Soda Shoppe for December 15, 2021

[Gloria]

Good morning everyone, had agood time yesterday and my little great  grandson was a busy little kid spending time with this one and that one. Never saw his that social before, not a bit of shyness for a change. At 9:15 Friday phone rang and guess what--the cna that was supposed to be here at 9:30 would not be coming. Maybe she was afraid to drive on roads that had icy patches.  Yest erday was cold an rainy at times and today is more of the same. This weather makes my back yell at me. At least I did sleep good last night, first time in almost a week.

CALLIE  your welcome, I have not yet heard of anybody who does not  like the JL cards. I called my daughter on Skype after I got home, with the 3 hour time difference the time is wrong to connect when at my son's home. Was great to talk with those 2 grandsons.

AMY  when I saw tat game in with the Christmas cards I thought everyone can have some fun in the busy time. I know I enjoy a game like that.

SHIRLEY  you would not have liked it here yesterday, cold and damp with rain.

MYCHAEL  like your Day Before Christmas.

LLOYD  hope you had a great Christmas day.

AMY  I would have liked snow yesterday instead of rain. Raining today, too. and not much above freezing.   

JANE  glad you got out to enjoy Christmas with your family. I am with more folks at Christmas than any other time and I come home exhausted with all the noise of everyone talking. Always a good day but now it tires me more than it used to.

TIME to get dressed and do breakfast dishes. Enjoy your day. I just might catch a nap later.

[patricia19]

Good morning from an Interior covered with snow and ice with two more storms predicted. Instead of saying new storms, why not call it what it is, one long continuous snowstorm. People plowed the street and parking lots close to me yesterday. Today you'd believe they hadn't been touched.

It's plus 23 for a low, 37 for a high with snow continuing through this morning, then changing to ice, and ending this afternoon with a storm total of about a foot. The main weather page promises freezing rain with the snow, while the second weather page says no ice is expected. I liked it better as in October of last year, we had one big snow dump, and that was it. Gloria and Shirley, you'd love it here this year.

Jane, contrary to expectations, I learned in one of my psychology classes back in 1969 that those who talk to themselves or plants are more creative, more empathic, and better problem solvers. I'm glad your SIL is improving and not dealing with Covid. We have a lot of cases in this city and another one in our building. The maintenance and security people don't go anywhere with not only masks but rubber gloves and plastic over their shoes or boots. If you publicly say you don't feel well, people literally jump back.

Amy, I have flashlights in the bedroom and front room. How many say front room and how many living rooms? I think the front room comes from my farming relatives. The space used to be called a parlor in the nineteenth century, public areas in front, family rooms in back.

I would love some soup. I haven't cooked that much but am enjoying my stash of organic soups. They taste so much better than regular soups and don't cause issues. Plus, they have more variety.

Good morning Lloyd! I wish I had been able to go somewhere for Christmas. Here not a creature was stirring, not even me on the couch. My local friends aren't going anywhere in this weather, the latest Covid scare, and no one was even walking the halls yesterday. I could be forgiven believing that I had the entire building to myself as it felt that way.

I had already unwrapped any presents beforehand, so yesterday was quiet other than the morning round of phone calls and texts. Friday, a local senior care coalition plus one of the state's largest coal mines had together brought out senior care packages for those over 65. It had been promised earlier in the month but canceled.

I was expecting perhaps a small first aid or sewing kit and perhaps some hard candies. Instead, we received what looked like leftovers from the local food box programs—six cans of almost expired foods and three packages of dried drink mixes. I was disappointed as it certainly didn't take any thought to cobble together some leftover food box items to pass out to seniors and call it a care package. I wouldn't be surprised Monday to see most of the items on the donation table.

My grouchy side is in full fledge this morning.

[CallieOK]

Good afternoon,

Jane and Patricia, I've always talked to myself - maybe because I'm an only child??  When we had a dog, I was sure he would look at me, roll his eyes as if to say, "She's at it again!" and walk away.
I was told that, when I was about 3 - maybe 4 - my Dad scolded me for something and I "sassed" back. When he asked sternly, "What did you say?", I supposedly replied, "I was talking to myself...but I hope you heard me".  Never knew what happened next and don't remember anything about the whole incident.  I suspect he turned away to keep from laughing.

The Grands (plus a boyfriend) and their parents were here last evening.  We did play Mexican Train and the boyfriend joined right in with the fun.

Not much cleaning up to do because family did quite a bit before they left - and took leftovers with them. So, after watching live church service on Facebook video, today is a "leisurely" one.

Wondering why December 26th is called Boxing Day in England. Maybe Jackie can explain if/when she checks in.

[Amy]

So far today has been awesome. Kids came and we exchanged our gifts and they have gone on to the cottage. Lots of leftovers for supper .
Patricia, did you also have a summer kitchen?

Callie, we also have a boxing day here in Canada .

December 26 is not only a day for Santa Claus to catch his breath but a public holiday known as Boxing Day in the United Kingdom and other British Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In spite of its peculiar name, Boxing Day has nothing to do with fisticuffs, the trashing of empty boxes left over from Christmas or the return of unwanted presents to department stores. The term is of British origin, and the Oxford English Dictionary traces its earliest print attribution to 1833, four years before Charles Dickens referred to it in "The Pickwick Papers." The exact roots of the holiday name are unknown, but there are two leading theories, both of which are connected to charity traditionally distributed to lower classes on the day after Christmas.

One idea is that December 26 was the day centuries ago when lords of the manor and aristocrats typically distributed "Christmas boxes" often filled with small gifts, money and leftovers from Christmas dinner to their household servants and employees, who were required to work on December 25, in recognition of good service throughout the year. These boxes were, in essence, holiday bonuses. Another popular theory is that the Boxing Day moniker arose from the alms boxes that were placed in churches during the Advent season for the collection of monetary donations from parishioners. Clergy members distributed the contents of the boxes to the poor on December 26, which is also the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr and a figure known for acts of charity. (Ireland celebrates December 26 as St. Stephen's Day.)

Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1800s and has nothing to do with the sport of boxing.

The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.

Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants - a day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters.

The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families.

[Lloyd Hammond]

well patricia19 and CallieOK I have always been told It Is alright to ask your self a question But Not to answer It your self. If you do both you are considered Crazey. we Had a great day and feed At Our oldest deaughters  home yesterday and brough home plenty of left overs. that is alright except It dose not help the wasteline. I think it would be better If we acled It waste bulge Instead Of Line. Have a good rest of the day. see you all later. Nancy went Over to a grand sons and his wife's House for a birthday Partey. I still Have a too full fealing to go and eat more so I stayed home and Mostely have been watching TV with closed eye Lids. we are under cludy skyes the sun did not stay out Long, the weather guesser is saying 30% chance of rain. see you all later.

Lloyd

[patricia19]

Amy, thank you for that boxing Day information. But, what do you mean by a summer kitchen? I understand the term to mean an outside kitchen set up or barbeque area. I think you're asking per my farming family comments. Both families had large homes with large kitchens and a still room on one side which is today called a  pantry and a place to put the metal milk containers while waiting for the cream to rise.

My folks had a simple white framed in  three-bedroom home with two of the bedrooms on a second floor and a fenced-in yard, very nineteen fifties in appearance.

Lloyd, we have 100 percent chance of rain with our snow predicted.

[Amy]

Patricia, farms in the area that I lived had a summer kitchen and a winter kitchen. Not many farms had A/C so hence a summer one that you could open doors and let the breeze (if any) blow through.  Some did have a woodstove to use then it wasn't heating up the rest of the house. Not all the farms had both....just some.

[CallieOK]

Amy, I know Canada is part of the United Kingdom but tend to forget you would celebrate the same holidays.   Thank you for the explanation of Boxing Day. 

Miss Ellen teases me about Googling locations in NYC connected with her on Google Maps and then "going" up and down the streets on the videos to see where she's been.
Now she has a new reason.  I found ActionKid videos on YouTube and have enjoyed watching his walks through various parts of NYC. Once or twice he's walked past the front of the store where she works.
 
He has concentrated on the wonderful decorations around the Rockefeller Plaza/5th Avenue area during the past week.
I just watched a walk he did yesterday (Christmas Day) in which he walked by the side windows of that store.  I texted her and gave her the information.  She replied that she had done those windows!!!!!  She's coming over tomorrow and I can't wait to hear more about her work there. I thought she just sold clothes!

[Shirley]

I'm jumping in the middle of conversations because MY grandmother's house had a summer kitchen. It was the first room you walked in to from outside (back). My mother explained that Grandma used it to start her plants for the garden (Mother was impressed bacause Grandma even grew her own celery)... it also had a beautiful "pie-safe" by the door to keep baked goods cooler in the summer, but don't remember much else about that large room, but I don't remember a stove in there.

A door led to the "kitchen-kitchen" where Grandma had a wood burning stove and a green & yellow gas or some kind of petroleum type stove. There was a large pantry that was built under their stairs...the stairs going up were double wide so lots of room in that pantry. The wood matches were at the entrance of the pantry door. I do recall smaller tables to work on but not one to eat on in that room.

The last room on the back side of the house was the dining room. Monster table, wonderful carved buffet with a cake stand that seemed to always have her famous Prune Cake. It was my nightmare because we weren't allowed to say "no, thank you"... only, "A small piece, thank you". I still shudder at all the stuff that went into that cake. In one corner was another wood burning stove with the plate heating rack over....& it was carved looking iron. It was used to warm the room (no central heat when the house was build in 1914?, I have Dad's complete description of the building as he was a young teen & helped the builder). The stove also kept food warm while we ate. Since it was fairly new when Grandma died, I was told that stove was donated to the church she went to. That side of the family went to the Methodest church (only other was the Catholic, where Mom's side went). I thought I was related to everyone in the area so grew up knowing people could believe differently, I loved 'em all and always believed everyone had the right to their own beliefs.

So that's my story about a summer kitchen. That house and the whole town of Bonnots Mill, MO is on the National Registery, I wish we owned it yet.

Today's weather was not as predicted so I took a nice nap this afternoon. Supposed to have sunshine & 70s but was cloudy & chilly. No rain, we need it, but have seen lots worse weather around the country so won't complain.

[patricia19]

Amy, I know the farms in the deep south had summer kitchens, but my relatives in Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado had off the kitchen, still rooms, a place to keep items cool.  I was there starting in the mid-fifties, so that they may have had them before that.

My Kentucky inlaws had a room under the cabin to keep items cool and a stone fireplace outside for summer cooking.

Shirley, what a setup your Grandma had!

[JaneS]

Lots of memories in those last posts.  My father's parents lived on a farm and they had an outside kitchen to use in the summer.  The rest of the year she cooked on a wood stove in the kitchen.  As you came in the door it was a cupboard, a sink with a pump spigot, and a huge wood stove.  On the other side, it was a large ceiling to floor cupboard, a long work table with a cupboard above it that she was too short to reach, and another cupboard. When I was little, I used to love sitting between the wall and the wood stove on a cold winter day while Gramma Wright cooked dinner!

You might notice that there was no refrigerator or even an ice box in that kitchen.  There was an ice box in the cellar but most of the food was kept in the (I forget the name of it but it was dug into the hill and had a frame of stones around the door) 

I got a lot done today...laundry, swiffered floors and went to two on line church services...my own church and the one in Texas where my grandson-in-law was in charge of the service and delivered the sermon.  He's a very special addition to our family!

Now, I'm heading for the haystack before my eyes permanently slam shut...again.  They've already done it twice while I tried to watch some television.  I wish you all a peaceful night's sleep and a happy tomorrow.  And may God bless us, every one!

[patricia19]

Jane, your description of a cool area under the ground, "but most of the food was kept in the (I forget the name of it, but it was dug into the hill and had a frame of stones around the door" was what my Kentucky inlaws had under their cabin. They just called it their cold storage.

[RAMMEL]

Other than rest, today was our clean the Keurig day.  So that's done for a few months.  Also cleaned up my cooking mess from Christmas Day.  Beautiful outside today but looks like the next few days are cloudy and rain for Wednesday and Thursday.

[CallieOK]

Rammell, I need to clean my Keurig but know what to use for wiping it out.   Could you explain what you do?  Mine doesn't have a water "tank". I have to pour a cupful of water into the top.
 

[RAMMEL]

Rammell, I need to clean my Keurig but know what to use for wiping it out.   Could you explain what you do?  Mine doesn't have a water "tank". I have to pour a cupful of water into the top.
 

Mine is like yours. Believe a Model 10K or K10 - a single cup at a time. If you still have the Manual they have a three step cleaning process in it. They sell a cleaner but in the past I have used white Vinegar. I think since Green Mountain bought them they decided they can make some money with their cleaner. As far as the place on top where you pour the water, I use paper towels and Q Tips to clean all those little corners there. Unplug it before you start poking around. The drip tray can go in the sink. As can the part where the coffee comes out (That can get pretty mucky from the coffee oils). Directions for that also in the Manual.  If you don't have the Manual I believe it is available on their Web Site. If you can't find it let me know what Model you have and I'll find it.  I have found that running three or four cups through in rapid sequence does flush out some "Stuff". That isn't their idea but something I came up with.

[patricia19]

It's plus 37 at 9:30 PM with heavy sleet outside, and nothing new is expected into the new year, fun times here. Not.

[CallieOK]

Patricia,  thank you, thank you! I have the manual but hadn't thought about q-tips or white vinegar.
How many times do you need to run a cup of water through to get rid of the vinegar taste?

I've read too many " one more chapters ". Glad I came in to check posts before heading to  .
Thanks again.

[Amy]

Good morning.
Temp is starting out at 8° this morning with a threat of snow around 10am. Family coming  around 11 or so and we get to meet the new pup!!

Jane, you brought up more memories with the ice box. When first married that is what we had...now I was just married, land was rented to a fellow to put his cows on at the time. Late one night I could hear a sound..and it got louder.grabbed my rifle thinking someone was raiding the ice box. At the same time my husband came in as I was heading to the summer kitchen ,the look on his face with me meeting him with the gun was priceless! Turned out the sound was the cattle grazing near the house.

Patricia, sleet is not nice.........takes down power line if heavy! The farm I worked on during school holidays milked cows ,separated the cream from it and the cans of cream were kept down a well till the truck came to pick it up.

Better scoot..

Enjoy your day and stay safe..

[Lloyd Hammond]

Good Morning everyone. we are @ 59º @ 7:12 AM. and weather guessor says Partly Sunny,But I do not see a cloud in the sky here. The grand children and there children Have gon down south to SIL's farm at the Lake of the ozarks. for a few days,  I will miss the g grands fron poping in. Hope you all Have a day just like you  Like It, see you Later.

Lloyd

[JaneS]

Good Morning Everyfriend!  I had a flash of memory last night.  Gramma Wright and my dad and all his brothers and everyone else who lived on farms in those days, called that outside storage area a ROOT CELLAR!  Sometimes they were built over a spring and things were put in jars and lowered into the water.  Gramma Wright's didn't have water but my friend's grandparents did!

We're supposed to get snow flurries today.  In fact, it's supposed to be flurrying right now.  I think I'll go look to see if they're right.  Not yet!  But it looks threatening!  And it's only 30º out there.  I have a couple of things to do today and a phone call that I HAVE to make. 

I wish you all a good day...better than yesterday but not as good as tomorrow!

[Gloria]

Good morning everyone, 29° and will not get much warmer but I do not intend to go outside. MIGHT get some sunshine late day.  Sure would be nice to see it again. Another day with no help here 

PATRICIA  I think you are having the snow we are not getting here. I now would mostly enjoy looking at it from my windows. I seldom get out these days.At times it seems this place has only me living in it. Seldom even hear anyone.     

CALLIE  These days I ask my son to take me home before all the mess is cleaned up at his house. My grandson always helps clean up and my son helps, too.  Since I cannot do much anymore and get tired I rather come home early and just rest.

AMY  I had read about Boxing day before but could not remember why the name and for what. Thanks for reminding me just what Boxing day meant. I did know it was not getting the boxing gloves on and boxing. 

LLOYD  these days I do not eat enough to get that stuffed feeling and glad I no longer get that stuffed feeling. 

JANE  would that hole  in the hill have been a root cellar?

RAMMEL  I just looked out and the sky looks a bit lighter so maybe it  will clear up before sunset.

CALLIE  I have the water "tank" on my Keurig and when the coffee star  ts tasting odd I add 1 cup vinegar to it and fill the rest with water and run it through the machine then fill the tank with clean water and run it through a few times.

RAMMEL  I see you use the white vinegar, too, to clean the Keurig. Better than the chemical cleaner the sell. 

In another hour or so I will call my daughter and wish her a happy birthday By that time she will really be 68 years old. That's me baby.

Have a good day and stay safe.

[Amy]

Gloria, here folks go to the stores to get their sales. There are some great sales but not worth the risk in my opinion  with covid.

[RAMMEL]

How many times do you need to run a cup of water through to get rid of the vinegar taste?

The book calls for THREE.  I do at least that. I do it more times if I see any residue in the last pass through. 
Now that the Keurig is done the kitchen ceiling light has a burned out fluorescent tube. Something to do today - if I have a replacement. Don't like ladder work any more.

[JaneS]

Thanks, GLORIA, but if you check my last post before this one, I remember that place was a "root cellar".

THE SNOW FLURRIES HAVE ARRIVED!  It's not laying yet and it's not supposed to but who knows what Mother Nature will do!

[patricia19]

I do! she exclaimed, waving her hand wildly!

WHAT...Periods of freezing rain occurring. Travel will be very difficult to impossible due to slick roads. Additional ice accumulations less than one tenth inch, are expected. Winds gusting to 35 mph could blow trees over onto power lines and cause power outages.

* WHERE...Middle Tanana Valley.

* WHEN...Until noon today.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Winds gusting as high as 35 mph could blow trees onto power lines and cause power outages. Winds and freezing rain will end this afternoon and conditions will improve then. Cooler temperatures this afternoon will cause water on roads to freeze.

[Amy]

Kids have gone...Luna is adorable!! She is such a good puppy and behaves well on a leash. I tried to say thank you for the puppy but the kids didn't think so 

Patricia ,we are also to get  freezing rain......rather have snow though.

[patricia19]

They say that this will be the end of December's storms, but we've all heard this before. This has been an extremely quiet month, along with Omicron and Delta surging, especially among the twenty-somethings and teens. I would have gone crazy without my cell phone for local friends plus the internet and all of you. There is no one in the hallways and no one on the roads that I see from my window. We are now entering our tenth month of a total lockdown. I think this is worse than last winter and spring.

January and February, especially, are generally our coldest months before it starts warming again with more light in March. I have no idea of what will happen next, after the way it's been.

I sound depressing, and I'm so looking forward to warmer drier weather.

Amy, since our weather came from the Bering sea and we generally pass it on to the Yukon Territory, you may have a remnant or two. I'm not sure where it goes after that territory. We did get piles of snow and then rain. The City crews were keeping up with it, but they took Christmas Eve and Day off, and that's when we had our largest accumulation. Today is again more rain than sleet.

Edit, my sister purchased a brown Goldendoodle puppy for a personal second retirement gift. She thinks the retirement will stick this time. She's like you and Jane, has worked and had her own side businesses since she was a teen.

[patricia19]

The last snow and ice photos, I promise, barring a significant calamity. We're not used to this much snow and ice, along with a pandemic and a holiday season! It's usually busier on a Monday, but everyone is asked to stay home and off the roads. The foothills and ridges are impassable.

https://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?msg=210437

[Shirley]

Well, that post vanished in the middle of a word! Will go for faster moving!  Patricia, had been thanking you for the photos and remembering back in the day when you would walk to work in snow, taking photos of wildlife along the way. I thought you were one tough cookie! That snow looks pretty deep, were you needing moisture as bad as we do?

[JaneS]

Time to wish you all a good night.  My TV took a nosedive so I'm probably going to hit the haystack a bit early tonight.  I still have to get the coffee pot ready for morning, make doggie food  and hard boil a couple of eggs for Frankie to eat on the way to work.  She spent the night here and she never sits down for breakfast but she'll take a couple of hard boiled eggs and eat them on the way to work.  I guess it's better than nothing.

We had some pork chops for supper and I cooked up the leftover wagon wheel spaghetti in butter and spices and opened a jar of corn for our supper.  It was easy and pretty good.  It's the first time she had leftover "spaghetti" that way and she liked it!  I do that all the time with leftovers.

PATRICIA, nice pictures but I'm glad that's not what I see out my windows.  We had some flurries today but it never made it to the ground!  we're supposed to have flurries into the night but nothing on the ground in the morning.

AMY, you didn't really expect your kids to leave their nice puppy with you, did you?  They probably love her even more than you do!  Nice they visited! 

I wish you all a peaceful night's sleep and a happy tomorrow.  And may God bless us, every one./color]