What's everybody doing today?

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4:20 AM again. Overrun with raccoons, like 11 or 12, four possums, Who cares about the stupid armadillo, and 5 tomcats. the coons have weaponized cute! they know if they get my attention and do something decidedly non-wild animal-like, I'll give them some Cheetos or some kind of leftovers the cats won't touch. tonight, one got in the trash and woke me up, I opened my eyes to see six coons, all standing (Yeah, on two feet!) looking at me! Screw the Doritos, my gums still hurt and they're getting a bit funky! Hoover and Snowball slipped in and hoovered up the crumbs. There's something almost magical about having a wild animal that could conceivably do me serious damage (Roscoe and Maude probably both weigh in at around forty pounds, they're fully grown and fat as hogs!) walk right up and take a Doritos out of your hand.

P.S
They have stopped crapping on the floor!
 
We have company coming this afternoon (for the weekend)!
Will walk first.
Get guest room ready.
Sweep house.
Walk dogs.
Make a meatloaf.
And wait!
Looking forward to this visit and taking a break!

I pray that you all have a safe and uneventful drive home @Amish Heart !
 
Started to feel sick yesterday evening, like I was getting a cold, but better today, just a slight scratchy throat now. Having tea. I think maybe it was just the super cold weather yesterday morning ( 15 degrees, thats cold for here, especially early December)
So we might make that Sams trip we've been putting off. It's a long drive , further than the usual shopping long tunnel under the mountain and all...I don't like that road much either
 
Not working today so I'm in the midst of cleaning out, I usually buy things in bulk (10 at a time), but over the last year my lifestyle has been changing drastically, first I lost weight (>20#s), second my employment is nearing it's end. I used to work in office dress 6 days a week, now I work in office dress once a week, but my travel is about to increase so that may swing the other way... Either way I am within 3 years of retiring and I don't see myself ever going back to suite and tie after that.. So I am in the process of deciding what to hold, what to fold, and what to throw away...
 
backlash said:
I finally got around to replacing the controller for the heated and cooled seats in my F150.
There is a know problem with them.
Ford used 2 power wires but only 1 ground pin and it over time it will corrode causing the pin to get hot and melt the plastic connector.
You can clean the pin but the plastic is melted and you wind up replacing the control box and the connector.
$180 OEM part on Amazon or $400 from ford.
You have to cut and splice all 12 pins.
It took me about an hour because you have to work under the front seat.
Then it did NOT work.
I ordered the one that Amazon and the seller assured me was the correct part only to find out it is not.
The one I received is for a truck without cooled seats.
So on to the next repair.
My trailer brake controller went bad. Was working just fine, I stopped to get gas and the trailer breaks were locked up tight.
I had to remove the fuse for the trailer breaks in order to drive home.
I replaced the trailer break controller a couple of weeks ago and was waiting for a little warmer temps. I have to connect my laptop up to the OBD2 port and enable the controller.
Downloaded a program called Forscan and got everything connected and was just about to go to the settings an enable the controller and my laptop just shut down. Dead battery.
I guess it wasn't charging today.
It was not my day.
If you have a Ford the Forscan program will allow you to access all the setting in your car or truck.
You can brick you vehicle so you need to be very, very careful.
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I got a "FIXD" module to plug under the dash of my old XTerra; it reads error codes, tells you what they are, and then advises you on how to fix it. Problem was that it puts a parasitical load on the battery even when turned off; don't drive the truck for a week or so and the battery dies.

I recharged the battery and put the module away, which is (hopefully) a good thing, since tomorrow morning Dawn and I will be driving to Arizona for Xmas with kids and grand-son with the XTerra pulling the trailer. We'll be sending at lest five days driving through our favorite place in the world: southern Utah and the slot-canyons. Hopefully we'll survive the hikes and rappels thee and arrive in Phoenix alive.

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Dawn always says, "if we aren't scared s***tless we didn't have enough fun on our vacation".
 
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My wife and I made 2 batches of fudge with walnuts, about 8 pounds total.
It's nothing but sugar and fat and very high in calories.
We are giving it to my Aunt and Uncle and any of the cousins that show up tomorrow.
We are NOT keeping any for ourselves. It's just too good to have around when I'm trying to lose weight.
This evening we're going to meet my wife's sister and BIL at the casino to exchange gifts.
We don't gamble so we'll meet in the parking lot.
 
The move from the old house to the new has finally been completed. I've spent the entire year fixing, painting, packing, moving, sorting...uff da. I'm never doing this again, next move is feet first. Living in chaos in the new house, can't unpack until I do more painting, fixing, etc. I hate it but I know the only way to having a clean, calm space is to work through the mess.
Today I was painting a bathroom closet and trying to ignore the outrageously warm and sunny day until I just couldn't take it anymore. I threw down the paint roller, stalked out to the shed, moved a bunch of stuff so I could my motorcycle out, and went for a ride! I never got a chance to ride my motorcycle or paddle my kayak all year so it really felt good to get out.
 
Heartbroken said:
The move from the old house to the new has finally been completed. I've spent the entire year fixing, painting, packing, moving, sorting...uff da. I'm never doing this again, next move is feet first. Living in chaos in the new house, can't unpack until I do more painting, fixing, etc. I hate it but I know the only way to having a clean, calm space is to work through the mess.
Today I was painting a bathroom closet and trying to ignore the outrageously warm and sunny day until I just couldn't take it anymore. I threw down the paint roller, stalked out to the shed, moved a bunch of stuff so I could my motorcycle out, and went for a ride! I never got a chance to ride my motorcycle or paddle my kayak all year so it really felt good to get out.
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Yay! Congratulations 🎉 on having the old place finished. Something to think is as you do the tasks in your new place, they will be done 😁
 
I was not wanting to wake up this morning. Still up by 4:30 but wasn’t moving very fast and I was ready to throw my phone out the window. It rang 6 times by 9:30 as well as a couple texts and spam 😡. Laid back down for about 20 minutes then was able to get moving.
We’ll go get a tree tomorrow 😁
 
Exhausted but I finally have help with my folks. Their care is finally getting organized, roles being defined. But the day started with a mini disaster. The sister who came to take mom to a med appt couldn’t get her in the car. When she decides she can’t do something that’s it. Had to call an uncle to help me lift her back into the wheel chair. Took an hour just to get her back in the house.

I had to go for groceries late afternoon, needed to go 3 days ago, oh well. Stopped at the office supply store, got a dry erase monthly planning board to go on dads fridge. This will make it easy to keep up with their medical appts, instead of using half a dozen different note pads.

Hopefully we’ll have a quiet weekend… fingers crossed, we need the rest.
 
Bad day, and didn't make it home. Had to call an ambulance for husband at the hotel this morning, he couldn't breathe, and his body was giving out completely, and the oxygen was not helping. So in the trauma unit in ER for the morning, then ICU. Just left the hospital and he was now moved to a regular unit room. Back at the hotel for me and daughter flew in from Tucson to be here with him. Don't know why it happened, and not sure what'll be next.
 
@Magus I love that you have the raccoons taking food from your hand. The first time I saw the raccoons in my house, they were both standing upright on two feet trying to scare the dog, Fippy. He was yapping at them and they weren't having it. Unfortunately, they never got to the point of calming down enough to be friendly. They were irritated by the barking dogs.

@Amish Heart oh no! I hope your husband will be OK. Having a loved one in ICU and hospital is not fun.

Mom's recent brush with death has my brother more concerned for her health and he's been helping me with her a bit more. I've mastered using the glucose monitor thing. Mom's sugar got down to 35 and I had to make her take some kind of emergency glucose thing. She was barely conscious. If her sugar gets under 100 she's not very lucid. She wouldn't even lift her hand for me to prick her finger so I knew something was wrong. But she did better after and wanted food. She's getting up at a more regular time, going to the living room, putting her own shoes and socks on (I had been having to do that for her). Also had to physically pick her up off the toilet and pull her pants up for her when she was feeling off. She's back to eating more regular food, but we all need a major diet adjustment.

She wanted to go to the bank today so I took her. She got cash out in case we need to pay cash for anything and had some as a gift for our friend (the one who brought the wheelchair over and got her into it). He's promised to help me get some yard work done when he recovers from the tooth pulling. I just got a new poly dump cart for hauling stuff to the burn pile. Need to get a grabber arm that is easy on the hand. Got arthritis so having to squeeze and hold hurts. I wonder if they have electric ones. LOL.

Pretty much took care of Mom, watched youtube, and napped. It's much less stressful than driving to the hospital.
 
Today is technically the first day of my 'holidays' though I planned to lie in I was up at 6.45 as usual lol. I handed in my final two essays for this semester last night and today getting will be stuck in to full Christmas mode. Wrapping, card writing and prepping some side dishes to pop in the freezer for the big day, my trial run of parsnip and apple soup was a success, and I premake these little sausagemeat and cranberry in cupcake tins to save time. I've a few hampers to put together and a hat to finish knitting. And there's plenty of cleaning to do! Some of mine are off to watch a rerun of Die Hard in the cinema tonight, and tomorrow husband has an archery shoot. Have a good weekend everyone!
 
Amish: so sorry, sounds like you would have been better off staying home :(

It was so cold in the bedroom this morning I could see my breath. Got up to turn space heater on, then made a fire in the kitchen. Need to get started on the animals. We fiured out the little goat most likely was not out all night, she can squeeze through the barn door if it's not latched, and wasn't the last few nights ( husband has a habit of forgetting things like that)

Did the dreaded sams trip yesterday and it wasn't too bad, traffic was fine, and the sams was relatively not too crowded and they had everything I wanted, plus got my dog food refund. We actually had 4 bags of it, but 2 were long eaten, so we only got the refund for the 2 we returned.
That plus the credit I already had on my Sams card and I only payed around $200 for a whole bunch of stuff. I like their peanut butter so I stock up, different dog food , meat we dont have. I actually found some pork belly sliced up that I am going to make Korean food out of. THat is very hard to find. I should have probably bought more and made some bacon out of it. Got chicken thighs almost out of date for a very low price, like .99 cents a pound ( which if quationable will go to dogs) , and some beef round for husband's favovite fajitas

Also dropped off a return at a UPS place that was hiding in a autoparts store and we drove past a few times till we figured it out

Today, getting ready for a lot of rain, meaning cleaning barn extra well, putting lots of bedding moving lots of wood inside
 
My last 3 day weekend until we hire someone who can work Sundays. Took dad to the Acme that’s about 10 miles away yesterday. (Yes, that’s a long trip for our area for a supermarket). They have really good quality meats—restaurant grade—and really good sales around holidays. Got a 10 pound prime rib roast for 4.99/lb., pork loin roast, some other miscellaneous beef, and assorted baking sundries.

Today I need to take my brother and SIL’s gifts to the FedEx store. Afterwards I’ll be performing some meat fabrication and packaging it for the freezer. Don’t know how I’m going to get it all in there.
 
Nice sunny day after yesterday's rain. Fixin' to hang out some laundry. Need to do some house cleaning! As soon as it warms up a little I will trim Buddy's hooves. Also need to get my work schedule in order for the next few weeks. A lot of extras after Christmas, I help several of my clients with their Christmas decorations. Always extra cleaning at the homes that had company!
 
Yea! It's the weekend again!!
2 weeks on clean up , well thursday I took off n friday I ran my machine all day. I had a blood draw in the am n decided clean up can do without me.
It totally worked out too. Nightshift broke down for hours and so the boss had everyone who was not working on the problem do clean up...and everyone actually cleaned!
Usually, most operators hide in their shacks when clean up is mentioned. But they had hours to get something done.
The programming on the trim saw n sorter glitched .right after the sun spit out that x class flare too. I wonder if it was related?
Anyways,
Today starts with catching up a tad here..
Coffee..
Making dog food..
Taking dogs on a nice walk at some point. Its frozen n clear here but freezing fog is rolling in too..
Going to light up stovie after the dog walk..
I might have to redo a rug I started. I noticed last night its uneven on one end..I messed up.
 
UrbanHunter said:
Yesterday was trash day, but because my day started at 02:00 and ended at 17:00, I just didn't do it.... So I woke up at 04:00 and did the trash chore, then I went to the medical center to give blood for lab work, I was number 2 because I was polite to the old lady who arrived with her son while I was sitting there sucking on a bottle of water (just in case I needed to fill a cup)... Then I went grocery shopping and headed home to do laundry.. Got notified that some of my lab results were in, A1C is down from 11+ to 6.4 in 5 months... So I'm happy, eat a cookie happy :) now I'm going to put myself in time out......
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Great improvement in the A1c. Congratulations. It isn’t easy.
Cabin Fever said:
Gotcha. I was thinking grandkids, not kids. I remember when my MIL gifted us with a gold Krugerrand.
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I’m holding a Krugerrand the belongs to my youngest son. It was gifted to him when he was a baby. I don’t think he even knows I have it. I’m afraid he’d be irresponsible with it.
Amish Heart said:
Bad day, and didn't make it home. Had to call an ambulance for husband at the hotel this morning, he couldn't breathe, and his body was giving out completely, and the oxygen was not helping. So in the trauma unit in ER for the morning, then ICU. Just left the hospital and he was now moved to a regular unit room. Back at the hotel for me and daughter flew in from Tucson to be here with him. Don't know why it happened, and not sure what'll be next.
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I’m so sorry. I hope he gets to feeling better. What a scary day.
 
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