Saturday January 11th Café.

Upt' North

Upt' North

Joined
Feb 25, 2016
Messages
4,676
Location
Northumberland UK
Bike
VStrom 650
Yep, the Italian Dark Roast is ready and the Croissants will be along presently. Good things come to those that wait.
It's foggy, frosty and snowy. It must be winter. Google says it's presently 22 and I'm not going out to find out.
After breakfast I think we've got some organising to do, it's probably better than painting.
I'll await your arrival through the foggy morn like the coffee seekers you are. Oh yes, Pepsi too.
Pffffffftttttt.
Av a gud un and remember, conspiracies are dumb.
Upt.
 
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the coffee and warm croissants, Ray.

It’s 28 and dark, cold, and snowy out. It finally stopped after about 4”. High of 34, so there should be some melting. I’ll be outside, playing with the dog. He goes a little crazy in the snow, and as seldom as we get a decent snowfall, I’m gonna let him run and roll in it, to his hearts content.

John

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good morning all. thank you Ray for the coffee. 34F on the dog walk with an all most full moon to show me the way. stars no clouds so all in all a good walk.
today is a free day as we have nothing on the list that has to be taken care of.
its only to get up 60F by 2pm. enjoy the day

stay safe.
 
Morning all, and thanks Ray, for the coffee.

Upt' North said:
remember, conspiracies are dumb.
Click to expand...

That's what they want you to think...

Dark 'n dreary here, -6C. Will head upward to +1 with some sort of rain/snow mix.

Was up early due to the dreaded phone call when you're sleeping. I think it was a scam telemarketer. First sign was the call centre noise in the background after a delay in connecting. I hung up half way through the accented "hello?"

That, my friends, was no conspiracy call. It was a plot.

Hope you all have a great day and remember to check your Microsoft Securities and VisaMastercards.

Obo.
 
Good morning winter wonderland and Thanks for coffee and croissants Ray. I have some sour cream bread from the Mexican store if anyone's interested. It's gooood!

Feel left out with no snow to report here in central Florida. Wet this morning, cloudy and mid 50s today. Hope to take the Ms to a seafood restaurant I found over by the Ocala Nat'l Forest. Strange place for seafood in the middle of the State but its run by people from Massachusetts (where I grew up) so I feel right at home there.

Have a great day, make snowballs if you can and remember to be safe out there. As Ray was told and the ground's white wear your grippies! Me I'll wear flip flops. Only joking don't even own a pair.
 
Good morning, all, et merci pour le café et les croissants, Ray! Délicieux!

It's snowing lightly this morning, and it appears that the snow will continue falling until around 5 pm. Conditions look great for tomorrow and I should be getting out on the trails with my fellow x-country skiing/showshoeing masochists enthusiasts, but for two itsy-bitsy problems - my skis aren't ready and I don't own a pair of snowshoes. Maybe I'll go try to source myself a pair today.
Temps are a smidge warmer today ("smidge" being the operative word): -8°C/18°F with a feels-like of -13°C/9°F now, -6°C/21°F with a windchill of -9°C/16°F.

Have a good one, everybody. Stay safe and go safely. And if you let me access your system remotely, I can fix all those "error messages" your computer is sending out. No, no, honest!

Patty
 
Morning all! Still dark here. Our oldest dog started to pace and wander so I'm up. It's 4C with a predicted high of 7C and sun later.

Have to run our daughter and her boyfriend to the airport this morning. They're headed back to Montreal where, based on Patty's report, it sounds like it will be a wee bit cooler and snowier than it is here. It's been great having them and sad to see them go but the current tentative plan is that they'll be back to live when their lease ends in May. It has to be the Dad jokes, there's just no other explanation.

After they're gone, it'll be time to do some cleaning and general organizing that has been ignored along with a trip to the dump to get rid of piles of recycling, mostly boxes that built up due to Xmas. After which, I may get out on the ST for a bit. I picked it up from the mechanic yesterday after having a laundry list of things attended to including new rubber.

Hope everyone has a great day, I'm going to bounce!
 
Fanks Ray!

-4˚c/25f, calm and sunny, what happened??

Been for a beach walk with Mrs Stu.
Nice, but I prefer the hills (for walking..).

Now I’m concentrating on a few beers while Mrs Stu is visiting her dad at the nursing home.

Pimped up frozen pizzas for «dinner».
Wish I lived closer to Wooler, imagine the dinner invites them folks are getting.

Have a good one!
Stu

From todays walk
IMG_3823.jpeg
 
Good morning everyone

Thanks for the coffee and croissants, Ray. While I was waiting I got out and did the usual snow clearance tasks for the neighbors, as we got about two inches of fresh fluffy powdery whit crap dumped on us overnight. It didn't really require the snowblower, but the job sure goes faster with it than with an old-fashioned manual snow thrower.

It's 26°F and clear as a bell in Rockville, so I'm mystified as to why the MS Weather app says it's "partly" sunny. There's no part of the firmament that isn't sunny at the moment. The high will be around 31, so I've staged my car from its usual shaded parking spot at the side of my driveway, out into the court where the sun can work its magic and delete all the snow that my brush left behind.

motomac said:
Wow, snow everywhere, none here
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You can have all of mine that you care for.

Donk said:
Feel left out with no snow to report here in central Florida.
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You can have all of mine that you care for, that @motomac hasn't claimed..

Donk said:
As Ray was told and the ground's white wear your grippies!
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They're not always enough. As I was engaged in the aforementioned snow relocation activities this morning, and while wearing my 48 year old (recently re-soled) mountaineering boots, the machine saved me from a nasty, potentially horribly damaging fall. I slipped on a patch of ice hidden beneath the snow and started to fall backward, but my death grip on the handgrips of the snow blower, along with its couple hundred pounds of mass, prevented me from falling and bashing the back of my skull on the pavement. At the very least it would've hurt like hell, and might easily have resulted in a traumatic brain injury or worse.

Peppermint said:
my skis aren't ready and I don't own a pair of snowshoes.
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And you a former Mountie. For shame. I'm embarrassed on your behalf. Turn in your red jacket and Mountie hat, if you're going to let yourself go like that.

Stay safe and well everyone and tell your dear ones you love them
 
Good morning, and thanks for the coffee start, Ray.

It's 25 and cloudy, rising to 31 later.
We got about an inch of snow on the ground, and will get more, off and on all day.

Yesterday, I made a return visit to the gym, and borrowed our neighbor's dog for a 3 mile walk in the "Outback".
The contractor's assistant removed the plastic between the kitchen and the rest of the house, and told us that we can begin moving in. We spent the rest of the day removing the appliance protective tape, cleaning off the residue, and buying odds and ends to make the kitchen and bath more livable.
Brenda checked us out of the hotel, and we got to sleep in our own bed, last night.
I made it a point to turn off my 6:30 alarm, so it was no surprise when I finally woke around 9:00. Especially after staying up after midnight to watch "Castaway".

After everyone left, yesterday, we found that the slider, which they'd replaced a warped track on, wouldn't lock. We spent some time investigating, called the contractor, and finally cut an old flag pole down to the proper length to keep it from opening. It'll get taken care of next week.
Since the door faces down main street, we don't want people seeing us walking around in our skivies, so I erected some temporary plastic to block any visual harm.

Today, we'll have a light breakfast, and head out to our son's home for a belated Christmas gathering with them.

Enjoy the day,
Steve
 
Brrrrr..., cold mor..., I mean good morning to all, with a tip of the Tuk to brew meister Ray.

As John told you yesterday, yes we got our snow to about 4 inches, and we didn't try to drive or ride anywhere. I couldn't fly any of my camera drones because DJI has updated their firmware to prevent flying near airports, even though the small one near me is 6 miles away. Conspiracies, indeed.

But apparently the temporary flight restrictions (aka TFRs, in air- speak) didn't prevent one a-hole in the LA area from sending his drone up, and a firefighting aircraft hit it, forcing the damaged plane to be grounded and cease flight operations. Thanks for that, i hope the FAA can find you and prosecute.

Reminding me I need to complete my Part 107 certificate this month.

In our kitchen pantry I found a Christmas gift from 2 years ago, I'd forgotten about... a boxed set of coffees by a Danish company, with bags of grounds you let steep in hot water, and then pour into your cup. There's a filtered nozzle where you pour it out of the bag... it sucks.

It's not intuitive how to use it (I had to actually *GASP!* read the directions.) Strike 1. It's clumsy, and it's messy. Strike 2. But the Strike 3 was the most egregious... the Brazil blend tasted like CRAP! "Yer outta there!" I'm sure Brazil grows better beans than that abomination.

I'll get Kaiser out for his 2nd-ever snow day now, he didn't know what to think of it. I thought he might have wanted to roll around in it, I don't know why (too many farcebook videos, maybe?), butvhe didn't.

As the roads have mostly cleared with temps just above freezing, I'm may find an excuse to take the bike out today for some exercise. Any moisture left will refreeze tonight, with temps in the low 20s.

We have power, and water, ...and firewood.

Be careful if you're driving or riding in the South on snowy roads -- these drivers haven't a clue what they're doing.

And I don't recommend this:
 

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steve3b3 said:
The contractor's assistant ... told us that we can begin moving in. ... Brenda checked us out of the hotel, and we got to sleep in our own bed, last night.
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Hooray! Isn't it SOOOOOOOOO nice to do that, after a prolonged absence? When we had our sewer pipe failure almost four years ago, we were forced into the guest room for a couple months. It wasn't bad, but it was still really nice to get back to our own room and bed after a couple months' temporary displacement.

Sadlsor said:
We have power, and water, ...and firewood.
Click to expand...
Will that firewood emit smoke that smells (faintly, or otherwise) of holly branches, perchance?
 
I’m back for another cup after a walk with the dog and a trip to refill the bird feeder. Teddy immediately layed down in the snow, but refrained from doing his normal zoomies. I believe he’s sore from all the running and playing that he did yesterday.

I cleaned the windshield and thought about trying out the 4WD in the truck, but common sense prevailed. First, I have nowhere that I need to go, and second, I didn’t want all the salt and slush under the truck.

Picture from my camera equipped feeder.

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STooRay said:
Fanks Ray!

-4˚c/25f, calm and sunny, what happened??

Been for a beach walk with Mrs Stu.
Nice, but I prefer the hills (for walking..).

Now I’m concentrating on a few beers while Mrs Stu is visiting her dad at the nursing home.

Pimped up frozen pizzas for «dinner».
Wish I lived closer to Wooler, imagine the dinner invites them folks are getting.

Have a good one!
Stu

From todays walk
IMG_3823.jpeg
Click to expand...
Hot smoked trout tonight fella, 7 for 7.30.
Venison Wellington tomorrow evening, 8 prompt.
Er'Indoors panna cottas for desert with aged Tawny Port if desired.
 
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ibike2havefun said:
Will that firewood emit smoke that smells (faintly, or otherwise) of holly branches, perchance?
Click to expand...
I swear, I was REALLY tempted to burn it, simply for the "There! Take THAT, you damned holly!" feeling of smug triumph and sweet revenge. And for spite, of course, because that's just how I am... but in the end I just wanted it gone, without any more handling than absolutely necessary. So it took three entire sessions of sawing and putting into the big rolling garbage can, or in other words, three separate trash days.

However, I did earn a degree of joy and sadistic satisfaction when I drove my chainsaw deep into the filled-up garbage can, to reduce its bulk so I could stuff more holly in it. If it was smaller I could put more in there. Just drove it straight down into the can, filled to the brim, and squeezed the trigger. Feeling the stickers and branches yield to the sharp steely rotating teeth was grotesquely satisfying (I would bet cutting holly bushes inspired the movie "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", like well that was fun, wonder what else I can chop up with this thing.) What's really cool, is I never even hit the insides of the tough plastic garbage can even once. But it was nice pulverizing and mincing those wicked branches to little bitty pieces.

It's those little victories in life that keep us going...
 
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