72 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 2-5-16”

  2. Haven’t gotten to do that for a long time. 🙂

    Neat pictures, RKessler!

    This is the start of what I believe will be a great day! Hope yours is, too, everyone, whenever it begins. 🙂

    …we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

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  3. Morning all. Not sure how much sleep I will be getting tonight with listening to a very sick neighbor whose bathroom adjoins my bedroom. Enough said.
    Thinking of moving my mattress into the livingroom for the night. but then would the resident lizard attack me???

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  6. Good Morning….more snow!!!!!
    What a sweet herd of deer…and it would appear they love having their picture taken…they are all looking at the camera!
    Paul cleared a path through the property for the dogs to be able to run about in the snow without being swallowed alive by it…yesterday a herd of deer was walking on that path…it was quite the sight…follow the leader style 🙂
    And if I am correct, in three days it will be someone’s birthday….right Jo?

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  7. Good morning, everyone.
    The girls have dentist appointments this morning.

    Speaking of birthdays… I’ll be 45 tomorrow. I don’t feel that old–until I look in the mirror or spend time with people in their 20’s or 30’s. My husband turns fifty in May….

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  10. My sister called yesterday from Kenya. They’ve decided to sell their home in Kerrville, so she’s coming for the closing in April. I’m so excited to see her! She’s coming alone– so girls won’t get to see their cousins–but it should make coordinating a visit easier.

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  13. It was dark when I made the hour drive home last night. I had my Amazon Prime Music set on Johnny Cash (now you knew that didn’t you?). It was cold last night, not Dog Park in California Cold, but Alabama/Florida Cold, so I turned on the floor heat and put the windows down a little because there is something about driving fast on back roads with the windows down that makes me happy.
    These two songs came on and made me even happier.

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  15. Last night Cheryl commented about unleaded gasoline: it was pretty stupid to ADD lead to gasoline and then to charge more for the gas that didn’t have it.

    I remember wondering that myself, since leaded was usually 5¢ or more cheaper. When I worked at a gas station, I asked the owner why unleaded cost more. He said it was because they had to clean the lead out of the transport trucks before hauling it so it wouldn’t have any lead in it. Yeah, right. Many people would knock the smaller opening out of the place where the nozzle fit, since the unleaded pump had smaller nozzles. It made sense to me, but I never did that. Of course, before they eliminated leaded gasoline, I couldn’t afford a car new enough to need unleaded fuel. For the young folks, cars made before 1975 didn’t have catalytic converters and could safely use leaded gasoline.

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  18. I realized that 4 months from today I will be the mother of a high school graduate and she and I will be in California at JH Ranch. There is a whole list of things we will need to take to the ranch with us including pillows, pillow cases, sleeping bags, insect repellant, towels flashlight and sunscreen. That is a lot to get out there on a plane! I am considering buying most of it when I get there and donating it to a shelter when I leave. Michelle, do shelters accept such things there? I know there could be some sanitary issues, but shelters here will use just about anything you will give them.

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  19. Hello, all♡
    Not much news, but during tax season no news…means folks are getting refunds and are generally happy. Early filers are glad to be expecting money. Late in the season the grumpies (with good reason) will be the main clients.

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  20. Thanks for the reminder Janice. I need to call and make my appointment. I may be a grumbler this year but I would rather know and go ahead and send the money do it isn’t hanging over my head.

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  22. I’ve had a rushed morning, I need to turn the car into the mechanic (again) to get a window fixed and the vents — after getting it serviced last Friday, the vents aren’t circulating any air for some reason (only in the highest, 4th setting, which is too much and too loud). I really need air circulation in the car, whether cool or heat. Will pick up a loaner to go on to work from there.

    Had to make a quick early-morning correction on the story I filed late last night. And it’s trash day so I was rushing bags of trash and recycles to the curb right after barely dragging myself out of bed. I meant to get up at 6 but slept until 7.

    Happy early birthday to annms and Jo.

    Nice deer! I was surprised when I started to realize how many of them were all clustered together there, sweet.

    We’re heading into a spate of summer-like weather this weekend with highs in the low 80s. From boots last week to sandals this week …

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  24. Janice. I don’t trust ordering checks from any place but my bank. I also remember working in a bank years ago and the loan officer telling me she didn’t trust cutesy checks with polka dots and kittens and puppies—those kind always bounce. I order plain safety checks. 😉

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  28. Of a baby, of course.

    Meanwhile, not willing to wait for Saturday, I will tell you that our Ethiopian is finally an American citizen! His first adoptive family did not finish it, the people in charge would not let us get him citizenship, it took the United States Navy. But he is one now. After living here for five years and with the other families for four years….He is excited! He can finally get a passport and go visit his mom in Ethiopia. He couldn’t for years after his first passport expired as he had no country to get a passport from. The strangeness of our laws…

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  29. Beautiful photos, Rkessler! Makes me want some good ole squash casserole♡and some venison (but on second thought, don’t wanna kill Bambi and family to get it. Better to go vegan).

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  31. Thanks, Kim, on the checks. I have always used the banks plain safety checks, too. I thought about Sam’s, too. I like to pick them up at the bank rather than have them mailed.

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  32. I forget, is RKessler in New Mexico? Those are mule deer, right? And my dad always grew squash, so those first two pictures said “Southwest” to me.

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  33. I have ordered checks from Current (http://www.currentcatalog.com) for years and never had a problem. Cheaper than the bank. The cutesy ones are tempting, but Kim is right – they may not process well through the automated readers. I am sure they wouldn’t bounce, but they may be held up due to manual processing.

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  36. Yes, those are mule deer. I was backing into my daughter’s driveway when I noticed them. I walked across the street to get the picture. I was surprised no one bolted.

    The garden pictures were meant to be much like seed catalogs that arrive midwinter. A bright promise of warmer weather coming.

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  37. Peter, we have a high of 36 today. At least the sun is shining even if there is a north wind. The forecast says that we should be up in the 40s for the weekend.

    I have 5 grandchildren coming to spend the weekend with us. Hubby should be home late tonight. I’d better start cooking. 🙂

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  38. Peter, I put a couple comments to you on the 2/3 thread, but I don’t think you’ve been back there.

    My husband got 35 gallons of gas this morning for $19. (A dollar off per gallon through Kroger.)

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  40. Michelle, the people at JH recommend flying in to Sacramento and making the 5-6 hour drive. They say a lot of good communication goes on during that drive. I don’t mind the drive, it will let us see more of the state than if we fly into the ranch itself although the closest airport is in Oregon. After spending 9 hours last month in the Pensacola airport trying to get to Maryland I don’t want the stress of that and a 6 hour drive to get there on time. I think we will fly in the day before. Head north and find a place to stay along the way. Take the scenic route so to speak. Do you know of anything we should see or do along the way? It looks like google maps wants to send us straight up I-5

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  41. Coastal routes are always best, but tend to be slower.

    Gas in Catalina Island now is about $7 a gallon, but the 4,000 people who live there usually just ride around in golf carts. 🙂

    It’s going to be in the low to mid 80s this weekend for us. I’m actually read for that, I think. 🙂

    Maybe I’ll get the dogs out for that walk on the fishing pier. Told Carol I can’t make it this Saturday, they’re shutting down parts of the Hollywood Fwy around downtown to demolish a viaduct. Bad time to go driving around there, it’ll be a traffic nightmare.

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  43. Part of this process is that as mature as BG likes to think she is in a lot of ways she has been babied too much. She doesn’t know how to fill out a deposit slip at a bank. She doesn’t know how to go to the bank and cash a check. She wants to hide behind Mommy on some things and let me handle it for her. As you know I was responsible way too early in life so I did shield her from some things. I have recognized the fault on that lies with me and I have been sending her to pick up checks for me and go to the bank to make deposits. I have sent her to the store with a shopping list to buy things although when it comes time to get things for herself she always wants me with her (or at least my debit card).
    When I wasn’t much older than she is I navigated Baltimore and Washington by myself DRIVING!!! I had navigated airports and switching planes. Before she was born I traveled into Georgia, N and S Carolina to call on clients. I can find my way through Pensacola, New Orleans, and Atlanta by myself —this was all learned before GPS.
    I want to make the 5 hour drive in a state where I have never been and show her that it can be done. If we get lost we will stop, ask where we are, and re-route. It will be an adventure. I want to show her that because she doesn’t “shift change” very well. What that means is if she is told she will be doing something and any part of that doesn’t go according to how she thinks it should have gone it upsets her (she gets it from her father and none of us know where he got it).
    Going to Mumsee’s a few years ago was an adventure. I really didn’t know what we would be walking into but I trusted and things worked out well for me. For BG that was a different story. No malls, no cellular service, wide open spaces! Being OUTSIDE!

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  44. We are still laughing about that. She is not the only one we have had here with that reaction! One girl was on the phone to her mom, “They are making me pull weeds!” Actually, the girls wanted to pull weeds so they did, and she joined them.

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  45. Johnny Cash news.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35473946

    ________________________________________

    A new species of black tarantula that lives near Folsom Prison, California, has been named after Johnny Cash.

    The famously black-clad country singer wrote a song about the prison, and also played a historic series of concerts for inmates there in the 1960s.

    Aphonopelma johnnycashi is among 14 new tarantula species from the southern US which have been described by biologists in the journal ZooKeys. …

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  48. By the way, don’t think we are planning for sure to have that baby placed with us. Moms often change their mind. We are just hoping that if she is going to bounce the baby in and out of foster care, she will place the baby with us instead. She is adamant she is placing the baby in foster care if the guy will not decide to come join them and she does not want it and its impact on her life. That is not a healthy place for the baby.

    And daughter, having experienced foster care, is adamant it is not a good place. And she was in a very good foster home. Her big desire is to get a ranch and be a foster mom or adopt children. And the idea of this woman deliberately placing her baby in foster care is repugnant to her.

    Understand a bit about foster care. Often, a child placed in foster care is moved a number of times and each attachment is broken until the child gives up. Most of our children moved at least eight times after leaving the bio home and prior to arriving here.

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  50. Surely the guy will not fall victim to the manipulation she is trying to get him to come back to her. She needs to realize he doesn’t love her or he would be there right now and threatening a child isn’t the way to win him back…but what would she have anyway????

    DON’T READ BELOW THIS LINE IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED
    I once saw a coffee mug that fits this situation perfectly.
    A woman is like a bank account. A man starts losing interest once he has made a withdrawal.

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  51. That would be daughter’s job, to help the girl open her eyes to the truth. Daughter did ask her if she understood what caused it, suggested she stop such actions, and the girl responded that it was too much fun to quit. Such a sad sad world.

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  52. On Michelle’s sibling link, since we reached adulthood (actually since we reached our teen years), there has been very little tension between the four of us. We don’t always agree and we do argue occasionally, but nothing can shake that bond. However, it is a bit more difficult to navigate the relationship to the siblings-in-law, or rather their relationships to one another. My siblings-in-law are three very different men, from very different backgrounds. Eldest sibling-in-law was in the family for over a decade before anyone else showed up, so he has got to think of his spouse’s siblings as his own. He is one of the family. Youngest sibling-in-law is still quite a young man, and is still forming his views on topics. He tends to come across as stern and withdrawn to people he doesn’t know well. It is a challenge trying to get to know him. Second sibling-in-law is straightforward and fiercely independent. He is easy to get along with as long as you don’t tread on his space. Those last two tend to rub one another the wrong way. It is a bit difficult, because there is nothing I like better than having all my siblings and their families together, but while there isn’t any real tension, there isn’t the camaraderie there used to be, when one could say anything without wondering if it would be misconstrued.

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  55. I was able to complete two Sudoku puzzles while my brother conversed with me on the phone. I know, as an unemployed talkative salesman, he needs someone to listen to what all he has to say. Yesterday I ran errands as we talked, but I can’t always schedule that. I also ran errands this week while my friend, Karen, and I talked. She said besides her mom I am the only one she has to talk to. I am trying to get a better schedule going, but it is hard to not be available when I feel so needed. How do others handle this sort of thing?

    My brother was remembering things I did, when I was young, to get into trouble. He said when we went downtown I would run out ahead of the others and give my parents a fright. I don’t remeber doing that. He also said when a cat would come around that I would be friendly to it and pat it and he would want to do the same, but as he approached I would throw the cat on him which made him get scratched and the cat was then frightened of him but it would return to me for petting. I don’t remeber doing that either. I reminded him of how he would push me down and it would knock the breath out of me and our father would be mad at him and spank him. He did not remember doing that. Funny how we tend not to remember the aggravating things we did. 🙂

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  60. I went to T-mobile to talk about some phone issues today. They had an offer for a free tablet except you pay 10 dollars a month for service. I decided I would give it a try. I will see if it gives me more options for use. I think it may be handy to have if we are using the phone for something and need to look something up, or if one of our phones is out of power. We can text on the tablet, but we can’t talk on it. I think I can get audio books on it. If so, that could be helpful when traveling. Also, it has a camera so that might turn out useful, too, if I run out of storage on my Smartphone.

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  63. Hello, everyone.
    The baked chicken I’m making for dinner is taking longer than I’d planned….Should be done shortly.
    Girls went to the dentist today–no cavities for either of them. Lindsey’s at her BFFs house (she lives in the same neighborhood). Becca had a friend over after school. And, Hubby is finally walking through the door….

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  65. Regarding my 7:22 a.m., where I said this: “This is the start of what I believe will be a great day!”

    I am very pleased to report that indeed it was a great day! Hubby and I had an excellent talk tonight — by ourselves, ooh! while the kids were downstairs watching a movie — about many things regarding home and family.

    God certainly blessed this day, so can I just shout it from the rooftops here? He is good! 🙂

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  66. Jeep is fixed (again) and I managed to drag through the day and expand & update the story I filed so late last night. But I’m beat. Long, busy week, ending late this afternoon with a mid-air small plane crash right off our coast (that luckily a reporter from our sister paper across the harbor is covering).

    I will get some OT on the next paycheck, however, which is sweet.

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  71. Then she just came over with a piece of cake on a nice plate and asked if I would like it. Turns out that today is her birthday. I got some gift together and am waiting to see if she is still home.

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