Early Risers - Eastern Time Zone
Replies
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Howdy y'all. I's marvelous Monday! Supposed to be quite nice today. I think I'll leave the jacket at home.
Last night's roasted root vegetable gratin was fantastic! Unfortunately, no leftovers, but I do remember how I whipped this one up and will be repeating that procedure for sure. Topping with cheese AND breadcrumbs at the end really gave it a nice crusty finish.
Oh well. Off to the rat mines!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's terrific Tuesday! I must remember to vote today after work.
Last night I made my first attempt at chicken fried tofu for J. It came out fairly decent, though I think I need much more spice and perhaps some marinade for the next time. At least my breading stayed on the tofu pretty well, which was what I was the most concerned about, for this time.
I had lamb chops, the last of my beet and carrot greens, and some of my home made refrigerator pickled beets, which also turned out quite nicely.
Today is supposed to be fairly warm, with 40% chance of scattered showers.
Off to the salt races!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's wonderful Wednesday! Rain finally did come last night but not until 8:30 pm or so. Didn't affect me at work at all. Today is supposed to be zero chance of rain so that's good.
Val, I tried just rolling the pressed tofu in seasoned flour and that was OK but J really liked it when I did the same three step process I use for schnitzel or fried chicken.
Not sure how this would be adapted for a vegan.
Use firm or, better, extra firm tofu. Marinate if desired beforehand, and press most, but not quite all, the marinade out, just as you would press the tofu anyway.
1) Shake gently in bag with seasoned flour.
2) Gently shake off excess flour and dip gently in egg wash (egg with about equal amount of water, all whipped together).
3) Shake gently in bag with bread crumbs, plain or seasoned as desired, but hopefully not salted as there was already salt in the seasoned flour. Press crumbs gently if necessary to get them to stick better.
Place in hot oil (medium heat), fry on one side until brown, flip and fry on the other side until brown.
Drain on paper towels and eat after cooling somewhat!
Off to the salt races!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...
0 -
Howdy y'all. It's thrilling Thursday! Had a bit of COLD outdoor signage to change yesterday, but at least it wasn't wet.
Off to the rat mines!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's fabulous Friday! Cold now but supposed to be around 60 later, cloudy but no rain. I like that!
One of my banks has issued a "replacement" check card (changing from MC to Visa) but the replacement has my unmarried name on it. We had to go to the bank TWICE last year to get all that, supposedly, fixed up, spending quite a lot of time at the bank and signing a lot of papers.
When I called the service number on the back of the card (rather than the activation number) I was told by the smarmy young man at the other end that I'd "have to go to the bank, with the card" to get this fixed. I didn't argue with him, just thanked him for his time and then sent a smoking letter to the bank via the online "Contact Us" link pointing out that we DID go to the bank, last year, TWICE, to get all this worked out and that they have my correct, legal name in their records all over the place. I also said that my having to go to the bank and bring the card to get this fixed was just NOT ACCEPTABLE and that if it turned out this was necessary I might well just decide that since I have to go there I can also decide to take my business elsewhere hereafter. We'll see how that flies, but this is ridiculous.
Rant off.
Off to the salt races!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...
0 -
Howdy y'all. It's sensational Saturday! Woke very early, for a Saturday, but it was nearly 4:00 so I got on up anyway and got breakfast for Lilo and for myself. Just finished my first cup of tea and will get the next one in a bit, even if I have to evict Lilo from my lap to do it.
It's 34 degrees out there, according to the weather page.
As far as the bank goes, they "responded" to my smoking letter of disapproval about the "replacement" card by stating they had forwarded the complaint to the ATM department. Since we have three accounts there, one joint, we rather expect to receive three more "replacement" cards, apparently sent just to give us chipped cards, I was mistaken about them changing from MC to Visa. The old card is Visa too.
Didn't receive any more yesterday, but the weekend is young!
Once we've received all four cards, we can see how the naming is on all of them and do one massive complaint. At the least, if we do have to visit the bank, we will want assurance that they can get our names CORRECT in their ATM department as well as every other department, because I absolutely will NOT be spending any of my time visiting the bank to correct this three years down the road when the replacement cards expire.
Val, is the name change game always THIS frustrating? You would think that once it's been done at a given institution that you would be through with it there...wouldn't you? Have we made things so complicated that even in a single banking institution the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing?
In other news, last year during "open season" I initially made a request to change my Blue Cross insurance from "self only" to "self plus one" to include J. But then HIS work refused to allow him to change and cancel his health insurance, until next year's open season for them, so, before my open season was over, I changed my election back to "self only", which seemed to settle the matter.
Until...Blue Cross sent me a new set of ID cards showing Self Plus One at the beginning of the year. Apparently the Office of Personnel Management computer sent that change request immediately to Blue Cross, rather than waiting until the end of open season. Presumably that would be a good idea to expedite the change at the beginning of the new Calendar year, except that the OPM computer did NOT then change my "current" code to show that, as we were not yet in the new Calendar year.
When I changed my election back to "self only" the OPM computer said that this would overlay any changes that I had already made. Sounds good, right?
But...as I later found out after getting Blue Cross to query OPM (at least ONCE I got the agencies to talk to each other, not that it helped) the Blue Cross rep claimed that the OPM person said that my last "change" request was FROM "self only" TO "self only" and so wasn't valid and I needed to do another. Well OPEN SEASON was long gone, so that wasn't happening. I pointed out that this conversation indicated that my enrollment was, indeed, supposed to be "self only" and Blue Cross helpfully said that I would have to get OPM to officially tell them that.
So...I contacted OPM and requested that someone contact Blue Cross (thinking maybe that if I had the contact come from the other side that this would take care of it) and let them know that the change was in error and that my enrollment was supposed to be self only.
OPM, after much delay, responded to me with a curt note verifying, to me, that my enrollment code was self only...nothing to Blue Cross, just telling me what I already knew. I contacted Blue Cross again and explained that, again, feeling rather stuck in the middle since I have NO FREAKING IDEA what forms, signatures, etc. have to be shared back and forth between the agencies, begging Blue Cross to PLEASE contact OPM and work it out between the agencies.
Nope. Blue Cross helpfully told me that they took my word that my enrollment was supposed to be self only, but that they couldn't change that without a form xxxx from a specific OPM office to the Blue Cross Enrollment Office to CANCEL the change. Well, this seems like progress as someone is finally telling me exactly what form is needed...though I still say if Blue Cross would just contact OPM directly and ask for that #$%^&*@ form this would be expedited...but no.
So currently I have contacted OPM again, requesting they send the #$%^&*@ form xxxx to Blue Cross so that we can ALL AGREE that my enrollment is SELF ONLY for this Calendar year, hopefully sometime before my head explodes.
Oh, I also had pointed out to Blue Cross that if they would take note of how much OPM and I are paying, they would see that we are only paying for SELF ONLY, and not for SELF PLUS ONE. This didn't seem to impress them either...but at least it hasn't, so far, affected any of my prescription benefits or doctor payments this year. I guess it won't unless we attempt (we won't, of course) to send any of J's bill to Blue Cross.
Ah, bureaucracy. Where would we be without it? Probably in a much nicer place, actually.
I guess I could contact the Bureau of Bureaus and make a complaint...I wouldn't be surprised if we have one of those.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
So...what happens if I say, "I'm baaaacccckkkk"? Will anyone know who it is? Or is that like the question, if a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
How's everyone here? Yes - I know I could take the next several days and sit, bleary-eyed, around the clock, and read all your posts from the last - I can't recall since when!. While I would like to do that, I know it isn't a happening thing. But I am glad to see the familiar names (Val, Ed, and, if I remember correctly, Roger - from New Hampshire or Vermont? Sorry, can't recall which of the New England states).
Life here is busy, as I knew it would be. And, while I am still busy, I miss checking in with you folks, and hope just a bit of connecting between now and the end of April (when some major work is completed) is enough of a booster shot from all of you that I can enjoy the connection.
Val, how is the granddaughter? Doing well? I know you had so many concerns in the past about her in the school setting. Everything fine with your son, Ed? And Roger - if you are the gentleman I am thinking of - you must be itching to get back on the motorcycle for the start of the season. And if you are a different gentleman, just picture yourself enjoying life on a motorcycle!
All fine here. Hope you don't mind my stepping back in. Please take care.
And to Roger, thanks for the announcement about the Costco NS cards; I was looking for the dates!0 -
Howdy y'all. It's scintillating Sunday! A bit cool out there right now, but supposed to get into the mid 60s today with zero chance of rain.
I've been up for a while. Fed Lilo, but she hasn't been off to breakfast yet, preferring to hang out with me in the office space, and fed myself. I will make my first cup of tea in a minute.
Welcome back Leemom3, even if only for a short visit. Just to briefly recap what's going on, never change your name with your current bank and don't ever change your insurance election unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE, as changing it back before open season ends apparently bumfuzzles the computers and the people seem to take forever to get a clue as to what actually needs to be done to fix it, if they ever do...
OK. I've finished my orange flavored not-juice drink with vitamin C and Lilo is asleep in the cat bed, on the floor, next to me so I think it may be safe to make my first cup of tea!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...
0 -
Howdy y'all. It's marvelous Monday!
Cool out right now but supposed to be quite nice today.
Off to the salt races.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's terrific Tuesday! 46 out there right now, but supposed to get to 74 today! We better enjoy the few days of spring that we get because we'll be feeling summer heat in a couple of weeks I suppose.
Well, off to the rat mines!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Yes, I am back (Val, thanks for checking). Roger, now I remember! My apologies for not recalling properly. And, if I remember correctly, we are not too far away from each other. I am south Jersey, although I work in north Jersey.
Val, the roasted radishes sound - intriguing. Is it worth it for me to buy a bag to roast? Maybe the next time I roast the frozen brussels sprouts (I know...you shudder at the frozen descriptor!) I may toss in some radishes. And thanks for the try at a private message...even if the system didn't make it work!
Ed, great advice about not doing a name change. Many years ago - over 20 - I went through a name change to drop my husband's last name. We were not getting divorced, but I wanted my birth name back. I just never felt like "me" with someone else's name. It took YEARS, even with my court documents, for things to be straightened out. Today, I would not change it for anything - if for no other reason than what you talked about!
Roger, you bring up a good point about the move by NS away from the forum. That was such a major support system for so many folks (including me). I enjoy reconnecting with all of you, but I found you only because I saved the link in my "favorites" bar on my computer. It is impossible for me to find info easily about NS. In my opinion...bad customer service.
I know this is the early morning forum, and I seem to be here only in the evening. It's morning somewhere, isn't it?
Will be back to see you folks again,
Lee-Ann0 -
Howdy y'all. It's wonderful Wednesday! Supposed to be in the mid 70s again today so I think the jacket will be staying home.
Tagging, even outdoor tagging, at work shouldn't be too bad unless there's just a whole lot of it.
Anyway. Off to the salt races!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's thrilling Thursday! Supposed to get to 78 today and 81 tomorrow! Summer will be here by the weekend I guess. Surely by the end of the month.
Well, I've fed Lilo, had some of my home made hamburger stew for breakfast and it's off to the rat mines.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Turned out to be an excellent Thursday! Cloudy, but that was fine, as I didn't have any issues with the sun glaring in at me in the middle morning.
And I hate that the district guy came around AFTER I left, but despite my non-presence (or maybe because of it?) my fuel center got 100% on our quarterly fuel audit.
I'll take that! Now got to figure out what to get as appreciation gifts for the staff. Maybe Kroger gift cards, if that's allowed.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's finally fabulous Friday! Supposed to be 78 today with 20% chance of rain. I can take those odds, but I will bring my umbrella in with me.
Off to the salt mines!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's sensational Saturday! Been up for a while, fed Lilo and fed me. Lilo is now having lap time. J and I have to go do the orchid photography later for the monthly orchid judging. This weekend is also the big orchid show at the botanic garden, which, because of work, I have NOT participated in at all, which is unusual. I usually help out a lot with the hospitality, some with the ribbon judging and do a stint or two at the registration table.
This year I will probably just pop in for the judging photography, cruise quickly through the show and come home for a nap.
Breakfast included two mineola tangerines. My box this week was scheduled to include 7 of them and it did, indeed, include 7 of them. Twice. So I've got twelve left to eat! Fortunately I love those so this won't be a problem. There are also two blood oranges, three pears and a couple of avocados and three tomatoes in the "fruit" section. Some watermelon radishes, some leaf lettuce, a large kohl rabi, one small bunch of baby broccoli and some beets with tops round out the veggie portion. Lots to play with!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Hi Folks,
Yippee! I made it here in the morning this time! I also have been enjoying the out-of-doors this post week.
Roger, thanks for the Lean Cuisine info. I don't have any right now, but it is good info.
Ed - no orchid involvement? That sounds unusual for you. I suspect by next year you'll be involved again.
Val - it looks like you are traveling somewhere, but I missed it (sorry). Enjoy the trip - if that is what it is.
Will get out walking soon - need to beat the rain. Take care,
Lee-Ann0 -
Howdy y'all. It's scintillating Sunday! I've fed Lilo and I've eaten, and am still drinking my Crystal Light Morning Classic Orange drink.
Tea will likely be later.
Need to do laundry today too.
Oh well, back to other internet distractions for a while!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's marvelous Monday! Off to the rat mines!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Roger,
I also skipped walking today. Mondays I can only walk after work (I leave for work by 4:45 AM)...but it was raw, nasty, rainy when I got home. Did you make it for your walk?
Back on NS to knock off about 5 pounds I picked up. They are like glue...I managed to keep off the weight for about 4 3/4 years, then poof! It started to creep back on. Maybe it has something to do with the number "55"...as in years..
Take care all,
Lee-Ann0 -
Howdy y'all. It's terrific Tuesday! Supposed to be warm and dry here.
Off to the salt races!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's wonderful Wednesday! Tag day, but it's supposed to be fairly pleasant outdoors today.
Off to the rat mines!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's thrilling Thursday! Breakfast was leftover shepherd's pie that I made for dinner last night. One of my favorite dishes! I saw we had some vacuum packed ground lamb in the manager's special bin and bought four pounds. One pound went to dinner, and the remaining three to the freezer.
At $5.99/pound, still not "cheap" but at least reduced to "affordable"...
I generally only buy lamb when it's marked down. I have a small lamb shank that I bought a while back that I intend to roast for Easter. I felt really lucky to find that in the mark down bin! Any leftover shank will be made into Irish stew.
Off to the rat mines.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...
0 -
Almost bedtime here! My dinner was a home made corned beef hash (low carb!) of corned beef, cabbage, bell pepper and onion. Quite tasty, but I'm pretty sure I rocked out on the fat and sodium. Enough leftovers for a couple more meals and then I'm done with the corned beef.
As for lamb, I have several packages of boneless loin steak/chops in the freezer along with my ground lamb. I find it often enough on the mark down rack that I usually have lamb in the freezer if I feel like having it, which is nice as I love lamb. If there's not enough shank meat left for Irish stew after Easter dinner, I can always thaw out some chops and round it out with that.
The ground lamb generally goes to shepherd's pie or middle eastern spiced lamb patties, in lieu of shish kabob, as the patties are easier to cook and don't require wrapping the meat around a skewer.
Once in a great while I'll make a Greek style lamb spaghetti sauce, but I don't make spaghetti often as I tend to eat too much of it in one sitting.
Well, the cats are jonesing for their evening treats.
G'nite all!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's fabulous Friday! Still haven't heard back from the bank regarding that one, single, "replacement" card with the wrong name on it or why we only go the one, instead of four.
I guess I'll have to take that card around to the bank after work today and find out what's going on. And let them know that this is REALLY ANNOYING and will NOT happen again...at least with this bank, because if it does, then we're through. Changing banks is a pain too but I've done it before.
Off to the salt races!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Well, the bank blamed Visa and said that after all the name on the one card WAS the name I had when that account was opened. I didn't really buy that, since the last Visa card I got has my right name on it, but Jose said that they no longer processed them here locally but in Virginia since they wanted the new chipped cards.
Supposedly all 4 cards will now be re-issued to us, with correct names on them, for each of our individual accounts and one each for the joint account. In seven to ten days, we'll find out!
Turns out the bank dude got married in January. I didn't suggest that I hoped his wife kept her name because changing it is SUCH A *kitten*!
LOL!
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Tonight's dinner was mega-salad. The last of the red leaf lettuce, the last bell pepper, the last cucumber, about half the radishes, one nice tomato, some fake bacon sprinkles, a few crispy fried wontons, a light sprinkle of cheese, and two quartered boiled eggs per salad, topped with my homemade thousand islands dressing.
J and I both had a LARGE salad that was quite satisfying.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0 -
Howdy y'all. It's sensational Saturday!
My produce box came yesterday, with a big head of Romaine, lots of other veggies and fruits.
I am a bit overloaded on some things because J and I were so busy last week. In the salad, we didn't use real bacon bits because J won't eat that.
I've been eating a lot of mineola tangelos because the prior week they sent me double on those (no extra charge, someone just put them in the box twice I guess...) and there are other citrus put back in the fridge that we need to catch up on. Also quite a few root veggies that need to be sorted out and roasted for a good dinner some night or two or three...
They sent three LARGE onions yesterday so there will be onions in the roasting too! Plenty of them!
We have a party to attend tonight so I need to start getting things together for that. Making a cheesy noodle casserole to bring along. They don't get all my nice organic veggies.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...
0 -
Howdy y'all. It's scintillating Sunday! A bit chilly out, but not too bad. I need to get laundry done today. And Val reminded me that I need to get some pruning done out there too! The daffodils are looking great out there, and the grape hyacinths have come up and are blooming. This is their first year so next year I expect more of them, as they tend to spread and cavort all over the place once established.
Right now I need to make some tea.
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Howdy y'all. It's marvelous Monday! Currently 38 degrees out there but might drop a couple more before it goes up to 58 later today.
J headed off to Kentucky last night as one of his uncles was dying (and did, in fact, die, during the night) so he'll be coming back probably Friday night.
In last minute grabbing of clothes he accidentally seems to have taken a pair of my work slack in lieu of his dress slacks, but they won't fit him. He'll have to make a run to Wallyworld to buy some I guess.
I'll get by down here.
Off to the rat mines! Hope the rats don't try to get in to keep warm.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
All mushrooms are edible. Some, only once...0
This discussion has been closed.