What did you do today? 2019 version.

[MRG]

Yesterday we woke up to more fresh snow. Had planned on a gym day, but blew it off. We did go out to Mexican for lunch. Wow was it snowing, probably only 100' of visibility at best. DW was giving me her opinion on where the road was. Several other vehicles had lost the road, left their empty graves behind them. A reminder of how little it takes to be in the ditch, and how deep it is.

There were only a few people in the entire restaurant. My order got screwed up a little and our waiter came to apologize for forgetting my tortillas. I blew it off, "sir you greeted us with two margaritas when we sat down, who cares".

By the time we left the visibility was much improved, some patches of blue sky popped out. Fitting as we watched the Chiefs win their first playoff game in 25 years.

More snow today.

 

[MOSAT]

Gym day yesterday then a little bit of grocery shopping,

This morning made a big breakfast that we normally don't do, sausage and pancakes, YUM!

We had some freezing rain here last night and had already planned to stay in. DW is in a cleaning mood and when that happens I make myself scarce lest she start to dust me if I don't move.

Now going to get up and start a BIG pot of chili for dinner, cornbread with it at dinner.

 

[pacergal]

Celebration at our house last night! DD and SIL informed us they are expecting their first little one! Excited to have another grandbaby! This may be a blow the dough year for us--Grandma loves to go to the baby store!!

 

[MRG]

Woke up to a different day, it got bright and sunny after days of snow and clouds. Only a little snow overnight and I was going to get breakfast, little dog ready to go with me. I learned the county plowed as I went to leave. There was 30" of nice 3 day old chunky snow blocking the driveway. Luckily the snowblower could process it all.

The little dog was so happy, she hadn't been out for a couple weeks and was excited to see all the snow. The mountains that had been covered in clouds were back. Snow covered, bright sun and clouds up top. The road was better, you could see! By this afternoon it was snow free.

DW has been sick, this was only her second day back in the gym this year. She did ok but is exhausted. A late lunch out, perhaps I won't eat tonight.

I went to knock a couple icicles off the lower roof. I saw a sight I didn't want to way up above. I gotta get someone up there. After all the snow and melting there's ice sculptures hanging 8 feet down from the roof.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Fill one of these large Tupperware bowls with it. Then there's a ready-made meal when it is wanted. The bowl we have must be 35 years old by now.

A bowl of 35 yo salad [emoji15] ?


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[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Hey Gypsy Ed. Just reading this wears me out. You put the “tire” in retirement. Hopefully this is a passing thing.


I traveled between Peru and Ecuador every two weeks for the whole time they were at war. It’s a good option for people looking for unusual travel opportunities. If they’re lucky they’ll have lots of interesting stories to tell.

I think they have done Peru and Ecuador. Or they are going to do them next. It is hard to keep up.

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[Ed_The_Gypsy]

In the middle of our driveway project, the washing machine drain overflowed. After briefly trying to use my plumbing gene, the REAL plumber came by and $1440 later we will have modern plumbing (house is 48 yrs old).

The joys of home ownership.

What next?

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[Ed_The_Gypsy]

In the middle of our driveway project, the washing machine drain overflowed. After briefly trying to use my plumbing gene, the REAL plumber came by and $1440 later we will have modern plumbing (house is 48 yrs old).

The joys of home ownership.

What next?

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Planning to fly to Assilomar Feb 20. May have to walk there.

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[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Shaved my 50 yo mustache last Tuesday. DW never noticed (I DID give her EVERY opportunity!) A friend at our Thurstday night pub crawl brought it up ad DW almost fell off her chair.

I can use this for years!

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[Ed_The_Gypsy]

We are at the laundramat just now. (One wash is $7!!!!! Drying is $0.25/5 min. My stars and little planets!)

A sign asks, "Where does the soap go?"

It plugs up my drain, that's where it goes.

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[Dtail]

Getting my inguinal hernia repaired today. Hope to be back on the Pickleball court in 3-4 weeks.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Shaved my 50 yo mustache last Tuesday. DW never noticed (I DID give her EVERY opportunity!) A friend at our Thurstday night pub crawl brought it up ad DW almost fell off her chair.

I can use this for years!

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This is hilarious. Fifty years!!! Never let her hear the end of it.

 

[REWahoo]

Shaved my 50 yo mustache last Tuesday. DW never noticed (I DID give her EVERY opportunity!) A friend at our Thurstday night pub crawl brought it up ad DW almost fell off her chair.

I can use this for years!

I had a similar experience.

A few years ago I grew a full beard for the first time in 45+ years of marriage. I kept it for almost two years before deciding to shave it off. DW never noticed.

Three days later we were at one of our grandson's baseball games when a team mom sitting next to us in the stands remarked that she had never seen me without my beard. The look on DW's face was priceless!

Unfortunately I can never bring it up again for fear of severe recrimination...

 

[txtig]

Opened up my on-line banking app and saw my first ever Social Security deposit. Wooo hoooo!! I filed for benefits last month when I turned 66. Amount of deposit was 98.4% of the maximum FRA benefit. I’m a happy guy[emoji3]! But, I need to start having federal taxes withheld .

 

[38Chevy454]

Been fighting a cold for the last week, it has progressed to become a sinus infection so today went to doctor and got some real medication antibiotics to get this on the mend. The OTC stuff needs some better help.


I have been remarkably not sick almost since retirement 1.5 years ago; used to get a lot of colds and issues when working, especially with the travel I did. That streak of being good health has been a nice bonus of retirement, until this current sinus infection.

 

[W2R]

I had a similar experience.

A few years ago I grew a full beard for the first time in 45+ years of marriage. I kept it for almost two years before deciding to shave it off. DW never noticed.

Three days later we were at one of our grandson's baseball games when a team mom sitting next to us in the stands remarked that she had never seen me without my beard. The look on DW's face was priceless!

Unfortunately I can never bring it up again for fear of severe recrimination...

I didn't notice either when F shaved off his full beard last year. I felt bad when he pointed it out, but really, why? The things about him that I value really have nothing to do with his facial hair. He is brilliant and has lived an utterly fascinating and remarkable life; I am more interested in what he thinks and says, than in whether or not he has a beard.

I admit that I prefer the clean shaven look for him. But, I had never said a word about the beard one way or another because he doesn't say anything about how I wear my hair. Seems fair. I guess I can thank the online razor blade suppliers (Harry's) for his return to the clean-shaven look, because he originally grew the beard to save money on shaving supplies in retirement.

 

[MBAustin]

Spent the morning trying to figure out the cost basis for a mutual fund I've owned since 1992. Was missing some annual statements, so I called the mutual fund company and it turns out they had the cost basis readily available even though the fund went through several ownership and name changes as well as a merger. Could have saved a lot of time if I had called first. But at least I have a capital loss so no issue with selling it - part of my 2019 plan to simplify our investments.

Once more, the Visa card I use regularly was possibly compromised and they sent me a new card so I spent the afternoon updating all of the regular payments on it as well as my iPhone, etc. Yuck. Just a sign of the times, unfortunately.

At least I got something in the mail that made me smile - DD got these custom socks for me as a Christmas gift that was delayed:

(That is our dog's photo on the socks!)

 

[MRG]

We woke up to six inches of new heavy wet snow. What a treat. I snowblowed the driveway and had to use a lower gear for this batch. A few hours later the county plowed and left a couple feet of wet snow in the driveway. Plowed that as our neighbor was snowshoeing around the neighborhood with her dog. The dog was having the most fun.

Went out this afternoon and bought a roof rake. I have no idea how one rakes snow from a roof but I'll try it from the safety of the ground. I'm concerned as the rake is only 16' long. I'll wear snowshoes and gain a few feet. Hopefully that's enough to get some weight off the roof.

ETA: It got up to 35° and the snow started melting from the pine trees around the house. I was confused by all the yellow snow(not that kind) underneath them. I guess it's pollen that was still in the growth.

 

[MBAustin]

Went to Walgreens to pick up a prescription for DH and found Christmas wrapping paper (the good Hallmark stuff) on sale for 90% off. Picked up 5 rolls for $1.55 - that should last us about 10 years I think! I still love finding super bargains like that

 

[REWahoo]

Drove 22 miles a Navy FCU branch to open an account and start the paperwork to transfer the IRA funds formerly in a PenFed CD (since transferred to Vanguard VMMXX) to a Navy FCU 40 month 3.75% IRA CD. Discovered the location was a "lite" branch <eyeroll> that didn't deal with IRAs.

Established my membership, then drove 11 miles to a "full service" branch where, an hour and 15 minutes after arrival, I departed, IRA transfer paperwork complete.

 

[tdv2]

I put on my ice skates and hit the pond I skated on when I was a kid. Took my hockey stick and chased a puck around for about 45 minutes. Used some muscles I haven't used in a while....have a feeling I'm going to need an advil or two.

 

[Hermit]

I successfully plowed several miles of road a couple of days ago. The new hubs are stronger than the old ones.

My new graphics card showed up yesterday. I am swapping the old card out because the fan was getting very noisy and I could not find a replacement fan module. The new card was about $33 so no big deal. The new card is better so I should get better performance but I doubt that I will be able to tell. The computer is a whole lot quieter and the new board does not have a fan so I am happy.

 

[MBAustin]

Although it's a beautiful sunny warm (70-ish) day, forecast is for freezing temps overnight this weekend. So I went to WalMart to pick up the pink RV antifreeze and then went and winterized the water system on the RV (exercised the generator while I was at it). Made crockpot veal stew and then lunch, then sat outside to read some magazines - found some good tips in Kiplinger that I'll post elsewhere. Getting ready to drive a friend downtown to serve dinner to homeless folks tonight, then after our dinner here I'll be knitting in front of the TV - need to finish a prayer shawl for the widower of a dear friend before her service next week.

 

[Walt34]

We (well, really DW) made a point of getting to the gym early (which for us is 10:30) and then a minor grocery run on the way home to beat the forecast snowfall. We made it easily and had finished a late lunch of spaghetti before the first snowflake fell.

The forecast is for maybe two or three inches total by the end of the weekend, unlike the hammering that the New England states are supposed to get.

 

[MRG]

DW felt well enough to go to the gym, she is beat now. We had lunch at a different Mexican restaurant as the one we frequent is closed for some emergency tile/plumbing work. Not near as good, but hey it's different.

I assembled the roof rake, no small challenge, and tried it out. Oh my, a nuerosurgeon told me never to paint a ceiling or change a light bulb. I know why now. Thankfully I stopped before it got really bad, I hope.

As planned I used snowshoes to get another couple feet of height. That was a bad idea! While they help you stand up, you're not nimble. Walking backwards is impossible, at least for me.

I did get the worst of the ice down from the eves, some was 8-10' long. When I was out there, I noticed the small roof over the gas meter was coated in ice. Most was 6-8" thick, some had gone to the ground, encasing the meter. Somehow I didn't think the gas company would appreciate the beauty, and I was afraid of the consequences of ignorance.

A little planning and some persistence with water from melting ice, eventually won. There is a block of ice, probably 250 pounds, that slide off in one piece. [emoji12]

Tomorrow I have a urologist appointment 40 miles away. They called and rescheduled it to the afternoon because of forecast snowfall. One forecast says 3-6" another new one says 8-16" with promises of lots of fun.