I kind of backed off watching the Weather Channel today.  I am continually amazed at the amount of damage yet.  And they just announced that the water system in Beaumont is not working.  Now there are tornado warnings in Mississippi and Tennessee.  Sandy, I'm happy that your weather is so pleasant; so is ours.  I feel sorry for the people in Texas but I'm glad the problem is there and not here.  We do have bad storms occasionally, but not often.  I can think of two damaging tornadoes - 1956 and 1965.  I also remember when it rained every day of September 1986 and if the pond had risen another 1 1/2 feet, it would have been at the edge of my patio. 

I'm back watching the Weather Channel.

Mary Ann

All my family doing O.K still in Houston.  The news is crazy anymore . every one reporting different things.
I doubt very much that so many have already contacted FEMA. According to the people who do the reporting that know what is going on. They are saying that around 27000 are in shelters. 50000 home damaged and about 7000 unrepairable.  Did say that about 27% more people that use to buy flood damage no longer had it. Its amazing how many people don't carry insurance at all. If a mortgage have to carry some but I don't think forced to pay flood damage. It is all so sad but when you look at the % in a city of over 6 million people it could be worse. Only 9 people dead they say. 6 being one family.  Fact there are more pets. Dogs and cats etc in shelters.
Don't know why the flew 650 animals out to the St. Louis area from SanAntonia. Maybe they had shipped them there from Houston. Seemed like every one saved was carrying a pet.  As usual most who are being hurt by this are the Poor as they are the ones living in the flood areas just like in other cities. The flood in New Orleans really changed the whole city. Gone are all those Shanty  towns that were downtown. So many of those people ended up in Houston living in areas that now are flooded . Just a circle.

How rumors affect a city.  Somehow the rumor got started here in San Antonio that gasoline was running out and this afternoon every station had a mile long line of cars waiting to refuel and my wife came home telling me that rumor was gasoline was being sold for 5 dollars a gallon, it wasn't but stations did run dry because of the sheer volume of cars filling up.  They finally had a special bulletin on TV telling people there was plenty of gasoline and stations would be re-supplied as soon as they could get trucks to them from the distribution points and to not panic.  If you didn't need gas to stay away from stations.

It reminded me of 9/11, I was in Arkansas when it occurred and almost immediately gas stations raised their prices on gasoline and lines formed at every station there.  The governor threaten to start prosecuting for price gouging and by the next day everything was back to normal.

I saw that our gas has already gone up 50 cents a gal. All this way up North.
I hope people just don't fill up. They will be bringing it down next week. Trucks will be Rolling in Texas by now.

Hal, I know our gas stations raised the price about 20c a gallon when the hurricane hit.  Gas is about $2.45 now but it normally goes down Monday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.  I may not drive any more, but I still watch the prices.  Tom has occasion to drive in other parts of town and is able to get some deals, maybe 5c to 7c less.  Sometimes the deal is in our area.

Annie just stopped by to take care of the cat's litter; she emptied the little box and took the litter to the garage and I'll put it out in the morning.  I also got the regular trash together and she put that in the garage too.  Trash pickup is tomorrow around noon.  We don't recycle this week.

Tom is driving tonight.  Thursday usually isn't one of the better nights but he has the time so thought he'd give it a try.

My Trust is ready to be signed so we'll go to the lawyer's office in the morning.  This is the fourth amendment and I hope it is the last one.

Mary Ann

Mary Ann

QuoteThis is the fourth amendment and I hope it is the last one.

Let's not rush things lady, we kinda like having you around.   

Good morning. I am just about ready to leave for my little mini-vacation, but did want to say "Good Morning".

Thanks for your well wishes. I am so anxious to see my 2 little great-grands and, of course, their parents, also.

Hope everyone will have a wonderful and safe Labor Day week end.   I will be back late on Tues.

Joy

Hi everyone. The day begins with some sunshine but we do have an 80% chance of some rain this afternoon.  We did get a brief shower yesterday afternoon after having severe thunderstorm warning for our area during the afternoon.  It is to be in the low 80's again today. 

Pat suggested that we go out to breakfast this morning, something we haven't done in a long time.  We need to take a birthday card for her sister  to the post office as Pat thinks it will need additional postage and then we will probably stop at Aldi's for a few items.  There is nothing else on the schedule for today.  Last evening I watched the first half of the Indiana/Ohio State football game as the college football season got underway with just a few games.  The golf tournament didn't start on the normal Thursday but will start today and continue through Monday.

Marilyne, although we have had a very hot summer here there have only been a very few days when the actual temperature got over 100 degrees.  It is a little too soon to tell how Pat is going to like the Dr. Scholl's orthotic inserts.  Her back is going to have to make an adjustment as her posture will be impacted when she walks.  However, our son has used them for over a year and loves them. That is some machine that determines which pair you should buy. The foot doctor recommended she get special inserts made there were going to cost $700 so she felt this was worth a try as whether insurance company would authorize them was somewhat in doubt.  Speaking of the financial devastation from the hurricane, I read this week that 78% of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. I have been there and sure don't want to be there again. 

Sandy, nice you can enjoy the pleasant weather.  I would probably freeze living in Maine. 

Mary Ann, I think we can absorb only so much of the terrible news in the world and then must get away from it or we would become very depressed, which is not helpful to those in crisis situations. 

JeanneP, I just looked at the Weather Channel app on my phone and see a report that 1/2 million cars have been ruined in the Harvey floods. The numbers are really overwhelming of the devastation. 

Hal, I haven't heard of any of the station around here running out of gas.  However, we are seeing the effects in the prices at the pumps. 

The air this morning is thick with smoke, and the sky has an eerie looking brownish yellow color.  There are so many fires burning here in CA, as well as in Oregon and NV, that I have no idea where this smoke is coming from?  Hard to tell, because there is absolutely no wind here at all.  Dead calm, and hot already.  Supposed to be about 103 today. 

We're lucky that our Safeway is only a couple of blocks away, with underground parking, so we don't need to walk outside at all.  I hope to stock up on enough food to hold us for the duration of this heat wave, which is predicted to last until Tuesday.

If only we could get some of the rain from Harvey, to put out the wildfires and clean the air . . . but unfortunately, that isn't the way Mother Nature works.

Well, Candy is all packed up and ready to go.  She has to get a tire changed first and then she will be on her way.  She will stay in Klamath Falls overnight and then on to Santa Cruz.  Will miss her.  She deep cleaned my apt. while she was here and it sparkles.  Hasn't been this clean since she moved almost 3 years ago.  Fired my cleaning lady and got an experienced one.

Hal, when I said I hoped Amendment 4 would be the last one, I meant I hoped nothing else happened to make another amendment happen.  Norm and Terry died since the previous amendment so it was necessary to do this last one.  I signed that amendment this morning.  I hope to stick around for a while yet.  Thanks.

Joy, I hope you have a nice mini vacation and I want you to enjoy yourself, especially seeing the little ones.

Going by a couple of gas stations, I noticed the gas is even higher than yesterday - $2.65 a gallon.  I don’t know how that compares with other areas because taxes play a big part in the prices.  And now we have another hurricane to deal with and I hope it doesn’t head toward Houston. 

I wonder how many of those flooded cars will end up in the East for sale as used cars.  We’re always advised to not buy such cars, but how does one tell?  Especially now that it is possible to buy cars online. 

First Friday of the month and the tornado siren just went off for the monthly test.  The siren is just up the street from us, so is rather loud.

Joan, I’m sorry for you that Candy is now on her way.  I know you will miss her.

Mary Ann

Hi everyone. It looks like we are going to have a sunny day with the high in the upper 80's this afternoon.  I am looking forward to a pleasant day.  My morning kitchen chores have been completed and  plan on attending a meeting this morning and then spending the remainder of the day resting and watching college football and perhaps a little of the golf match. 

Marilyne, it sounds like your weather conditions are terrible with the smoke and heat.  Hope you don't have to get out in it as can't be healthy.  Glad you can park underground at the Safeway.

Joan, I do hope Candy has a good safe strip to Santa Cruz with no additional car problems.  It was thoughtful of her to deep clean your apartment. 

Mary Ann, I hope you don't have to change your legal documents again as that would mean something bad had happened.  I sure hope you stick around for a while also.  Our gas had gone up to $2.29 yesterday and is increasing quickly on a daily basis.  I guess this is still a lot less than other areas are having to pay.  I haven't checked on the path of the hurricane Irma yet but expect the people along the Atlantic coast are keeping a watchful eye.  Fortunately we live a long way from the coast but could certainly get a lot of rain and wind and perhaps tornadoes from a bad storm and many areas of South Carolina are in lowlands and they sure don't need another flood. Good question about the used cars as having them being resold has certainly been a problem in the past.  We don't have tornado sirens in our town but now smart phones provide the alarms and they are always loud even with the sound turned off.  I keep my phone on around the clock and either on my belt or on my bedside table at night. 

God morning, and I am cold, I have just turned the heat on. I am just home after a few days in the hosp. again, so maybe that is why I am so cold.  I went to get my oxygen checked, it was 73 and doctor said go to the ER.  I sure did not expect to be admitted. Gas is up to $2.69 Between the cold, no beach day, which a lot of people take there vacations for, and the price of gas children go back to school Wed. here on Long Island and in the city next week

MaryAnn, since I came Taffy does not let me along, and back to sleeping on my legs.  Now she is setting on the desk watching type.

Thank you Larry and Hal.  You're right that if I have to revise my Trust again, something bad will have happened.  While Tom does not expect to reach my age, he is working on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and has lost 30 pounds in the last three or four months.  He did gain back one pound last week, but he was busy and is now back on track.

Gloria, Kendrick sticks quite close to me, but he likes being in the living area of my condo where his bed and scratch pads are.  Periodically he will come in here to check on me.  And this morning he slept on my bed for about 20 minutes and lately he hasn't done that. 

It was 45 degrees outside when I got up this morning and I have the heat set to go on when it wants to.  It seems strange to need heat at the end of August and early September, but weather patterns seem to have changed.

Larry, I noticed our gas was $2.65 yesterday.  It isn't always the same all over town and I notice in our northeast part of town it often is higher than the south end or west side.  Then it might reverse itself later on.  What is odd here is we have two Speedway stations on the avenue, about three miles apart.  They often are one cent different from each other.  Someone told me the stations are supplied by different suppliers, thus the difference in price.  I'm happy I don't have to worry about gas prices any more.  And Tom is willing to drive further for cheaper gas; I was not.

Lake Michigan water is warmer than the air so far today.

Mary Ann

Larry, Candy made it to Klamath Falls and car did have a problem.  With the Holiday weekend no stores open to buy parts.  If her friend cannot fix it she will be stuck there til Monday.  If he can fix it for her she will be on her way as soon as she can.  The car is old and she figures it is about ready to go anyway.  Without an address she is unable to buy a car right now.

Gloria, I wasn't thinking when I responded to your post about Taffy sticking close to you - she is doing that because you've been gone!  Shame on me!  I will say Kendrick is left alone enough that he wonders if we'll come back to him.  But we do.

This afternoon, I am going to Fremont MI with Tom when he visits a long-time friend and his parents.  The friend now lives in Phoenix AZ.  I met the parents many years ago.  Funny the memories a person has of visits; I think the parents live on a lake, but whatever - we sat outside and we had taken a lawn chair with us as there were many people there.  Someone sat on our chair and went thru the seat.  Also when we were coming home, Tom was flying too low and a sheriff's car came from the opposite direction.  Tom knew he was in trouble and stopped and sure enough, the deputy had turned around.  I think he gave Tom a warning.  Tom is not a fast driver or speeder, at least when I am with him - and I think otherwise, too.  Tom did take driver training in school, but he had his dad as an example because Norm was a good driver until the last few years when his memory started going.  I also learned from Norm and my dad, who was a good driver. 

Mary Ann

Notice that the gas in town right now is up to 2.97. With it being a holiday weekend it would have gone up anyway. Usually does.
Will be back down next week I am sure.  Was saying that no shortage anywhere. Just that in Texas the trucks could not move in some areas.

That sound like a awful lot of cars being flooded. That is right.  Lots of them will be heading this way. Always do.  We have so many small used car lots in town and I know owners of 2.  All the cars they buy come from flood areas the told me. They are sold to them in lots. They buy a lot of say 20 in a group. Some may have gotten wet some not but that is how you have to bid.  You will see his prices for 2016/17 cars selling for such low prices and few miles.  I am looking to buy another car and have my name down for certain ones but don't want any that come from the south or the Auction houses or even the Lease places.  Needs to be a local trade in under 30000

JeanneP.  a low mileage lease vehicle in many cases is a good buy.  I bought one once, a 93 Chevy Caprice, beautiful car, still had about 20,000 miles left on the warranty and I was more than happy.  Drove the wheels off that thing, sometimes wish I had kept it.  Full size, V8, rode like a dream and had the old familiar American ride. 

I now lease one vehicle for my wife, it will go back from us like new and low mileage.

Wife just popped in and said she was off to local store, they had Gas in and she was going to get in line and fill up, she is almost empty.

Good evening from Vermont! We left home on the 15th and it's been quiite a trip. Wev'e managed to fit a lot into the past two weeks.One of the highlights was a short stop to see Larry and Pat Hanna. Such a nice couple. I wish we' d had a little more time  to visit but the long trip loomed ahead of us. The night before we had stayed with my cousin in North Augusta, S. C.   Still have several more people to visit before leaving the middle of the week. It's been unseasonably cold here especially at night. This morning it was 39 degrees.  I haven't been posting because I have my tablet and using this keyboard is work! Wishing you all a good Labor Day week-end.

Beverly, good to see your post.  I hope you and Chape are OK;  you must be if you could make the long trip from Florida to Vermont.  Nice that you could stop to see Larry and Pat.

A friend of Tom's from Arizona is in Fremont MI to visit his parents so several of us drove there to see them and have a picnic.  With all of their families, there must have been a dozen of us at least.  The parents do live on a lake near Fremont so we had a ride around the lake in a pontoon boat.  Looking at the lake, I think it is about the same size as the lake where I had a cottage many years ago - small.  It started to rain as we started on the boat ride and quit shortly after we got back!  It rained on the way home, too.  I really enjoyed myself and I hope I can go again with Tom when he gets together with friends, most of whom I knew when he was much younger.

10:20 - time for bed.

Mary Ann

Hi everyone. It is starting out to be a beautiful and sunny day.  By late afternoon we will be in the low 90's again and there is no indication of any rain.  I did watch a lot of football yesterday and all the teams I follow won including the two here in South Carolina although that game wasn't decided until the last few plays. The other two games were lop-sized scores.  We anticipate having our normal Sunday with Sunday School and Church and then out to lunch.  So this should be a very pleasant day.
 
deAngel, are you feeling better having the oxygen to use.  It sounds like a good thing that you saw your doctor as the hospital is obviously where you needed to be. The gas up your way is about thirty cents higher than we have.  It had gone up $0.10 again yesterday but still was just $2.39.  I have seen no signs of shortages up here. I am sure there will be a lot of disappointed people not being able to enjoy the beech on this last holiday of the summer season.  Our schools started a week and a half ago and a week earlier across the border into Georgia.  Obviously Taffy is missing you when you are gone and wants to keep a close eye on you. 

Mary Ann, that is a significant weight lose for Tom and it sounds like he is very sincere in his dieting efforts.  I have noticed the same thing about gas prices of the same owner of the gas stations being different prices at the stations.  Glad you enjoyed your visit in Fremont with long-time friends. I sure hope Tom didn't get a ticket as that could affect his driving job.

Joan, so sorry to read that Candy has had more car problems.  It sounds like she is stuck in Klamath Falls for at least a couple more days. 

Jeanne, the gas prices up your way seem to be higher than anyone posting has indicated they had.  They plan on opening pipeline at the first of this week so hopefully the prices will come back down.  I would be very hesitant to buy a car from one of the small lots.  In recent years I have purchased new cars so I will know its history.  I did buy a used car when I got the PT Cruiser but I knew the original owner and he gave me all of the service records on it. 

Hal, several years ago I leased a new car but after the lease was up I decided I would rather own as I tend to keep my cars a long time.  However, it has the advantage of your always having a car in very good condition. We had a Chevy Caprice in the 1980's that was a truly beautiful car and probably the nicest riding car we ever had.  It was much better than the Cadillac we had.  However, I had always wanted a Cadillac and that fulfilled that item on my bucket list.

Beverly, nice to see you are having such a good time in Vermont.  It was certainly our joy to have you visit us even if it had to be very brief.  The cold weather you are experiencing will help you appreciate Florida more when you get home. 

I am becoming quite concerned that we have not seen a posting from Patricia in Fairbanks for several days and certainly hope she is all right. 

Our gas prices went up from $2.49 to anywhere between $2.69 (BJ's) to $2.89 (Unimart) here in Enola or Camp Hill.

I could not believe it got down to 47 degrees Saturday morning. It "only" went down to 58 last night. Excepting for one day this coming week, the weather forecast is calling for only one day above 80 and the rest in the mid 70s and going down to the high 50s at night. It has been a heck of a long time since I've seen weather this cool at the beginning of September, if I've seen it at all. According to my Sister, who is an avid follower of the Old Farmer's Almanac concerning all things weather, we are to get an early winter with early snows.

Yesterday's rain didn't stop this gal from her record-breaking stunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKZNAfNqllg Yes, she is wearing high-heels. 

The sky this morning, is totally brown, from the wildfires.  Unhealthy air for people with breathing problems. I was hoping the heatwave would break today, but it never went below 84 degrees overnight, so we are in for another day of misery. 

Beverly and Larry - How nice that the four of you could get together for a visit!  Sorry to say that I've never met anyone from Seniors & Friends or Senior Net, over the years.  I started with SN early on in '98, but I was never anywhere near any of the bashes.

wjoan - I was planning to attend the bash you organized in Las Vegas, but I don't remember why I didn't sign up and go?  Sure wish I had.

Mary Ann - Sounds like you had a wonderful day in Fremont.  Those big summer picnics were always so much fun in years gone by . . . especially when they were held at a lake or a beach.  I haven't heard of one in my family in a long time. Everyone is so scattered now, that it's difficult to get people to agree on a date and place.

MarsGal - I would love to see an overnight low of 58.  I woke up last night at 2:00 AM, and the house was so hot and stuffy. The outside temp read 84 degrees, and inside was 81.    Needless to say, I turned on the AC.

Larry - Our Comcast cable went out yesterday. Probably heat related, since it was 108 degrees!  Anyway, my husband AJ was unable to watch all of the college games that he was looking forward to. It was odd, because we have the Comcast "bundle", but our internet and phone were both working fine.  It was only the TV that was out, but did come back on about 8:00 PM.

Marilyne, sure wish  you had.  We had a ball.  Riding around in Limos  was fun for all.  Margret from So. Africa was there with her husband.  Was good to see them again.  I have very fond memories of that Bash.  Babs family was very good to us while we were there.

Hal.  I always like the Chevy Caprice cars I had.  Use to trade cars every 2 years back then. Not now. Always someone wanting to buy my cars and so never did trade with the dealers.
Now I think I would trust a lease car if I found one that had been leased in Illinois with about like you had 20000 thousand miles.  But in my job of the last 20 years I was incharge of all the Company cars. We leased about 120 of them from most Expensive for the big up in the Company employes down to the Fords or Chev. for all the salesmen and such.  Seemed like had to get on them all the time.  They just would not get them serviced when it was due. Not even get a Oil change on them.  I think the leases where 36000 miles and I am sure the never did a thing as long as they ran O.K until time to turn them in. When some of the people turned the cars in even earlier due to leaving the company.  Some where in horrible shape.  People could as me if they could buy the cars when the lease time was up. That I could do but tried to tell them. Some will give you problems. Like every thing else if people don't Own it they don't take care.  Same if you rent out a house or apartment. Would not get into doing that either.

Dot and I went to church this morning, then went to Mr Burger for, what else, burgers.  Dot likes olive burgers and I like a plain hamburger.  Next week we won’t be going to church because it is Home Again Sunday and they’re going to eat outside on the front lawn.  It is great for families but not old ladies.  Today our former Associate Minister preached.  It was good to see and hear her. 

I am watching (at times) the PGA golf tour in Norton MA and it is raining there.  I have to laugh when I see the caddies holding an umbrella while the golfer golfs, then the player takes the umbrella and the caddie stands in the rain.

Larry, when Tom “flew too low” was about 35 years ago and I think he got only a warning, no ticket.  He said he does not remember the incident; my memory is too long sometimes.

Annie came while I was typing the above so there was a long pause.  I think Tom is doing some rearranging downstairs and it was kind of noisy earlier.  I didn’t know if he dropped something or fell or what.  He assured me everything was fine.

Our gas this morning ranged from $2.62 to $2.53 and it might go down tomorrow afternoon.  I still watch the prices but I’m glad I don’t have to pump gas any more.

Larry, Patricia has posted in the “What’s for Dinner” folder a few times.  I too wonder where she is as far as this folder and the Soda Shoppe are concerned.

Marsgal, I looked to see that the woman was on the tightrope with heels, then went elsewhere.  I couldn’t look at it.  More power to her, but that is not my cup of tea!

Norm was in the car business for about 30 years so when I bought a car, it was from Norm.  When I was ready to buy, he usually knew someone who wanted my car so I didn’t have to trade in either.  I never was a high-mileage driver and would get a new car when my car would turn over to around 50,000 for a 10-year-old car.  My last car, the Chevy Cavalier, had 32,000 on it when Tom took over and it had 51,000 on it when Erin bought it and the car was 13 years old. 

It must have quit raining at the golf match because the vaddies don’t have the umbrellas up.  I didn’t watch for a while because Annie cut my toenails and that was not in front of the TV.

Mary Ann

Good evening, just checking I had the heat on for the last two days.  I seem to stay very cold.

Larry, the oxygen helps but I have a few other things going on.  I stay very tired.

I will just say good night to all my dear cyber friends

Lindancer
Sorry to read you are having problems but hope that at least you can keep warm.  Am sure. The Oxygen will help at times so give it a go,and dont be shy of taking rests during the day. 
As you know I dont post often but do care about our nineties gals. 

Marilyne, I noticed that some of my usual (and two of them are on my very short Favorites list) have been marked temporarily unavailable. Like you, my internet is doing fine. I will be checking the website a little later to see if they have any announcements about the interruption; they certainly have not sent any email explanations. Then I will see about troubleshooting. If all else fails, I will call them. Their CSRs have always been very helpful.

One of my cats got sick last evening. There were "deposits" both in the basement and upstairs. I think I know which one, but neither of them are eating their canned breakfast this morning. So, I am trying to keep a closer eye on both of them today.

Hi everyone. It looks like we will be having a very nice day on this Labor Day with sunny skies and a high of around 90 degrees.  I have to meet my son downtown at 11 this morning to take care of some business.  The rest of the day I will be working on Pat's main laptop as am going to restore it to factory condition and then put it back as close to how she likes it as I can.  It hasn't been acting right for sometime so decided this was the best way to address the problem.  It will likely take a couple of days to get it set up again.

Mary Ann, thanks for letting us know that Patricia has posted somewhere on the boards.  Sorry I misunderstood your comment about the warning Tom got as thought that had just happened. 

I am going to pass on other comments today.  I read all the postings but need to concentrate on the computer restoration project this morning.