WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2015

Hallo all:  Happy New week.

Well, what can I say? I can't even do stupid links these days; no idea why things aren't linking but life is too short to fret about it....

Rita is doing her knee exercises, which aren't the best part of her day, but she'll get there we know.

OG: I've taken the liberty of copy/pasting your anniversary dinner menu for all to enjoy vicariously:  "Had a great meal at a country house hotel not far away.  Even the bread rolls were wonderful - fresh-baked and therefore really crisp, not hard (I can't usually eat what are normally referred to as "crisp" rolls!).  OH started with soup while I had a terrine of roasted vegetables; we both had beautifully roasted pork loin, with a theme of peas running through it: pea mash, pea puree and mange touts, as well as roasted root veg and garnished with a wee "haggis bon-bon" (breaded haggis).  OH decided in sticky toffee pud to follow - pleased I didn't as it had a fig in the middle which I would not have liked to find in there!  I had the most wonderful chocolate fudge cake ever - so beautifully light, whereas I usually find it very heavy.  J is out at a barbecue this evening so it was nice to have a meal out on our own but without leaving him out."   All sounds yummy (though not sure about the breaded haggis).

Brenda: I too am wondering how many floors up your son and DiL are in their new apartment.  Have you started looking at airfares yet?  OG has info on the Canada cake on last week's thread.

bjane: Hope you're too busy to post for all the right reasons.  Take care; good to see you.

Margo: Hope you feel up to dropping in this week.  Is your sister still popping by?  Hugs to you.

Earth to Diane!  Please call home.    :-))

Fountain is behaving itself as I type; it usually goes about three days before pooping out. Am prepared for investigative antics next time.

Have a good Sunday everyone. 

  • Glad to see they found the cause

    North West residents warned to boil water after parasite contaminates supply.

  • Morning (I think) all:  Waved g-d and Ms. D off at 4 a.m. and they just called from Indio (15 minutes east of Palm Springs) so they should be home around lunchtime.  Didn't really get back to sleep for long so planning a low-key day.

    Heather: Ah yes, we all learned that kiddies can be well behaved but still  manage to wreak havoc what with the inadvertent flinging of arms and excited sudden leaps around the place.  

    AQ: Geez. That's terrible; nothing like accumulative lack of sleep to put anyone over the edge.  Surely it can't be long now before they conk out for the entire night....  (Haven't used "conk out" for many decades - where do these expressions hide only to pop out - must be the UK/OZ ambiance around here.)  Let us know how Windows 10 goes.

    Lindybird: 6:30 a.m. is far too early - on a weekend yet.  I'd've been out there at 6:31 telling him what for!  

    Wendyb: Nice to know you're out there lurking.

    Alan: I see Mr. C has yet to win you over.

    Must rustle up an egg or something with protein to keep me going this morning.  We have June Gloom in August, so overcast mornings, which I like for a change.  Must also take out a large lavender bush which has finally given up the ghost. These particular ones (Goodwin Creek) are huge and have a 5-year lifespan; this individual is true to type, though the others are still going strong. Won't replace it until October when things begin to cool down...

  • Sorry to go on, but we also had a new member of staff who I described as officious and a colleague called her arrogant. I did feel intimidated when working with her. I am quite the opposite.

  • dibnlib:   I know the type you mean.  It can make such a difference to the working day, how everyone interacts. In the last office job I had, in an Estate Agents, some of the staff were friendly and helpful.  Some were downright rude and obviously didn't like to have a New Person in the office.  Especially one, who had been enjoying her superior status as the eldest there, therefore a fount of all wisdom, and who was unsure of my age but must have felt that I was a rival. When I eventually left, apparently unsuitable to the job (a first for me!) I felt mainly relief as there was often an 'atmosphere' in the room. Bah Humbug!

    We have been sitting in the garden eating icecreams.  Every now & then I rise, and cut a branch off something which has caught my eye.  We trimmed the lilac tree together, then he gave me the loppers to do the lower branches - the cutting blades were so blunt, I was only bending the stalks!  Sent him off to the garage to sharpen the blades.  Whilst I was tidying up a green bush, Bonnie ran off with one of my gardening gloves and sat eating the inside lining, by turning them inside out.  Every time I ran after her for them, she loved the game. So we both ganged up on her and threw cushions in all directions to distract, and came at her from two sides at once, whereupon she dropped the glove and ran for her life, frightened!  It must have looked like a black & white movie.

    Annette:  I can see you love having your visitors, but they do seem to leave at an early hour!  Don't think I would have gone back to sleep, either.  I liked your 'conk out' expression, we don't hear it much here now, either.  But then I do use old expressions, still, much to the amusement of staff in shops. I am quite likely to say "Blimey!" in amazement and often say "Crikey!" which sometimes breaks the ice!!

    Wendy:  Nice to hear from you.

  • LINDY  oh dear, dismantling your dining room has to be very extreme, but obviously necessary. Bonnie is quite a  mischief, but bet you love her to pieces.

  • dibnlib:  Its like living in a sort of prison cell!  the rooms are empty and echoey without soft furnishings & ornaments, and we are waiting for the new gate which will reinforce the feeling!  She is blissfully unaware of how much she has disrupted everything, and like all spaniels, is very affectionate and soo pleased to see me when I have been out for half an hour!

    Have some new photos to bore everyone with, but unable to post them as having probs with putting pics onto my pc. :-(

  • p.s.    My family are also used to me saying "Good Grief!!!"

  • Lindybird said:

    Annette:  I can see you love having your visitors, but they do seem to leave at an early hour!  Don't think I would have gone back to sleep, either.  I liked your 'conk out' expression, we don't hear it much here now, either.  But then I do use old expressions, still, much to the amusement of staff in shops. I am quite likely to say "Blimey!" in amazement and often say "Crikey!" which sometimes breaks the ice!!

    "Conk out" was coined prior to World War 1 by the British to describe the difficulties of single-gear motorbikes going uphill. I looked it up. LOL! We have lots of colorful and funny old expressions here in the Midwest. :-)

    Annette: You're tired, so I'll start the new thread this evening to give you a break.

    Wendy: You're welcome. Good luck with the installation.

    Here's a very good article for those installing Windows 10.

    I like Windows 10 better than 8 and 8.1. To me, they were illogical and chaotic. However, I was really astonished at Microsoft's cheek when they designed Windows 10 to invade privacy and compromise security so invasively.

    I'm feeling very guilty today. I did something yesterday that I almost never do: I lost my temper. Twice!!! I was dealing with Tech Support. I didn't swear, but I yelled. I try to respect all workers, and I also try not to send negative energy into the world, but I lost it... These tech companies need much more regulation.

    (I lost my Word program when my computer failed. I need to re-download it, but it's proving difficult to access even though it should still be available to me. Sigh...)

    Have a good Saturday all!

  • dibnlib:  Sounds like one more good reason to pack in a job. As AQ says, soon you'll be trying to figure out how you ever had time to work.

    Lindybird:  See you and OH have adopted military pincer tactics to deal with Bonnie's antics.  Granddaughter likes to be well through Los Angeles before the city wakes up.  Yawn....  She's already back in Prescott.

    Diane: I didn't know the origins of conk out; thank you.  And thank you for starting the thread tonight (I'm liable to start us off on the wrong day/week/year). Bummer about MS web support. Did you have any success?  Thanks also for the link to the Slate article on Windows 10. A definite "must read" when the time comes. I've bookmarked it. Did you see that Donald T. got uninvited to the Red State conference (Republican-voting states for UK folks)?

    Just back from Trader Joe's; sheets, towels in the dryer. A light lunch and then it's a nap and lazy afternoon for yours truly.

  • ANNETTE- enjoy your lazy afternoon - I'm guessing that a book won't be far from hand. I am still waiting for the Lusitania book to drop in price on Amazon, usually put desired books on my wish list and then watch the price:-)

    DIANE- thank you in advance for starting the week. As for tech support- I think most of them are just reading from a flow chart. If yes, go here, if no go there,kind of things. I once saw a junior doctor with a whole book of charts. Type in the symptom and go from there....

    I got another of those scam calls yesterday. This one purporting to come from Microsoft, telling me that my computer licence was about to expire. As if.