Another good night of sleep, except when James went off to the bathroom at 8 a.m. and didn't come back. I called to him, he didn't call back, and I found him on the toilet, asleep. But the hotel toilet had a grab bar next to it, so he had something to lean on and wasn't in danger of falling.

This morning we decided to go to Dottie's for breakfast; this is a breakfast/lunch place right across the street from the hotel. It's a buffet deal; you pick out what you want. I had bacon, ham, a cat's head biscuit, home fried potatoes (that were not oversalted!), and two slices of French toast. The ham was country ham and too salty, so I only ate about half of it. It was good, just really salty. Nothing really I could drink; I had Fanta orange and suffered carbonation bubbles up my nose.

We were going to Nora Mill next, but all the parking spaces were filled, so we went on to the Mt. Yonah bookstore, run by Ellen and her tortoiseshell cat Daisy. James found a book about fighting ships and also a book about U.S. food history. I found a CSI novel and a "Richard Castle" novel, and I bought a gift for someone. Ellen had written "Welcome Atomicon!" on the whiteboard outside, and we always get a discount.

Then we gassed up the truck in Cleveland, just down the street a few miles, because it was only 3.65(9) and everywhere else it's 3.94(9). James said it would be $50, and it was.

It was only around one o'clock, but Nora Mill was almost completely empty now. Just as we got there, a little lizard (what they call a "skink") came running along the fence that keeps you from tumbling down the hill that goes into the millrace. I took a photo of him, but it's blurry because I couldn't get close. At one point he puffed out his throat at me and it was like pink bubble gum.

They were also taking a delivery of freshly harvested corn when we got there. The truck had a funnel at the end of the bed that led into a pipe that crossed to the front of the Nora Mill building and dumped into another hopper that took the corn directly into the mill to be ground. They still use a real mill wheel run by the falls outside on the river.

James found several different kinds of cherry jams inside and bought one of each, so he was happy. He also bought country gravy mix (he loves it, I loathe it) and we got buckwheat pancake mix, and a pickle grabber, too.

Back to the hotel, a whole bunch of people in the common room, so we just sat, noshing on veg and cookies for the rest of the afternoon and chatting. Some folks were out doing things: Alex and Pat had gone to Ellijay for wine tours. Charles usually hikes, but I don't think he did so today as he's had a cold.

We did this all afternoon, until everyone separated for supper. Some went to Bigg Daddy's, the bar/restaurant; some to Bodensee, the German restaurant; others to Spice55 because they weren't here on Thursday. We wanted to go to Rib Country, where we went last year, and finally went on our own. But every parking space was filled, so we decided to get it as take-out. We got the combo platter and forgot we had ordered extra last year, so we really didn't overeat: I had a rack of ribs (except for one which I gave to James) and applesauce, and he had beef brisket, beans, and the Texas toast. For the rest of the night it was the same thing, chat, rinse, repeat, until midnight. Some folks played games, but I was editing a story while talking.

Labels: books, excursions, food, friends, health, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:47:00 PM

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James' day-off Wednesday was fast approaching, and I knew what I wanted to do with it: go up to McKay's Used Books in Chattanooga. We hadn't been up there since January of 2020, and there was a pile of eight Xerox paper boxes and a stray stack of books in the library waiting to be traded in. On Monday I went downstairs and separated out the books: James' discards in four boxes, my discards in four boxes, and DVDs and CDs in a ninth box, and tied up each of the boxes with strings so the lids wouldn't blow off in the bed of the truck. I also cooked pork chops and read and listened to Christmas music.

Since we were going to be out Wednesday, I did laundry on Tuesday and also put the gifts away from Sunday's gift exchange. We crossed our fingers Tuesday night and went to bed.

Amazingly, Wednesday morning was chilly, but clear. I didn't have any stomach problems, and James wasn't having an allergy attack. I figured, hey, get up at eight and we would be on the road by 9:30. Alas, more like 10:30, so we arrived at McKay's right before lunchtime again. On the other hand, it was a wonderful day to come; either there aren't a lot of people on Wednesdays or not a lot of people shopping there before Christmas. We got right in with our books (I put the DVDs and CDs in James' bins because he had the room) and started to wander around. I wasn't looking for much, because right now I have so many books. I did look for any "Dear Canada" books (I've found them in McKay's before), and hunted around the television and movie books and found the old CSI Companion and also a book I bought as a gift two years ago and dearly wanted to keep, but couldn't because I didn't have an alternate gift. I got a nearly new copy for only $1.50. What I did go look for were some of the CSI novelizations, and found about a dozen, but only bought five (I also got one at 2nd and Charles, so now I have a half-dozen). Also found The Pictorial History of Radio. Alas, didn't find anything I was looking for in DVDs, like Emerald City. James got a nice bio of Pappy Boyington and a John Ringo book and a couple of other things. I looked at the biographies and some of the travel books, but only skimmed history.

By 1:30 we were ravenous, so we put our empty boxes, wedged together so they had no open surfaces, up against the tailgate of the truck, and went to City Cafe Diner as usual. I had the open face hot turkey sandwich and James had a chicken pot pie and ordered a side of tater tots that was in a huge plate. He forgot how big the portions were last time. I brought half my turkey home and he half the pot pie and half of the tots, and we ordered a wedge of chocolate overload cake and couldn't eat it we were so full!

Of course we had their wonderful chicken "noodle" soup which has broken up spaghetti in it instead of something like egg noodles, and we ordered some to take home.

Before we left for home, we filled up with gas, but alas, by that time it was 3:30 and we didn't want to get stuck in Wednesday rush hour traffic in Atlanta, so we once again put off the trip to their Barnes & Noble at the Hamilton Mall. Their B&N is so much better than ours, or was the last time we were there; of course now that the new owner has taken over, it may not be.

Alas, we ran out of luck on the way home: no matter how tightly the boxes were wedged together, they still kept flying up and we lost three of them out of the truck bed on the way home, and to keep the rest intact we had to weigh down three of them with the books we bought and take the other three into the cab with me. As we were riding home with lots of leftover and uneaten cake, and I had the extra soup we ordered between my legs, it was kind of uncomfortable. We had to stop a couple of times to rearrange the boxes and once for James to use the bathroom.

But finally we were home and changed and munching on a light dinner while finally watching the end of Hawkeye. Wow! What a finale! They killed the Rockefeller Center tree dead and had a killer fight on the ice; in the meantime, Kate Bishop went up against Kingpin. Wow, does he wear armor or what: Kate shot him directly with an arrow and he just pulled it out. And then there was the whole cliffhanger at the end...they say this is only a "season finale," so will there be another one? And I do want a series about Echo/Maya Lopez, which is apparently in the works.

Except for the boxes, it was a wonderful day!

Labels: books, chores, excursions, food, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:36:00 PM

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We had a good weekend despite James' toe (which is now not red and looking better although the wound appears a little larger) and the news we got on Friday afternoon.

Alas, first we had to get through the shopping on Thursday as well as getting James a blood/urine test for his nephrologist appointment next week. But that was pretty painless.

Although it was cloudy and a tad chilly on Friday, we drove up to Ellijay and had a nice day. We listened to "Travel With Rick Steves" on the way up, and once we got past Jasper we started seeing some very nice color on the trees considering Georgia doesn't always get brilliant color. We stopped at Panorama Orchards as usual for fresh apples, fruit spreads, pot pie noodles, sugar free taffy, fruit teas, goat's milk lotion, and a few other things. Then we drove another 15 minutes to Blue Ridge to go to Taste of Amish. We can't get into this store with James' power chair due to a curb, so I went in alone to buy more "soup greens" and also found Necco Wafers (James uses them for low blood sugar instead of those icky lemon tablets they give you), some smoked cheddar, and a packet of seriously delicious ginger cookies with a nice ginger bite on the "back end."

We had lunch at Shane's BBQ, and then headed home. James' right leg was getting twitchy, so we stopped at a Cracker Barrel so he could stretch his legs and use the bathroom. While I was wandering around the gift shop (if you've never been to a Cracker Barrel, it's a country style restaurant that also has a gift shop) and found an adorable Christmas/winter sweatshirt in my size with two chibi-type foxes, pine trees, and snowflakes on it. They had a couple of other shirts that I liked, including one with chickadees on blue, but none in my size. A lovely piece of serendipity.

For some years we have been recommended a small convention called "Conjuration." It started as just a Harry Potter convention, but has branched out to encompass magical media. Our friends Alice and Ken go every year. Well, this year they went to Disney World instead, but we decided we would go on Saturday.

Things changed as we drove home: James got a phone call from his boss. Once again, they forgot to renew the purchase order that pays his salary until too late. So they have no money to pay him next week. So guess what, he's on furlough until "the board" re-ups the PO.

To look at it positively, I don't have to cook next week. And now we can go to Conjuration both Saturday and Sunday.

Labels: conventions, excursions, food, shopping, weather, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:30:00 PM

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Labels: books, conventions, death, DragonCon, excursions, friends, health, illness, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:54:00 PM

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It was a mixed bag of a workweek after Jen’s joyful visit. I hit a couple of stores on Monday to get needed supplies (especially stocking up on Command Hooks at Hobby Lobby before they ditch the 40 percent off coupon). James had been wearing the compression sock again on his left leg, but Deborah (the visiting nurse) put him back into the calamine lotion unna boot after she saw the two small blisters on the arch of his foot. This seems like a setback, but I’m sure the leg can stand the extra moisture that the calamine brings. Sure was a downer, though, along with the fact that I had to make Snowy his annual appointment with a completely different vet. The avian vet we have had for years, Dr. Karolyn Akins, has quarantined herself during COVID, and the other avian vet at the office left. I had to call three vets before I could find one that would give Snowy a polyoma shot, which they require before he can board at our vet. And the vet we will be going to is still doing curbside pickup. I do not like that at all.

Wednesday I had to call our insurance agent to question why I can’t see both our auto and our home policy online. (The short answer is that the auto insurance is in my name and the house policy is in James’ name with mine as the secondary name. To be able to combine them, the agent needs to change my name to primary on the house insurance.) I haven’t called our agent since the Smallwoods retired, and I had a rather long, hilarious chat with the new guy, Bruce, who’s originally from Long Island. I also paid our house insurance through him. We received two communications from Nationwide, one that had the complete house policy in it and said “This is not a bill” and didn’t have a due date on it, and then the second that said “Hi, your payment was due February 3.” So I paid the bill on my credit card (yay! Amazon points) and then paid off the credit card.

Thursday was kind of a sweet and sour day. We went off in the car (because it was supposed to rain) and did the shopping at Publix, then at Kroger. This was a great experience at Publix (even if they didn’t have chicken and wild rice soup) and a not-so-great experience at Kroger because the only electric cart left squeaked like the dickens through our entire trip through the store. We got home expecting to find out how the Mars landing came out, but it turned out Perseverance wasn’t landing until 3:55 p.m. So we went out to Sam’s Club. They had five free items you could get if you used the coupon we'd received by the 20th. Our membership was expired, but we renewed it when we walked in, then hurried around getting the five items, and a few other things, only to get to the cashier, who told us we didn’t have memberships! It turned out the membership renewal takes a while to “register” on the computer. (I call bullshit. We have renewed our Sam’s membership and bought stuff immediately afterwards on previous years.) So because the computer didn’t register us as being members, we had to leave all the stuff we bought behind, including a rotisserie chicken and a frozen pizza, which of course would have to be thrown in the trash! What a waste! 😠

Friday was a better day. We had the nurse coming, but she showed up at ten (alas, still re-wrapping his left leg, as he had a raw spot on his lower leg near the thighbone) and, amazingly, we had the rest of the day for ourselves. It felt insane. We’ve had six straight weeks of having to be at a doctor’s office at least once, and sometimes three times, on Thursday and Friday, along with the inevitable grocery shopping, and here we had a free afternoon! And not only that, it wasn’t raining! It was bright and blue and just chilly enough to make you feel alive but not bone-chillingly cold. So we did it! We loaded up the power chair and went out! We drove up to Canton, a 30-minute drive (my commute to work used to be longer) and went to Uncle Maddio’s Pizza for lunch. The Uncle Maddio’s near us closed during the pandemic, and the next-closest one, out in Acworth, closed not soon after. The closest one is now in Canton. We walked in the door and I began salivating immediately at the wonderful scents. Amazingly, the manager was all by himself in the store, doing all the work (assembling, topping, putting in the oven, taking payment, bringing out the food). We left him a big tip! And it was so good to have a no-cheese bacon-black olive-basil pizza again!

Not only that, but the Uncle Maddio’s was one parking lot away from a big new shopping center (Canton Marketplace) that has a real, live full-size Books-a-Million! (I know, I’m sprinkling this with far too many exclamation points, but this was an exciting and wonderful day compared with our lives since December 24.) We went in and wandered about for over a delightful hour. I picked up three bargain books: Creating Sherlock Holmes (one of those oversized volumes illustrated with a lot of old photos), Mike Rowe’s The Way I Heard It (which is partially based on his podcast and partly a biography), and Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies, which I never bought full-price because it was too expensive. The store was chock full of books (unlike good ol' Barnes & Noble), and the magazine rack was long and inviting. (I talked myself out of the magazine about the history of London, though.) James got a new “Cook’s Illustrated” and some game cards, and we drank peppermint hot chocolate at the Joe Muggs coffee bar. About three o’clock we came home happy and relaxed.

I’d dreaded Saturday, but it wasn’t too bad. It was another bright and blue day, and we were headed to the Kaiser facility in Gwinnett County to get the first of our two COVID-19 vaccine shots. Alice had called us on Thursday just as we pulled into Kroger saying she had gotten a text that appointments were available. By the time we got home from Kroger, the Friday appointments were gone but they still had ones for Saturday afternoon. So we braved the interstate—really, drivers are getting worse!—and arrived there with time to spare to use the rest room. Because I did that whole allergic thing with the Zostavax and James is on blood thinners, they made us wait 30 minutes after the shot instead of fifteen, but we just sat and read and it went by quickly.

By then it was nearly two o’clock and we were really wanting something to eat. The east side of Atlanta is a really good area for Asian markets and restaurants, and we found, less than a mile away, a Hibachi Grill buffet. They were still doing it as buffet, but they made you wear gloves and a mask to go to the bar to get food. This cost a bit more than the lunch buffet at our Hibachi Grill, but they had seafood all over the bar: at least two kind of shrimp, crab, crawfish, tilapia, etc. I wanted the crab so badly, but I didn’t dare after having the shot and not knowing how it would affect me. And for about a minute or two, I did feel a little strange while I was eating. I can’t even describe what it was. I didn’t have chest pain, or shortness of breath, or feel dizzy…just felt a little odd. I stopped eating and took a couple of breaths and was almost about to say something to James when it went away. It didn’t come back, and I went back to dinner. Amazingly, they had ice cream cups in a freezer up front and instead of strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate, they had strawberry, vanilla, and coffee! Enjoyed having a coffee ice cream cup!

On the way home we stopped at Costco for gasoline (we’d tried to stop at the Costco on that side of town, but the line was out into the street). The only bad thing about the day was seeing a “carbeque” on I-85 North. Somewhere there is a dead red Mazda now in a junkyard. We could see the smoke from quite a distance, then it turned from white to grey to black, and as we came by the car we could see the flames involving the whole engine compartment and burning underneath. I hope no one was hurt.

The other thing we did this weekend was turn on Hulu and watch the first four episodes of the new Animaniacs. I was…underwhelmed. Really, the best joke in the first four episodes was the promo they showed for the series where they parodied Jurassic Park. There were a couple of good bits: Donald Trump as the Cyclops in the takeoff on “The Odyssey” was a good laugh, and there were some good bits in a “Pinky and the Brain” sequence that paralleled the McCarthy hearings. They were trying too hard to be clever most of the time. I found most of the skits dull.

Labels: birds, books, chores, events, excursions, food, health, pets, shopping, sickness, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:01:00 PM

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Started our weekend with things already accomplished: I'd brushed out the dog, finally got my safe-deposit box re-established and renewed a CD (only for six months because interest rates were so loathesome), made an eye exam appointment, and wrote out Thanksgiving cards. (Also, alas, the shrimp we had for our anniversary made me sick. Dammit.) 

Labels: books, chores, dogs, errands, excursions, movies, pets, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:35:00 PM

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Something absolutely extraordinary happened today. It was a weekend we didn't have anything planned and it wasn't raining. Do you know how unbelievably rare that has been for the past few months?

So we shoved four of the most useful of storage conveyances—otherwise known as a Xerox paper box—stuffed with books we no longer want into the back of the truck, carefully covered with a tarp, since retired me no longer has access to the things and must take care of the ones we have, mounted the power chair, and made our way up to Chattanooga. We had a couple more pit stops than usual, and by the time we arrived, it was lunchtime, so we went to City Café first.

Last time we came here, I don't know what was going on, but the place was packed and we had to wait nearly a half hour to be seated. Today: plenty of seats, and we had a super waiter. Of course we ordered the chicken soup with our open-faced sandwiches (turkey for me and roast beef for James). It is the best tasting soup, with carrots and celery in it, and it's made the way my relatives did so long ago, with broken up spaghetti in it instead of noodles or rice. Its only fault is that it's really salty; otherwise it could be a food group all of itself.

We should have brought some home like we usually do; I practically inhaled the cup in one breath it was so good, but now I feel like I hardly tasted it. The turkey, while being only breast slices, was still delicious laid on the toasted bread with gravy all over it; I did manage to bring some home. I can get some French bread at Publix tomorrow and have at least one sandwich, maybe two. We also bought a slice of their chocolate suicide cake to take home. They carry these huge cakes for dessert, the size of small drums, as does the Marietta Diner and Pasta Bella and a couple of other places here.

Then it was off to McKays, where we sorted the contents of the four Xerox paper boxes into bins and sent them off to be considered while we wander amongst the books. James found a real prize, a coffee table book about the Spitfire aircraft with color photographs for $2. He got some other aircraft-related publications, and also a copy of The Bluejackets Manual (basically the instruction book for U.S. Navy recruits) from 1944.

I found some goodies myself: the latest Bess Crawford mystery which I was planning to get off Amazon with points and instead got with credit, two different linguistics books (Words in Time and Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions), Roger Angell's book of essays This Old Man, The Man Who Invented the Daleks about Terry Nation, a book I won't mention because I may or may not give as a gift, and two nearly free amusements: a book of etiquette "by" Hyacinth Bucket (that's pronounced "bouquet," dear) for only 75 cents, and, for a mere dime, a fannish collector's item, a nearly-new copy of Jean Lorrah's early Star Trek novel, The Vulcan Academy Murders. We received a combination of cash money and credit, and both had cash left over.

We usually take the books they reject and I donate them to the library book sale, but I didn't feel like loading them back into the truck and toting them up to Roswell Street, so I let them have the rest.

We had a nice drive home despite a traffic problem: they were fixing the Lake Allatoona Dam road and creating a nasty little backup on I-75 south. We'd observed it on the way up and knew we had to get off the freeway no later than exit 293. So we got off there, at Cartersville and the Tellus Science Museum, and followed a route that took us to the old state highway 41. We had to go through the main drag in Cartersville where all the shopping centers were, but, aside from that, traffic was not bad. By then we were so close to home we just stayed on US41 and were rewarded, just south of Cartersville, with a beautiful sweep of highway that brought us through a lovely valley view. James noted that we must keep this in mind next year when the leaves reach peak.

In a few minutes more, we were driving by the Books-a-Million in Acworth, and thus went through our usual route home via Due West Road and Dallas Highway just as sun was setting. James took the road through the battlefield park and, in a little copse of trees just at the right side of Chatham Hill Road, a place I've always been convinced is a deer yard, were two deer grazing undisturbed by the traffic scant yards away.

Home in time to take a look at the books, eat a bit, compute a bit more, talk to Snowy and walk Tucker.

Labels: books, excursions, food, traffic, travel, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:10:00 PM

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It's Christmas time and time for family!

Labels: Christmas, excursions, family, food, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:17:00 PM

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We finally did it; went on our trip to Chattanooga that was aborted on December 30 with the truck accident. We finally had a rain-free weekend, it wasn't hot (breezy, sunny, jacket weather with the jacket open over a sweatshirt later on, although it was in the high 30s this morning), and traffic was passable (a little more hairy coming home).

Up at 7:30, we had breakfast and I walked Tucker, then we made sure he and Snowy had breakfast and water, then we used the hand truck to walk the four boxes (there were originally three) out to the truck, put them in the back, tie the lids on (since I don't have work to get boxes from anymore), and then set out.

I drove up there and I have to say it was a treat. When we had the chair lift put on the old truck, it became a bit hard to drive; it would sway slightly from side to side. So we had the mechanic put on heavy-duty shocks in the back. That helped, but it was still a bit unbalanced. Either this truck was built more solidly or it's just because it's newer or the company that originally owned it had it upgraded, because it is nicely balanced and you can hardly tell the chair is back there at all. A very smooth and even drive.

We got to McKay's about eleven, unloaded our books, and then commenced to browsing. The place was quite crowded and there were no carts or baskets when we got there, so I had to get shopping bags out of the truck. When I went back to get our credit-or-cash when our number was posted on the board, my jaw dropped because they offered me so much in cash, so I took it, along with a little bit of credit. And we only got about half of one box of books back (will donate them to the library for their booksale), too. Plus we didn't bring much home: James got mostly CDs (the band Yes, some bagpipes and marches, and part 2 of the Carl Stalling project) and a couple of books. I got a brand-new book I can't mention because it's intended as a gift, two "Live It Again" books from "Good Old Days" magazine (1940 and 1948), Alistair Cooke's One Man's America (which I'd never seen  before), Bill Mauldin's autobiography The Brass Ring, a book of correspondence from pioneer women, This Victorian Life (written by a woman who dresses and lives in a Victorian fashion), and the Babylon 5 season-by-season handbook we were missing (season four), a "Dear Canada" book, and a "Dear America" book.

We got out of there about 1:30 and immediately headed for City Café for lunch. Even at almost two o'clock they were still crowded, and we had to wait while other folks who came in behind us got seated in booths because of the power chair. But finally we got to chow down: their wonderful savory (and not overly-salted) chicken noodle soup (with broken-up spaghetti in it instead of noodles like my mom and aunts made), a salad, and I had an open-faced turkey sandwich and James had open-faced meatloaf. We had to take half of it home, because their portions are so big, and I bought two more soups to take home as well.

Finally we went to the Hamilton Mall to check out their Barnes & Noble. Why is it everyone else's B&Ns are always better than the ones in Atlanta? This one has so many more books! I bought the second Lilly Long mystery (which no one near us carried), Walter Lord's book about Dunkirk, and a travel book about a man and his girlfriend who just drop everything and backpack around the world. Wouldn't that be a wonder?

Traffic was a little techier on the way home and James' ankle was bothering him, but we got back unscathed after having a wonderful day and spent the remainder of the evening watching The Incredible Dr. Pol. Why is it any time we watch lately they are gelding something? 😀

Labels: books, excursions, food, music

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:47:00 PM

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I can't even recall the last time we went to the Farmers' Market, but it was a cold day. Tucker had run out of his "magic dog cookies" ages ago, and since it would be cool this morning we decided to go, but be brisk about it since James' club meeting was also today. We decided to take Nature Boy with us, and he did certainly enjoy the entire trip, but supervising him is a full-time job for me. By the time we got there, there were no parking spaces on Powder Springs Road or around the square, so we just parked in back of Johnnie McCracken's Pub in the municipal lot (free on weekends) and walked.

Tucker is the Elephant's Child; he has "'satiable curiosity" enough for two dogs. He was very interested in the doors to an empty storefront that appears to be becoming another tiresome bar, so heaven only knows what has been going through them. Once we got to the square we cut across Glover Park, where entrants for a 5K were gathering. Friendly people! And then when we got to the market itself, O heaven! Other dogs! Labradoodles, mutts, a very elderly Golden retriever, a young Schnauzer, rescue greyhounds, and all sorts of canine acquaintances to touch noses and rear ends with in proper canine greeting fashion. Two little kids asked us about Tucker, we talked to the lady who runs Big Daddy dog biscuits (so we have "magic cookies" again), James bought some mint lime mixer, we have scones for desserts, and cucumbers and tomatoes for a salad for Easter dinner tomorrow (menu will be grilled shrimp in a scampi sauce). We sampled lemonade (too sweet) and the scones, but not much else because riding herd on Mr. Sociability kept me on my toes.

On the way back to the truck I ducked into the Local Exchange to buy two bags of Zesty Italian pretzels. Best pretzels ever.

On the way home, Tucker was allowed to do this, which made his day:


James dropped us off and went on to his IPMS meeting; I had better things to do, so of course I didn't do them. Last week I cancelled the disk portion of our Netflix subscription. We hadn't watched a disk since before his heart attack, and I decided I'd rather waste the monthly charge on Britbox, which we could get through the Roku stick I got free from Amazon Vine. At this moment, it was attached to the television in the spare room, so first I signed up with Britbox on the computer, then I signed on via the Roku. James set it up originally so I didn't really play with it much previously.

Then I brought it out to the living room. Trouble is, it works on an HDMI port, and all of ours are filled. But we don't use the small computer much anymore; we just use the disk drive on the small computer to view our Region 2 videos. So I unplugged that and if we want to watch British video we will just have to swap it out. Plugged in the Roku (to both the HDMI and the power source) and taped it to the top of the TV, since it has to be in line of sight of the remote to work properly (it's now sitting next to Judy Hopps), and then turned it on and made it go. For some strange reason, you can't get the A-Z listing of shows on the Roku app, just online, so I turned on Doctor Who ("Spearhead from Space"—Jon Pertwee, of course, and then the first episode of Keeping Up Appearances, which I don't ever recall seeing) and while I was watching I was online and putting shows on a watchlist. Nice selection: Cadfael, The Last Detective, all of Classic Who, Campion, A Touch of Frost, Waking the Dead, Absolutely Fabulous, Blackadder, As Time Goes By, Inspector Lynley, etc. Even some British cooking shows for James, and lots of documentaries, including the late 60s PBS staple, Civilisation with Kenneth Clarke. Have a big wishlist for more, though, especially old things, like Doctor in the House and All Creatures Great and Small. Would love to see some of the classic British cop shows: Z Cars, The Sweeney, Dixon of Dock Green...if they still exist, of course. And The Professionals! I heard so much about that show from Deb and Pat and the others in Boston in the 1980s.

I also finished A Year of Biblical Womanhood, which I enjoyed very much, and, although I hate to admit it, started doing a very late task: while I put up the spring decorations on the porch and in the foyer weeks ago, all the winter decorations are still up in the living and dining room. I just can't muster any enthusiasm for spring ever and this has been the worst yet. So not only don't I have Easter decorations up, I don't even have spring ones up. All the snowmen and silver trees and snow-marked items are gathered on the dining room table to be collected into the box, except for the winter park, which still must be packed away.

When James got home, we went to Longhorn for dinner (just basic entree and salads), our usual, the 6-ounce Renegade. I have to start telling them "medium" instead of "medium rare," as the Dallas Highway location barely shows the meat a picture of the fire. Next we went to Sprouts and picked up a couple of things, including beef and pork bits, onions, and grapes on sale. As James was finishing up the sale there, I ran next door with the coupon I'd gotten in e-mail and bought Tucker another bag of dog food, and got an even better coupon for next week: If I buy two bags of dog food and $2 worth of dog biscuits or a toy, I can get 33 percent off the deal! Of course I stopped to talk with the budgies; there was a cute one there who looked a lot like my sweet little Pigwidgeon. He was burbling quite contentedly near the glass wall of the enclosure.

Then we stopped at Barnes & Noble, but neither of us found anything we absolutely had to have. Our coupons don't expire until Mother's Day, so we've got time. By then we were both pretty tired, but neither of us wanted to go to the supermarket tomorrow, so we went across the street and got the usual: milk, a banana (only need one this week, thank God), a few other things, and two mini chocolate silk pies for tomorrow's dessert. And we are now set for desserts, since we have Lindt chocolate bunnies and Cadbury chocolate-filled eggs to go along with the scones. 😁

Stopped at Baskin-Robbins for tonight's dessert and then it was homeward to walk the dog and watch the Britcoms.

Labels: books, budgies, decorations, dogs, excursions, food, pets, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:58:00 PM

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May have slept better last night, certainly didn't sleep long enough. My eyelids feel like they have bricks on them. Nevertheless, we were up at 9:15 to get dressed/start packing so we could get breakfast before the buffet shut down. Damn, no French toast again. This time I had extra oatmeal.

The younger crowd was still occupied in a new game of Betrayal, but some folks were already heading out, like Jerry and Sue. When we got done with breakfast, we rushed back to the room and finished packing, stuffing as much as we could in the suitcase (since we bought the pants and underwear, the thing was packed; I even had to unzip the gusset) and moving everything forward and out as we worked, then finally towed everything into the common room, where we packed up the leftover cookies and noshed on a few fruits (well, more than a few; James had six tangerines). I guess we need to have a game night to whittle the cookies down; the hotel also provided us with their cookies daily. I then went to check out and make reservations for next year, plus to make a reservation for the day of the eclipse. Helen will be in the area of totality, if just for a minute or two, and a bunch of folks in the group had already made reservations as well (the Spiveys, the Butlers, and Charles that we know of). Shari came by to say goodbye while I was there. She usually stays over Monday, but said with everyone gone it would be too lonesome and she could use the money instead of the time off. She has to drive all the way back to Birmingham.

Juanita and David asked if we wanted to join them at Wendell's for lunch, and we pretty much thought it would make a much better experience than last night. 😕 So we loaded up the truck with their help, and put the tarps on because it was very cloudy and threatening of rain, then went back inside to say our goodbyes. Gave everyone left a hug and then headed down to the diner with the truck looking like a funky Conestoga.

Boy, it was crowded! Everyone must come here after church! We almost didn't find a parking space, then had to wait a little while, but were soon seated. James and David and I had the Sunday lunch special (we had chicken and David the meatloaf) and Juanita had their fish one more time. She says their fish is very lightly breaded and is super moist. She was still sorry about having to make a fuss last night, but eating dry foods cause her a great deal of pain.

Then lunch was over and we parted and headed off. James stopped for gasoline at the Ingles in Cleveland, and a little later for a Coke Zero in Dawsonville; otherwise we went nonstop from Wendell's in Sautee to the vet in Dunwoody. Of course since we put the tarps on, there was a simple spatter of rain and nothing else. The sun came out by the time we reached our exit.

We always arrive at the vet from Helen needing to use the restroom and this time was no exception. As I washed my hands, I could hear Snowy calling and he was in full chirble as I came out to the reception desk. We got him settled in the carry box before Tucker was brought out; he came out from the back like a steam engine dragging the vet tech behind him, right to me bouncing up and down until he noticed James. Paid the bill, which merely made me scream (I expected it; it included a checkup and shots, too, plus bathing and claw clipping for Tucker), and the tech helped us out the truck and getting the tarp off the truck bed so we could put in the bird cage, once more wrapped in a plastic garbage bag. We were so intent on this and on getting home that we didn't notice that we left Tucker's blanket and his fox behind, and Snowy's cage cover, until after the vet was closed. I left a message for them and guess I will have to stop tomorrow on the way home.

We were exhausted when we got home, from lack of sleep and the sun, but did get everything out of the truck except for a couple of things from Walmart that are in the "trunk." Was going to wash the clothes in the suitcase and was so tired that I gave up on it. They're in the washer, anyway. By the time we got everything settled it was suppertime, and James made something with eggs and I had leftover pork chop and potatoes, and we watched last Thursday's Masterchef Junior. It amazes me what they have these kids make! Not just good food served in a nice manner like at the diners we ate at, but "presented" like a piece of artwork. Seems silly as long as as the food doesn't look like the dog's dinner. Then I put on three of the four Make Room for Daddy episodes that recorded last week, where the kids talk Danny into proposing to Kathy, and then an episode about their honeymoon with the kids, and another with Terry not wanting Kathy to take over her household duties.

Sort of spent the rest of the evening in a funky daze. In fact James fell asleep for almost all of the Danny Thomas stories. Had North Woods Law on, as I didn't think James would be interested in the Brontë sisters and recorded that instead.

And now our wonderful weekend is over, again all too soon, and it's time for bed.

Labels: birds, dogs, excursions, friends, pets, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:42:00 PM

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Every time we go somewhere, I feel like I'm organizing D-Day. Last night it was cleaning out the bird cage and starting the packing, this morning after dog walking and breakfast, James went off to get the oil in the truck changed and have it washed and I set timers, packed a couple of jackets, locked everything up, overrode the thermostat, made the bed, cleaned off the sink, took out the trash, sprayed the can with Lysol, filled water bottles, got the bird cage ready for transport—oh, yeah, and I went to Kroger so we won't have to go on Sunday. It's loathsome when we have to go grocery shopping on the way home from anywhere.

By the time James told me he was on his return leg, I had Tucker outside on the leash and Snowy in the carry box, with the cage now in one of the 50 gallon trash bags I went out to buy (it needed it for safe transport to the vet). Snowy enthusiastically bit my hand before he noticed the mirror in the carry box. I took  them on a short walk, and Snowy was amazedly looking around at blue sky and houses when the hawk came lazing overhead and then he tamped his feathers down with big eyes.

Loaded up the truck with the usual efficiency (which means we looked like a clown circus act, and it didn't help when Tucker spotted "his deadly enemy the German Shepherd" being walked down by the cul-de-sac and burst into a salvo of barks), we made our way through the neighborhood and across town. Tucker got so excited that he kept bouncing on my left leg and jostling the carry box, so Snowy hurt his foot on some gravel perch covers I had in the box to help him hold on to them, since his little feet are crippled from the too-small nest box when he was a chick. It made his lame foot bleed briefly, but he didn't seem to notice it so deep was his lust over seeing the mirror. (I took his cage mirror away from him. He's the only budgie I've ever had where the mirror made him aggressive. When Snowy's hormones kicked in, they kicked in good. With Tucker in the house it's like an overflow of testosterone.)

So we arrived at the vet hungry and a little worse for wear. Tucker decided he liked the vet tech better than the daddy that kept admonishing him for jumping on my leg and walked off with her as if he had not a care in the world. They used to have to practically drag poor Willow away. A funny: I had to get Snowy out of the carry box and into the cage and he nipped at me again as I did so, but I took a breath and got him in. Well, he stayed attached to my left hand, which I had cupped like a bowl to hold him, biting one finger after the other in precision order. The funny thing was that he wasn't fastening on very hard, just grabbing each finger in turn, so it really didn't hurt, and I kept tipping him toward the perch and saying, "Snowy, let go," "C'mon, Snowy, let go," "Please let go," and then I lifted him up toward his toy "girlfriend" and he finally abandoned me to sing sweetly to her (probably telling her all about the trip across town). He's too funny. I loved him in the car; he just sang away and he doesn't get frightened by the landscape going by. Even Bandit had to be a little bit covered because the world going by him in a blur unsettled him, but Snowy doesn't mind it at all.

And then they were gone.

We were going to stop for lunch, but by this time it was around two and rush hour—and in some ways Thursday's rush hour is worse than Friday's—would be commencing shortly. So we headed up GA400 and finally stopped in Dawsonville near the North Georgia Premium Outlets to pick up a small plain burger for  me and a grilled chicken sandwich for James, gaping at the new construction. The Wendy's we stopped at used to be in the same parking lot with a Kroger, but that is now closed and a bigger one opened approaching the Outlets, across the street from a brand-new Publix, both in sprawling shopping centers.

And then so quickly after that it becomes roads lined with trees, soothing countryside with horse farms and boiled peanut stands and little antique shops and little white country churches and expanses of grass and the Appalachians in the distance, just a nice happy ride. It's been a nice coolish day, a skein of white cirrus clouds across the blue sky, just perfect for a ride.

We arrived at the hotel and settled into the room, then wandered out to the lobby where we saw Juanita and the Spiveys arrive, followed shortly by "the kids." The hotel was having an evening reception where they served soup and some drinks; we had a bowl of the potato soup each. As folks began to trickle in, we gathered in the lobby and decided to go to Big Daddy's for supper. We ate there last year and the food is pretty good. (No one wanted to go to Paul's because they'd quit serving the all-you-can-eat crab legs.) James had a peach-salsa jerk pork chop with beans and rice and I had a lobster pizza. It was a fun evening.

When we got back Nancy was here, but she's been having health problems and didn't stick around long. Juanita and Shari and the "kids" (none of them are anymore, but it's hard to think of them otherwise; we feel so venerable nowadays) played Farkle in the common room for a while, then went off to take a turn in the hot tub. I put Cabin Pressure on, but after all the drama with the fids this morning, the yawns are coming thick and fast. If no one comes soon, it's time to trot off to bed. We're thinking of doubling back tomorrow and going to the Outlet stores. I need underwear and James' only pair of jeans got caught on a door at Anachrocon last year and tore beyond repair.

Labels: birds, dogs, excursions, food, friends, pets, radio drama

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:11:00 PM

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So we were up at 8:20 this morning to have breakfast and walk Tucker before leaving for the RV Show. I wanted to get there as close to opening as possible, and we would have arrived there about 10:15 at the time we left. I put on "A Way With Words" and we headed down there via I-75.

Except I only remembered as we were approaching downtown that I left the free passes on the secretary. Right next to the stairs. Passed them leaving the house. Grrr. Given that getting in without them would cost $18, we turned around via Williams Street and dashed home as quickly as safety and law would allow so I could snatch up the passes and we could go back.

We got there at 11:15 instead, but it worked out okay after all: someone was just backing out of a handicapped parking space out front. We were there almost three hours and explored everything from those claustrophobic pods that are pretty much just a bed with a camping kitchen in the rear to a bus with three awnings that looked like it could be the party bus for the Rolling Stones (albeit cleaner). We actually found some kind of a little camper that was not claustrophobic and still could be pulled by our truck; we'd have to put a gardener's cart (like the ones they carry their lawn mowers on) on the back of it for the chair, though, or we'd have to stay stuck at the campsite. (I bet Tucker would love camping, though. I can see him trying to trail rabbits.) We saw a couple of pretty neat van conversions where the vans were more square, like a Transit. Some absolutely huge trailers, too, to be pulled by a large pickup truck, that had full-size refrigerators and electric fireplaces! And then there were the big buslike campers with ridiculous stuff, like lighted countertops and patterned ceilings and leather (ick) furniture. They did have washers and dryers, too, though, and nice queen-sized beds.

These shows always have gadgets (like knives and cookware) and services (like different campsites advertising) being sold, and I bought myself a little desk lamp to use at the sofa when I want to cross stitch and also three lights that look like light switches, but they hang on the wall and are battery powered. You switch them on and LEDs come on to light up small dark places. I want them for stacks in the library.

We got done a little after two and were ravenous, so we drove home—back through downtown and surprisingly encountered traffic (not so surprising after all; there was some do for the Atlanta Falcons heading off to Houston for the Stupid Bowl)—and had lunch/dinner at Ken's before going home.

Later on we watched last week's and this week's (the season finale) Alaska: the Last Frontier. As I was in the middle of this blog entry, the laptop dropped its wireless connection. I thought the router had died again, but it was fine. Either the Tenda wireless USB adapter has just quit or the laptop has quit responding to it. My "Q" key also doesn't work well anymore. It sounds like it is well and truly dying. :-( It's nearly nine years old, which I guess is geriatric for a laptop.

And, most aggravatingly, James tried connecting to the VPN at work one more time—and it worked flawlessly. That means something was wrong with the VPN yesterday, not either of the cell phones. Snellfrocky. Dirty socks.

Labels: computers, excursions, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:37:00 PM

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We decided to go back to Costco this morning to see if we could get two more of the terrific chair pads we bought last week, so we were up at eight, out in the cold air, and at Costco by the time they opened. Alas, we could not find the seat cushions. Or Eggland eggs, either. We stocked up on milk and "plastic cheese," as James calls it, and a couple of other things, then did find a real bargain: we have our computer chairs on clear plastic chair mats. At that moment very old plastic chair mats. Mine had fine cracks in it, since I sit there all day at least two days a week. I had looked at new ones at Office Depot and they were $45. These were larger and they were only $19! Yeah, with those stupid little spikes in them to keep them from sliding on the carpet they are a pain to handle, but after I had vacuumed around the desks and we heaved them upstairs, they went in place fine. I'd almost rather wrestle with the Christmas tree, though!

James left for his IPMS meeting and I put up the milk and cheese. Now, for years I have heard about something called Christmas at the Mable House, which is a craft show at an historic home on Floyd Road. I've always put it on my calendar and never have gone. This year I was determined to go. First I had to stop at the Publix on Floyd Road to get some cash in case they didn't take cards. Well, this Publix doesn't  have a SunTrust anymore, either—are they pulling out of all of them?—but I could get money out of the Presto machine for nothing. (I picked up a baguette and the eggs for James, too.)

The Mable House is just a block down from the Publix. The craft show wasn't at the house, though; it at the meeting building across the driveway. It was arranged more like the flea markets we go to rather than having the vendors at individual booths as at Apple Annie (some of the vendors were there, they just weren't taking money). Each item had a number signifying whose craft it was and a price. You paid for all at the end at a check out cash register and I guess at the end of the day or the show each crafter gets his money. I bought some little items like a tea bag holder for James and something cool for David Gibson.

From there, since I was so close, I stopped at KMart. I usually put a little 5x5" calendar next to my desk, marking when I will be paid and which paycheck goes for what. I usually get one at Michaels, but I haven't seen any this year. KMart is the only place I've seen these tiny calendars. But there were none. I did find more tinsel (I try to replace what I use every year and a little more), real 50-strings of "fairy lights" (I bought three, and they weren't $15 bloody dollars each, either), and C7 bulbs in multicolors as I'm toying with making the candles multicolor one day.

I also stopped at the used bookstore to see what they had in Christmas books, but only bought a couple "Sisters at Heart" I don't have (these are like "Dear America" books, but with a Christian slant). The Christmas books were piled out front but I either had them, they were romances, or they were cookbooks/decorating books.

By then I was starving because it was almost 1:30. I had a $9 birthday credit at Tin Drum, so went there for lunch, which ended up costing 54¢. (In the end, it was a good thing I filled up!) I stopped in at Barnes & Noble before going home. Children were singing the score from Annie. I picked up a "Period Living" and "English Period Homes."

I had just gotten home and was tidying up a little when James arrived home. He wanted to take me out for my birthday dinner tonight. Usually we go to the Colonnade, but it's way in Buckhead, and I wanted something different for a change. Let's go to Red Lobster, I suggested.

Well, our waitress was nice and the food was good, but oh, goodness...I ordered a pick-two combination so I could have grilled scallops and grilled shrimp, and as my side I had "roast gold potatoes." The sorriest plate I've ever seen emerged along with James' seafood trio (which has fried shrimp and alfredo shrimp, both which I dislike): six puny shrimp on a stick and three good sized scallops and a tiny one on another, with six (count 'em, six) tiny round potatoes, two about the diameter of a dime. James was aghast. He gave me some of the alfredo and the sauce was thick and unappetizing. I ate the shrimp and the scallops up, but could only eat one of the potatoes because they were so heavily peppered. James was annoyed enough to complain to the manager, who comped us the scallops. Honestly, they were $2.50 extra. They could have at least given me six, and all full size!

Dessert was better; we went to Bruster's and had ice cream. Yes, ice cream when the mercury stands at 40°F. One of my favorite stories from my mom was the one about the snowstorm in which she and her best friend walked all the way downtown and then walked home eating ice cream in the snow. We have no snow, but we've had the cold! It was 27 this morning and I even put Tucker's jacket on him. He hated it, but he wore it. :-)

We took him out again when we got home, and then settled in to "watch some Christmas." I played Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, and then put on Rick Steves' European Christmas for some real hygge. Following we listened to the additional songs on the disc, and then we got caught up watching an old NYPD Blue episode on Heroes & Icons. That was such a good series.

Anyway, the biggest news of the day came when James arrived home from the IPMS meeting. I got an excited phone call right after he pulled into the driveway: "I found it!" His wedding ring was sitting in the groove where the garage door comes down! How we missed it when we searched I don't know, but he's happy and I'm happy that it's back.

Labels: books, Christmas, errands, excursions, food, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:59:00 PM

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