Hello to all the S & F here today.

It is too early for any real exciting news.

Mary Ann,  I hope that you do decide to go to Indy to see your friends.  But, you are the one who has to make that decision.  I know you go part way and then someone else takes you the rest of the way.  Maybe take a nice comfortable cushion to help your back and stop several times to be able to get out and stretch your legs.  Might take you some extra time, but it might help getting out and walking around a bit.  I don't have any problem riding a long way, but do have to stop every hour or so and just get out and walk about a little bit.  I an usually with my son and he is good about stopping.

Shirley N.  I am sorry that you didn't know about Larry passing away.  I saw where you had asked about him, and I knew someone would tell you the sad news.  I know you are just as sad as all the rest of us.  He is surely missed. Such a nice man. But, he had a wonderful outlook to how he had everything planned for his family in regards to his passing.  He was ready for whatever the outcome would be.

I need to try to get something done today.  I have been kind of lazy. I want to make up some pudding as I want to use up some milk.

I remember Carolyn from New Zealand.  Always liked hearing about her 2 grand daughters. And,  if I remember correctly, she had a little Bichon dog. I had one, also, at the same time.  Would be nice if she would come back to let us know about the girls.

Time to get moving.  Have a great day.

Joy

I haven't contacted Tom H yet but I told Tom T that I probably would go down to Indy in late September.  Tom H has two kittens, brothers, and I want to see them.  I bribe easily!  I will reserve the right to cancel if necessary. 

You're right, Joy, Tom T and I drive to Merrillville IN where we meet Tom H.  I buy lunch for all, then Tom H and I depart for Indy and Tom T comes back home.  Four days later, we reverse the procedure. 

They take good care of me in Indy and that was not my problem.  Any of you just wait until you're in your mid-90s and you'll know what I mean.  By that time, I do not expect to be here to say "I told you so!". 

Kendrick took over my bed and as far as I know, he's still there, sleeping on the folded quilt.  When he gets there before I spread out the quilt, I can't pull up the quilt.

Over the years I've had several things turn up missing and only one has shown up.  There are a pair of sheets, a screwdriver, a container of almonds, some unused flash drives  and others I don't remember.  The thing that turned up was a back scratcher/shoe horn combo.  Tom was favored the other day when the glass top to his grill cannot be found.  I have no idea how those things have disappeared because no one has come into the condo as the door is locked at all times.  Is a puzzlement!

Mary Ann

Jenny - How nice that you had a chat with Carolyn! So sorry to hear her family has so many health issues. I may be wrong, but somehow the name Grace comes to mind for her youngest granddaughter.

Mary Ann - I'm not in my 90s but I can understand your reluctance to make the trip to Indy. I had decided not to travel to Vermont this year but I finally gave in. My problems are progressive so I have no guarantee as to how I'll feel next year. There are many reasons I really want to go.....grandchildren, great-grands, and two long time friends, one with Alzheimers (sp), plus all things "home"! Funny how something like kittens can bribe us.  I hope the trip goes well for you.

When my father-in-law was living in St. Cloud, FL, we always had to eat at least once at "The Catfish Place". (Yes, that's it's name) And breakfast at "Fat Boys".  He was there when it opened in the morning and they always had "his" table waiting with coffee. His order was always the same. After all these years I still miss him.

Callie - I looked it up and found that Tennessee's state fish is catfish. I'm guessing that white bass is good eating.
 
Donna had her 3rd chemo treatment Tuesday. Five more to go.

Today is my daughter Lauri's 60th birthday. Doesn't seem possible that I have two children in their 60s!

We are flying north tomorrow. I'm taking my tablet so maybe I can post from there. Otherwise, I'll see you in two weeks.

Good night all.

BEVERLY - Wishing you a wonderful vacation in Vermont.  You'll be so glad that you made the effort to go. It will be well worth it, when you get to spend time with the grandchildren and great-grands!

MARY ANN - I hope you decide to go ahead with the Indy trip. You still have a few weeks to come to a decision, so you can keep everyone guessing for a while! Ha ha!  

I started getting sharp pains in my upper right side tonight after dinner, and then they went away after about an hour or so.  Now, a few hours later, they're back again, so I'm heading to bed with a hot water bottle!     

Good morning.  Just greeting this beautiful day. 

Dorian didn't affect my area at all and today is just looking perfect.

Beverly, I know you will be glad that you decided to go see your family.  Have a great time.  I know how hard it is to make that kind of a decision.  I am in the planning stages of renting a place for next June .  My grandchildren have been talking about all of us getting together and I finally bit the bullet and agreed.  I am looking forward to all of them being able to go and I will just hope it will happen.  I will try to stay positive. It will be nice to have that to think about through our long, cold winter. 

It is time for me to look for some breakfast and get on with my day. I have been kind of lazy the past couple days, but the pretty sunshine is giving me a big lift.

Have a wonderful day .

Joy

I'm up, but atem?  I'm not so sure yet.  But the day is young.

Marilyn, I hope your pain went away. 

Tom is fixing scrambled eggs and I'm going to have a couple spoonsful.  Usually I am not ready to eat anything solid so early in my day.  Then I think of all my working years when I had to eat something before leaving for work and thought nothing of it. 

I'm finished with my breakfast now.  Tom makes good scrambled eggs.

Because of Labor Day Monday, trash pickup is today instead of Friday.  I saw some people have their recycle out but I am sure that pickup was last week.  Trash is picked up near noon.  Ours is ready to go out.

I'm kind of watching the European Golf Tour that is in Hamburg and a German is ahead.  A couple of Americans are participating.  Golfers play all over the world so many of the European names are familiar.

Joy, I like it when families get together.  We are so scattered and Grand Rapids is the home base but I am not the one to make arrangements.  We used to do it at Norm and Dot's condo, but with Norm gone and Dot that much older, it is going to be up to someone else if we would get together.  With two families in Michigan, one in Indiana and one in California, what are our options.  None.  Anyway, Joy, I envy you the get-together.

Beverly, I hope all goes well for Donna.  It's almost like she has started as she has more to go than she's had.  You and I have our trips in common, however, you have a longer distance to go than I do.  The family in Indy is kind of like my second family because I visited that family from the time the kids were born and watched them grow.  One of the quads married a couple of years ago; the quads are now 28 years old.  I figured the other day I have been going to Indy yearly from the early 50s. 

I'll be back later when I know what I'm doing.

Mary Ann

It has really been hot this past week.  Hotter than it was all summer.

Beverly, I hope you have a wonderful trip.  It is the perfect time of the year for a visit that far north.  I'll never forget my first and only visit to the Northeast a few years ago.  It was late September and the weather was wonderful.  We stayed in New Hampshire most of the time, but visited Vermont and Maine.  Such beautiful country.  But only want to see pictures of snow in the winter.  We had enough cold winter and snow in Maryland.😊

Mary Ann, I've gotten to the place in my life where I just want to be home where everything is comfy and familiar.  Watching the horrible destruction in the Bahamas where people were left with just the clothes on their backs made me more thankful than ever for what we have.  Now, if we can get through this hurricane season we will be very thankful.

There were two Carolyns in NZ.  One of them use to post in the photo forum contests and had the little dog.   And I remember the other Carolyn from talking about books, I believe.  It's been such a long time.

Marilyne, I hope you are feeling better.

Joy, you sound like you are feeling better.  That's good to hear.

Even 'tho I don't mention everyone, I do think of you and hope all of you have a good weekend.

Jean, my first and only trip to New England was on a tour a few years ago.  I don't remember the month, but it could not have been a fall month because the trees were in full bloom in green, no reds.  But I loved it because we covered things we don't have around here.  We were on a train most of the time, but also a boat on the Connecticut River.  I like to think I find beauty in every section of the country because each area has things unique to that area.  But there's no place like home.  And I'm content to stay around here.  I love my family too and it's easier for me to travel to see them, than vice versa.  I'm glad I can, even if my brain thinks otherwise.

I have been close to Niceville, but not very!  When Jim and I would travel to Florida, we would take US 231 south to I-10 and go to a Florida State road that we would take south to stay with Jim's cousin near Lake City. 

My dad and I took some nice trips out west while I was still working but until 2014 when a nephew married in California, I had not been west of the Rockies except for Alaska in 2006.  When people mention where they've been, it surprises me to realize I've been there too, however, I don't consider myself well traveled.

I like the snow and don't mind living in it.  I drove to work in snow for many years and it was part of living here. 

Someone mentioned Carolyn Sterling (Stirling?); she was the one who posted in folders I read, she had two granddaughters she mentioned often - Brooke and Grace (thanks someone for coming up with her name) and she had the little Bichon dog.  I don't recall being in contact with the other Carolyn.

I'd better shut up now.

Mary Ann

Hello everyone.  Late getting in today, because of an intestinal upset, but a little better now. In the middle of the night,  I thought I might have to go to the ER, but fortunately, I resisted, and I felt better by mid-morning.  I would have to be dragged "kicking and screaming", to the ER or Urgent Care!   Sudden health problems often resolve themselves, so I'm hoping that's true in this case.

Jean - I agree with you, in that I prefer to be home now, where I have my own bed and kitchen, and all the familiar things close by.  I might be agreeable about going somewhere to visit, but at this point in time, I have nowhere to go.  All relatives from my generation are gone, and the next generations down, all live close enough, that I see them quite often, without traveling. I'll be looking forward to the upcoming Holidays, when we usually get visits from relatives and friends that we don't see very often.

One place we might go when the weather cools down a little, is to drive up to Forestville, to visit my sister-in-law.  She lives in a lovely area by the Russian River, with many surrounding Redwood groves, and quaint river towns.  Its a grueling drive up there, but we managed to get up there a lot when my brother was living.  Now harder to make the drive, but I want to see my SIL, so hope to do that.   

I have been to 44 states and day trips to Mexico plus numerous drives through British Columbia. However, other than Mexico and Canada, my main memories are of San Antonio, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Reno, Nevada, western Missouri, and Colorado's Montrose. Ouray and Colorado Springs. The rest is, unfortunately, a blur. I have traveled thru Alaska's gulf by ferry twice and thru the Gulf of Mexico overnight in the seventies.  My memories are simply no longer sharp.

I delivered my two Salvation Army boxes to shut-ins and ventured out to Alan and Dora's. The fire-blackened area came way to close! Approximately within thirty feet of their neighbor's attached garage. Their son was awarded permanent custody of the kids and the house. Next week, the ex to be wife will arrive with the police escort to pick up her belongings that the husband put in the garage. The grandkids will be with Alan and Dora. It's not shaping up well.

I'd loved to go traveling; Some folks are talking about a week in Anchorage in October. That gives me time to see about hotel and travel details. So far, it would be three cars with five to a car. It's an eight-hour trip or ten if we meander.

Almost finished my post of the day......Cali son FACE TIMED me and I somehow lost my post😩😩😩😩

I sure enjoyed seeing and talking t9 Mark and Jonah, though🥰

Yesterday Jonah turned 9 months old!  How that is possible I do not know!  Time just passes much too quickly.  He is standing up on his own and tries to take a few steps, but Stil struggling a little bit.  He is such a cutie💞

MARILYNE, happy to read you are feeling better today.  I hope that scary pain is gone for good! 

MARY ANN, I, too, only remember one Carolyn from SN, Carolyn Stirling.  Yes, it is Brooke and Grace. Her granddaughters. Wondering about the missing items in your home.......same things go on here.  The man that lived here before us passed away in this home.  So whoever something strange goes on, we just say, "guess it is Roy messing with things again"!  At least we get a good laugh at our frustrations. 

We had a terrible storm here yesterday afternoon.....lots of flooding rain, and hail.  It pretty much demolished all of my beautiful plants😩😢. We hope there is not any roof damage.  At one point the Weatherguessers said we had 3" in 45 minutes, but I never heard the official amount here.  Several roads flooded and they even had to rescue a couple of different cars during the flooding very near to us🙀

We have a big mess to clean up on our patio, but we are waiting for it to dry out a bit more before we d.

Bob is watching college football ........ Colorado is playing Nebraska and they are beating us😫

Yesterday I discovered a library book that I really wanted to read was DUE, so I spent most of the day and night reading it!  It was so good, I could hardly put it down.  WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING
Seems everyone that has read it says it is fantastic, and I totally did.

JEAN, sorry it has been so hot down your way.  We had a very warm August and it continues into September.  We have been 100* and that has broken records. 

JOY, happy to read you have agreed to find a place for the entire family can get together next summer.  We have done that before and would love to do it again.

No posts from You, JACKIE.  I do hope you are OK?

BEVERLY, thoughts and prayers for your Donna.  Happy Birthday to your Laurie.  These kiddos sure to make us feel old when they have these BIG Birthdays, don't they?  Smiling at your fond memories of your father-in-law💞

Best post this before I mess around and loose it again! 

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Jenny, Jonah is a cutie.  At nine months, I can see where he'd like to walk even if crawling is easier.  The story was that I tried to walk at nine months but found it was easier to crawl and didn't walk until a year. 

I realized one day my missing items started in the house where we lived before coming here.  When I moved from my long-time home, I had five hammers of different styles.  When I got to the new house, I had three and broke one of them.  Also the sawhorses and wheel barrow that had been my dad's were missing.  I had no idea where to look so had to forget about them.  I didn't miss other things until after Tom came in 2013.  Only one thing has shown up - a combo shoe horn/back scratcher.  The people who lived in the house before I did are living and I am the first owner here, so I can 't blame ghosts.  It makes a person wonder, doesn't it!

It's too bad about your plants in the storm.  It takes so much to grow them, then a big rainstorm wipes them out in a second.

Patricia, your travel experience is close to mine (substitute Guatemala for Mexico).  I do remember most of where I was however I think picture would help my memory.  Many of the states were just passed through, maybe a stay overnight.  I have to say I have good memories of places where I stayed - New England, Alaska, the West.  I don't have anyone to travel with now, so even if I was in shape to travel, I don't like to travel alone.

Are the folks planning to go to Anchorage local folks?  That's a lot of people to plan a trip for. 

Marilyn, I hope you are feeling better.  It's no fun not feeling well.  Go to Forestville, if for no other reason to visit your SIL.  If you enjoyed visiting with her before, she probably has missed those visits.

I've got to look for my estimated tax forms so I can pay Uncle Sam again.  I hate to make the estimated payments because I forget about them and it really is better than paying through the nose at tax time. 

Mary Ann

Hello again.

MaryAnn there are about ten to fifteen in my local circle of friends plus extras, going back 20 years or so. It is mostly married couples with one or two widows, divorcees, and one widower. We have taken trips before, one time to Anchorage by train plus one in September by car, and a couple of times to Denali Park. The passengers typically give the drivers ten dollars for gas money, and everyone brings a cooler with snacks, sandwiches, and sodas.

It starts with a suggestion, gets knocked around for a time and then if there's enough support, it happens. I generally plan on two or three hundred per trip and us, (singles); generally, share a room. Cal, the widower, pays for his room. When driving, it's as if we were going back in time. Leaving the Arctic autumn and going back to late summer is a trip.

Patricia, your plans seem well in order.  It should be a good trip.  Did you say when the trip would take place?

Mary Ann

Good Mid-Morning to everyone.

George is coming over this afternoon for pot-roast dinner. I am cooking it in my slow cooker. Since I started it later than I wanted to, he may have to wait an hour before it is done. but maybe not. I am cooking it on high for part of the way rather than on low for the whole way.

Appledore IV moved from it's Belle Isle mooring to just in front of the financial district in Detroit proper. Needed to do a little banking maybe? I haven't been checking the cams much the last two days, but I did get to see three in a row at Port Huron yesterday afternoon. I also discovered the reason for the Coast Guard buoy-layer, Hollyhock, not moving for several months. It is down for repairs according to the status report on the Marine Traffic site.

My sister in Wilmington, NC reported no damage from Hurricane Dorian, but they do have branch cleanup from their neighbors tree that came down. I asked about the tornadoes reported in the area; she said there was one nearby, but didn't specify how near near was.

Lucy ate well this morning, but that doesn't mean she will this afternoon. I want to take up the dry food so she is hungry for the wet later on, but Shan prefers it to the wet, most of the time. I might try it anyway.

One of my neighbors set of a rocket just below my house in the little green space between here and the James Bar. Scared the stuffings out of Shan. He heads for the basement door even if fireworks are far away.

I noticed that Jackie hasn't posted in this forum for a few days. She is, however, posting in one of the game forums, so I expect she is okay.

MaryAnn, so far it is just an idea being batted around. Not everyone,(usually me); in the group can or will go on one of these outings. Some folks are talking about a week in Anchorage in October. That gives me time to see about hotel and travel details. So far, it would be three cars with five to a car. It's an eight-hour trip or ten if we meander.

Patricia - Like Mary Ann, I thought that was the  itinerary for your upcoming trip with your local group of friends!  I can see where those with cats or dogs at home, like you, would have to board their pets, or have someone living in.  That could get very expensive, and add $$'s on top of the cost of the basic trip.  It sounds like it would lots of fun, so maybe you can all plan ahead, for another time in the future.

MarsGal - Your pot roast dinner sounds delicious, and may even inspire me to actually cook something substantial in the next couple of days.   The weather has finally turned cool, which sounds perfect for pot roast.  I hope Lucy, continues to improve, and gets her appetite back?  I've been wondering how old she is now?

Jenny - interesting that you mentioned reading the book, Where the Crawdads Sing.  I've heard a lot about what a great story it is, and I immediately reserved it at my library.  However, it will be a long wait, as there are 56 people in line ahead of me!   I'm thinking of ordering it from Amazon, and then I can give it to Sandy, when I finish, or to Jackie, my dil.    I can't imagine having 3 inches of rain, in 45 minutes!  A storm like that never happens here in California.  We always need rain, but would be lucky to get three inches spread over one Winter month.

Mary Ann - Right now you and Dot are probably at the Cholesterol Pit, enjoying a tuna melt and a piece of pie.  I hope the rest of your day is just as good.

MarsGal...
...thank you so much in missing me (( hug ))...yes i am not in a good place at the moment...so not in the right frame of mind for posting, i have not been well.....

Edited: JENNY, i didn't see you up there...I am still floating around...

You're right, Marilyn, we did have our usual Tuna Melt this morning and each of us brought half of ours home.  Which means we each ate one fourth of the Tuna Melt.  We split a whole one (two slices of bread with filling) and ate half of our half.  I do usually eat my half, just not today. 

We have kind of a cloudy day but I don't know that we will have rain.  Sometimes the sun peeks out and we've gone from 54 to 60 degrees since 7:30 am.

MarsGal, Kendrick gets only dry food and when I have offered him wet food, he has kind of turned up his nose at it.  Even with a little can, much of it can stay out all day; he will eat some but not gobble it up.  When I change his food at night, he acts as if he hasn't eaten all day. 

MarsGal, Tom has fixed a pot roast in our Instant Pot and it's turned out delicious.  I have not used the IP yet, but have used the slow cooker.  Actually, I have not done much of any cooking.  But looking through the freezer for something, I came upon cube steaks that were rather old so last night with Tom gone, I defrosted them and put them in a pan with some tomato soup and onion and fixed me a delicious piece of meat.  There are two pieces left in case Tom wants one.  I think there is some stew meat in the freezer and if there is, I'll put that with some onion, diced tomatoes and carrots and have another good meal.  I'll use the slow cooker for that on a day when Tom is gone.

MarsGal, I'm glad to hear your sister had no damage from Dorian.  I understand Dorian is up in Canada now and has been rather destructive.  I haven't been following Appledore IV too closely and haven't found V.  I have trouble with the Detroit cam because I am not that familiar with Detroit so I don't know what the buildings are.

Tom just came home from his church.  Our church had Home Again Sunday (used to be Rally Day) but Dot and I did not stay for that. 

Mary Ann

Gaaaa! It is going back up into the 90s mid-week for a couple of days and then the 80s again for who knows how long.

Marilyne, Lucy turned 11 last month.

I have enough pot roast to take some of it and shred it, heat it up in some barbecue sauce. All I need is the buns. Or I could make some Chili. The broth I cooked it in will likely be the base for some Ramen Noodle soup, just add more mushrooms, carrots, and some snap peas. The rib roast was over 4lb.

Mississippi River Flyway Cam powered by EXPLORE.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVLfgu9KtBQ

Patricia, the article mentions the island being in the Upper Mississippi Basin.  I would take that to mean either Minn or Wis.  I am sure they don't want to give too much info to keep human predators away, but do you know which state?  It was interesting to see so many large birds in one place.

MarsGal, if the temps here would stay in the 70s for a while, I'd be happy.  That way I can open both doors and be comfortable. 

Mary Ann

Patricia, I was looking at the website several days ago. What struck me was that all the many birds seemed to be facing the same direction. Curious.

Checking up on the tall ships heading east. The last positions, all old info not updated for quite some time, showed that NAO Santa Maria, Pride of Baltimore, Picton Castle and Bluenose II should be well into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, if not already home by now; they are heading their home port, Lunenburg, NS. The port is Picton Castle's North American base. Here is the tourist website for Lunenburg which features Bluenose II. Looks like a lovely site to visit. Just one more place (Nova Scotia) that I always wanted to but never got around to visiting. https://www.novascotia.com/explore/top-25/lunenburg

Got some laundry, vacuuming and other household chores on the agenda today. Must also look for a new toilet flapper valve for the basement toilet.

Good morning all you Bait and Tacklers!  It's going to be a scorcher here in Auburn today.  I've had breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, and dragged a huge downed limb down to the curb which I hope the trash men will pick up.  If they don't, I'll have to get my saw out and try to cut it into shorter lengths.

Have a nice day, Every One, and try to stay cool!
Sue

Today looks to be dreary but dry.  Tom was out and said it was OK out, which doesn't say much.  I'm my usual "just awake" although I've been up a while.  I had a return call from my dentist for a call I left Friday.  At that time, my lower jaw hurt terribly but the pain has left.  There must have been something between my teeth that irritated the jaw and I flossed like heck and realized yesterday the pain was gone.  Sigh of relief!

Sue, I don't know if we'll have any more scorchers this year but we're to be in the 70s all week and I'll take that.  I'm up but I don't think I'm atem yet. 

MarsGal, Lunenburg NS looks like a place I would like to have visited.  What a thrill to have so many Tall Ships around there.  I think the fact I have always lived near water, and the many trips we took to Grand Haven when I was young (35 miles), is what attracts me to places like Lunenburg and the St Clair River.

Mary Ann

Good morning MarsGal, Sue and Mary Ann . . . always nice for me to see messages here, when I first get up and turn on S&F.   Just starting the morning here, where it's only already 7:45.  Nothing on the agenda today, except I want to go to Whole Foods, to get a couple of items that I want, and are only available there.  Unless I also see something that looks good for tonight's dinner, we may go to Kirk's for hamburgers. It's been a while, so sounds good to me.  I hope we hear from everyone who usually posts here.  I'll be back later to take a look.

Huh, stranger and stranger. The aforementioned Tall Ships still show on Marine Traffic at the same spot, but underway. But, I checked all the cargo ships nearby and they all say the same, hours ago, but underway. I wonder if the satellite is down, or if they are all sitting there waiting at the edge of the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the effects of Dorian have subsided. None of them say they are stopped, and there is one that shows on position one minute ago when I checked. It is a puzzle to me. Lots of activity at Port Huron now or coming up quickly so I am going to turn on the big screen and watch.

Merry Monday.

Had a post ready to go and lost it trying to edit and preview.  Grrrrr!

MarsGal, The picture on the Lunenburg web site looked vaguely familiar.  I got out the album of my 2005 Nova Scotia tour and realized I had been to the big red building on the left and had had lunch in the building with the sloping roof across the street.
The big building is the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.  I have a snapshot of a demonstration on "Launching a Schooner" we saw there.  Made a note that I'd had a lobster sandwich for lunch (special treat for this Okie!)
No notes or pictures of seeing tall ships but I like knowing which ones we watch on web cams are based there.
Our tour included Prince Edward Island and the east coast of New Brunswick but not the northeast part of NS.
 I loved it all!

Patricia,  your trips with friends remind me of ones I used to take with a Bridge foursome a couple of times a year.  We would start out "when we got around to it" one morning and head toward a planned destination in Oklahoma for one or two nights. We always took the older routes instead of the interstates and stopped whenever we saw something that looked interesting.  Lots of adventures  - some planned and some "just happened".  Good memories.

Jenny,  I read "Where The Crawdads Sing" after I'd read "Hillbilly Elegy" and "Educated" (all for book club discussions).  Guess I was a bit weary of reading about disadvantaged people who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps because I didn't enjoy "...Crawdads" as much as I probably should have.

Still hot and muggy here.  Six or seven hummingbirds have been "battling" over the feeder in my yard and those of the neighbors on either side. They're drinking the syrup almost as fast as we can make it...probably preparing for migration.  We're supposed to take in the feeders around October 1 so they won't be tempted to stick around.

I stopped at Walgreen's and the dairy/market store on the way home from church and OTL yesterday so am being slow...ummm....leisurely    this morning.

Wishing Everyfriend Everywhere an Enjoyable Day.

MaryAnn, regarding the Mississippi flyaway cam, "The Raptor Resource Project has established a new bird cam on an island in the heart of the Mississippi River's Driftless area. Located in the Upper Mississippi National Fish and Wildlife Refuge on Lake Onalaska, the Mississippi River Flyway."

I'm assuming that since Dorian increased to a category three hurricane before earlier hitting Nova Scotia that some of the ships will be cautious in route.

Our Interior weather is in the forties for lows and sixties and or seventy-one or seventy-three for highs. This morning I noted that the orange had overtaken the yellow in the foliage with cranberry making inroads. We started seeing this in late August, and it's the weather that we usually see in October.

MarsGal I made a pot roast in meal prep, Friday, I scrubbed, chopped and laid white onions, carrots, potatoes plus some frozen mixed vegetables on the bottom of the slow cooker. Thursday night I had put the pot roast in a large freezer bag with a peppercorn marinade. I took the marinated meat out of the bag, Friday, and placed it on top of the veggies in the slow cooker. I left it on high for six hours and had several freezer bags for later. It was the first time I used peppercorns in a marinade, and it's given me all types of ideas.

Callie, I'm envious of all your traveling. Mine was mainly due to family trips in my childhood and others courtesy of Uncle Sam and husbands' transfers. My main regret was when my husband was on the USS Saratoga and stationed at Jacks Beach, Florida. I never got to dip a toe into the ocean as I had horrible morning sickness 24/7 the entire time. My second regret was not seeing the further northeastern states to complete my fifty states.

Our group outings are the same, just driving along. In the past, we used to go upriver as many had jetboats or outboards and cabins upriver, but that too has passed.[size]

Callie, I had forgotten about trips my retiree friends and I took north many years ago.  My friends are in their high 80s now so long trips are out of sight, but we'd travel to Traverse City and north on the Leewenaw (sp?) Peninsula.  It's fruit country up there and very scenic.  We'd be gone from two to four days and one of the women did all of the driving.  We'd stop for scenic turnouts and such, especially shopping.  It was fun.  These are the same women I lunch with but we're all older and I'm the oldest.  Those were the days!

MarsGal, reports say that Dorian has gone out into the Atlantic and is no longer over land.  I'll bet the natives are happy!  We should not have any part of Dorian, but we do usually have some rain from hurricanes, some heavy, some light. 

I hope that Tom will eat that last piece of meat and if he doesn't, I will.  I want to get at the stew meat and vegetables for my next venture.  I'm not anxious to cook but I do want to have something other than hot dogs or hamburgers.  We do have chicken once in a while, but the others are easier to fix so Tom usually offers them.  I like them but I want something more substantial too.  Next step will be a casserole.  I'm sure I can fix something in an 8-inch square pan so we wouldn't have so much.

Callie, I lost an entire file the other day and I have no idea what happened.  It was of my investments.  Fortunately I have the file on an external hard drive but I don't know how up-to-date it is.  There are several formulas in it so when I enter current info, the other columns will update.  I have to copy it from the one drive to the computer.  I get a note that there is something "circular" on the file but I can't change that if I can't get the file.  As I've often said, computers have minds of their own!

Patricia, thanks for the information about the Mississippi River Flyway but I still don't know which state it is located in.  I'll look up Lake Onalaska and that should tell me.  It does seem to be an interesting place even if I can't get there.

They're working on Five Mile Road which is the road we use to get out of our complex.  The sign says only "Road Closures Ahead" so one day the south lane will be closed and other days the north lane.  We exit to the north lane and we shall see.

Mary Ann