WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2019

Only 24 shopping days to Christmas!   

PatO:  There was a discussion on the radio this morning about Black Friday having spilled over into the preceding and following days and even weeks.  Watch out!  It will soon by Cyber Monday, to be followed by Giving Tuesday.  (Today is Small Business Saturday.)    Then it will be When Will-It-Ever-End Wednesday,  Thoroughly-Fed-up-with-It Thursday and For-Heaven's-Sake-Enough-Already Friday! etc., etc.....

Lindybird: Hope Tomasz had a super b/day and that you had a good ride home.

OG:  No speech necessary to Chat here!

Raining again today.   I went down to Ventura to look for a couple of things early this morning.  Found them all at TJMaxx after fruitless and overwhelming brief stop at the nearby mall, which was still very quiet that early.   If you know Ugg boots, the company that makes (Deckers) them has its corporate headquarters a mile from us just across the freeway - and an outlet store in Oxnard, where things are half price or less. This morning, they had Ugg ankle boots for $14.99 - all in large sizes (didn't need any; didn't buy any).   I watched a couple take an entire stack and load them into their car, presumably to sell somewhere else for more money, which I though was a bit rude, but nobody asked me.

Anyway, have a good Sunday all.  

  • ANNETTE - thanks for starting the new week.

    Frosty, sunny - what more can I say?!
  • Good morning one and all. I just had to come to ask, Annette, how you, as Diane had commented (on FB) about the fires being so close to you. It really must have been terrifying for you, but I am glad to read that the rains have come and hopefully has dampened the land. Take care.
  • Thanks, ANNETTE ! It is entirely possible that I would have bought the boots and put them to one side!
    Frosty here, also. Ten blackbirds eating the last of the apples from the tree. They are so clever (or hungry) in the way that they get up into the tree and jab away until the fruit is down.
    I'm glad that your throat is a little better, OG.
  • Morning all:

    SheilaFE:  How lovely to see you!  We are fine.  The most recent fire could've been nasty but the wind changed abruptly, bringing a steady rain, and sent it back into the hills.  And of course, many thanks to the efforts of the hundreds of firefighters who always work in filthy, hot and dangerous conditions for hours on end, then sleep on cots (if they're lucky) in between shifts.  On the way to Ventura yesterday, I could see snow on the tops of the higher range behind us and we have more rain due this week.

    Heather: Well, there were your 10 blackbirds toward the 'four and twenty blackbirds' for your pie  :-)  (Gosh, did people actually eat them in the old days?)

    Have spent two mornings this week battling with modems, routers and - finally - a Network Extender that our phone company sent to strengthen our cellular signal, which took a major downturn about two months ago.  This involved moving OH's heavy, overburdened and very dusty (at that point!) desk out from the wall and getting into fights with innumerable cables, surge protectors, plugs and even spider webs and a whole bunch of dusty bunnies.   Lots and lots of sweary words involved, especially as the components are made of lightweight plastic and were thrown off balance and sent flying due to the heaviness of the attached cables, which arrived tightly wound and refused to be straightened.  I felt I was caught in a kind of cable/wire cobweb, unable to move without creating a tangle/calamity elsewhere.  Still, it's all done now, though it doesn't look pretty and I have five solid bars on my iPhone no matter where I am in the house instead of the usual one or two unreliable ones.  Brilliant.  Sometimes I wonder what it would look like if we could see all these radio waves etc. that fill our skies and blow through the walls of our houses. Probably pretty scary.

    I gather folks in the SE UK got a rude awakening this morning when fighters, sent up to intercept a plane that had lost radio contact and was therefore unresponsive, broke the sound barrier at about 4 a.m.

    Have got to get down to usual business today; all this faffing about in shops isn't getting other stuff done.

  • A quiet day spent at home - J was busiest, reaching the bottom of his huge ironing pile for the first time in weeks! Just enjoyed a very ordinary but very tasty braised beef dinner. All feeling a bit better than we were - I finished my antibiotics, OH will finish tomorrow. Blackbirds here have started reappearing for winter, and Coal Tit was here for breakfast today. Haven't seen the Wood Mice during the last week and I think greedy Mr Blackbird found their cache this morning!
  • Thanks to Annette for starting us off again, and for Everyone's news.
    Nice to hear from you, Sheila :-)

    Home again after a really good day with the family. Began our day in a rush, as not exactly early this morning. But a good journey south, and in lovely sunshine. The children were excited and Tomasz loved all the fuss from both us, & his other grandparents.
  • Babe....

    She is teething, now.  A big grin when she sees her Daddy coming, though :-)

  • Hi all, Glad to see that OG and family are recovering after their bout of illness.

    Talking about the fires, learnt yesterday that friend's son out in Australia where he lives, the fires were very close and they thought he might lose his home. Fortunately there has been a bit of rain to dampen down things so it looks more promising now. Annette , stay safe and hope those fires have veered away from your area.

    Lindybird - love the pic of your grandchild.

    I see accodentily we have 2010!! Never mind it still comes up for this week.

    Well, don't know what hit me yesterday but shortly after I'd had a cup of tea in the morning with some ginger biscs I became ill and had a sickness but for about 12 hours, really felt lousy , fortunately it wore off. I even went up to bed about 10pm, unheard of for me going that early. Decided to give church a miss today as felt weak but now seem to be fully recovered , eating well too . Strange how these things hit us.

    Better day today, in for a mixed week I think. Oh well, what will be, will be.
  • Lynette: Whoops!   Oh my, 2010 indeed.  Wishful thinking on my part I think.   :-)  Good that you managed to get over that bug so quickly.  We are pretty much done with our fire season here, but Oz is just heading into their summer and the fire season, which doesn't look good.

    Lindybird: Cutie alert (but why do babies always look so worried at that age - do they know something we dont?)  :-)

    Had to sign in just now - don't forget to copy your posts folks