What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread) Showing 5,551-5,600 of 8,509

[Joy H., Group Founder]

LOL !

[Nina]

Yes, Jim, Count your blessing rather than the change.

[Nina]

Just finished, "The Invention of wings," and the writing was very good but perhaps at my age I can't oope with four hundred pages of grim punishment. I know the slaves had a terrible time but page after page of the tortue is too much for me. Maybe I shouldn't feel that way but I needed a bit of relief once in a while.

[Jim]

I didn't think PETA could be any more stupid, but they've managed to hit a new low. A guy spends a lot of time & brings these animals to the world's attention, but now they're punishing him with a law suit. This doesn't help the animals.
:(

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mo...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "Just finished, "The Invention of wings," and the writing was very good but perhaps at my age I can't oope with four hundred pages of grim punishment. I know the slaves had a terrible time but page ..."

Too much grim stuff everywhere, these days.
No wonder so many people need anti-depressants! LOL

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "I didn't think PETA could be any more stupid, but they've managed to hit a new low. A guy spends a lot of time & brings these animals to the world's attention, but now they're punishing him with a ..."

It's ridiculous! Thanks for the link, Jim.

[Werner]

That article (link, message 5554) is a succinct snapshot of an insane PC culture. :-(

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "That article (link, message 5554) is a succinct snapshot of an insane PC culture. :-("

Well said, Werner.

[Jim]

I don't understand PETA's thinking about animals at all. Members have actually said & their actions bear out the idea that it is better for an animal to be dead rather than 'free' with 'full rights'. They don't run no-kill shelters. They don't even seem to be happy with rescuing them. Read this page of theirs.
http://www.peta.org/features/deadly-c...

I deal with our local Humane Society a fair amount & they do really well rescuing animals. They don't have a strictly no-kill policy, but try really hard. They placed a really high percentage of their dogs last year - maybe 85% or better. Cats, not so high. Still, that's a lot of animals that have a better life & they have a great spay/neuter program.

I NEVER donate money to the US Humane Society. That gives no money to local shelters & is basically run by PETA members.

[Nina]

I only donate to animal shelters and the ones here do the very best they can do for the animals involved. If I don't respond in the next few days it's because I have had a severe pain problem with my neck and back of my head and am now on some medicine that is causing dizzyness. My husband says how he can people he married a dizzy blonde. Wish me luck. Getting tired literally of not sleeping. nina

[Jim]

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well, Nina. Hope it gets better fast.

PETA aren't PC, IMO. The few members I've known knew very little about animals & were just fanatics. There is no talking to them about it & facts make no difference.

[Werner]

Concerned thoughts and prayers going your way, Nina! Hang in there, and keep us posted.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, I hope you're feeling better by now. Take care.

[Werner]

Bluefield College's fall break is tomorrow and Friday. That means we closed at 4:00 today (though I worked until 5:00), and won't have evening or weekend hours again until Monday. So I'm on day shift today and tomorrow, and will have a three-day weekend. I'm hoping to catch up on a lot of reading time that was missed last week and earlier this week, in the throes of a hectic schedule!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, enjoy your 3-day weekend!

[Nina]

Werner are you a librarian at that college?

[Werner]

Will do, Joy! Yes, Nina, I am one of the librarians at BC.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Today at FunTrivia.com there was the following question:
===========================================
West Virginia: What town was called "Summit City"?

Answer: Bluefield

Bluefield with its relatively high elevation is the "Summit City". Its coal yards made Bluefield a boom town. When coal declined as a fuel source, so did many coal-mining communities such as Bluefield. Remnants of more prosperous days are found in older buildings and decaying mansions. It once it claimed to have more millionaires per capita than anywhere in the world.
===============================================

[Nina]

My fourth great grandfather founded the town of Alderson, West Virginia and it's named after him. Do you remember Martha Stewart was in the Women's Prison there?

[Werner]

Joy, thanks for sharing this! Yes, Bluefield boasts the highest elevation of any U.S. town east of the Mississippi. There are higher peaks in the Appalachians, but we're at the highest elevation that's actually occupied by a town. (I say "we," because Bluefield, WV is our sister city, and the two Bluefields are so physically contiguous that there's no difference between them in elevation.)

Bluefield, WV in its heyday was the major shipping hub for the U.S. coal industry, and many wealthy coal magnates settled in the area (although the smaller nearby town of Bramwell is the one that actually had the most millionaires per capita). A lot of coal still passes through Bluefield by rail, but the coal industry has declined in prosperity; and more importantly, it's opted to largely replace manpower with machines, so it's no longer a huge employer here.

Nina, I knew about Alderson as the location of the Federal women's prison, but I didn't know about your family connection to the area! It's a small world. :-)

[Jim]

Marg saw 2 hummingbirds out on the front porch feeder today. I'd just mentioned I hadn't seen any for the past few days since it's gotten chilly. Guess they're still flying south, though. We'll keep the feeders out until it starts freezing out.

[Jim]

Skunked again. Amber took it full on, came in & rolled in my bed. The whole house reeks. Everything open, heat off, fans on. Not the 5am wakeup I wanted. I was in brushing my teeth when I heard them start to bark. I knew I had to get out there, but Amber was in & stinking too soon.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, thanks for the info.

Jim, too bad about the skunk!

As for birds, every once in a while I see a strange bird out on our deck. I figure that they must be in their migration stage.

[Jim]

I saw 2 more hummingbirds this morning & it warmed up once the sun came up, thankfully. The house is wide open, but the skunk smell is still noticeable, especially after being outside. I'm not sure what Amber touched on her way in, but we've tried to scrub & spray everything. Yuck.

[Jim]

Josh's gun rack is done. It's made of Kentucky Coffee tree wood stained with Moorish Teak & finished with poly. The latch for the bottom of the case is a combination lock.

https://goo.gl/photos/k4qGhQPCnEjzik9y6

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nice work, Jim.

[Jim]

Thanks, Joy.

[Nina]

I'm sorry I wasn't able to access your gun rack picture. What a nice gift/handmade.

[Nina]

Our birds are confused as their tree is gone. We hope to have another one soon/Oklahoma redbud. Maybe they'll get used to it. Probably the branches won't hold the feeders but they can at least sit on the branches again. and I'll put the feeders on a pole.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Happy birding, Nina! :)

[Nina]

I'll keep you informed. We pick out a tree on Thursday. Thinking of painting our worn out bird bath black. Just read a hilarious book, "Society Girls," by Mary Ann Mason. I think that is the author. I needed an anectdote from all the misery of the slave story.

[Jim]

I added pics of Erin's wall box to the album.
https://goo.gl/photos/bFXiAZd4pDpw3jAX9

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "I'll keep you informed. We pick out a tree on Thursday. Thinking of painting our worn out bird bath black. Just read a hilarious book, "Society Girls," by Mary Ann Mason. I think that is the author..."

Here's the link (I think): Society Girls by Sarah Mason.

[Nina]

Yes, that is the right one. It was such a fun read. I recommende it if you are feeling blue/maybe in deep of winter.

[Jim]

Just had a guy stop by with a bottle of Tide detergent who wanted to speak to the lady of the house. He said he was from DBS Enterprises which was opening a new store in Frankfort. When I asked him for more details, he declined to say. He was a brown fellow, maybe India descent, but no accent. He was dressed nicely & drove a yellow H3 Hummer with low profile wheels & a computer monitor in the passenger seat. Seemed OK at first, just a bit too slick, so I said we weren't interested.

He was almost in his car when he said he'd just stop by when I wasn't home. Of course I started going for him & said he'd best not. He said it wouldn't be him, but someone else from the company as backed out of the driveway quickly & took off.

I googled the company name & came up empty, even with variations, so I called the police & the constable, who is also my neighbor, & posted it on FB. Just as I finished, I saw him heading south on Mt. Zion & went after him. I didn't see him stopped anywhere so came back after a few miles. Saw some neighbors & asked them, but he hadn't stopped by their house. We'll see what happens.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, that's very strange. At least you did all you could. What about his license plate number. Did you get it?

[Jim]

I did & gave it to the police. Haven't heard anything more about it, though.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "I did & gave it to the police. ..."

That's good.

[Mercurialgem]

Today I got about 21 books for #14.75 at the library's store. Before that I went to BN and got me a $20 book for $14 using my coupon. Now house work........then reading. =)

[Nina]

Sorry about your "visitor" Jim but glad no harm was done. You know there are crazy people out there and beward of them.

[Nina]

Mercurialgem, have a fun exciting time with your latest acquirements.

[Jim]

Great haul, Mercurialgem.

The guy yesterday was just bizarre, the more I think of it. Can't understand what he was thinking.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Mercurialgem wrote: "Today I got about 21 books for #14.75 at the library's store. Before that I went to BN and got me a $20 book for $14 using my coupon. Now house work........then reading. =)"

That was quite a bargain!

[Jim]

We're going down to the Shaker Village for a Hunter Pace this morning. Well, a Kentucky version of one. Seems pretty relaxed, no need to dress as if for the Hunt nor restrictions on tack. It's going to be a gorgeous day, too. The temp is 45 now & supposed to get into the 60's & be sunny. We had a bit of rain, so the ground isn't too hard. The boys will be feeling their oats today. They certainly were yesterday.

Unfortunately, Chip tried to duck out of a fence yesterday. While I got him over it, the sudden jerk to the side seems to have pulled something in my neck-back. That's fairly impressive since I was riding bareback. What a seat! It's just freaking sad from a physical perspective. A little jerking around can cause this much pain?!!!

On the plus side, BenGay overpowers skunk. My stinky, squirming pillow (aka Amber) didn't wake me at all. The pain woke me too often, though. Hopefully this kink will work itself out before too long.

[Jim]

I'm making torsion catapults again. I came up with a new way of doing the ammo cup & the tensioners on. You might be able to see them in this picture:
https://goo.gl/photos/VtH7tyY4j6LSTNB89

The cup is a lot easier to make now & by making the top a separate piece, it can be turned to create different lengths. The one in the picture is either on or off, but I made up another that does 4 different settings. Between that, where the arm is stopped, & the tension, the catapult has a huge range now. It's really interesting.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "... seems to have pulled something in my neck-back...."

Hope you'll feel better soon, Jim.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "I'm making torsion catapults again. ... You might be able to see them in this picture: https://goo.gl/photos/VtH7tyY4j6LSTNB89 ..."

Interesting, Jim. It's amazing how you keep busy and have so much energy!

[Jim]

We had a great time at the Hunter Pace. It was long - 2.5 hours on Chip & we covered a lot of country we wouldn't have normally. It was a gorgeous day. It couldn't have been nicer. It was 45 at 5am, but got into the 60's quickly. It's now 78! Glad we beat the heat.

We left at dawn (7:30am), got there by 8:30 & were on the trail by 10. It was 12:30 before we got back to the trailer - a long time in the saddle (bareback pad in my case). Between washing the horses, eating lunch, & visiting with friends, we didn't get home until 2:45 & we took a nap.

Here are some pics.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Beautiful scenery! Quite a day! Bet you enjoyed your nap!

[Jim]

I am so stiff & sore today. Ugh. Chip spooked a few times yesterday, but one really got me. He was looking really hard at a decorated jump (a little coop going into the woods) as we approached it that he didn't see the sign (a plate on a post) until a tiny bit of breeze made it move. Then he exploded sideways. I almost came off to the left while my hat flew off to the right. I managed to hang on, but it was another jerk that my neck & back didn't need.

I managed to snag the hat with a crop (whip) so I didn't have to get off. I was definitely too creaky to jump back on him. Today I'm feeling too creaky to jump anywhere & I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be worse. Even Aleve & Bengay can only do so much...
;)