Norms Bait and Tackle

[FlaJean]

Mary Ann, my casserole turned out pretty good and I did decide to use sharp cheddar.

[Denver]

Good evening.....
My goodness you all were pretty chatty since the last time I came in....I love it! 

I think I have a post missing.....I know I posted Friday evening telling about Dr. Dave dropping Grandson Luke off to spend a couple of days with us while he and Matt went to Vail to ski!  They were on the road for a few hours and the traffic was going nowhere, so they turned around and came back home.  They were disappointed, but Dave was pleased that he could get a lot of things done at home.  Kate and Michele were away all weekend at a dance competition for Kate.  Now the following words will make more sense. 

We were away most of the afternoon and evening yesterday.  Dave had quite a few tasks to accomplish so he needed some help and Bob was more than happy to do it.  They moved the family room furniture down stairs to the new TV room and then hung the huge new TV.  Dave ordered the Mc Gragore vs The Cowboy fight and we watched it on the new TV.  I felt like I was right there ring side. I do not care one bit about boxing or what ever they call this fighting now.....I am a lover NOT a fighter❣️

We ended up not going to Granddaughter Kate's dance competition.  It was available on line and on the TV on YouTube, so we enjoyed it off and on all weekend long.  I worried about Michele as they have very long days there.  Yesterday they were up at 5:30 AM as Kate had to be dressed and made up to dance  by 8AM, and then they did not get back to their hotel room until after 11 PM.  Much too much for Michele.  This is the dance competition that they were at last year when Michele had the scare with numbness on her total left side and was rushed to the hospital and the brain tumors were discovered. 😩

MARY ANN, happy to read about the birthday / going away party.  How nice you were able to take the girls downstairs to play the piano.

My oldest five grands have all taken a few years of piano, but only Luke, Dave's youngest son plays now and continues taking lessons.  He loves it....writes his own songs and continues to amaze his piano teacher! We are all very proud of him. 

AMY, I know you must be so relieved when you hear from your son and he has safely arrived at his delivery location....but most of all when he arrives home!

MARILYNE, I am sorry the shopping was not much fun at the Hallmark Store. 

JEAN, thank you for asking about my Dad.  His arm has healed quite well and the doctor is very pleased,  He has a home care nurse that comes to see him twice a week, but now she is done.  When Dave and Family visited Dad a couple of weeks back they thought he is doing very well mentally but Diane, his live in lady friend says he is in full blown Alzheimer's.  He seems good when I talk to him everyday, but has shown some short term memory loss at times.

We are still watching the 49ers beating the Packers and I sure do not want to loose this post, so think I will say goodnight! 

Pleasant dreams to all.

Jenny 

[Vanilla-Jackie]

Jenny...
... if you see this before you leave to go to bed i have sent you an email...

Jackie..

[SCFSue]

Good morning, Bait and Tacklers.  It's a chilly morning here in Auburn.  I have had breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, but need to get dressed and get outside for my daily walk.  We won't have trash pick up today because of the MLK holiday so I don't have to rush outside to put out my trash containers. 

Not much else going on here in Auburn this morning.  I hope to get a load of laundry started and then get out for my morning walk   Have a nice day, Every One!

Sue

[Sandy]

Good Monday Morning Everyone,
from the Sunny and Clear, 
rocky coast of !.   So not
a good day to go for a stroll. 

But my shades are open to allow
the Sun to shine in and brighten
up my apartment!

I am working on getting set up to
watch Netflix,  Hulu, Showtime, Prime,
CBS All Access, Acorn and YouTube
for the next few weeks,  since our
local channels are going to be
hijacked by the Senate Trial.   
Waste of time,  IMHO. 

I would rather watch soaps.
 

Have a great day, everyone and enjoy
it while it last. 

Oh yes,  and:

[Mary Ann]

I slept a bit later this morning because it took me longer to get asleep.  Thus, I think I am here a bit later.  The fact there were no posts may have had something to do with that, too.

I know there will be no mail, but I'm not sure how the city will honor MLKJr.  Where I live is not in the city and without newspapers these days, it is hard to find mention of anything honoring anyone.  Sue, you are smart to take your walk in the morning before the weather gets too warm.

Good morning, Jackie, I saw your post this morning although I know it's afternoon for you. 

I think I'm not awake yet so I'll be back later when I'm more awake.

Mary Ann

[MarsGal]

That is a lovely poster, Sandy. Thanks for posting it.

[Sandy]

Thank you Marsgal! !!

[Marilyne]

My Seniors and Friends is messed up this morning.  I can't get the font size to work.  When I do what I always do to get font size and color, it immediately jumps to a completely blank page.  I'll be back later in hopes that things will fixed? 

[Mary Ann]

Marilyn, I'll see what happens here.  There is a note at the top of the folder that Oldiesmann has made some changes.

Mary Ann

[CallieOK]

Merry Monday.  All of my information is in a panel on the side. Otherwise, things seem to be okay.

[RAMMEL]

   CallieOK  --- There are two little check boxes just below the coffee pot at the top. They control the "Side Panel" and the "Shout Box".

[CallieOK]

Found them, Rammel. Thanks.

[Marilyne]

I've always used Safari Browser, but just downloaded Chrome, and the drop-down font size, seems to be working fine.
Everything else on all my other Safari bookmarks seems to be okay, so I guess maybe the upgrade this morning "jiggled" something in the size font?   So now I have to decide if I want to put all of my bookmarks on Chrome, or leave them on Safari?  Sounds like a big pain in the neck to me, so I'll decide later.         

[angelface555]

Good afternoon. Nothing is going on here other than cleaning out my browser and uploading the saved portions to Dropbox. Other than that, my Kindle is getting a workout.

 Marilyne, Google search and Chrome Browser are known as spyware by many tech sites. You will soon see a number of adverts tailored not only to your searches and browser activity but also adapted to your email subjects. If you use an adblocker, this might not be readily apparent.  After reading several articles about this on various tech sites, last fall I switched to Firefox which has privacy built-in and also to Duckduckgo for a search engine with privacy built-in. I still use Gmail even tho its keylogged by Google because I have yet to find an email with as many services and I've had it for years, almost my entire time on the Internet. Here is one example,

http://www.favbrowser.com/google-chrome-spyware-confirmed/

Opera is a great browser, fast yet simple. Unfortunately, it doesn't as yet have the services I prefer.

[FlaJean]

Brrrr, it is finally feeling like winter. Supposed to go down to 29° tonight.  But it has been a sunny day.

We have 4 seasons here, although winter is mild in comparison to places we have lived in the past.  We don't have to worry about shoveling snow, but we do have to temporarily wrap our outdoor spigots, the pump we use for watering, and put our potted plants in the garage when we get what they call here a "hard freeze".  This only happens a few times during the winter.  We have had unusually warm until now.

Not much going on here.  Everything is quiet.  I trust everyone is having a good day.

[CallieOK]

Merry Monday,

Sunny and not too cold in central Oklahoma. However, cold rain and maybe some sleet/snow is predicted for Wednesday.  Wouldn't you know that's when I'll need to be out and about. 

I've been sorting and shredding papers from files I no longer need to keep but had let stack up.
  Discovered that contents of a full shredder bin will fit into a large grocery sack (and can then be recycled). 
Now if I could just figure out how to keep from dumping half of it on the floor and having to sweep.....  

[Tomereader1]

I think I remember our City Garbage/Recycling won't pick up "shredded" paper.  I'll have to double check that.  Makes me mad when I spill parts of the shreds on the floor too.

[CallieOK]

A different company picks up recycle things every two weeks (separate bin from trash).    ]New info at first of year said we could put shredded papers in a paper sack.  I stapled the top shut and labeled it. We shall see.[/size]

[Mary Ann]

I've never heard anything about our company not taking shredded paper.  We put it in the regular trash bag which is tied shut and they've always taken it.  We didn't get any notice (yet) about a delay this week.  Our regular pickup is on Friday and the same company comes earlier every two weeks to get the recycle stuff.  Tom takes care of recycle and I take care of the regular trash.  Teamwork!

It's been a quiet day and supposed to go down to 11 degrees tonight; it's 25 now.  Later in the week, we'll have highs in the mid-30s.  Heat wave!

Mary Ann

[MarsGal]

Our trash hauler no longer takes shredded paper for recycle either. I just shred things that are sensitive now. Also, for several years now, they won't take any electronics in our county. If we want to get rid of electronic items, I have to take them to the county recycle center on the other side of Carlisle (down the dreaded US Rt. 81) and then pay 50 cents a pound for them to take it. So now my electronic items are just siting here. Someday I will have to hire one of the junk haulers to take them away because I avoid can't lift the two TVs.

And now, the state has given municipalities permission to charge extra for storm water management. It looks like I will be paying an additional $22 a quarter on my sewer bill for that "fee". That just about wipes out the increase I go in SS this year. Gee, what a surprise. I am going to be pretty irritated if that money goes towards helping out developers with their storm drainage in places they have no business building. It amazes me how many people build in creek flood planes and then get all upset when they get flooded. Also, I have a beef with those developers who bought up land on the "mountain" in order to build fancy houses. That Ridge is part of a watershed system. I am not happy that water is running off into storm sewers and not soaking into the ground, and I am not happy to look up that way and see houses instead of trees looking back at me. We are losing more local farmland, too, for all the talk about farmland preservation. The last of the Max Hempt's Standard-bred horse farm is going to be paved over for more businesses and apartments, and what have you. Very sad. I used to go watch polo matches there as well as watched the horses practice on the then new and experimental practice track that had been installed in the 60s. Gosh that was a long time ago now. Good memories. Sad, so sad.

[Mary Ann]

As I have said, we put our shredded paper in the trash bags and they go to wherever the trash goes but the paper is not in with the recycled things.  We have a place to take electronics near Rockford and I found one day that my scanner had gone there, I know other things have gone there too.  I don't think the things are automatically trashed but taken apart for usable parts. 

Tom got up early this morning and took Jan to the airport and she is on her way to visit Geoff in California and to see her new grandson born in November.  It's not nice to say, but with her dad gone, Jan has so much more freedom.  Her mother has dementia but she is able to take care of herself.  A nephew lives with them so she has someone there. 

Looking at the thermometer, I see it is 15 degrees now and supposed to go all the way to 30 degrees.  It's only Tuesday and the temps will go a bit higher all week. 

Robin will come today so other than the kitchen and changing my bed, I will find something other for her to do.  She is here three hours.  She does a good job.

Mary Ann

[SCFSue]

Good morning all you Bait and Tacklers.  It's pretty chilly here in Auburn this morning.  We didn't have trash pick up yesterday due to M.L. King holidays.  All our trash men had the day off.  There were several celebrations over at Auburn University in King's memory.   I have a dental appointment at 1:30 this afternoon and a volunteer is picking me up to go to the appointment.  One of the dentists assistants will clean my teeth and the dentist will come in when she has finished, ask about my son Tim, and chat for a bit. 

Not much else going on here today.  Have a nice day, Every One!
Sue

[Marilyne]

MarsGal - The recycling rules change here on a regular basis.  Originally we were told to put our shredded paper in a see-through plastic bag, and make sure it's secured tightly at the top.  That wasn't a good solution, because of course the plastic bags broke almost immediately when dumped with the heavy stuff like cans, bottles,, etc.  Then made a huge mess everywhere.  Then we were told to put the shredded paper, in the secured plastic bag  with the wet garbage.   

As we all know, people will not follow directions, or claim they didn't get the message, so they continue to put the shredded paper with the recycling, or simply dump buckets of loose shredded paper directly into the garbage or recycling bin or into the yard waste.   Makes for a big mess on the streets when the trash is picked up and the shredded stuff flies out and blows everywhere.   Those who follow directions and do the right thing, are way overshadowed by those who don't care, and who feel entitled to do whatever they want.  That's the way of the world I guess? 

MaryAnn - I wish you could send Robin over here, when she finishes working at your place. I have a million things that need doing here in this old house, and I know I'm not able to do them anymore.  AJ does a lot to help me, so I shouldn't complain.  I wish he liked to cook, but he doesn't, so that's out of the question.   Speaking of food, yesterday Sandy came to do her washing, and she brought us a casserole for our dinner last night.  She loves Indian food, and cooks it a lot.  This was chickpeas, carrots, onions cooked for a long time in an Indian curry sauce - served over white rice. It was delicious!  A bit too spicy for me, but I ate it anyway. 

Today she is having an MRI on her wrist, where she has a very large ganglion cyst on the inner side.(palm side).  She is nervous about the MRI, having never had one, and has to go into the whole body "tunnel", even though it's only for her wrist.   She will be positioned on her stomach, and told it will take about 45 minutes!  Unfortunately she is not a calm personality, so I know it will be hard for her to maintain.. 

I'll be back later to comment on messages from Jenny, Jean, Patricia, Callie, Tome, Jackie  and Sue. 
I've written enough for now, and anyway, I have to get ready to go to the grocery store this morning. Every Tuesday is Senior Day, at Lunardi's, our locally owned supermarket. Ten percent off of your entire purchase, which is a pretty good savings.  They have beautiful and fresh produce, plus a  great bakery with all sorts of delicious goodies.  I'll try to resist, but will probably buy way too much.

[Mary Ann]

Marilyn, you might not want Robin to cook for you as she is a health nut.  Tom says he loves to cook, but he doesn't cook!  I thought we were going to lunch today to the D&W Fresh Market deli but Tom went with one of his friends so I imagine we'll go to the deli tomorrow.  I need some substantial food, not hot dogs, hamburgers or soup.  I've got to get in the mood to do some cooking myself because right now there is nothing in this place that I want to eat.  I know there is one lasagna and I ordered it, but I'm not fond of it either, compared to chili.  It's a last resort for me.  And we're almost there!  I have eaten often at Robin's and it's always tasty, it's enough, but it isn't what I want.  For Thanksgiving we had chicken, not turkey.  I like chicken but I can get that any time.  I eat sandwiches a lot when we eat out because the tables and booths are too high for my comfort.  I want to go to Cheers one of these days to get some of their goulash that lasts for at least four meals - and is very good - and doesn't cost a lot - $10  Gripe!  Gripe!  Gripe!

We are up to 29 degrees now and that may be our high. 

I watched two ships on the St Clair River this morning, going in opposite directions to their winter quarters.  I understand there will be a couple more.  I am sure if the lakes remain open, there will be some shipping.  Nothing at the Soo.

Mary Ann

[CallieOK]

Good Afternoon - or it will be by the time I finish this 

Our regular trash is picked up once a week and shredded material could go out in a regular trash bag.  Several years ago, the city hired a separate company to pick up recycle items and issued everyone a separate bin to put out every two weeks. We get a notice in our city utilities bill of the recycle truck schedule and information on what we can put in.

This year, we can no longer put in some plastic items (like yogurt cups) but at the end of the extensive paper list it says "Shredded material should be put in paper sacks".  Doesn't say to seal it shut but I stapled mine so the shredded stuff doesn't blow out.
This will be the first time I've tried putting shredded material in the recycle so we'll see what happens.

Have been to my standing hair appointment, Braum's Dairy Store and Walgreen's.  Now waiting on housecleaner and Orkin lady to show up - which they'll probably do at the same time.  That's fine.

Wishing all the Baiters and Tacklers A Beautiful Tuesday.

[MarsGal]

Marilyne, I don't recall our trash company stipulating that the shredded paper be still put in a separate bag than the regular garbage. I do anyway because it is handier. I just remember that they said recycle wasn't accepting it anymore.

I am glad you got to see some ships MaryAnn. I missed all of them because they showed up while I was out, except for Algonorth. That one I could have watched on Boatnerd as it docked, but didn't bother. Did you notice on BoatNerd yesterday that Manitowoc (I think I spelled that right) was getting some crane action. It has been sitting there for quite a while so I figured it had some work being done on it. They did a fix a month or so ago, she then took a trip or two and came back and has been sitting there ever since.

[Denver]

A good Tuesday HELLO to ALL,

It is dreary out today.....no sunshine makes me dreary too!  Not much to say either. 

Yesterday Kurt and friends came down from Vail after their nice ski weekend .  Bob took the light rail to the airport to meet them and drove Kurt's car back home here.  Kurt and Family will be here over Presidents' Day from a Boston and we will repeat this process of getting the car to them. 

Bob has been very dizzy when getting up the past couple of days, so I have been a bit worried about him....unfortunately he even fell yesterday morning after getting up and turning too quickly.  He is being more careful now making sure he moves slowly especially when getting up.  I did not want him to drive but he is fine unless he is getting up and moving too quickly.  He did just have a bout with a head cold and I feel this might be associated to his ears, but we will not mess around with it if it continues. 

MARY ANN, I did not feel you were griping.....I just read it to be sharing your frustration over wanting a substantial meal....and that maybe you wish Tom would do some cooking...after all, if he enjoys cooking let's see him do it!!!  How exciting for Jan to be going to see the new grandson. 

MARILYNE, I do hope Sandy did OK with the MRI, and she will get the word on what can be done about the ganglion cyst.  Seems strange they would have to do a whole body scan to figure this out. 

I must run....we have to head out to pick up some prescriptions so Bob can fill our pill containers......what a job that can be! 

Have a good rest of your day.

Jenny

[Marilyne]

Jenny - That is NOT good news about Bob, having the dizzy spell!  Maybe it would be good to have the doc check him out, even if he feels good?   I'm wondering if he takes a diuretic for high blood pressure?  I take one, and the warnings on the container say that it can cause dizziness.  I've never been bothered by it, but mine is the lowest dose,  12.5 mg, so wouldn't be likely to cause a problem.   I hope that Michele didn't overdo this past weekend, at Kate's dance competition?  I can understand that she wanted to be there for Kate, but it must be very hard on  her now.  I admire her for going anyway, and I hope that Kate's  dance group, did well, and won some of the awards?    I was happy to hear that grandson Luke, is musical, and plays the piano!  It seems to be a rare talent in today's world, and I know that Dave and Michele will encourage him to keep it up. How old are the three grandchildren now?  I know Kate is the youngest, but I don't remember the ages of the boys?

Patricia - Thanks for the information on the Chrome browser. I didn't even know it was a Google browser, until it was downloaded, and all sorts of Google ads and offers came up immediately!  So far I just have Seniors & Friends as my only Chrome bookmark.  I hesitated to begin loading anything else,  so I'm still using my Safari.  AJ has Firefox, and is happy with it.  The only reason I didn't download Firefox yesterday, was that Oldiesmann suggested Chrome.  He was helping me try to figure out why I was unable to use the drop-down feature on S&F, when everything else was working as it always did?   It was, and still is, a puzzle . . .  so he suggested I try downloading Chrome.  It started working fine on that browser, and it also works fine on AJ's Firefox.  So I will now download Firefox, and will get rid of Chrome ASAP. 

Callie - Braum's Dairy Store, sounds like a nice old fashioned market?  We had one here near us years ago called, The Milk Farm Dairy Store.  I used to love going in there, because it was kind of like going back in time to the 1940's.  It closed in 1999, right before we entered the new century.

Mary Ann - I'm used to health nuts, so I would probably get along fine with Robin, and her cooking!  Sandy is a health nut, and Heaven forbid that she eats or drinks anything with sugar in it!     Recently she has become a  vegetarian, which is why she happened to make the Indian curry/chickpea dish, that she brought over yesterday.   
She did do fine with her MRI today.  Although she had to lie on her stomach, she said the table had a soft feel, like a bed, and there was a pillow, so she was reasonably comfortable for the procedure.

[Mary Ann]

After Robin finished cleaning today, she, Tom and I went to a Mexican restaurant.  I am not fond of spicy food so am reluctant to try some ethnic food.  I have been to this restaurant before with Tom and with both of them. I had a small burrito without the beans (Tom took them) and it was good; it could have been part enchilada, but whatever it was, I would order it again. I got home in time to watch Finding Your Roots and thought it was very interesting tonight - all three were Jewish.  The people always find out something in their background they did not know, nor did any of their families.

MarsGal, I look at the map of the ships to see if any ships are around.  I really don't expect to see any, but when I do, it is a pleasant surprise.  I like to read the chat below the screen. 

Jenny, I would be concerned too about Bob's dizziness.  I'd be worried about his driving too. 

Marilyn, I take a diuretic  with my BP med, 25 mg, and I have not had any trouble (knock on wood). 

It's a cold night, but what can we expect in January?  I hope we have a mild winter this  year, but what does it matter to me?

I asked James and Alicia about getting a keyboard for the twins for their third birthday next month.  I was surprised when they said I could get one.  Amazon has some at very reasonable prices, ones I feel would hold up for a while but would not cost an arm and a leg.  I am not sure which one to get so I'll consult with Tom and James.
 
Mary Ann