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Post by gadgetgirlil on Jun 25, 2024 3:50:54 GMT -5
Greetings!
Crappy night of sleep as I woke up with a leg cramp just before midnight, then there was some thunder, then DH got up to check the weather, then the brain started swirling, blah blah blah. Finally fell back asleep only to be jolted awake by my alarm at 3am. Sigh.
Off to the Cincinnati area soon. I will hike today at East Fork State Park to get more North Country Trail miles. I'll fit in another hike tomorrow before driving to downtown Cincinnati where the conference for work is. I'll be there for 4 nights. Then I will be heading to the Hocking Hills State Park area on Sunday after the conference ends. I will be fitting in a visit with a dear friend who is in the Dayton area on my way to my hotel.
I got the permit yesterday from the Ohio DNR so I can explore a couple of state natural areas on 4th of July before I drive home. You had to apply for the permit 14 days in advance and I learned about these areas exactly 14 days from the end of my stay!
Okay, off to try to cram the proverbial 10 lbs of crap into a 5 lb bag. The parking for the hotel in downtown Cincinnati isn't attached to the hotel so I'm trying to arrange my stuff for the conference into the least number of bags as I don't want the make more than 2 trips from the parking garage to the hotel. I refuse to use valet parking plus it is $40/night. Bad enough I will have to pay $30/night.
Have a great day!
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pepper
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Post by pepper on Jun 25, 2024 5:25:10 GMT -5
Howdy!
Nothing to report here. It’s hot.
Have a good day!
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Cyn
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Posts: 31,495
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Post by Cyn on Jun 25, 2024 7:06:14 GMT -5
Hi, Tracking streak continues. Some annoying stuff going on w my finance guy, ugh. Hopefuly it can all be done today. Giant storm on the way, after heavy wind and t/l rain in the overnight. I hope my little bird friends in exposed areas over at South Pond and the night heron rookery are ok. I kept my bargain with myself and deleted the Nonogram game off of my phone last night! Ooops, here comes the thunder. TTFN.
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Jun 25, 2024 8:13:49 GMT -5
Good Morning Ladies: This afternoon is book club at Perkins. I plan to have a small breakfast rather than than pie (like we usually get). Just going for the social time..hated the book "Florida". First off I don't like short stories for BC. Like there is not time to discuss 10--and all of them seemed to have no ending. Oh well, sometimes you have to kiss a pig.
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Post by newmoose on Jun 25, 2024 9:34:07 GMT -5
Good morning!
No alarm this morning and am running late to check out.
We found the perfect place last night. Sports, dog friendly, food, fun people.
In a bit we are headed home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you all have a great day!
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Post by V on Jun 25, 2024 9:52:16 GMT -5
Morning.
Yesterday was triple digits. Deck Guy got the railings and floor and steps torn out. He left shortly after I got home in the afternoon. I'm not certain if he plans to come back today to drill holes and set the posts or save that for next week. The railing that was there is now cut off but needs removed so that I can paint the spots underneath before the new smaller metal railing is installed. And the area previously shaded by the deck needs to be power washed so that I can paint it to protect the surface of the wood before he starts building. I still have not gotten on the ladder to finish that eave. Dammit.
Something I don't know and need to ask is about the skirting at the bottom or if the deck will be left open underneath - about 2.5-3' off the ground level. I think I'll be ok with it left open (since I don't remember any materials being priced to do that) and it would be a nice shady shelter area for storage of furniture or a place for Ripley to enjoy the shade. I could fill the area with a bedding mulch to prevent the weeds and have a soft-ish not muddy area for the option. I could even spread a rock barrier near the foundation of the house so that the mulch material did not encourage bugs to nest. The only real issue that I have noticed with bugs is wasps like to nest in all of our can lights on the front and back porches. I knocked out several old and active nests while painting, but there were a ton under the deck and there are several in the garage - both paper wasps and mud daubers. I'm not worried about them or allergic, but they would definitely impact the enjoyment of the area.
Ripley seems content in her ignorance with the blinds pulled. She has a safe area with no access to spots where she could get out. She's not one for jumping a fence or digging anyway. When we moved her to our new yard and underground fencing area 5 years ago, she had accidentally jumped the wire and ran to our old yard (with a deactivated fence). She was worried because she knew she was out of "her" yard when we brought her to our new yard. Even without the electric fence working, she didn't go wandering. MG is much less confident in her staying in the yard. And he is worried about animals coming into our yard like the chihuahuas next door or the constantly roaming dogs from a block away. The other neighborhood animals and Draco's tendency to roam near the end are why we built the enclosure in the first place. But MG doesn't like it when the 22yo takes her for a walk as he isn't confident that YMV can safely handle her. BAMFER
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Post by gadgetgirlil on Jun 26, 2024 3:38:49 GMT -5
Greetings from Mount Orab, OH!
Just one night here since I will be heading over to Cincinnati this morning after I hike a few more miles. The conference is at a convention center in downtown. I'm really not looking forward to dealing with getting into the downtown area today as rain/storms are forecast to start just about the time I arrive. Sigh.
I'm glad I decided to drive down a day early as it would have been tough to have been on time for the first session today with my 5+ hour drive from home. I didn't get to the trailhead yesterday until 11:45am (I lost an hour due to the time change).
Nice state park! Very few bugs which was surprising. But all the creek beds were dry so maybe that is what is helping? Perhaps right on the shore of the lake the bugs are bad but the trail only loosely followed the lake giving just a few glimpses of the water through the trees. I'll go back to where I parked yesterday and hike west this time. I'll do another out and back.
It is very hot and humid so there was much sweating yesterday. It is a little cooler this morning but still not in my preferred temperature range.
Have a great day!
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pepper
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Posts: 12,200
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Post by pepper on Jun 26, 2024 5:41:22 GMT -5
Howdy!
My car is getting an oil change and $hiny new brake pad$ today. Yay?
I think I’m going to build a work bench. I’ve found plans for one that will be good for a first project.
Have a great day!
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Jun 26, 2024 7:26:56 GMT -5
Good Morning Ladies: No book club yesterday. Just as well...I didn't like the book. But, too many were sick/etc. Tonight is my other book club anyway. I have to come home from dentist and make red lobster biscuit mix sausage balls for that one. Plus the book was great. The Midnight Library. Plus I am reading The Four Winds and it is great.
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Post by V on Jun 26, 2024 11:35:06 GMT -5
Morning.
Busy-ish day here. Not frustratingly so, but enough to keep me hopping. Overnight we had some pretty severe storms roll through with high winds. None of my circle was impacted beyond a little yard cleanup. But power was out for most of the county for several hours as 7 different power interruptions wreaked havoc. It interrupts the trains as a boxcar was blown atilt so they had to come in super slow at "walking speed" to get it fixed.
Last night the deck guy went over what he needed to do today with me. That meant I needed to have painted at least a portion of newly exposed siding before he could continue. I was able to get it all done in a couple of hours rather than leave anything for later. I was pretty happy that I could tear through it that fast. I still have that blasted eave to attack. Maybe I need to plan a project for that corner so that I have the same motivation to finish. LOL MG didn't think that option was nearly as funny as I did.
This afternoon is a Rah Rah class at the end of my shift and for an hour of two afterward. The class is called How We Win Together. If they cover ethics, the manager that fired me and outright lied in the hearing better not show his weasel face or he may get a frank and open discussion about trying to lecture me on ethical behavior. Other than that, they're buying me lunch and paying me overtime. So yay?
The storm last night seemed to have taken some of the bite out of the heat, so I may actually be able to get on the ladder later this afternoon, too. Wish me luck.
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Post by V on Jun 26, 2024 11:36:53 GMT -5
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Post by newmoose on Jun 26, 2024 11:39:00 GMT -5
Happy Wednesday from HOME!!!!
I did exactly what I wanted this morning and that was sleep in, read some, go back to sleep, get up and read some more, rest a bit more. I may actually put real clothes on at some point today.
I must put together a grocery list to get us through the next couple of days. Saturday will be a big buy after going to the FM and the butcher.
I hope you all have a wonderful day!
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Post by gadgetgirlil on Jun 27, 2024 4:57:20 GMT -5
Greetings from Cincinnati!
Once again I managed to dodge the rain and had a very pleasant hike before I headed to the conference. A few pictures are on FB. It really is a lovely state park and I'm glad that I could hike parts of it.
The drive downtown went smoothly and I had no problems getting my parking space. I'm so used to being out in rural areas on my trips that so much density in urban areas gives me sensory overload. The conference has setup "recharge rooms" so I took a few minutes to eat my lunch that I grabbed from Subway (blech - but there aren't many options) before heading to my afternoon session. The afternoon session was long but there was some useful information that I gleaned from it.
The hotel claimed that I would be able to get an electronic key through their app and could skip the front desk. Well, that didn't go at all as planned and I had the absolutely worst ever check in experience in all my years of traveling. First the app said that the front desk needed to see my id. The line to check in snaked through the lobby. Literally, the lines were so bad that it took over 45 minutes to get to a clerk. After about 15 minutes the app suddenly said my digital key was available so I headed up to my room. NOPE. The damn thing wouldn't work. After staring at the door for about 5 minutes, a housekeeper happened along and let me in. So I dropped of my backpack and conference bag and headed down first to the parking garage to get another load of stuff. Back in line again. It is still crawling along. Then I moved to a different line and still waited a very long time. When I got to the clerk, she told me that I should have just come directly to the desk. Oh sure, I'm going to cut in lime that has about 100 people? This time I just asked for regular room keys and those worked. I finally was in my room at 5:30pm after starting the whole process at 4:10pm. I was not the only person who had issues with the digital keys.
Now I'm late for the volunteer assignment which was to check if signs were taken down. I dashed back to the conference center. The first room was fine, the second was not. So I took down the sign and got it the information booth and messaged the person coordinating volunteers. Back to my hotel for the second load of stuff from my car. Back up to my room. I needed more ice for my big cooler in the car. Ice machine on my floor isn't working. Finally found a working machine on the floor above. You can't use the stairs so you have to keep dealing with crowded elevators. Back down to the car with the ice. Then dashed back to the conference center to meet up with a colleague from another university. I made it with 2 minutes to spare.
My dinner was 4 fun size Snickers bars that I grabbed from the tables in the room where I had to take down the sign. I had been in that room earlier for my session and they had put out candy. I didn't eat any during the session, which is a huge accomplishment.
After the keynote address, I finally got back to my room and got everything unpacked. My room is actually quite spacious and lovely. I have a real closet!! They provide full size bottles of shampoo, condition and body lotion! I was finally in bed at 9pm. I slept okay although I think the Subway lunch didn't agree with my guts and there was an unplanned dash to the bathroom at midnight. I'll be back to just the food I brought with me today.
I'm heading down to check out the fitness center before getting a shower and heading to my first session at 9am.
Have a great day!
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pepper
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Posts: 12,200
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Post by pepper on Jun 27, 2024 5:33:20 GMT -5
Howdy! V thanks for the tip about the work bench. I ordered it. I hope it arrives before July 4 so I can spend my day off putting it together. Then I’ll get started on making a little table. I’m doing a course called, “The Weekend Woodworker.” It has 6 projects that teach different woodworking skills. He does a very good job of explaining every tool and every process. It’s kind of an ugly little table, but I can either find a use for it or donate it. I had an awful time focusing yesterday and didn’t get much work done. I’m blaming the ice cream I had for dinner the night before. Sugar really throws me for a loop lately — I get tired, anxious, and just can’t focus. I solved that by having fried chicken for dinner last night. Follow me for more healthy eating tips. 😝 Have a great day!
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Cyn
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Posts: 31,495
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Post by Cyn on Jun 27, 2024 6:17:06 GMT -5
Hi, Week 6 weight tracking. Back down this week, -1.4. Tracking streak continues. Still amassing ingredients for the new salad, who knew it would be so hard to find nice Italian parsley at this time of year? I was too late to stop at the FM on the way home. Grrrr.
It's 61° out right now, I'm throwing on clothes to get out for a cool walkabout this morning. Yesterday's walk w Mr Wheelie to Aldi was ghastly. Happily, I had one of my cooling towels with me!
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Post by V on Jun 27, 2024 6:58:14 GMT -5
Morning. It. Is. DONE. Yesterday I slapped the last of the eaves with a coat, dabbed a spot of two where I had dripped, and put the lid back on. The guy set the posts for the deck support. It's amazing to be done with that project on my end. There are other projects in the queue, but the first step is complete. Pics to follow. I went to YF's place for a run after finishing up last night and we went 2 miles. The new program has started us back at square one. With the heat and our lack of bothering to do much, even a small step made it doable. The program only got us a mile out, so we walked another just to make the loop. It was late in the evening when I got there and pretty much dark by the time we finished up. The weather had still been hot yesterday, but once the sun went down it was bearable. I don't know what I have in store for tonight. I should probably think about it. I might look at the back shed (the next project) and see about stapling up some tar paper. I forgot to mention the Rah Rah class yesterday. Weasel Manager did not come into the class after all. In fact, he had walked by and the comment was made that when he heard me talking he walked just a little faster. The manager teaching the class was very good humored about my contributions to the class. It was all about expanding the business base (not something that us grunts actually do) and informing us of things like metrics regarding service disruptions, car loadings, and percentages of coal versus other types of goods. The things we actually affect, like the amount of time a train is stopped to change crews, were also discussed, but I pointed out that the delays were not on the crews but the issues with paperwork not being available or dispatcher communication or issues with the equipment. Again, none of which us grunts can affect or change. It went about how I had expected it to go and I got 45 min of overtime and a free lunch. yay. Deck progress. You can see by the grass/dirt how much larger it will be.
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Jun 27, 2024 7:47:17 GMT -5
Good Morning Ladies: Yesterday was dentist and he told me I had a marvelously gorgeous, healthy set of teeth and mouth. At my age any compliment is accepted and appreciated. Book club was great last night. Nice pot luck included. Today is what we all call our once a quarter Museum day. Breakfast at a prissy place..then two museums (with new exhibits); then lunch at a new place followed by the big museum downtown.
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Cyn
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Posts: 31,495
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Post by Cyn on Jun 27, 2024 9:18:15 GMT -5
V, did that weasel manager get caught lying?
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Post by newmoose on Jun 27, 2024 9:57:42 GMT -5
Good morning!
I did absolutely nothing constructive yesterday. I ate leftover pizza and made tacos for dinner. Not a vegetable was harmed in the making of either meal. DH did buy salad stuff, I just didn't see it until after I had eaten.
Today is go to the chiropractor and GN. I am so ready for my adjustment to happen.
I hope I didn't make WF mad yesterday. She texted and I took forever to answer. I just had no energy to deal with other people yesterday.
All my cats are in the house and doing well. Poor little Mia was covered in fleas! She is an indoor cat! I guess she had them before we left. DH thought he had given her flea meds, but he must not have gotten it down on her skin. I gave her a bath yesterday--so sad! Poor baby looked like a drowned rat when she was soaking we.
I hope you all have a wonderful day!
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Post by gadgetgirlil on Jun 28, 2024 4:40:49 GMT -5
Greetings!
The fitness center for the hotel is a REAL fitness center in the basement of the building! It is not operated by the hotel, but guests can use it. It is very large and fully stocked with everything I could want. Sort of makes up for the horrid check in experience. I will be back down there tomorrow and Sunday.
This morning is a 5K down by the riverfront. Then I'm going on a tour of a local medical school. Then there is a lunch meeting and after the exhibit hall stuff in the afternoon, the medical school that I work with closely is hosting a dinner at a Mexican restaurant for advisors. Busy day!
Yesterday's sessions were good although I got a bit distracted with an issue with a new addendum for one of our hospitals. Lots of emails but it finally got moved forward late yesterday so hopefully my student will be able to shadow there next month.
I was absolutely spent after the last session yesterday and only took a cursory pass through the exhibit hall. I was exhausted so just went back to my hotel and was in bed at 6:30pm. I feel so much better this morning!
Have a great day!
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pepper
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Posts: 12,200
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Post by pepper on Jun 28, 2024 5:36:52 GMT -5
Howdy!
I’m so glad it’s Friday.
I have a funny story to tell on myself. A few weeks ago my boss asked me when our bank account would reach a certain level. I told him June 25. He said if that happens, he will buy me a McDonald’s coffee. (I love McD’s coffee.). We got close to the target level a week ago and he said it’s close enough. Nope, says I. I want a million dollar cup of coffee. Fine, he says. Well, we hit the magic amount on the 25th as I predicted. He called me early that morning and I thought he was out of town so I answered his call with, “WHERE THE HELL IS MY COFFEE??!!” (I can be a smart ass.) He said, “I’m at the McDonald’s down the street, and I’m calling to get your order, smart ass.” Haha! I felt so bad.
I don’t have any real plans for the weekend, assuming I finish my big work project today. Fingers crossed!
Have a great day!
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Cyn
This space for rent
Posts: 31,495
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Post by Cyn on Jun 28, 2024 8:30:06 GMT -5
Happy Butterfat Day, Regina! gadgetgirlil, 🎉💃👑❤️ I hope you have some good GF birthday cake at some point today!
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Jun 28, 2024 8:40:41 GMT -5
Good Morning Ladies: Yesterday was a lot of fun. Breakfast was lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes. Had 1/3 then; 1/3 for dinner and the last 1/3 this am for breakfast. Best I ever tasted. Told you it was a prissy place. Everyone was very pleased. Today I am packing snacks/desserts/drinks/clothes for 3 nights/4 days at the resort for me and DD and grands. She is bring all meals as I am sick of how they handle it..... Hopefully, relaxing and fun. I love the arcade and beat the pants off DGS every time killing dinosaurs. Lots of pool time and hot tub time as I usually don't go when it is this hot.
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Jun 28, 2024 8:41:31 GMT -5
Happy Birthday GG!!!
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Post by newmoose on Jun 28, 2024 8:55:02 GMT -5
Happy Birthday, gadgetgirlil!!!Last night was fun. It was nice to get away from DH for a bit (I am sure he felt the same) and spend time with friends. Tonight we go to baseball. We have several games coming up, so lots of hot dogs for dinner! I hope you all have a great day!
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