Have enjoyed all the posts.  Sorry to hear about all the fires, Patricia, and sure hope you don't have to be evacuated.

They have really good fireworks here on the bayou, but we just can't take the heat and the crowds anymore.

Have a good day everyone.

CORRECTION on time of fireworks in Duluth Harbor....it's 8;10.

Marilyne,  would be hard to pick a favorite between "Music Man" and "Oklahoma" but I would be more likely to be  humming songs from  "Music Man".
True Okies always stand and sing along when the title song begins in "Oklahoma", which has startled the cast of touring groups at performances here.

I'll try to join you tonight for Yankee Doodle Dandy" and then I'll stay tuned for "1776".[/size]

Callie, I don't really remember but I think the Appledores were on their way to Cleveland for something to do with tall ships.  I'll be here at 9:10 (my time) also so I can watch the Duluth fireworks - if I remember!

Marilyn, I probably will find something to watch on TV where there are fireworks.  I think there may be fireworks along the St Clair River, but I don't know and they'd be behind the cameras - but I know they'd find a way to show them.  I am not much for movies any more, old or new. 

Since Dot won't be here, our picnic plans won't be as large but we'll have something anyway.  It is too hot to sit outside, but we will have chicken kabobs and corn on the cob at least.  I may make a potato salad just enough for two.  Tom is going somewhere tonight but I forget where. 

Mary Ann

I can watch the movie on TV and the harbor fireworks on my tablet at the same tme.....maybe     

Callie - Watching the fireworks and the movie at the same time would be doable! I'm not so good at multi-tasking, in my old age, but I'd give it a try.    

Mary Ann - That sounds like a nice 4th of July feast to me!  I like all of your food choices, especially the potato salad and the strawberry shortcake.  I'm not fond of corn on the cob, but the chicken kabobs sound good . . . I've never had them.

Mary Ann, I love corn on the cob but I've never had chicken kabobs.  Sounds good 'tho.  I cooked a small pork roast and made barbecue and some coleslaw.  It was good and have plenty for leftovers.  Gigi and Jeff were invited to a neighbor's picnic.  Too hot out there for us old folks.

Marilyne, Larry and I are into an interesting mystery series and we haven't even been turning on the TV.  I subscribe to the digital Washington Post and I haven't been reading much of that.  They do send me alerts on any important news that's happening which is nice and keeps me somewhat informed on National news.

Marilyn and Jean, I've just finished my supper and it was delicious.  Tom fixed some asparagus (the way I like it for me, his method for him), the chicken kabobs and corn on the cob.  If either of you fix kabobs, all you have to do is substitute the chicken for any other meat.  The pieces were about an inch square.  There was much more chicken than vegetables and I would have liked more veggies.  The chicken was very tender.  I ended up not making the potato salad, but I can fix that sometime.  I find I've lost much of my techniques.  I never was a gourmet cook, but I could put things together in good order.  Part of my problem with the shortcake today was nothing is where I had it and I had to ask Tom where it was.  My cake pan that I used especially for shortcakes was downstairs but Tom brought it up so I could use it.  It is a cake pan that belonged to my mother and it had a thing on the bottom where you could separate the shortcake from the pan.  I'm not describing this well but I don't know what you call the thing!

Marilyn, did you feel the earthquake at all?  I know it was far from you.  I am going to e-mail a great-nephew who lives in North Hollywood but I think he was far enough from it to not feel anything.  He has said he'd rather endure an earthquake in California than Michigan's snow!

Tom was going to grill outside on the deck but it was so hot that he decided to do it in the kitchen.  While he was grilling, we had a downpour so he was glad he stayed inside.  The shower lasted only a few minutes before the sun came out.  It isn't raining now, but the forecast is for possible showers tonight which won't be good for any fireworks.  I plan to see if I can find some on TV.  If not, I've seen fireworks before.

Mary Ann

Mary Ann, your 4th of July supper does sound delicious!  I know what you're talking about, as to the shortcake pan. The pan has a special name, but I can't remember it either? I had one of those also, but I haven't seen it in years? I think it belonged to my mother? 
We made a quick trip to Safeway, to see if we could find anything interesting, but just ended up getting kielbasa sausage, corn on the cob, and the makings for macaroni salad.   For dessert, we got a small seedless watermelon.  I can't eat corn, but AJ loves it, so I'll fix it for him.  It's almost 4:00 o'clock here, so I'd better get started on the salad, so it will have time to chill.

Mary Ann, - I also noticed the lack of "4th" items in the comics. Also could not find any of the usual 4th Parades on TV today. This makes me glad to be the age I am.  Soon we will be like Greece and a couple of other places 

Marilyne, - Thanks for prompting me to "show my face". I know it's something I should do.

Hoping all are having a reasonable good day today. Don't eat too much of that BBQ stuff 

Time for Duluth Harbor fireworks now says 22:10. Isn't that 10:00?

I thought it was way too sunny when I checked a few minutes ago.

Still enjoying "Yankee Doodle Dandy".

Satellite Image Captures a Total Solar Eclipse and a Hurricane in One Awesome Shot

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Callie, I'd say the folks in Duluth are expecting something, however, it is still light there.  I saw a couple of flashes at Port Huron and there are cars everywhere but the last I looked, the camera was pointed to the other end of the river.  I have fireworks going on all around me, some loud, others not.  I know we have fireworks by the Grand River but I can't see any of them from here.  I probably will not stay up long enough to catch them in Duluth, but I'll try Port Huron again.  I did see the apartment building across the road had fireworks that reached just over the top of the building.

Rick, it's good to hear from you and I hope you'll join in our conversations.  We talk about everything that is not too serious. 

Marilyn, my mother had three cake pans with a metal piece that went from the center of the pan up over the outside edge.  When the cake was ready to be taken out, you'd run this metal piece under the cake and the cake would come right out.  I haven't baked a cake in years but I have always liked it for shortcake, using the recipe on the Jiffy Mix box.  I used a Jiffy biscuit mix tonight and there wasn't as much in the box as the recipe on the Mix box called for, but I went ahead and the shortcake turned out fine.  I had a sliver of shortcake because my supper had been kind of filling, but oh, the dessert tasted so good.  I don't know if it's a Danish thing or English, but we have always put milk on our shortcake. 

I think I'll see if I can find some fireworks on TV or computer, then call it a day.  I know Kendrick would like some fresh food.

Mary Ann

I emailed Marilyne tonight about the large quake in N. California this evening and have yet to hear yet- altho she's by San Diego I believe. They're saying it was centered in the Mojave Desert and they expect a larger one in the days to come.

Patricia - I'm in Northern CA, near San Francisco.  Nowhere near the quake today, which was in Ridgecrest, in the Mojave Desert.  That's a very active/seismic area.  They have earthquakes there quite often, but I think this is the strongest one ever in that area?  Stronger ones have happened in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Napa, Paso Robles, and right here in little old Los Gatos.  The last Big One, was centered here in 1989.  it was called the Loma Prieta quake.  The epicenter was six miles from here, in the Santa Cruz mountains.   

Hi everyone.  I am getting a very early start there today as went to bed around 7 pm last night.  The two days getting away from the house wee most welcome they also were most wearisome.  I am not aware of any relatives gathering as we are all getting on in age.  (I seem to be struggling again trying to stay awake.  I didn't take the sleeping pill last night as think I may be getting too much of that medication.  I will discuss it with the nurse when she gets here this morning.  I have everything laid out for her quick review of the medicines and have a couple of questions to ask her as well.  Hopefully she will come early as she did last time. 

Mary Ann, I always try to keep some cash on hand not because  I am getting out to spend it but to give the girls if they come over to eat and Pat doesn't feel like cooking or planning a meal.  It is also handy for other things.  Credit cards very easy to use anymore.  Hopefully the bill I just paid is the last really big one for awhile but we had car repair and tires and some other major expenses.  We get used to things like mail delivery and when there is a holiday for the postal or government workers we really miss their services. 

Joy, don't give up on those steamed crabs. I have had steamed crabs once or twice and they sure are good and worth waiting for. I also loved the Boston Pops show that appeared for so long.  I had forgotten all about it. 

Patricia, it looks like things are quickly changing to Alaska from a weather standpoint.  I now see on the news about the earthquake in California. 

Callie, I think I also would pass on a pool party.  Of course, my social activities have been drastically cut now do to the Hospice but I have time to enjoy things more (if I could just stay awake--If I suddenly don't make any sense in my comments here just ignore them as I was probably pretty much asleep when I wrote them. I have been enjoying Blue Bell brand fudge cycles and chocolate covered bars and we also have some ice cream in the freezer.  Something cold always tastes best to me and I may just go and have an ice cream bar and it is only a little after 2 am.  Such freedom and I can get rather eccentric now. Always exciting to get a new computer setup.  What brand are you getting?

Marilyne, I can't image having to carry groceries bags from one level of a house to the next.                                                                                                                                                        
Sandy, I well see what the dentist says.  Since I hope to be around awhile yet and eating is usually a pleasure I will have to seriously consider what to do.  I do have something called Care Credit available which spread out he cost and no interest as long as the bills are paid monthly.

Good morning from Grand Rapids.  It's always good to see a few posts, especially since it's only 8 in the morning.

After the Fourth concerts and their fireworks, I searched for some fireworks on the computer.  I had plenty of noise around me and I'm sure if I had gotten up off my duff, I could have seen something close.  As it was, I really didn't find fireworks so I went to bed. 

This morning on the St Clair River, it was so foggy at Marine City that a ship went by and no one could see it, not even the chatters.  The sun was in the sky, so the fog will burn off soon.

It is already 76 degrees here and probably will go into the mid-80s.  I'll be inside where it is cooler.

Larry, there is a big gap in your post.  Is that where you took a nap?  Ha!

Patricia, long ago I looked at a California map to find out where Los Gatos is so I knew Marilyn was not near the earthquake.  My great-nephew, Geoff, lives in North Hollywood and he may have felt something, but not much. 

We had a storm in the middle of the night that seemed quite long, but Tom said it was not long.  Thunder was close.  The cat and I slept.

Mary Ann

Good Friday Morning.

A little cloudy out this morning, and the weatherman said that there had been some hard rain not too far from me, but so far, no rain here.

Callie,  I did watch the fireworks from the Duluth harbor last night.  Like you,  I kept going back and forth between several of the webcams and it was after 10 p.m. their time, before they did start. Seemed like it took a long time to get dark. I switched back and forth between cams and finally watched most of them from the Bridge Cam.  Could see that great.  It seemed they  exploded  right in the full space between the top and bottom of the bridge. There were a lot of people standing on the bridge, and cars were still going back and forth.  I am assuming that there is some kind of a barrier to keep the people from in the way of the cars. The fireworks were very good and lasted almost a 1/2 hour.

I didn't hear hardly any noise from fireworks around my area.  A couple little "bangs" but that was all. Very quiet evening.

I did watch part of the movie, but switched back and forth between the Capitol Fourth show. 

My DIL stopped at Burger King yesterday and brought 2 of the new "Impossible Whoppers" back and had lunch with me.  These are the new "veggie" burgers from BK.  Other than being a little messy, which is normal for a whopper,  it was very good.  Tasted exactly like a real hamburger.  My DIL is a vegetarian and I am not a real big meat eater, so we both really enjoyed our lunch and will certainly get them again.  It was such a big sandwich, that we both cut ours in half and I had my half again for supper, along with a bowl of homemade vegetable soup that my neighbor brought me. 

Yesterday was a very quiet day.  Nothing happened that was very exciting, except for lunch. LOL  I was down in the lobby last evening and there was a notice on the office door that nobody would be in the office today, either.   I don't know if that includes the maintenance man.  If it does, that means our trash won't be picked up until Monday. Hate when that happens.  It will be over flowing by Monday.

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday.  I guess it will be another quiet day today, also.  Nothing planned for the weekend so far, either. 

Have a great day today.

Joy

I watched some of Macy's 4th of July fireworks in New York.  It isn't the same as seeing them live and would have preferred to see our local fireworks.  We heard a few firecrackers in the neighborhood but after around 9:30 it was very quiet here.

Marilyne, i was looking in Google to see where Ridgeville in the Mojave Desert and the 6.4 earthquake happened.  My sister used to live in Victorville which is also in the Mojave Desert, but I see that they are over 600 miles apart.  After all these years, I still remember how different that terrain is.  Mostly I remember jack rabbits and Joshua trees.

Mary Ann, I've never cooked kabobs.  I keep saying that I am going to buy a little electric grill for the back porch but haven't found one except on Amazon and I would like to see the grill before buying it.  When we lived in Morocco, we had to use propane gas for all the cooking, and I never felt safe with it (and it is no fun when the gas stops in the middle of baking a cake and you don't have an extra one).

Good to see you here, Rammel.  I get my social security check the 3rd Wed (my birthday is the 14th) and my husband gets his the 4th Wed (his birthday is the 30th).  "Benefit payments used to be issued on the third of the month for all Social Security beneficiaries. But as of May 1, 1997, payment dates have been determined by the date of birth of the person on whose earnings record you receive benefits."

Have a good day everyone.

Jean, I haven't cooked kabobs in a long time, but I think they cook no different than other meats on a grill.  Tom has an electric grill that can be used inside or out and he cooks them on that.  Timing would be the only thing different because of the size of the meat pieces.  I've bought beef kabobs too in the past but chicken is the only thing that was offered this year.

I retired in 1986 and started receiving my SS check on the third and that is when I've gotten it ever since.

The Marine City cam has had problems but people over there think it is an Internet problem.  I've had Internet problems a couple times recently and just restarted the computer and I was back in business.  I'm sure their problem is more severe than what I had and when I go there soon, the problem may be fixed. 

I think I mentioned the fog was so thick this morning that a ship went through the fog and none of the chatters saw it and neither did I.  I did see it later at Port Huron.

Mary Ann

Good afternoon.

After all my informing about time of Duluth fireworks....I missed them! Saw the boats gathered around the park in Pier B cam but got interested in the movie  "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and, when I checked back, the boats were gone and all was quiet.  I did, however, watch the video of them through the bridge this morning and would have liked to see them from the Pier B side.

I also watched the Macy's display - better on t.v. than on the web cam.  Spectacular!!

Computer Geek is due in a little while to set up my new computer.  May have to use Tablet for communicating until I figure out how to use the new version of Windows.

I'm getting a late start on today.  I don't know where the time has gone, I just know that I haven't done a thing and it's already after 1:30 in the afternoon!

Callie - I also missed all the fireworks and celebrations on line and on TV, because I was also watching, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". A good entertaining old movie, even if it is very dated and hokey, by today's standards.

Jean - Finding out that Ridgecrest and Victorville, are so apart from each other, makes us realize how vast, the Mojave Desert is!  I've mostly just driven through on the major highways to get from one place to another, and have never spent much time in any one place.  I always wanted to visit Death Valley National Park, but the only time to go there is in the middle of Winter, and it's always been hard to get away that time of year. 

The desert that I like is the "low desert", which would be Palm Springs, and other places in the Coachella Valley.  It's beautiful there, with miles of beautiful date palm orchards. Those trees are so tall, and absolutely spectacular!  It's too hot in the summer, in that part of CA, but perfect in the Winter.  It's like a whole different world down there.

Well, guess I'd bette start getting organized.  I hope to return later and write some more.

I watched the Duluth fireworks this morning on YouTube. I really liked that they lit up the bridge with red, white and blue. Lots of people on the bridge watching the fireworks. I turned the sound off so that the booms didn't disturb Shan since he seems to be sensitive to the sound even if not close. Last night he did not hide, but he was listening and ready to go. Fortunately, the display was downriver and the sound was unusually faint and sparse for Harrisburg.

Did you know that they put pilots aboard foreign ships at Port Huron? Yesterday I watched a pilot boat chase down two ships from The Netherlands to get the pilots aboard. Found this site put up by the Lake Pilots Association that explains what they do as well as pictures of their boats.http://www.lakespilots.com/ 

It's in the quieter times that I realise I miss Gloria de.

Patricia, I miss her too.  She was quite active and I envied her because she was. 

It's a scary thing now - at one time there were four of us in the 90s, two are gone and I don't know about Junee in Australia, who probably would be 97. 

Mary Ann

If you missed seeing fireworks last night, Algonac is setting up for them tonight at 10 pm.  They have a carnival atmosphere going and crowds are forming. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIaNM70J91M

Mary Ann

Mary Ann - Junee in Australia, is doing well. She's my Facebook friend, so we stay in touch. She has a birthday coming up in August.   Looks like I missed the fireworks show tonight at Algonac. Seems like I'm always three hours late for the fun stuff that's happening in the East!

MarsGal - That's an interesting website, about the Lake Pilots Association, and what they do, and why.  The pictures of the foreign ships are gorgeous!   Thanks for the heads up, about the Duluth show on YouTube.  I'll take a look before  go to bed tonight.

GOOD EVENING.....I have just caught up on reading all of the nice posts.  I am sorry I did not get in to post a HAPPY INDEPENDICE DAY to you all.  We kept quite busy with the family and sure enjoyed our time in Vail.  It was just beautiful there....perfect temperatures and being with the families sure made my time just delightful.  I must admit that I really hurt from having to climb three flights of stairs every time I went up to Dave's place which is where we slept each night.  UGH!  We came home today, Friday.  We could have stayed longer, but Bob was ready to be home.  I am sure happy to report that Michele was doing fantastic and participating in everything, and seemed to really be enjoying herself.  She was pretty tired at times but I think being away and having so many people around helped her mentally.  The insurance company did OK her CT Scan and she will have it in a couple of weeks.  She will have he chemo next Monday as scheduled. 

We have been watching Wimbledon a LOT and are really amazed by CoCo Gauff.  The Tour de France starts soon and that is another time consumer.....I have a love/hate with it as I love to see the beautiful country side views, but get really tired of it being on so much and for so long. 

I think it is time for me to head off to bed. 

Pleasant dreams to all.

Jenny

Yes i miss Gloria D too, she had always been one of my favourite members...I still remember our chats a few years ago when we had our " sitting on the porch swing " our tranquil room...

Jenny...
...relieved to read that finally Michele's insurance company has agreed to cover the cost of her CT scan...Some companies certainly know how to place unnecessary stress on people when they really do not need any more stress...

Patricia...
...just been on our BBC news about Alaska ( Anchorage ) record high temperatures inside the arctic circle reaching 32 degrees celsius compared to its usual average of this time of the year of 18 degrees...
France ( south ) too had hit an all time high of 45.9 c at the end of June...

Jenny, that is good news for Jenny. I am glad she is doing better. Getting the news that the insurance company will foot the bill for the scan must be helping her morale too.

When I checked the Algonac site, I saw that lots of people already had found spots on the lawn along the water. I don't remember the time, but it was still daylight. Too bad I fell asleep and didn't wake until 11:30pm. I'll have to see if there is a clip of the Algonac fireworks up on YouTube today.

Jenny, I'm happy for Michele's good news.  And it's nice that she was able to join in on the activities at Vail. 

MarsGal, sorry to say, I was not too impressed with the Algonac fireworks, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.  There were 15 minutes of fireworks with a barge in the middle of the river shooting them off.  I could see lights across the river so Canadians were enjoying them too.  Well, tit for tat because the Americans had enjoyed the fireworks on Canada Day on Monday.  The fireworks were nice, only I've seen better.

Patricia, the Weather Channel has had information about the Alaskan fires and high temps at Anchorage.  I won't say the WC hasn't had anything before because I don't watch them 100% but they had quite a bit about the Alaska weather.

Marilyn, thank you for the word about Junee.  She's older than I am and with her being so far away, you never know.

I think my air just went on and I'm going to close the slider door.  It is quite humid here now, so I'll be glad for the cooler drier air.

Mary Ann