The Besttechie Cafe'

[robroy]

No white stuff here, just very cold with a wind chillmaking it feel about 0f already. I guess it will drop some more over the next few hours.

[TheTerrorist_75]

We got over 30" yesterday. This is on top of three plus feet previous to Monday. It is finally tapering off here and slowly drifting north. It warmed up to a balmy -7 windchill.

My Ford actually became useful by slapping it in 4 wheel drive and blasting through the bank of snow across the driveway left by the plows. I was amazed that my old GMC two wheel drive didn't have much problems going through the snow but it does have a bit much in the power range which causes the tires to spin easy.

The people on the Tughill Plateau just north of me must be tired of the snow by now. They have been hit with about eight feet so far and they're due for another two feet today.

One thing I discovered about that *&@#% Ford is the tube running boards are treacherous. That frozen ground is hard when you slip and hit flat on your back!

Edited February 6, 2007 by TheTerrorist_75

[thesidekickcat]

Brrrrrrrrr!!!

I got the chills just reading about all that miserable severe cold and snow!!!

I hope it turns to better weather soon for all that have endured such bitter cold/snow!!!

And no more falling/skidding on frozen stuff please.

TT, I got a kick out of the dog having to have private place to go....HA! One of our dogs used to have problems with me taking her out when it was raining hard, she would give all passerbys and neighbors a look that said loud and clear "mean mommy made me come out here in this"! But she loved snow!!! Go figure!!!

Sorry Mac for your gf's loss of her grandma...glad you went with her to help.

Hi to everyone....no I haven't given up on BT in spite of new board upgrade just haven't had any spare time to get over here to fix some stuff and catch up. Seems like time is just flying lately with so much stuff to take care of offline. Plus sharing computer with hubby tends to limit my online time due to dialup's time limits. Yeah I know...solve it someday Pat...soon I hope to get that isp changed folks... and all the other computer problems fixed too... in the meantime it is as it is...sigh!!!

We have had a long unusual streak of nice weather last couple of weeks of Jan, and into Feb. But rains to come in tonight, I think, so will be back to normal soon.

Stay warm, well, and safe everyone!!!

Love to all.

Pat

God bless everyone

[TheTerrorist_75]

I am sitting here sipping my coffee after taking the dog for a wade through the snow watching even more snow fall. They're calling for another foot of that *&$# white stuff today. After shoveling the last few days plus falling on my back I feel like a truck ran over me.

It didn't help any seeing as yesterday my brother asked me to help him carry a hundred pound propane tank from behind his house to go get it filled then drag it back through the four foot of snow at his place. After that I decided to hit the grocery store and stock up with a months supply. What a time pushing a over flowing shopping cart through the poorly plowed parking lot to my truck. I think I'll just sit here today in my recliner and not move.

[macmarauder]

that reminds me 1 of my mothers pets growing up. he name was fluffy and whenever he went out in the snow he all the snow would stick to him, slowly building up, until he was the abominable snow beast. That would leap upon you when you least expect it. he did it once to my dad when he was still asleep.

never seen anyone fill in a doggie door so quick before.

[thesidekickcat]

TT do take it easy for a few days to recuperate from all that you have been doing!!!

Mac, here is a fat cat story that made national tv and internet history of being stuck in a doggie door after being lost and then overeating at new place. Happily the news showcased the funny story, because that helped him be found by real owner.

I'm not sure the first one will load completey....didn't on my dialup. But next two did ok in spite of being over 14 day limit for free access. Enjoy.

Video Fat Cat Gets Stuck in Doggy Door

Thief couldn't flee with all that booty

Pair of Survivors Reunited

Will check out links after supper, hubby calling me.

Pat

God bless everyone

P.S. Decided to copy/paste the stories here as may not last on the online site for the Oregonian very long. Links to each other have disappeared just since I first checked them.

Jan 11, 2007 Oregonian newspaper.

"Thief couldn't flee with all that booty

Feline prowler - A "stocky" 20.2-pound cat gets stuck after one food raid too many Thursday, January 11, 2007KATY MULDOON

The cat burglar was a repeat offender.

His MO: Slither in through the doggie door. Chow down. Slither out.

Jadwiga Drozdek of Gresham had nearly caught him more than once in her garage, where she leaves food for her six felines, but he always escaped. One day last month, though, the stranger slipped up. Made it easy. Got stuck, head and shoulders on one side of the doggie door, gut and tail on the other.

Felled by his own fat.

Drozdek, a kind woman with a keen sense of justice, didn't call the cops. She simply helped the 20.2-pound tomcat out of his predicament and -- why not? -- fed him.

Drozdek had seen the short-legged cat with the sweet personality and a head the size of Alaska around the neighborhood for a while. If she befriended him, she figured, she could stuff him into a cat carrier and deposit him at the Oregon Humane Society.

Right.

The first time she tried, Drozdek pushed with both hands and her knee. The beefy beast wouldn't budge.

"I thought he'd run but he didn't. He just looked at me," she said, as if he was saying: "What are you trying to do?"

Drozdek bought a bigger carrier.

Wednesday, she delivered the cat to the Oregon Humane Society, where the staff dubbed him Goliath.

"He's not the fattest cat we've weighed in," said spokeswoman Barbara Baugnon, "but he looks like it."

The fattest tipped the scales last year at 29 pounds.

"This cat feels stocky," Baugnon said. "That cat was just obese."

Goliath had no tags or identifying microchip. If no one claims him in three days, he'll be neutered and go up for adoption.

The Humane Society will toss in a bonus: a free bag of low-calorie cat food.

Katy Muldoon: 503-221-8526; [email protected]"

One down now to find the other one.

Ok here goes...

The Oregonian January 12, 2007

"Pair of survivors reunited

Man recovers from surgery to find his cat alive -- on TV Friday, January 12, 2007KATY MULDOON

Found: one happy cat owner.

Geoff Earnest caught the tail end of a TV newscast Wednesday evening -- a story about a rotund tomcat delivered to the Oregon Humane Society after he'd chowed down inside a Gresham garage, then gotten stuck exiting through a doggie door.

"Wait a minute," Earnest remembered thinking, "that looks like Hercules. I thought he was dead."

Hercules lives. Earnest reunited with his long-lost cat Thursday morning at the Oregon Humane Society, proving ownership by sharing photographs of his furry friend.

"There was no doubt in our minds," said the Humane Society's Barbara Baugnon. "It was obvious these two belonged together."

Earnest and his cat have tales to tell. Hercules declined to give details, but Earnest was forthcoming.

The 5-year-old, double-wide tabby that those at the Humane Society had dubbed Goliath, but whose real name is Hercules, started hanging around Earnest's Gateway-area home three or four years ago. He belonged to a neighbor but seemed to prefer Earnest, and when Earnest asked the neighbor if he could adopt the cat, the neighbor agreed.

Earnest, who is 30, has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the mucus lining of the lungs and leads to breathing problems. As his illness worsened the past three years, Hercules would rub against Earnest, lie on his stomach and play with his oxygen tubes. Except for the cat's inclination to spray, he was one fine companion.

When Earnest traveled to Seattle on June 5 for a lung transplant at University of Washington Medical Center, he asked a housesitter to look after Hercules. The housesitter, Earnest said, opened the door one day to find a stranger holding one big, mangled cat. The details get sketchy here, but the cat apparently looked so beat up that the housesitter assumed that the stranger then took Hercules off to be euthanized.

Earnest's parents kept the news from him for two months. They didn't think he needed the heartbreak as he recovered from transplant surgery.

"He'd been through all my hospitalizations with me," Earnest recalled. "I loved that cat."

Thursday the two found one another again at the Oregon Humane Society's cattery, where Hercules will remain for a couple of days to undergo surgery of his own: neutering.

In the meantime, the beast's brush with fame fluffed up with help from the Internet. A video of Hercules schmoozing with Humane Society personnel had nearly 2,700 hits on YouTube by midday Thursday.

Earnest took a little umbrage with those who describe his cat as corpulent. In fact, since he last saw Hercules, the 20.2-pound feline had lost about 5 pounds.

"He's all muscle," Earnest said. "He's not fat at all."

Katy Muldoon: 503-221-8526; [email protected] "

As for the video, never could get it loaded on my slow dialup.

I hope you all saw Hercules on the news...what a stocky/fat cat he is.

Sure glad this story had such a good ending for both cat and owner!!!

Pat

God bless everyone

Edited February 8, 2007 by thesidekickcat

[bozodog]

Awwww jeesch. Another bunch of snow heading this way. Where the heck was it in Jan.? I'm thinking about my garden and we're about to get the most snow this winter.... I guess it's time to dig out an old RPG game and while away the time.

[TheTerrorist_75]

I could go for a large hot mug of coffee and anything loaded with sugar. Maybe some hot apple fritters. It was cold this morning (-10 actual). I went up on the roof at 12:30 and shoveled until 4:00. The snow was over 4 feet and compacted. The ice on the edge was about 10 inches thick. My arms and back are sore and feeling is just coming back to my fingers and toes. I have about 2 more hours of shoveling to do, but that can wait until tomorrow when it is supposed to go up in the 30s. I am glad my friend showed up with the backhoe to clean the snow I shoveled away from the house. Now it can snow again all it wants.

[bozodog]

We have a heatwave going here. Most of the snow is melted and it's 33f. They say it's gonna be windy and cold, but no snow. I'ma thinkin' spring! Planning the garden and smelling the grilling steaks.

[TheTerrorist_75]

We have another round of lake effect coming. I don't think the snow in my yard will be gone until June or July. I have two big mounds that are about ten to twelve feet tall and solidly compacted. I have another mound that runs the length of my driveway that is eight feet high and about thirty five feet long. The snow around the house is piled up to the windows. At least it is hard packed and frozen so the dog can walk on top for his morning rituals without sinking out of sight.

[bozodog]

Ok, ok, darlin'. You got snow, "lake effect" stuff from hell. Like I said... we are JUST east of the lake belt here in Kalamazoo. It makes it easy to watch the snow accumulate west of here and have the gaul to complain about ours. Dang! I haven't seen snow like yours since the first winter I lived here and we had a three day blizzard that dumped 6 feet on us. I knew a gal that moved to Mini-apple from here and she said she shoveled her back yard in late April just to see grass.....

[sultan_emerr]

Ok, ok, darlin'. You got snow, "lake effect" stuff from hell. Like I said... we are JUST east of the lake belt here in Kalamazoo. It makes it easy to watch the snow accumulate west of here and have the gaul to complain about ours. Dang! I haven't seen snow like yours since the first winter I lived here and we had a three day blizzard that dumped 6 feet on us. I knew a gal that moved to Mini-apple from here and she said she shoveled her back yard in late April just to see grass.....

http://www.wunderground.com/

[thesidekickcat]

Hello my friends,

I've missed you folks!!!

Come on and have a cup of coffee with me while I tell you about some of the wierd hard stuff that has happened this past month to friends, family and us.

The hard times started off with a dear friend's house burning down, Thank God her wonderful 150 lb German Shepherd woke her up in time to run out of the house!!! Unfortunately the last reports I have heard is that wonderful dog died along with all her birds, another small dog, and most of the cats/kittens though two cats survived, some outdoor caged animals such as chickens and rabbits died too. She just had the clothes on her back, didn't even have her purse with all the usual important stuff like keys to car, credit cards and drivers license, insurance card, bank cards, and other important hard to replace stuff. A neighbor going by saw the flames and her in yard screaming, and called the fire department but house to fully engulfed to save anything. The inspectors think it started in a border's room and their dog died too. My friend is disabled and I am totally amazed that she even made it out of the house in time. She has always been so afraid of fire...yet she crossed a large living room with flames racing towards her, and then through the dining area and out the door...if only she had grabbed her purse near the door the replacement paperwork wouldn't have been so hard for the next few days...but then maybe those extra few seconds would have taken to long? Thankfully she had full replacement home and furnishings insurance. But what a nightmare to try to remember all the stuff you had after being in a house for 30 years or so. She is staying with one of her daughters while the insurance company and a builder start the process of a new home for her. A door closes, another opens. She needed a fixed up home and couldn't afford the new roof and all the other things that old time house needed, now she will have a brand new one that will be one floor instead of two, and will be wheelchair accessible if/when she ever needs one. But letting go of the past was never one of her strong suits to say the least so she is still having trouble believing it is a good but hard New Season start for her.

Next, another dear friend's husband just began hospice care, and it doesn't look like he will survive very much longer. Both she and her middle aged daughter are disabled, so his care has been a real hardship on them but ironically now the nurses are able to relieve them a bit they stil don't dare take time off because he is so ill he could go at any time. Another hard New Season coming for her unfortunately.

Then an acquaintance's hubby was run over by a Dodge Ram truck speeding through a cross walk (a few blocks from us) with people going across with the walk light on. He has several broken bones from ribs to feet, and internal injuries etc. Get this...he had been helping a friend do some heavy work and was walking over to the store to get something for supper when he was hit, so after he was hit he called her at work and told her he FELT like he'd been run over by a truck!!! So like most wives she thought he meant from the heavy work he'd been doing. So she asked if he was ok, 'sure no problem'! grrrr!!!...she got home from work an hour or two later, no hubby, so called his cell no answer...after an hour or so of that she got to thinking maybe he really was run over by a truck so she started calling the hospitals and when she found the right one he was in the ICU by then. Yiiiiiikes!!! Why don't men make sure we understand them before they hang up??? or give the phone to the ambulance paramedics to tell us???? So a tough New Season for them!!!

On a much less serious note, my hubby thought he was a shoe in for a job with a subcontractor for Intel doing about the same thing he had been doing before the layoff but on a different campus. But they had added a whole bunch more stuff to the job description so it would have been like doing the job of two people, since he only had the original skills and experience of his old job not the second part, he didn't get the job. SIGH!!! I just want to know if we are officially retired or if hubby will have a job before then!!! This limbo time is so strange a time, feels like we are just waiting for the next shoe to drop but don't know how or what or when!!!

One of the days about that then, I woke up at about 4:30 am with sound of hubby going out the front door, when he didn't come right back in like he would with the newspaper I decided to get up and check on him. Lots of police car lights and fire department too in nearby intersection. Turned out he had seen a fire over at the substation, as I guess whoever else in the neighborhood closer to it had too and callled it in, anyhow he told me to shut down and unplug computer and the UPS battery thing (I have only been turning off the monitor most nights). Just got it shutting down when the transformer blew...luckily it wasn't feeding our power...so didn't have any power loss or surge....Phew!!! It took PGE two or three days to get it fixed. Got me to thinking, and wondering if we'd had a full blown substation fire and all the terrible smoke, like happened to one out in the suburbs last fall I think it was, would homeowners insurance pay to put us up in a motel for the duration due to smoke being so hard for me to breathe around? Don't know but seems like they should like any chemical spill from trains or whatever making home unlivable for a time! I haven't had a chance to call our agent with all the questions I've come up with since my friend's house burned and then the substation fire question too.

Then last week I got a call that hubby's sister had died at 90. She had been suffering terribly from arthritis etc and was bedridden, but the strange thing was she caught some kind of respiratory bug and Dr prescribed Avelox, a one a day antibiotic. Within the next three or four days she lost her cognitive abilities and then her speech. The family decided to discontinue the antibiotic but to late to save her life. This is a very worrisome class of antibiotics from what I found doing an Ask search. Side effects go from ruptured tendons mainly achilles, even in young athletic people, to brain or heart problems. Ciprio I think it is, for anthrax poisoning is in this same family of drugs...but Avelox is commonly used nowadays for everything from ear infections to prostatitis. Scary medicine!!! Hubby's poor sister!!! A nasty way to die taking a medicine that probably wasn't even needed!!! (Also learned with that phone call that another of hubby's relatives had died last fall in a house fire. I saw the news item but the name didn't register at the time. Only 21, so young!!!

So it has been a hard month for many people we know.

Then to top it off the other night just as hubby was cleaning up after doing some painting over at the rental house as we get it ready to sell, he heard water rushing in the pipes (old houses each have own peculiar sounds). Since he didn't have the fawcet on, he looked around the basement to try to track sound to right pipe when he saw a growning large puddle of water on floor. Yep a broken pipe!!! He turned off main water line to the house, and when I went looking for him to get him home for supper I found him sopping up gallons of water off the floor. Thank God he was over there when the pipe burst or the basement would have been totally flooded!!! So of all the pipes in that old house...it had to be the one that is the worst to get to right???...right!!! Did I mention of all the diy home repair that we both hate plumbing the worst? So we tried to figure out if it was the outdoor fawcet or the kitchen sink, can't even figure out how they ran the pipe outside....sure doesn't appear to be a straight shot from basement out. So that left the kitchen, so sawed through back of sink cupboard and the lath and plaster to find the pipes to kitchen sink. Still couldn't find any obvious leak spot. I had been telling hubby it was downstairs or between floors....he said no it had to be from kitchen sink...well it's dry as far as we could tell. So back downstairs, turned on water to test and sure enough it was one of my suspects but that was only a pinhole leak...there was to much water coming to fast I think to just be that one spot. So since it is above a built in storage cupboard, hubby thought he might be able to undo the joint a few feet away and then undo the joint under kitchen sink and angle the pipe out and replace it....I mentioned it was an old house right??? Pipe joint wouldn't budge!!! I thought maybe loosen it with a Coke soaked rag like we've done elsewhere, but surprisingly hubby said lets just call a plumber with the right tools and agility to get into the tight spaces. So that's tomorrows project...plumber estimates.

Well I guess that wraps up the major events of the month, it has been scary, discouraging, and sad for so many we know plus for us too!!! I'm not even going to mention all the 'little stuff', will just say it has definitely been a trying time.

The good news is Spring has exploded in full color here. The pinks are giving way to the white blossoms, but still some 'pink snow' left from pink flowering trees etc but the white cherry blossoms will be flying around soon enough. I love Spring. Time for a bright happy New Season after a long hard winter!!!

Love y'all.

Pat

God bless everyone

[blim]

Oh, Good Grief, Pat! Just reading about your month made me dizzy! Wow and *bighugs*

Made my throat lumpy reading about the German Shephard Hero giving his life to his owner but had a good laugh over the Hubby who "felt like he was hit by a truck"....literally! Hoping he has a full recovery so his wife can beat him over the head!

Sorry to hear the Jobnibble didn't pan out for Hubby. How's it going with him underfoot?? At least it sounds like he is keeping REAL busy, which you and I know is a good thing Hoping he isn't driving you crazy (* and dreading the day my Hubby retires....I've already decided that's when I'm definitely getting back into the workforce if the US economy doesn't force me into it sooner!)

You got flowers, real flowers??? The snowdrops and crocuses are in full bloom now. 70 degrees up here today, which tied a record from 1947, according to the news. Even put on my first tshirt of the year (with sweatpants, though!) Of course, it's supposed to snow next weekend....Michigan!! But enjoying the warmth while we have it. Been working on pulling crabgrass and creeping charley out of the gardens and looking longingly at the spinach and carrot seeds. It's GOTTA be too early to plant them as its only March, but the thought of fresh spinach is calling to me!

I got a kick out of you saying "the pinks are giving way to the whites". My former neighbor used to talk "color order" when it comes to flowers. And you and she are right...with perinneals anyways, they DO tend to bloom in color orders!

Oh, our robins returned, too! Don't ever remember them returning so early.

Liz

[thesidekickcat]

Hi Liz,

Thanks for the hugs, sure need all the hugs I can get to make it through some days!!!

My friend's German Shepherd was a stray she rescued a few years ago!!! A major country living problem is cowardly people drop off unwanted animals in dead of night all the time for the area residents to find and take care of and she has rescued so many over the years but this one sure paid her back for it. I still cry when I think about him barking and tugging on her to wake her up...she was so groggy probably from the fumes and smoke!!! No one has told me yet where he was found, they thought at first he had run away and hid in the barn or at the neighbors or something...anyhow I don't think I even want to know where he was, just want to picture him saving my friend's life!!!

I agree the other gal should give her hubby a 'what for', as my folks used to call them, whack when he gets well. Haven't heard any updates from her on his condition. Advised her to get a lawyer to fight the insurance company, we have first hand knowledge of how hard that company (and another one too) is to deal with!!!

The colors I was referring to were the flowering trees, not bushes and bulbs. Sorry I wasn't clear on that. Even my plums are starting to bloom with lots of white showing...early because we had early warm weather. Odd to see the pinks on the flowering cherries and plums fading, and true cherries in full white bloom and neighbors white blossomed plum usually a full month ahead of mine, and my plums all blooming at the same time!!! Hopefully our night time temps don't go any lower than mid 30's this week, or it will jeapordize the plum crop.

As for the bushes and bulbs, most of the daffys are still blooming (different depths for the bulbs seem to help stagger the bloom I think), mostly various yellow varieties with a few whites or mixed whites for interest. Plus my hubby's nemesis, the dandelion, is putting on an early show....and he has reved up the weed eater to courageously fight the evil dandelions with whatever machine power that will work...though tends to also remove chunks of grass at the same time by overshooting the weeds. Ha!! Oh well keeps him out of my hair!!! The flowering bushes are pretty much limited to forsythia yellow, camilia reds and I thought I saw a white one blooming down the street the other day. Baby Breath is almost done. Oh yes my allergy season setoff, although it hasn't bothered me this year, scotch broom, began early blooming about a month ago along willder areas and freeways (yes the state actually planted them even though they are on the noxious weed list!!!)

As for us surviving this early retirement, I'll let you know. Maybe I'll have to go get a job to have some peace and quiet!!! Yep it has taken some getting used to having him around, and it is nice most of the time!!! But...the days we clash aren't so good!!! Had a bad week of fights over stupid stuff, and another day of it today!!! Those fights are what make me wonder if we'll survive this big adjustment ok..

Plus an overload of stress hasn't helped at all. The things I mentioned in my other post are just the big things, seems like there have been dozens of little complications in various things, about the time we get something solved more come in the next mail or next phone call tells us something didn't get fixed yet. So stressed to the max it seems, and of course the fights make it all the worse!!! Will things ever return to normal I wonder? Unfortunately I can't say communication has ever been our big strong point. So seriously need prayers to make this whole thing work out right. I know God will take care of us, but the devil is sure in the details, as the old saying goes, messing us up as fast as we get things straightened out more of it hits the fan! So it's a spiritual battle too!!! I'm just having trouble holding up the shield of faith at times, so get hammered by the stress and then get weary and sad and discouraged, Sigh!!! I know I need to keep on keeping on with faith in God, but then fear hits me sometimes, and hubby doesn't understand he makes it worse with fights over stupid stuff giving me flashbacks of first marriage...I need hubby to be my friend, as I am trying to be his if he'd let me, and not his enemy!!! Why can't he see it's not my fault things go wrong...grrrr Men!!! Yes, I do love him (just in case anyone is in doubt), just a rough patch for us, have had them before and we made it through, so we'll make it this time too with God's help!!!

I've probably said way to much but I guess I'll leave it up...or not....I need to talk to someone...and my friends all have enough of their own troubles. Probably should have put this in a PM. Sigh!!! Not the first time lately I've done things wrong.

Love ya...

Pat

God bless everyone

[blim]

Again, our Hubbies sound like two peas in a pod, Pat! But you know, sometimes they just don't think!!! I know it's hard to shrug things off, but you can't blame yourself! Slam a couple cupboard doors and pull some weeds

Gotta scoot, Son's coming home from school tonight to pick up his car that we had serviced on Monday. Meatloaf, carrots and mashed potatoes for dinner. The kids sure have learned to appreciate home cooked meals! Of course, Daughter called, asked what I was making for dinner and asked if I could send the leftovers back with Son They'll have to arm wrestle Hubby for the leftover meatloaf, though....meat loaf sandwiches are his favorite

Liz

[garmanma]

I must say I was feeling kind of bummed about the funeral I went to the other day until I read what you have had to endure. I don't know if it's just me but the last 4/5 Easter seasons have been less than joyful. Anyway you talk about colors, I got crocuses and daffodils out the ying-yang. The dwarf Japanese willows are going crazy. I'll probably start some seeds indoors this weekend. I got some shrubs to pull and redo my daughter's flower garden. Liz, believe it or not most robins don't go anywhere over the winter. They just hunker down, stay hidden and warm, and out of sight. My wife feeds them year round. I was amazed at the variety this winter.

Mark

[bozodog]

The Robins will go south if the weather is bad. Many stay in the warm swamp areas but only so many can be supported in said areas. Our daffs are trying to bloom but the cold snap has stopped them for now. I have these wonderful saphire blue spring bulbs, called "Siberian Squills" I think. They are sparkling all over the shady garden right now.

NO dandilions yet... Pat, the weedeater don't get it! Have him use a garden fork, plow it down next to the dang weed, loosen a bit and pull the root and all up... I pulled a root over 2 foot long one time. Ok, I'll admit... I now use one dose of "weed and feed" in the spring to knock them and others back for the season. My neighbors do nothing but mow so it's a lost cause around here.

It must be "Bad Luck Season". We have lost two cats in 3 months, and our car broke Tuesday. I figure it comes in threes so we're past the worst of it.

[thesidekickcat]

Hugs to all of you folks!!!

Yes it does seem like Spring has sprung some crazy problems for many people.

I know others like handplane here and my friends have it alot tougher than I do, but often it's what's on your own plate that is so hard to swallow.

I guess I just needed to talk it out a bit rather than having a real full blown nuclear meltdown.

Tough times never last only tough people is what my Mom used to say when I was little and we were hungry with very little food was in the house....but somehow in spite of all the hard times I never did learn how tough it out...sigh!!! Of course the label crybaby seems to still fit all these years later.

As for the dandelions, hubby's chiropractor said he had to give up using hand tools like his favorite hand pickax type weed tool, because of his neck/back bones pinching into the spinal cord. I don't know how to describe it...stenosis (sp?)...don't know if that is the right word that Kaiser Dr report said after his MRI last summer. And I am sure mine would probably come out about the same report..give or take a vertebra or two or so difference between us in our necks and upper backs. He does have a dandelion popper step on tool that I used to use but he doesn't like it. I thought it worked very well myself when I tried to comply with neighbors expectations of yard...but since they still plant and/or keep stuff I hate or am allergic to or spreads to my yard worse than my dandelions so why try? Plus it saves energy this way!!! Ha!!!

Personally I honestly don't see the big deal about such pretty little yellow flowers, disclaimer...I also like white clover in lawns too...good to fix nitrogen in soil for other plants, plus the bees love them both. Yeah I ducked when I said that first part!!!....Ha!

I am so sorry bozodog about your losing your cats, not due to that pet food on the recall I hope? And car trouble seems to be a spring thing, ours this year was late Jan or early Feb, a bit earlier than usual but so was warmer weather, anyhow this year the muffler died, lifetime warranty but the rest cost about 200 I think it was to redo the entire exhaust pipe..., as is plumbing trouble a spring thing....have never quite figured out why but always seems to be that way for us!!!

Liz, I am a door slammer from way way way back!!! But this time was to upset to even think of slamming and banging things. Just sat and bawled!!! I know it is just the load of stress we've been under the last few months but somehow we have to get it figured out we are supposed to be on the same side!!! You'd think he'd get that idea through his thick head after this many years!!! I keep telling him it's us against the world...not against each other...but he forgets that simple solution to keep from fighting!!! Sigh!!!

Oh meatloaf....I love meatloaf!!!! Can I have some pretty please? Or your recipe? There are so many good recipes for it so I like to try different ones, though I haven't made it in a long time because of the fat content and price of hamburger is so high.

Pat

God bless everyone

[blim]

LOL, Pat, I like dandelions, too Nothing prettier than a whole yard peppered with them! AND clover means the soil is sweet, according to my former Elderly Neighbor (and bunnies love it and they prefer clover over most plants, carrot tops excluded)

My meatloaf recipe is pretty simple and I admit, I don't measure anything...instead of bread crumbs I use Quick Oatmeal (the chopped stuff). Figuring oats are better for you than breadcrumbs. And I add a hefty handful of parmesan cheese, along with onion, eggs, pepper and burger. That's it

Dandelion Flower Wine (I had it years ago, which is why I asked for the recipe and the winemaker was kind enough to include a punch recipe, too--the wine is delicious!!)

4 qts blossoms

4 qts boiling water

1 cake yeast

3 pounds sugar

3 oranges, diced

3 lemons, diced

Select fresh flowers being careful all the stems have been removed

Pour boiling water over flowers and let stand 3 days

Strain, add remaining ingredients, let stand 3 weeks until fermented. Strain, bottle and seal. Makes 8 pints

Dandelion Punch

2 qts blossoms

4 qts boiling water

3 pounds sugar

2 oranges, sliced thin

1 lemon, sliced thin

Pour boiling water over blossoms and let stand overnight

Strain and add sugar. Let come to a boil, pour over the oranges and lemon.

Let stand for 3 days and strain before serving

Liz

Edited March 29, 2007 by blim

[thesidekickcat]

Liz, I just read your post to my hubby...he grinned and said he'd ship you all the dandelions you'll need for those recipes...Ha Ha!!! Of course they might be prechopped...with the weed wacker!!!

Your meatloaf sounds like one of the two main recipes I use.... the other uses mushroom soup undiluted...and yes I use quick oats in mine too.

Have you ever used oats as a side dish like rice or potatoes? I have a great tasting, and quick, stove top recipe for them with several variations too. So good!!! If anyone is interested I'll post the recipe, it was originally from a recipe booklet from the Quaker Oats Company.

Speaking of oats, I like them many ways except don't like them as hot cereal although hubby does but he adds raisins...yuck!!! Raisins to me always look like bugs in the oatmeal, of course that could be due to my not being totally awake in the morning along with being near-sighted!!!

Anyhow the last time we were over across town at Winco (the initials stand for Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon, their store chain is only in those states) (none of their stores in town are close by our place unfortunately) looking for ideas in the bulk food section, I saw cracked wheat and decided to get some for bread making (machine) but as I reached for the plastic bag to put it in I saw the recipe rack which had a cracked wheat hot cereal recipe...never had thought of it for cereal. Anyhow it is our favorite now, but hubby still wants raisins in his...yuck...so he makes his own!!! Simple to make with same proportions as white rice...water is twice the amount of cracked wheat...and bring water to boil, add a dash of salt, then add the cracked wheat. Stir occasionally until thickened. Yum!!! Nice nutty type flavor.

As for the dandelions, I love watching the little toddlers walking by our place ( we're on a corner) stopping to blow the dandelion fluff and giggling over it. Doubt if hubby plans to leave them there long enough to get to fluff stage this year since he has time to really go after them. I was hoping he would find a nice hobby...but a vendetta against dandelions as a serious hobby just doesn't measure up to something like stamp or coin collecting etc. but whatever... it still keeps him out of my hair for awhile, and he seems to enjoy the battle! Men are so strange, especially about lawns even if it was never were properly prepared and seeded/sodded to start with like ours. I sure hope he never wants to redo ours!!! I would rather move first to a nice place with it already done, actually I don't much care about a lawn just want to move to a nice fixed up newer house...am so tired of always needing to repair something and never got it all remodeled in first place so still have unfinished projects all over the place. How come when you have the money you don't have the time, and vice versa, to do stuff??? Life just isn't fair!!!

Oooopppps!!! Sorry folks for being long winded again but that is part of me getting back to normal I guess.

I hope to go back to all the threads in last month to 'play catch up' on doing birthdays that I missed and maybe add a post here and there, but don't know when I'll be able to do it.

Have to go buy a 2007 F-Secure Internet Security down (across town a long ways) at Fry's. Haven't seen it on sale there yet this year, and mine is up the 3rd or 4th, sure hope I can find it with some rebates rather than full 70 bucks. The IS only comes in a 3 user version this year I guess, so that is probably why it is so expensive. Went down there a couple of weeks ago thinking it might be on an unadvertised special like last year...but no luck...so waiting to see if tomorrow's ad will have a rebate or two for it. No one else in town carries it unfortunately and I do like it and it co-operates well with my goofy computer. Sigh! Then hope to get old version uninstalled and new one installed without any problems. Have to get it done so hubby can do his online job searching, and especially by the day he sends in his unemployment claim. So will backup my stuff this weekend to be ready to do it when we get it.

Pat

God bless everyone

Edited March 30, 2007 by thesidekickcat

[blim]

Pat, I'd love the recipes for oats, as long as they don't taste like hot oatmeal (I never liked it, even with raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon, what-have-you!) This time of year, potatoes are expensive and don't keep well. Always looking for an alternative "filler" besides rice or noodles to go with the meat and vegetables!

Oh!! One habit that I brought home from Denmark---the Danes sprinkle uncooked oats and cinnamon over their cold cereal (they mix cinnamon and oats and have a jar on the table!) and it is really, really good! Gives a little extra kick to ordinary cereal and of course it's good for you. I rarely eat breakfast but when I DO have cereal, I sprinkle some oats on top (I skip the cinnamon just because I'm lazy, I suppose, but when I don't use the oatmeal, I miss it. I don't miss the cinnamon!).

Toddlers and dandy's. Yup, my memories are dandelion bouquets Maybe that's why I don't have much of a problem with dandelions...between the kids (when they were little) and the Britton Girls who come over to "garden" and play with Sandydog, I've been the proud recepient of many bouquets.

I had a great link saved that had Rebates (thinking of your FSecure) but that went to College with Son when he took the Family Computer. I shot him an email to see if he still has it. If the doesn't, I'll shoot Barb a PM; she sent it to me originally, and hopefully she still has it.

Very windy but *kinda* warm day today. Too windy to play in the yard but hung laundry on the line! Mmmmm, the scent of line dried bedding, nothing like it!

Liz

Edited March 30, 2007 by blim

[thesidekickcat]

Will grab the recipe for you tomorrow, getting close to time for my dialup to cut off.

Trust me, the side dish is good!!!

Thanks for the idea of online rebates...if you guys find anything let me know. Thanks!

I finally got the printer back up and running again to print out any rebates you find!

It started acting strange a few months back and then got to point where it couldn't even find itself for some reason so finally I got mad and decided to just unplug it and then I uninstalled the software, then plugged it back in but plug and play didn't recognize it, so I reinstalled the drivers (who knew it could take so long for them to reinstall?) and it works fine again.

Computers and their peripherals can sure act up for no good reason! I think they are set to do stuff randomly to see if we'll notice and pay them more attention? Sort of like men!?! Ha Ha!!!

Good night folks.

Pat

God bless everyone

[blim]

Ah, thank goodness Son was too lazy to empty out the Favorites in my old idiot box!

free after rebate

And Kudos to Barb for giving it to me so long ago!

Liz

[bar5]

Hey Liz and Pat:

Here are some more:

FatWallet

Just ignore the window that ask you if you want to sign up for extra cash etc.......just say NO, and continue. (FatWallet)

EverythingOutlet

This site sells OEM software. I have bought 2 CD's of Roxio software. Same as full retail copy. You probably can not upgrade it to newer version from OEM, but who cares, it is cheaper than the upgrade. They are legal CD's. (EverythingOutlet)

DealsWay

I have not used this one. (DealsWay)

PriceWatch

This is a site with a list of different computers, software etc etc. (PriceWatch)

Dell Coupon Codes

There is Dell computers and also other stuff cameras etc. (Dell Coupon)

TechBargains

I have not used this one, but looks like a good reference. (TechBargains)

ResellerRatings

Last but not least. Good place to check out a retailer and get reviews on them.(ResellerRatings)

I have more, but is all I could find right now. I have them stashed somewhere on my favorites. I should make a folder just for these coupons and rebates.

Good night, going to bed.

Barb