You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha Doin' - 2017.1 edition
KimeyDiann, Where in the Bible Belt do you live? I'm in Indiana now, but I'm originally from New Mexico. When I first moved here, it seemed super conservative, but I think that was a front! They cuss and drink much more here than back home! I've been trying to use creative words or phrases, like Merlin's beard, to cut back on the curse words I've picked up!
I think the Netherlands has one of the densest train networks (in terms of km of rails for the country and the number of trains on them) in the world. Which has advantages and disadvantages.We have a bible belt too (don't live there), I imagine they don't cuss much either.
Combing out the dreads is slow! I have done about 9 now, so still 30 or so to go. I bought stuff for horses (conditioner for horses sort of) to make it easier but still takes 1.5-2 hours per dread. I'm doing the invisible ones first, and next Friday I go to my parents for the weekend and my mom will help with the rest. I don't want to walk around with a mix of dreads and regular hair on my head for weeks ;-)
@Laura, I'm in Mississippi. There's plenty of drinking and cussing here too, just depending on the crowds you are around dictates how much. For example, I have only very rarely cussed in front of my parents, and only the more "tame" words then and I have never heard my parents cuss much either. My mom doesn't say much more than the occasional "shit," but my dad works in the construction industry and I've been told that the f-bomb is one of his favorite words. LOL. I think I've heard him say it once but I think he forgot I was there or he wouldn't have said it then.
Merlin's beard, I like that one! A few others I hear on occasion, besides the obvious (to me) ones like gosh and darn:
son of a biscuit eater!
flitter
flip
shoot
sshhhut the front door!
poop on a stick!
Shiiiiitake mushrooms
oh fudge
horse feathers
sugar
Peggy wrote: "I think the Netherlands has one of the densest train networks (in terms of km of rails for the country and the number of trains on them) in the world. Which has advantages and disadvantages.We ha..."
Is it Mane & Tail? That is a horse shampoo/conditioner that a lot of people swear by here. Some stores actually have it stocked with the regular shampoos. That reminds me of the home remedy for dry hair of putting mayonnaise in it. I don't think I could handle the smell of that. I wonder if something like coconut oil would work? I know it makes a good deep conditioner for hair, and smells a heck of a lot better than mayo!
The brand is Grand National, it's called Magic Gel and it says it's for manes and tails. It was the only one they sold at the local shop. It smells really nice! Yikes, mayo! That sounds disgusting. I wouldn't try that. I've also heard that coconut oil is supposed to be very good. I would try that :)
Haha, some funny cuss words you have there!
We don't use "pants" very often here as a substitute for swearing, but know of it because of the British cross over. Mainly because we would usually swear instead, but a low level one. As in, I would have said the trains are shithouse. But if I was talking to my Mum for example, who doesn't approve of swearing, I would have used rubbish. And pants here are trousers, not knickers. Which is always confusing when you go travelling. You say pants and mean your jeans, but people think you're talking about your undies.
I usually say SHITake mushrooms :)
Sounds good, Peggy, having your mom help you with getting all the dreads undone. I agree about not wanting to go around with a mix of dreads and reg hair. One of my favorite cussing expressions is shit puppies when I'm really upset about something. That's much better than what my mother taught me with her very potty-mouthed swearing. I also often say fudgesicles. Popcorn mother butter also feels good rolling off my tongue : )
Just got home from a weekend in Philly. Saw liberty Bell the new American revolution museam and even though it was raining sideways all day we went and saw the rocky statue and climbed the stairs he trained on. Guess it's a pretty big tourist thing to do. Had the mandatory Philly cheese steak. Of course the trip was primarily for Friday night when we saw Metallica which was awesome. Volbeat opened and were awesome. Avenged sevenfold cancelled that day because the lead guitarist wife went into early labor so they jetted home so he could be there. Selfishly yes it sucked to lose a band off the bill. Realistically kudos to him for putting family first. I noticed when buying tickets avenged sevenfold wasn't on the bill for a couple days in a couple weeks. I bet they tried to schedule the no shows near the babies due date. Too bad when baby's ready, baby's ready. Still a great night. They had a DJ mix for an hour in place of the band. Not quite the same but oh well
Sounds like a great concert Travis!I was in Rotterdam yesterday for my in-laws 40 year marriage. At one point we were walking down a street and there was a police helicopter in the air. We wondered what it was about and then suddenly right in front of us there were several police cars. The police went to this other car on the street with drawn guns (!) and forcing 3 men out of the car and down on the ground. All the time with guns on them! In the end they were arrested without too much struggle but I thought it was pretty scary! I kept imagining that someone would shoot, or what would happen if a bullet went astray. There ended up being around 8 police cars. It must have been something pretty serious. I've been checking several news websites since yesterday but don't see anything about it.
Sounds great Travis. And scary Peggy.I had a great weekend at the hen do. Great afternoon tea on the boat. Saw lots of wildlife and the weather was pretty good. Awesome food in the evening (i had a shroomaloumi burger which is halloumi and portobello mushrooms in a seeded bun - i loved the burger name) and lots of cocktails. I was particularly impressed with the pornstar martini which is vodka, prosecco and passionfruit juice. Yum. I actually felt ok this morning which i am relieved at given i had a train journey home.
Wow! Those are memorable weekends and all for different reasons!
That shroomaloumi burger sounds yummy, Sarah. Fun name : ) Glad your weekend was fun, and your too, Travis, in Philly. Relieved that things didn't escalate to the guns going off stage, Peggy!!I've started substituting a large portabello for beef patty when my hubby wants to grill some burgers at home. Mushrooms also sub for meatballs for me now when we have spaghetti. I like to add other veggies too - shredded cabbage, julienned broccoli, squash of one or another varieties.
Such a bummer Peggy. To experience something like that and never get to find out why. That really stinks. I would want to know so bad who they were and what they did.
Travis sivarT wrote: "Such a bummer Peggy. To experience something like that and never get to find out why. That really stinks. I would want to know so bad who they were and what they did."I think I'd be the same.
I'm still checking the national and regional news, police facebook and police twitter. I want to know what was going on! But I think I'll never find out... I considered this morning sending an email to the police to ask what was going on, but I'm not sure that would be appreciated ;-)Sounds delicious TJ! I had a very good bagel with a mushroom burger a few weeks ago for lunch somewhere.
Maybe like a year from now you'll be watching a movie and see the same seen and think that looks familiar. Then Peggy sees herself on the edge on the screen and it turned out they were just filming a movie that time all those police were taking down those three guys That would actually be pretty cool to just randomly discover
Haha, that would be awesome!One of my thoughts while watching the whole scene was 'maybe they're filming for a movie!' But there were no camera crews or anything, I checked ;-)
Had to think on it there isn't a whole lot of censorship around here. People just swear I guess jesom crow would be a big one.
Crap
Dang, dangit
Darn, darnit
Judas priest
What a crock, short for crock of shit
I use a lot of mother lover or mother loving
I know a guy who like mother humper or mother humping.
And sometimes we get reminded we need to watch our language better. Like when my daughter had probably just turned 3 or maybe not quite 3 years old. My son let the dog (Loki) in. He ran across kitchen with muddy paws. My daughter looks up and says "look at the mess you just made" then she paused and looks across the floor taking in the whole mess and goes " Jesus Christ Loki"
Which was just about the funniest thing ever. I laughed my wife kept a straight firm face. Scolded her for swearing then actually left the room to go laugh where she wouldn't be heard.
That's funny Travis. I heard a friend's 3 year old swear (I think it was the f word but I cannot remember for sure. Definitely a similar severity of swear word though) and I couldn't help but laugh. My friend laughed too.
Funny about your daughter, Travis. :)Something similar happened to me a lot time ago when I still lived in Rio de Janeiro, Peggy. I got off of the bus with my baby daughter a block from our house, I crossed the street, and at some point I don't know how and from where I was surrounded by armed policemen in some kind of operative. It was terrifying.
A couple of men tried to steal in an apartment in the building next to us, and the owners where inside. They tried to escape first by the roofs, and then came down to the street, in the exact moment the police and ME were arriving... Not funny.
I'm so jealous of your concert weekend, Travis! Too bad about A7X, but still an awesome show I'm sure! How scary, Peggy. Glad you are safe!
And Sandra, that had to be terrifying, especially with a baby!
@Sarah, the pornstar martini sounds yum! Cocktails can have some of the worst names. That one if fairly tame, but there are some I'm almost too embarrassed to order. One of my favorites is called a Wet P***y, and I just can't bring myself to order it. It has to have another name, but I don't know what it is. And I'm always afraid that whichever particular bartender I'm talking to won't know what that drink is, and could lead to a very embarrassing conversation.
I was woke up Saturday night by the dogs barking because a lot of sirens were going past my house. It sounded like every police officer and volunteer fireman in the county drove past. I didn't think much about it because the local cops and volunteer fireman come out in force over a fender bender just because they think there might be a little excitement. After everything quieted down I went back to sleep and didn't worry about it. I found out Sunday morning that a factory that is only about a mile from my house had caught fire and burned. The building is a total loss but thankfully there were no injuries since it happened in the middle of the night when no one was working.
I agree Kimey. Why they have to have such names is beyond me. As you say, they probably all have other names. You're safe with a mohito.
KimeyDiann wrote: "I was woke up Saturday night by the dogs barking because a lot of sirens were going past my house. It sounded like every police officer and volunteer fireman in the county drove past. I didn't thin..."Wonder what caused the fire? We had a fire in our former home back five years ago. I'm so bad about sharing stuff that I don't think I ever even mentioned that here. I grew up in a family where you keep difficult events private so I tend to just hunker down when bad things happen. Anybody else do this?
I do that a bit too TJ. Unless it's funny, or can have a funny spin on it, I'll keep quiet on it. May I ask what started the fire? I had a friend in high school lose her house because of a heater, but otherwise house fires are rarer here. But only as we all have fire detectors and are taught from day dot what to do about fire.How scary Peggy! And I would be googling like hell too trying to work it out. And Sandra, that's just terrifying!!
There's a Japanese themed cocktail place here, that has a cocktail called Shiso Horny (Shiso being a Japanese herb). It's really yummy, but I go red everytime i order it. Not because of why people (and the bartenders) think, I just can't say Shiso.
Lol Rusalka ;-)House fires are not so common here too. There was one on the news a few days ago, which was caused by a phone charger. Bf told me a few days ago those are the things most likely to cause a house fire. I thought it was dryers.
KimeyDiann wrote: "Merlin's beard, I like that one! A few others I hear on occasion, besides the obvious (to me) ones like gosh and darn: son of a biscuit eater!
flitter
flip
shoot
sshhhut the front door!
poop on a stick!
Shiiiiitake mushrooms
oh fudge
horse feathers
sugar ..."
LOL. I readed the thread very fast and first thought this was a recipe for something... I had to stop at horse feathers and think "this would be hard to get..."
Rusalka wrote: "I do that a bit too TJ. Unless it's funny, or can have a funny spin on it, I'll keep quiet on it. May I ask what started the fire?"The underlying cause of the fire was a gas leak in the pipes below ground running from our house to the street. This is a much bigger issue than many are aware of in parts of the United States.
Here are a couple of investigative stories with good info:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-...
http://triblive.com/investigative/spe...
Here's more about our house fire experience. Kind of interesting story if you're ready for a small saga ; )Our house fire was at at our previous home. No, it didn't burn to the ground. Keep reading.
Over a couple of years at different times, I smelled the telltale methane-gas-leak smell of rotten eggs outside in the front yard of our house. I reported it various times to the gas utility company, and they always dutifully sent someone to poke around, make a minor repair at the gas meter, and then be on his way.
It used to nag at me, and it was this unseen, potential threat, lurking in the background. I recall having a really bad dream one night about a huge fire at our home there. I think that was about 3 months before the actual house fire happened.
Fortunately, when the fire happened, it was not nearly so dramatic. But it could so easily have played out differently. We were very lucky.
On the day of the fire, I smelled a very strong gas leak smell out front. My husband said he didn't notice it. But he went out front to the gas meter to investigate while I was calling the gas company to make an emergency gas leak report.
Then he used a pocket lighter to find the leak at the meter. Have I mentioned that my husband is an old school, do-it-yourself guy? That's his idea of how to identify a gas leak.
And yet, it turned out that this probably saved our house from being totally torched.
After I called the gas company and I'm heading out front to find out what he's up to, I see that there's a fire, I'm not sure why why but I just immediately called emergency services 911. I just knew this was bad.
Meanwhile, my husband is in the front yard, using our garden hose to try to put out a small fire by the gas meter.
The fire department got there pronto. Like in 2 mintues. But the gas company took their sweet time. They sent someone out, and then figured out that they needed a back hoe in to dig up our front yard to get to the gas line in order to stop the leak.
Took about 3 hours to get the back hoe there.
Meanwhile, the small fire in our front yard continued to burn. Nothing much was burning, but the city fire department didn't want to put it out because they felt that this was a "controlled burn" way to deal with the gas leak.
Right after the first fire fighters got there, we were told we couldn't go back in. But I told them we had cats that were still in the house. The thought of trying to round up five cats and get them out of the house was so impossible that i said to "open the front and back doors so they can have a chance to get out."
So the fire was small, and I was completely baffled why there was fire truck after fire truck still rolling up to our house. The fire marshal explained to me in a scarily, calm voice that "under these conditions, it's not uncommon for a house to explode."
There were 8 fire trucks outside our house that night. Wow.
But everything was going smoothly, no big deal at all really, until suddenly there was a flash fire. No big explosion though fortunately.
So some of the gas was gradually making its way to settle below our house, and then some how that I don't exactly understand, the small flame in the front of the house ignited the gas under the house and caused the flash fire.
It shot up with intense heat right next to our bedroom, where we might have been sleeping if this had happened later in the day. Many things can start a gas leak fire it seems. Turning on a light. Turning on your cell phone. Turn on anything electric, whether hard wired or not. Spark of electricity. Ignition. Boom.
Turning on your gas stove or gas heater could produce same results. Boom.
It took the gas company about 3 hours to get the back hoe there. They'd been digging about 10 minutes when the flash fire happened. The fire fighters went in then and extinguished the fire.
The outcome was smoke and water damage to our home, but nothing so expensive that it warranted sacking the whole house. So we sort of camped out there for a few months, we had the five cats and one dog that made it not so great to live some place else.
Our next door neighbors let us run an electric extension cord to their house to run our refrigerator (normal large size for usa). We had no electric and so no heat during frigid cold snap, by Texas standards. Meaning about -10 degrees Celsius by international standards.
But since we had so many pets, it seemed better to just dig in and stay there. So the one dog and all five cats came thru fine. Dog passed last July, but the five cats still fine tho aging.
The punch line, if you're still reading, is that my husband actually provided the spark that started the fire in our front yard. He went out to investigate around the front yard gas meter, and being "old school, diy hands-on guy," he lit a match to find out where the leak was. He said later that it was like the yard right around the meter went on fire.
And yet, this little fire probably saved our house from blowing up.
The longest post i've ever made here or any where!!!
Thanks for sharing TJ. That must have been scary. I have heard of gas engineers back in the day who would use a lighter to find leaks. I wouldn't want that engineer working on my house/boat!
Sounds scary TJ! I'm glad you and your pets came out unharmed.
Thanks, Sarah and Peggy. It was very scary. And being me, I didn't reach out to any one really to tell them about this. My hubby and I just suffered thru it pretty much alone. So sad how I make myself suffer thru difficult times so alone.
Also again, please note that this is still a real unseen threat to many. I know for sure it's a big problem in Texas. In Houston, Austin, Dallas. Our infrastructure needs attention. Gas lines, water lines, roads and bridges.
Sarah wrote: "Thanks for sharing TJ. That must have been scary. I have heard of gas engineers back in the day who would use a lighter to find leaks. I wouldn't want that engineer working on my house/boat!"Yeah, and yet my spouse using the lighter that started the small fire actually probably controlled the bigger explosive fire that would have happened. That's kind of one of the points of my story!!
Also, my husband is some one I would always want working on my side. He's smart and loving and tries to look out for us.
OMG, TJ! So scary! Probably the 3 longest hours of you lives.
Wow! Very scary. I'm glad you and the pets were able to get out safely.
That is quite the scary story, TJ! I know it was horrible at the time, but like you said, it could have been so much worse. You really were lucky.I haven't heard what caused the fire at the factory near my house. There's lots of chemicals used there that could have had something to do with it, but no one has said for sure yet.
Off to get my henna done. I'll post a picture tomorrow. I'm exited :-)
Tejas Janet wrote: "Then he used a pocket lighter to find the leak at the meter. Have I mentioned that my husband is an old school, do-it-yourself guy? That's his idea of how to identify a gas leak."I laughed out loud when I read this. I've definitely had men in my life like this. :) As you said, as dangerous as this was, he probably saved your house. It didn't seem like the gas company was really going to do anything about it if there was no actual fire involved. Glad everyone (pets included) were ok. It must have been so scary and such a pain to deal with the aftermath. I also struggle with asking for help. I always think I can manage it myself.
Sarah wrote: "Off to get my henna done. I'll post a picture tomorrow. I'm exited :-)"Look forward to seeing it. I think henna is so pretty.
What a story, TJ. I'm so glad it turned out ok for everyone. It sounds like the gas company started acting like you were overreacting whenever you called. Remember we're here for emotional support, and we're great at virtual hugs :)Sarah - looking forward to pictures.
Looking forward to seeing the pictures, Sarah.TJ, that sounds like a really scary experience!
Tejas Janet wrote: "That's his idea of how to identify a gas leak..."That is how is done, anyway....
What am I doing? Finally got to writing reviews of my favorite books,
Sarina wrote: "What am I doing? Finally got to writing reviews of my favorite books,"I'm finding it harder to write reviews. It's good that you're getting some off your to-do list.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
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The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (other topics)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (other topics)
The Little Prince (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael J. Sullivan (other topics)Joe Hill (other topics)
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Kazuo Ishiguro (other topics)
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Have fun, Sara, with the "hens" : )
Wish we had more train options. Amtrak runs very limited routes. Local light rail seems good for commuting downtown, but often doesn't run in the evening hours when I'd like train service.
Are train service is pants, tee hee. My newly learned Brit/Aus expression : D