Just need to talk to my friends (221)

UPS SurePost / Transfer: UPS frequently picks up packages from QVC warehouses and hands them off to the postal service for final drop-off.

I think the best thing still is to follow tracking number

Nanny, what a sweet little guy!

I visited the Natural History Museum a couple of weeks ago to see their exhibit on Orcas. Orcas live in every ocean and live in matriarchal pods.

This is a life size replica of an orca.

This is a photo of a film of an orca getting ready to feed.

First a while, orcas were captured and made to do tricks at places like Sea World. Does anyone remember Shamu? Also "Free Willy"? Willy was living in a tiny tank and was eventually put into a better situation after the public campaigned for him.

We also visited the Butterfly Pavilion.

Here are a few of the lovely creatures.

The museum receives caterpillars which they let hatch into the butterflies that we see. In the fall the Butterfly Pavilion becomes a Spider Pavilion. Ooh!

Iris

Good morning. It's another pretty day here.

Iris— Orcas are one of the few mammals that experience menopause. No wonder they're also known as killer whales.

Mom's taxes can also be paid online but there's a mere $1.50 processing fee at which she balks. The real reason, I think, is that the office has a well-stocked candy jar. I mean when you figure in gas and mileage on my car as well as the 45 minutes time it takes that's a bargain. Candy is her love language.

Nanny G— I don't think schedules at home are the norm these days. With parents working outside the home, weekends and PTO are for scrambling around trying to get errands done and family-time observed. My bestie watches her twin 14-month-olds twice a week. She's very meticulous about developmental activities and home-cooked organic meals and snacks but their lack of reliable schedule was killing her. She wasn't a SAHM before her DD went to school: her nanny created a schedule for her which led her to think kids sort this out themselves, so she was waiting for it to happen. I think I convinced her to institute a nap after lunch. So far, they're sleeping at the same time for about an hour. LOL, she always envied me because DS napped until he was 4 while her DD stopped the week she turned 2.

Lorita— That hand-off, called "Last Mile Delivery" to the USPS is a cost-saver for the company shipping. It makes me crazy and I will avoid companies that ship that way when I can. Lands End used to do it. Tracking can be tricky as the UPS tracking will end with "handed over to <local>PO" and you don't always get the USPS tracker easily. I had one pair of petite yoga pants ordered on Black Friday that got to my local PO the Wednesday after and then toured the country. Pheonix, Atlanta, Seattle, Jacksonville— they saw more of the country than I have. And they turned up the day after Christmas and only after my carrier tracked them down for me.

Gothic G— Be safe out there with the exercise today.

Carl— RIP your old microwave. My first one last a ridiculously long time. It was a top-of-the-line model when we installed it in our kitchen reno at the old house when I was pregnant. I liked it so much, I installed it here when the house was condemned and it lasted until DS was a senior in high school. I've had 2 more since then. The first one did everything including broiling and cost $1200. My latest one cost me $400 and does everything but broil. FWIW, there was a typo in the ad and the store honored the price because I pointed it out. They're a small business and I've bought a lot of appliances from them.
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Mom has a doctor appointment at noon and then we'll go to the bank to convert some savings to CDs at 4x the interest rate. She'd forgotten the account entirely when we were starting on the financials for her AL applications. SMH. Dad did this early in his dementia, too.

I finally hemmed her pants last night. The fabric was a very fluid jersey that my sewing machine wanted to chew up. I ended up stabilizing the hem with interfacing, matching thread was a bit challenging (the color is between navy, cadet and dark gray) and it took a number of trials to find a stitch that laid flat. But they're done and I was able to tidy up my space so now I have no excuse not to workout.

I hope all have a nice day.
HB

It is a joy to come here and learn something new everyday!!!!!

My daughter had her Alaskan whale watching yesterday morning. The afternoon was spent in a kayak on a river with spanning (sp) salmon.

We saw a river in Alaska that was great for salmon fishing. The town at the mouth of the river was notorious for its houses of prostitution. The local saying was this was the place where salmon and miners came to spawn.

Good afternoon,

Cardiologist this morning and dental this afternoon.

Cardiologist added two more medicines to my one I’m already taking; maybe not that many, but it feels like it sometimes. Blood pressure not looking good, 212/112. She wants me to keep a close eye on it and if it stays consistently high, call her. It’s been up and down for some time, but never that high. She also wants me to come back in a week or two for lab.

Ron

Carl - just looked up dormouse. First, feel a little silly I didn't get it when I first read your post. Second, yuck Italian or not - no thank you 😝 And I grow both garlic and raise honey bees. No way no how.

HB - I have been putting off hemming a blouse for DW. At 4'11" most things need hemmed for her and her short waist. I tend to put it off for too long. Inspired by your recent efforts, I may get it done this week.

Ron - hope these new meds do the work.

Continuing with our weather I am right where @eaglemom recently stated a balmy 95 today and I am walking around saying how much better it feels that the 100s . My gardens are looking tired.

Iris - What a great trip to the Natural History museum. The butterfly pavilion is wonderful.

Beth - I like your pre-workout workout. My trainer recommends glute bridges as a warm up too. Sometimes I do them, sometimes not, depending on what else I'm doing that day.

The air quality was pretty bad today, but I worked out anyway, mask firmly in place. We stayed indoors (sometimes we do boxing/kickboxing outside). We focused exclusively on strength training today. OMG, he changed the bands on the earthquake bar to the thinnest ones he could find (!!!) This makes the weights bounce more, and so makes the bar much more unstable. I didn't catch the change at first, so my first thought was "oh no, I'm starting to decline!", so I told him my fears, and he told me to look at the bands. Then I felt better. 🙂 I did 50 reps all in all, and I'm still feeling it, but in a good way.

Now I want cupcakes, but those are off-limits (ABCs) until mid-November.

HB - I like that your mom wants to go pay her taxes in person so that she can have candy. Can she have a candy bowl at home?

Carl - Honey garlic dormouse? Thanks, think I'll pass. 🙂

About having no cartilage? I read an article on Ars Technica awhile ago about this man who has “Milwaukee Shoulder Syndrome”. The doctors took an X-ray, and an MRI and found that he was missing a joint in his shoulder. Here's a link to the article - there's nothing gross in it, but the X-ray is somewhat startling.

Lorita - I saw that Dolly Parton had passed away. Very, very sad, she was truly an amazing woman. She was a great singer/songwriter, but so very much more.

Other than my workout, I mostly did writing.

My s.o. engaged in a little retail therapy a couple of weeks ago, and the box showed up today. He visited the Cyberdog online shop and picked up a few accessory-type things - including two of these mugs. His is the hot pink color and mine is the "alien green" one. They are bright, and yes, they do glow under black light. I have a few t-shirts that I got from them in the past, but sadly I've aged out of about 98% of what they have now. I may be a goth, but I'm an age-appropriate one. 🙂

Not kidding about the dormouse, Iris. The Romans really did eat them 2,000 years ago. The Romans did a lot of things I wouldn't want to do, like drink wine from lead bowls and attend gladiator fights. OTOH the honey garlic chicken served at the sr ctr was pretty good, served with seasoned rice, peas & carrots, and Brussels sprouts.

I toured a butterfly garden once. It was lovely. It was also warm and humid, perfect for insects. We'll have lots of insects as the climate warms.

Good morning. It's lovely here today. Sunny, northern breeze and pleasant ahead of rain today.

Lorita— Congratulations on finally getting your car back. It seems like forever you've been waiting on it. That would drive me nuts. I get weirdly antsy if I don't have a vehicle at my disposal even though I could get an Uber in under 15 minutes.

I suspect the spraying prevents butterflies in your area. It likely kills off the native plants they'd need for their development and food sources. I get quite a few— especially on the aptly named (but very invasive) butterfly bushes. I've had as many as 5 different butterfly species on one bush at a time.

Ron— Yikes! That is high. Perhaps there was some white-coat hypertension in play yesterday. I hope the new meds get things under control for you and also that they help you feel better. Both mom and DH got an improvement in their energy levels when cardiologist added Jardiance on top of the other meds they take.

Carl— A lot of my cartilage is MIA. I know I have considerable osteoarthritis but sometimes I find the x-rays look worse than symptoms would indicate. I knew I had it in my hands but mostly it wasn't an issue until the rough edges of a bone in my wrist shredded the flexor tendon on my dominant hand and I couldn't hold my phone or wash my face. It's healed, but I am very prudent in strength training now— DS complains because my weight set tops out at 8lb.

Cats probably adored that dormouse recipe. My friend has a picky eater elderly cat for whom she buys a mouse-based canned food. All her cats really go for it.

The weirdest use of mice, IMO, was when Georgian women wore mouse pelts as little eyebrow merkins when scarring from smallpox or aging damaged their natural brows. I'll never look at a Gainsborough the same since.

Beth— I hope your NP visit accomplishes your goals. I feel like women of the Boomer and Jones generations might have been done a disservice around HRT. My niece is seeing someone around this and feeling a lot more like herself.

Gothic G— Mom does have a candy bowl at home. My niece and I keep it stocked. She's particularly fond of lollipops so I buy her a massive (the size of a standard bed pillow) bag of Dum Dum or Charms pops at Christmas. She also loves Bonart Coffee "Sweeties" and Christmas ribbon and toy candy. DH is also really into candy but he's more of a candy bar guy unless he can talk me into going to the chocolatier for some chocolate dipped fruit for him and a dark chocolate almond turtle for me.

Goodlife— 4'11" is a serious fit challenge. My niece is 4'11" and thin so she can sometimes do childrens clothing and shoes. Mom's 4'11", full-busted and has significant scoliosis (there's a 3/4" difference in inseam and don't get me started on shoulders, hips or waist— she likes tailored clothing). I feel you on this. Do you alter things or use a seamstress? I finally found a terrific person and I turf most of mom's stuff there. I only did this because of time constraints. I have a pair of pants for myself that need a hem but didn't get around to it. Earlier this year I finally hemmed some drawstring waist pants I got on sale at Lands End in 2023.

Right now, cropped (short) is having a moment and I've directed mom into a couple short things I found in the juniors department. They work pretty well.

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Our trip to the bank was successful. We got mom her CDs and were also able to make a case for a higher interest rate on her savings account which pleased her. I need to send nice and email today with care and feeding instructions for mom. Tomorrow we'll pick up her script books, get her a pedi and pack. I swear sending her away for the weekend to see her sister is like sending DS away to sleepaway camp.

I think I'll hit Costco today.

HB

ALERT:
Yes, people still eat edible dormice in parts of Slovenia and Croatia, though it is now a rare tradition rather than a common practice. 

Ron..I think another lake trip needs to be on your radar….Can you enlist a grandchild?

That's a cute kid! Have a good trip.