Chat by the Wayside Showing 6,101-6,150 of 6,161

[Werner]

Pamela, this is just a thought for whatever it's worth; but Barb and I haven't done any leaf raking in our yards in all the years of our married life, although we have had leaves that fell or were blown there. Over the winter, they rot, decay and are gradually just absorbed back into the soil, where they become a nourishing component for it. (One could make a good argument that this is the most natural way of things, since nobody rakes leaves out in the open countryside, but the plant life doesn't seem to suffer as a result.) Letting them do that might save you a grueling job!

[Pamela]

Werner wrote: "Pamela, this is just a thought for whatever it's worth; but Barb and I haven't done any leaf raking in our yards in all the years of our married life, although we have had leaves that fell or were ..."

That's exactly what I would do, Werner. However, my mom doesn't like the idea. I have tried to talk her into it many times, to no avail. Her dad and my dad were fanatical with having the yards "perfect" and that's the way my mom expects it. I have to start raking almost as soon as the first leaf falls. She's always saying "What will the neighbors think?" Frankly, I'm more concerned about my health than what the neighbors think. Sadly, my mom doesn't see things that way. A long and frustrating story, best left at that.🙄

[Werner]

Totally understand, Pamela. Hang in there! Love and prayers.

[Pamela]

Werner wrote: "Totally understand, Pamela. Hang in there! Love and prayers."

Thanks, Werner! Your prayers are greatly appreciated. Some tough times here for me lately.🙏

[Lily Rose]

Pamela wrote: "Werner wrote: "Pamela, this is just a thought for whatever it's worth; but Barb and I haven't done any leaf raking in our yards in all the years of our married life, although we have had leaves tha..."

That's the way our yard is...we never rake. But I know that everyone's different and some can't stand the leaves. Poor Pammy!

[Pamela]

Stopping by to say hello and to wish everyone a good week!😊🤗

[Werner]

Thanks, Pamela, and same to you!

[Lily Rose]

Pamela wrote: "Stopping by to say hello and to wish everyone a good week!😊🤗"

Hello, Pammy! How are you doing?

[Pamela]

Dotty wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Stopping by to say hello and to wish everyone a good week!😊🤗"

Hello, Pammy! How are you doing?"

We finally have Autumn here! It was hot all of last week. Record breaking heat. A strong cold front moved through yesterday afternoon, with high winds and storms. It was 82 degrees in the morning and 54 degrees after the front blew through! They say it will remain cool now. Expected to drop to 41 degrees tonight! The crazy weather continues! We seem to go straight from summer to winter!🤪 Hope all is well with you and your family!
🤗😊
Pammy

[Pamela]

Jt wrote: "Hello Autumn people

The shade of the leaves are finally morphing colours here in the lower Hudson Valley of NY. it feels like Halloween. warm, dry breezes that have changed to cool, wet winds. the..."

Flannel and sweatshirts are my favorites! I saw "Halloween" in the theater when I was in high school in 1978. My friends and I went to see it. Scared us to death. It was a Friday night and we all went to one of my friend's houses to sleep over after the movie. Her older brother and his friends were outside with creepy costumes and tormented us to no end most of the night! Ah...those were the days!😆

I'm grateful for cool, crisp weather. Finally it feels like Fall! We had a beautiful rainbow here after the storms rolled through yesterday. One of the most vivid I've ever seen! So beautiful!🍁🍂

I'm too old to watch scary movies now. Life is scary enough. My favorite Halloween special is "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" It's about as "scary" as my nerves can handle now! PBS Kids is airing it next Sunday night. I'll be watching. I'll never be too old to enjoy it!😁🎃😊

Pam

[Werner]

Because of the pandemic (which is really surging around here), I don't know if the local authorities will allow trick-or-treating this year. In any case, Barb and I aren't encouraging it; and our grandkids are mostly too old for it anyway.

However, the annual Terrifying Tales event at the Bluefield Univ. library, where I work, which had to be canceled in 2020, is on again (and this year will actually be on Halloween night). In the past, it's been a writing contest, where students read their scary stories. This time, however, since all BU students were issued iPads this fall, we decided that instead of written stories, students will be submitting short scary videos they've created for the contest. So, it will be interesting to see what they come up with!

[Pamela]

Loretta wrote: "Halloween on my street is a really BIG thing with homeowners decorating like Christmas! Children actually come to my street by carloads. We get well over 100 children. My town is allowing Trick or ..."

Hi Loretta!

How are you weathering the Nor'Easter? We had heavy rain and wind yesterday. It's still very windy today. Another round of heavy rain and high wind expected Friday into Saturday. It never ends!😱

My mom and I don't "do "Trick-or-Treat" anymore, either. There are not many kids in our neighborhood. The only ones who come around are teenagers who are known to cause trouble. The last time we did hand out candy, we had quite a funny situation. People often brought their dogs along, dressed in cute outfits. We always kept a plastic pumpkin on the porch, filled with Milk Bone dog treats which we put into cute little Halloween bags. While we were busy with the neighbor's kids, a group of rowdy teenagers ran up to our porch and stole the plastic pumpkin. They thought they were stealing candy! I would have loved to have seen the looks on their faces when they discovered those Milk Bone treats!!!😀😂🤣😄😆🐶

So, that was when we stopped doing "Trick-or-Treating." The Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa is having a nice event on Sunday for those who don't want their kids to participate in trick-or-treating. Families are invited to a fun night of games, movies and food. I think that's a great thing to do!👍

Stay safe!

Pam💞

[Lily Rose]

Pamela wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Halloween on my street is a really BIG thing with homeowners decorating like Christmas! Children actually come to my street by carloads. We get well over 100 children. My town is al..."

Oh my! I wish I could've seen their faces, too!

[Pamela]

Rosie wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Halloween on my street is a really BIG thing with homeowners decorating like Christmas! Children actually come to my street by carloads. We get well over 100 children..."

Hi Rosie!

The dog treat incident was the last time we did trick-or-treating at my house. At the time, I was rather hoping those kids just dug into the Milkbones and ate some before they realized what they were!😉🤣😂😊

[Lily Rose]

Pamela wrote: "Rosie wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Halloween on my street is a really BIG thing with homeowners decorating like Christmas! Children actually come to my street by carloads. We get well ove..."

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣That would've been great! Now I REALLY wish I could have seen them!

[Werner]

Pandemic or no pandemic, trick-or-treating is officially going to be allowed locally. (They're going to do it tonight, rather than tomorrow night.) Our youngest grandchild (he's three), and possibly some of the older ones, will be taking part; but Barb and I aren't encouraging it, and don't plan on handing out any candy ourselves. (Our neighborhood has very few kids anyway.)

However, it now seems likely that the BU library's Terrifying Tales event will have to be canceled again this year --not because of COVID this time, but because as of the deadline, no videos were submitted. (We extended the deadline through Thursday, but that was a fairly forlorn hope.) It seems that, despite all the assurances of pundits that the rising generation are all tech-savvy "digital natives," a lot of students still aren't proficient enough with their new iPads to try creating videos with them. :-(

[Pamela]

Well, vandals struck again. Someone broke into our garage and punctured my tires. My neighbors also had 4 flat tires between their two vehicles. We also found sharp metal spike-like things in the section of our driveway shared with our neighbors. The PA State Police were here. I'm so tired of being upset all of the time. My tires were only a year old. Right now, I'm so upset and angry that I don't know what to do with mysef. I can't belive this. It's the second time since the beginning of summer. 😣😥

Pam

[Werner]

Pam, did the security cameras capture any images? (I'll be praying that the culprits are caught and put out of business!)

[Pamela]

Werner wrote: "Pam, did the security cameras capture any images? (I'll be praying that the culprits are caught and put out of business!)"

No! The high winds and heavy rain knocked the cameras out yesterday afternoon and the vandals hit during the night. I think that was quite convenient, and it makes me think whoever did this knew the power was down, so I still think it's someone very, very local.

[Lily Rose]

Oh, that's terrible! I hope they catch them. Anyone around there good at tracking?

[Pamela]

I have a bit of good news. I just had 4 new tires put on last fall. Based on mileage, they were still under warranty, so the new tires were completely covered. The labor cost me, but I feel very blessed about the tires!🙏

[Pamela]

Rosie wrote: "Oh, that's terrible! I hope they catch them. Anyone around there good at tracking?"

What I need are some good watchdogs! Too bad my cats are terrified of dogs. I wonder if I could rent some lions and tigers from the zoo?🦁🐯😉 Better yet, I should dig a moat around my property and drop some alligators into it.🐊🐊🐊😳😱

[Lily Rose]

Pamela wrote: "Rosie wrote: "Oh, that's terrible! I hope they catch them. Anyone around there good at tracking?"

What I need are some good watchdogs! Too bad my cats are terrified of dogs. I wonder if I could re..."

🤣 Yes, you should! LOL! But I think the cats would be more terrified of the lions and tigers than of a dog...

[Pamela]

Good morning! The frost is on the pumpkins here in PA this morning! Brrr!

My mom works as a school bus aide for our local district, although she transports special needs kids to several programs 25 miles from here. So, I am on my "High Horse" this morning because I just realized that, for the first time ever, all schools will be open on Veterans Day this year. Almost every school in SE PA is also open. Maybe I'm extra sensitive about the issue because some of my loved ones lost their lives fighting for our country, but I think schools should be closed on Veterans Day out of respect for those who have defended our freedom. I realize that many kids would just think of it as a day off and not care about the reason. That is the fault of adults who fail to explain the sacrifices made by the men and women who protect and defend us. Nevertheless, those who have served, and continue to serve, our nation deserve respect and honor. I am appalled that this seems to be forgotten by today's society.

That's my High Horse comment for the day. I shall now get down from the horse and continue with my day. Wishing everyone a great Friday!🤗🐎

Pam💞

[Lily Rose]

Pamela wrote: "Good morning! The frost is on the pumpkins here in PA this morning! Brrr!

My mom works as a school bus aide for our local district, although she transports special needs kids to several programs 2..."

I wasn't aware that they were doing that! I just checked and our schools appear to be closed on Veteran's Day. It's a shame, people really don't respect veterans anymore. 😟

[Werner]

Just now, I checked online, and discovered that the schools in Mercer County, West Virginia (where my grandkids go to school) are also open on Veterans Day. In fairness, I'm guessing that this is an attempt to make up for instructional days lost because of the pandemic; but it's still a very sad commentary on our current values (or rather, lack of ability to properly value anything that truly matters) as a country. :-(

[Werner]

Earlier this year (as usual, without announcing it to anybody! :-( ), Goodreads apparently changed the default setting on our accounts, at the part where we specify who can send personal messages to us. Formerly, the default setting was that any Goodreader could message us, but we could limit that to our Goodreads friends. Now, all accounts are switched to the other way around; only our friends can message us, unless we go into our personal account settings and allow other members in general to do so. I only learned this through a post about it in another group.

You may not have a preference anyway, or may prefer to only allow your friends to message you; in that case, you don't need to do anything. In my case, though, there have been times when non-friends needed to ask me something, or when I needed to contact someone I'm not friends with; so in those instances, the more general setting can be an advantage. (If you change your setting, remember to click "Save" at the bottom of the page!)

[Pamela]

Werner wrote: "Earlier this year (as usual, without announcing it to anybody! :-( ), Goodreads apparently changed the default setting on our accounts, at the part where we specify who can send personal messages t..."

Thanks, Werner! I didn't realize that. Things move waaay too fast for me lately! Too many changes. It wears me out!👵🛌😂🤣😆😊

[Werner]

I hear ya, Pamela!

[Pamela]

We weathered more severe storms. Thankfully they passed quickly, but the wind was strong and we had blinding downpours. I had to go out in the worst of it for an appointment this morning. Thankfully, I managed to have a safe trip.🙏

Hope all is well with everyone!♥️

[Werner]

Yes, all's well here Pamela, and I'm glad you came through the storms safely!

[Werner]

By now, some of you have probably discovered Goodreads' "new look" (which I'm quite certain no Goodreads members asked for) for book descriptions. The most notable change is to make the description pages much more cluttered (and correspondingly more of a nuisance to scroll through and navigate in), with a much greater and more aggressive emphasis on displaying cover art and links to sponsored "recommendations" and books that "Readers also enjoyed." But there's also significant loss of functionality. :-(

While you can still scroll down to read reviews of the book by your friends and others in the Goodreads community, you can no longer go directly from there to any review itself. This makes it much more difficult to read all of the comments or to comment yourself. Also, while you can still "like" a review from the description page, the program no longer shows you whether you already have done so; it just blindly displays a "like" button, even for reviews you may have already "liked" months or years ago.

Since the Amazon/Goodreads management has effectively insulated itself from any feedback by members (and would ignore it anyway), I'm not commenting to encourage that, but rather to share a workaround that may be useful to some people. If you want to go from the description's list of reviews to someone's actual review, click on his/her name or profile picture, which will take you to that person's profile page. There, bring up the person's bookshelves, and use the search function for the book title. From the result page of that search, you can go to the review itself. So it's still possible; it just now takes four steps instead of one. (The wonders of technological progress.... :-( )

[Katherine]

Werner wrote: "By now, some of you have probably discovered Goodreads' "new look" (which I'm quite certain no Goodreads members asked for) for book descriptions. The most notable change is to make the description..."

Actually. there is another way. Right next to "like" and "comment" there are three small dots "..." click this and you get a drop down, click "View all Reading Activity" and it will take you to the review.

I am Not a fan of the new book page.

[Werner]

Katherine wrote: "Actually. there is another way. Right next to "like" and "comment" there are three small dots "..." click this and you get a drop down, click "View all Reading Activity" and it will take you to the review."

Got it! Katherine, thanks for that helpful tip.

[Werner]

Barb and I are looking forward to taking off to see her side of the family early on Tuesday morning, so I'll be offline after that until we get home on Friday afternoon. But I'll be eager to get back into the swing of things here as soon as I can! :-)

[Werner]

Jt wrote: "Enjoy family time together."

Thanks, Jt; we did!

No, I didn't know that about Frank O'Hara. (I don't really know much about him at all.)

[Werner]

By now, most members of this group are probably aware that Goodreads no longer e-mails us notifications of comments on discussions we've taken part in. But you may not be aware that they also no longer send those notifications to the little bell-shaped icon on your Goodreads toolbar, even if your account settings request them to. (As usual for the Goodreads management, they never bothered to notify anybody about that change.) However, there is a way to restore those toolbar notifications.

At the bottom of every discussion thread in every group, and at the bottom of every review, there is a little box that says "Notify me when people comment." If you click it, notifications of those comments will again come to your toolbar. But you have to separately click the box for every individual discussion and review for which you want to follow comments. :-( (Going forward, my suggestion is that whenever you post a new review, you click the box as soon as your review shows up on screen.)

[Werner]

Jt wrote: "Shame on Amazon. :( This is another abuse of power. Goodreads deserves better. What once was a thriving community is now a corporate-operated entity. I suggest we leave and find a more resourceful global village to live in."

Jt, I completely agree that Amazon is abusing its power, and only cares about its corporate profits, not about maintaining an online community of readers. But a "global village" like this one takes time (and money) to build up; and I'm not really aware of any alternatives out there at the moment. For my part, as long as I have valued friends here that I don't want to lose contact with, and as long as I can still freely share my reviews with others, I'm not ready to leave. But I understand and sympathize with those who are!

[Patrick]

The sad truth is that communities do not re-form elsewhere. I deleted my Twitter account the day the sale to Elon went through, and although I have checked other platforms such as Bluesky and Mastodon, only a very few of my Twitter acquaintances have show up in those places. Most of the people that I knew on Twitter, I will never know what happened to them.

The same thing when Yahoo Groups went down. There was a lot of talk about groups migrating to Groups.io, but by and large it didn’t happen, and the few groups that I was aware of that DID migrate, saw their memberships cut by 2/3.

[Werner]

Jt, thanks for your kind words!

I don't think that social media outlets will become extinct; Facebook seems to be thriving, even though it seems to have evolved into a sort of monopoly. (When it started, it had competitors such as My Space; but I haven't heard about any of those for a long time.) But I'm not aware of any social media network other than Goodreads that's actually set up to promote sharing book reviews and book discussion, or that has similar features for forming groups, etc.

Of course, I don't surf the Internet much, and don't know a lot about what it offers. (For instance, before now, I've never heard of any of the other specific forums mentioned above, except Twitter/X.) Nevertheless, as far as I know, right now Goodreads is unique in the way that it's set up. (And creating another site with similar features would require considerable technical expertise, and considerable capital to rent/purchase the electronic space and purchase bandwidth.)

[Patrick]

Fun story: I recently (June) adopted a pair of bonded kittens, boy and girl, from the local government animal agency here in Tlaxcala, Bienestar Animal. I became aware of the agency when they had their weekly Friday adoption fair in the parking lot at the local Wal-Mart, and I happened to be passing through. I didn’t take any animals that day, but I visited their facility the following week. They always have plenty of vaccinated and vet-reviewed animals available, and when they showed me this pair of two-month-old gray-and-white kittens which they didn’t want to separate, I was a goner. Subsequent sterilizations are free - indeed, any animal you bring in on a Monday morning, they will sterilize on the spot - so I returned for that in August, and they both came through it very well. 

I named them Tom and Sophie (Mexican versions Tomás and Sofía) after Tom Jones, in Henry Fielding’s 18th Century novel of the same name, and his sweetheart Sophia Western. Also thinking of Beatrix Potter’s Tom Kitten. I was tempting fate with the naming of Tom, and sure enough, he takes after both his namesakes and is a charming scamp and a rogue, with an ability to get into trouble that I haven’t experienced since my orange tabby Lucy was young. Tom will climb to the highest shelf and promptly knock everything down. He also has massive zoomie energy. Sophie joins in with him, but on her own she is much more demure - again, exactly like her namesake. 

So the count is now 12, four dogs and eight indoor cats, Lord help me. But actually the care is not difficult at all. What takes a bit more energy on my part is to be emotionally available to all of them. 

[Werner]

The largest number of animals we ever had when I was growing up was six (one dog and five cats), all rescues or strays. (My mother was particularly fond of cats, and always game to give one a needed home.) Over the years, Barb and I have had two rescued dogs; we don't have one currently, but we're involved with care and support for our middle daughter's menagerie. Her household includes eight cats, three dogs and a rabbit (all rescues, strays or drop-offs), in addition to five kids.

[Patrick]

Werner wrote: "The largest number of animals we ever had when I was growing up was six (one dog and five cats), all rescues or strays. (My mother was particularly fond of cats, and always game to give one a neede..."

And five children! Wow!

[Werner]

She stays pretty busy. :-)

[Doreen]

I’m looking for another kitten. I’m not particular whether it’s male or female. On July 3 our oldest cat Philip passed and it’s been very difficult without him. He was 17 1/2. We are still lucky to have his siblings Henry Robert and Pearl Mary.

[Patrick]

Doreen wrote: "I’m looking for another kitten. I’m not particular whether it’s male or female. On July 3 our oldest cat Philip passed and it’s been very difficult without him. He was 17 1/2. We are still lucky to..."

My two oldest cats will be 14 in 2025, but they are hanging in there well.

The Petfinder website is one good resource for finding animals to adopt.

[Doreen]

Thanks Patrick. I’ll check it out.

[Werner]

Sorry for your loss, Doreen. Our pets are a very real part of our families.

[Doreen]

Yes they are Werner. Philip was not only my little boy he was my heart and soul. But I do have to be strong to be a good kitty mommy for Henry and Pearl.

[Werner]

Hang in there. Doreen!