Hi everyone.  Our rain started mid-afternoon yesterday and continued throughout the night but does appear to be over now.  During the night they broadcast a freeze warning for us but pretty sure we did not get to freezing at our home as was in the 40's when I arose this morning.  It will stay chilly today.  This will be a fairly busy day as Pat has a doctor's appointment at 10:15 this morning, then we plan on getting out main meal of the day out and finally finishing up at COSTCO for some shopping.  It is time to restock our meat supply in the freezer as well as getting several other things.  That will be enough activity for one day.  I may watch the beginning of the NCAA Basketball Tournament this afternoon.

JeanneP, I hope your snow is over by today.  I agree with you that Daylight Savings Time should start later in the year so that children don't have to stand out in the dark to catch school buses. 

Patricia, now neat to meet Ms. Stabenow.  I sure enjoyed her books. Did she remember you the second time you met?

Mary Ann, that was the news from the doctor I bet you were seeking.  I understand we will soon have a new Wendy's next to our new Dairy Queen not far from us. 

deAngel, I heard on the news a little bit ago that the bulk of the storm may be bypassing Long Island so maybe it won't be as bad as has been predicted, at least I hope that is the case.  Your neighbors were wise on their night out to not drive.

Good Morning Everyone from the Snowy and Windy rocky coast of Maine... 

The "Blizzared" is just beginning but most of us are ready for it.   I went shopping with Kelly yesterday and the Grocery Store was a MAD HOUSE.     
And I was right in the middile of it. 

Lucky for me,  kelly was right there to rescue me.   
She didn't bother to shop,  just waited for me to
get in line and then helped me pack everything up so that  I could handle it.     

I have  a rolling large back pack and a smaller back pack
that I can fill with anything heavy,  and of course some cloth bags just in case.   (for light weight things)..  This way I can manage from the car up to my apartment so that Kelly does not have to come up the elevator with me.

Having to only cook for one makes my grocery shopping a whole lot easier.    I am so very lucky to have someone to take me, once every week.   

Sure Angel!    I am not sure but you are talking about bur you may use anything that you like of mine!!

Have a good day,  Everyone... 
Sandy

Good morning all: Looks like that Nor'easter is going to make many of your lives difficult for the next couple of days. I can't imagine what it would be like to experience a blizzard!  From what I've seen on TV, it looks like all of the coastal states will be the hardest hit.  That means that Sandy and Gloria de, will maybe be snowed in?

Sandy - I see that you got all of your shopping done, with Kelly helping you.  Is Kelly the grandmother of Fe?? 
Larry - Looks like the blizzard is not going happen as far South as your area?
Mary Ann - I guess you're far enough North and inland, so you'll only get snow and freezing temps.

I'll check on the Weather Channel, off and on today, to see how you're all doing. stay safe and warm, wherever you are!

It is a cold morning/afternoon here (18º) but the sun is shining which makes it a nice day.  We really have had quite a morning with Tom forgetting my dentist appointment but everything turned out right.  Dot took me to the dentist's, which is only a block away.  When I was done, I called Tom, who called Uber for a ride.  As it turned out, his car was ready, so Uber killed two birds with one stone, so to speak.  It was a woman driver and she picked up Tom first, then came up to pick up me then to where Tom's car was.  Since Terry is in California this week to meet his new grandson, there was just Tom and me so we had our Wednesday lunch today. 

News at the dentist was not too good, however, I was not surprised.  The last time I was there, he thought I had a cavity and said he'd x-ray it today.  He decided I should have a crown on that tooth, next to the crown he put on in December.  I already had an appointment for July so we're going to combine appointments to do the crown and cleaning. 

Now I am home for the rest of the day and I intend to stay here!  And I think a nap is on the schedule.

Mary Ann

Quote from: Marilyne on March 14, 2017, 11:09:31 AM
Larry - Looks like the blizzard is not going happen as far South as your area?
Mary Ann - I gue
Sandy - I see that you got all of your shopping done, with Kelly helping you.  Is Kelly the grandmother of Fe?? 

Yes Kelly (My eldest child)is the Grand Mother of my only Great Grand Daughter Fe,  who is the child of my eldest Grand Daughter Madison.   

That's how things work out.  The four of us get together once in a while and do some shopping and have lunch.  Four Generations of happy relations. 
(Something that I never expected,  but am thrilled about)

Sandy 

You have  courage MA ... still having crowns..     
I despise going to the dentist.

You have done a good job,  Mary Ann!!
Sandy

Sandy, thanks.  Over the years I have had 13-14 crowns, and I am pleased to say I still have all of my own roots. I wonder sometimes if my dentist realizes my age, but these are the first crowns I've had in many years.

Mary Ann

Good morning from a still, minus twenty-five, Interior. I was up until three forty AM and awoke at six forty and again at ten before finally awakening fully ay ten forty. This seems to be a new habit a couple of times a month. Farrah has her new routine down, first breakfast while I'm making coffee, then a bite of tuna while I'm drinking coffee, and finally, a treat when I get up for more coffee. She has me trained!

MaryAnn, I'm betting that you were glad not to have to return until fall and that you act and appear much younger to others than you believe yourself to be. Unfortunately,  I have had several crowns and root canals as I had what was termed, "soft teeth."

Hi Gloria, stay warm and safe and cuddle up with Taffy. She worries.  

Larry, it was early evening of the same day. Wasilla is a small town very close to Anchorage. She must have had a full day as she mentioned it was her last book signing that day,(In Wasilla). Which reminds me, Did you see the commercial photo of part of Anchorage's coast? I don't know if it is similar to when you were there or not.

Thank you, Sandy, it is a photo in your gallery that I saw on the random image to the left of the forum. I was such a regular at the Dentist's office and am light sensitive to bright lights or bright sun. So I would close my eyes in the dentist's chair. And since I was accustom to being there, once or twice I fell asleep and he had to wake me up. He said that was a rarity for him.

You are one of the lucky ones with your family and four generations. I am no longer familiar with my family other than emailing or phoning my youngest sister. And the grands are in their late twenties and late thirties and scattered so I haven't seen any of them since they were children. I do keep in touch with a maternal cousin. She still lives in Montrose, Colorado, and farms my grandparents' place that she inherited from her father.

I hope everyone is staying warm and safe with the blizzard they have forecast. We don't have the humidity for those storms here. We tend to earthquakes due to fault lines in the mountains and fires in the arboreal forest we live amidst. The Interior is said to be a fire driven ecology.

Patricia, as a young person, I always had soft teeth too and I had the fillings to prove it.  I don't know when or why things changed, but I think my teeth are harder now.  I've taken calcium since 1983 when I broke my leg and I really credit that with keeping me from breaking bones when I've fallen a couple of times in the past few years.  I think one reason I look younger than what I am is because I am short and I'm - how do I put it? - stocky?  pleasingly plump?  I'm not fat but I am overweight. 

I'm happy I'm not in the storm's path, but we've been there, done that, just not as often as the northeast part of the country has.  The pictures are interesting and I'm so happy I'm not in it.  Here, the sun is shining.

I'm not sure I put in a message that twin Johanna went home today but Eleanor will have to wait a few days.  James sent Tom some pictures.  The babies are always so bundled up that you don't notice any features of their faces.

Mary Ann

Speaking of teeth . . . I have an unusual problem.  I have excess bone growth on my gums, above (or below) each of my molars and others. My bottom teeth have the protruding bone all the way across the lower gums.  It's ugly - very ugly!   Fortunately, it cannot be seen, even when I smile a big smile.  These bone growths are called tories or torus. 

Painless, as long as I watch what I eat.  No excessive chewing and nothing sharp such as chips or crunchy cereal, or they become very sore and can bleed.   Dentists and oral surgeons are unconcerned and want to leave them alone. I started getting them about 15 years ago, and sorry to say that they are getting worse and bigger.  The dentist tells me that this is commonplace, but I've never heard of anyone with this problem? 

Now you know more about my teeth than you ever wanted to know!    

Marilyne, try having a double set of wisdom teeth, some hooked into the gum. And then having both sets pulled when you were sixteen as your mouth was child sized and the dentist convinced my parents they were too big for my mouth. I  am convinced that all my oral problems came from that.

I had my wisdom teeth pulled when I was either young or a young adult, except for one that was impacted.  I went several years with that until it developed a cavity (part of the tooth showed above the gum).  My dentist didn't do oral surgery and referred me to one.  I finally went to the oral surgeon and had the tooth removed.  Now you know where my wisdom went!

Marilyne, I never heard of your situation.  The fact it is growing would be a puzzle to me.  I imagine your dentist is keeping track of it so if it becomes too large, he can do something about it. 

We have only "lake effect" snow now and New England is covered.  Radar shows snow in the very northern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia with a little in South Carolina.  Funny, but I never think of snow in those states.

Mary Ann

Patricia - I guess your parents had no choice but to have those double wisdom teeth removed?  If they had waited, the second set would probably have grown into your gums??  I also had all four wisdom teeth out when I was sixteen.  Dental surgery was not high-tech back then, and I remember the pain and the ice packs for a week or longer.

Mary Ann - My husband AJ, still has all four of his wisdom teeth!  He's never had any problems with them.  In fact his teeth are all straight and perfect, and he never had braces when he was young.  My teeth are crocked and out of alignment, and I wore braces from age 10 to 13.  So go figure?  Some people are just blessed with good teeth. 

Marilyne, I had eight wisdom teeth and the dentist told my folks that they would deform my mouth. My mouth inside has a very high ceiling, but otherwise has remained small. Do you remember those black rubber blocks they use as spacers? Well, they couldn't get one to fit inside and at twenty, they used one made for a young child!

Hi everyone.  We have a beautiful sunny morning here in South Carolina although it was 36 degrees when I got up this morning and apparently some areas around here got below freezing as my weather app said it was 30 degrees.  We changed our plans yesterday as after the doctor's appointment and going to eat lunch at Tin Lizzy's we decided to call it a day and came home to rest.  So today we plan on doing our shopping at Costco this morning.  This evening is our usual Wednesday night dinner at Church and it will have a St. Patrick's theme with Irish stew, cooked cabbage, Irish soda bread, salad and dessert. Scott and Jennifer then will come out to the house for a little while as far as I know now.

Sandy, in looking at the National weather last night it looked like you all were going to be slammed with the blizzard type weather.  Sure glad Kelly is there to help you with your grocery shopping.  It sounds like you are well organized for your grocery shopping.

Mary Ann, glad your Uber ride worked out well for both you and Tom.  Was his car in the garage for repairs?  I always dread the report from the dentist after he examines my teeth following a cleaning.  However, the last the last time it has been a good report.  I don't even remember how many filling and crowns I have had done over the years. 

Patricia, I see that Farrah has worn you down so that she is getting her treats.  I did see the photos and one reminded me of the view we had from our home of "The Sleeping Lady" mountain across Cook Inlet.  It was beautiful, especially in the evening setting sun. 

Marilyne, I have never heard of the gum dental problem you experience.  It sounds like it is not something to worry about. I also remember the pain of having my wisdom teeth removed.  Dental work used to be a lot more painful than it is today.  Your husband is very lucky to have nice teeth. 

Good Morning Everyone from the snow covered,  windy,  cold,  but very sunny,  rocky coast of Maine.   

Yes we had a BLIZZARD which dropped lots and lots of snow and we are now in the process of cleaning up... 

The roads are so-so,  and some of the sidewalks are partially cleared,  but we have a lot of snow to get rid of before walking around gets easier.   But even so,  buses are running and the city is busy and there are lots of people out there walking around.   
They seem to be enjoying it.    Not me.  I am in for the day and will be satisfied watching other  people negotiating  the walk ways.   

Have a good day everyone and stay cozy and warm.
Sandy

Marilyne, I don't have perfect teeth, but they look pretty good.  Braces weren't thought of when I was young and I'm not sure my folks could have afforded them.  I do have a slight overbite but that hasn't hampered my chewing and I've got the shape to prove it.

Sandy, aren't you glad it isn't your responsibility to get rid of the snow at your place?  I used to like to shovel but I was happier when I got a snow blower; that was fun.  Here at the condo, we have both plowing and hand shoveling done and I usually don't have any place to go, anyway.  The roads are supposed to be plowed by 7 am for people who are still working.  Later they come back and do the cul-de-sacs and parking areas.  The hand shoveler does his things when we have a couple of inches on the walks and I've heard him early in the morning.

Larry, once a year Uber wants an inspection of the cars and Tom took his in yesterday morning.  It was nice that he could meet another Uber driver, a woman.  She and her husband both are Uber drivers and she does not drive at night.  The inspection place is about four miles from home.

It was 15 degrees when I got up at 8 am and I think is up to 22 degrees now.  The sun is shining, so that makes it another nice day!  Nice, but cold!!!

Mary Ann 

Yes Mary Ann,  it sure feels good to be just an "observer" of all of the snow that we just got dumped on us  yesterday.     I can see that the store owners are being vigiliant in scrapping the sidewalks so that people can get around and get into their stores without falling on snow..
The bus stops aren't very clear, yet,  but they will be by tomorrow,  if the night crews come into tonight to remove all the snow here in the city.     Living here in the city,  they remove the snow from the streets and side walks,  taking it somewhere out side the city, rather then just letting it melt naturally ...   (usually)    Hopefully they will do that this storm (even though it is   "the ides of March" ...       

There are  lot of people out there moving around in spite of the snow left by this  March Blizzard!

Sandy

Our temps have been in the 50's during the day time.  Lots of rain tho so no drought this year.

Sandy, I'm wondering if the snow is dumped into Casco Bay.  It seems to me I've read about some cities doing that, into rivers too.  It's been so long since I paid any attention to what Grand Rapids did that I don't remember, but we have the Grand River flowing through town. 

It is a beautiful, sunny day here and I saw the temperature is 27 degrees.  I went after the mail and it is cold, but no new snow today.

Don't rub it in Joan, we don't expect to get to 50 degrees for a few days.  As long as the sun shines, I'm happy.

We had our Wednesday lunch yesterday and the next one is expected to be next week. 

Beware the Ides of March!

Mary Ann

Good afternoon, very cold and wind but the sun is shinning. Dusting of snow over night.

MaryAnn, I am also lucky at 93 to still have most of my teeth.
as I said before, I told my dentist I plan to go before my teeth, so he had better take good care of them

Larry Irish stew sounds good,most places St Patricia dinner is corn beef.

Sand, you have your window on the world, I have the sliding glass doors off the dining  room. I spend part of the day at the table, breakfast, reading the paper, folding cloths etc. This morning when I got up there was a light dusting on snow on the deck. I saw bird tracks, little paw tracks and big paw tacks with different 5 toes. I think it must have been a very large raccoon. I love watching all my birds, and little animals.  In the spring the mamma duck come over from the pond with her babies and looks for bird seed. I also have a ground hug. I night I have also seen a possum. I day last year even a rooster, have no idea where he came from.

I like your window to the more "natural world" also !!! 
It is nice having a place to sit and observe nature!

MaryAnn
  They do not dump the snow in Casco Bay,  because it would pollute the water ...  All that stuff from the streets.. oil salt and just stuff that we do not need to be putting in the Bay.      They put it in big fields that are appropriated  for the snow from the streets of Portland and other cities around here. 

Sandy

Mary Ann, sorry about that. 

Good morning from the Interior where temperatures remain the same at night with the highs during the day getting higher and lasting longer.

Joan, we won't see the fifties until late April. On winters like last year, we can see those temperatures earlier as in late or mid-March. Here we are hoping that heavy snow falling in the mountains will end the 16-year drought we've been in.

Larry, she gets the treats by a couple and no longer a handful! The tuna appreciation is new; she never touched it before. However, I don't eat it very often so she might have to give up on that. She is different from most cats also in that she ignores the fridge opening or the can opener. She notices and responds to cupboards and hall closet door openings. I always feel sorry when she comes bounding up when I open the cabinet for a Tylenol or my vitamins.

Gloria, we don't have possums or raccoons here, so I never see those outside of the Anchorage Zoo. However, I see lots of birds, Hawks, Golden Eagles, owls, and ravens, plus many smaller ones.

I'm on the fourth floor along the river so also see lots of shore birds. Sometimes, again as I am by the river, I see moose or caribou, especially in deep snow years or in the springtime. You can sometimes see lynx about the edges of town but they are normally nocturnal.

I rarely see any fox in town but have upon occasion. Once I saw a porcupine waddling down Second Avenue! Since that is in the middle of the office district, it made the paper and I was interviewed as one of the people present. I made some dumb comment such as Wow when asked about it. I envy you your "natural window" on the world too!

Sandy, I have not looked up photos from the latest blizzard, but I plan to soon. In the Southeast's more humid or wet climate, they have more snow, and now they have the usual spring avalanches to alert folks to and to guard against. I face the river, and some commercial buildings so don't have a view as you do.

The rivers in town act as highways for the various animals either looking to escape predators or to find the escapees. There was a woman out in her yard yesterday, just on the town outskirts whose cocker spaniel was taken out of her front yard by a wolf while she was standing in the doorway. She complained that she thought wolves wouldn't do that. She stated that she had read on wolves before and thought that the wolf must have been ill to come so close to people.

No one must have mentioned to her about the jogger taken down by a pack by Denali Park a couple of years ago or the man on the snowmobile who was attacked but was able to drive off. Wolves are not wrong or evil creatures. They are also not the darlings that some folks would have you believe. They are wild animals and behave as wild animals will do as they haven't read their current propaganda.

Marilyne, my mother, never had a cavity, not even when at the last when she spent eight years in a coma due to end stage Alzheimer's. The rest of us, unfortunately, took after dad's dental issues. I remember such pain and moaning, and it seemed to me that the dentist was contorting to get them all out. He told my mother that I was "making such a scene," that he decided to pull them all in one sitting! If I had the gumption I do now; I would have grabbed that drill and placed it where his sun never shone!!

Sandy, our snow is dumped in various city lots either owned by or leased by the city. The company holding my building pays a private contractor for snow removal. No river, pond, lake or creek dumping allowed as it is illegal. There are signs by the street drains reminding folks that there are fish in the waterways the drains lead to and we would like to keep them so no dumping cigarettes or stuff down the drains!

Edit:  MaryAnn, I'm looking out for Cesar and looking forward, as a Celt, to St. Patrick's. Although I never remember to wear any green!

Sandy, another question - does Portland get your drinking water from Casco Bay?  Grand Rapids has a pipeline to Lake Michigan and I think still get some of the water from there.  I do not live within the city limits and the township gets it water from a deep well (I think).  I really don't care as the water tastes good and I think the township gets good marks on the water.

Tom was to leave about 3 or 4 pm to go to the airport to pick up a friend and take her north to Kalkaska where someone would meet them to take her to Traverse City.  It's 5 pm and Tom is still here so someone's plans must have been changed.

Patricia, how naive can people get, thinking a wolf would not go after a small dog.  I am Orange Irish and sometimes wore a dress on St Pat's Day that was kind of orange.  I never had a problem, but one of the men wore an orange tie to work and someone cut it off.  He wasn't any kind of Irish and wore the tie on purpose. 

Kendrick doesn't worry about the refrigerator door, but there are two drawers where he knows his "stuff" is in and if I open either of them, he's "Johnny-on-the-Spot". 

We have had some interesting birds on our pond, but not often.  A Great Blue Heron (Big Bird) comes around each year, always one and often a different one. We've had a least bittern, kingfishers, song sparrows, house finches.  For years we did not have any house sparrows but when they came, we've had them ever since.  We have an occasional cardinal and sometimes blue jays.  Today I saw a couple of herring gulls and lots of crows.  There is some ice on the pond and we have three bubblers on it and in the open spots we often see mallards and Canada geese.  Both of them seem to be here in the Spring and Fall but not in the summer.  We used to have lots of duck families, but no more.  We used to have raccoons but I haven't seen any in ages. 

Mary Ann

Patricia, never comes if I use the can opener.  I do have a 10lb. can I keep her dry food in, i mix the 3 fancy feast to ether, she can be sound asleep in the bedroom and she comes flying.  No matter how quite I try to open the can.  She also comes when I open a closet door, she has to go in and investigate. I call her a nosy cat. If I get up at 3AM, she come into the bedroom or bathroom and stays with me until I go back to bed.
I would love to see and Eagle in the while, every once in awhile someone will see one out here.
  My neighbor has seen a fox in the park, before the fence around the park was put up I have seen deer. Seeing a rooster around LI is not common anymore. The law said no more roosters, as they wake the people  from the city. Those are the ones who bought property  out here cause the like the country. Now they even complain about the farmer on his tractor early in the morning, and this past summer I read in the paper they do not like the farmer, turning on his irrigation so early. When we lived in Ronkonkoma years ago we had happy hens, as we also had a rooster. When we lived in Water Mill we also had geese.

MaryAnn We have a blue heron that comes every spring to our little pond, and cleans out all the fish. I have a pair of cardinals, and 3 blue jays every day. The other day the blue jay flew off with a piece of bread a cat bird was eating. We have gulls in the winter, as people throw bread out

Angel, I have been to AK 3 times  in my life.  Enjoyed each time.  Son lived in Anchorage for a bit so went up when Athena was born, took two cruises up that way also.  Beautiful country.  Oooops forgot the 4th time when son got married.,  LOL

Thank you, Joan, for the lovely comments! I had a paternal uncle and have several cousins, (He had six sons!); in Onalaska, WI; and Morton, WA. We visited with them in the fifties and early sixties and my Uncle Raymond, the oldest of sixteen, died at the beginning of January just three days before turning 106. He outlived all of his younger brothers and sisters by twenty years! Anyway, I wondered if Morton is close to where you live?

MaryAnn, there is a lot of propaganda out there either demonizing the wolf or exalting it. No one wants to believe it is a wild animal just surviving as the grizzly or the lynx or the eagle. I heard some folks actually say upon hearing about the jogger killed, that it was a coverup.

I think the issue with orange is that it represents the English colonists that the British brought in after taking Ireland over and forcing so many Irish farmers to emigrate by the famine and by the Crown giving them, the English settlers; large tracts of Irish land and then running sheep on it. It is also a reason for the separation of Ireland now. Ancient history to many, but not all.

Gloria, we have both red and black fox, but more with black coloration. There are thousands of Bald Eagles in the Southeast, and they overwinter there. But we, in the Interior, have mainly Golden Eagles. We had a cardinal winter over five or six years ago and now have seen a few. We have catbirds and Gray Jays here but not Bluebirds or Blue Jays. We do have both Loons and egrets as well as the Great Blue Heron up the Salcha River, or at least I haven't seen one elsewhere. And of course, we are a prime area for owls.

Most of our small birds are forest types, and we have one most folks love, we call a Mosquito Hawk. It is about the size of a robin, long tail, black on top with white stripes on the side. It eats two to three times its body weight in mosquitos daily, hence the love. With the wildlife and avian breeding Creamer's Field just edging the city limits, we see many birds as thousands from the US and the world either breed in the sanctuary or stop off and rest before traveling further north.

Patricia, the story is that my Fleming great-grandparents went from Scotland to Northern Ireland, hence the Scots-Irish.  They both seem to have come to the US through Canada.  It was thought they married in Montreal, but I found a record on the Mormon site where they married in a Presbyterian church in Albany NY.  I understand Fleming in Ireland is much like Smith or Jones in the US and I have not been able to trace them further back.  Furthermore, my great-grandfather was William, also a very common name. 

Annie was here today and had hold of Kendrick while cutting his toenails.  I asked her to keep hold of him and weigh him in her arms, then weigh herself.  Kendrick weighs 15 pounds, which may seem like a lot, but he is a BIG cat; there is a lot of him.  I can't pick him up. 

Mary Ann

Quote from: Mary Ann on March 15, 2017, 05:05:27 PM
Sandy, another question - does Portland get your drinking water from Casco Bay?

In 1913 the Maine Legislature recognized Sebago Lake as a drinking water supply for Greater Portland by passing a Private and Special Law prohibiting bodily contact within two miles of the intakes and prohibiting trespassing on District lands acquired "for the purpose of protecting the purity of the waters." Later amendments prohibit trespassing within 3000 feet of the intakes. Regular surveillance of Lower Bay ensures that these restrictions are enforced.

https://www.pwd.org/watershed-protection

We are very fortunate here in Portland to havee excellent water.