Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[Turquoise]

Happy Easter Small Talkers!

This is going to be an odd holiday for us. We spring cleaned last weekend and left the house exactly twice all weekend. At one of those places we managed to find Covid. I started in late Wednesday evening. I think the worst is over for me (Mr. started later), but still symptomatic so will be here. I'm sad about missing the gathering at my parents', and I won't see my grands. I always put together an egg hunt for them, and all the stuff is here. My son has assured me that we can do it another time and they'll still be just as happy. 

It's warm and sunny here, so yesterday I sat on the porch glider with my book. The fresh air and sun helped, so I will do it again today and maybe it will chase a bit of the blahs away. Hope everyone here has a good day!

[Notabug]

2 hours ago, Dehumidifier said:

"If a person/family was never featured on any of the Duggar shows, and is not related to the Duggar family by blood or marriage, they do not need to be discussed here.."

The red light was put on the day someone decided that the domestic situation of a family that did not meet this criteria was appropriate to be added to the other families thread. 

Comment was made in the morning and the shutdown was that afternoon. 

So, you're saying that a single inappropriate reference to another family was all it took to bring out the big guns and threaten us with elimination?  Seems like swatting a fly with a baseball bat.

Wouldn't it have been enough to remove the post and have a mod post a reminder that non-televised Duggar adjacents are off limits?

I, for one, hope that this was not the case as it doesn't reflect well on the new team if they are so quick to punish for single violations.  It doesn't send the message of inclusivity and tolerance that we're supposed to be modeling.

Edited March 31 by Notabug

[Dehumidifier]

I am guessing obviously. It was normal at lunchtime and red later in the day. Apparently it was yellow in between. Maybe it started a review of the survey answers.

The comment (and I think there were a few replies) was about a domestic violence/legal situation. Doubt it would be considered minor by the persons involved.

[crazy8s]

I am finding it interesting in one thread there is issue we are being harsh on Josh in comparison to others with the same crime, who never appeared on the show, when we don't talk about them. While in another there is issue because we did talk about another family, who I think did appear on the show early on or were mentioned by name by the duggar family on the show. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

 

 

 

[AstridM]

1 hour ago, Dehumidifier said:

I am guessing obviously. It was normal at lunchtime and red later in the day. Apparently it was yellow in between. Maybe it started a review of the survey answers.

The comment (and I think there were a few replies) was about a domestic violence/legal situation. Doubt it would be considered minor by the persons involved.

Do you have inside information about the survey answers? Because I don’t recall the mods mentioning them. I can’t imagine many here complained.

[Dehumidifier]

3 minutes ago, AstridM said:

Do you have inside information about the survey answers? Because I don’t recall the mods mentioning them. I can’t imagine many here complained.

No.

[Mindthinkr]

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate. 
Even if you don’t I wish you a marvelous day 🥰

[AstridM]

1 minute ago, Mindthinkr said:

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate. 
Even if you don’t I wish you a marvelous day 🥰

I wish you a marvelous day too! I’m off soon for brunch with my mom. 

[Love2dance]

Happy Easter to all who celebrate. And a beautiful day to all. We are also going to a brunch later today. 🐥🐰💐

[BradandJanet]

Thank you, @ChiCricket! Hope you are having a good weekend. 

[crazy8s]

Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

I will share a laugh from the preschool grand. Her call to me today included this.

"I hope the Easter Bunny brought you some chocolates and other candies so you can save for me to eat when I visit you"

 

[Notabug]

3 hours ago, crazy8s said:

Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

I will share a laugh from the preschool grand. Her call to me today included this.

"I hope the Easter Bunny brought you some chocolates and other candies so you can save for me to eat when I visit you"

 

There's a kid who plans ahead!

Went to the Easter Vigil Mass last night, we've got an amazing music director and it was beautiful, tears came to my eyes during some particularly moving passages.

Today, got together with 2 sisters and one BIL for a nice Easter dinner while watching the Elite 8 basketball game.  I'm a Big 10 girl, so was happy to see Purdue win.

Now home with the pup waiting for Call the Midwife on PBS, one of my very favorite shows.

The Easter bunny brought my furry son a couple of squeaky toys to chew.  Alas, they don't squeak as much or as loudly as he likes, so I don't know if he'll play with them as much as I'd hoped.

[ChiCricket]

  OK, I *think* I DMed everyone who asked for a list. Please DM me if I missed you. (I hope it was all for nothing)🤪

 

[oliviabenson]

11 hours ago, ChiCricket said:

  OK, I *think* I DMed everyone who asked for a list. Please DM me if I missed you. (I hope it was all for nothing)🤪

 

Thank you!

[Anela]

Some of the links are showing as outdated or invalid.  

[Salacious Kitty]

48 minutes ago, Anela said:

Some of the links are showing as outdated or invalid.  

You can only access the FJ Rodrigues thread if you're a member. 

[ChiCricket]

57 minutes ago, Anela said:

Some of the links are showing as outdated or invalid.  

Just sent you a DM 😊

[Anela]

1 minute ago, ChiCricket said:

Just sent you a DM 😊

It’s okay.  :) 

10 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

You can only access the FJ Rodrigues thread if you're a member. 

Thanks, I figured out the problem. 

[ChiCricket]

5 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

Thank you!

Please DM me if I sent you a (now) invalid invite. 

[ChiCricket]

It is pouring outside rn, and it's supposed to last for many more days. Oh well, could be worse, it could all be snow. 😁

[graybrown bird]

We're getting rain today and "accumulating" snow tomorrow and Wednesday. April is a fickle month in Wisconsin.

[ChiCricket]

April showers (rain or snow) bring May flowers, to be followed by many, many Cicadas (in my area, at least.)

Not looking forward to the coming invasion of the crunchy critters. 

Edited April 4 by ChiCricket

[Schnickelfritz]

8 minutes ago, ChiCricket said:

Not looking forward to the coming invasion of the crunchy critters. 

My cat is! Nothing she finds more tasty than a cicada. She loves to bring home the headless bodies. Really wish she wouldn't share.

🤢🤢🤢

Edited April 2 by Schnickelfritz

[oliviabenson]

16 hours ago, ChiCricket said:

It is pouring outside rn, and it's supposed to last for many more days. Oh well, could be worse, it could all be snow. 😁

Same here. Rain for a few days.

[Ancaster]

It's a beautiful day here and I finally decided to see whether I could make my living area window open more than the three inches it is set to, even though the ones in the bedrooms open all the way.  Anyway, this morning I investigated and ended up unscrewing the doohickey that was stopping it from opening so I am now a happy camper with a fully open window.

(I am doubly happy since I only needed to unscrew the window end of the thingamabob holding it closed, so it now hangs happily and unseen within the frame, and the screw is hanging out in the bottom of the frame without hindering anything.)

(Forgive the technical jargon.)

 

[SunnyBeBe]

21 hours ago, ChiCricket said:

April showers (rain or snow) brings May flowers, to be followed by many, many Cicadas (in my area, at least.)

Not looking forward to the coming invasion of the crunchy critters. 

Omg!  Love it! 

[Jynnan tonnix]

On 4/1/2024 at 8:55 PM, graybrown bird said:

We're getting rain today and "accumulating" snow tomorrow and Wednesday. April is a fickle month in Wisconsin.

It can be pretty fickle in Connecticut as well, but so far it is shaping up to be a pretty early spring. I just hope we don't get one of those late deep freezes that devastate the fruit trees by killing all the new buds just as they are about to bloom. We have a number of fruit trees which we planted when we moved here 11 years ago, and while we did finally get a real bumper crop from our apple trees last year, we have never managed to get anything from our nectarine (which is now a big and beautiful tree). So many years, it has bloomed beautifully, then either got hit with one of those late freezes, or we get a stretch of other bad weather which keeps all the pollinators away during the week or so that it blooms. And when it does set fruit, it has done beautifully for a few weeks before, inexplicably, all the fruit shrivels up and drops. A couple of years ago, we brought in a tree service to diagnose it, which they did, and treated it, and we had what looked as though it was going to be a great crop, until every last fruit (except for two) disappeared overnight. We had no clue what could have happened, but later learned that a family of opossums can and do strip trees of every trace of fruit overnight. I have no idea where they take it ..it seems it would be impossible for them to eat that much! Then last year, we had one of those late frosts again. It's just about to bloom now, so keep your fingers crossed!

Sorry that turned out to be such a book! I'm just happy that this forum seems to still be alive and kicking!

[beckie]

It has poured here for the past few days and snowed most of the day today. 

Came home yesterday to water on the floor, and two big bubbles forming on the kitchen ceiling.  A few hours later, one of them burst and now we have a nice hole! Apparently the landlord had fixed it right before we moved in, two days before Christmas. But he can't do anything else until it warms up.

 

[ChiCricket]

8 hours ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

We had no clue what could have happened, but later learned that a family of opossums can and do strip trees of every trace of fruit overnight. 

 Oh wow! I have some grape vines that took years to start to produce fruit, but once they did, I was so excited, and then so,so disappointed when *just* when they were ripe enough to pick..they all disappeared too!

 Guess what I have living in my back yard? Opossums!

  Here I've been blaming the lil butthead squirrels in my yard, who eat all my expensive bird seed, for stealing all my grapes.

I didn't know opossums ate fruit too.😁

Ps I found this on Google:

"What should I do if I have opossums on my property?

Welcome them!

Opossums are an incredible asset to a garden. They eat a multitude of pests, from snails and insects to rodents and venomous snakes.

They also have a tremendous appetite for ticks. One study found a single opossum can kill more than 5,000 ticks a week."

 

Edited April 4 by ChiCricket

[graybrown bird]

If I had a possum family in my backyard, they could have all the fruit on my trees and I'd bring them more from the farmer's market if they would rid the neighborhood of ticks!

[jcbrown]

Opossums also don't get rabies and are real custodians of the environment, literally. I also think they are so ugly they wrap back around to cute.

[auntieminem]

I love opossums. I have bird feeders in my front and back yards and a natural landscape so of course they showed up. They are cute except for that rat tail. A few times I have had them walking around my backyard in the middle of the day but they usually wait until night to check things out. 

[GeeGolly]

Our turn in the northeast to get this crazy weather, although it seems tame compared to what other areas have had. I'm ready for spring to come on in full force.

[zoomama]

well, i am pleasantly surprised to see you all here. i have been sick and remain so. i was in hospital for a few days trying to breath again and haven't been online in about a week i guess. so i am just checking this page for the first time and you are all still here! yay!!! 😘

[DXD526]

Another opossum fan here! They visit my yard frequently at night. I think the little furballs with rat tails are adorable!

[jcbrown]

I'm sorry to hear you were in the hospital with breathing issues, @zoomama, but glad we are still here to welcome you back!

[Zella]

I don't mind possums, but this is what I think of every time I see one. Which is usually at night when they're frolicking on my porch and somehow making as much noise as an axe murderer.

https://the-toast.net/2016/05/12/everything-whats-wrong-of-possums-its-all-of-them/

Specifically "YOUR TAIL IS FULL OF THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS AND YOUR MOUTH IS FULL OF MURDER"

[Love2dance]

So sorry to hear you have been in the hospital, @zoomama. Hope you are better each day.

Most of us are also surprised to still be here, but so happy we are. 😊

[GeeGolly]

We all just had a little earthquake.

[oliviabenson]

Yep NYC had an earthquake as did NJ. I felt the earth move under my feet! 

[GeeGolly]

13 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Yep NYC had an earthquake as did NJ. I felt the earth move under my feet! 

We felt it all through New England. 4.8. Epicenter in NJ.

[BetyBee]

29 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Yep NYC had an earthquake as did NJ. I felt the earth move under my feet! 

Did you feel the sky tumb-o-ling down?

[oliviabenson]

36 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

Did you feel the sky tumb-o-ling down?

Lol 

 

[Dimi1]

my son is flying out of newark....he felt it...He has been trying to get home for 3 days...major airline issues and now this...sheesh...He cant even fly direct...has to land in cincy...and drive a few hours to home...but not before a stop at jungle jims....lol...that place is amazing and if you have to have a place to land ( and then drive the rest of the way home...well this is a little light at the tunnel to be able to stop there and shop that amazing place...)

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

We all just had a little earthquake.

I just heard about that on NPR! Hope you and everyone else in that area are ok. 

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, AstridM said:

I just heard about that on NPR! Hope you and everyone else in that area are ok. 

We're all good, thanks.

[jacourt]

I was watching news and they had bill nye ‘the science guy’ on. He actually had to say the earthquake has nothing to do with the eclipse. The world we live in. 

[jcbrown]

20 hours ago, Zella said:

I don't mind possums, but this is what I think of every time I see one. Which is usually at night when they're frolicking on my porch and somehow making as much noise as an axe murderer.

https://the-toast.net/2016/05/12/everything-whats-wrong-of-possums-its-all-of-them/

Specifically "YOUR TAIL IS FULL OF THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS AND YOUR MOUTH IS FULL OF MURDER"

That's almost a prose-poem. I seriously think there is a heck of a poem in that piece. Thanks for sharing.

(but I still like possums)

[Jynnan tonnix]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:16 AM, GeeGolly said:

We felt it all through New England. 4.8. Epicenter in NJ.

I didn't feel it at all. I had a really rough night, so was taking a nap at the time, I guess. Mr. Jyn says he kind of felt it, but he was driving at the time, so couldn't really tell for sure. We went through a major earthquake (8.2) back in, I think it was 1992 or 1993 when we were stationed in Guam. Aftershocks for weeks afterwards! That was enough earth shaking to last me a lifetime.

Back to opossums, we used to have a feral cat living under our porch, so, of course, a couple of possums moved in as well to take advantage of the free food. I do think they are actually pretty cute their own slightly nightmarish way (they do look a bit as though they might have been invented by Tim Burton). Mr. Jyn tells of one that lived in a tree outside his bedroom when he was three years old. Apparently he just loved it, and kept asking his parents for a "teddy in a tree". They did manage to find him a stuffed toy opossum, and it was his favorite toy for years. He's not quite so fond of them now, though.

[GeeGolly]

Y'all ready for the eclipse tomorrow? Our area is in the 90s percentage range so not total, but close. ☀️🌑😎