Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
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Nina
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Jul 24, 2017 01:58PM
Hard to be sick in the summer. Get well soon, Linda
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We went to the Frankfort Water Park yesterday for a few hours. That was fun, although I stood out somewhat since I was one of the few men & the only one there with a farmer's tan. While in the short lines, some of the kids remarked or asked about it. Sigh. City folk.The place is a blast for kids. It's not very big, but has a lot of different pools, slides, waterfalls, & such. There are a couple of big, twisty slides, but they don't have enough water going through them for adults with skinny butts. The kids & ladies flew through, but an older teenager & I had to keep pushing ourselves through the curves. Grandmonster Colin loved the tube stream where he relied on his water wings to go around while the rest of us relaxed in the tubes.
The kids are leaving today, although they may take one more ride before going. Ashley & Colin have fallen in love with my pony, Chip. He really likes Ashley & was taking care of her, stopping or slowing down when she got off balance while riding alone. She only walks when she rides double with Colin. Brandon rode Marg's horse, Indy, around bareback & jumped all the jumps to everyone's delight. He doesn't ride often, but learned at a young age so has a good seat.
It's been a fun visit, especially nice since they stayed with Erin & Josh. Close enough to see them often, but far enough away that the monster didn't get on my nerves too much. I'm not much for little kids. I now understand how my mother felt. Until they get old enough to push a lawnmower, they're just kind of annoying.
;)
Jim, you did well with the little ones. Activities always help. Water rides and ponies. Sounds like a good time for all. A nice memory and now you have quiet again. :)
Last night we went to dinner and a show - show was very good. Only 2 actors. The female was 3 different characters which gave us 2 intermissions (she had to change entire outfit and wig). Very good acting. We were lucky to get a small table of 4 meaning only 2 strangers - who were very nice.
Food was "eh" - blah. I had salmon, husband had beef (said the beef was tasty) and the other couple both had the chicken. All agreed kind of bland, except for the beef tips.
Overall a nice night out.
Jim, My son had nine children and when they came to visit for a week I felt I needed a vacation after they left. Loved them but there was a sigh of relief to be said for quiet.
Did you see the video of some star taking her three month down a water slide?
Nina wrote: "Jim, My son had nine children and when they came to visit for a week I felt I needed a vacation after they left. Loved them but there was a sigh of relief to be said for quiet."Family visits can be exhausting, even though we like to see them.
I like to see them, but like to see them go, too. I can't imagine 9 kids at once, much less for a week. More than a couple of hours & I'd be out of the house putting the older ones to work. They could probably weed. ;)
I did not see some star taking her kid down a waterslide. Sounds like fun. Babies are good in the water.
Sounds like a fun dinner, Linda. I'm not much for salmon, although Mom brought some down. She got it & 2 jars of homemade jelly through the TSA gate at the airport. The salmon was wrapped in several layers of tin foil & nestled in with a cold pack. She's like a pony, normal rules don't apply.
:)
Nina wrote: "Did you see the video of some star taking her three month down a water slide?"No, I didn't see this - my goodness!
Jim wrote: "I like to see them, but like to see them go, too. I can't imagine 9 kids at once, much less for a week. More than a couple of hours & I'd be out of the house putting the older ones to work. They co..."Ah, Mom knows how to hide things well!
We are hoping to go blueberry picking today. Need to wait for the sun to dry up the ground a bit. Nothing like tramping through wet grass and possible mud to pick blueberries. I'm unrecognizable when picking blueberries. Hat, long-sleeved "sun" shirt, sneakers, long pants, old sneakers and sunglasses and my body is sprayed with Cutters to keep the mosquitoes from enjoying me as a treat.
Store prices seem similar to U-Pick prices. Oh well. We enjoy picking, eating a few and being in the outdoors for an hour or so.
Might make blueberry cobbler. Keep a bunch of blueberries out for cereal. Rinse and freeze the rest to be used for mornings when we make blueberry pancakes. Need to get enough to last until next blueberry picking time which is either in a month or another entire year.
Linda wrote: "Ah, Mom knows how to hide things well!"Actually, no. She had them right out in the open. One was a 6oz tupperware container with my aunt's homemade jelly, the other a glass jar of jelly & the salmon was wrapped in tinfoil with a cold pack. The guy looked at all 3, shook his head & let her through security. She's like a pony. Different rules apply.
;)
Jim wrote: "Linda wrote: "Ah, Mom knows how to hide things well!"Actually, no. She had them right out in the open. One was a 6oz tupperware container with my aunt's homemade jelly, the other a glass jar of j..."
Ok. Got it!
Today - Monday - not sure what I am up to today. Husband has a drs appointment. Probably a good morning to get floors vacuumed and cleaned. We are doing an overnight in Quechee Vermont this week. Sights are the VINS Nature Center and Simon Pearce which is a restaurant and also do glass blowing, visit some antique shops and check out the Quechee Gorge Bridge and other points of interest.
https://www.simonpearce.com/the-story...
Have a good trip, Linda.
I once had a marvelous lunch in a restaurant near a stream in Strawberry Bank, NH. You might check it out sometime, Linda. I can't remember the name of the restaurant.
Joy H. wrote: "Have a good trip, Linda."Thanks - something different to do in the middle of a week!
Trip and weather were both good! Simon Pearce - Quiche and salad for lunch (steak, onion, mushroom with a sharp cheddar cheese topping).
Went down the basement to watch them make drinking glasses. Such precision. https://www.simonpearce.com/the-story...
Visited an antique mall - need lots of time to go through the place. Large place. We will go back again. http://vermontantiquemall.com/
Both located in Quechee Vermont.
Glad you had a good time, Linda.
I enjoyed the Simon..video. Looks like an amazing artist and the food sounds yummy. Nice to have those side trips to remember when the weather isn't good to go.
It rained yesterday afternoon & Pip, who got skunked the previous night, didn't smell too bad at all, even less than we would have expected. Turns out Marg got Dawn dishwashing liquid instead of the Ajax or whatever she normally gets specifically for skunk washing. (We have a basket with it, baby shampoo, a gallon of vinegar, & a big box of baking soda under the sink.) It seems that Dawn is one of the key ingredients.I got pretty wet since I was in the middle of bagworm picking. The arborvitea trees (giant Thujas) along the road & especially along the kids' property line got them. I sprayed them with pesticide about a week ago, something I hate to do. I didn't see a single preying mantis, katydid, or walking stick while mowing or picking. I also don't like spraying pesticide up into the air to fall who knows where or on what. Still, the bagworms were so bad that they would have killed the trees if I let them go.
Anyway, I found half a dozen while mowing & most had a worm in them. (If squished, they squirt out the end.) That had me worried so I went over each as high as I could reach & wound up filling up half a plastic grocery bag with them. 99% were empty, thankfully. I don't think I'll have to spray again.
Bagworms, ugg I remember them too well.
I am reading a huge book/six hundred some pages/"Ahab's Wife," by Sena Jeter Naslund. Very good writing and interesting viewpoint. I think I will stick with it.
Nina wrote: "I am reading a huge book/six hundred some pages/"Ahab's Wife," by Sena Jeter Naslund. Very good writing and interesting viewpoint. I think I will stick with it."Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund
Enjoy it, Nina.
Nina wrote: "I enjoyed the Simon..video. Looks like an amazing artist and the food sounds yummy. Nice to have those side trips to remember when the weather isn't good to go."Indeed!
Jim wrote: "It rained yesterday afternoon & Pip, who got skunked the previous night, didn't smell too bad at all, even less than we would have expected. Turns out Marg got Dawn dishwashing liquid instead of th..."I haven't seen a praying mantis in many many years.
Lucky for you and Pip - he didn't smell too much like a skunk!! My goodness gracious.
We joined the 21st century yesterday by finally getting smart phones & a data plan. Actually, Josh & Erin gave us their smart phones a while ago, but Marg & I kept our flip phones since we really don't need more, but Verizon got crappy with us & T-Mobile came out with a real deal for those of us 55+ - 2 lines with unlimited calling, texting, & data for $60/month! We were paying $65 for 500 minutes of calling before with texting turned off. Verizon has been ticking me off for years, but their signal is a little better out our way, not that they're great. I've had to call them several times to get our rate down. They don't understand that some of us just don't use them much, but when we need them, we pretty much need unlimited time. If Marg's school bus breaks down or the phone system goes out at work, we're going to spend serious time on the phone.
The icing on the cake was Marg buying a new flip phone. While those are cheap, Verizon's cheapest was $120 & they wouldn't even sell it to us outright, but we had to at least start making payments of $5/month for 24 months. She specifically said no accident protection. The first bill I got had $9/month accident protection AND a $40 upgrade fee. Upgrade? Replacing a flip phone with another is an upgrade? After 45 minutes on the phone, she convinced them to pull both, but what a hassle!!!
Then a guy at work told me about the T-Mobile plan which started yesterday. They swapped our phone numbers to the old phones the kids gave us & had us signed up in about 15 minutes. There's definitely a learning curve with this, but it's for the best. My old flip phone was 11 years old, after all.
;)
No iphones or smart phones or flip phones here. We're in the Dark Ages. :)
My husband grew up in the Depression and had no phone in their house nor did many of his friends. And as I said, "he grew up."
We had a party line when I was a kid & I carried a beeper for years. Times change. It's getting increasingly difficult to deal with security on some sites without using a text to confirm identity. Without high speed Internet, job applications often can't be filled out. My daughter had to take her laptop down to Panera Bread because our Internet, a mere 512kb (on a good day) was too slow so the pages were timing out. Some people can live without a lot of things, but it depends on what you do for a living & where you live. It's been a joke around here for years that I didn't have a smart phone since I'm the IT guy, supposedly the most tech savvy gadget guy. I'm techy enough to have gotten away with not having it for years, but now it doesn't make economic sense.
Sometimes it's hard to believe how fast time is changing, especially nowadays.
Yes, some must adjust to today's lifeline.
Certainly technology is leaping ahead faster than laws & society can keep up with it. Of course, without it, our society couldn't exist. For instance, in 1900, most of the labor force were farmers & now only 1 or 2% of the population feeds the rest of the nation. Tractors, GMO, fertilizers, pesticides, & all sorts of innovations have contributed. Computers & communication figure out where to send the produce while all sorts of huge, complicated machines move the tons thousands of miles in amazingly short times.
It's mind-boggling when you think about it.
It is, but not many seem to really grasp just how big the change has been, Joy. Future Shock was written almost 50 years ago & describes how much the world had changed to that point. It blew my mind when I read it less than a decade after it was published in 1970. Now think about how much the world has changed since 1970.
- Homosexuality was still considered a mental disease by the shrinks.
- The few computers were only for the gov't & big business. Many thought DEC was right & they'd stay that way.
- no one had even thought of cell phones or the Internet, really. (ARPANet was in its infancy)
- Barry Goldwater represented the far right in politics, Nixon was still trusted, & the Ellsberg Report wasn't public yet.
- No microwaves, a few over-the-air TV channels, & Walter Cronkite.
- less than 3.7 billion people on Earth, up most of a billion since 1960
... & a lot more that I'm sure you can add to.
Interesting list, Jim.
I remember reading "Future Shock" when it was first published and was fascinated. Talk about ahead of his time. In 1984, after my husband retired the U if CA at Berkley asked him to come set up their computers. Seems strange now.
I'm up at 11pm. I was soundly asleep until Pip got skunked AGAIN & came to bed with me. Ugh! Skunk smell is guaranteed to wake a person from the deepest sleep, but I'm pretty sure it won't catch on as an alarm. He got a shower rinse, baking soda rubbed in, a rinse with vinegar, & a scrub with Dawn dishwash soap. After the final rinse, no more skunk. Wish the same could be said of the house. A/C off, windows open & fans on. My top bedding is in the washer.
:(
Not a fun beginning and when does it end?
My son arrives some time this afternoon from Austin, TX in order to view the eclipse that should arrive here on Monday, We are in the direct line. His family members are flying up Friday. He thinks it is important for them to see it. It will be a house full for my daughter but more fun for the children to be where the action is. My husband and I are not interested in the viewing as we don't want to endanger our eyes and even with glasses not sure we'd be safe at the age of our eyes.
It should be fun to see the family, anyway. I take it you're in a good place to view it? I think we're supposed to be above 95% area.
Jim wrote: "I'm up at 11pm. I was soundly asleep until Pip got skunked AGAIN & came to bed with me. Ugh! Skunk smell is guaranteed to wake a person from the deepest sleep, but I'm pretty sure it won't catch on..."Oh no! Poor Pip and you!!
Jim wrote: "We joined the 21st century yesterday by finally getting smart phones & a data plan. Actually, Josh & Erin gave us their smart phones a while ago, but Marg & I kept our flip phones since we really d..."I'm not pleased with Smart phone services. They have periodic software upgrades which allegedly fix bugs - and each time I do the upgrade my phone features do not work. Usually spend an hour on phone with Tech Support. Previously I would go down to the local Verizon store but last time learned they are only "Level 1" and for more serious issues you need to contact Tech Support. I now have a Verizon Tech Support app on my phone because of all the issues.
Nice to have a cell phone for emergencies, when you are driving for a sense of security and such but can give one a headache.
Jim, the costs do continue to go up and their packages change and so on.
Today weather is beautiful. I'm moving slowly this morning. A nice treat. We probably will go to lunch at a restaurant overlooking a river.
Maybe go and buy a Powerball ticket. No one won yesterday. I bought a lottery ticket last week and didn't have ANY numbers. First ticket I purchased in at least 5 years. Only cost $1.00.
Nina wrote: "My son arrives some time this afternoon from Austin, TX in order to view the eclipse that should arrive here on Monday, We are in the direct line. His family members are flying up Friday. He thinks..."Enjoy your family. Good luck with catching the view of the eclipse. Let us know if you are successful.
It is supposed to be directly overhead on Monday but now saying we might have some cloud cover/ We'll see/literally.
Interested in learning if you see the eclipse from your area on Monday. I'm sure you will keep us informed.
I pulled something high up inside my leg riding the Wednesday evening. I hopped on Chip & then turned to get a big horsefly that landed on his rump. I slipped on his fat, slick barrel & my legs automatically clamped. Something popped, but wasn't bad. Thursday I was stiff, but Friday! Oy!
Sitting, except reclining in my overstuffed recliner or with one cheek hanging free on a stool, is not an option. Walking, standing, & laying down are fine, but I almost passed out in the car yesterday morning on the way to work. I only made it a few miles down the road before I knew I had to turn around. I didn't think I was going to make it back. No matter how I turned, my car seat just pushed a button of total pain.
I did manage to get a few things done. Squatting while fixing one of the gates was painful, but probably a good thing to do. I tried to keep moving as much as I could, but it's amazing how often I wanted to sit down to do something. Never notice anything like that until you can't.
Of course, mowing is impossible & everything here needs to be mowed. Josh mowed the back yard for me. That was the worst. He said he'd mow the fields, so I'll let everything else slide until tomorrow. Things seem better today, so hopefully I'll be able to mow tomorrow. This old age thing sucks.
:(
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