Just need to talk to my friends (219)

Lorita…pull up the link then exit to external site

Nanny G that is crazy rain, I often wish we could share the water from all your rain. In the last 3 months we received 1/3 of one inch. I never thought much about living in a desert until I started listening to all of you talk about the copious amounts of rain you get.

good morning…..

today I will put away the flatware from Thanksgiving…lol

animal report….last evening an owl flew onto my roof. The last time I saw one was probably70 years ago.

Ron…I would get out of the hot camper too. Keep us updated please.

Lorita, there is no way to responsibly spend a billion dollars, so I'd probably give most of it away. Remember a TV show called The Millionaire? The premise was that a billionaire gave a million dollars to a stranger every week, and we watched what the recipient did with it. One week, it was a man on death row. This was 65-70 years ago when a million was a LOT of money.

I am of two minds about June 14/15. I love stargazing, but June 15 is my wedding anniversary and I'm not sure I want to spend part of it staring into the dark.

Ron, I hope you get your apartment. The heat has no doubt run your mice out to sleep where it's cooler, but trailer life is uncomfortable otherwise.

Ron - I hope everything works out at the senior living place. A studio until a one bedroom becomes available seems like a good idea to me.

Judith and Lorita - the last time I saw owls was during lockdown. It was so quiet everywhere that they came out. I have a lot of photos of owls! 😄 I even saw some owlets on the ground. After that, I haven't seen any owls. I hear them, but I never see them.

If I had a billion dollars? I'd give almost all of it away. I'm with you, Lorita, you can only drive one car at a time, wear one thing at a time, etc. I just don't need that much stuff.

Most of my family are all teachers of some stripe, so I'm with Sweetwater too - I'd give most of it to public education. Civics for sure. I'd also give a chunk of it to hospice. I was so grateful to them when I needed them at the end for Peggy. They were so great with her.

MONEY???…I can think of a lot of ways to spend a lot of money. I think I would focus on education/scholarships.

I do not begrudge others for having more money than I do and I certainly do not know how they spend the fortunes they might have. I do know that vast sums are given to hospitals and medical research. Vast sums are given to all areas of science. Colleges and Universities building are donated. Museums are created and funded. Sports teams are owned and don't we all watch the games on our TV's via internet/cable companies created and or owned by individuals.

We have billionairs who have bought land just to preserve it i.e TedTurner and Robert Redford. Warren Buffet just donated 5 billion to the Gates Foundation ( a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world),

Regarding Mr Musk, yes he gives. One way is through The Musk Foundation. Musk Foundation

Grants are made in support of:

- Renewable energy research and advocacy
- Human space exploration research and advocacy
- Pediatric research
- Science and engineering education

What did Bill Gates say about Elon?????

added: Buffet drives a 2014 Cadillac which had hail damage when he bought it.

I'm back. I was exhausted after my trip to the Tar Pits. There was not much walking but I was still wiped out.

The excursion itself was very nice. Actually, the Pits do not contain tar, but natural asphalt. Apparently, unfortunate animals became stuck in the thick asphalt, died, and were preserved for millenia because the tar is a great preservative. I'm going to continue to use "tar" because it's easier to type.

This area of Los Angeles and all of Southern California was inhabited by indigenous people aka Native Americans. The Spanish, who had come to Mexico, built missions up along the coast from San Diego north to San Francisco. When other Europeans arrived, they thought the land was good only for sheep and cattle.

Eventually oil was discovered. In the process of searching for more oil, preserved bones were discovered in the murky tar. These bones were thought to be sheep or cattle bones. But archeologists realized these were fossilized bones from animals that had been extinct for millenia. The area was roped off and has been a paleontological site ever since. All around Los Angeles has been built up except for this area. The scientists are still digging for bones and remnants of mammals, birds, plants and seeds.

Here are some photos.

Depiction of mama mammoth stuck in the tar pit

Another view

The tar pit

Explanation of depiction

Working on a fossil vertebra in the Paleontology Lab

Working on a fossil foot bone

Restoration of a mammoth which were present when humans came to North America after the Ice Age.

Top food chain cat

Caption

There were Dire wolves in this area

Caption

There are tar pits all over the world, this one is the largest with the most restorations. Lorita and Judith, there is another tar pit at Fort Sill, OK.

This is "Urban Light", an outdoor sculpture exhibit at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). This entire area houses many famous museums, including the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Academy Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the new Geffen Museum, on Wilshire Boulevard, now reachable by the Metro.

I have not good news about the Metro. We saw many enthusiastic soccer fans, many wearing green jerseys, traveling to the Coloseum to see thd game on jumbotrons. But the Metro has returned to being out of control, with people eating and drinking and throwing trash and litter onto the platform and onto the tracks, and playing loud music.

If any of your family or friends is coming here for the FIFA World Cup and will be riding the Metro, tell them to stay in a group and be careful. Parking at SoFi Stadium will be $200!

Iris

Good morning. The heat wave here finally broke. It's been hot and humid with threats of thunderstorms for days. We got the unpleasant weather but no rain. None. Zip. Maybe tomorrow.

It's been an unusually dry spring, and I've noticed that none of the local fields are planted with corn. It's unusual.

Lorita— You'll be happy to have the girls home, I'm sure. Last night on Clarkson's Farm, they were birthing calves. They're so cute as babies.

Gothic— I generally make dough at least once a week. I do a pretty basic dough. Usually based on "00" flour with about 1/3 whole wheat. And I do it in the Cuisinart.

DS insists on pizza on his cheat days. <groan> DH lived on pizza when I met him often saving a few slices for breakfast <hork> I am the fussy one; I will only eat pizza in the place where it was made. If I can't burn the roof of my mouth, I'm not interested. There's a great pizza place a few miles north of me that is just about perfect— they make a stellar pie, serve Coke products and have self-serve beer and wine taps. What's not to love?

Iris— Those are great pictures. I especially like the gulls. I always find them amusing even though they are the delinquents of the bird-world.

Nanny G— I was thinking of you and your goats last night. We were watching the new season of Clarkson's Farm (Prime) and Farmer Caleb was telling Jeremy that the goats needed to go in order to streamline the farm, but Jeremy and the entire production insisted the goats stay.

Is there a theme for VBS this year?

Ron— I hope a studio opens for you this week. The place looks lovely and it would be easy enough to move once the 1 BR is available. Maybe your grandson and a couple friends would help you out.

Eaglemom— Happy belated anniversary. Where did you go for dinner?

Judith— It's only 5 months until Thanksgiving. Maybe you should have left the flatware out. LOL, last year I only put away my Christmas China because I was having mom over for Easter.

Sweetwater— Yes to education. Civics? Absolutely. Actual American history? Yes please.

Carl— I'll be thinking of you on Monday.

What's happening astronomically on the 14-15th? Anything interesting?

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It's been a quiet couple of days. Aside from mom's eye injections, we've got a lull in the medical appointments until the end of the month. DH and I have derm skin checks; that's always a fun date. I've got a chronic hive on the back of my calf that needs looking at and I could use some advice on the scar from my surgery.

Mom had been really compliant on her POC of late and then went rogue this week because she hasn't been feeling SOB. Grr. I went over to take her food shopping on Thursday, and she announced that she "was able to come off air for about an hour while she did some light chores". (FTR, when I got there the unit was puffing away in the living room while she was puttering about in her bedroom for 10 minutes) She was weirdly proud of herself claiming her O2 was 89-90. She lies to me constantly.

Yesterday it was about her cell phone. I called her twice with no answer, so I called the landline and she fed me some story about how she couldn't answer the cell because "it was charging". Later in the conversation it had become obvious that she'd laid it down somewhere and couldn't find it. I suggested she look on her bathroom vanity, the top of her dryer or on the edge of the powder room sink as I find her phone in those places regularly. When I look at her call recent calls, there are always several from the landline to her own phone. I'm thinking she needs a brighter case that would be easier for her to see.

I'm making sheet pan nachos for dinner tonight. Maybe some ribs tomorrow. I hope all have a pleasant day.

HB

Good morning. The weather report here is humid, followed by humidity and heat! I so hope this isn't the trend for the summer.

Ron I'd grad that room while waiting for the one bedroom. You know what's best for you and the campers just isn't cutting it.

HB you'd ask about my besties DH and his surgery. It was to be a type of ablation, but it ended up being more. The guy is 61 yr old. He's had a rough recovery (and he's not a complainer). But almost 6 hr of anesthesia and your heart being worked on isn't a walk in the park. He can't get comfortable and when he does its little naps.

For our anniversary we went to a favorite Mexican food hold in the wall place. DH was wanting fajita's. He even had a cold draft beer and my margarita swirl certainly went well with dinner. It was a good day and evening.

I would be setting up foundations and donations if I had that type of money. I'd not want to donate it all, but rather set it up that the charities would continue to receive funds from the donation over many years.

The World Cup games at AT&T Stadium dominate the news. Roads closed or rerouted, hotels blocked off, etc. I can't image the money the police forces are spending on this. One friends DH is a motorcycle officer. He was taken off his regular duties and given mandatory World Cup bus escort duties. The only good thing is this will be a huge amount of overtime, the bad is that he won't see his family for the month of June.

Everyone be safe.

Lorita…thank you. I guessed I missed Musk shutting down USAID. Now to googled why.

Iris…thank you too. You have been a wonderful tour guide.

Ron… is a lung nodule the same thing as a spot.

It is now noon in DC….the new deadline for the Kennedy Center "clean up). Guess I will turn on the TV.

Wild life report…fireflies last night!!!!

Good afternoon

Thunder woke me at 2 AM and kept me awake for hours, so I slept late this morning. I'm going to the sr ctr country dance tonight.

HB, the night of June 14/15 is the new moon. The sky will be dark if you're away from cities, and we are in the season when the northern hemisphere has a good view of the center of the Milky Way at night. Billions of stars, spread out like a highway in the sky. Judith posted a link to a description on page 5. I don't know how far you would have to travel from your home to find a dark sky.

I don't think I'm up for it on my anniversary. There will be another new moon on July 14, maybe I'll go then.