What's up?

[Thumper]

Thank you.

[Thumper]

It's not everyone that can turn the action of merely getting the lawn cut into an accomplishment similar to summiting Everest.

[SciFiFisher]

I did the California thing. I hired an immigrant.

[geonuc]

So I was all set to head south on a road trip this morning. I want to go to the top of Bald mountain and see what I can see. But then Facebook reminds me there's a food event in town today that I wanted to go to.

Ah well, I guess Bald mountain will still be there tomorrow.

[code monkey]

I did the California thing. I hired an immigrant.

as did I. although I don't think of it as the California thing. rather, the I can't do this myself thing.

[SciFiFisher]

I did the California thing. I hired an immigrant.

as did I. although I don't think of it as the California thing. rather, the I can't do this myself thing.

Well, based on how well I wasn't getting to the landscaping it made sense to me.

[geonuc]

So I was all set to head south on a road trip this morning. I want to go to the top of Bald mountain and see what I can see. But then Facebook reminds me there's a food event in town today that I wanted to go to.

Ah well, I guess Bald mountain will still be there tomorrow.

Bald Mountain was still there ... I presume. I got within about two miles of the summit along a fairly good forest road when my normally super-capable Pathfinder was stopped by snow. By stopped, I mean literally. Seeing a large swath of maybe foot deep white stuff ahead of me, I paused but then forged ahead. Got about twenty feet into it before the tires lost traction. They're the summer tires, having swapped out the winter tires weeks ago. Fortunately, I'm not a total idiot when it comes to 4WD adventures and knew that since I was on an incline, I'd be able to back out if I couldn't make it through.

The mutt and I instead went adventuring in the forest at lower, snow-free areas.

[code monkey]

So I was all set to head south on a road trip this morning. I want to go to the top of Bald mountain and see what I can see. But then Facebook reminds me there's a food event in town today that I wanted to go to.

Ah well, I guess Bald mountain will still be there tomorrow.

Bald Mountain was still there ... I presume. I got within about two miles of the summit along a fairly good forest road when my normally super-capable Pathfinder was stopped by snow. By stopped, I mean literally. Seeing a large swath of maybe foot deep white stuff ahead of me, I paused but then forged ahead. Got about twenty feet into it before the tires lost traction. They're the summer tires, having swapped out the winter tires weeks ago. Fortunately, I'm not a total idiot when it comes to 4WD adventures and knew that since I was on an incline, I'd be able to back out if I couldn't make it through.

The mutt and I instead went adventuring in the forest at lower, snow-free areas.

isn't it amazing that one can find snow a short drive from home now? (or in august at crater lake? yes, a longer drive.)

[Swift]

I did the California thing. I hired an immigrant.

When we bought our new house 5 years ago, and more than doubled the lawnage, I tried mowing it myself the first time. After that, I hired a landscaper. I actually feel a little guilty about it, but I'm getting too old for that kind of shit.

[SciFiFisher]

I did the California thing. I hired an immigrant.

When we bought our new house 5 years ago, and more than doubled the lawnage, I tried mowing it myself the first time. After that, I hired a landscaper. I actually feel a little guilty about it, but I'm getting too old for that kind of shit.

The guilt..or mowing the lawn?

[Thumper]

So I was all set to head south on a road trip this morning. I want to go to the top of Bald mountain and see what I can see. But then Facebook reminds me there's a food event in town today that I wanted to go to.

Ah well, I guess Bald mountain will still be there tomorrow.

Bald Mountain was still there ... I presume. I got within about two miles of the summit along a fairly good forest road when my normally super-capable Pathfinder was stopped by snow. By stopped, I mean literally. Seeing a large swath of maybe foot deep white stuff ahead of me, I paused but then forged ahead. Got about twenty feet into it before the tires lost traction. They're the summer tires, having swapped out the winter tires weeks ago. Fortunately, I'm not a total idiot when it comes to 4WD adventures and knew that since I was on an incline, I'd be able to back out if I couldn't make it through.

The mutt and I instead went adventuring in the forest at lower, snow-free areas.

isn't it amazing that one can find snow a short drive from home now? (or in august at crater lake? yes, a longer drive.)

We saw significant snowfall in Arizona last week. If it had been a little colder, it would have stuck. The day before on a high mountain pass on a state highway, I came that close to going grill to grill with an out of control motorist who lost it on an ice covered section. I was a half second from driving off into the ditch to avoid the head on when his tires caught and he swerved back into his lane then doing a loop after he got by me.

[geonuc]

We saw significant snowfall in Arizona last week. If it had been a little colder, it would have stuck. The day before on a high mountain pass on a state highway, I came that close to going grill to grill with an out of control motorist who lost it on an ice covered section. I was a half second from driving off into the ditch to avoid the head on when his tires caught and he swerved back into his lane then doing a loop after he got by me.

That must have been exciting.

[Thumper]

It's weird, it happened so fast, but seemed to be in slow motion. It really rattled Mrs. T. She said, "Well now I know what thoughts will go through my head when I know I'm about to die." I tried to assure her we were never going to die. I wasn't going to let us go grill to grill. I'd have put it in the ditch or at least got it so he'd do a glancing blow on the driver's side. It still would have royally sucked. But we weren't going to die.

Exciting is a fitting description.

[Rommie]

It's weird, it happened so fast, but seemed to be in slow motion. It really rattled Mrs. T. She said, "Well now I know what thoughts will go through my head when I know I'm about to die." I tried to assure her we were never going to die. I wasn't going to let us go grill to grill. I'd have put it in the ditch or at least got it so he'd do a glancing blow on the driver's side. It still would have royally sucked. But we weren't going to die.

Exciting is a fitting description.

My experience with those "exciting" experiences is our brains are not exactly wired to rationally assess whether you're in danger of injury/death over your flight or fight response, and different people can really assess a situation differently. It makes sense that said wiring errs on the side of assuming the worst though.

[Thumper]

Well, I either froze or I was very patient and didn't do anything stupid. Depending on how you look at it. I don't recall ever thinking, "He's going to nail me." I remember thinking, "I may need to bail."

[Swift]

I did the California thing. I hired an immigrant.

When we bought our new house 5 years ago, and more than doubled the lawnage, I tried mowing it myself the first time. After that, I hired a landscaper. I actually feel a little guilty about it, but I'm getting too old for that kind of shit.

The guilt..or mowing the lawn?

Never too old for guilt.

[Thumper]

I need my guilt.

[code monkey]

I did the California thing. I hired an immigrant.

When we bought our new house 5 years ago, and more than doubled the lawnage, I tried mowing it myself the first time. After that, I hired a landscaper. I actually feel a little guilty about it, but I'm getting too old for that kind of shit.

The guilt..or mowing the lawn?

Never too old for guilt.

swift, there's nothing to feel guilty about. in fact, you've done a good thing yy hiring the landscaper. you're putting money into your community and helping to provide employment for him/her.

[geonuc]

Boy cat (the cancer patient) wakes me up at 4 AM and doesn't stop bugging me until I get up at 5:30. I feed him (and the girl cat, who is far more polite) - he takes two bites and walks away. Butthead.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Boy cat (the cancer patient) wakes me up at 4 AM and doesn't stop bugging me until I get up at 5:30. I feed him (and the girl cat, who is far more polite) - he takes two bites and walks away. Butthead.

Cats are cats

[pumpkinpi]

So why don't you get up and feed him then go back to sleep?

[Thumper]

Mimi's waits until you recline on the couch and then curls up on you, especially if you have a blanket over you. And you feel pinned there not wanting to disturb her, so you fall asleep there. You wake up and notice that you might be able to extricate yourself and head to bed. You get to bed and try to fall back to sleep and hear her crying out in the living room. She doesn't stop. So you get up, grab her and put her on the bed. She curls up on you again. You try to get to sleep. Your alarm goes off immediately. You try to extricate yourself again so you can take a shower and head to work.

[Thumper]

With storm system after storm system moving through the area almost constantly, we get some different cloud systems. This morning there were beautiful colors and patterns in the east, if only just briefly.

[Rommie]

So, I don't remember if I mentioned it earlier, but the bf and I spent the last weekend moving to New Hampshire. Why pay Toronto rent when you can live rent free by a lake for a summer? (Well, not totally, parents are getting holder so we pay in "stuff to help out around the house" activities. Bf is happy as some of these have involved a chainsaw.) Still unseasonably cold, but unpacking etc has taken up most of the time, so whatevs.

We are also actually leaving again on Thursday on vacation because hanging out in New Hampshire wasn't enough (bf is working remotely, I have some freelance stuff to keep me busy). Going to New Zealand to visit friends (both mine from a decade ago, and his best friends moved there) and something I'll post about over in sci tech, via a stopover in Fiji. The point of the latter is to sit on a beach and I am deliberately not planning to connect to the Internet, so sorry to you lovely people.

[pumpkinpi]

You so deserve this. Have a great time.