Aiming for the GHGs (Official)

[gadgetgirlil]

Greetings!

Had a wonderful bike ride with my friend yesterday! Temps were pleasant thanks to the north wind off the lake. We rode down to Crown Point and got breakfast sandwiches at a little coffee shop. They had gluten-free options. So delicious! 51.2 miles which is my longest ride for 2024. Hard to believe that it took me until May 19th to have a ride longer than 50 miles. I usually have hit that milestone by spring break. But I spent spring break hiking.

Starting to watch the weather for the bike trip in Minnesota. Exact start date to be determined but could be 2 weeks from today. Later in June will be my trip to Cincinnati for the conference which will include some hiking pre- and post-. August is the big trip to Colorado with my cousin sherrydorlando2 . It is hard to keep this all straight!

Going to campus today and tomorrow. Need to work on some letters of reference. Stormy weather predicted for today and tomorrow so might as well work so I can take the rest of the week off and be outside.

Have a great day!

[V]

Morning.

I'm glad yesterday was calm at work. I got home and painted the front porch with the first coat and was pretty pleased with myself for the accomplishment. I was at it until 730ish last night. I will be able to get a second coat on much more quickly when the time comes. The prelim look is great and I'll update with a pic if work slows down enough and I remember. I walked into an epic shitstorm at work and I'm already tired tomorrow.

[Cyn]

Hi,
Also godawful hot days, and/or rain.
Newcastle lost Wed, but won their last match yesterday. Not all the dominoes fell the way we'd hoped, but there is still one possibility left for them to earn a spot in one of the European competitive tournaments for next season. That outcome will be known this coming weekend.

Sat, S and I got an early birding session in, then went to a silent bookclub at a local beer bar. It was nice, everyone read their own book/had beer for around half an hour or so, then there was some discussion afterwards. People talked about their book a little, then talked about other books they'd liked, or authors they recommended. It was interesting, tho everyone but 1 person was in their late 20s/early 30s. Also, almost everyone was reading some sort of dystopian fiction. 🤣

On the way home, we found a tiny bird sitting obviously stunned on the sidewalk, so we rescued it in a little bag I had. Due to a clusterfuck going on with the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, we were left hanging for hours without someone coming to pick up the poor thing. I ended up having it overnight in a shoebox w a soft piece of rag inside. I had a hard time sleeping, and at one point was lying down next to the box trying to hear it moving. It was a real-life Shroedinger's cat moment.
Happily, it had survived, and my friend who was going to take it down to meet the collision monitors thought it was acting recovered, so we agreed he'd release it in a prairie wilderness area near South Pond. He said it flew off beautifully, so a happy ending! It was a lovely little Philadelphia Vireo, that had been wintering down in Central America.
A GDTer is coming through here on Tuesday, so I'm praying the forecasted T-storms hold off so she and her DH and I can do the local walkabout/zoo visit we've planned for. Then we're going to the Chicago Diner, w is a vegan place. She was my Beck coach for quite awhile over Covid, and just an overall lovely person-Lumberjack55.
Have a good week, all!

[sherrydorlando2]

Morning Ladies:
Yesterday several of the ladies were unable to go. 3 of us enjoyed it. It was a bit of a spoof...and I don't like them...but it was ok and we had a great time. There was a nice longer walk this am as it was cloudy and breezy. In a bit I'm going to Publix for some of my drinks and to check out the other BOgo's. I am craving ribs....maybe I can wait until Wed for Sonny's their special deal.........

[newmoose]

Happy Monday!

Yesterday was lovely! We went to the ramp festival. The were serving chicken dinners and we both ate so much that it ended up being our only meal of the day. We ran into one of our college friends there and met her sister, cousin and neighbor. It was great fun!

The weather was perfect, so after we had gotten back to Podunk, we went to the brewery and listened to some jazz music, and talked with friends.

DH had pulled more food out of the freezer to cook. I think I am going to make a cottage pie type of dish with the bazillion potatoes we have. I also bought some ramps, so I will include those in the dish. We will eat on that all week, since we are leaving to go to a festival on Thursday.

I hope you all have a great day!

[pepper]

Howdy!

Our forecast for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday is 97°, 98°, and 99°. Tis the season to find things to do inside. I hope the theater is showing some good movies. Mom wants to get a mani pedi and I want to take some yoga classes (which are even hotter than outside — go me! 😝), but that’s all I’ve got on the schedule for the weekend.

I hope you all have a great day!

[V]

Morning.

I spent another 4 hours on the house when I got home from work. Who knew that painting a house, an endeavor that you hire someone to do and it takes a week+ of full-time work, would be a full-time job?? YMV got more done on the back while I started on the front of the garage and a spot of the foundation behind the front flower bed. Then I took a nap. Then I went to bed. Today I hope to get to the front face of the house and YMV can work on the back face. He's using the ladder to get a little more reach, but I will still need to get the close trim spots and about 2' under the eaves. I need to call the lumber yard and get another order of paint tinted. We've gone through about 8 gallon of the base color so far and only have 3/4 of the last gallon left at this point. There is still one side that is untouched, the eaves and porch ceiling, the back shed to side and paint, and another shed (and maybe a couple of pergola structures that I intend to stain later. The deck guy (second choice) said that he would update his bid but that he wouldn't get to it until probably fall. Of course, I was looking at my garage interior this morning and thinking "this is the ugliest color of pink-grey-purple I have ever seen". And I've seen it for the last 5 years.

I hate the way my brain works.

[gadgetgirlil]

Greetings!

Still no contracts. And apparently no one in higher administration could have foreseen that getting rid of your grants officer would led to a mess at picking up the pieces now that deadlines are looming for required filings for the grants. She would have been willing to have done turnover but they had all staff leave campus the day they were terminated. Our website was also broken yesterday. Oops, maybe getting rid of your in house employees that managed it wasn't a good idea either? The words of administration and their actions are not in alignment. I will be glad to get off this crazy train in another year.

I have a meeting with a student today and another letter to write. Then I'm taking the rest of the week off.

Have a great day!

[newmoose]

Good morning!

One more bus duty done, one more to go!!!!!

I will spend the next couple of days helping one of my seniors finish up some work so he can graduate. I swear, he is the poster child for work avoidance! He is so smart, but has difficulty putting thoughts to paper. I told him I would be his scribe, if he can collect his thoughts.

DH had bought a huge package of ground beef, much more than I wanted to deal with, so he grilled hamburger steaks and I fixed potatoes with onions and ramps with leftover baked potatoes. I also had some salad left over, so that was eaten, as well. The leftovers are packed for lunches today and tomorrow. That means I have no idea what we will have for dinner tonight. I may try to get by the FM and pick up a couple of things.

I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!

[Cyn]

Woo hoooo! No rain in the forecast anymore! And it's not going to be 80° and disgusting until later on!
It's bit clammy out, but I'll take that for now.

Regina, it's almost as if they're trying to make the school fail. Unbelievable. I'm so sorry.

[sherrydorlando2]

Good Morning ladies:
It is a beautiful day, not hot (yet), low humidity (for us) and a lovely breeze. Me and the babies took the full walk around the place this am. Piddly jobs in the house today. I am binge watching Married at First Sight and it is so funny. Can't do much for being glued to the set.

[pepper]

Howdy!

They’ve changed our weekend forecast from 97, 98, and 99 to 100, 100, and 101. *dies*

My tomatoes will likely not be tomato-ing this year. The Master Gardener said some varieties can be trimmed back and will produce fruit after the summer. I was wondering how people were getting tomatoes in December and January, so that explains that. He said I just need to keep them watered all summer. Go figure!

GardenerGuy also told me about shade cloth. Everyone is building frames to attach shade cloth to so their vegetables don’t roast right there in the garden. That might be my fun *cough* weekend project.

Have a great day!

[gadgetgirlil]

Greetings!

If I have any energy left after tackling more of the weeds and bushes, I will go and buy some mulch as I have some coupons I can use. At least it is cooler than yesterday. We hit 89 degrees and it was very windy. Looks like there was a terrible tornado over in Iowa that resulted in death and destruction but it seemed like the front lost some strength and broke up a bit by the time it reached us.

Nope, still no contract.

Haven't heard back from my friend about tomorrow's bike ride so I will text her again later this morning.

Have a great day!

[V]

Morning.

I got some more trimwork done on the front porch. I got the paperwork to the banker yesterday and he says everything will be ready for me to sign after work today. It will be nice to be on solid footing financially (one bill instead of multiple little annoyances) after last fall's income interruption. MG picked up the freshly tinted gallons for me yesterday. He plans to go see his kid for their birthday this afternoon. Poor Ripley hates it when he isn't here.

YF is on her way to Chicago for something work related, so it's just me, CSO, and G on our own. CSO & I are headed to Manhattan for the Bill Schneider Half & 5k on Saturday. Neither one of us is prepared for the 5k, but we'll be ok completing it, just not setting any PRs. It's a paved course so the rain will be less impactful. I don't know if it's supposed to rain on the day of, though.

MG had pulled the boards off the sides of my raised bed (that I put together poorly last year) in an effort to rebuild it. He hurt himself by straining so hard while working on it and has been out of commission for more than a week. Just last night I realized that I had not finished planting the veggies and a few flowers that had been set aside. The flowers are in larger pots near other potted flowers, so they've been getting water and are fine. But the half dozen veggies laying in a pile on the pile that used to be my raised bed are looking pretty sorry. I have to get them in the ground tonight, so I will probably just stick them in the middle of the existing pile and let it go at that. I don't know that I'll be able to fix the sides of the bed on my own though. That may require more than I am able to do at this point.

[newmoose]

Good-ish morning!

I went to bed early last night and today has been a total whacked out day. That will teach me to get enough sleep. I keep losing things. I got stung by a wasp and am now going to be loopy from the Benadryl that I took. I took the lowest dose possible so that I can function here at work. If worse comes to worse, DH can help me out, since he is here subbing today.

Dinner was awful last night. DH had bought some pho noodles and broth and it was the most bland food ever. We ended up throwing it out. Sadness.

Tonight will be trivia. I hope I am awake.

Tomorrow DH and I leave for Rooster Walk. I am so excited about letting loose and dancing the days away! The music will be fantastic, and the weather looks more promising today than earlier in the week.

I better get back to getting this student finished with his project so that he can graduate!

Have a great day!

[sherrydorlando2]

Good Morning Ladies:
Hottie coming up. I am going to lunch with neighbor and it is my choice....what/where/when....tried and true or new and unknown? Such a tough life.

[Cyn]

Hi,
Good time w my GDT friend and her DH on Tuesday, tho it did get waaaaay too hot, too early. We were able to get our walkabout in to the ponds circuit, staying in shade as much as we could. The vegan restaurant was delicious, and they were thrilled with the menu. I had a lovely quinoa chili with avocado slices added. I admit to not even wanting to try vegan sour cream or cheese 🤣.
The overnight wind storm was bad-lots and lots of big branches down around me.
Today was absolutely gorgeous out, w a lovely breeze off the lake. I did the 7am guided bird group over at North Pond, sat on my balcony and read a lot, and had a late afternoon walkabout w Erik. His Mom had her first chemo this week, so he vented a bit of anxiety about that but mostly wanted to not talk about it so we watched turtles, and fish, and looked for toads and just enjoyed the pretty day. It was very relaxing.

I think I'm going to walk up to Jarvis and then Montrose early tomorrow-the ground still hasn't warmed up quite enough for the cicada emergence here, so I'm going out as much as possible before it gets gross. It's sposed to be lovely again.

[pepper]

Howdy!

I think I have become allergic/sensitive to something and I can’t figure out what it is. Since the weekend my lips have been tingly and swollen. I thought it might be chapstick, but I didn’t use it yesterday. I used diffferent foundation/sunscreen yesterday and that didn’t make a difference, either. The only thing different in my life has been the daily big chunk of sourdough bread. I’ve never had issues with wheat before, and the bread is just flour, water, and salt. And a glob of butter. It’s very annoying. I’ve also been very tired this week. Somebody needs to fix this.

Speaking of sourdough, this weekend I’ll be using the starter to make an apple fritter bread I found the recipe for online. Om-nom-nom. If it gives me duck lips, so be it! 🫦💋👄

Have a great day!

[V]

Morning.

I intended to do lots of the things yesterday. I napped instead. Then went to yoga. Then went to bed.

[gadgetgirlil]

Happy Holiday Weekend Eve!

Heading out for a bike ride with my friend today. Hope I can keep up with her as I'm pretty sore from yesterday's yard work. I started around 7:30am and finished (ran out of energy) at 2:30pm. 2 bags of yard waste. I did not get mulch. I will do that today. OMG the cicadas are little aliens. I seriously do not remember them 17 years ago but maybe that was during the time of finishing up my masters degree so I was ignoring our yard? I posted a couple of pictures from yesterday. I was co-existing with them fine until one decided to hitchhike on my hair and follow me into the house. I shrieked when it crawled onto my neck. It did make it safely back outside onto a bush and my heartrate finally came down hours later. I was much more careful to do a check when I came into the house for the last time yesterday. Other than putting down the mulch today, I'm done with working in the yard until the cicadas are done. I actually got 95% of what I wanted to do finished so it will be fine to ignore the yard for a few weeks. I will get flowers for the pots on my patio tomorrow.

My plans for post-conference in June have been altered. My dear friend in Virginia's husband had major surgery recently to remove a mass from his pancreas. It will be a long recovery so this is not the summer to have houseguests. I pray he recovers fully. I know just enough about the pancreas from teaching about it this semester to know how serious this is. I'm sure it is a strain on her to be a caregiver again. Her mother passed a couple years ago after a lot of illnesses and that was very draining for her too.

Instead I will visit a friend on Sunday after the conference ends who lives up by Dayton and then head over to Hocking Hills to spend a few days hiking. I just got my hotel reserved. I will drive back home on the 4th of July. I figure that everyone should be at their destinations by the actual holiday so the roads should be fine.

Have a great day!

[sherrydorlando2]

Good Morning ladies:
Yesterday turned out to be an awesome choice. I had 4 cheese toasted cheese and Fr onion soup of which I had half and then half for dinner. Today is several errands in and around the house. Trip to Publix for meds/BOGO's. Trip to school to drop ZM at her friends house (by me).
Can you smell the weekend from here??

[newmoose]

Good morning!

I am 99% packed for our big weekend of Rooster Walk. I need to bathe and dress and tidy up the house a bit before leaving.

We won trivia last night again. Once we got home we got to talk for a bit with DS2. He is so excited about our trip. We'll be there in about three weeks!

I hope you all have a great day!

[pepper]

Yaaaayyyyyyyy!!!! Friday!

The day before Memorial Day weekend is fraught with peril at my office. Most of my co-workers were in the military, so most of them had friends and colleagues who came to a bad end and should be remembered on Memorial Day. I need to think of something to post on our message board first thing this morning so one of our young employees doesn’t step in a big steaming pile by saying to the boss, “Have a great Memorial Day!” (They shouldn’t say it to anyone, but the boss won’t be subtle in his response.)

I really want to see the new movie about Amy Winehouse this weekend. That, a mani/pedi, garden volunteering (only one more required hour of volunteer work left!) and some baking are the only things on my schedule. I’ve been mopey all week thanks to a text from a former flame last Sunday. I need to shake it off and do fun things.

Have a great day!

[gadgetgirlil]

TGIF!

Lots of good yesterday. Rode almost 30 miles with my dear friend and we got everything figured out for my bike trip that likely will start 6/3 (pending final forecast of winds and precipitation). I'm parking at her parent's house in Rochester, MN. My friend will ride part way with me on that first day and then I will backtrack about 10 miles with her so that she only has 9 miles to ride solo. That will give her a 40 mile day and me a 62 mile day. She is perfectly capable of riding solo but doesn't carry all the bike tire repair stuff that I have with me. This option feels much better for both of us as doing 2 @ 50 mile days with an overnight in Wabasha was a bit more than she wanted to tackle. It was delightful weather for our ride and I took her on some paths that she hadn't been on before.

Then I got lunch at one of my favorite BBQ places a few miles east of where we met up. Beef brisket and fries. Their fries are always fresh and never undercooked. I always eat all the fries and just half the meat. The rest of the meat I will have today with the baked beans and corn cobette.

Came home, did a quick change and bought 12 bags of mulch that I even managed to get spread! Today I will go to the nursery for plants for the pots on our patio. I also want to get their opinion on what ground cover will grow under our big spruce as I'm tired of the weeds. I've been very happy with the pachysandra that I planted a few years ago for another problem area on the east side of our property. It has filled in very nicely and has turned an eyesore into an attractive spot. But I don't think it will grow under a spruce in acidic soils.

I also finally got my contract yesterday. Not surprised to see language that gives the university an out on the pay rate since the budget hasn't been approved yet. But at least I know I will be employed through 5/31/25. No mention of a summer stipend, which is fine with me. I will let some key people know that I will not be working this summer. I will occasionally check email but won't go out of my way to respond. I will let my department chair know at the end of August that I will not be going through the 5-year review process as those materials are due 9/15. She has enough other headaches trying to rebalance the fall schedule to fill in gaps now that we have 3 less faculty members (1 had already announced his resignation before everything blew up, the other two were laid off).

I'm meeting with my financial guy this morning to figure out the best strategy to start taking withdrawals from my retirement accounts next summer. I have 3 bigger pots of money and want to be strategic to make sure they last me for a long time. I don't plan to take social security until at least age 67, maybe age 70. Anyone have that crystal ball that will tell you when you will die? I really want to maximize how much I get paid out from the government but know that is an actuarial problem which has that unknown variable of your actual date of death.

I have a LOT to do this weekend to be ready for my bike tour on 6/3! I will fit in another ride with a friend on Monday (the one I rode with last Sunday) and we are getting together with our friends tomorrow for lunch. Sunday looks like it will rain all day so a good time to work on finding all my gear for my trip.

Have a great day!

[sherrydorlando2]

Good Morning Ladies:
Happy Friday and hope you have off Monday as well. Going out to lunch with a friend to a cute place "Yellow Dog Eats". Quirky, fun and delicious and a wonderful bakery selection. I have several things to get done today...LOL...or not... Yesterday was Publix for meds and BOGO's. Need a trip to Aldi soon too as I refuse to pay $1.19 for green beans when Aldi charges $.63, I use one can every day for the babies.