General Discussion, Sunday, March 18, 2018

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Stella

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199 Responses to General Discussion, Sunday, March 18, 2018

  2. Lucille says:
    March 18, 2018 at 12:45 am

    An exquisite piece of music…by Alessandro Marcello – “Adagio in D minor”
    Oboe played by Derek Wickens
    Royal Philharmonic Orchestra lead by Elgar Howarth.

    Liked by 2 people

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  3. The Tundra PA says:
    March 18, 2018 at 1:11 am

    Morning all. A last word on Iditarod. The final musher, Magnus Kaltenborn, received the Red Lantern award on Saturday morning at 11:13 am for being the last team to complete Iditarod. He took 52nd place. A total of 15 teams scratched, including Jim Lanier, the oldest musher in this year’s race (77) and the one with the all-white dog team. Jim lost the trail in a blizzard and was hypothermic and near death when rescued. He was flown to Nome by helicopter and is now doing okay. Search and Rescue on snowmachines brought his dog team to Nome.

    Here is a nice two and a half minute video of the whole race:
    https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/iditarod/2018/03/17/watch-from-start-to-finish-fly-along-the-1000-mile-iditarod-trail/

    I’ll be back pulling for Aliy Zirkle next year!

    Congratulations to all the dogs and mushers of 2018 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the Last Great Race on Earth!

    Liked by 10 people

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    • Lucille says:
      March 18, 2018 at 1:37 am

      How terrible about Mr. Lanier! Thankfully he’s going to be OK and his wonderful dog team, too. Your reports were entertaining. Thanks for posting them.

      Liked by 5 people

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    • lovely says:
      March 18, 2018 at 8:17 am

      I am so happy Jim and his dogs are safe! Prayers for his healing and recovery.

      Thanks again and Go Aliy 2019!!! We won’t give up! Not that 15th place and the first woman to finish is not impressive in and of itself!

      Liked by 2 people

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    • Col.(R) Ken says:
      March 18, 2018 at 8:29 am

      Thank you Tundra. Glad Jim is okay…….

      Liked by 3 people

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    • sandandsea2015 says:
      March 18, 2018 at 8:34 am

      I’m so thankful Mr. Lanier was rescued and is okay. What a blessing and a miracle. It’s easy for me to get caught up in the excitement of the race and forget how many perils these mushers face. Thank you for the great updates, Tundra.

      Liked by 1 person

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    • The Tundra PA says:
      March 18, 2018 at 12:32 pm

      Here’s a little more about what happened to Jim Lanier. Thank goodness for his friend, Scott Janssen (aka “The Mushing Mortician”). All the lovely Iditarod videos convey some sense of the vast grandeur of the race across Alaska, but often don’t convey the stark reality: the bottom line is that it is just you and your dog team out there in a huge wild Arctic environment, taking every brutal thing that Mother Nature can throw at you. And surviving it, or not. No musher has ever died on Iditarod, but it sounds like Jim came close. Thank God he did not.

      https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/iditarod/2018/03/17/a-sinking-feeling-in-my-throat-iditarod-mushers-recount-hours-lost-and-freezing-along-the-trail/

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      • czarowniczy says:
        March 18, 2018 at 1:19 pm

        Shows the need to buy one of those emergency beacons – just push the button and a distress message goes out and pinpoints your location. Owning one might mitigate creepy irony of having a mortician for a pal on a dangerous ride.

        Liked by 1 person

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        • Sharon says:
          March 18, 2018 at 3:29 pm

          It looks like they had one.

          “Someone eventually pushed the help button on Lanier’s GPS tracker, signaling to race officials in Nome that they needed assistance…. Zappa had gone on to the Safety checkpoint in order to send help back to Lanier. The decision to do so was incredibly difficult, she said.

          ” ‘I didn’t know how hypothermic he was,’ she said. ‘I’ve been going over in my head a lot. Did I do the right thing? It’s kind of been difficult for me. I kind of wish I had just pressed the button for him.’ ”

          My level of understanding……does not understand why on earth she didn’t push the button for him when she left him there?? Obviously I don’t know enough to criticize the choice, but I sure don’t understand leaving someone in a deteriorating condition when there was provision present to immediately call for help.

          TundraPA – am I missing something? Was this a mistake on Zappa’s part?

          Is there some kind of “code of the trail” to tells them not to set rescue in motion, just in case the person ends up recovering enough to resume the race?

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          • czarowniczy says:
            March 18, 2018 at 3:36 pm

            This brings me to the point where now that I know he had ‘the button’ why delay pushing the button and putting you and your dogs in danger? Agreed on this one.

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          • The Tundra PA says:
            March 18, 2018 at 7:17 pm

            Sharon, I responded below about the emergency button and the GPS locator before I saw your comment to czar.

            Here is what I understand happened. Jim Lanier got blown off the trail during a blizard between the checkpoints of White Mountain and Safety, which is 22 miles from the finish. Other mushers got blown off too, just not as far off; they went by where Jim could see them but not be heard over the roaring wind. Monica came upon him with all his dogs in a tangled mess and tried to help.

            A dog team in a tangled mess can be incredibly difficult to get untangled, straightened out, and ready to move forward again. Even without a blizzard, which at this point was still going on. It usually requires unhooking a bunch of dogs completely (who may be piled on each other, injured, scared, and fighting), getting the gangline stretched back out (usually 40+ feet at this point in the race), dogs rehooked up and aimed in the right direction. This is a huge effort, even for someone who is not hypothermic, whose hands are not numb from the cold, and whose dogs are docile and cooperative.

            In the midst of trying to help Jim accomplish this, Monica’s dogs popped the snow hook and took off down the trail. She had no choice but to immediately go running after them (praying, I’m sure, that the hook would take a fortuitous bounce and land prongs down with enough force to stop the team until she could catch up). She didn’t have time to discuss pushing his emergency button for him, she had to race after her dogs. By the time she caught her team again, the choice would be whether to turn them around and go back to help Jim, or just go on the remaining distance to Safety checkpoint and send help back for him.

            Turning a dog team around without help is another huge job. It is not like making a quick U-ie in your car. Disaster can occur while reversing a team, especially when they are excited and riled up from having just been loose. Her dogs may have also been tangled by the time she caught up with them. Dogs can die in tangles. Her decision to go on to Safety and send help back may very well have been the best one she could make.

            Trail etiquette is that you don’t push another musher’s emergency beacon, thus scratching him from the race, without his consent–unless he is unconscious. Working with Jim in the blizzard to try to untangle his dogs, she may not have been able to assess his level of disorientation due to the hypothermia; and he may not–at that point–have been hypothermic enough to be showing effects of it.

            Jim was incredibly lucky that Scott managed to find him, and stayed with him. Why they didn’t push the emergency button at that point, when they were able to call Scott’s family on his satellite phone, I can’t imagine. Hypothermia is the only explanation I can think of; they just weren’t thinking right. Fortunately someone finally did.

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            • Sharon says:
              March 18, 2018 at 7:28 pm

              Thank you for unpacking that – the reality of those conditions simply is what it is and they obviously did the best they could at the moment. I’m so glad he and Scott both survived and are doing well.

              Liked by 1 person

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          • The Tundra PA says:
            March 18, 2018 at 7:31 pm

            Forgot to add, in my long answer Sharon: Monica Zappa was also functioning in a somewhat compromised state. Every musher at this point is exhausted and sleep-deprived, so not making the best on-the-spot decisions. We don’t know how long she was with Jim, trying to help him (and observing his level of functioning), before her team took off. When your team takes off, you instantly react and go after them. Was it a mistake on Zappa’s part? It sounds like Jim was still ok at that point, and got worse later.

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            • Sharon says:
              March 18, 2018 at 7:33 pm

              Thank you again for your patient unpacking of all of this – I sure know I can’t know the realities and am glad you are willing to lay out the details of what was so for each of them. Exhausted and sleep-deprived – – – yes.

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              • The Tundra PA says:
                March 18, 2018 at 7:49 pm

                Like anyone who loves something, I can talk endlessly about dog mushing if someone asks. There is so incredibly much to it, and so much that you would never just intuit if you have not done it. Most movie portrayals of mushing are not at all accurate, so most people have no exposure to the real thing (and just watching the start or finish of a race is NOT the real thing). Anyway, thanks for listening to my long-winded explanations, and for asking questions.

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        • The Tundra PA says:
          March 18, 2018 at 6:26 pm

          Every Iditarod sled has an emergency button installed on it, and a GPS locator which is used to monitor each team’s progress. Pushing the emergency button means Search and Rescue will come to get you, and you are automatically out of the race if they do.

          GPS locators started being used about a decade ago. After a 1-race trial of putting it on a deozen or so sleds (Aliy’s was one), the next year it was required on every sled. It completely changed the way fans could follow the Iditarod. Before, all we could watch was the order of arriving at and leaving checkpoints, and the times they did so. Most of the interesting stuff happened between the checkpoints and was invisible to those not on the trail. GPS opened a whole new world of knowledge about how the race transpired on a minute-by-minute basis.

          The emergency beacon was added a few years later. In this case, it saved Jim Lanier’s life, and likely Scott Janssen’s also. And they were only 22 miles from the finish line.

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          • czarowniczy says:
            March 18, 2018 at 8:14 pm

            We had them many years ago on the aircraft. One got activated by accident – it was part of the survival/training gear – while in a member’s equipment locker. It was picked up by a Russian receiver and reported…someone got extra training.

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      • Lburg says:
        March 18, 2018 at 3:21 pm

        What a great article – thanks Tundra. I can’t imagine all the hardships of the trails.

        Liked by 2 people

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      • lovely says:
        March 18, 2018 at 8:52 pm

        With the wind and snow, he lost sight of his lead dog.

        Janssen worked on untangling the dogs. He took his gloves off to do so and they blew away in the wind. Lanier was starting to freeze at that point, and so were the men’s corneas.

        “It took quite awhile to get to that conclusion. It was after many failed attempts to get going again,” Lanier said. “At one point, Scott said, ‘I’m not going to leave you here, Jim.’ And for that, I was grateful.”

        “I said, if we lose our fingers we’ll make necklaces out of them,” Janssen said. “And (Lanier) said, ‘What?!’ And I said, then if people say, ‘You lost your fingers,’ we can say, ‘No I didn’t, they’re right here!’ Here we sat there facing death in the face, and we were able to laugh at different times.”

        Then, out of the storm came three people on fat bikes.
        “I have no idea what their names are,” Janssen said, “but they stopped and they came over and they catch us two mushers spooning in the snowstorm and they said, ‘Can we help in any way?’ “

        Amazing.

        Really amazing. Thank you Tundra.

        Liked by 1 person

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        • The Tundra PA says:
          March 18, 2018 at 9:35 pm

          A small hole in the fingertip of a glove can mean frost bite and the ultimate loss of all or part of a finger. Scott and every musher knows you never put your gloves down, never, never, never, even if the wind is not blowing. Example of how they just weren’t thinking right. If you have to get your hand out of the glove for a moment for dexterity, you hold the glove in your teeth or stuff it in a pocket until you quickly put it back on. The big fur musher’s mitts that go over the gloves are tied together by a long string that goes around your neck so you can take them off and “drop” them to kneel on them or twist them together behind your back to get a chore done. Bare skin freezes in under 3 minutes in the conditions they were in.

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  4. nyetneetot says:
    March 18, 2018 at 7:35 am

    Mornin’ stella! (Smiter of those that ought to be smote) 😎 🍸 (Long Island Iced Tea)
    Mornin’ WeeWeed! (Master Mixologist Extrodinare) 😎 🍸 (Old Fashioned)
    Mornin’ Menagerie! 😎 |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| (Jack Daniels – Single Barrel )
    Mornin’ Ad rem! (Queen Felis catus) 🐱 🍸 (Flaming Lamborghini)
    Mornin’ Sharon! 😎 🍸 🍸 (earthquake)
    Mornin’ ytz4mee! 😎 🍸 (cosmopolitan)
    Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (white wine and perrier)
    Mornin’ partyzantski! 🙂 |_| (Tom Collins)
    Mornin’ texan59! 🙂 |_| (Black & Tan)
    Mornin’ ZurichMike! 🙂 🍸 (fuzzy navel)
    Mornin’ Col.(R) Ken! (hand salute) 🙂 |_| (Boilermaker)
    Mornin’ czarina33! (aka czarina) 🙂 🍸 (Lynchburg Lemonade)
    Mornin’ czarowniczy! 🙂 |_| (Wild Turkey Rare Breed)
    Mornin’ letjusticeprevail2014! 🙂 |_| (Irish Car Bomb)
    Mornin’ Patriot1783-ctdar! (aka “ctdar”) 🙂 🍸 (grasshopper)
    Mornin’ tessa50! 🙂 🍸 (flaming volcano)
    Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (sidecar)
    Mornin’ varsityward! 🙂 |_| (Godfather)
    Mornin’ MaryfromMarin! 😀 |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| (Mortlach)
    Mornin’ Wooly Covfefe! (aka “Wooly Phlox” aka “taqiyyologist”) 🙂 |_| (Roy Rogers)
    Mornin’ Howie! (aka “doodahdaze”) 🙂 |_| (Classic Daiquiri)
    Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂 |_| (Gin & Tonic)
    Mornin’ Sha! 🙂 🍸 (Lemon Drop)
    Mornin’ BigMamaTEA! 🙂 🍸 (Harvey Wallbanger)
    Mornin’ cetera5! (aka “Cetera”) 🙂 |_| (Blackberry wine)
    Mornin’ The Tundra PA! 🙂 🍸 (Gentleman Jack Whiskey Sling)
    Mornin’ lovely! 🙂 |_| (Backdraft)
    Mornin’ michellc! 🙂 🍸 (Salty dog)
    Mornin’ auscitizenmom! 🙂 🍸 (Kiss on the Lips)
    Mornin’ Margaret-Ann! 🙂 🍸 (White Russian)
    Mornin’ Auntie Lib! 🙂 🍸 (Tom and Jerry)
    Mornin’ holly100! 🙂 🍸 (Jack & Coke)
    Mornin’ Pam! 🙂 (Not even water)
    Mornin’ Ms.Tee! 🙂 🍸 (Mojito)
    Mornin’ koolkosherkitchen! 🙂 🍸 🍸 (Cuba Libre)
    Mornin’ ImpeachEmAll 🙂 |_| (Flaming Dr. Pepper)
    Mornin’ Monroe! 🙂 |_| (Stinger)
    Mornin’ Les! 🙂 |_| (Rusty Nail)
    Mornin’ shiloh1973! 🙂 |_| (Jack Daniels)
    Mornin’ TexasRanger! 🙂 |_| (Whiskey Smash)
    Mornin’ Ziiggii! 🙂 |_| (B52)
    Mornin’ oldiadguy! 🙂 |_| (Rum & Coke)
    Mornin’ smiley! (“stuck in spambucket”) 🙂 🍸 (Spanish coffee)
    Mornin’ derk! (“Stellars”) 🙂 🍸 (Kamikaze)
    Mornin’ Jacqueline Taylor Robson 🙂 🍸 (Shirley Temple)
    Mornin’ facebkwallflower! 🙂 |_| (Night Train Express)
    Mornin’ Ms. Cindy! (aka “Ms Cynlynn” aka “ms cynlynn”) 🙂 🍸 (1970 ducru beaucaillou)
    Mornin’ sandandsea2015! 🙂 🍸 (1961 Château Montrose)
    Mornin’ amwick! 🙂 🍸 (Blue motorcycle)
    Mornin’ hocuspocus13! 🙂 🍸 (1970 Chateau Latour)
    Mornin’ Sloth1963! 🙂 🍸 (1971 Moulin Touchais)
    Mornin’ MTeresa! (Ex-lurker) 🙂 |_| (Albanian Raki Moskat)
    Mornin’ rheavolans! (aka “Rhea Salacia Volans”) 🙂 |_| (Hot Buttered Rum)
    Mornin’ joshua! 🙂 |_| (Mudslide)
    Mornin’ John Denney! 🙂 |_| (RumChata)
    Mornin’ litenmaus! 🙂 |_| (Stolichnaya elit, no ice)
    Mornin’ kinthenorthwest! 🙂 🍸 (A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea)
    Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂 |_| (Smoking Bishop)
    Mornin’ patternpuzzler! 🙂 🍸 (Old Lady)
    Mornin’ Senatssekretär FREISTAAT DANZIG! 🙂 |_| (Red Russian)
    Mornin’ G-d&Country! 🙂 🍸 (Blind Russian)
    Mornin’ Gary! 🙂 |_| (Yuengling)
    Mornin’ valeriecurren! 🙂 🍸 (Flaming Sambuca)
    Mornin’ Lucille! 🙂 🍸 (Peach Schnapps)
    Mornin’ Lburg! 🙂 🍸 (Lburg lemonade)
    Mornin’ davidhuntpe! 🙂 |_| (Baileys Irish Cream on the rocks)
    Mornin’ skipper1961! 🙂 |_| (Brompton’s Cocktail – No cherry, no umbrella, no plastic monkey)
    Mornin’ mightyconservative! 🙂 |_| (Benjamin Franklin’s clarified milk punch)
    Mornin’ whiners and complainers! 😛 (No drink for you!)
    Mornin’ to people posting that I missed. 😳
    Mornin’ to all you lurkers! 😕

    Also just in case someday; mornin’ to Elvis Chupacabra, F.D.R. in Hell and sundance! :mrgreen:

    Breakfast!

    NEW and IMPROVED breakfast with extra bacon for ZurichMike!

    Cinnamon rolls for coffee!

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  5. lovely says:
    March 18, 2018 at 8:31 am

    Happy Sunday folks!

    Me v after I figured out what had happened in the above tweet. I needed oxygen I laughed so much 🙂 .

    Liked by 6 people

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    • litenmaus says:
      March 18, 2018 at 8:37 am

      LOL…(okay, its Sunday, forgive me but…that right there is funnnnnneeeeee) Tx lovely :0)

      Liked by 3 people

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      • sandandsea2015 says:
        March 18, 2018 at 8:39 am

        Morning litenmaus! 😊👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

        Liked by 1 person

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        • litenmaus says:
          March 18, 2018 at 8:48 am

          Mornin’ Sand…{waves back attcha}

          Liked by 1 person

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          • G-d&Country says:
            March 18, 2018 at 12:41 pm

            Afternoon litenmaus. Looking forward to pics of your hard work – hope all is going well 🙂

            Liked by 1 person

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            • litenmaus says:
              March 18, 2018 at 12:52 pm

              Mornin’ G&C…everything is going quite well G & C, thx for asking……

              Give me a couple minutes and I’ll see what I can do….:0)

              Liked by 1 person

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            • litenmaus says:
              March 18, 2018 at 1:25 pm

              Here ya go G& C……

              At Thanksgiving last year, my plan was to paint the wall behind the entry door, paint the woodwork and leave the door alone….

              Yeah, by the time I painted the gray wall that surrounds the entry door, I realized that the Great Halloween Pumpkin had come to land and another project was born.

              Done & done……

              Liked by 4 people

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              • G-d&Country says:
                March 18, 2018 at 2:45 pm

                Ohhhh… I am in awe (bows). That looks great!
                I have horrid (a few worn) pumpkin doors & trim everywhere. My kitchen cabinets are walnut that has faded in places, & then the prior owner slobbered on walnut poly – only in some places – so it’s patchwork walnut!. I’m not replacing the room or cabinet doors because they are solid wood, and too expensive to replace even with junk.
                HOW DID YOU CLEAN & PAINT THE RECESSED CORNERS – without getting globs of paint in the corners? That is why I have not attempted to fix the ugliness.
                The house I grew up in was Georgian with that style white trim, so that is what I find attractive. I also find it harder to choose wall colors I like with that pumpkin color.
                Great work! Thanks.

                Liked by 1 person

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                • litenmaus says:
                  March 18, 2018 at 3:08 pm

                  How to clean & paint the recessed corners….

                  Q-tips with cleaner to clean the little corners….then, I taped as well as I could before I took a 1/4″ paint brush and used that to paint the corners & the really narrow places that a normal brush would just make a mess with.

                  It’s a slow process but in the end, very satisfying to see the old pumpkins renewed.

                  Liked by 2 people

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                  • G-d&Country says:
                    March 18, 2018 at 3:38 pm

                    Thank you for your advice 🙂 That makes sense to do a 2 step process.
                    I prefer an actual person’s advice who has actually done it, over something written by an anonymous DIY article! Yes it is satisfing, and quite amazing what a change in color will do!

                    Liked by 1 person

                • Menagerie says:
                  March 18, 2018 at 11:57 pm

                  It always helps to use the highest quality paint, and I like to add Floetrol to get a smoother finish. Prep work is 90%of the job, good paint and high quality tools make up the rest.

                  Like

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                  • G-d&Country says:
                    March 19, 2018 at 5:54 pm

                    Hi. I looked up Floetrol on home depot, the closest place to buy it. Does it have a (chemical or vapor) smell? I get migraines from chemical smells. One person mentioned there was not a smell, but wanted to check with someone else who would know. Thanks.

                    Liked by 1 person

                • Menagerie says:
                  March 19, 2018 at 10:26 pm

                  It’s kind of hard for me to give you an opinion on the smell of the Floetrol. I use lots of chemicals and paints, and I’m not sensitive. To me it has little odor and doesn’t bother me at all, but since I use a lot of severe stuff like thinners, etc., I am not a good judge.

                  My best guess is that it shouldn’t impact you more than the paint, but I emphasize that is a guess.

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                  • G-d&Country says:
                    March 20, 2018 at 12:26 pm

                    Thanks for the explanation Menagerie. I appreciate your opinion! 🙂
                    I apologize I am embarrased because I forget if you said you were an artist? Is that why you use all that, or are you also fixing up a house like Litenmaus and me?
                    I really do have to make a chart or something of who does what and where everyone is located, and kids and grandkids etc – yeah – right after I spend a year or two fixing my house 😉
                    Thanks again

                    Liked by 1 person

                • Menagerie says:
                  March 20, 2018 at 2:30 pm

                  I keep replying to this comment because there is no reply button on your question down below. I own a decorative painting business. I do faux finishes, paint cabinets and furniture, and even light fixtures and once painted the entire first floor of my house to look like the floors were reclaimed wood.

                  I have matched old plaster molding finishes in the old mansion of a US senator, replicated European finishes on antique doors to get new ones to match them, I do plaster walls (Venetian plaster is always my favorite thing to do) and I do a lot of distressed finishes, especaily on cabinets. I have painted floor cloths, stenciled walls, cabinets, floors, and furniture, and in my own home used glazes to match existing tongue and groove ceilings with new boards that had to be replaced after a fire. I also do pretty good with metallic finishes, and aging metal ballusters on stairs, things like that.

                  Liked by 1 person

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                  • G-d&Country says:
                    March 21, 2018 at 12:34 pm

                    WOW! That’s great! It sounds like a lot of fun too 🙂 What talent! Maybe you could post some of your more interesting job pics on a more current day. I’m sure everyone would like to see them.

                    Too bad you’re so far away, I’d love to have your expertise on my horrid kitchen cabinets! I really wanted them just barely off white with a super pale, clear green (so pale, you would not recognize as green) glaze over the top. I think I’m just going to clean them really good, sand, and repoly where the light patches are. I really dislike them dark walnut, it makes the room too dark, but there is too much else to do here at the money pit that takes priority. We lost most of our possesions due to mold in a rental so we have about 6 pieces of unfinished pine furniture and some odd other new pieces that we need to paint a similar color to tie them together. I also want to spray paint some light fixtures this summer. I may just land up painting the walls white, and paying someone to paint the ceilings. I don’t think my neck could handle being at the angle needed to paint upwards.

                    “I keep replying to this comment because there is no reply button on your question down below” Yes I do the same thing. I don’t know what else to do.
                    Post some pics of your work on a current day – I’d love to see them! 🙂

                    Liked by 1 person

              • lovely says:
                March 18, 2018 at 8:59 pm

                It looks great litenmaus! You have a great eye 🙂 .

                Liked by 2 people

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        • G-d&Country says:
          March 18, 2018 at 12:39 pm

          Morning/ oh wait! Afternoon! Sand&Sea 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

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      • lovely says:
        March 18, 2018 at 7:50 pm

        I almost posted saying, “Forgive me, I know it is Sunday, but this is just too rich.

        Liked by 2 people

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    • G-d&Country says:
      March 18, 2018 at 12:37 pm

      Happy Sunday to you as well 😉

      Liked by 1 person

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  6. Col.(R) Ken says:
    March 18, 2018 at 8:40 am

    Cold and crisp here, 21*, no wind, crystal clear sky, Daffodils, Hyacinths are making attempts too break ground and bloom before Easter………..

    Liked by 3 people

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  7. WeeWeed says:
    March 18, 2018 at 9:23 am

    Mornin’ kids!

    Liked by 7 people

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  9. G-d&Country says:
    March 18, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    Hi everyone, just missed morning, so afternoon 🙂 Lucille & I have ESP today. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival is coming up, so I planned on cherry blossoms this week!

    The Japanese have been having celebrations, called hanami (meaning “watching blossoms”), for the symbolic cherry blossoms for thousands of years. In Japan the cherry blossoms, or sakura, symbolize the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

    In 1910 2,000 cherry trees were donated to Washington, D.C. in the name of the city of Tokyo. They were meant to honor the burgeoning relationship between the two nations, as well as to symbolize the renewal of spring and the ephemeral nature of life. They were planted along the Potomac River, but unfortunately, they were found to be infested with bugs and nematodes and were ordered to be burned to prevent an infestation and protect American growers. Fortunately, a second, larger donation of 12 varieties of 3,020 trees came in 1912. The first cherry blossom festival took place in 1935, but an interruption in the annual celebrations ensued in 1941, when four cherry trees were cut down shortly after the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor. Officials started to refer to the trees as “Oriental” trees to prevent future incidents. Today, people throughout the country, and even from abroad, travel to Washington to catch a glimpse of the beautiful blossoms, which only last for about four to ten days.

    Below is Miharu Takizakura, an ancient cherry tree in Fukushima, Japan. This beautiful tree is over 1,000 years old. Its light pink flowers spread in all directions from the branches, like a waterfall, hence its name “Takizakura” which means “waterfall cherry blossoms” in Japanese. It is a popular cherry blossom spot with around 300,000 people visiting the 12 meter-high national treasure every year. Many Japanese people regard it as the unofficial number one tree in all of Japan, and it is a designated National Natural Monument of Japan. It is one of Three Great Cherry Blossom Trees (Sandaizakura) of Japan. [Note the people on the left for proportion, and also the wooden supports in the tree to hold the branches up.]

    Below is Echoes of Monet, a photograph by Vivienne Gucwa

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  10. G-d&Country says:
    March 18, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    Here is some cherry blossom fun! Below is a cherry tree art installation made from 10,000 real cupcakes, note the person walking along the top for proportion.

    Below is a recipe for a cherry blossom cocktail

    Ingredients
    ice
    2 tbsp red sanding sugar
    1/3 part grenadine plus more for decorating rim
    2/3 part Sambuca
    2 part milk
    maraschino cherries for garnish, optional
    Instructions
    In two wide bowls, add a small amount of grenadine in one and the red sanding sugar in the other. Dip the mouths of the glasses in the grenadine, then roll them in the sanding sugar. Set coated glasses nearby.
    Pour Sambuca, grenadine syrup, and milk into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into prepared glasses glass.
    Serve cherry blossom cocktails immediately, garnished with cherries.
    Enjoy Everyone! Have a great day 🙂

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  11. stella says:
    March 18, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    Finished cleaning up a giant pool of dog vomit. Fortunately most of it was in the crate, but still disgusting. Dog is sleeping it off.

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  14. stella says:
    March 18, 2018 at 5:44 pm

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  15. Lucille says:
    March 18, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    Miami Bridge Failure Update 18 March 2018

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  16. stella says:
    March 18, 2018 at 7:00 pm

    Tucker today:


    He is so tall! (like his father, but looks like his mother)

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  17. stella says:
    March 18, 2018 at 7:03 pm

    A couple of weeks ago, with the cat, Luna.


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  18. Wooly Covfefe says:
    March 18, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    Funny. My friend and co-worker is a young black dude, very intelligent, very quiet.

    Known him for more than a year, and he’s an amazing person. He and I both can order each other around, because it’s a kitchen, and we both know that we both know our stuff.

    He has a joke he plays at least once a day on a server or hostess walking into the kitchen, or to one of us. And, I kid you not, it works every single time.

    Try it sometime. When someone walks into the room say “Uh-oh.” The next word out of their mouth will be “What?”

    Then he says, “Nuthin.”

    Last week I nailed him with it, and it worked. “Uh-oh” is always followed by a “What?”.

    You gotta find a way to have fun at work.

    Liked by 3 people

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    • Wooly Covfefe says:
      March 18, 2018 at 7:53 pm

      An hour ago I told the girl I’m fixing to jump out of an airplane with about that.

      She laughed and said she’d try it. A couple of minutes ago I went out for a smoke, she was taking the trash out, and told me she just got 3 “what?”s. The chef and two servers.

      It even works on me, many times.

      We need an “Uh-oh” jar. If you fall for it and say “What?”, you put a dollar in the jar.

      With a caveat that the “attacker” has to say “Nuthin.” to complete the sequence.

      Liked by 1 person

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  19. czarowniczy says:
    March 18, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    Took a run to Gulfport this afternoon and ran into coastal southern rain like that’s like no other rain. From about 10 miles out we could see the angry clouds over the coast, the line had come thru us earlier but was piddling at best. By the time we hit it on the I-10 they were black, fluffy and roiling at ground level with whispy white clouds blowing through on 25 MPH winds. The rain was blinding, all traffic was moving at 15 MPH except for some idiotst thast thought they could power through – about a dozen of them had slid off the road in a 15 mile stretch and the county sheriffs and hiway patrol were busy busy.
    There was a bright spot though, something we here tend to overlook. is that wehen you’re hungry from a looooong, slooooow, weeeet drive there’s a gas station around everty bend that has smoked plates to go. I got ribs, though I could have had chicken or sausage or a mix. Ahhhhhh…the joys of freshly smoked meats (you get plenty of napins) to help while away the long country miles. You get sides too.

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    • michellc says:
      March 18, 2018 at 9:14 pm

      I played with the grandkids while everyone else worked this afternoon. Being a Nanny has a lot of benefits. lol
      They all burned leaves, started tearing down pig pens and butchered a pig. I played with race cars, blocks, castle and baby dolls. I also played hide-n-seek, read books and rocked the baby to sleep. Then I just watched them sleep until everyone got done working and it started raining.
      Then me and the little man went out to check on a goat and he cracked me up as he always does. We’re walking down the walkway and he says, “uummm Nanny where did all this water come from?” I told him it rained while he was asleep and he said, “well I didn’t know that and then water was everywhere.”

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      • czarowniczy says:
        March 18, 2018 at 10:42 pm

        I find it fascinating to watch them grow and mature. I was too busy with work to really notice mine before that divorce thing that moved them out of view and I only saw my grandson once a year but now I have the time and see the GGS weekly it’s more obvious.

        Liked by 2 people

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        • michellc says:
          March 18, 2018 at 10:57 pm

          I miss when my own babies were growing up. I will admit though watching it again with my grandbabies is pretty special and I get sleep at night. lol Now most of the time I don’t have to be the authoritarian and get to do some spoiling. 🙂

          My daughter is always saying that aliens stole her mother. She shares silly memes with me like, “My mom as a mother: No you can’t have a piece of cake until you eat your dinner. My mom as a grandmother: Well I think you ate enough to get a piece of cake and yes you can have a piece out of the middle.”

          I’m not quite as bad as she says, but I will admit it was much easier to say no to my kids than it is my grandkids.

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          • czarowniczy says:
            March 18, 2018 at 11:22 pm

            Of course we’re easier on them, we don’t have to live with them 24/7. We’re grandparents, not parents, we leave most of the icky nuts and bolts stuff to the parents while we get to spoil the daylights out of them.
            I noticed that for the time my GGS and his mom lived with us I was acting more like a dad than a granddad so I tempered my approach. Kids haven’t said anything but I did get some growls and stinkeyes.

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            • michellc says:
              March 18, 2018 at 11:49 pm

              I see mine on a daily basis and because we’re always doing so much farm stuff I’m around them just about as much as their parents are.
              I let them do the parenting though, but because I’m around them so much I can’t totally spoil them and I do get on to our little guy, it’s just harder to do.

              Liked by 1 person

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              • czarowniczy says:
                March 19, 2018 at 12:20 am

                Most of mine are in Denver with another in Dallas so country life is the last thing on their urban minds. GGS seems interested in country life but let’s see what happens when he becomes a teenager and his priorities realign.

                Liked by 1 person

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                • michellc says:
                  March 19, 2018 at 11:47 pm

                  Good thing about mine is he will never know anything but country life.

                  Both his parents are country folks with no desire to ever live anywhere but in the country.

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                  • czarowniczy says:
                    March 19, 2018 at 11:58 pm

                    Trade ya’…

                    Like

                  • michellc says:
                    March 20, 2018 at 12:17 am

                    As much as I love and enjoy the little toot, I tell you there are times you’d want to send him back.
                    I went with my daughter today while she had to go get a title changed and CDIB card for my granddaughter. I was so tired of answering questions by the end of the day.

                    I finally told him once that his questions were driving me nuts. He said, “Nanny if I don’t ask how will I know?”

                    I guess he had a point. lol

                    Like

                  • czarowniczy says:
                    March 20, 2018 at 12:33 am

                    I was thinking more of the kids that wanna live in the country for mine that are blindly entrapped in the Big Cities.
                    GGS is just getting to thst age when the hormones will kick in and you wanna lock ’em in the basement for a few years. “…why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way, what’s the matter with kids to-day…”

                    Like

                  • michellc says:
                    March 20, 2018 at 12:33 pm

                    We were far from perfect and I don’t know about you but I did some things when I was a teen that I would have kicked my kids’ butts for doing.
                    With that said though, I knew responsibility and I knew and was shown there were consequences for my actions. I believe that is foreign to the majority of the kids today.

                    I count my blessings every day that my daughter and SIL are raising their kids to know that as well as raising them with morals. I believe both are more difficult for parents today because of how screwed up society is.
                    My daughter watches every modern day cartoon before she allows my grandson to watch it and even then she watches every episode with him to make sure they don’t slip some crap in she doesn’t want him learning. She’s more diligent with that than I ever was.

                    Liked by 1 person

                  • czarowniczy says:
                    March 20, 2018 at 1:01 pm

                    Mine just honed in on and are totally welded to the Big City life, being more than 5 minutes away from a Starbucks is unnerving.
                    I’m nervous as my new grandson will be growing up in a bubbling cauldron of anti-white, anti-Christian, pro-corrosive inclusiveness that centers on dope and destruction of traditional values. I know they’ll fight his indoctrination but they’ll be fighting a whole system in place just to reform America into some latter day version of the Land of the Lotus-Eaters.

                    Like

                  • michellc says:
                    March 20, 2018 at 6:34 pm

                    I’d worry myself sick. I worry enough about the crazy world my grandbabies have to grow up in. They can’t be sheltered from it forever.

                    Like

                  • czarowniczy says:
                    March 20, 2018 at 11:22 pm

                    I’d prefer mine to be out here and go to the grand cess pool as needed.

                    Liked by 1 person

      • lovely says:
        March 19, 2018 at 8:03 am

        A young mom I’m working with asked me if I thought that Hot Wheels would fit into some plastic eggs she was going to buy for her son. I said “Sure if you just take the cars out of the packages.” She now thinks I’m Einstein 😂. Ain’t it grand!

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  20. Lburg says:
    March 18, 2018 at 8:53 pm

    lilbirdee12’s prayer:
    Our Heavenly Father, Your children come to you tonight to ask for healing and peace throughout our country so that we may return to being One Nation Under God. Guide us to be leaders in Your Kingdom, spreading Your Love and Salvation to all. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.
    Lord, we ask for a blanket of protection over all our troops and law enforcement who serve to defend and protect us. Bless our representatives with the strength and wisdom they need to achieve the path You have chosen for us.
    Please place Your Guardian Angels of Protection around Donald Trump and Mike Pence and their families as they seek to lead America back to You.
    Grant us patience, Lord, as the evil ones try to anger us and cause us to fall.
    Spread blessings over Israel and Netanyahu.
    We humbly ask that You please comfort those who are grieving and in pain.
    Thank you Father, for Your Love and the gift of Life.
    In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

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