COLD DARK ROOM

[Maro2Bear]

Here in Maryland, Cold front moved in over the last 24 hours or so, some rain fell locally with slight snow and sleet way out in Western Maryland at higher elevations. Nothing frozen here or close. Another trip to HomeDepot for a few bathroom fixtures. Most ppl seem to be honkering down in place at their homes. We didnt go near any grocery stores or Sams...etc today.

Instead of gardening today, I worked on another little cherrywood project while we gathered necessary tools n pieces to swap out a dripping toilet spigot.

Our Sully out and munching away on dinner, a good mix of banana stalks, mazuri, dandelion, hay. Has no idea that the World has gone bonkers outside.

 

[Cathie G]

Hello hope your trip was good. My wife was going to Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan at the end of the month.
Of course they canceled the trip.
I have self quarantined myself. Hoping this all passes before the end of May. My oldest granddaughter graduates from high school. I wanted to fly to Michigan to be there. Time will tell.

This morning an elder that picks up my brother for church said "Well at least every thing will be a LOT cleaner." Joe's church bus was early for once because of cancellations sooo...business as usual.

 

[JoesMum]

Basically I am a loner...I venture out only to get supplies and go home...I went to town yesterday for cat litter, bird seed and bread...When I got to my local store...I was stunned, shocked and mad...There was so much tension was in the air, shopping carts were full to overflowing, shelves were empty. I expected some empty shelves, but not to the extent they were...no bread, no cat litter, a fist fight in the meat department between 2 women over a $46 Tri Tip that was $20 last week...This real fight in front of their kids...neither one was very good so no one was hurt...
I've been making jokes about hoarding t-paper...but I'm thinkin now that it's because the powers that be are asking for a 2 or 3 week stay home quarantine...with lots of places closed.

People’s behaviour is scary! I completely agree. Their overeaction is mad!

USU is closed, fast food closed...schools closed, where are the kids who get breakfast and lunch at school gonna eat...?

That is a key question in the education community here in the UK. Our school are not closed (yet) but many are putting plans in place. The one I am involved with has been talking to their catering supplier and is putting together hampers of food basics for families who are eligible for Free School Meals which will be paid for out of the Pupil Premium budget (a sum of money paid by government which is ring fenced for children from low income households).

the Senior Center is closed...where are the seniors who depend on the senior center for food gonna eat? I don't mind staying home, that's fine with me...but those same people with full carts complained about OTHERS HOARDING...frankly...I had a sort of a melt down in the produce dept...no lettuces, no pkgs of Spring Mix...no freakin potatoes. No berries for my box turtles...I was talking to the produce manager (a friend) and ended up on a kinda loud rant...I was scared and mad...but I used the f word a lot combined with mother*****, stupid mf'ers...and so on...I was escorted to my car, which was rather embarrassing...and...on my way home shaking and afraid I realized that the virus was not what I was afraid of...it was the panicked people who looked like normal people...and I thought ...if they are panicking...maybe I am not taking this seriously enough...
My son who I stopped speaking to last year showed up at my door with my granddaughter...who I also hadn't seen, and my DIL who was carrying, t-paper (lol) coffee, Mt Dew ...shampoo, conditioner, and tincture made for neurological pain. Ya can't beat that...
My church closed, sermon will be on-line only, no bible study...the the very worst and horrible thing...no NASCAR.... There are 10 confirmed cases at the Veterans Home abt 30 miles from here, and now 1 death..

If there are any Oregonians here that need help...call me...I am available to help...541-231-1366... call and I will be there...I pray for us and I sure hope all my friends here stay safe..
And here is something to take your mind off the virus...View attachment 288116View attachment 288117 to take your mind off the virus...

Take care Maggie. It si ridiculous out there. Glad your son has reached out to you

 

[JoesMum]

Good mornooning all.

Jet lag is still with us. About 5pm we both start yawning and about 8.15pm it becomes impossible to stay awake and we fight hard to stay up until 9pm.

Yesterday, we both felt pretty washed out having not slept much, but we both slept better last night and the sun is out so hopefully a beautiful spring day will energise us!

I checked our camera nest bix this morning and Mrs Blue T.it has started her build during our absence. Judging by previous years, she is about a week in wih a long way to go.

We have had failed brood for the last two years, so hopefully it is third time lucky!

I am going to take advantage of the sunshine and get out and do some gardening. Not see you later

 

[CarolM]

Well this what i did today
1. Valve cover gasket replacement on the driver’s side of my 06 Subie
2. Seaweed and sea salt whipped soap for the wife
3. Chicken wings on the smoker
View attachment 286758View attachment 286759View attachment 286760View attachment 286761

Wow. No. 2 sounds especially interesting. What is the recipe and how hard is it to do?

 

[CarolM]

Good mornooning all.

Jet lag is still with us. About 5pm we both start yawning and about 8.15pm it becomes impossible to stay awake and we fight hard to stay up until 9pm.

Yesterday, we both felt pretty washed out having not slept much, but we both slept better last night and the sun is out so hopefully a beautiful spring day will energise us!

I checked our camera nest bix this morning and Mrs Blue T.it has started her build during our absence. Judging by previous years, she is about a week in wih a long way to go.
View attachment 288158
We have had failed brood for the last two years, so hopefully it is third time lucky!

I am going to take advantage of the sunshine and get out and do some gardening. Not see you later

Welcome back Linda.

 

[CarolM]

Cow farts.. oh lord what has this place become? Lol

Well at least it is not the beans farting this time around.

 

[CarolM]

You must try keeping geese ! They are too big to be snatched away easily.

And great watch dogs too. But also very noisy

 

[CarolM]

An unlikely friendship???? Cinder loves everything but there is definitely a mutual interest here that is a bit unusual for Baby (the paint horse)...I meant to post this the other day...

View attachment 286835View attachment 286836

aaaah Love it.

 

[CarolM]

Not yet...I've been up since 2:30 just sitting here drinking coffee and trying to figure out how to increase 4 Sulcata outside pens into 2 larger ones the easiest way without money. I have the stuff and used to (and still want to) seriously be able to do it myself. But I'm old and, well just old...and a good portion of my pen building materials is the big cinder blocks way hard for me to carry one-handed...but...I have 2 growing Sulcata and it's just time to give them more room. The only thing I'd have to outsource is someone to cut another doggie door on the other side of the tort shed because I can't carry Knobby from his side of the shed over all that crap I sorta described to his pen. He's just grown too fat and sassy over the winter. But sitting here just thinking about it and typing this I got excited for daylight to come cuz I'm gonna plan my a** off, and do it before Spring...ok I'm gonna go drink some more coffee then run a 10K...way View attachment 286878View attachment 286879
LOL

So did you come up with a plan?

 

[CarolM]

Happy Wednesday all...

good news on the photography front. Over the last two days I received two separate notices that my photos will be used in publications.

One by a kayaking organization called Cross Currents Sea Kayaking and the second by Baltimore’s Tall Ship group “Pride” of Baltimore.

Cross Currents Photo Selection

View attachment 286939

Pride Of Baltimore

View attachment 286940

About time someone other than us recognized your talent.

 

[CarolM]

Good for you! Luckily I am married to an excellent accidental photographer. My wife takes pictures and I put people in the square! Here is one of hers View attachment 286941 now mineView attachment 286942 I plannned mine, she just turned around and started snapping!

Your Wife's pic is awesome. And she obviously has the luck of the Irish!

 

[CarolM]

I'm grateful I live in an area of little to none power outages. Once in a great while a car hits a power pole and we're without power for an hour or so, but in the 25+ years I've lived in the house, I can count on one hand the number of times I went without power (if I could remember them, that is).

I unfortunately cannot say the same. We have no power on a regular basis.

 

[CarolM]

Good evening all finally caught up with the last weeks posts and pleased to see you are all well.
We have had another week of high winds and rain, it has been pouring down since yesterday and will continue until Storm Jorge finishes with us sometime on Sunday. The ground is so saturated everywhere. Flood warnings are in force for some areas again, but hopefully my area will be OK.

My brother had his brain surgery yesterday and I was amazed that within a couple of hours he was up and eating. He is still confused but that is to be expected with the swelling etc. He had an MRI today, but we don't yet know how much of the tumour they removed and what the prognosis is. It will take a couple of weeks for the histology results to come back , so we don't yet know how much of a recovery he will make or further treatment etc. He isn't out of the woods yet so still worrying times for us all. All being well he should be out of hospital by the middle of next week as they don't like to keep patients in too long because of transmission of diseases etc. - hospitals are definitely not healthy places to be!

So glad to read that it went well. Now here is to hoping for a good recovery and a good prognosis going forward.

 

[CarolM]

I put the head of some left over collards in the dirt last year and it rooted and is still growing. Toretto dosent like anything (store bought) but turnip greens so he wouldn’t touch it. It actually looks like a tree now. Stayed green with leaves all winter too... crazy stuff!

View attachment 287192

Wow

 

[Ray--Opo]

Good luck. Is it being built/assembled in your garden or comes fully done & just moved to your yard?

Fully built. I will take pics as they install the shed.

 

[Ray--Opo]

Oh dear. I hope you are feeling better today

I am better. My body just shuts down sometimes. After a week or so of little sleep and the aggravation of constant pain my body and mind just shuts down. I had an agreement with my doctor that I would limit my painkillers to a certain dose.
The painkillers are not as effective anymore. But that's the slippery slope I don't want to get caught up in. We are looking at other alternatives but that will be put on hold now with this Corona virus.

 

[Blackdog1714]

Wow. No. 2 sounds especially interesting. What is the recipe and how hard is it to do?

Magical Moisturizing Whipped Soap

Author: Stephanie Pollard
Materials

• 1 bar castile soap grated
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon glycerin
• 1 cup palm oil shortening I used Spectrum Vegetable Shortening
• 1/2 cup solid coconut oil
• 20 drops sweet orange essential oil
• 1 teaspoon beet root powder optional

Instructions

• In a small saucepan, combine the grated soap with the water. Bring to a low simmer and whisk constantly until the soap has melted. Add the glycerin and whisk again.
• Pour the soap mixture into a plastic container and let it cool to room temperature. If you let it cool too long, the soap will set and harden again. You want your soap to be cool to the touch but not solid, so if it does harden, microwave it in 10 second intervals until it melts again, but try not to let it get too hot.
• Combine the coconut oil and vegetable shortening in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to whip the oils until smooth. Next, slowly pour in your room temperature soap mixture and whip until combined. Add you essential oils and beet root powder for color.
• Scoop the whipped soap into a jar and seal tightly with a lid.

I used a hadmade bar of soap that was seaweed and sea salt. I also added a couple spoonfuls of raw unrefined coco butter. I dont' add the oils or root powder and it smells super great, but not too strong. The hardest part is letting the soap that you melted in the water cool down to room temp.

 

[CarolM]

Is @Kristoff still around? I know @JoesMum is on her boondoggle of a great holiday. Our #Euro friends are quiet these days! ?

You can see posts from Lena on instagram.

 

[CarolM]

Hi, gang, hope everyone's well and their torts and turtles are happy and healthy.
Look what turned up in the post yesterday.
View attachment 287858
Thanks, Carol!
The candy cane is rather squished and you can see on the envelope where it's been though the ink of a franking machine or something. Golly.
Talking of late, Merry Christmas everybody and a Happy New Year.
Thanks to all of you who remembered me and sent a Christmas card, much appreciated.
This has all changed, new layout to the forum.
Feels uncomfortable, but I'm sure one would soon get used to it.
Anyway, I'm off out lemming hunting, wifey's practising her sleeping again and Tidgy's very proud having won a small prize as a runner up in an art competition where one had to draw something Megalodon related. Here is her effort.
View attachment 287859
Stay safe and take care all!
Lots of love and hugs,
Adam.

Yay, So glad it got there. Yeah on hind sight the candy cane was not such a good idea. Oh well hopefully I get a better idea this year.