once this is installed successfully, I will order a 2nd minisplit for the master bedroom.

Still scratching my head on how to best run the wires to take the power from the solar equipment shed to a transfer switch to be mounted near the utility electrical box. I am going to build my own auto transfer switch too. Besides the AC's, I also need to feed solar power to the two hungry fridges of more than 50 cu.ft. total capacity (my wife is a food hoarder).

 

[Souschef]

I just got this e-mail from the IRS. I am really worried

 

[W2R]

Spending the afternoon on the phone, "on hold"...

 

[Music Lover]

At Wisconsin Dells with GF, her daughter and her daughter's friend who are both track athletes. My legs are like rubber after trying to keep up with the young 'uns climbing the water slides all afternoon.

 

[robnplunder]

Made a remote control holder out of a small wooden box after below event didn't go anywhere.

For 3rd time in a row, after 3 weeks, Comcast/Xfinity team could not finish the internet installation (I am trying to switch from AT&T). He set up another appointment for a week later for a specialist to come out. I stayed home to babysit the installation for nothing. I feel like a day wasted.

 

[street]

Went to the ranch today and dug in 4 posts and attached 2 cross members to get the canoe a new home. I want to store some wood under the canoe for some carving. Was a great day to be in the outdoors. I had a hen turkey come flying from the cedars and landed about 20 from me. It didn't know what to do. Lol