All Messages
By Sylviag on Nov 17, 2014 at 9:34 AM
All good here in the arctic :) Back at the gkids until Thus when son comes home. We need to get home and take care of the kitties today but hoping it warms up some more which won't be much above mid 20s today. Hey any adoption means one more kitteh has found a foreve home. It would be cool if you could eve take pics of the kitties and when they go adoptied for Animal Rescues. So wonderful you volunteer. Was so disappointed by the Seahawks. So close and yet so far :)
By beckysdad on Nov 17, 2014 at 5:33 AM
I'd be happy to see your Raiders in San Antonio. It will be interesting to see what moves the league makes. I know they're eager to get a team back to L.A. I don't know who all is in play but I don't expect to see the Raiders in Oakland in a few years. It's a crap facility and the city's priority should not be pandering to the Raiders when there's so many other important things they need.
By catsuberalles on Nov 16, 2014 at 10:06 PM
Hi there. I TNR'd the stray I've been feeding, and tried to keep him. He is very friendly and loving, however he cried incessantly for two days straight to be let out and I am too much of a softie to bear such kitty anguish, so I let him go. (There were others factors at work as well, including one that made his eventual escape an inevitability.) On the plus side he now comes inside to eat, via a jury-rigged pet door. So far he has been the only four-legged visitor. Quite a relief not to have to dodge the other critters. (Skunk, possum, raccoon.) Hope it stays that way.
By beckysdad on Nov 16, 2014 at 11:00 AM
We are quite good this morning. Walks are all done and now we can settle in for football and naps the rest of the day. My turkey soup is more of a clear broth but there will be enough meat in there to try and make it more like a stew...if I get my way...and I do... Do you have a favorite soup that you make? I'll bet Kibby and Chessie love that special treat. Becky got the giblets from the last bird I cooked and she'll get this batch as well. She doesn't get them all in one sitting either. I cut them up into chunks and this last time I took a couple at a time out back and tossed them on the lawn while Becky was still inside. This allowed her to run out and hunt for them. She loved it. Good luck to your Raiders today.It's sure been a tough season so far.
By beckysdad on Nov 15, 2014 at 5:03 PM
The poor Raiders aren't having any fun at all. Poor Al must be spinning in his grave. Hmmm...I like a good stew. It's not something I make myself as that's one where what should be eight servings winds up being three. Cold and drizzly weather will certainly make you think of stews and other comfort foods though. That's good weather for cooking shows. Things are mild out here. We've got lows of fifty and highs of seventy. It's great walking weather. I'm making turkey soup this afternoon from the carcass of the bird I cooked a couple days back. The house smells great.
By Sylviag on Nov 15, 2014 at 4:24 PM
Thanks! Was having some fun with KKPS itteh bitteh skolars. Hmm, you have been absent from skool long time now :) Not to this extent. Kinda of a fluke as the polar cold from the North hit head on with a warm wet from from the South right over Bend. Nothing is melting. In fact the 8-9 inches of snow have an ice crust so you can walk on it without sinking unless you try hard. Byan and gson out playig with the RC racers on the ice snow and having a great time. I fed theboth steamig bowls of soup for lunch. Me - I;m happy right here. Cool on your wonderful IT friend. We both love decorating the outsie o the house and yard too. So festive. T Day will be family and extended family so likely quite a crowd. Chistmas will be fewer as son, gkids, his BFF, wife and kids and their parents all go to Cabo for almost 2 weeks. Son's BFF's wife's parents own a house there. New Year's we have planned a 4 day getaway to the ocean for just Bryan and I. We're not much into parties.
By jennybookseller on Nov 15, 2014 at 2:34 PM
Thanks so much, CM!! Hope your weekend is going great!
By mamawalker on Nov 15, 2014 at 2:22 PM
Thanks again, my friend!! Happy Caturday!!
By Sylviag on Nov 15, 2014 at 9:37 AM
Hai, hai and hai! Thanks for both :) Oh dear, I hope our crew did not see "heated fleece kitty beds" LOL They all have baskets and floofies next to the wood stove and all over the house, with blankies but I bet they would love those. Yeppers down to zero tonight and not much above mid 20s today even though the sun is coming out. Driving coninues to be very treacherous and coming home yesterday from son's house was not above 25 mph. Thus am going back and forth was even worse as it was snowing with zero visibility and th snow kept freezing to the window - just lovely. I was not happy they hadn't cancelled school which they did do on Fri. We needed a couple of days and nights at home to be with our kittehs Have younges gson with us and the two older ones are fine at home. They were't planning to go anywhere in this weather. We'll go out out there tomorrow afternoon and I hope they have the highway sanded by then at least. Definitely staying in today and tonight. At least we don't have the cold, damp drizzle. Will you be home for TDay and Chrsitmas or going to Cali? So glad o see Betsy back.
By betskand on Nov 13, 2014 at 12:22 PM
Hah! That's a great idea, about the dues...I'm on our Board and I'll mention it. I have been on the darn Board for nearly 15 years! We just can't get anyone else (other than 5 of us who have done it forever) to agree to it. However, several homeowners who never come to meetings and have never been on the Board are ready to be critical of everything. You'd think we were using the dues money to vacation in Acapulco instead of donating our time to help keep all our property values up. One lady (with whom I am otherwise friends) started telling me the other day about all the malfeasances of the Board (mainly that she was asked to take down an incredibly ugly fence she put up without asking approval) and when I said "well, I've been on for 15 years and I'd love to get off" she said "The whole Board should just get off and go to Hell!" Fortunately I hate conflict and am a wimp or she would have gotten a fist in the face.
By betskand on Nov 12, 2014 at 11:51 AM
Why don't YOU get a quorum? We have that problem, or rather did for years, because one awful woman (who unfortunately owned 7 units) just held everyone hostage to her rantings. Finally she got too old to drive up from ABQ and now we can have meetings again.
By beckysdad on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:52 PM
Khan is also great for parents. At some point in a kid's school career they start studying stuff the parents took...but have since forgotten. The folks can watch a ten minute video and have the light bulb get dusted off so they can help their kids with homework. The videos are great for the kids as Sal has a very comfy style and the kids can pause, replay and play again as often as they need. Sometimes it's embarrassing to have a teacher go over something numerous times. We'll be doing a 16# bird and I always brine. I've always had great results. The family has always had moist dressings. I made a cornbread dressing last year that I really liked. That apricot almond cornbread one sounds tasty. Well, if you're going to have a gun in the house you have to be willing to empty the clip on an intruder. If you hesitate you're more likely to have it used against you rather than have it offer you any real protection. Beware the red dot...better still...don't be a chump and break into anybody's home. I don't have a gun and would really prefer nobody in my neighborhood had one and yet I want my neighborhood to have the reputation that everyone has a CCP and they've all just gotten home from their weekly trip to the range. I'd be all for stricter gun control laws if I thought it would do anything to improve the situation. Those that I fear having guns tend to not have any respect for the law in the first place so I'd rather not disarm the victims. The criminals will always have guns.
By betskand on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:53 AM
I know about the ironing...nobody believes it. It's my version of drugs. I iron and watch DVD movies. Or in UK, watch normal TV, which is amazingly good. I did know about the Petsmart animal thing, but tell more. Like how do you do it without adopting 15 cats a week?//You probably know about the Lincoln County wars, right? Well, after Albert B. Fall killed Col. Fountain (I know, he was never found guilty, but we all know he did it...) the trial of two men who were working for him was supposed to be in Mesilla. But there was so much bad feeling they moved the trial to HILLSBORO...near Kingston...another practically non-place, though at the time it had a lot of mines and so on. I'll send you via e-mail a couple of photos of Poohdence and me climbing around on the ruins of the Hillsboro jail. What did we do in Kingston? Well, John took pix. I meditated (a LOT), read (a LOT, for some reason I'm on the ancient Greeks now. Filling in the giant gaps in my very spotty education.) Also took walks in the nearby canyons. There was only one phone -- land line -- available. Heaven!
By beckysdad on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:08 AM
Apologies...I figured I'd blather on about Khan Academy before. So this guy, Sal Khan, was a brilliant guy working for a venture capitalist firm when he was on visiting his sister's family. He'd been impressed with how smart the girls were but their mom shared that they were struggling in math. He tutored them over the phone for a while and then started making youtube videos to better explain things to them. He gathered a following on Youtube over time and then one day he gets a call asking if he'd be willing to take a meeting with some guy named Bill Gates. It turns out Gates was looking at these videos with his kids. Long story short, he's gotten all kinds of funding for the site he created, KhanAcademy.org. It's totally free and has lessons for the entire math curriculum K-college. There are short videos and then quizzes to test for mastery. I've used the site and followed his growth for years. I mentioned the site to my teacher friend one day and she lit up because they had just been talking about it in a meeting. She's not much into technology so she's let me run with it for the kids. I'm able to layout a lesson plan for the kids to follow to reinforce what they do in the classroom. It's easy for us to monitor and document how the kids are doing. I can easily see which kids are struggling with a topic and can give them one on one attention to master it. It's self paced so all the kids are challenged to work at something on their own level. Did you start frequenting shooting ranges once you got to Texas or did your interest predate that? The folks are hosting T-day so I get to do the bird. I'll probably take on dressing duties as well. I'll have to see what others are bringing. What are your T-day favorites? I figured you spent a lot of time on the road when you were in sales. Some people thrive on it and others merely endure.
By betskand on Nov 10, 2014 at 10:14 AM
Hey! Yes...the England part was just to see John's friends, so I mostly ironed and watched good UK TV. I see you're doing the adoptions...what's up? How are you? By the way, we also went to Kingston, NM for 2 weeks. If you haven't heard of it that's no surprise...it has a population of 30, and the nearest fabulous metropolis (almost an hour's drive) is Truth or Consequences. It was fun, though...I thought of you and I know you'd be interested. For one thing, it is in the middle of where the Apache wars were in the late 19th cent. Also full of silver mines and Mimbres civilization stuff. I have a book for you...I WILL send it. Hugs to you and the kittehs!
By beckysdad on Nov 10, 2014 at 10:09 AM
Yay on the adoptions! Adorable kittehs and no drama sounds like the formula for a very good morning indeed. Is that leg break going to cause her to withdraw from school for a bit? How long do they expect her to be laid up? A four day trip is good for everyone. She can play for a few days but not be gone so long as to get bored with him gone all day. He probably enjoys having her along for the evenings. I hated nights on the road. We've got a good group of kids this year. They all have good attitudes and are fun to work with. I've got a more organized game plan for their studies on Khan too. It will be interesting to see how much we get accomplished this year. Was there anything fun on the cooking shows this weekend?
By Sylviag on Nov 9, 2014 at 1:36 PM
See my msg to violetd. Emayoed Betsy today and she answered. She's been world tripping :)
You must be friends with catmom to leave a message.
