Small Talk: The Polygamous Cul-de-Sac

[Cetacean]

9 hours ago, Yeah No said:

No one has judged me for it but I know certain people wish I would do it.  I don't really even think there is a right or wrong decision in this situation. 

 

8 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

 I take flowers to her grave and play her favorite songs on my phone.  I think she understands.  

The "right" in these decisions, to me, is what is safest for everyone.   These celebrations of life are for the living, not the deceased and we can all remember our loved ones at any time and place.  "I think she understands" is so true.  Would the loved one who passed really want you to put your health and that of those who might attend at risk? I highly doubt it.

Parties of celebration are obviously trickier because they involve people who are wanting your presence.  But a true friend should understand hesitancy at this stage.  We just do not know what's coming.  I feel badly for eschewing things that I love (I just turned down the opportunity to rejoin our community choral group) but I just cannot knowingly expose myself to people I know are unvaccinated.  And that's a problem at any large gathering these days.

And now the Mu variant has reared its ugly head in the US.  Wearisome for sure.  But I am not a gambling person so I am willing to take any criticism for my decisions.

[iwantcookies]

Something so embarrassing happened to me last night. I can’t even share. Why me? Lol

[SunnyBeBe]

1 hour ago, iwantcookies said:

Something so embarrassing happened to me last night. I can’t even share. Why me? Lol

Sorry Iwantcookies.  I hate it when things like that happen.  Sometimes, I do crazy stuff, because I’m so busy trying to get things accomplished. 
 

I wanted to add that I took my dad to the grocery store today and the checkout cashier  was as nice as she could be.  Very friendly and attentive.  I offered our thanks and wished her a good day as well.  And, she was wearing her mask properly!  A bonus. Lol

[TurtlePower]

On 9/5/2021 at 9:48 PM, Meowwww said:

Has anyone noticed how ugly people are lately?  It was a weird day at work with people being so mean. 

Ohmigosh yes. People are angry about EVERYTHING and not afraid to show it or take it out on whoever happens to be around. 

What they don’t seem to understand is that the best way out of this is kindness, not cruelty or anger. 

[Yeah No]

16 hours ago, Cetacean said:

The "right" in these decisions, to me, is what is safest for everyone.   These celebrations of life are for the living, not the deceased and we can all remember our loved ones at any time and place.  "I think she understands" is so true.  Would the loved one who passed really want you to put your health and that of those who might attend at risk? I highly doubt it.

Thank you, yes, I think about what my father would say to me about this and I hear his voice telling me not to worry about it, that my safety and the safety of all his friends is more important.  I just know he would have said that.  

My friend, well, I'm just going to have to take the chance that she won't understand.  Given that we have been mostly out of touch for decades now I shouldn't worry that much.

Right now I'm writing this during a power failure.  A small area near my house is affected according to my power company's website.  They don't give a cause but they estimate that it will be 2 hours until power is restored.  And there's not even a storm to blame for this!  

I set up my phone as a mobile hotspot to connect to the internet.  I'm using camping lanterns to see by.

When we lose power here we lose water too because we're on well water.  And it's creepy dark.

I have spent far too much time lately worried about power failures given all the storms.  We got caught a break with the last one (Ida) but who knows when another one will happen like last year that took our power out for 2 days?  It seems like we have a power failure every few months around here anymore.  Our power company has come under fire for not being quick enough to respond and now the state passed a law that if you're without power for more than 3 days the power company has to refund you $50 for lost food.  With the price of food these days that's not enough!

My husband finally called Generac last week to set up an appointment but no one got back to us.  I'll bet they've been flooded with calls (no pun intended).  I am going to have to call them back.  This is so incredibly stressful.  We never used to have power failures like this.  WTF is going on with the world these days?  If it's not angry people and worrying about getting sick it's this. What the hell happened?

ETA:  Power restored after 2 hours.  Now I can finally go back to sleep!

Edited September 8, 2021 by Yeah No

[Cetacean]

8 hours ago, Yeah No said:

My husband finally called Generac last week to set up an appointment but no one got back to us.  I'll bet they've been flooded with calls (no pun intended).

You're probably right and I bet a lot of them are in the south as well.

I live in an area with lots of outages (three last week in clear weather, one for 13 hours) so I can sympathize. I tried to hold out without a generator for a few years and finally gave up. I'm too old to worry about losing everything in the refrigerator and having the basement flood in a sump pump failure so I got a Generac.  It is SO worth the peace of mind!  And I rarely use more than a few outlets at one time (the generator covers 13) so I have plenty of power to run a really long cord to my next door neighbor for her her refrigerator and a light or two.

I got mine from an independent installer who picked it up (the closest store that carried one was Menards, an hour away - Home Depot has them, too) and brought it up to install.  He has his own crew to do the work.  You might want to check that out in your area.  They will need to install a concrete pad for it and, depending on the house, rework wiring and other things. I was lucky that my house had everything (gas, electric) in the same place so no rerouting was needed.

It's expensive but, man, I love the lack of worry.

[lookeyloo]

56 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

You're probably right and I bet a lot of them are in the south as well.

I live in an area with lots of outages (three last week in clear weather, one for 13 hours) so I can sympathize. I tried to hold out without a generator for a few years and finally gave up. I'm too old to worry about losing everything in the refrigerator and having the basement flood in a sump pump failure so I got a Generac.  It is SO worth the peace of mind!  And I rarely use more than a few outlets at one time (the generator covers 13) so I have plenty of power to run a really long cord to my next door neighbor for her her refrigerator and a light or two.

I got mine from an independent installer who picked it up (the closest store that carried one was Menards, an hour away - Home Depot has them, too) and brought it up to install.  He has his own crew to do the work.  You might want to check that out in your area.  They will need to install a concrete pad for it and, depending on the house, rework wiring and other things. I was lucky that my house had everything (gas, electric) in the same place so no rerouting was needed.

It's expensive but, man, I love the lack of worry.

Agree the generators are a blessing. We moved from Baton Rouge 5 years ago - I told Mr lookeyloo that if we stayed there we would have to get a whole house generator. We don’t need it where we are now. Or haven’t needed it yet. Several Of our good friends in Baton Rouge did get the whole house generators and are so glad they did. It isn’t necessarily for the food in the refrigerator. It is for the air conditioning. But they can function pretty much as normal. 

[Yeah No]

37 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

You're probably right and I bet a lot of them are in the south as well.

I live in an area with lots of outages (three last week in clear weather, one for 13 hours) so I can sympathize. I tried to hold out without a generator for a few years and finally gave up. I'm too old to worry about losing everything in the refrigerator and having the basement flood in a sump pump failure so I got a Generac.  It is SO worth the peace of mind!  And I rarely use more than a few outlets at one time (the generator covers 13) so I have plenty of power to run a really long cord to my next door neighbor for her her refrigerator and a light or two.

I got mine from an independent installer who picked it up (the closest store that carried one was Menards, an hour away - Home Depot has them, too) and brought it up to install.  He has his own crew to do the work.  You might want to check that out in your area.  They will need to install a concrete pad for it and, depending on the house, rework wiring and other things. I was lucky that my house had everything (gas, electric) in the same place so no rerouting was needed.

It's expensive but, man, I love the lack of worry.

Last year we lost a lot of food in that 2 and a half day outage because it happened in the 90+ degree heat.  I couldn't even put a price on it but it was over $50 for sure.  Even though my husband's client let us use his fridge while he was away there was only so much room in it plus we had to schlep the stuff over to the other side of town in that heat, and it had already been compromised for a day by that point.  Our freezer was full because of the pandemic and eating home more often.  It's amazing how little it takes for frozen food to get yucky in the heat.  Fries turn to cardboard.  Veggies get spongy and weird.  The texture changes.

What we went through last year was horrific.  I don't mind spending the money.  Thanks to Dad I can do it.  I know what you mean, we are too old to go through this kind of stuff.  Last year I was so hot and still going through my first stages of grief too.  I tripped and fell and bruised my rib in the process of that ordeal.  I can't imagine going through something like that when I'm even older.  

That number we called was from the Costco Generac brochure and it's their particular contractor.  We get tons of flyers from other Generac contractors so we'll find one even if that one doesn't work out.  I've read that Costco gives a 10% rebate or gift card off the price and an extended warranty but that's it.  

We have a complication in that we don't have a gas line - we have oil heat, so the other option is to have a propane tank installed, which will obviously cost more money.  Ugh.  I know this is going to be expensive!

[Yeah No]

1 minute ago, lookeyloo said:

Agree the generators are a blessing. We moved from Baton Rouge 5 years ago - I told Mr lookeyloo that if we stayed there we would have to get a whole house generator. We don’t need it where we are now. Or haven’t needed it yet. Several Of our good friends in Baton Rouge did get the whole house generators and are so glad they did. It isn’t necessarily for the food in the refrigerator. It is for the air conditioning. But they can function pretty much as normal. 

For us it's for the air conditioning too because a lot of these storms are happening in the hottest weather.  I am not up to handling that kind of sweltering heat anymore.  Plus we have no water at all, no flush nothing when we have no power.  

All it takes is a nor'easter around here for us to have an outage anymore.  Gusts of only 35-50 mph can take us out if the storm comes in at a bad angle.  And the entire state is often affected making getting power restored take even longer.

The seasons for these storms are getting longer plus there are more of them coming this way.  We also get nor'easters in the Winter and that can also take power out.  

[TurtlePower]

49 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

For us it's for the air conditioning too because a lot of these storms are happening in the hottest weather.  I am not up to handling that kind of sweltering heat anymore.  Plus we have no water at all, no flush nothing when we have no power.  

All it takes is a nor'easter around here for us to have an outage anymore.  Gusts of only 35-50 mph can take us out if the storm comes in at a bad angle.  And the entire state is often affected making getting power restored take even longer.

The seasons for these storms are getting longer plus there are more of them coming this way.  We also get nor'easters in the Winter and that can also take power out.  

I’m the same way with the heat, although i can tolerate it better if I’m in the shade. This year in southern New Mexico we’ve had so much rain it’s GREEN EVERYWHERE but the humidity is insane (and mosquitos!). It was 105 yesterday and I’m so over it—it doesn’t turn “fall” until mid/late November. I’m SO ready for sweaters, furry boots and cute jackets. I’m originally a northern girl so I grew up with actual seasons and still have snow pants, which I look forward to using (it’s so cozy running in the cold with them). 

We are moving to Long Island next month. It might get storms, but we have a generator and enough fuel for days. I’m just glad to see the 70s as highs versus 100. 9 month summers have been the worst, get me outta the southwest already. 

But, I will miss Hatch green chiles everywhere and in everything. Planning to order a large box and have my own chile roast in August :). 

Edited September 8, 2021 by TurtlePower

[SunnyBeBe]

Most of the lines in my neighborhood are underground, so the power rarely goes out, which is awesome, however my parent’s house loses power a lot!  About a month ago the power company cut out a lot of limbs all around their neighborhood.  We’re hoping it will reduce the outages.  They can’t handle high heat with no air. And my mom is afraid of generators. 

[Yeah No]

Haha, this morning my little power outage actually made the local TV news.  It turns out there was a bad accident that happened on the main road that took out the power line.  We live on a mountain so when stuff like that happens they shut down the entire road, which is a main thoroughfare.  As of this morning it was still shut down and traffic was in knots with people using alternate routes.  I thought it was kind of quiet this morning, like a holiday or something.  We live off that main road but far enough in that I normally don't hear anything but sirens and loud trucks when I'm inside the house thanks to good windows.  

Speaking of that, I had fallen asleep on the couch watching TV last night and must have woken up just after the crash and power failure.  I remember hearing lots of sirens and wondering if that had anything to do with it.  This isn't the first time a crash with a power line on that road has taken out our power!

And lo and behold, completely independent of any of this, the Costco Generac contractor finally called us back to schedule the consultation.  When my husband answered the phone I thought perhaps he had called them this morning again and that's why they called, but no, they just finally called on their own.

Whew!

[Yeah No]

I can't believe this but as of right now the main road is still closed!  It's unbelievable how taking out one little power pole could cause this kind of situation.  The traffic everywhere was in KNOTS.  Take out one 3 mile stretch of a major road around here and it becomes a nightmare!  I had to go to a doctor's appointment and going there was OK but coming back - ugh.  If I had not gone out of my way to find a better back road home it would probably have taken me even longer and as it was a 15 minute ride took an hour!  

So far all we've heard on the news is that it was a one car accident - One car that hit the pole.  And there's no news on the condition of the driver.  The road was supposed to open up by 9:00 p.m. but it's still closed.  We're wondering if there's some kind of investigation going on that's taking more time.

Also incredible is how many one car accidents we're hearing about all the time.  They seem to be on the increase.  When I googled on the causes of those it's mostly drunk, distracted or drowsy driving that's to blame and we all know there's an epidemic of that going on these days.

[laurakaye]

On 9/1/2021 at 9:46 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

I was curious how your trip turned out..elevation and all.  

It was spectacular. ❤️

We did three nights in Denver and on the first night, I was very tired and had a slight headache but that might've just been stress from going through the airport, navigating the Denver highways and finding our AirBnb.  We stayed right across the street from Union Station, went to the botanical gardens, and Garden of the Gods (amazing).  Then we headed to Keystone to see my son (haven't seen him in almost 10 months), he took us off-roading wayyyyyy up high through the Arapahoe Forest and we saw some cool abandoned mines and a MOOSE (I was so excited, lol).  We visited Frisco, Georgetown for a train ride, and drove through the Continental Divide on the way back to the Denver airport.  Being a Michigan girl, I have NEVER seen the mountains and I probably said "OH WOW" out loud about 200 times.

I was super anxious about traveling in the time of Covid, but I am so glad we went.  Many thanks to the people here who gave me great advice!!

[SunnyBeBe]

1 hour ago, laurakaye said:

It was spectacular. ❤️

We did three nights in Denver and on the first night, I was very tired and had a slight headache but that might've just been stress from going through the airport, navigating the Denver highways and finding our AirBnb.  We stayed right across the street from Union Station, went to the botanical gardens, and Garden of the Gods (amazing).  Then we headed to Keystone to see my son (haven't seen him in almost 10 months), he took us off-roading wayyyyyy up high through the Arapahoe Forest and we saw some cool abandoned mines and a MOOSE (I was so excited, lol).  We visited Frisco, Georgetown for a train ride, and drove through the Continental Divide on the way back to the Denver airport.  Being a Michigan girl, I have NEVER seen the mountains and I probably said "OH WOW" out loud about 200 times.

I was super anxious about traveling in the time of Covid, but I am so glad we went.  Many thanks to the people here who gave me great advice!!

The trip sounds awesome.  I’ve dreamed of visiting CO for many years.  I get an incredible urge when listening to some oldies like Rocky Mountain High by John Denver.  I bet it was beautiful.  We have gorgeous mountains in NC, but of a different type than CO.  I get the nervousness part, but it sounds like there was a lot of outdoor activity and that’s a plus.  Glad it went so well. 

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, laurakaye said:

It was spectacular. ❤️

We did three nights in Denver and on the first night, I was very tired and had a slight headache but that might've just been stress from going through the airport, navigating the Denver highways and finding our AirBnb.  We stayed right across the street from Union Station, went to the botanical gardens, and Garden of the Gods (amazing).  Then we headed to Keystone to see my son (haven't seen him in almost 10 months), he took us off-roading wayyyyyy up high through the Arapahoe Forest and we saw some cool abandoned mines and a MOOSE (I was so excited, lol).  We visited Frisco, Georgetown for a train ride, and drove through the Continental Divide on the way back to the Denver airport.  Being a Michigan girl, I have NEVER seen the mountains and I probably said "OH WOW" out loud about 200 times.

I was super anxious about traveling in the time of Covid, but I am so glad we went.  Many thanks to the people here who gave me great advice!!

Thanks for sharing that, it sounds like you had a great time.  I went to Denver once over 40 years ago when I was a teenager.  My parents and I drove from NY all the way there.  It was an amazing trip and I'll never forget it.  I had seen the Northeastern mountains but they are hills compared to the Rockies.  We ended up on winding mountain roads too.  Back then you had to have your car's carburetor adjusted to handle that kind of altitude.  We ended up at one of the many adjustment shops catering to tourists like us.  Now cars don't even have carburetors, they have electronic fuel injection and no altitude adjustment is necessary.

I often wonder what Denver looks like today.  I loved it and thought it was a neat place, but we hardly ever hear about it here in the Northeast.  We didn't stop at Denver on that trip.  We went all the way to Salt Lake City, another place I found fascinating because the people seemed so wholesome and friendly compared to New Yorkers, LOL.  We would have gone on to California but my parents had to get back to work.  I didn't get to California for another 25 years.

[SunnyBeBe]

Has anyone tried this makeup before?  It looks great.  I’m wondering if it’s necessary to get organic.  
If you scroll down, the model demonstrates the application.

 

https://ogee.com/blogs/the-daily-good/hottest-facestick-trend

 

 

[laurakaye]

16 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

The trip sounds awesome.  I’ve dreamed of visiting CO for many years.  I get an incredible urge when listening to some oldies like Rocky Mountain High by John Denver.  I bet it was beautiful.  We have gorgeous mountains in NC, but of a different type than CO.  I get the nervousness part, but it sounds like there was a lot of outdoor activity and that’s a plus.  Glad it went so well. 

Rocky Mountain High was my favorite song as a child - of course, I didn't understand the meaning of it, I just loved the song.  On the flight home from Denver I chose to listen to a 70's playlist to calm my nerves....and the very first song that came on was Rocky Mountain High.  This time I listened to it from the perspective of my 25 year old son, who loves to hike the mountains.  Long story short - it's incredibly hard to cry on an airplane with a mask on and pretend like you've just got something in your eyes, lol.  I can't even read the lyrics now without crying. :)

[Cetacean]

Oh, how I miss John Denver.  I suppose his music would not be popular today but I remembery buying tickets to one of his last concerts in Detroit.  I was very close to the stage and just loved seeing him in that setting.  He was a little hoarse and apologized for that - he had been on the road for a while.  That must have been a tough life. I still remember the morning I awakened to hear about his death.

Denver (the city) has changed dramatically over the years.  My first visit there was lovely, a smaller city with a lot of unique stores and restaurants.  Now it's just the same as any large city in the US - big box stores, chain restaurants.  But, oh those Rockies.  SO beautiful!  I keep thinking I will get back to Alaska once more before I die but it's a long damn way from Michigan and a lot of flying and changing planes.  Covid has killed more than people, it's killed a lot of dreams!

[TurtlePower]

13 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Thanks for sharing that, it sounds like you had a great time.  I went to Denver once over 40 years ago when I was a teenager.  My parents and I drove from NY all the way there.  It was an amazing trip and I'll never forget it.  I had seen the Northeastern mountains but they are hills compared to the Rockies.  We ended up on winding mountain roads too.  Back then you had to have your car's carburetor adjusted to handle that kind of altitude.  We ended up at one of the many adjustment shops catering to tourists like us.  Now cars don't even have carburetors, they have electronic fuel injection and no altitude adjustment is necessary.

I often wonder what Denver looks like today.  I loved it and thought it was a neat place, but we hardly ever hear about it here in the Northeast.  We didn't stop at Denver on that trip.  We went all the way to Salt Lake City, another place I found fascinating because the people seemed so wholesome and friendly compared to New Yorkers, LOL.  We would have gone on to California but my parents had to get back to work.  I didn't get to California for another 25 years.

Google Earth street view. You can drive around and see! 

I’ve stayed in Denver often for travel, and it’s just another big city to me. As far as mountain towns go, I preferred the smaller ones within the mountains themselves and started staying there, stopping short of Denver when traveling from Las Vegas. Vail is really spectacular and was surprisingly affordable for hotels. There have been a few other ones I’ve forgotten the names of. 

[SunnyBeBe]

1 hour ago, laurakaye said:

Rocky Mountain High was my favorite song as a child - of course, I didn't understand the meaning of it, I just loved the song.  On the flight home from Denver I chose to listen to a 70's playlist to calm my nerves....and the very first song that came on was Rocky Mountain High.  This time I listened to it from the perspective of my 25 year old son, who loves to hike the mountains.  Long story short - it's incredibly hard to cry on an airplane with a mask on and pretend like you've just got something in your eyes, lol.  I can't even read the lyrics now without crying. :)

Omg.  I had no idea.  How coincidental…..Yes, I loved John growing up.  He was very underrated.  I never saw him perform.  I still occasionally listen to his music.  For me, it’s timeless.  My cousin gave me her album collection before her death and there are some by him.  This weekend, I’m going to listen to another album, different artist….The Best Of Bread!   Lol. Good stuff, imo,

[Yeah No]

33 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Omg.  I had no idea.  How coincidental…..Yes, I loved John growing up.  He was very underrated.  I never saw him perform.  I still occasionally listen to his music.  For me, it’s timeless.  My cousin gave me her album collection before her death and there are some by him.  This weekend, I’m going to listen to another album, different artist….The Best Of Bread!   Lol. Good stuff, imo,

I have a very special relationship with the song "Rocky Mountain High" because it came out right before my trip out West.  I sang it in the car as we drove and from then on it always reminded me of my wonderful experiences there.  Of course I was only 14 and didn't know the real meaning of the song until years later.  It hasn't changed how I feel about it, though!

OMG, I practically wore a hole in "The Best of Bread" album at that age!  LOL

[SunnyBeBe]

7 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I have a very special relationship with the song "Rocky Mountain High" because it came out right before my trip out West.  I sang it in the car as we drove and from then on it always reminded me of my wonderful experiences there.  Of course I was only 14 and didn't know the real meaning of the song until years later.  It hasn't changed how I feel about it, though!

OMG, I practically wore a hole in "The Best of Bread" album at that age!  LOL

Amazing!  It’s ironic how people come together online and share so many similarities with their background, tastes, feelings, etc.  

[Yeah No]

9 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Has anyone tried this makeup before?  It looks great.  I’m wondering if it’s necessary to get organic.  
If you scroll down, the model demonstrates the application.

 

https://ogee.com/blogs/the-daily-good/hottest-facestick-trend

I've seen other brands of this and know it's a trend with the young'ns but I have oily skin so those sticks have been too heavy for me in the past and made me look like an oil slick.  I stick to a very light application of an oil control liquid foundation (L'Oreal Pro-Matte) followed by a mineral powder.  I try to achieve a light contour with darker powders and a bronzer in the summer.  I also remember a few YouTubes aimed at over 50 women cautioning against too much contouring after a certain age because it can actually make you look older, or so they claim.

Here's an interesting page by a makeup artist on that very subject and below a quote from it.

Quote

For older women, be warned – contouring can age you. If you already have hollow temples, don’t contour this area as it will create a deeper temple and have an ageing effect.

 

[laurakaye]

Speaking of makeup YouTubers, I discovered Jamie French and Raw Beauty Kristie during the pandemic and for whatever reason, their makeup tutorials make me happy, even though I could never wear or apply makeup like them.  But the older I get, the less I care. :)

[iwantcookies]

.

Edited September 10, 2021 by iwantcookies

[TurtlePower]

I can’t believe it has been 20 years since 9/11. It feels like just yesterday. What’s mind boggling is we didn’t have social media and smart phones back then—I was in my college Hebrew class and didn’t find out until I got home, where there was a note taped to the door telling me to turn on the news (yep taped to the door, nowadays all our phones would have been vibrating and dinging with the sound of messages). It took what felt like forever to get news back then. 

If there’s one place I need to see and pay my respects when we move to NY, it’s the 9/11 memorial and museum. I came from a public safety family (fire, EMS and police) and was a responder myself, so it hurts my heart to this day for the ones who pretty much marched in to their deaths—and also for the people who could not escape the buildings, the Pentagon and heroes of flight 93. 

Edited September 11, 2021 by TurtlePower

[Sandy W]

52 minutes ago, TurtlePower said:

I can’t believe it has been 20 years since 9/11. It feels like just yesterday. What’s mind boggling is we didn’t have social media and smart phones back then—I was in my college Hebrew class and didn’t find out until I got home, where there was a note taped to the door telling me to turn on the news (yep taped to the door, nowadays all our phones would have been vibrating and dinging with the sound of messages). It took what felt like forever to get news back then. 

If there’s one place I need to see and pay my respects when we move to NY, it’s the 9/11 memorial and museum. I came from a public safety family (fire, EMS and police) and was a responder myself, so it hurts my heart to this day for the ones who pretty much marched in to their deaths—and also for the people who could not escape the buildings, the Pentagon and heroes of flight 93. 

We had just wrapped up the Brimfield Antiques show in MA and were heading west to Ohio for our next event.  We had stayed overnight 60 miles from NYC and were having breakfast in the RV when watching the news, the first plane hit.  We watched in horror amid the confusing first reactions that it must have been a commuter plane when the 2nd tower was hit.  We looked at each other and at the same time said "this is no accident".  We quickly got in gear and started heading west and when travelling through PA were passed by a convoy of emergency vehicles to attend to Flt. 93.  We found out later that a friend and fellow exhibitor from Brimfield had taken the opportunity for an earlier flight than she had planned and was aboard #93.  She was feisty and fearless and I know that she was in the vanguard of those that resisted the attackers.  RIP and Pride Georgine Corrigan.

We called the promoters of the Ohio show to see if the show was cancelled and their response was "We will not let the bastards win, we are going ahead".  There was a tribute service to those that had lost their lives so tragically, capped by an exhibitor singing America The Beautiful.  That epitomized to me the strength and spirit of the American people.

[iwantcookies]

I was in school... when I left school it looked like it snowed. Everything was covered in ash... everyone in school was quiet, crying or barely whispering. You could hear the pin drop.

I will never forget getting home and watching tv. Just being devastated  in what happened. 
 

Cannot believe it’s been 20 years already.

 

The most tranquil place in NYC for me is the site of the memorial. I have been there many many times.

Edited September 11, 2021 by iwantcookies

[Cetacean]

The current death rate for Covid every two days is close to the number that died on 9/11,  What has happened in 20 years that we pulled together as a nation back then and now it's on going battle to get people to wear masks or get vaccinated even knowing they could potentially kill a fellew citizen by infecting them?

I weep for this country.

[Yeah No]

I'm reprinting this from another thread.  Apologies if I've written about this here before:

Sept. 11 - I think that's one reason my NY friend and I are in a funk this week.  So many reminders and we both have quite a history with 9/11.  She was working down at NYU back then and when she came out of the subway near the park saw the smoke coming out of the tower - the first plane had just hit, but she didn't know yet what it was.  When she got to work everyone was glued to the TV, then after a while there was a mass exodus of pedestrians getting out of Manhattan but the subways were all shut down so she walked with a crowd of people uptown for miles.

I was new to this area of CT and at my job at a big manufacturing company for a few months at the time.  I just sat down at my desk when my father called to tell me that a plane had hit the WTC only a few minutes ago - he was listening to the radio when it was broadcast.  At the time we both thought it had to be a small plane like the one that hit the Empire State Bldg.  So we chatted briefly and hung up.  Then only a few minutes later he called again to tell me that another plane had just hit the other tower and it was obviously terrorism.  I forget how long we talked but the very next thing I did was tell the woman that sat next to me about it.  I then ran down to the huge flat screen TV in the building lobby that always played CNN.  I was one of a handful of people when I got there but as the morning wore on the lobby filled up with people all watching the horror unfold.

The only thing I could think about is that one of my good high school friends was a Daily News photographer and would surely be down there taking photos.  When the first building collapsed I hoped he wasn't hurt or killed.  The next day after the attack I was frantic to try to reach him or his family to find out if he was OK.  His mother got back to me a few days later to tell me he was indeed down there taking photos.  He was OK but was thrown about a block by the wind of the South Tower collapse. He landed under a truck and shattered both his legs in the process.  She gave me his hospital room number and my girlfriend and I called him from my father's apartment that Saturday.  He was thrilled and touched that we had gone to such lengths to contact him.  His story has been covered by documentaries over the years and I have seen him interviewed in them few times.   He made a complete recovery and walks normally with titanium rods in his legs.

Late in the afternoon of the 11th a young woman in my department at work told me her brother was at the very top of one of the towers (I forget which one but it was the one that if you were above a certain floor you were likely not going to survive).  I didn't know what to say, I just hugged her.   She was also from the Bronx like me and a year later they renamed her childhood street after her brother.  There was a ceremony for it and my father and good friend went with me.  It was very moving because it took place at my Jr. High, which was across the street, and the Bronx borough president was there.

Meanwhile I remember that several people from my department at work were in London on the 11th striking a business deal.  They were all stuck there, some for weeks.  Some got home by way of "planes, trains and automobiles".  One was stuck in Newfoundland.  My boss, however (the VP of the dept.) came home the night of Sept. 10th into Boston.  A very uncanny story - I remember he called me out of the blue from London on the 9th.  He was booked to return on Sept. 11th but said he somehow felt that he should get home earlier and could I book him a flight returning on the 10th.   Now he wasn't a guy to ever do something like that for no apparent reason!  I managed to get him on a flight back to Logan that got in late on the 10th.  He was actually in his office on a conference call early on Sept. 11th when the horror was unfolding.  I slipped him a note about it but he just put it on his desk and kept talking!  He didn't really know what was going on until at least 11:00 a.m.!

My father and I were in a state of shock for weeks if not months after that.  My mother had just passed away in June.  My father had also lost his 2 best friends within months before this too.  I had just moved to the Hartford area.  It was a lot for us to handle.  I went down to stay with him for a couple of days that next weekend after the attack.  The city was also in a state of shock.  I remember driving down and planes circling in the air.  In the Bronx the air stank of that horrible stench.  I can't even describe it.  There was a cloud of smoke wafting in our direction.  It was a weird color.

About 10 days after the attacks my husband and I went back down to the city.  We picked up my Dad and drove as far down as they'd let us in Manhattan which I think was around Chambers St.  We found a parking space and walked to the WTC site - they had it set up so people could walk by and view the devastation.  It was like a funeral march.  I'll never forget it.

I later found out that one of my high school classmates, a woman, died that day.

Another friend was beside himself worrying about his friend who was a plant watering person at the WTC.  It turns out she called in sick that day!

Anyway, sorry to go on so long but I think I needed to talk about that.....

[iwantcookies]

I met kids in summer school in 2002 that was near wtc. They had full blown ptsd/depression. They cried and described what they saw that day. They saw people jump out the towers, towers being hit, towers falling… my heart still is broken…

Those kids whenever you are I hope you are okay. 
 

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by iwantcookies

[Meowwww]

I was visiting my parents on South Padre Island TX. My brother called to tell us to turn on the tv. 
That night, a barge ran into the bridge connecting the island to the mainland and it collapsed, killing 7 people who were driving across it. 
My cat and truck and I returned to the mainland by ferry many days  later. It was all so surreal. 

[iwantcookies]

Do you think men gossip as much as women? 

[WhatAmIWatching]

11 hours ago, iwantcookies said:

Do you think men gossip as much as women? 

Yes! Yes they do! My husband is a truck driver. He used to haul cryogenics; has done long haul, and is now driving a dump truck. They have CB radios, and when I'd go with him to work, I'd listen to he and his coworkers chatting with each other, and they were a gossipy bunch!

[iwantcookies]

2 hours ago, WhatAmIWatching said:

Yes! Yes they do! My husband is a truck driver. He used to haul cryogenics; has done long haul, and is now driving a dump truck. They have CB radios, and when I'd go with him to work, I'd listen to he and his coworkers chatting with each other, and they were a gossipy bunch!

😂 thanks. My male neighbors sure love to gossip with me. I’m full from all the juicy stuff I know. 

[Sandy W]

6 minutes ago, iwantcookies said:

😂 thanks. My male neighbors sure love to gossip with me. I’m full from all the juicy stuff I know. 

Not to put a damper on it, cuz I loves me some gossip too, but if they are sharing juicy stuff abut their family life, I would proceed with caution.

[iwantcookies]

2 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

Not to put a damper on it, cuz I loves me some gossip too, but if they are sharing juicy stuff abut their family life, I would proceed with caution.

I don’t share with anyone what I’m told. 
 

Some of them need to see a therapist and that’s not me. 
 

Thankfully it’s gonna get cold soon so I will not see any of them as often. 

Edited September 13, 2021 by iwantcookies

[iwantcookies]

How are you all doing? 
 

 

[laurakaye]

That's a loaded question nowadays but I was actually going to come here and post the same question!

Since going to Colorado I feel myself kind of slipping back into being "comfortably numb," - i.e., mentally shutting down because it's too much to do anything else.  I think it's because I don't see us going anywhere again until maybe late spring at the earliest (normally we head south in February to escape the dreariness of winter in Michigan but that ain't happening).  I am anxious about another hard winter, pandemic-wise.  I feel like it's getting to where I want to hibernate, turn inward, concentrate on little projects around the house, get back to doing yoga (probably online, which I hate but it's better than nothing), reading a lot of books, etc.  I still make it a practice to avoid the news but then I think to myself that I'm not really being an adult if I can't even handle two minutes of the national news, but those two minutes have been known to have a profound impact on the rest of my day, anxiety-wise, so I just don't look.  I've unfollowed almost my entire family on social media so I tend to avoid that too.  It's not the escape it once was, it just reminds me that if I scroll long enough, I'm bound to read something toxic and I'm so over it.

In other news that does make me question my sanity, I am looking forward to Season 167 of Sister Wives in November.  I try not to think too hard on what that says about me.

TL: DR - hanging in there, lol.  How about you?

[Scarlett45]

@Roslyn yes, I admit I don’t know anything about country life.
 

I was born and raised in Chicago IL, and I went to college in NOLA. If I came across a single Mom who said her kids only had a wood stove for heat (or mini heaters) anytime between October-May, there would be a community effort to get them into a hotel room and donations to get the heating fixed. In my very LIMITED life experience wood stoves/fire places are decorative. 
 

I do keep several mini heaters in my building so in case the heat goes I can heat the bathrooms/bedrooms the 48-72hrs until I could get it repaired, but I’m a single adult. I’d send elderly persons or kids to a hotel. 
 

Im also a big ass baby who doesn’t do well in the cold. 🤣After evacuating from Hurricane Katrina I said that cold never took my house away so I could deal. 

[Roslyn]

5 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

@Roslyn yes, I admit I don’t know anything about country life.
 

I was born and raised in Chicago IL, and I went to college in NOLA. If I came across a single Mom who said her kids only had a wood stove for heat (or mini heaters) anytime between October-May, there would be a community effort to get them into a hotel room and donations to get the heating fixed. In my very LIMITED life experience wood stoves/fire places are decorative. 
 

I do keep several mini heaters in my building so in case the heat goes I can heat the bathrooms/bedrooms the 48-72hrs until I could get it repaired, but I’m a single adult. I’d send elderly persons or kids to a hotel. 
 

Im also a big ass baby who doesn’t do well in the cold. 🤣After evacuating from Hurricane Katrina I said that cold never took my house away so I could deal. 

lol I can't imagine city life 😂 I have lived in a college dorm (old fashioned kind) and a small town but I really do prefer a buffer of a half of a mile minimum between me and the next neighbor.  I can look out any window in my house and only see trees, a road and the railroad tracks. That is honestly how I prefer it. 😉

I am not a fan of cold, but I do know the fine art of layering and dressing for the weather. As long as my feet are well covered and my head and hands I can easily do 30 minutes of outside chores in flannel pants and a basic t-shirt unless wind is involved.

When I was a kid our house always lost electricity, so there was a system that was followed.  We had hurricane lamps that sat in the dining room and if there was ice cream in the freezer it was immediately fetched and shared until it was finished.  If there was a storm then big blankets were thrown over the freezer and you had to have a plan before opening it and be quick. Before any big storm it was my job to fill buckets in the basement for water because no electric...no water pump. Honestly, power outages were actually quite fun. Eating random things, cooking on the wood stove and card games by lamp light. I still have those two lamps and then sit on the shelf in my dining room.  But, with the modern electrical grid we haven't had more than a 24 hour outage since I have lived here.

[Roslyn]

On 9/15/2021 at 12:43 PM, iwantcookies said:

How are you all doing? 
 

I always say that I take each day as it presents itself to me. Ever since peri-menopause/menopause landed (not sure exactly where I fall in that line) I find myself losing focus more easily and some days being down right scatty.

I have a huge to do list, so huge that it is overwhelming me in my head.  I decided to focus on one thing and I'm pretty sure I did...but two days later I have finished a complete inventory of my spice cabinet, tea cabinet, general pantry, freezer and alcohol stores, cooked down some tomato puree to a thick version, and baked a loaf of oatmeal bread.  I just strained out the second steep of a large batch of elderberry sangria and have sat down with a large glass with the amount that didn't fit in the bottle to enjoy said bread and sangria while putting in my spice order online...and checking out the forum.

However, I can not for the life of me remember if I completed the one thing I was supposed to focus on or not. 🤣

[Absolom]

I find myself standing in the middle of a room looking around for a clue as to why I'm in that room.  That happens usually at least once a day now.

[crazycatlady58]

16 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I find myself standing in the middle of a room looking around for a clue as to why I'm in that room.  That happens usually at least once a day now.

So you are at the WTHAIHF stage of life.' What the hell am I here for? ' I've been there for a while,  at least life is not dull.

[Cetacean]

37 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I find myself standing in the middle of a room looking around for a clue as to why I'm in that room.  That happens usually at least once a day now.

I always equate the memory issues to a full filing cabinet. 

When we are young we have lots of empty drawers and folders that get filled up as we get older.  It takes longer and longer to find the right file when the drawers are full.

Now if we could just dump some of the useless folders like the lyrics to hits from the 70's.  I can still sing Build Me Up, Buttercup but can't figure out where I put one of my 50 pairs of cheater glasses five minutes after I took them off.

[xwordfanatik]

3 hours ago, Roslyn said:

I always say that I take each day as it presents itself to me. Ever since peri-menopause/menopause landed (not sure exactly where I fall in that line) I find myself losing focus more easily and some days being down right scatty.

I have a huge to do list, so huge that it is overwhelming me in my head.  I decided to focus on one thing and I'm pretty sure I did...but two days later I have finished a complete inventory of my spice cabinet, tea cabinet, general pantry, freezer and alcohol stores, cooked down some tomato puree to a thick version, and baked a loaf of oatmeal bread.  I just strained out the second steep of a large batch of elderberry sangria and have sat down with a large glass with the amount that didn't fit in the bottle to enjoy said bread and sangria while putting in my spice order online...and checking out the forum.

However, I can not for the life of me remember if I completed the one thing I was supposed to focus on or not. 🤣

Mmm, that sangria sounds so good!  We are making some blackberry brandy here.  My mother-in-law made the best blackberry brandy I've ever tasted.  It should be ready in a few months, maybe by Christmas.

3 hours ago, Absolom said:

I find myself standing in the middle of a room looking around for a clue as to why I'm in that room.  That happens usually at least once a day now.

Same here!  @Cetacean, that is a great analogy.  

[WhatAmIWatching]

2 hours ago, Cetacean said:

but can't figure out where I put one of my 50 pairs of cheater glasses five minutes after I took them off.

I'm not needing the cheaters yet, but wear glasses only for distance tasks and misplace them constantly. I've learned to first check each hand, then my face, then the top of my head, the neckline of my shirt, and if I haven't found them yet, I wander around the house hoping to spot them. 😂 

[Sandy W]

9 minutes ago, WhatAmIWatching said:

I'm not needing the cheaters yet, but wear glasses only for distance tasks and misplace them constantly. I've learned to first check each hand, then my face, then the top of my head, the neckline of my shirt, and if I haven't found them yet, I wander around the house hoping to spot them. 😂 

I have the same eye condition and have resorted to the chain around the neck thing when out shopping for clothes especially.  Put them on to scan the room, then have to remove them to check size and price, such a nuisance.  Have tried bifocals but was tripping on stairs when wearing.

[WhatAmIWatching]

5 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

I have the same eye condition and have resorted to the chain around the neck thing when out shopping for clothes especially.  Put them on to scan the room, then have to remove them to check size and price, such a nuisance.  Have tried bifocals but was tripping on stairs when wearing.

Knock wood, I so far only need them for driving, grocery shopping (to figure out what is where because apparently I forget everything the second I step into the store) and then for tv. We recently got a 65" tv, so now I only sometimes need them for the subtitles on these shows, or the channel guide. I can usually get by with a deep squint if I'm too lazy to figure out where I put the darn glasses now. (I told my husband that we just need to keep getting larger TVs as my eyes age. We're going to have a movie screen by the time I'm a little old lady!)

I can't stand the feel of anything on my face, so I probably don't wear my specs as much as I should, and will end up with some squint furrows troughs before long. (I aways, always wear them for driving though, because safety first!)