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Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

JTMacc99

By JTMacc99
in Everything Else

Mod-Tigerkatze
Message added by Mod-Tigerkatze,

We all have been drawn into off-topic discussions, me included. There's little that's off-topic when it comes to Chit Chat, so the only ask is that you please remember that this is the Chit Chat topic and that there's a subforum for all things health and wellness here.

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Yeah No

Yeah No

On 3/21/2024 at 4:41 PM, SoMuchTV said:

I've used the Terro drops and they work like a charm.  It's All You Can Eat Ant Buffet for a day or two, then they're gone for a good long time.  I'd think the baits have the same stuff?  Maybe your ants have evolved to be resistant!

I was reading the reviews of Terro on Amazon yesterday just to see if others had had the same experience, and there were a few people that said their ants ignored the baits too so I guess it can happen.  Then I found one very well written review from someone that said that if you're only dealing with one small ant population Terro works great but if you have more than one you'll still see ants.  Given that I live on the edge of a nature preserve I'm sure we're dealing with more than one ant population so even if one gets taken out there will always be another to replace it. 

Also that person brought up another unwanted effect of Terro.  They said that for them the baits only attracted more ants than they would normally have gotten so it kind of cancelled out their usefulness because suddenly there were more ants coming in all the time.  And it was even worse because ants lay down scent trails to let the other ants in their collective know about that house so they can come back the next year.  So inadvertently you're only encouraging more ants to come into your house.

I actually knew about this effect from a couple of years ago when the mouse population had soared in this area due to a weird combination of weather conditions and not enough hawks to control their population.  I was wondering why we were suddenly besieged by mice and then read about it in the local paper.  I then found these mice baits that worked the same way Terro does, but attracting mice, they eat it, go away with it, give it to their families and they die somewhere else.  Well, they worked very well at attracting mice, but suddenly we were besieged by even MORE mice!  I never saw so many mice in my entire life!  They were brazenly coming in and risking everything to get at the bait trays.  It turns out that the baits in these trays are like catnip for mice!  They will smell them from far away and make a bee line for your house even if they would have never done so otherwise.  So we had to stop using them and go back to the mouse traps.  As soon as we did so we saw only a few here and there for the rest of that season.  Thankfully the next year we didn't even see one!  The conditions had changed so much that there was a big decrease in the local mouse population.  This year we've only seen two so far, but that's normal for where I live.  I know other people around here that see more than we do.

On 3/21/2024 at 4:41 PM, SoMuchTV said:

Do you mean get drops out of the bottle, or get the residue out of where you left the drops?  For the latter, they have you cut little target squares out of part of the glossy cardboard packaging, but when that runs out, we have no shortage of advertising flyers that are the right material.

Another issue I saw a lot of people complaining about on Amazon was how easy it is to inadvertently get the drops where you don't intend them to go and that was my problem.  And when they get on your floor they're not easy to get out because they're tacky and sticky.  

Also a lot of people complained that their ants jammed up the entryway to the bait chambers to the point that other ants couldn't get in or out after a while so that also limited their effectiveness.

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

All of this ant chat reminds me of the infestations of various types of ants in 2 houses I rented over 15 years in the high mountain desert in California near the Oregon border, including one infestation of biting red-and-black ants in the carpet in front of the sliding glass door. My now-35-year-old daughter was about 2 or 3 at the time. It was when the poor poopsie was looking out the window barefoot and they started biting that I discovered them. I can’t recall what I used on them. Maybe Windex or ammonia?

All the other ants in that locale had been carpenter ants. Many huge hills of them. I think the biting ants (fire ants?) arrived near the end of the 8-year drought.

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kristen111

kristen111

2 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

FWIW I have had good luck with the Terro liquid ant baits. I use them every spring for our Long Island house. There’s an annual invasion. We have not had that paradoxical reaction of more ants coming 

Our Condo on Long Island is surrounded by woods.  I’ve never had ants, but we have spiders and crickets, loads of them.  We used to get the exterminator, but now use “Eliminator “ spider strips that are put down along the baseboards.  They work.  Sorry “ Peaches”, it’s them or me. 🤷‍♂️😀

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kristen111

kristen111

Btw .. About my Cousin and her Crook Son.  She’s choosing not to confront him about scamming her money.  Guess he thought she was losing her mind and took advantage of her signing him Power of Attorney.  Supposidely, she has taken him off and straightened all her accounts back to her name with Attorneys.  Also, she’s not calling me three times a day with her tales of woe, and I’m fine with that.  Guess she’s embarrassed she told everyone all her business.

2 minutes ago, BlueSkies said:

Once in a while I have a day I feel like doing absolutely nothing.

 

 

This is me today. 

Me too.  All week I taped all my favorite movies, so I’m binging one after another all day.  No cooking either.  Just threw a frozen pizza in the oven.  It’s a rainy windy day.

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EtheltoTillie

EtheltoTillie

I’m watching a four-hour Frederick Wiseman documentary I recorded on PBS. I can watch in spurts. I love Frederick Wiseman.  For those who will say Who is Frederick Wiseman?   He keeps on producing a masterpiece every year or so of his special fly on the wall observation technique. He’s in his 90s now.  They always show them on PBS after small theatrical releases.   No narration. This one is about the Troisgros restaurant in France. Highly recommended for those who would appreciate this brand of film artistry. I saw my first one, High School, when I was in high school. More than fifty years ago. I have been following him ever since. 

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Yeah No

Yeah No

I've basically been procrastinating.  I really should be doing laundry but I'm watching YouTubes, puttering in the kitchen, making shopping lists, watching backed up episodes of cooking shows, setting the DVR to record movies on TCM, reading this board, adding stuff to my Amazon watch list, you name it.  The weather here is rainy and yucky too.  Tonight it's supposed to rain buckets.  Just what we need after the rainiest season ever up here.

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EtheltoTillie

EtheltoTillie

29 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I've basically been procrastinating.  I really should be doing laundry but I'm watching YouTubes, puttering in the kitchen, making shopping lists, watching backed up episodes of cooking shows, setting the DVR to record movies on TCM, reading this board, adding stuff to my Amazon watch list, you name it.  The weather here is rainy and yucky too.  Tonight it's supposed to rain buckets.  Just what we need after the rainiest season ever up here.

It's been pouring all day here in NYC.

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peacheslatour

peacheslatour

33 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I've basically been procrastinating.  I really should be doing laundry but I'm watching YouTubes, puttering in the kitchen, making shopping lists, watching backed up episodes of cooking shows, setting the DVR to record movies on TCM, reading this board, adding stuff to my Amazon watch list, you name it.  The weather here is rainy and yucky too.  Tonight it's supposed to rain buckets.  Just what we need after the rainiest season ever up here.

It's raining today after a gorgeous week. I watched Bugs Bunny and Friends and had leftover Chinese food for breakfast. Now I'm doing a little laundry and I'll work on dinner later. I've been watching a lot of old timey westerns on METV.

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Annber03

Annber03

We're gonna have a roller coaster of weather in my area these next few days - it's not bad out now, but it's supposed to get cloudy as the day goes on (getting cloudy now, in fact) and then we'll get snow tonight and tomorrow, and a fairly decent amount of it, too, if forecasts are any indication. 

Then Monday it'll be in the 50s and we could get thunderstorms, and then our temperature will drop like a rock and we'll get more snow Monday night into Tuesday. And somewhere in all that mix will be freezing rain/sleet as well.

Iowa in the spring, ya gotta love it :p. 

But yeah, my mom and I had some croissants from Burger King this morning and now we're just going through the DVR and watching a few things. We stocked up on stuff at the grocery store the other day, too, so whatever crazy weather we do get these next few days, good excuse to just stay in and watch TV and enjoy some food here at home :D. 

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Anela

Anela

I’m finally leaving the house, and I think I’m going to switch back to watching funny things. I really need a mood-boost.  I also might finally start the Discworld series of books.  

we have the eclipse happening in a couple of weeks.  We’re in the path of totality, and we’re getting warnings to get anything important in, before crowds arrive, and clog up traffic.  I had thought about going to the local state park, if dad was home, but it sounds like it’s going to be bad, so I’ll be in the back garden, if I can find some eclipse glasses.  A local ice cream place is giving them away with a specific ice cream.

My birthday is the following weekend, and dad’s is the weekend after that. I already have cream cheese to make a small cheesecake for mine, and a chocolate cake mix for dad’s, but I might try another one from scratch. I’m terrible at decorating them, even though I used to be an artist.  I didn’t get that particular talent that several aunts and my sister had/have.  
 

there’s a Monty python sketch that pops into my head, whenever I say “and nothin else” or when it comes out of someone else’s mouth. I can’t post links anymore, for some reason (it isn’t the site, it’s happening almost everywhere in the past week). 

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

2 hours ago, Anela said:

we have the eclipse happening in a couple of weeks.  We’re in the path of totality, and we’re getting warnings to get anything important in, before crowds arrive, and clog up traffic.  I had thought about going to the local state park, if dad was home, but it sounds like it’s going to be bad, so I’ll be in the back garden, if I can find some eclipse glasses.  A local ice cream place is giving them away with a specific ice cream.

I got these in a few days from Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B0CNBVD2MK
They're still available.

They meet American Astronomical Society requirements for eclipse viewing glasses: eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/how-to-tell-if-viewers-are-safe

Each pair has "Meets the Requirements of ISO 12312-2:2015" on them, like these:

ES-Earpieces-Gray-1120x176.png

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kristen111

kristen111

5 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

I'm waiting for World's to start at 3:00 on USA. It's ice dancing, my favorite. It's not as dangerous as pairs (my former favorite discipline in figure skating, but pairs has grown too scary for me in the past few years). Our rain stopped by noon. Hope it was enough to put out all the wildfires out in West VA. 

I love pairs ice dancing, especially in the Olympics.

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Caoimhe

Caoimhe

20 hours ago, Anela said:

I’m finally leaving the house, and I think I’m going to switch back to watching funny things. I really need a mood-boost.  I also might finally start the Discworld series of books.  

we have the eclipse happening in a couple of weeks.  We’re in the path of totality, and we’re getting warnings to get anything important in, before crowds arrive, and clog up traffic.  I had thought about going to the local state park, if dad was home, but it sounds like it’s going to be bad, so I’ll be in the back garden, if I can find some eclipse glasses.  A local ice cream place is giving them away with a specific ice cream.

My birthday is the following weekend, and dad’s is the weekend after that. I already have cream cheese to make a small cheesecake for mine, and a chocolate cake mix for dad’s, but I might try another one from scratch. I’m terrible at decorating them, even though I used to be an artist.  I didn’t get that particular talent that several aunts and my sister had/have.  
 

there’s a Monty python sketch that pops into my head, whenever I say “and nothin else” or when it comes out of someone else’s mouth. I can’t post links anymore, for some reason (it isn’t the site, it’s happening almost everywhere in the past week). 

I *love* Discworld and reread them all the time, City Watch and the Witches are my favourites. There are just so many little things that I find amusing, I have some on Audible and listen to them when I can’t sleep at night.

I wish I could “see” the eclipse but it’s more than two hours’ drive north of here and not worth braving the crowds so I need to look for glasses. There was one at home nine years ago but it wasn’t dark enough for me to even notice as totality was up in the northwest of the country.  I expect this will be the same.

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

The eclipse will be about 90% here.  I had hoped to be able to go where it's 100%, but much like the last one (which was also quite close), life has interfered.  I'll definitely get glasses, though, and keep my fingers crossed for a sunny day!

I TOTALLY bought the eclipse sunglasses and filter for my camera, so I can take the pictures! Last I checked, it was around 90% around 3:42pm!

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peacheslatour

peacheslatour

23 hours ago, Anela said:

I’m finally leaving the house, and I think I’m going to switch back to watching funny things. I really need a mood-boost.  I also might finally start the Discworld series of books.  

we have the eclipse happening in a couple of weeks.  We’re in the path of totality, and we’re getting warnings to get anything important in, before crowds arrive, and clog up traffic.  I had thought about going to the local state park, if dad was home, but it sounds like it’s going to be bad, so I’ll be in the back garden, if I can find some eclipse glasses.  A local ice cream place is giving them away with a specific ice cream.

My birthday is the following weekend, and dad’s is the weekend after that. I already have cream cheese to make a small cheesecake for mine, and a chocolate cake mix for dad’s, but I might try another one from scratch. I’m terrible at decorating them, even though I used to be an artist.  I didn’t get that particular talent that several aunts and my sister had/have.  
 

there’s a Monty python sketch that pops into my head, whenever I say “and nothin else” or when it comes out of someone else’s mouth. I can’t post links anymore, for some reason (it isn’t the site, it’s happening almost everywhere in the past week). 

I love the idea of having a back garden. It sounds so private and enchanting.

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annzeepark914

annzeepark914

Hey...New York City folks! What's the cute Yiddish name of those small boats that run between Manhattan and maybe Brooklyn? Something like Schleppin'? I saw them when we were on a cruise ship waiting to head up to New England several years ago. I'm now watching Aerial America on Smithsonian and it's all about NYS. When it was showing Manhattan, I could see those boats. I always watch this episode whenever I know it's on. 

kristen111

kristen111

19 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Hey...New York City folks! What's the cute Yiddish name of those small boats that run between Manhattan and maybe Brooklyn? Something like Schleppin'? I saw them when we were on a cruise ship waiting to head up to New England several years ago. I'm now watching Aerial America on Smithsonian and it's all about NYS. When it was showing Manhattan, I could see those boats. I always watch this episode whenever I know it's on. 

Where do I watch that?  Aerial America?

oliviabenson

oliviabenson

37 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Hey...New York City folks! What's the cute Yiddish name of those small boats that run between Manhattan and maybe Brooklyn? Something like Schleppin'? I saw them when we were on a cruise ship waiting to head up to New England several years ago. I'm now watching Aerial America on Smithsonian and it's all about NYS. When it was showing Manhattan, I could see those boats. I always watch this episode whenever I know it's on. 

Shlepping sorta means dragging. As in I’m tired of shlepping my bag around. 

OMG I was right! Lol

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schlep#:~:text=schlepped also shlepped%3B schlepping also,%2C tediously%2C awkwardly%2C or carelessly

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annzeepark914

annzeepark914

18 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Shlepping sorta means dragging. As in I’m tired of shlepping my bag around. 

OMG I was right! Lol

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schlep#:~:text=schlepped also shlepped%3B schlepping also,%2C tediously%2C awkwardly%2C or carelessly

Yes...but is that the name on these little boats? For some reason, I remember the name meant an easier way to get around the city. This was back in 2013. I think the boats were yellow.

EtheltoTillie

EtheltoTillie

2 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Thanks, folks 🤗. I've searched & searched but can't find the boats/company/unique name that made me laugh. I think it said, "Better Than Schlepping" on the side of each boat. Maybe the company folded. 

Ah, that’s funny and also makes sense as a name. I have seen a moving company around for years called Shleppers. 

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Yeah No

Yeah No

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Ah, that’s funny and also makes sense as a name. I have seen a moving company around for years called Shleppers. 

LOL, yeah, I still see them once in a while, they've been around since the '70s.  They're based in the Bronx.  They also serve Fairfield County, CT.  

Another one I used to see is "Nice Jewish Boy with Truck" but I don't think that one's around anymore.

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Cloud9Shopper

Cloud9Shopper

(edited)

I am having such a stressful night. 

I am away for a work event tomorrow and live a few hours away from the event site so I requested a hotel room for tonight. We were told we would have to present a credit card for incidentals but the amount of the hold was not specified. I am trying to rebuild my credit so I don’t have a lot of credit available and am struggling to get bills paid down, find ways to earn extra money, etc.  I was able to use my debit but come to find out the hold was over $200 and it has drained my checking account to under $50. I had to use what little I had on my credit card to buy dinner and a gas card so I could buy gas on the way home tomorrow. 

Now I am scared that the hold won’t drop off my bank in the next day or two and I don’t get paid until Friday so this will no doubt affect payments I had outstanding. I mean it’s not as if I can return birthday gifts I bought and already gave because this hold from the hotel may make my account negative. I am trying to get my phone bill payment reversed right now so I don’t run my account dry until this hold is removed. I really wish my company would have said how much the hold was going to be so I could have come up with the payment for my credit card and had room. Now I will be feeling stressed the day of the event tomorrow and won’t be focused at all. And it’s pretty much a nonstop event where I have to spend time with my team even for lunch and on breaks so I may not have time to call my bank and explain the situation if my account runs into the negative. I just have to hope the hold comes off ASAP after I check out tomorrow morning.

I can’t say enough how stressful and potentially embarrassing this is for me. If I am still with this company next year and still having financial issues or can’t get enough credit freed up, I will probably have to just decline the conference even though attendance is “strongly encouraged.” I can’t be in this situation again. 

Edited by Cloud9Shopper
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SoMuchTV

SoMuchTV

(edited)
37 minutes ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

I am having such a stressful night. 

I am away for a work event tomorrow and live a few hours away from the event site so I requested a hotel room for tonight. We were told we would have to present a credit card for incidentals but the amount of the hold was not specified. I am trying to rebuild my credit so I don’t have a lot of credit available and am struggling to get bills paid down, find ways to earn extra money, etc.  I was able to use my debit but come to find out the hold was over $200 and it has drained my checking account to under $50. I had to use what little I had on my credit card to buy dinner and a gas card so I could buy gas on the way home tomorrow. 

Now I am scared that the hold won’t drop off my bank in the next day or two and I don’t get paid until Friday so this will no doubt affect payments I had outstanding. I mean it’s not as if I can return birthday gifts I bought and already gave because this hold from the hotel may make my account negative. I am trying to get my phone bill payment reversed right now so I don’t run my account dry until this hold is removed. I really wish my company would have said how much the hold was going to be so I could have come up with the payment for my credit card and had room. Now I will be feeling stressed the day of the event tomorrow and won’t be focused at all. And it’s pretty much a nonstop event where I have to spend time with my team even for lunch and on breaks so I may not have time to call my bank and explain the situation if my account runs into the negative. I just have to hope the hold comes off ASAP after I check out tomorrow morning.

I can’t say enough how stressful and potentially embarrassing this is for me. If I am still with this company next year and still having financial issues or can’t get enough credit freed up, I will probably have to just decline the conference even though attendance is “strongly encouraged.” I can’t be in this situation again. 

That’s not cool! If your company is willing to approve a room, they shouldn’t expect you to front the money! And if they weren’t willing to cover the room, you should have had the choice to opt out. 
 

Plus, depending on your payroll schedule, you’re probably putting in a week or two or even a month of work before you get paid for it. So you should advance the company even more for your expenses?  I guess this should go in the Work Venting thread, sorry!

Edited by SoMuchTV
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Cloud9Shopper

Cloud9Shopper

15 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

That’s not cool! If your company is willing to approve a room, they shouldn’t expect you to front the money! And if they weren’t willing to cover the room, you should have had the choice to opt out. 
 

Plus, depending on your payroll schedule, you’re probably putting in a week or two or even a month of work before you get paid for it. So you should advance the company even more for your expenses?  I guess this should go in the Work Venting thread, sorry!

I feel like the least they could have done was say how much the hotel holds for incidentals. They made it sound like this easy breezy thing everyone knows about but I don’t travel a lot even for leisure so it’s not like I know this stuff inside and out. My mom explained it to me and said how this is normal practice these days and the hold should go away within a day or two. But of course that’s if my bank decides to let go of it that easy once the hotel removes the charge. 

I don’t blame my company for the fact that I screwed up my credit for a variety of reasons and so not having access to cards is really my fault. That’s fine. I am owning my mistake there. It’s just a matter of the position this put me in until payday. I have an invoice for some freelance work out too (done for a separate company of course) but that invoice is still being processed and the company has until May to pay me for it. So there is no chance I see that money tomorrow or Wednesday to put me at ease either. 

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Cloud9Shopper

Cloud9Shopper

I talked to the hotel about the incidentals hold. They said it takes 2-5 business days for them to release it. I hope for my sake it’s closer to two than five and I don’t have any emergencies before my next payday on Friday. Until then I am out of luck unfortunately and my next paycheck will immediately go towards utility bills and payment for my car inspection. 

This has been so disheartening. Like I know my company doesn’t want to be on the hook if someone who works for us smokes in the room or does major damage otherwise, but trust me there was barely anything in my room I could take except a water bottle or two. Google taught me a lot about how pretty much all hotels do this now so I guess if I am still here next year and take this trip again I will make sure I have a credit card cleared as much as possible. 

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stewedsquash

stewedsquash

(edited)

There is a virus going around like that for several weeks now. @oliviabenson And a couple weeks ago I read that the north east was going to be a hot spot for it. It is gone from here now. The drs (several because it affected many of us (not me this time!))said everyone was testing negative for the three basic tests so nobody could pinpoint what it was. They were overwhelmed with patients they said. 

Edited by stewedsquash
Closed the big parenthesis sentence
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Mod-Tigerkatze
Message added by Mod-Tigerkatze,

We all have been drawn into off-topic discussions, me included. There's little that's off-topic when it comes to Chit Chat, so the only ask is that you please remember that this is the Chit Chat topic and that there's a subforum for all things health and wellness here.

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