Coffee and .... for Tuesday, August 29th

Good morning to all!

C'mon, grab your coffee cup and gather round. Tell us about your day.

We came from over here http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/644573/

Hi folks - no matter what the date says on my message it is TUESDAY where I am - 4:30 in the afternoon as I start to write. We are 13 hours ahead of EDT and 16 hours ahead of PDT here in Japan.

We arrived here late on Saturday evening after flying from Vancouver to the Osaka Kansai airport - the one that is built on reclaimed land out in the ocean with a causeway connecting it to the mainland and is, I guess, slowly sinking into the ocean. Then we had a flight to Sapporo and train in from the station.

I was here 18 years ago for the 9th IAHR Ice Symposium. This is the 18th IAHR Ice Symposium. In the intervening years this city, now 1.8 million people, had really grown up. New station, new subway system. HUGE shopping areas under the main station. And most important for us, the names of most places in Latin letters instead of just Japanese characters. Makes it much easier to get around.

On Sunday, We and another couple took the train to Otaru - a seaport not far from here. We walked around all day and then spent the night in a typcial Japanese hotel.

back to Sapporo yesterday and today the accompanying persons did a walking tour and lunch and shopping. We have the conference ice breaker in about 90 minutes.

So far, Internet is by machine in the hotel - 100 yen for 10 minutes and my time will run out soon. Will check out the local botanical garden and also whether the computers are set-up at the conference tomorrow.

Bye for now,
Ann


This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 3:40 AM

Hi Ann ... So glad to see ya this morning. Hope you are having a wonderful time Please take lots of pictures of the botanical garden. Ooooh I bet that's just gorgeous! I know you're going to have so many interesting things to tell us when you get back. :-)

Well, I'm up and at it early this a.m. I'm making a vow to get back on my treadmill every day, to start back drinking my water and intend to do better with my diet, so sarv ... you stop taunting me with your ice cream! LOL Hmmm, I believe Meezers and Mary all are bad influences too. Well, I'll just have to close my eyes and ears and only listen to flower talk. :-)

Hi Maria ... so good to see you posting last night, but I do hope you finally got some sleep? You'll need your rest to get over that nasty stuff. Tell Samson to just hang in there a few more days so his Mama can get over the crud.

Ok, gotta go get another cuppa. Will BBL.
~Elaine~

Morning everyone ! VI -hello from far away. Tell us about a Japanese hotel - is it different from American hotels? Can't wait to see pics!!

I can't believe you all haven't heard of cheesy potatoes....they are a mainstay at potlucks around here: Very tasty, easy to make and tote:

2 cans cream of chic soup (I use whatever cream soup I have on hand)
2 lbs frozen hash brown (the stingy ones) (I set the out to thaw before using them)
8oz sour cream
8 oz chedder cheese
1/4 c melted butter (I sometimes skip this...)
french fried onion from a can on top
mix first four ingred together, put in 9x13 greased pan bake 350 deg for 45 min.

If you used the butter/onion topping- drizzle on butter and top with onions. Sometimes I crumble up crackers for the topping, sometimes I do nothing. I also add dried onion/garlic salt sometimes. It is very forgiving....and great for leftovers!!

It has rained all night here - good soaker, but my garden walk will have to be put off now as it is still raining!! Ok, enough is enough....

Maria, glad to see you posting again. Was your daughter upset that you hadn't told her how ill you were?

We spent last night wataching all the Katrina stuff. Man, that was sure an awful time and so much is still not back. NBC did a very interesting show - not the same pics over and over that we've all seen.

Sounds like many of you have been bitten by the ice cream bug. LOL It's great isn't it!! I only had one small cone yesterday...trying to be good ya know.

Bal, another project. Whew, you are a working man!! I keep telling DH all that you do - hoping to make him move.....LOL no luck... Nw my tactic is to keep quiet about all the jobs- so far that isn't working either....

Well, time for some leftovers for breakfast! ~~ to everyone..

Morning All!!

I use Stanley Plums with my apples.

Maria glad you are feeling better. Are you feeling good enough to go sit outside if your weather is nice?

Vi Ann trip sounds so exciting!

M5 you're so sweet to your kitties buying them there own furniture!!

sarv I've seen the recipe but never tried it. Always planned to but haven't.

Slow rain on and off all day yesterday. Told DH i had to go back out and work in the garden to rest up.

Have to go and peel more apples to go with the plums.[hopefully that's the last batch]. Decided to make some strawberry jam out of some I have in the freezer. DH's favorite.
Works for both of us.

Katym where are you? Busy with work and kids in school? Hope everything is okay?

cece are you sleeping in this morning? or lurking?

Good morning all! I slept until almost 6:30 this morning which is unprecendented for me...must be because it's so darn dark already!

Kooger, you lost me with "stations that move up and down" How's that? Remember I am easily confused! That's a very long work day! Hope it was worth it. Check your dmail...

Casey, gift certificates are the best!! One size fits all! Glad you had a good day, and got nice things too. Did you eat cake for us?

Yeah, Sarv, cough up the cheesy potato recipe for us, it sounded good. I'm making bbq ribs for tonight, but just a boneless chop or two for DH. While we were at the state fair and I suggested a rib place for a snack, he declared grumpily that he didn't like ribs. Fine, more for me. He doesn't get any bbq sauce on them either. The corn we had last night was nice and sweet but the kernels were so tiny it was hardly worth the work.

IO1, there are both shampoos and conditioners that help to "thicken" your hair, as well as the products that "lift" as Carat suggested. I get them both for DH because his hair is getting.........uhhhh.......thin. Actually, it's getting more gone...but I dasn't say that to him.

Maria, if your vacuum is dying of dog hair I'll tell you my DD's experience with vacs. She burned out two, because she has always got 6 or more Goldens in residence and most vacs don't handle large quantities of dog hair for long. Then she got a Dyson. The "Animal" model is designed especially for pet hair. Fantastic machine and no bags to buy, all the debris goes in a large canister which you can hold over a waste basket and pull a little trigger to dump it out. I was so impressed, I got one. Then my DIL got one. With four cats galloping (no silent little cat feet here, they sound like a herd of ponies) I am amazed at what it picks up. And equally amazed that they aren't bald!!

I have to say, it is heavy to push around, but I understand they have a new model that is either self propelled or pivots on a ball bearing type of mechanism. DD has had hers for three years and had to take it in for repair (it was under a service contract) this year...but considering that her other machines never lasted longer than a couple years that's not too bad.

I think Cece celebrated her birthday too much and is sleeping in this morning. Good for her! She's usually here about the same time I am. Maybe she's out counting the remaining fish in her pond...with the rain we've had lately it must be full to the top.

Ves, I TOLD the cats that chair was for me and not for them, but they do not listen, because they are cats.

So glad to hear from you V'ann. Sounds like a fabulous trip! Get some good photos to share. Now I have the itch to go somewhere even if it means going through security at the airport!

~~~~ to everyone, if I haven't spoken to you individually just blame my decaying brain cells.

Later
Sheila

Because of pet hair, my last housemate bought a Rainbow. She cleaned houses for a living and if they had shedding pets, she charged more to use the Rainbow. I was very impressed with what it did at our house too. The Rainbow sucks everything through a water bath so no dust mites blow out. I'd have one myself just for my lung problems if they weren't so expensive.

Our #1 Lurker, Patischell, called me this morning. She was at the ER last night with a huge kidney stone. Came home with lots of meds because there was no urologist on call and of course with Ernesto's center scheduled to go 20 miles west of her, not much is open today to get a referral to a specialist. Her son is in Kansas on a job so there's no one to board up the house either. Please keep her in your T&P's.

BBL

Just hilarious-Darius~~~~ no pun intended

Good morning everyone.

Darius, that dog and alligator picture is great, especially with the description which of course we read before we enlarge the picture to look at the gory details. Thanks for letting us know about Pati and her problems. I hope she has some good neighbors to board up her house and has relief from the kidney stone. My hubby gets those, they are NO FUN at all. I hope she has lots of water available. Does she have anywhere to go if the house doesn't get boards on the windows? Fla sounds like a nice place to visit but I sure wouldn't want to live there. I think they will soon be calling it the Hurricane State.

Sarv, thanks for the recipe, I'm sure a few of us will be taking it to potlucks. Quick, easy, tasty. A good winter type of recipe.

Meezers, you have lost the chair, no question about that. With 3 to 1 odds, how could you risk trying to take it from them?

Ann, thanks for checking in, have fun and take pictures to show us. I forgot when you will be coming home but I think you were going to be in Japan for at least a week.

Maria is well enough to be feeling hungry now, that is good news.

Time for me to be getting busy. With the weekend trip coming up I have a few extra things to do. See you later, have a great day.

Okay y'all just have to share ... now mind you I have *nothing * against kitties. I just thought this was cute and got a chuckle. :-) Please don't start throwing things at me until you read all the way down to the end. *grin*

Toilet Cleaning Instructions:

1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids.

You may need to stand on the lid.

4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.

5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power-wash" and rinse".

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Sincerely,
The Dog

Rats, I finally had most of my kitchen cleaned yesterday. Put 2 bags of frozen black raspberries out to thaw last night for jelly and forgot about them. Didn't even check for baggie leaks.

They bleed dark red and this morning my kitchen counters look like a massacre took place. I think I have most of it cleaned up, but what a mess!

IO1, once my siamese cat got into tar on both front paws and was frothing at the mouth from trying to clean it himself. The Vet said massage real butter into it, and then wash out with soap and water. Your joke above reminded me about how hard it is to bathe a cat!

BTW, butter will take road tar off your vehicles too. Just melts it.

Hey, where'd everyone go?

I'm here- inside from the rain and too lazy to do anything but play scrabble on the computer. I may hop in the car. There is a lady that grows dahlias somewhere around here. I've driven past her house and wanted to stop in and ask if she would sell any tubers. Like I need anymore tho....

Not raining, so I may take off....maybe....

Sarv, this is one of those days when I wish I had a patio lounge chair on the porch. Rain has stopped although still overcast, and there's a nice breeze, 75º. I could easily nap out there!

I've got long l pants on, socks, a shirt with a winter fleece on top of that!! Brrrr Thinking about getting out my heating pad and cranking it on!! Fall feeling weather here...

That sounds like my mornings around here (sans heating pad), but usually by midday I'm back into shorts. Still, there's almost a feeling of Fall in the air here too. It will be interesting to see what Fall and Winter bring at this new house.

Which means I need to get cranking to repair the root cellar and get the window reinstalled. I have a remote monitor for temp and humidity but until I can close the window and door, it might as well be outside. I'm hoping it doesn't freeze inside of it so we can store root vegetables over winter.

Gee whiz ... it's 88.2 and that's in the shade! It's hot, humid and muggy ... and we're gonna get that rain! Hey sarv, I'll take somma that brrr! LOL

I talked to Pati a while ago, and she sounded good to me, although I think she caused quite a ruccus in her neighborhood last night!

BBL

Hey Pati ... if you're lurking ... I forgot my :-) when I posted a few mins ago! LOL
~E~

We're here but I was on the phone with Maria. She sounds awful but I think she will get much better faster if she continues to rest and not try to get everything in order. (Are you listening, Maria?)

Darius, I've done that too, berry juice goes very far! And the bags almost always spring a leak, I think the berries are trying to escape.

Now I have to run out and do some errands, so I'll check in later.

S.

GM,everyone!

Yes, indeed, it's still morning here in the Pacific Northwest. I worked last night so I didn't get out of bed until 45 minutes ago. I've been checking e-mail and catching up on the comings and goings of DG'ers.

It's overcast here this morning, supposed to get up to 66*F by this afternoon. Tomorrow will be the same with the weekend getting back up to the high-70's. Buggars all! It never fails, when I have to work, the weather is fabulous for messing about in the garden. Harumph!

I'm going to the nursing facility this afternoon to see Mum. I have a couple of things to take to her. I made a collage of photos to put next to her bed. I scanned and copied photos from old albums and some I had taken myself the last time I was with her family and I've put together a framed collage I can hang on the wall next to her bed. I copied her wedding photos (what few there are of them) and the one of my Da when he was in the Army during WWII.

Well, it's time I get off my tuchas and get into the shower. You all have a wonderful day and enjoy yourselves, no matter what you are doing.

Hugs all around,
~Babs~

IO1, there are FEW doubts you will get rain! I expect to get rain from Ernesto all the way up here on his way to W VA and on to the great lakes.

I didn't want to alarm everybody by saying Pati called 911 last night, but I'm glad she did.

Babs, sounds like some nice visual memories to take to your Mum.

I ran the black raspberries through the food mill and they are now dripping out juice into a container. My fingers are black and purple, LOL. Sure wish I had all the juice that ran all over my counters because I don't think I will have enough for a run of jelly. I still have the frozen wineberry juice to make jelly. Maybe if I have too much, I can make a combo with the extra and black raspberries.

m5 - wakey, wakey, LOL the cheesy potatoes recipe is posted two posts above your's. No d-mail, did u send it? Planning on Mon. am I think. :)

I guess it is no longer PC to call an office/work desk an office/work desk. lol They are now 'work stations'. We have abt 100 'work stations' on our floor and each is a desktop with movable front piece for height and tilt adjustments and then each complete desktop will go up and down for sitting or standing. They are nice, except that most don't go quite low enough for us short peeps and then we have to look around and try find a footrest that is not in use. There's never enough of them to go around.

We're back from the surgeon's appt. The big day is Sept. 11. Is that ominous or what? We can postpone it if we like but need to call him by next week Wed. if we decide to wait a few weeks. It's tempting, as long as I'm feeling good, get closer to first frost date then....

I found a canning apples recipe in the old cookbook and I'm going to check a few others and then get them canned this aft. Better get off this and get at it. :) More rasps to pick too!

~~~~~later all, Pati and Maria, glad ur better. Ann, hoping to see J. pics!!!! pretty pls?? Stay away from Ernesto all!

I previewed and u had posted, d. My DB made jam from 5 leftover bits of berries and it was yummy! :)

Darius if pati is lurker #1 i will be nu. 2 i'm afraid to "butt" in..

Maria, Pati glad both doing better..
Kooger hope you continue to feel better to.. Jam sounds so good to.

blessings all.. lurker going now.

Twyla

Twyla, when did you come home?

Back from my trip to find the dahlia place and I FOUND IT!! I drove past it 4 times going slow.....I even got their name off their mailbox. It was misting or I would have stopped and asked if I could take a tour. They have one humungous red dahlia that I would love to have and a yellow one that is gorgeous. When the sun is shining, I will have to stop...

Sun is peeking out here now, but things are still drippy. Our grass is so long...Darius- it looks like yours!! And I really should edge my beds one more time.

We had some pumpkins reseed, but they are tiny little things. Wish I'd pulled them out- they practically covered two of my dahlia plants, plus climbed all over the tomatoes. My neighbor gave me some pepper plants this spring so I didn't buy any- his turned out to be halapeno peppers- drat

Kooger -take the date....get it over asap... (easy for me to say huh!!) Why don't you just bring a footstool from home, write your name on it in big letters~ When I was working, I always brought my big fan and boombox to use in the classroom. Imagine my ire when I returned during the summer to find the custodians using both....now I would have shared if they had asked, but to just take it....grrrr The next summer they all went home with me.

Someone tell us why Patti had to call 911!!! You know we won't sleep a wink tonight until we hear from her.

They are saying Ernesto will bring rain for our Labor Day weekend - too bad too. This is the first year that schools have postponed starting before LD so that the state could reap more tourist money.

Roast is in the crock pot, need to peel potatoets and go see if any corn is ready...(I'm trying to be a good wife for awhile LOL)

Pati called 911 because of quick and excruciating pain in her side. An ambulance came, and so did the fire trucks AND the police cars. Escorted her to the ER where she had a CT Scan. She has the largest kidney stone those docs had ever seen, and it's still lodged because no urologist was on call. None available today either... everyone is busy boarding up.

Patty, Patty, you must havr been uncomfortable before the stone got so huge??? I know all about kidney problems, the pain is absolutely terrible.

Over did a bit this morning, guess I am not as well as I thought., coughing like mad, losing my breath again but used nebulizer, it helped a lot.

Just great having a phone chat with you Sheila, great to talk about stuff we usually cannot here, :-))

It is misty and rainy, no way will I go out, poor Samson has to entertain himself but he is very good as if he knows what a rotten days it is weatherwise.

Did not have too much luck with the dahlias I planted, the enormous heat we had burned the poor little buds right after they openend, grrr

bbl I hope

zHi all!

First let me tell you, I read the rest of yesterdays thread and todays but I can't promise I'll remember any of it.

My last two kids start school on Friday so I'm getting them up these next few days to practice getting up before noon. When one isn't on the computer the other one is. DGB is here now but taking a nap so I thought I'drop in a sec.Didn't really matter too much the kids have been on because my house needed a thorough cleaning anyway and the laundry monster was taking over the laundry room. So I did all the indows in the house scrubbed both bathrooms good, thoroughly cleaned the kitchen vacumned, dusted laundry hung out dried and put away and I'm exhausted. I need to get out and deadhead and weed but no watering thank god. I did manage to get a few plants that I wanted to save over winter repotted in their own pots and sitting in the shaded area. Since I have DGB til 10:30 tonight I won't be doing much of anything tonight.

DH and I were going to go out to eat for my B-day but DD's DMIL decided to be late picking up the baby. We share babysitting at night so the kids don't have a child care payment but I'm the one that seems to get the brunt end of the deal. We agreed that I would watch her when DD went to work and have her til 5 then she would pick her up and take her home. She lives upstairs from the kids and this way the baby is home and in bed by the time DD gets off work( both DD and SIL work 2nd shift) Well she doesn't get here till sometimes 9 at night. Yesterday it was 7. As she was leaving 6 of my DD#2's friends decided to *stop* over yeah right. I wouldn't leave then because two of them I trust about as far as I can see, which isn't very far anymore. So............I thought that would be my b-day. DH went and bought me some Asti and well Asti is a weakness and me and the bubbly got together like old friends. I must admit *chagrined* that I had more of the bubbly than what I intended to have. I just get so tickled the way the bubbles tickle your nose when you drink and it goes down so nice. but hey I get it on B-day Christmas and now anniversaries so why not? But I as still up by 5:30 raring to go.. Took my shower so by 5:30 DD#2 was awaken and ^:00 DS was. I know under their breaths theywerecussing me out big time but hey thats what moms are for to bother th children.

Phooey GB is crying andI'll try toget back sometime today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~to each and everyone.

Cherie

HI, all 101 cancelled it as was going into surgery the anst. guy puts you out did it heart so gotta have more tests before will do it.i so wanted the dr. to do this see if this time fix mess up.. he said feel terrible if something happened to me so..

everyone i put picture of my baby kittes 3 in pets..

take care all. lurker out.. lol..


blessings.. Twyla aka lurker 2

Congrats on getting the kittens out of isolation Twyla! My, they are tiny aren't they! Their little paws are almost transparent. Watching the Katrina special on HBO so not going to comment more....

Sheila

Hi everyone,

It's late and I'm about ready to crawl off to bed (once I deal with the left-overs from supper.)
We had to stop at a grocery store on the way home and by the time I started cooking it was already fairly late. Story of my life, I guess.

I hope that everyone who's been hurting finds relief very soon ---- especially Patti, Twyla, and Maria.

Babs, good to see you here again. I know what you mean about weather not cooperating on your time off. Same things been happening here most of the gardening season, it seems. Enjoy those tomatoes!

I'm afraid I'll just have to ~~~~~~~~~to everyone else for now. CRS has taken its toll again.

Here's the link to tomorrow's thread http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/645361/

This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 11:27 PM

Grandbaby just got picked up. I must really be getting slow. Couple weeks ago my DD was saying she was concerned cuz baby wasn't crawling yet (she's 11 months old) I told her not to worry when shes ready she will do it. (DD#1 alked at 91/2 months crawled at 12). Yesterday when she came she said Ariana has a surprise for your b-day. Oh Lord she's learned to craawl and pull herself up to EVEYTHING. Yesterday it was fun to watch but today............Within 1/2 hr after getting here she emptied one of the clothes baskets on the floor, and while I was cleaning that up she's pulling all the DVD's and VHS's off the shelf on to the floor and squealing like its so much fun.... I told DD not to push it. I can't believe that in 15 years I've forgotten whats what. after she woke up from her nap she has been on the go constantly. I hope she doesn't walk til she's 5 years old and ready for school. I'm already dreading bringing my plants in this fall. They'll never survive Ariana. Stinker waited to learn everything all at once just to spite me. I know she did.

Maria please take it easier. Pnemonia is not something that always goes away right away. DD had troubles for months. Just promise you won't over do okay?

Darius you tire me out just listening rather reading all that you do. And if I remember correctly I'm 14 years younger. Puts me to absolute shame. I liked the puupies/alligator pic. Cute.

M5-- I did have a bit of the bubbly but I was all better by morning. Have still the 13 1 1/2" to 2" fish left which is enough for me. And yes the pond did overflow there for a bit. This morning while out there I found something that looked like a clear w/brn fish only fish don't have wings so I have no idea what kind of bug that was but glad it drowned. With all the beds I'd put in this summer I've seen bugs I've never seen before and its very disheartening. Sad to say I'm a true female when it comes to bugs and snakes and yuk mice. Before I had moved into the condo I called hen gentleman friend at 2:30 in the orning because there was a mouse in the apartment and I couldn't sleep knowing it was there. I know woos lol What can I say??

Vi---- have a wonderful time and bring lots of pics to post.

Sarv thanx for posting that recipe...... I have those ingredients must try it soon very soon.

Well I need to just ~~~~~~~~~~~~ to mopst everyone else that I've forgotten. Minds muddled from being sooooooooootired. Going to bed now See everyone in the morning if I can keep teenagers away from it long enough.

Have a great night all.

Cherie

Maria~Please take it easy and get well! Here are some flowers for you. I haven't been able to see Ernie...was in OR with my DML who had the broken wrists. Got a bad case of flu...thought it was a heart attack...PAIN was high under my ribs, sweating, nausea, dissiness...sucked! I went to help can and spent 2 1/2 days doing nothing...I was so ticked. I start a job at the new Mexican restaurant in Everson...EL Caporal..Hostess/overseeing the waitresses. I have never done this type of work, sounds fun. I start tonight. I work 5-10 Mon-Fri. DH says he'll be fine....he can keep DA company watching baseball.....uhhhgggg. I'll take earlier hours when they open for lunch. YOu take care...prayers...Karen~

Karen, thank you sooooo much!!!! Sorry you have been ill, that is about how I felt but no pain, a real pneumonia that I had only a year ago but not as awful as this time , I feel some what better today especially good in the AM but by noon I am very tired and have to rest.

I hope to see you soon again, when we can have a nice chat and perhaps visit you at the restaurant where you work if you are still there but hopw you will enjoy it there and stay.