Jackie, it is good to hear that Richard got a good report this morning.  I hope his surgery can be sooner rather than later because waiting is difficult.

Jean, we have the Equate PBS channel but I've found I don't care for movies any more.  The fund raisers so often are repeats and repeats and repeats.  I have resorted to listening to Music Choice where they have several, maybe 10, channels devoted to music of all kinds and there is no talking, no commercials.  I listen to Light Classical and barely have it on and it is good background music.  I would say I'm a TV Snob because I watch less than 10 channels and that is it.  Our cable is Comcast and I sometimes forget that because our cable is included in our monthly fee.

It is a lovely day out and the sun is shining brightly.  I read where by Thursday we sould be at 60 degrees!  Imagine.

Mary Ann

This channel is CREATE and only shows cooking and different creative arts and even some construction shows such as "this Old House" which I also like to watch.   I'm not a big movie fan but I do watch Turner Classic Movies once in a while.

Jean, I guess they can call their channels whatever they want.  Our PBS Create channel has different programs than the regular PBS channel, however, they're both part of WGVU.  They both have fund raisers, but not necessarily at the same time - Grrr.

Many food and how-to programs, Cook Country is one.  I like Julia and "can't think of her name" on that program.  I liked the old setup better, but I had no say.

Now I think I should do something constructive - or take a nap!

Mary Ann

Jean - Good that you have face time, so you can "see" your daughter once a week. That's certainly one of the perks of modern technology!  Our oldest daughter also has an ongoing health problem, but we're fortunate in that she only lives about 150 miles from us.  She has Graves Disease, an auto-immune illness, that is a disorder of the thyroid.  It causes the eyes to protrude, and the blood pressure to soar to frightening heights, plus painful arthritis, and other very unpleasant  symptoms. Her medication has her symptoms under partial control right now, but she never knows when she will have a flare. She is divorced, so she lives alone, with just our granddaughter Claire.

That channel you mentioned, Create, sounds interesting.  I'll have to check and see if we get that one?  We've watched "This Old House", off and on for many years, on PBS. 

Mary Ann - The Mitch Albom, book that's my favorite, is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven".  I just love that story, and have read it many times over the years.  It's straight fiction and fanciful, but is a very uplifting and hopeful story.  I've recommended it to friends and family, but only a very few people have been effected by it as I was. I bring it up every so often in the Library folder here in S&F, but no one has ever responded.   I also like "Tuesdays With Morrie", very much.  Mitch Albom, and his wife have certainly done some wonderful things for the children of Haiti. Building the orphanage was certainly a huge undertaking, and a great need in that country.

Jackie - I'm glad that Richard's Dopler scan was normal. That is good news for his upcoming surgery.  Also sounds like Toby's visit to the vet, was also positive.

MaryAnn. did you see this afternoon news that 150 fishermen were saved when the ice broke apart and they were floating in Lake Erie on a large section of ice.
FlaJean
When I cannot sleep at night, I watch Create, during the day it HGTV 133, I watch Antenna TV at 10PM that is Johnny Carson's old shows. very interesting, I love the monologue he jokes  about the presidents, Reagan Carter or Bush. According what year they are showing.  Murder She wrote is on the Mystery Hallmark. We have 3 Hallmark stations, that I am watching most of the time.

Yes, Gloria, I heard about those people on Lake Erie.  It kind of surprised me because Lake Erie is the smallest of the five Great Lakes and the most shallow so I would think the lake was frozen to the bed.  Obviously not.  Fortunately, they were rescued.

I notice signs of Lake Michigan breaking up out from the shore.  They're still fishing on Lake Superior; that lake is the deepest.

Mary Ann

Hi Everyone.  We expect to have a beautiful day today with sun and partial cloudiness and a high of around 63.  While I felt fairly good yesterday morning by afternoon I wasn't feeling good at all.  I am hoping for a better day today. Pat has an appointment with the lung doctor around 11 this morning.  I have to refill my medicine boxes this morning for the next two weeks and then want to work some more on the income taxes.  I probably won't get them finished today but hope to make a big dent in them.

Last night when I got up to have my Chamomile tea I decided it would be a good time to read all of the postings from yesterday, which I did.  I am going to try to be brief on comments today as want to get started with the other morning projects like eating my breakfast. 

Marilyne and Mary Ann,  I wish I were feeling stronger everyday but that is not the case.  I did not get outside yesterday.

Jackie, that is good news for Richard that the neck arteries were OK. Every heart surgery is serious as they put you on a heart pump and stop your actual heart.  At least that is the way it used to be although I think I have heard of them doing some heart surgery without having to stop the heart. 

Jean, we did get a little rain yesterday afternoon.

Good morning Larry and all who stop by from the Interior where I suppose, "No news is good news!"

For sale; the English farmhouse that may have inspired "Wuthering Heights." A home the Bronte sisters often visited.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wuthering-heights-farmhouse-inspiration?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8c09eb43b3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_12_Not_Chicago&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-8c09eb43b3-66166565&ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_03_12_2019_Not_Chicago)&mc_cid=8c09eb43b3&mc_eid=0dde8b9251



"The manor library that Brontë frequented had an impressive collection of books, including an edition of Shakespeare's First Folio—the first publication of his plays, in 1623—of which only 228 copies are known to exist. Scholars have used a catalogue of the other books on the shelves to make suppositions about what might have influenced Emily's magnum opus. "It's incredible to think Emily would have sat here reading," Ackhurst told Jezebel. "There were gothic novels and books on necromancy and dark magic." The library held texts on law and local history, too."

Patricia, from the looks of the house, I'd love to live there, but aside from not moving to England, I also do not desire a two-story house because I don't "do" stairs now.

Hi Larry, I'm still working on my income tax too.  I have one company I have to call to get my password OK'd but I haven't made the effort.  I think I'm about ready to file except for that one thing.

Since it was after 2 pm before I posted today, I'm surprised there aren't a couple more posts.  Today I had my haircut.  As usual, Tom and I had brunch at the restaurant next door and today Jan joined us.  Circumstances keep us from seeing her often, so it is a treat to see her, and I know she feels the same way.  Her parents both are headed toward Alzheimer's, Terry died two years ago, her son lives in California and her daughter in Indianapolis.  And her sister lives in Alaska.  She does have nephews in the area, but they all work but one lives with Jan and takes care of his grandparents when she is not around.  As Tom said, Jan needs to get away from her situation occasionally and today was the day.  She showed us pictures of her grandson in CA and as we were getting ready to leave, her phone rang and it was her son in CA so we talked with him and his son who was two last week.  All in all, we had a great time this morning.  When we got home, I turned on the computer, looked at one thing and headed for bed and a nap!  It's after 3 pm now!  I hope others show up before long.

Mary Ann

It looks like most S&F members are busy with other things today . . .  Not many posts so far.

Patricia - I haven't looked at the English farmhouse yet, but I will when I finish this message.  Anything that inspired the Bronte sisters, will be interesting to look at.  I like all of their books.   

Mary Ann - Nice that Jan, joined you for lunch today.  It must be hard for her to be so far away from her two adult children, as well as her sister.  I can see that the health of her parents is a big responsibility, and takes most of her time.

I'll return later if anything of interest happens.  Until then, I'll read, and maybe watch a movie on TV, if I can find a good one.

Not much going on today. I thought about doing more on my taxes, but was getting a bit of a headache, so didn't. The cats were exceedingly helpful with the taxes yesterday. Twice Lucy climbed up and sat right across the keyboard, then investigated the cubby holes, then later in the afternoon, Oscar decided to get into the act with his usual punctuating of my leg to get attention. I did go out and tour the yard,picking up a few downed branches. The snow has finally melted except for just behind the house where it stays in shadow for a good bit of the day this time of year.

Tomorrow I have two appointments in the morning.

MarsGal, I use a laptop and it is on my lap.  Kendrick does rub against my shins, but he can't get on my keyboard, fortunately.  I'll have to go to the living room soon to keep him company for a few minutes. 

I procrastinate with my taxes.  I goofed something up with my password for one of my investment companies and I have to straighten things out there before I can e-file my return.  I'll be glad when it is over.  I have to do the state form before I send in my taxes.

It's been a lovely day here and I hope we'll have more for a few days.

Is Lucy the cat you were concerned about recently?  How is she now?

Mary Ann

I am getting so fed up with all of these scammers, and all who are trying to attack your emails, your accounts and or where you shop! Then there are the companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo and others who never announced security breaches until someone else announces it months and sometimes years later.

The latest one is a May 28th of last year breach of an Interior Design firm, Houzz. You may have heard of the company when they have specials of stars or other notables using Houzz for decorating their own or someone else's home or property. This breach from last May!?! was only announced March twelfth!?!

I found out my account was breached and even if I only used it to save house and garden photos, the thieves still have my email and the site password. Think of those who purchased through the site and had credit account numbers stolen!

Just stoping by to say a good morning and holding the fort till the next poster comes along time is now 8.40'am UK, been up a couple of hours already...

Good morning.  Another sunny morning, but on in the 20's.  Still way too cold for me.    Supposed to be nice for the week end,  but only in the  mid 40's.

Nothing much to talk about.  Just finished my breakfast and going to read for a little while.

I will get back, hopefully, later today.

Joy

Hi Everyone.  While we have some sunshine this morning overall it is suppose to be a cloudy day with no rain.  Yesterday was such a nice day that after Pat got home from her doctor's appointment she suggested we go over to Dairy Queen.  I said that sounded good as hadn't been out of the house for several days.  I had a small hamburger and fries, although only ate two of the fries.  I did finish the hamburger and had ordered two of the tiny Blizzards and ate a few bites of one of them and brought them home for the freezer.  I did enjoy the outing, the worst part getting the rollator in and out of the car.  I was pretty exhausted the rest of the day but it sure did my spirits good to get out.  Yesterday morning I did pretty well complete my income tax returns.  I will wait a few days and then review them again and e-file them. I was a bit shocked at the size of the refund we will get on both the Federal and State returns.  Today should be pretty quiet until evening when Scott, Jennifer and Elizabeth will be coming out to have supper with us.  The girls haven't been here since Christmas.  Pat has a new Instant Pot recipe for chicken that sounds good and we plan on asking Scott to pick up some KFC cold slaw to go with it.

Mary Ann, I bet Jan enjoyed the outing with you all.

MarsGal, you are suppose to get the headache after working on your taxes and not before.    Glad you are finally getting rid of the snow. 

Patricia, I am surprised that people still get drawn into the calls of scammers.  On Monday I had 5 such calls.  I have our credit frozen at all three credit bureaus and very seldom use a debit card. One good reason to use Paypal is that your credit card number is not revealed to the seller.

Good morning Larry, Joy and Jackie.  It is the start of a beautiful day here but I don't know if it will stay beautiful all day.  I will say that radar shows things are clear west of us.  It is in the high 30s now.  Tom is subbing today and happy about that.

Larry, yes, Jan was happy to be with us yesterday.  We were happy to have the chance to talk with Jan's son and grandson via Jan's phone.  The grandson is now two and is half Chinese and looks it - he is a little doll!  I wish Geoff lived nearer so Isaiah could be with Tom's twin granddaughters, also age two (one month apart).  I'm happy that we live close enough to the girls so we see them occasionally.  Jan has a lot on her plate and I can't help - too old. 

Larry, I'll bet it did do your spirits good to get out of the house.  That is why Tom and I go out to eat once a week - to get me out of the house.  I think I don't get cabin fever but I know I should get out.  When better weather comes, Kendrick and I will go out on the deck to enjoy the fresh air. 

I'll check in again later.

Mary Ann

Patricia - So far, our bank account has not been breached, and we haven't had any trouble with our credit cards or debit cards.  Knocking on wood here!  As for the scam calls on our phones, we absolutely never answer the phone, unless we recognize the name of the caller.  When the phone rings, the name and number come up on our computer screen, the TV screen, and of course on the phone itself.  If we don't have the TV or computer on, we check the phone.

One thing that we do differently, is that we still have a landline, and all calls, junk and otherwise, come in on that phone number.  We both have cell phones/Smart phones, but we don't give those numbers out to anyone, except immediate family, and a couple of close friends.  Of course junk calls/scam calls come on those phones too, but we usually have them turned off, so we don't see them come in.  We look and delete them every so often.

We do still use a bank debit card for all grocery shopping. So far, we have had no problems, but I suppose it's only a matter of time. I do have a PayPal debit card also, but I don't like to use it for groceries, because I don't want to delete my PayPal account too quickly. We'll probably eventually, start using it exclusively.  We only use credit cards at the gas station, and for ordering stuff on line from a place that doesn't yet have PayPal.  We use PayPal, for all online orders of anything, where it is accepted . . . which is just about everything now.

I've been fortunate so far in that I haven't had any credit card problems.  I'm kind of upset that our Credit Union is discontinuing Visa to go to MasterCard.  I already have a MasterCard.  I wrote to the CU and got a reply that we are allowed up to five credit cards of the same brand.  I had been using Visa for online purchases and M/Cd for ones made in town.  It doesn't make a lot of difference because I don't charge that much anyway; it is just an inconvenience - because I had memorized the Visa information!  I can think of only one company I have to change because of an automatic charge.  Silly!

Marilyn, I look at my phone caller ID before I answer it too.  Very few times does the caller leave a message and if they do, I erase it.  Dot and Tom are the ones who call me most often, however, I did receive a call from a retiree friend this morning, asking how I had survived the winter and waiting for Spring so we can get together for lunch again.  .

Mary Ann

Good afternoon sunny, but still cool

My taxis have been ready to pick up for over a week. My  nice neighbors are growing old also. I have been here 35 years and most of them are 10, so they are 10 years older and it is starting to show, they are slowing down also. MY  new next door neighbor on the east side just moved in he is a baby to me 65, just think I was 30 years old when he was born My neighbor to the westside had major surgery on her knee and leg last month and is still using  a walker man across the street has bladder CA . Next to them still works. Now the lady who lives in the park, that cut hair is going in the hospital for surgery and is going to be laid up for 6 weeks. She cut my hair to day although it really did not need it.  So far I am lucky and have a friend who comes and picks me up for Homemakers. We do not meet in the summer.Right now I think I am healthier then all of them even though walking and breathing are difficult

Marilyne, I think I have the same phone set up as you. MY friends will say Gloria, pick up the phone, and say who they are.  I also have one of those phones you can read and reread, helps me as I am deaf in one ear completely.

Mary Ann, My husband had his Medicare ID stolen, while he was in ICU in a hospital outside NY city. Someone in The Bronx's was using it. Took almost 6 months to correct it, only after Cyriel went to the police. They gave him a card to carry. The funny part is Cyriels name was misspelled on his birth certificate

Gloria, we started getting snail mail for a stranger.  Most of the mail would be from County offices, which suggested to me the woman was on welfare.  Recently, I had mail from a new person and received an ad for baby stuff.  Annie told me that she found out the first woman (probably the second, too) was using Annie's SS number.  Her dad and I told her she should check into that and also her SS record.  She said recently the matter is settled but I received more mail for the first woman.  I have to take her word for it as she probably is getting advice from her SO.  Sticky business.  I have heard, as you say, that it takes a long time to straighten out these affairs.

Jim and I went to a WalMart in Florida and after he got home to Indiana, he had a call from his Credit Card company asking if he had purchased whatever.  Since Jim was at that time back home, he told the company 'no' and they traced the purchase to a WalMart employee in another Florida city.  They got the person and he was fired and I don't know what went on after that.

Mary Ann

Well,  I  said I  would try to get back here.   I did get some chores done that I had been putting off.  I did lay back down on the bed for a little while.    Then, I got to thinking of a couple things I wanted  to do, so,  I didn't lay there too long.

My son and DIL are flying to  S.C. tomorrow and I checked with my DIL if they knew if the plane they  were flying on was one of the ones that they have grounded.    She  didn't know, but I did look up their flight and it didn't look like it was the one they grounded.  It was a Boeing 737, but with  a different number at the end.  They never worry about flying anywhere,  but "poor momma"  sure does.  They just shake their head at me !

Almost time to think about looking for something for dinner.   Not sure what it will be

Larry, it sure was nice to see your nice message today.   Your Dairy Queen lunch  sounded good and I am sure it was nice to get out for a little  while.  Enjoy your dinner tonight with your family. 

Sounds like everyone is doing pretty well.  Have a good evening.

Joy

Good midafternoon from the Interior where the weather is still nice and still in the process of melting. Farrah is still the same although she did play with a white feathered mouse for a few moments so she must be very bored. 

I need to clear something up because I may have used the wrong word. It wasn't a phone call but a computer hacking that my login and password was caught up in May 28th of last year. No credit card on the account as I only used it to hold room and garden photos for inspiration.

Houzz is both an online and a print magazine and a television show for interior decorators and those looking to refurbish their own homes. The television show features stars and other famous people using Houzz to design and decorate their or their families homes.

It was the online magazine that was hacked and since I had no credit info on site, it was just my Houzz password and my email in the site. What made me angry other than the hackers was that the Houzz didn't announce anything thereby helping people to lose whatever was on their accounts.

 I still wouldn't have known except last month my antivirus began offering the service and notifying folks if any of their accounts were hacked. Houzz announced last May's breach on March twelfth of this year!

It was the same notification service that allowed me to inform you earlier about Chrome's breach, that Google Chrome themselves have yet to publicly announce.  Since my phone is commonly used for taxis and texting, there is no info on those either.

Joy - I can relate to your worries about your son and dil flying on the airplane.  As soon as the bad news about the Boeing 737 came to light, I started worrying about my son, who flies to either Seattle or Austin, every week, for his job.  Also my dil has to fly often, as part of her job.  To top it off, my granddaughter and her boy-friend are flying all the way to Bali, in about a week.  I'm not sure where Bali is, but I think it's somewhere near Australia?  Why they want to go all that way,  I don't know?

Mary Ann - That's bad, about someone else using Annie's SS number!  Isn't that what's known as Identity Theft?   I hope that she has it completely straightened out by now, and that the person has been apprehended. Save any mail you get from that person, just in case Annie may need it some day.

I just received an email from Houzz which featured an article with photos about Neil Patrick Harris giving his brother a newly designed back yard as well as a renovated family room. I've changed my password yesterday but still no reaching out about the breach by their home company.

Another tech website announced in their email that "With the addition of 763 million addresses for the latest data breach of Verification.io, an email address validation service, the haveibeenpwned.com database now has information on 7,695,066,389 hacked accounts - that's more than the current world population of 7,558,032,870.

There's little we can do to stop our information from leaking – that's up to the companies involved to better secure their systems, which obviously isn't happening. However, there are things we can do to ensure that when our data is leaked, the impact is limited."

Marilyn, Annie said the ID problem was settled and I did not question her further.  I think her dad or SO would be better to advise her.  I have sent a lot of mail back to the senders and I don't worry about it now - I pitch it!

Patricia, maybe I should go through my saved lists and delete those I no longer use.  Many of the sites I want to watch are available just by putting the name on the search line, no need to take up space -if they do.

Kendrick just came in to get his petting and checked on me. 

A friend of Tom's is supposed to start cleaning for us and should come every two weeks.  She is about his age and is a phlebotomist and I think the hospital is trying to cut down her hours.  Tom said she needs the money so I told him I'd let her clean; I don't clean, so it will be good to have someone.  All I need now is for Annie to say she needs some money and cleaning my house is a good way to get some.  It is like killing two birds with one stone - the friend needs the money and I need to have to work done!

Mary Ann

Marilyne,  I am known as the family's  "worry wart   My son does a lot of flying for his job, so he gets lots of frequent flyer miles.  So, they do travel a lot.  No children,  and  my DIL has her own businesd so she can get away most  anytime. 

I felt the same way as you when they flew to the Antartica  a couple months ago.   Why, I just couldn't understand?   The last place I would want to go,   But,  that is their business.  I guess they are pretty  lucky that they can go. 

Joy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow9DDqj-Hio

Joy, I sent the above link to Marilyn, knowing she'd enjoy it and she thought you might like it too.  I then decided others might like to see it.

This video of only 3-4 minutes shows a ship coming into a lock at the Soo, being raised in the lock and leaving to go toward Lake Superior.  I've mentioned that Lake Huron is not as high as Lake Superior.  Before the locks, there were rapids between the two lakes so the locks were built to enable ships to go from one lake to the other.  The actual process takes about 20 minutes, but this is much shorter.  Shipping should begin again in about 11 days.

Radar shows we will be in the rain at times today and it is close to 50 degrees now.  We should lose some snow with the rain and warmer weather. 

Nothing much on my agenda except more of the same!

Mary Ann

Hi Everyone.  We have another beautiful day ahead.  I am just going to check in this morning as am really tired.  I didn't get to sleep until after 3 am.  I am having problems with my iPhone and while I found the instructions how to fix it when I went through the process it comes up with an error code.  Scott will be here in a little bit and am hopeful he can fix the problem.