Soda Shoppe December 1 , 2025

RAMMEL · December 14, 2025, 08:45:04 AM

We may be warm and subtropical but this morning we have about 4 inches of snow, and it's still coming down. Amy, I believe we're sending it out over the Atlantic. That salt water should take care of it.

All tree branches are well covered. Beautiful, but I'm sure there will be many breaking and falling.

OnLonelyMountain · December 14, 2025, 09:20:51 AM

Good morning everyone,

Barb, I understand that particular coping skill. I use it too. I withdraw when ill, injured or grieved. I also learn/study to find ways out of my difficulties or relieve stress. Though, I'm not o.k. with being isolated; I was born a gregarious extrovert in a large family. I like people. I admire them, their knowledge, experiences and strengths. I think you're right about it "... taking a life time of experience to have a comparison before we can understand ourselves..." Thank you for sharing. I'm glad you're back.

Its 32°F this morning, with a high forecasted for 52°F. I'm camped out in the pasture at the end of 3 extra long extension cords until the cement cures. Not enough power to keep it warm in here until the sun comes up and brings the temp inside up through passive solar gain. Its actually 10° warmer up on the mountain right now! Sheesh!

Stay warm and enjoy the season!

phyllis · December 14, 2025, 09:40:24 AM

Good morning. No snow here in North Carolina but wet, dark, dreary, and dropping temps. Supposed to get down into low 20's or perhaps even teens tonight and tomorrow. We don't have a lot of snow here but we can have inches of ice and I would rather deal with snow than with ice any day.

Good to see you posting here, Barb. I am sorry to hear that Ginny from SeniorNet and SeniorLearn is gone. Those book discussions were fun with all the people who joined in with Chaucer's pilgrims and who also traveled Spain with Don Quihote tilting at windmills. And, so many other adventures. I enjoyed every one of the people who posted there.

Take care, All. Stay warm, stay safe.

phyllis · December 14, 2025, 09:52:37 AM

HAPPY HANUKKAH, Bubble!

patricia19 · December 14, 2025, 11:37:56 AM

Good morning, minus 24 presently with a coming low of minus 43. Tomorrow's high will be minus 36, while Tuesday's will be minus 23.

Bubble, Happy Hanukkah, from me as well.

Amy, I'd even welcome snow at this point and the rising temperatures, It's going to be a cold couple of months until the humidity driven snow returns in March.

Nothing new here, meet and greets, morning routines, brewing coffee and feeding everyone is done and other than a quick trip tomorrow to return some items, I'm in for the duration.

BarbStAubrey · December 14, 2025, 12:43:20 PM

What do you mean it is below 60 - Can't be - Oh lordy - a shock when I opened the front door - never dreamed of looking first at the thermometer - looked up the weather for this area and according to the internet version the sun is supposed to be out - however, it appears we are in for a week of temps that today and tomorrow in the 50s will be the warmest all week - just writing this I quick called Katha to alert her - really didn't have to since it is in the 30s where she is in North Carolina.

I know, I know y'all are not only dealing with 'real' cold but snow as well - the biggest shock is opening the door since the house holds it temp summer or winter - summer the house with little AC holds at about 75 and today with the frosty wind outdoors the house holds at 73 - Paul, my son keeps remarking how well built is this house and he is right.

Trying to decide what to do with all these cloth napkins - I don't have people over for a meal anylonger and although the boys all cook they do not serve as I did - hate to throw them out and I have more dust cloths and rags to last the rest of my life - I notice the Paralyzed Vets, who pick up once a month are now saying they take kitchen things - maybe that is the answer - I even have several collections of place mats - Ok problem solved. Yep you guessed it - finally clearing the bottom of the pile that has been sitting on top of my dryer. Hadn't had a pile like that since my 60+ and 70+ age children were babies.

Happy Hanukkah Bubble

CallieOK · December 14, 2025, 03:15:15 PM

Barb, I'm 6 hours north of you (OKC area) and it's 18 degrees here!!!! Weather gurus say it's an Arctic Front (Thanks, Patricia )

I'm not decorating as much this year and doing very little baking.
I put out Manger scene and set the table with Christmas dishes. Son came and hung outdoor wreaths and things I can no longer reach (like the mantle) inside. I'm not doing a tree - since I'll be at son's house on Christmas day.
Baked mini loaves of Orange Marmalade bread for four neighbors. Two came to get theirs yesterday and had time to chat. That was nice! (Since I have a severe hearing loss - even with hearing aids - I communicate mainly by texting.)

Rammel, Miss Ellen (who lives in NYC, for those who don't know) posted a picture of snow covering the trees outside her apartment building. First snow she had reported.

Wishing Everyfriend a Wonderful day and week.

Happy Hanukkah, Bubble

RAMMEL · December 14, 2025, 04:56:08 PM

There hasn't been any wind, and it must be cold enough, so the trees are still decorated with the snow, a sight I've always liked.

patricia19 · December 14, 2025, 04:58:49 PM

Callie, not to upset Amy, but that arctic air is coming from Canada's polar regions.

We send ours to Canada's Yukon territory.

EDIT: Alaska's S.E. regions send theirs through the gulf of Alaska, through Hawaii and those areas.

so_P_bubble · December 15, 2025, 05:37:53 AM

[quote ]
HAPPY HANUKKAH, Bubble!
[/quote]Thank you! It is going to be a quiet one this year, with the bad weather and Byron storm bringing floods all over.

Amy · December 15, 2025, 07:30:53 AM

Good morning..
Starting out at 8° and hope no snow as I have to remove the snow on part of the roof today. Calling for rain later in the week and best get the snow off.

Busy day picking up items , making phone calls and finsihing up laundry.

Cooked a 13 lb turkey yesterday on the cookkstove and will pick it apart and cut up for the dog . He likes a bit sprinkled on his dry kibble .

Bubble, HAPPY HANUKKAH.

Enjoy your day and stay safe

RAMMEL · December 15, 2025, 08:45:31 AM

Bright, sunny, and cold, this morning. Have some snow clean up to do, and organize a few things.Then there's the never ending bill paying.

CallieOK · December 15, 2025, 12:19:54 PM

Quote from: patricia19 on December 14, 2025, 04:58:49 PMCallie, not to upset Amy, but that arctic air is coming from Canada's polar regions.

We send ours to Canada's Yukon territory.

EDIT: Alaska's S.E. regions send theirs through the gulf of Alaska, through Hawaii and those areas.

Patricia, the edge of the Arctic Front that hit the Great Lakes, Amy, Rammel, etc. just clipped Oklahoma. I think the northeastern corner had some snow but the rest of the state just got the cold temperatures.

It's supposed to be 50 degrees today and even higher the rest of the week.

patricia19 · December 15, 2025, 12:22:13 PM

Good morning, I lost my post, so this is a resurrection. It's minus 41 here, with an expected high of minus 35. We're not expecting any pluses until early January, we have two inches on the ground and unfortunately, I have to go into town today on a ride-share to return something.

I'm sure both Jane and Bubble are enjoying their holidays with family and friends, and that Rammel finds time from tending to snow and bills for a good book, radio or television show.

Amy, Jesse must feel like he's the luckiest dog with turkey on his kibble!

Callie, now you're just bragging! 😊

Everyone stay safe, happy, and sane during these stressful times.

patricia19 · December 15, 2025, 06:56:25 PM

For those of you who wondered what minus 40 looks like and pigeons spending their cold day

https://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?msg=268874

Amy · December 16, 2025, 06:49:32 AM

Good morning

Chilly out there this morning with a temp of 17°, we won't see the sun but won't get snow either!

Need to take the snowblower to the snow that was knocked off the front and back roof later today. Heading to sil to drop off a gift then home to work.Neglected to make a phone call yesterday so need to do that first thing this morning.

Patricia,the cashier at the grocery store said he was spoiled and I told her no, just well loved. We will get some soup from the broth but Jesse can have the rest.
Better get the day started..

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

MarsGal · December 16, 2025, 07:43:21 AM

I woke the computer up this morning to find that it was 7^o outside, not 8^o. After cleaning off my car yesterday afternoon, I find that I have to clean it off again today because we had more snow last evening, just a little, but still.... I see patches of water in the back parking lot made by ice-melt. They look frozen over this morning. I have an appointment on the other side of town to get to near lunch time, and am very much not happy to have to go out today. I will take the long way around rather than the shorter. The shorter drive involves a windy, hilly road. Shorter, but not something I want to drive in bad weather. Stay safe everyone.

OnLonelyMountain · December 16, 2025, 09:20:38 AM

Good morning everyone,
I just came from "Norms Bait and Tackle" where I enjoyed a cozy chat around the old potbellied wood stove 😁. Thought I'd drop in here and order a chocolate creme. I had one of those once in Baker. There was an actual "malt shop." Not many of those around anymore in my neck of the woods. They were actually before my time. Those, along with family owned and operated diners, were things that should never have been forced out by big business and fast food chains.

Not much happening here. I'm still carding, spinning and knitting. It was 67°F yesterday afternoon. I've lived here since 1985, never happened before. Warm enough that a couple of ants crawled out of crevices and dropped on me. They got smashed. I have no sympathy for creepy crawlies that violate my personal space!

Have a lovely day, keep warm and safe all of you who are facing bitter winter weather.

phyllis · December 16, 2025, 10:02:15 AM

Good Morning, OLM. My town here in NC actually has a diner called The Shiny Diner and is family owned. It is very popular with the locals and only about a mile from my house. My husband and I used to eat there fairly often when my husband was still alive and I was able to get around. Even has the old time juke box with some old time music on it. It's a fun place with a Southern menu and great employees. A place "where everybody knows your name". Unfortunately, there aren't very many left--they have mostly been crowded out by fast food chains and overpriced luxury restaurants.

Not as cold here today. In the 50's. That's better than yesterday but still cold for my old body. Hope you are feeling good and staying warm.

OnLonelyMountain · December 16, 2025, 11:22:11 AM

Thank you Phyllis🙂 I am feeling good, and nice and warm. That diner sounds like it was perfect! Hope you have warm comforting food on the menu to chase away the chills. 🤗

RAMMEL · December 17, 2025, 08:55:37 AM

Good morning anybody. Again "nothing on the fire". Maybe a little cleaning up.

patricia19 · December 17, 2025, 11:52:22 AM

Good morning,

OnLonelyMountain · December 17, 2025, 02:11:36 PM

Good morning everybody!
Patricia😆 Got a good giggle out of that this morning.
Rick, sounds like time to roast marshmallows or hot dogs over the "fire" to jazz it up a little!

Yesterday I moved back to the driveway. Ron's concrete pour looks very nice. Its not quite cured yet. Heavy rains early this morning and high winds all day today. Gusts to 43mph. The wind has been bouncing and rocking us around since 3:00 a.m. currently 50°F and sunny. At this rate
I'm going to start singing, "Mele Kalikimaka."

phyllis · December 17, 2025, 03:57:17 PM

Can you dance the hula while singing it, OLM?

OnLonelyMountain · Reply #114 - Re: Soda Shoppe December 1 , 2025

Yes, Phyllis, yes I can! When I was in the 4th grade my father was scheduled to transfer to a job in Hawaii. He started preparing us by teaching us about the culture. I shared about our pending move at school. My teacher thought I was lying, so she challenged me to do the hula, thinking she'd teach me a lesson. I went home and asked my father to buy me a record of Hawaiian music. I studied the hulas in movies and books we had, borrowed one of my younger sisters grass skirt/hula outfits my dad had brought them home from one of his trips out there and performed a hula for my class. Mrs Speakerman never tried "putting me in my place" again. 🤣

OnLonelyMountain · Reply #115 - Re: Soda Shoppe December 1 , 2025

I finally had the time and signal strength to figure out how to get this done! Yay!

BarbStAubrey · Reply #116 - Re: Soda Shoppe December 1 , 2025

Looks like we have had our winter - maybe we will have another cold front in January of even February - we shall see what we shall see - it's back into the high 70s after those couple of days in the 40s and next week they are saying one of the days will be in the very low 80s - looks like we will be having some Hula Dance weather OLM

Christmas always reminds me of having a new baby - how we prepared, sewing baby clothes and collecting what was needed, fixing the bassinet much like decorating the house and putting up a tree - only difference preparing for a new baby did not bring with it a slew of Carols - I've always liked the idea of thinking Christmas as a new baby with the new life the newly born brings to the house so that I feel as if I'm starting all over with new plans often creating a new daily schedule.

After these past three years only wanting to be completely unpacked and organized I can finally have a new vision for the next year... I do still have a few shelves to organize and a couple of boxes of garage type things to empty. Now it is more about paring down - Did find my pottery apple bakers where I must have unpacked them and to get them out of the way put them in the back of a shelf that if I hadn't been trying to lean a platter on the back of that shelf I would never have known they were there. Just in time since Katha brought with her some fresh apples from the orchards near where she lives in North Carolina and so it looks like baked apple will be an easy desert for the next couple of weeks...

Ciaobella · Reply #117 - Re: Soda Shoppe December 1 , 2025

It is 50 degrees today here in Ohio and the sun feels heavenly coming through my picture window.

Rick and OLM we sound of like minds where technology is concerned. Technology fascinated me back in the early 1980s. I met a guy at my friend's Christmas party who looked as if he were a vagabond only to find out he was a millionaire who got on board with technology primarily computers when they first came out setting up computers for large business companies like IBM. His advice to me that night was to go buy a Tandy computer at Radio Shack and teach myself how to use a computer. I took his advice and then was asked to begin a computer lab in the elementary/ Jr. high school my kids attended. I encouraged my son's class back then to take computers seriously because it would be their future. He now works of UPS Logistics managing their railroad transportation of vehicles with Ford Motor Co. He was recently approached by another company offering him a large increase in pay and when he discussed it with his company, they said they would offer him more to stay. A few years back he invited my hubby and I to attend an award luncheon in his honor and the higher ups were talking with us and asked where he gained so much knowledge about computers, I told them from ME. They said, "Gee maybe we should hire you as well."

Marilyne, I think we all get to feeling a bit frazzled thinking we are too far behind for our festivities we are planning. I know it will all get done and if not, no one will notice but me.

Rick, I found the best oatmeal raisin cookies at Meijer's. Where do you buy your cookies online?

Patricia, I had a huge Cooper's hawk land on my fence this morning near the bird feeder. Before he came there were at least a hundred birds, they all hid inside my rosebush. He stayed a few minutes looking around and flew off.

Barb, it sounds like your visit with Katha was just what you needed. I haven't watched the movie White Christmas in years.

patricia19 · Reply #118 - Re: Soda Shoppe December 1 , 2025

Good morning, all morning routines, meet and greets and brewing coffee are in progress, and we're having a one-day break in colder weather at minus 19 with a low of minus 36. Tomorrow, we dip back into frigid.

Ciaobella, I was curious and found this information online, "While Cooper's Hawks are common across much of North America, nesting as far north as southern Canada,
they are generally not considered a native or regular breeding hawk in Alaska; the similar but smaller Sharp-shinned Hawk is the accipiter species found further north into Alaska, though vagrants (rare, accidental visitors) of Cooper's Hawks might occasionally show up in the state, especially in winter or during migration."

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Soda Shoppe December 1 , 2025

RAMMEL

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phyllis

phyllis

patricia19

BarbStAubrey

CallieOK

RAMMEL

patricia19

so_P_bubble

Amy

RAMMEL

CallieOK

patricia19

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Amy

MarsGal

OnLonelyMountain

phyllis

OnLonelyMountain

RAMMEL

patricia19

OnLonelyMountain

phyllis

OnLonelyMountain

OnLonelyMountain

BarbStAubrey

Ciaobella

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