As if sitting at home with a broken leg (see my last entry under this goal) isn’t frustrating enough, I’m finally getting to where I can spend some time sitting at the computer- but this damn old home computer is so slow that I sometimes can’t even check my email! And I’m getting farther and farther behind with people’s entries on here, to say nothing of my own entries :P10 hours ago

I really don’t feel up to writing a long, detailed entry about this right now, but I wanted to put something down for those of you who have been wondering where I am- I know it’s practically unheard of for me to be missing from here for six days unless I’m on vacation!

A couple weeks ago I took my daughter out for our first ski trip this season. We went to Loveland Ski Area, one of the few that were still open. We had a great time and the snow was fantastic for so late in the season. Conditions were so good that I decided to go back up there last Saturday, the 27th. This would be my first time skiing without my daughter in four years and it would give me the opportunity to not only ski some harder runs (she’s strictly a beginner still), but also to get more skiing in since she’s still kind of slow.

As you can see from the attached photo, the conditions were wonderful again! The snow wasn’t as soft as the week before but the coverage was still great and the weather was even better than it had been the previous week. I took this pic on my last run before lunch. The view is looking south from the north side of the ski area and it includes peaks in the background that reach up above 14,000’ (4270 meters) on the Continental Divide. 2 weeks ago

It’s been beautiful spring weather for the last few days- high of 64F/ 18C on Saturday, and just below that (63F) yesterday and today.

The forecast for tomorrow?

High of 20F/ -7C, with a low tomorrow night of 9F/ -13C!

And, in case the cold isn’t fun enough- 6 to 14 inches (15 to 36 cm) of snow tonight and tomorrow!

My daughter’s school has already announced that they will be closed tomorrow, but I hope that it isn’t as bad as they’re forecasting- if I can’t make it to work, I have to either use a vacation day or take it unpaid :(1 month ago

that we can send a man to the moon (well, we used to be able to- I’m not certain we could anymore :P) but we can’t design a cooking oil bottle that doesn’t drip down the side every time you use it?! 1 month ago

Or does it drive other people crazy that 5173 people on here have the goal “loose weight”? (Not to mention the related goals and all of the people who have completed the goal).

Why doesn’t anyone have the goal “tight weight”? :P1 month ago

I just spent almost a half hour writing an entry, with links to several of my goals. I previewed it twice to get rid of typos, but when I went to save it, the site errored and I lost it all.

GGRRRR!!!!!2 months ago

flagging things on Neighborhood Watch without paying attention to what they’re doing.

I just saw two goals flagged from long-time member Mary Hawkins. I don’t remember exactly what the goals were but one was just the name of a museum that she visited.

I tried to defend both of them, but they had already been deleted :(2 months ago

that I seem to get more new subscribers when I’m not posting much?

;)

Subscription stats

Your subscriptions: 163 people

Subscribed to you: 164 people

I’ve gained 3 or 4 new subs in the last week or so, while I’ve barely been on here!3 months ago

It’s been a shitty week, and it’s not getting any better.

Wednesday one of my coworkers called in so I had to cover him. Wednesday is usually my easiest day of the week but it’s one of his hardest days, so that sucked.

Yesterday was even worse. The same coworker called off again, plus another one had a vacation day. A few years ago we had eight people in my group. They’ve cut us down to four. And yesterday we had two!

The sick coworker came in today and it’s Friday, so I was looking forward to a much better day. However… On the way to work I pulled into my local grocery store parking lot to use the ATM. It was still dark, and somehow I just didn’t see one of those “islands” in the parking lot. I clipped the end and went right over a 6” curb. Didn’t bend the rim; didn’t even flatten the tire. But it did deploy both air bags. And the cover for the passenger-side airbag flipped up and shattered the windshield.

From what I see online, replacing the airbags would cost $1000 – 1500 each. That’s more than I paid for the car! The car is driveable, and I would probably limp around town without the airbags for a month (when I should get my tax refund and a small bonus check), but I can’t do that with the shattered windshield. I don’t have the money for a car payment or even for a down payment on another car.

I’m really not sure what I’m going to do. Sigh…3 months ago

At the back of my house I have an old screen door before the exterior door. Yesterday I was taking out some boxes of Christmas decorations to put into the crawlspace for another year. My hands were full so I let the screen door slam when I went out.

When I came back, I couldn’t get the screen door to open. Sometimes it sticks in one corner but that wasn’t the problem. It turns out that the screen door hook had popped up when the door slammed and it dropped down right into the latch! I couldn’t believe it! And of course, the front door was locked. And I didn’t have my keys with me.

Thankfully last summer I had finally gotten around to hiding a spare key in the back yard- otherwise I would have had to damage the screen door to get back in! 3 months ago

I just got caught up on cheering and reading my subs- I’ve been behind since I last went on vacation three months ago!

Thankfully it’s our slow season at work, so I’ve had some extra time here ;)3 months ago

This is being posted in response to a question that BK posted here. I decided to post the pics under my own goal so I can find them again later ;)

When asked what my most cherished possession is, this is the item that immediately came to mind. It’s a little handmade birchbark “box,” adorned with porcupine quills, that used to belong to my grandmother. I’m sure that she got it on one of our trips to Ontario. Those fishing trips each summer are among the best memories of my childhood, and this box always reminds me of her :)3 months ago

One of the things that I love about the Thanksgiving to Christmas season is that the grocery stores put turkeys on sale really cheap (to try to entice you in to spend another $200 on groceries! ;) ). I always roast a turkey for Thanksgiving, but I also like to buy another turkey to stick in the freezer and have later. Rather than just roast this second turkey I like to “part it out” and cook it in different ways.

Last Thursday my son and his family came over for dinner and I made a large pot of turkey noodle soup from the bones and wings. Apparently everyone loved it because there was only about half a bowlful left over!

Friday I cut up one of the breasts, browned it, and finished it off in the oven with some good BBQ sauce- delicious!

Saturday I made a turkey curry that I served over rice. My daughter loved it.

Sunday I roasted the legs and thighs and served them “traditional-style” with mashed potatoes & gravy.

And yesterday I was thinking about doing either a stir fry or satay with the remaining half a breast. I was leaning towards the satay (since my daughter wasn’t with me and she doesn’t like the peanut sauce I like with satay) but I didn’t feel like hassling with the grill. Instead I cut it into strips, browned it, and just sprinkled it with a Turkish seasoning that I bought a couple months ago. Yum!

I wish I had a bigger freezer so I could store more than one! ;) You can use turkey in most recipes that call for chicken and I think it’s much more flavorful than the standard mass-produced chickens you buy in the grocery store. 4 months ago

Last week I tried to send out a package to an overseas 43er friend.

I say try because I don’t have this person’s last name, and there is apparently a recent customs regulation that requires both first and last names to send anything that needs a customs declaration.

Really? Do they trully think that’s going to stop people from mailing bombs or hazardous materials?!

Sometimes I think that the people in this country are eventually going to wake up and find themselves living in a police state in their efforts to make everything “safe.”

It’s interesting that right now a significant part of the population here is in an uproar over the potential banning of assault rifles after the Connecticut school massacre (because that would take away our “freedom” to own a weapon designed to kill numbers of people), but they don’t seem to be worried about the chipping away of our freedoms by stupid laws like this one and portions of the Patriot Act (like the legal right for the government to obtain your library and bookstore records or the increased ability to monitor “suspects” without a court order).

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

- Benjamin Franklin 4 months ago

- Counted down to midnight at my son’s house- the first time he had done a family New Year’s Eve party. Good food and fun with some games.

- Home at 1 AM (glad that my son lives only 3 miles away!) and read for an hour. I’m really enjoying Stephen King’s time-travel novel 11/22/63, which an online friend (a former 43er) had recomended to me. But as a hardback with 850 pages it’s a real workout to read it in bed!

- Woke around 8 but dozed until 9. Glad that I didn’t have to get up for work after three hours of sleep, like my son did!

- Started the new year out right with a two-hour hike. Not just a hike, but partly on a new trail. And not just a trail new to me, but a truly new trail- this was the first day it was officially open! Starting out was frikken’ cold! a bit nippy, at 18 degrees F/-8C, but the sun came out and within a half hour I had shed my hat, with the gloves following not long after.

- Today was one year to the day since my ex-girlfriend and I broke up for the last time. Some bittersweet memories there. We had plenty of miserable times, but there were some good reasons why we stayed together for five years. Missing those (but not all of the fighting).

- More reading and a short nap after lunch.

- Pissed off at my daughter for breaking a part of the basketball system I bought her for her birthday a couple years ago. I know she didn’t break it on purpose, but I think she’s old enough to know better than to kick the snow off a piece of plastic when it’s below freezing!

- Knowing all day that tomorrow at work is going to suck, but at least it shouldn’t be as bad as the day after Christmas when we were short a person.

- A good dinner of Hoppin’ John soup with sourdough bread. Having this soup on New Year’s Day is supposed to be a southern tradition to bring good luck in the coming year. I’m far from southern, but I found this recipe about 15 years ago and really liked it. A great way to use up the ham bone from Christmas dinner! I hadn’t made it for several years, for some reason, and my daughter didn’t remember it but she liked it.

- 70 cheers to give away on 43T! I’m still way behind on reading & cheering my subs but that helped with catching up.

So that about covers it. Overall a day that was more good than bad, and I guess that’s about as much as I can hope for the coming year.

Happy New Year, everyone! :)4 months ago

I ordered this glass star for a friend for Christmas, but when I received it I noticed that it had a chip on one of the glass panes. When I called the company to have it replaced they told me to just keep the damaged one! The chip isn’t really very noticeable (I just didn’t want to give it as a gift like that) and it works great in my only south-facing window here- the cut glass panes throw small ovals of rainbows around the room that are especially cheery during this mostly-dark time of year! :)

Of course, I don’t suppose this would work too well in places like the UK or the Pacific Northwest where you don’t get much sunshine even during the daytime :P5 months ago

Got a call from my son this evening. It was immediately obvious that he was upset. He told me that his wife, who was at work, had left him a note saying that things aren’t working out and that she’s planning on moving back in with her father after Christmas.

I listened and tried to reassure him- that most relationships have their bad times, that they might be able to talk things out in the next couple of weeks, that maybe some time apart will help them both to see things more clearly. But of course right now he’s having trouble seeing any of that. And, especially, he’s concerned about what this might do to his time with his daughter.

I wasn’t even aware that they were having serious problems. They fight at times, like most couples, but even though I see them every week I had no idea that it was any more than that.5 months ago

About a month ago I wrote this post about people I miss on 43T. I also mentioned in a reply below that I had recently gotten a fortune at a Chinese restaurant that said “Friends long absent are coming back to you.” Well, I was back at that restaurant this week and got the same fortune again! Then this morning I was making up my Christmas card list for this year. One of the people on my old list is one of the three who I said I missed most from 43T. Her card was returned last year with the message “Moved” written on it. But I decided that I just couldn’t bring myself to remove her name from my list this year, even though I don’t have a current address to send her card to.

Not 30 seconds later I opened up my email and saw an email from her. The first time I’ve heard from her in over two and a half years! 5 months ago

I just returned a couple of “Pokes” on Facebook (for the two or three of you who read my stuff but don’t have a Fb account, a poke is kind of a quick “thinking of you” message). The message I got before it was sent was:

“You are about to poke Lauri. Lauri will be informed of this.”

I sure hope that Lauri (or anyone else I’m about to poke) doesn’t need an email for that info! :D

This message probably isn’t news for most of you, but I tend to avoid Fb most of the time. This was the first time I had seen it.6 months ago

discuss politics on here. But I have to admit that I’m relieved and happy to hear that President Obama has won re-election today! :)

^{Sorry Beth :P}6 months ago

I’ve really enjoyed having the house behind me empty for months. I believe that the person living there (a single mother with two teenage boys) couldn’t afford the mortgage payment and just abandoned it. Although I didn’t really know her I felt bad to see her lose the house. BUT- it’s been wonderful having the place empty- no blasting music, no porch light shining into my bedroom window all night, no dog barking constantly, and I’ve been able to walk out into my backyard in my underwear ;) However, I knew that that time was coming to an end when a “For Sale” sign went up a couple months ago. I saw several people looking at it in the first few weeks, and before I went on vacation I noticed that the “For Sale” sign had been taken down. Now in the last week I’ve seen lights on at night a couple times. No one has moved in yet but they must be doing some work in there before they move in.

Oh, well. I may as well wish for the best. Maybe it was bought by a hot, sexually-deprived woman who loves the outdoors and kinky sex and who would prefer to just hop over the back fence to experience both :D6 months ago

I got caught up reading all of my subs’ entries!

Only 7.5 weeks after I got back from vacation, which is when I fell behind.

And 3 days before my next vacation so I can start all over again :P7 months ago

my baby sister’s 45th birthday.

She’s camped overnight at Warren Dunes in Michigan. My kids (including my D-I-L & granddaughter) were over here for dinner tonight, so I called C and we all sang Happy Birthday to her over the phone.

Seven and a half years ago, for my 45th birthday, C & I were on a dive trip to Cozumel.

Not to rub it in, C, but I think I got the better deal :D

Happy Birthday! 7 months ago

That’s an old Carly Simon song, isn’t it? ;)

Before work a couple days ago I swung by my old apartment and dropped off some owner’s manuals that I had accidentally taken with me when I had moved out- for the water heater, stove, etc.

I had had them sitting on top of my file cabinet since I moved into my house. That was 2.5 years ago, and I moved out of the apartment over 4 years ago :P

Oh well, at least they’re finally gone ;)7 months ago

For the first time in 2.5 years, I’m posting a 43T entry from home!

Yep, that’s right. I finally have Internet access at home again. Since January of 2010 I’ve had to get online at work or the library :P

Of course, the connection is slow as hell right now. Hopefully that will improve after McAfee & Microsoft finish doing 2.5 years of updates ;) But the computer is 6-7 years old, so it’s definitely outdated.

Still- not having to stay late at work or wait for an open computer at the library or drive to work on the weekend to get online is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time! 8 months ago

I meant to write about this a couple days ago but I’m just now getting around to it :P

We actually got a decent rain last week! It just seems like it’s been incredibly hot and dry all summer. Memory tends to be somewhat selective ;) so I looked up some stats on the National Weather Service website:

This year’s month of June was the hottest on record (with records going back to 1872). Precipitation for the month was 1.22 inches, which is 0.76 inches below normal.

This year’s month of July was the hottest on record. Precipitation was 0.48 inches, 1.68 inches below normal.

This year’s month of August was the 5th hottest and 4th driest on record. Precipitation for the month was 0.11 inches, 1.58 inches below normal. Although “4th driest” doesn’t sound that bad it was less than a tenth of an inch more than the driest.

Overall through the summer we received only 1.81 inches of rain, 4.02 inches below normal. That means that we received less an one third of the rain that we normally do for the summer. And almost all of the measurable rain fell in just three events- June 6th & 7th, July 6th & 7th, and August 11th.

It’s been a warm weekend, but at least the nights have been getting cool! I’m so glad that this summer is finally ending!

PS- Julie, don’t read this ;) I took a bike ride yesterday and off in the distance I saw that the high peaks have visible new snow from the storm last week! :)8 months ago

that I had this goal on my list!

Cheers available today: 43

Unfortunately I’m already maxed out on goals :P

Thanks to everyone for all of the cheers! Especially the cheerbombings from Gertie, Warrior Queen, and Miss Villainess :)8 months ago

I have recently been accused of stalking/harassing a member here who I thought was a friend.

I haven’t done or said anything that I’m ashamed of. I want to defend myself here, but I don’t believe that 43T is the place to air a personal quarrel.

I don’t have anything to hide about this situation. So if any of my friends or acquaintances have any questions or would like to hear my side of the story, you’re welcome to PM, email, or text me. 8 months ago

from a book I’m currently reading- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond.

“We may subconsciously expect people to be homogeneously ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ as if there were a single quality of virtue that should shine through every aspect of a person’s behavior. If we find people virtuous or admirable in one respect, it troubles us to find them not so in another respect. It is difficult for us to acknowledge that people are not consistent, but are instead mosaics of traits formed by different sets of experiences that often do not correlate with each other.” 8 months ago

I deleted all of your texts off my phone. I stuck the photos that I had of you, which I kept on the flash drive that I always carry around, into a folder buried on my hard drive. I cleared our PM conversations on here. I took your postcards off my fridge and removed your name from my address list. I unsubscribed from you. I even took the rock that you brought for me and put it in a box with a bunch of other rocks.

It’s not because I hate you- just the opposite. I love you enough that I can’t stand having all of those reminders of you around. It’s hard enough to try to get you out of my head without running into those things constantly.

You said that you need space from me. I hope that this is enough for you. 8 months ago