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Stella's Place 
Stellars…
Create a beautiful, peaceful day for yourself and loved ones!
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Beautiful!
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Such beautiful images and sentiment Lucille as always! Please know that even though i do not have the time to reply as much as I would like, that I sincerely appreciate your comments, as well as everyone’s knowledge, beautiful images, good wishes, and fun smiles. 🙂
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Thanks, G&C! Blessings on your day!
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Thank you, and to you as well! 😉
I have to try to get some real-life work done now. I am hopefully coming to the end of a multi-day migraine. This one was strange in that as long as I did not move my head at all, it’s bearable. If I move much, it’s terrible. That’s why I can sit here and write. Usually I can not see well, read ,write, move or tolerate the light. It’s just a bit scary cause it’s longer in duration than normal. So I really appreciate your Blessings today! 🙂
Have a great day everyone!
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Woo, miserable afternoon. I took our GGS back home and the thick, pouring tropical rains I sought to avoid with my best planning had a better plan.
As I started to come off of 603 onto the I-10 I saw traffic slowing on the elevated bridge over the I-10 and an ambulance lit up coming north on 603 headed to the I-10, followed closely by a county sheriff’s vehicle. I decided to take 603 to 90 and go east, it’s not as fast but the 10 was stopped by now. The 603 goes thru a swampy area so that just added more humidity to the rain. It’s usually got a bit of traffic but it was crowded in both directions, ditto 90 all of the way to the beach. Along the way another ambulance, three more police cars and a firetruck were heading to the10.
At the beach 90 was wet, raining, very windy (large whitecaps rolling in off the Gulf, there was still sand on the hiway (makes for a great surprise under the standing water) and two more accidents (fender-benders off to the side). Traffic was heavy in both directions (4 PM on a Sunday) all the way to US 49. 49 goes through the business section of Gulfport but even though the town was almost completely closed along 49 it was heavy traffic. Even after I dropped GGS off and got back on 49 (still raining) the traffic was thick.
I got back on the 10, figured as the accident was east-bound and I was was west-bound delays would be minimal. As it was still raining moderately and it was getting dark (tropical rain clouds moved sundown up) my chances would be better on the 10. Wrong. There were huge knots of traffic in both directions, it was bumper-to-bumper at 45 to 55 MPH and not only raining but now we also had that miles-long cloud of oily mist kicked up by trucks and card driving on the wet interstate. It’s 21 miles from Gulfport to the 603 and there were at least a dozen cars pulled over and sitting on the shoulder but three more accidents, all fender-benders with a brand new ‘2-cars piled into a bridge railing some 30-feet above a feeder road.
I pulled onto thv 2ondary and there was no one ahead or following me, whew, a break…until I got to a major crossroads with the secondary where we were all stopped dead. Seems someone transported his jet ski in the bed of his big pickup…only he forgot to secure it. Right smack in the middle of the crossroad it falls out of his truck right onto the asphalt. We have the jet ski blocking the est-west road, the pickup blocking the north-south hiway and a handful of guys standing there trying to figure out how to get it back into the bed of the truck. Luckily they backed up a bit and we managed to squeak by on the shoulder.
From there to the I-59 some 20ish miles later it was free of accidents and the rain was light. The 59 north was misty from the wet kicked up by the traffic and there were to cars off the road into the median but that was an improvement as we could stay at 70 or better.
This is the end of the Thanksgiving weekend and this was not normal traffic. The density of it reeked of ‘I ain’t staying home’ and ignoring the ‘don’t travel ban’. Let’s see what draconian measures the new administration will bring down to ‘rein in’ the spike crash the economy. Make sure you have sufficient paper products and beans to work thru the Dire Democratic Restrictions (DDR if you didn’t catch it) as the Biden-Harris team demand you shelter in place and stasi at home.
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Nice pic in the header, last time I was in Moscow was (OMG!) nearly 60 years ago. I’m sure Red Square and St Basil’s have changed some but I’m pretty sure that the Russians are still the Russian.: SSDD: Same Society, Different Dictator.
If I go back it will be in the winter, I can’t conceive of Russia sans cold, snow and bundled people, warm and sunny just doesn’t ring true. If I do go I’ll fly into Moscow on Lufthansa, the irony will be delicious.
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And why exactly would you want to go back?
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At one time it was to finish the work my grandfathers started, now I just want to pee on John Reed’s grave.
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On second thought I could just come up to Alaska, I understand you can just about see Russia from there…
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As you know, you CAN see Russia from Alaska, just not from my house (or Sarah’s). You and czarina are welcome to come visit any time! But probably in the summer, given Herself’s feelings about snow.
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Her feelings towards snow and weather below 75 degrees is known far and wide. It will be about 28 for a couple of hours tonite and she’s in bed buried under insulation with and emergency woll shedding sheep close by.
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Liberals Want You Demoralized, So Don’t Be
By Kurt Schlichter – Posted: Nov 30, 2020 12:01 AM
The next guy who tells me his sad feelz are so intense over the election that he’s not going to vote in Georgia or anywhere else ever again cuz all is lost and blah blah blah is getting slapped.
Hard. I’m getting tired of loser talk, and I won’t have it.
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2020/11/30/liberals-want-you-demoralized-so-dont-be-n2580773
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These people with their “loser talk” always seem to have less to lose, meaning IMHO since they all seem to be much better off financially than at least me, they have or believe they have, money to be made from the other side. Apparently they all think they can get rino or controlled opposition gigs on cnn?
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The on/off/on tricks of the judiciary…
BREAKING GEORGIA UPDATE: Judge Issues Restraining Order for 10 Days Preventing Defendants from Destroying or Erasing Dominion Voting Machines
By Jim Hoft – Published November 29, 2020 at 10:41pm
Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. issued an order on Sunday morning to freeze ALL Dominion voting machines in the state of Georgia.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/breaking-georgia-update-judge-issues-restraining-order-10-days-preventing-defendants-destroying-erasing-dominion-voting-machines/
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Interesting. CTH no longer updates on my stupid smartphone app, but I saw it was all migrated via a PC browser
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Just read the explanation post. Not a suprise.
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Just a comment on Sundance’s remarks today on CTH 2.0:
First, there is no apology needed or expected (other than the shameless prior host). CTH is a labor of love and passion – love of his/our fellow man. Period. In that, he has touched untold people and exponentially many many lives.
Second – and although I rarely have anything to add to the brilliant commenters there – just to be able to read the articles posted and his commentary is reassuring and enlightening. Comments are a welcome embellishment but not mandatory during these challenging times.
I believe that most of the comments yesterday were from people who were unsure of the method of commenting sans WP and therefore were testing/experimenting out of curiosity. A short segment explaining the new ABC’s of how to comment would probably reduce the comments by 80% or more. That’s my two cents’ worth – free advice (and worth what you paid for it).
We’re behind you 100%, so just take a deep breath and continue at a dog trot! You’re doing God’s work.
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I passed your comment on to Sundance.
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Hi Stella,
Last night I tried commenting a few times at the Treehouse to see how it worked. It kept on coming back there was some sort of problem with “captcha”. I only ever comment here, and rarely at the Treehouse and one other site. The other site has a “comment as guest” option which I use since I do not have a wordpress account (that’s why I can not “like” anyone). It then asks to click pictures with a ladder, or motorcycle, or whatever, then I OK it and my comment is posted.
I am wondering if I will not be able to comment at the Treehouse if I do not have some sort of account or if I do not register somewhere? Do you know what I could be doing wrong? I can’t get on to ask. I figure I may not be the only one having this problem.
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Commenting has been shut off at the new site due to technical issues. If you look down this thread, there is an explanation of what is happening.
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Oh Thank You. I was reading my way down the page here and had not seen it yet.
There is absolutely no need for apologies for any glitches in the Herculean task you all have undertaken. I think people such as myself are just trying to give feedback as to what’s happening out in our neck of the woods. I assumed it was something I did wrong – which is often the case! 😉
I’ll wait a while to try to comment to avoid the mad rush the first few days or even week maybe. I don’t really have much to say over there, although I do read the news articles and the open thread when I have the time.
My online home is now here even though I do not have enough time to comment as much as I would like. I remember the 1st time a comment thread next door went over 100 comments. I thought that was amazing. Then it exploded and there were just too many for my tired eyes to read, and the “regulars” seemed too few and far between. I know it may not be the best for you Stella, but I hope you don’t get to hundreds or thousands of comments here. Am I bad to say that? I like it here.
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Yes, considering the importance of the CTH, considering the massive scale of moving a database that large intact and functioning, I find his compunction a bit off-putting.
He’s moving a huge amount of data spanning many years to a new platform and that’s not like picking up a suitcase and unpacking at a new room across the country and expecting every article to come out unwrinkled and completely ready to wear…and on a few minutes notice and under hostile fire.
He’;s provided a platform for conservatives (and a few of us tinfoil hat wearers) and an invaluable research and intelligence service that’s been ahead of the malingering press for the last dozen years or so, especially on the coup perpetrated against Trump. I’d argue that had he not surfaced some of the information he did that it would have stayed buried forever. He has managed to draw fire from a number of notable sources, though recent slam by the Daily Beast might just be professional jealousy – it reported that CTH is the 4000th most visited website in the US.
Sundance has provided n invaluable resource that’s given a platform to conservatives while they’re under attack from all quarters, and moving the complete CTH platform intact while under fire needs no apologies for the effort.
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CTH isn’t major media, but has a wide viewership, nonetheless.
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Depends on your definition of ‘major media’.
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Amen.
I am truly amazed it was done this fast. I thought it would have taken 3 days to transfer all that!
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I’m amazed that the entire data library is being migrated intact and functioning.
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Read the comment (below) containing SD’s explanation of the glitches taking place right now …
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I’m not complaining, I’ve been party to two huge data migrations over the years, both with the government, and neither happened quickly, easily or without long and painstaking periods of testing over weeks to months. The CTH being removed from WP and migrated intact to another in just days doesn’t deserve apologies, it deserves massive applause.
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I didn’t think you were complaining, but might want to read what he said. I just found it myself not long ago.
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By the way, the Alexa rank for CTH in the United States is 2,810.
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/theconservativetreehouse.com#section_traffic
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It’s moved up a lot since June.
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It fluctuates.
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Happily upward it seems.
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I just got to the latest post. For those who haven’t seen it:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/11/30/update-cth-2-0-site-challenges-on-launch-apologies-to-readers-and-users/
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Text of this post is below.
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I’m waiting for the hack attacks once CTH is up and running on its new platform. The actions to destroy by deplatforming was a warning shot right thru the bow, now that it’s being moved the serious attacks should begin.
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I hope not.
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Stella, thank you for the link as it explains a lot. I was wondering if it was my ‘provider’ going ‘woke’ or if there were other issues that need to be ironed out.
Please tell Sundance that apologies are not necessary. The Treepers and Treepettes all understand and I think I speak for most, that we are eternally grateful for all the hard work and heartache involved.
I am sure that many, like me, enjoy the news links that we may not normally see and are going into a mild state of ‘withdrawal’.
Thank you, Stella!
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So do I but I see it as too big of a conservative target for them to ignore.
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stella, thank you, thank you so much for posting that link. I can’t get to CTH 2.0. But with your link I did get to read Sundance’s post. Please tell them all (including you) no apologies wanted or needed. I don’t know if there are other posts on 2.0, when I clicked the Home link it took me to Nov 29th Home page.
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I understand. We have ALL had problems – admins included.
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I hope my short conment wasn’t misread. I meant the technical difficulty wasn’t a surprise.
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I can’t get to it from the phone, either – I figured I’se just an idiot.
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Could just be cache somewhere on the mobile phone company side.
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I don’t have my phone set to connect to any wifi
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I thought the same thing
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WeeWeed, the phone won’t work for me, if my neighbor & I text each other it may take 12-48 hours for us to get it (we are about 1/2 mile through the woods apart) LOL.
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We who are really really special are able to read all the articles next door, but our commenting ability has been totally removed.
Poor Stella. Appears my commenting function here is just fine.
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There are still problems.
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CTH is in the WP app again, but text only 🙄
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There are so many screwy things happening with both the old and new sites, and I don’t have explanations for any of them, unfortunately. We all have to just wait it out.
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My post was more of a “look! A squirrel!” Informational message. I was happy to see the update made it to my mobile service provider proxy servers.
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Do you have any idea why a laptop would be able to log on the new site but not my Apple devices? If I disconnect them from WiFi and use the cellular network I can go to the new site. Makes no sense, if the laptop has no problems.
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Different network and route.
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Surely not if the cell phone and iPad are connected to my home WiFi. Yes, different when they are using the Verizon network, but I just can’t understand why the laptop will access the new site and the iPad won’t, not as long as it is connected to my home ISP.
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Could be mobile device pages vs full “desktop” browser pages too. I see different posts depending upon device used
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I’m normally involved in the equivalent of moving a furnished house or office building in it’s entirety. What you guys did is take a fully furnished multi-room condo, and move all drywall, tile, carpet, windows, and fixtures in addition to household appliances to another condo building and are decovering the door hindges and hasps are all a half inch off.
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I think we took the nails and picture hangers too.
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Indeed. Just don’t repeat my mistake and attempt to use a butter knife as a chisel or awl.
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Unless you’re going for the extremely distressed look.
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In the past, when I’ve been involved with internet DNS changes, it could take a day or two for changes to get fully replicated.
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Mornin’ all. I woke up here to a rolling type t-storm. Nice! I didn’t even want to get out of bed it was so nice. Well, I will have breakfast and then be ready to handle the first of the news of the week. Keep smiling. Remember it makes the Dems so mad.
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The start of my day. I took Loki out to pee in the rain. She walked around for about 5 min wanting to go back into the house. Then, right after she got in the door, she went pee on the carpet. Sheesh! She wouldn’t pee on the wet grass.
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Sounds like pee pads may be in your future.
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Exactly what I was thinking!
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Yeah.
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Good morning, aus! We’ve got a consistent amount of snow falling. Looks to be a white stuff pile-up plus rain later type of day. Took the trash out at 9:00 AM and the snow started about 15 minutes later…so I feel that serves as THE accomplishment for the last day of November 2020.
I don’t plan to do anything else except watch ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY on YouTube and listen to hours of music. Unfortunately my 12 year old CD player has chosen to start skipping and then tuning itself to the STOP mode. Sigh! I do have a smaller one in my bedroom but the quality is meh.
Anyway, at the moment Chris Botti’s ITALIA is on the “turntable”…love “Caruso”…
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Mornin’ y’all. My baby brother has it, now….
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My two cousins (the ones who are retired, live in the country, and are careful) are now better after a week.
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Mornin’ Stella!
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Mornin’/afternoon, WeeWeed!
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Good News! 😉
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Close relatives of ours.
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Mornin’ Z’s!
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Gots a few chilly uns coming up, gettin’ those ‘chill hours’in on the fruit trees to keep the possums occupied next year.
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I have no idea what that means.
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June in Juneau?
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Dearest Daughter seems fine now, and back at work. It seems to have spread all over her place of work, and they are all blaming her! She told them where they could go, because everyone she knows tested negative, so she must have gotten it from someone there! She came by the house for Thanksgiving, and I just stuffed 2 bags of dinner in her window and said our farewells.
The food was great!
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So glad to hear she is better! 🙂
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Afternoon JTR!
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Good afternoon, everyone. She really is a lot better. Just a nagging cough, and people at work. She has not tested negative, but they told her she had to come back to work or lose her job. Her response was, “Oh well, see ya ‘ya tomorrow”. She’s GRITS! “Girl Raised In The South”!
Just like her Mamma!
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Good day to you, WeeWeed! The scare factor is definitely on high mode with the Wuhan. Sorry to hear that your brother has it. Hopefully his recovery is swift.
Visualize…Playa del Carmen, Mexico….
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Prayers for your brother. Hopefully he is “baby” enough to put him in a better bracket age-wise, although realistically even for someone like me in their 60’s, the recovery rate is really good.
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He’ll be fine – his wife is the main worry, as she has several health issues.
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WeeWeed, I’m a high risk person and i’ve tried to read up about this. I have a lot of stuff that I consider sound advice, but the short story is that I believe the beaureacrats (whatever) have committed an awful crime against the US. I have links if you are interested in exploring, but I suggest that your brother and his wife talk to “talk to an MD” and get prophylactic doses of Hydroxycloroquine-zinc and AZT.
Prayers for Treepers, Sundance and PDJT/
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Saying some prayers, Miss Wee.
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Hope he’s well soon Wee.
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Beautiful drone tour of China blanketed in snow. Recommend you turn down the music as it is repetitive bell playing which adds nothing.
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Beautiful!
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We got snow here for a couple of hours today. No accumulation, the best kind. It’s going to be about 20 degrees tonight. And I have an early appointment. Of course, my timing is always bad.
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Snow here today too.
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Good Morning everyone, it’s good to be home. I would like to thank a small handful for the prayers, apparently they helped. I’m looking forward to the new Tree House but am very content to just hang here for a bit. I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is ready to careen into Christmas! Thank you again just for being here, it made a huge difference in attitude.
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Glad you are home and on the mend, Gary!
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“Thank you again just for being here, it made a huge difference in attitude.”
Yup….there are so many ways that isolation, real or perceived, can happen and also many kinds of provision to offset the difficulties that either real isolation or perceived isolation can cause.
I realized last evening that I was feeling grumpily isolated and then remembered that I have a son in Colorado who is always glad for a phone conversation–so I called him and we had a good thirty minute visit. Recognizing my real needs and then taking action to meet them or let others help meet them…
This morning I was thinking about Julius and Olga Grele, farm neighbors of ours in the 1950s in the dryland farm country of NE Montana. I was thinking about their lilac bushes–so fat and fragrant in spring and early summer, just like ours were. I was remembering the QUIET that pervaded our homes, our yards, our days, our weeks. In retrospect, I know that such QUIET was not experienced as isolation. There was peace in that QUIET. Lives being lived well. Even though much of “the quiet” that is perceived as isolation is imposed on us today by the Covid Cops, I know that it can also reintroduce a quietness that can be a good thing. (Talkin’ to myself here)
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Yes, quiet is nice, and knowing there us companionship in the quiet is necessary.
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Afternoon Gary,
So good to hear you are home and feeling better! Agreed, – the support & fellowship of kind & like-minded people is uplifting. Please remember, with the Holy Spirit in your heart, you are never truly alone.
May God Bless you, and keep you in the palm of His hand.
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Mornin’ Stella, ladies and gentlymen.
Heard vague rumors many of you here were too busy last night to listen to Frey-Barnes podcast.
You didn’t miss much. Frei hadn’t much to contribute; Barnes did the majority of the talking and gave us all a great seminar in election law.
The last part may have been the best part. Barnes gave a great soliloquy on why we are to never ever give up or quit.
If you’ve time, have a listen to the last several minutes of the vid. It is worth the time, and may change a mind or two re: the smugnorant Robert Barnes.
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I cannot give up my WordPress account to protest against the censorship of CTH as long as Stella is here, I don’t post here often, but I do pass by here from time to time for a little peace and tranquility. I love the recipes too. Thank you all!
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None of the mods, nor Sundance, are giving up our WordPress accounts. We have a need for them other than CTH.
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As far as I remember, I do not have a wordpress account and I comment here, the Treehouse and another site. I don’t remember setting anything up. I just don’t have all the extra features you all have, but I can comment.
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Glad to know you are out there. We enjoy the comraderie.
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They have the Arizona meeting going on live right now. Very interesting.
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I just posted it.
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Minnesota has consistently ranked among the least free states in the US historically
Written by Martha Njolomole on November 27, 2020
Just recently, the Fraser Institute released the 16th edition of its Economic Freedom For North America. This is a report that ranks freedom of different regions of the three countries in North America; Mexico, Canada, and the United States. And according to the new report, Minnesota ranked 40th freest state in the United States in 2018.
https://www.americanexperiment.org/2020/11/minnesota-has-consistently-ranked-among-the-least-free-states-in-the-us-historically/
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There is little New Hampshire at the top of the list 😉
Now if we could just get someone to pay attention to the voter fraud here, we could go back to being a red state. Amazing how everything except president, senator, and congresscritter went red! Apparently 4 electoral votes are not enough to get the attention of the powerful.
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4 isn’t many, but it’s 3 more than Alaska has. (Not that I wish we had more people here, I don’t.) We have 600,000 people and 500,000 square miles; but half the population lives in the 3 “big” cities, which tend to be blue. Enough to elect a Dem Senator every now and then (or Lisa Murkowski, which is the same thing).
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The text of the latest Sundance post on the new server. It explains what is happening:
[UPDATE: CTH 2.0 Site Challenges on Launch – Apologies to Readers and Users…]
“Glitches” seems like an easy catch-phrase to explain encountered problems in the world of technology; but “glitches” doesn’t reconcile the real human frustration people encounter when they engage with a system that is experiencing a rather unique challenge.
I won’t say we are experiencing a glitch…. CTH 2.0 is experiencing a challenge that has actual emotional consequences… Here’s the issue in as much non-technical wording as I can muster.
SIDEBAR: For other websites with considerable scale, and considering the deplatforming issue underway, this might also serve as a guide. Additionally, for site users in any website this might explain some background decision-making on commenting functions that is often left unsaid outside of closed-door meetings.
First, my sincere apologies for the trouble everyone had, and is having, as we launched CTH 2.0 with new host servers. As you know, our commenting community is our #1 priority and we have years of relationship and trust together. The challenge before us today is considerable.
When we were told we had to leave WordPress/Automattic platform it was important to us to retain the entire site library that includes over 56,000 published articles and over 7.2 million comments.
Some articles carry up to several hundred citations and the average amount of content within the 7.2 million comment file alone exceeds 40 million lines of metadata.
All of that CTH data took approximately 60 hours to export and transfer (import) to a new site and eventually new host servers. The data was first uploaded to a test site to gauge the scale of data and time. After that initial transfer timeline was determined the data was then imported to new host servers, CTH and CTH 2.0 were mirrored, and fully migrated away from WordPress/Automattic servers.
The CTH 2.0 site was reviewed, some adjustments made to ensure user friendly systems were carried over, and we were ready to switch the site. That is called a DNS switchover.
As the domain name shifts from WordPress/Automattic to our new platform host the worldwide system of interconnected data networks needs to identify and promulgate searches for “TheConservativeTreehouse.Com” with the new site destination, the new servers. This process takes place in every country around the world, each with a different refresh rate for DNS activation.
At approximately 7:30pm ET last evening that process was initiated. CTH search results switched from final destinations at WordPress/Automattic servers to our new server host.
Regionally as each Internet Service Provider (ISP) updated it’s DNS mapping, users were directed to new CTH servers. CTH 2.0 slowly showed up in every city, state and town as the regions came on-line with updated directories. The process executed as expected.
We anticipated a significant data pull from initial users that would hit the server network, so we purchased a secondary “cache” service, Cloudfare, to help offset the scale of the data load by hosting the static or older library files. It’s a weird system but the data starts to promulgate two data-systems simultaneously. The load on the servers is offset by the ability of CloudFare to host and direct users to older content.
However, in the change to new servers there is no pre-existing room of old “cached” files that don’t need to be responsive to the user. The entire CTH archive library is essentially being pulled from the Host Servers as the promulgation continues and a new set of cache files is being created that will eventually take some of the load away.
Depending on the library size – for the first 24 hours the new servers are carrying all the load and the data capacity is stressed. The server host anticipates this heavy load and has a system in place called “autoscale” that activates to allow more server capacity during the DNS switch.
That is one initial load on the servers that improves in time. Time allows the servers to fully promulgate and get better at working with secondary cache services who take some of the burden. But in the first hours all of the data load is on the host server.
The secondary issue is where our problem rests. As each provider gained access to and directed customers to the new servers, many of the inbound users, our community, started commenting. The scale of our community is significant, we are proud of it.
The CTH 2.0 site content was promulgating new pathways (the DNS changeover) at the same time users started to engage with it. The cache service was also promulgating. However, the commenting function is a live-time engagement, so the secondary “cache” host doesn’t interact at all with the commenting data-load.
When you write a comment it creates a metadata file. Each comment is a unique url. Your unique id is part of that metadata, your gravatar or avatar is part of that metadata, the content of your comment (what you write) is part of that metadata and any article links, citations, pictures, gifs, or tweets -each carrying a unique url- is part of that metadata.
The average number of lines of unique metadata in one comment is six to ten lines of code, regardless of the length of your comment. Your comment creates a mini data-file with its own unique id (the url). The library of pre-existing comments is 7.2 million. Multiply that by the lines of metadata and you get well over 40 million lines of code in the pre-existing comment file alone.
♦ Here’s the issue. Whenever you write a unique comment the pre-existing library is searched by a software program to match you to your commenting history. This avoids duplication (if you hit send/submit more than once), and it also looks for spam or bot signatures.
Because we are using new servers the library of 7.2 million comments (each with 6 to 10 lines of metadata) has to be searched by the same software built into the system to avoid comment duplication. In essence as you hit submit/send the search goes through the entire library of 40 million lines of metadata looking for your unique id and then responds back to allow the comment to go through.
With only a few people reaching the site it’s not a problem. However as more and more people are both drawing from the host library of posted content; and simultaneously writing comments that have to go through searching 40 million lines of metadata; the servers get overloaded.
Put 1,000 people on the site at the same time and you get 1,000 x 40,000,000 lines of metadata being searched and queried at the same time.
With one thousand users the servers are trying to: (1) return library results on 11 years of archived posts; and (2) search through 40 billion lines of comment metadata and respond simultaneously. That’s the data load for 1,000 users.
[On an average day at CTH we hold 25k users/hr simultaneously and a peak avg around 35k to 50 thousand around 9pm ET.]
Last night, typical for CTH, as word spread we had 30,000 simultaneous users return to the website. Do the math: 30,000 users x 40 million lines of metadata in the comment library search and the servers overloaded…. “504” and “524” notifications were the result on your browser searches.
That’s what happened.
It’s not an excuse for what happened; that’s just what happened.
As the DNS promulgates more fully the servers will be less taxed on the article data retrieval and older files will shift to the cache service. The weight of the site data will lessen as the cache can step-in, and the servers will be less taxed. That part is not a problem.
The problem is the sheer scale of the comment library. Every comment submitted draws a search amid 40 million lines of metadata. Over time that will also improve, but the comment library is going to take much longer to promulgate; and it doesn’t help that Google search engines are simultaneously crawling through the entire site, including the totality of the comment library, to re-index their search results by pulling data from the new site servers.
One quick solution from the engineering side was to just get rid of every comment older than 90 days so the comment library shrinks to a manageable searchable size.
Another solution to regain the site was to shut down commenting again thereby stopping the search function associated with each unique user posting a comment.
The latter approach would buy time to find another solution that might avoid deleting the comment library. That is the approach we have chosen right now. We didn’t really have an option.
When I was asked “why not just drop the old comments” we run into a conversation that is personal for our CTH community.
There’s a few reasons why I wanted the total import of the comment files, one of them I never wanted to discuss…. but to explain to those here today who might also just say get rid of the older comments… I need to share something very important.
Our comment library holds 11 years of prayer request threads. It was the first function we added to this little hideout. You may not know it but the admins and I spend a lot of time reading those prayer requests; and yes, we pray for those who write.
Those prayer requests and replies are from real people, our people, our CTH community of people and they are the source of our compass heading. More importantly, we have lost friends who asked for prayers for themselves and/or their loved ones. We have held the hands of those people and we have at times had no words other than just to sit still and let them know we are there.
Many of those friends left us and they are in God’s hands now. Additionally, whether you know it or not the families left behind visit those prayer threads, read the words, and remember the voices of those who are no longer with us. If we were to delete old comments we would be losing many of those prayer threads, and that would just be too high a price to pay. It would feel like we were breaking a promise, I cannot do it.
So the tech team has been told deleting comments by date is not an option. If I need to pay a service to host an archive of those prayer threads, so we can put a link to them, then that’s doable. But we are not deleting them, period.
The tech guys are looking at other options for how to turn-on comments while at the same time lessening the burden on comment data by reducing the library. There has to be a way to do it and that’s the challenge.
I apologize unreservedly for this issue.
I apologize that you cannot comment right now.
This issue within the launch of CTH 2.0 is entirely on me.
The tech people who worked on this massive export and import of data have done outstanding work. I am the person who wouldn’t budge on retention and transfer of the entire CTH data library to include every comment by this community. This 11-year labor of love will not be taken apart.
There’s a solution out there and we are sharp enough to figure it out.
Warmest love and deepest appreciation for your understanding,
~ Sundance…
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Thanks for posting the notice here, Stella. I won’t be posting at CTH for a while but will check in to read.
The former server proprietors knew what a tremendous undertaking the move would be and likely took pleasure in inflicting the stress. Apparently they don’t believe that someday they will be called to account.
Praying for the entire CTH crew and especially Sundance. God bless!
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I thought perhaps my computer illiteracy was manifesting itself. Thank you Stella for posting this information on your site……..I’ve tried accessing the new site from Twitter but am only seeing a Search box with the notice “Site not found”…..so I’ll continue to assume my carrier just hasn’t updated DNS as of yet.
:0) Again, thank you.
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Stella ..Thanks for the CTH information. you have eased my mind. The realization has struck me that I am addicted to Sundance and the whole treeper community. I was lost and on the verge of tears. these times are so rough with the election fraud, CTH being deplatformed and sadly Rush’s cancer. I have a sense of overwhelming loss aggravated by the passing last week of my only brother.
Again, thank you for your calming words.
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I am sorry to hear about the passing of your brother. May God comfort you.
I will keep doing updates here on my blog if and when I have something new to report.
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Sundance, you have my unreserved admiration for all that you do.
Stella, I haven’t been here very much, but you have a beautiful blog and I’ll certainly return.
May i be so bold as an ex-IT person. Sundance, I read your note as not only bringing the archive along, which I think is wonderful, but also testing every reply/comment against the entire data base, as if to insure every comment is treated “equally”. Without knowing anything about your blog structure/database, it seems to me that you need a pre-screening. In other words, I respect the Treepers who come here to take comfort from the prayers for their loved ones, but we are talking about an eternity and they aren’t seeking answers in 60 milliseconds. Same for folks that want to reference your works from 2014…do they need the same attention as the people who post “TEST”?
This is a spitball. I understand if you send AD REM to tell me to get remedial reading and shut up.
God bless you and yours.
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Sundance doesn’t read here, but I’ll pass your note along when things calm down a bit. Or you can send him a dm on Twitter, or an email at the reagan.com account.
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Do you know if our WP user name and password will be moved over or will we have to reregister?
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I don’t know yet.
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Guess we’ll find out.
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Thanks for reposting here, Stella. Assuming that the November 30, 2020 Presidential Thread was the last post?
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I am able to click in to CTH 2.0 via Stella’s blog roll, above on the right margin – click on “The Last Refuge” – takes me right in to the new site, showing new posts (with comments off, understandably)
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TY. I believe I have been able to access the site, just no comments seen yet.
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For our bird lovers:
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I’d be so afraid that Haemish McBeth would remove a tender little finger! He can be so sweet, He’ll put his beak to your lips and make a kissey noise, but if he’s in a mood, he can nail you to the cross!
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I’ve never been close around such pretty little birds, but I wondered the same thing. I don’t quite get the lack of concern on the part of the parents. May such pretty little birds are never unexpectedly mean.
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Yes, YES, say our three inside cats in unison, pleeeeeease bring home a plump, friendly bird for us to love!
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Just had one of those India-based credit card scam services call using the phished phone/caller ID for the Baptist Seminary in NOLA. Where are the Hellfire-armed Predator drones when you need them?
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I had a scam call last night from a Phillipine’s Jewelry Designer….First scam call I’ve had in a couple of years. I have no idea where they would have phished the phone# from, but these calls pi$$ me off……
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Wow,. never had a jewelry scam caller, my callers are more prosaic.
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Yeah, this scam call wasn’t the type of call I usually get but since I’ve had my phone # for less than three years they had to have phished it fairly recently.
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What I’ve seen is they use a zip and prefix of a given area and robodial all 100-thousand numbers in that subset. Back to that ‘where are the armed drones when you need them’ idea.
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LOL…so many times those armed drones could come in handy…..:0)
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Yeah, why should Moslem fundamentalists have them all to themselves?
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I was getting up to 10 calls a day. I finally put a not so welcoming answer machine message on and that discourages most of them. But, now I have signed up for stop the robocalls. You should check with your carrier and see if they have a robocall stop. It didn’t cost anything and the phone will ring once and stop. I think it must remove your number from the list, too, because they have nearly completely stopped.
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I don’t answer the phone unless I know who is calling. If it’s important, they will leave a message.
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Exactly. The number comes up on the TV screen. But I was getting so many of them it was driving me crazy.
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Thanks aus…I’ll check into it if I see an uptick in scam calls..:0)
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Our GS eats thru what we refer to as ‘driveby feedings’. We place his finger food on a plate on a table low enough for him but a bit too high for the terrierista…the BD dog has better manners. He’ll cruise by, gran two fists of food and gnosh as he walks…the terrierista in close tow gladly and happily picking up what he drops.
The terrierista is still wary of him, she’s never been around a toddler before and his jerky movements and unfamiliar behaviors still bother her but she’s no longer giving him sharp warnings when he does things to worry her, she no rarely even warns him and when she does it’s just a little bark. She’ll run around him outside, she feels she has enough room to move to a comfortable distance if she needs it, and this Roomba-role indoors just may seal the early relationship.
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Warning of donor harassment, Trump administration backs foes of California disclosure rule
November 26, 2020 – posted by Catholic News Agency
CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2020 / 11:01 am (CNA).- The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to review a challenge to a California requirement that charitable organizations disclose their major donors to the state attorney general, siding with groups like the Thomas More Law Center that say the requirement will make their donors vulnerable to retaliation, harassment, and violence.
https://catholicvoiceomaha.com/warning-of-donor-harassment-trump-administration-backs-foes-of-calif-disclosure-rule/
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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. Also, we pray for Angels to protect and support our Sundance as he works for justice and peace.
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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Amen
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A prayer for Justice Kavanaugh and Gen. Flynn:
Prayer to St. Michael
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle;
be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do you, O prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits
who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls.
In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
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Amen
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Roman’s videos are always well presented and worthwhile viewing even if some of the topics are already familiar. The Zuck info re his enabling criminality with his cash was new to me.
Zuckerberg’s $400M Election Bid; Judge Blocks Georgia from Wiping Machines
Facts Matter, a production of Epoch Times – November 30, 2020
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I could really use prayers for my husband. We’re in the hospital, they think he has cancer.
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I’m sorry to hear that, michellc. Of course I will pray for him right now.
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I know I already thanked you in e-mail, but thank you again.
I don’t know why, because I posted this message on my phone, but after that WP wouldn’t let me login from my phone. Seems to be working on my computer.
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Prayers up.
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Thank you
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I’m very sorry michellec, will be praying.
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Thank you
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Prayer, Michelle – do let us know.
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Thank you
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You are both in ours.
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Thank you
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You and your husband have my prayers.
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Thank you.
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Stella, thank you for providing a place for us Treepers to come and hang out a bit while we were waiting for TCTH to finish the move. You have a nice place here!
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