Chat for Month of March 2015

I know exactly what you mean Tracy.  I was going through some stuff yesterday and came across all the wonderful cards I received after Mike's death.  My saddest thought was that had we lost him today, there wouldn't have been anywhere near the cards or the caring because most folks are just gone.  I count that as a very sad loss.

Yeah, we've had record cold temps since January 26th.  This week looks like it might be a bit warmer, but of course, that means a good chance of snow on a couple of days.  Can't escape winter!  I guess that Boston has had more than EIGHT FEET of snow this winter.  Seriously??  With all those tiny roads?  I guess we shouldn't complain here in the Berkshires.

Slow day here. Tomorrow will be busy once all the mail shows up.

The sun is out and it's beautiful for the 2nd of March. Compared to how freakin' cold it was last week, 25 degrees seems like a heat wave.

I'm not feeling great today so keeping a low profile.

DS finally found a car last week so that's one stressor off my plate.

I can't believe DST is only six days away.

Good news about your son's new wheels, Tina!  And I hope you feel better soon.  I know so many people who are sick around here.  One of DH's friends finally went to the doctor after a cough that wouldn't quit, and he had pneumonia!  I've been washing my hands like crazy because my boss has been sick, too.

My mother said something similar about the "warmer" temps this weekend in CT.  She said it was a "balmy" 28 degrees!  You'll be getting your bathing suits out soon!   :-)

Glenda, I don't mean to compare the death of a pet to the truly tragic death of one's child, but I know what you mean about recognizing the loss of an amazing support group here.  I don't know what I would've done while processing the grief of losing Tonka if I hadn't had sympathetic ears/eyes here on the forum.  Sure, people in your "real life" offer sympathy, but most of them don't really want to dwell on it with you, so having a group of people who understand why you may want to express your grief further is beyond helpful.  I too have thought if something happened to Ruby, I just wouldn't have the same support circle as I had back when this forum was active.

Tracy, I do know what you mean.  My gosh, this group has seen me through more stuff and now most of the group is just gone.

Happy March.  Tina I was just thinking the same thing today, DST means spring is just around the corner, yea!  I am happy to say, I am finally able to get on here so I hope to catch up more often.  I miss everyone too.  Highs, lows,  trials and tribulations we have all gotten so much support from our friends here.   Even if I don't get to see or hear about the day to day stuff ( I have really missed Ms Deb's cocktails) :)  I still will always keep everyone and there furr babies in my heart .  

Doug how did the kitchen go today?

Spring in MN.  School closings all around us.  A couple inches of snow-no problem.  Ad in 40mph winds and you have a blizzard.  Have you ever driven in a ground blizzard?  You can see the stars, the tops of telephone poles, but not the road in front of you.  If it's a good blizzard,  you may not see the front of your car.  A good day to stay in, and admire what the cabinet maker got installed yesterday.  

This kid does good work.  I told him upfront that if he needed help. I would help.  If he didn't need help. I would be somewhere else.  I never really enjoyed customer help or advise when I was doing service work.  Between helping him and not being able to find any food in the house, I dropped about 4 lbs.  Now if he just keeps coming back.  The uppers are not here yet, and we need one more base section so the  granite guys can get the final measurements on Wednesday.

Never throw anything away, because you know you will need it the next day.  When we put in the new stove top 5 years ago, I bought a plumbing kit that I didn't need.  I used one fitting out of it, and the rest just sat in the shop.  Used the rest of it yesterday.  Every thing I needed to get the stove running once the top is installed.

I found a use for Skys' kennel-he really doesn't know he has a kennel and a dog house, living in the house all the time.  The old counters and cabinets are in there, until I get them broken down for spring trash day.   Wife wanted to recycle them, but I discovered that small pieces are lighter and easier to carry out than whole sections.  We have lots of pieces.

Sky had graduation from Obedience 1.  He got a mercy pass-the one the teachers use to get the kid out of their class room.  I think there was a female type dog in heat last night.  Sky was impossible to control, as were the other male dogs.   It could have been worse, but not much.  One classmates dog dumped in the entry way on the way in.  Sky marked a coffee table in the snack area, then dumped in the class room and tried to mark every thing.  Lots of towels used in the room .   Then we played with an agility set up just to see what we thought.  Sky doesn't consider the jumps anything strange.  He jumps fences and downed trees all the time.  He even hit the tunnels with no fear.

I haven't decided whether or not to sign him up for more classes. They don't have a program for the retarded or easily distracted dogs.  Agility would be good, but the rest of the program is more for show dogs.  I will see if there are any hunt clubs near by.  So far, the ones that sound good are several hours away.  We may make use of the swim pool just to exercise Muttly.  Of course, we could use the beaver pond once the ice goes out, but the geese might beat up the little boy.

Doug, the new kitchen is coming along nicely! I went through beginners a couple times (2 or 3-I can't remember) with my first dog because we were in need of a lot of help! We did much better in Adv. Beginners and placed 4th in the "show" they had at the end of the class. (And, there were 10-12 dogs in the class. It was a legit 4th place :-)

It's snowing again here. Then rain and sleet tonight and more snow on Thursday. The friendly news folks tonight announced that it was Day 30 something of below average temps. I broke down and ordered some seeds for the garden...if the snow ever melts. I think we're going to have Minnesota mud this year.

Tina, I'm glad your DS found a car--yeah!

I keep looking at the new Subarus, but mine (a Forester) is apparently doing fine. It "only" has 160K miles on it--a youngster in the Subaru world, I guess.

Tracey, I can't believe the warm temps you've had this winter. And open windows already--Wow! I love it when I can air out the house for the first time in the spring. I can't wait!

Sounds like our weather here.  I think our below avg temps began on January 26th....easy day to remember because that was

Mike's b'day.

I may call Subaru if they don't quit running that darned "they lived" spot on TV.  You see horrific, mangled messes of cars and the people in them lived.  Not everyone survives a crash and it's not nice to rub salt in wounds....even if they don't know that they are doing it.  Darned emotions are pretty close to the surface here lately.......

Glad that Tina's DS found a car....that's gotta be a relief.

All I'm gonna say about that kitcehn is....Doug, can I have your kitchen PLEASE????

I haven't been on in a long time.  I may have mentioned that we lost both  Maggie and Ollie to cancer .  Chloe is fine, and we just got a Golden puppy in January.  He's a real sweetie.  Fortunately he loves the snow.

Hi Yanke -- good to "see" you!  I  remember you posted about your losses of Maggie and Ollie, but I don't think you'd told us about the new puppy.  What is his name?  Is he a super young puppy?  If so, you must be very busy!  :-)  Hope you've been faring okay with the insanely cold and snowy winter CT has had this year!

Doug, the kitchen is looking fabulous already.  I love the the clean lines of the cabinetry doors.  Will you leave them like that or will there be hardware added for drawer pulls?  If we won the lottery, I would love to replace our cabinets and our countertops.  We all spend enough time in the kitchen; might as well make them as pleasant as possible!

Kate, I hope your weather improves soon so you can feel closer to "seed planting conditions."  I was talking to a shop owner in town last weekend who said he has a small greenhouse for the first time this year (very small -- ordered off Amazon for his little urban lot).  Because of our bizarrely warm and sunny winter, he already has many veggies sprouting.  He said he'll have produce much earlier than usual.  They're saying it might reach 70 this weekend.  It's normally rainy and in the 40's and 50's now.  Crazy.

My VW gets the same report as your Subaru.  It has 111K miles on it and it's over 12 years old --- showing some signs of age, but each time I ask my mechanic if I should consider replacing it, he says, "Nope -- it's just nicely broken in now.  You've got plenty of life in it yet!"  He also says if I got a new VW, it would not be of the same high quality as my 2002, so he's advising customers to maintain their older ones as long as possible.  I do love Subarus and would consider an Outback or Forester in the future.

I understand the point of those ads, Glenda, but I do think they're a bit unsettling.  I can't imagine how I'd feel if I'd had the personal experience you had with auto accidents.  Sometimes ad messaging is questionable -- like that SuperBowl ad by an insurance company that had the little kid saying all the things he missed because he died from a childhood accident.  It was rather shocking, even if the message was valid.

Hi Yanke!  Glad you dropped by.

I really do understand the point of the ads, but gosh.  I'm not the only one who has lost someone to a horrible accident, and while I didn't see the car in person (thank God) the photo of Mike's car was bad enough....and not nearly as smashed up as the cars in those ads.  I'm very glad that I missed the one about the child!  I would have been bawling for hours!

I think most of us east coasters would be thrilled if you sent a bit of your weather THIS way!  Apparently TN and KY are getting blasted today.  Sis is in FL and Mom has the stomach flu so naturally, Sis wants to come back, but the weather may force her to stay put and try to enjoy her rare vacation.  Mom has the nurse and the entire staff looking out for her, and all Sis could do if she was there is to get sick herself.  When I spoke with Mom she said she's very weak, but feeling more human.  The staff is making sure she drinks and giving her easy on the stomach things like jello.  This is the seventh case of this flu in her building, so the last thing Sis needs is to rush home and catch it with her MS.  She carries a VERY heavy load being the only one of us living in MI.  This vacation is really hard earned and needed.

Glad to see some of the old gang is still around.  This forum is just ghastly. Does the spam ever get removed or just displaced by new stuff?  

Yanke, glad to hear you've got a new pup. You did mention you lost Ollie and Maggie. So very sorry. I hope the new pup is providing you some much needed laughter and puppy breath.

Those of you suffering through this brutal winter have my sympathy. How do you do it??  I would not last a week. We've been cold and drizzly for a while but nothing freezing.  Today the sun came out and though it's windy and cold (for us) it's so nice to see the sun.

This is the last week of radiation and chemo for Charles. He's feeling terrible which isn't surprising. My heart breaks knowing there's nothing I can do to make him feel better.  It will be a while before the side effects wear off. Some won't. Still the alternative was to not fight this cancer and that really wasn't even an option.  He is thrilled that his hair is starting to grow back. I tell him he's my very own minion. :)  

The dogs are all doing well.  Gabby still comes to work with me every day. She's already five years old.  How time flies.  

Take care friends.  

Here's a silly video a family in the south made. If you've heard the original song, it helps but not necessary.

theboot.com/holderness-family-zac-brown-band-colder-weather-parody

Puppy was eight weeks old when we got him in January.  Chloe is not thrilled with him.  We had Christmas bells on the back door handle, and somehow he (name is Baxter) immediately started to ring them to go out.  House training, therefore, has not been an issue at all.  Teething on my hands has, but he's stopped that now too.  Great addition to the family- so far :).

Jackie - hope Charles feels better and better..

I was starting to think everyone had abandoned the forum.  Been thinking about it myself, its just so frustrating.

LOL at Charles being your "minion".  Glad to hear he is about done with the chemo.  Hopefully he'll start feeling better soon.

We just got another 8+ of snow yesterday.  It was pretty, but seriously, its March, I'm over the cold.  I'm not however looking forward to cleaning the yard after everything melts.  These are the times I'd like to hire one of those poop-scooping companies.