2019: We Are Making a Difference!
Replies
-
0 -
Wow, a break for hunting season. That’s amazing. I guess that’s a big tradition where you live. Hearing how they do the breaks and getting out before Memorial Day softens the negatives of starting back in August. In a bad winter, I imagine you get a fair amount of snow days. Are the schools air conditioned?0
-
Schools in Baltimore County start September 3 and finishes June 19. Looks like there are a tiny handful of counties in Maryland starting in August.
One thing that's changed since I was a kid is "spring break". We didn't have that.0 -
Our local schools are on a similar schedule. Out of 15 Cape towns, only one starts before Labor Day.0
-
This has been the fun discussion of crazy decisions. This mess is still parked at a wide spot where a state route and a US highway intersection about 14 miles from me. For trivia purposes, Car and Driver once rated this highway as one of the ten most challenging roads to drive in the nation
https://hurherald.com/recent_news.php?id=68885&fbclid=IwAR1owRds2GLFEYVhFm1VqnXBal9wy7SW_Cxh2T466PKv-jBl855cn2lbEJo
This was a Facebook posting:
Hearth Hill
August 2 at 6:54 PM ·
NEWS OF THE WEEK
In a remote county crossed north-south by only one 2-lane road, twisting and winding and bumping through endless hills, how do you turn everyone into a backseat (truck) driver?
1) Build a giant 160,000 lb. cooling machine twice the width of a tractor-trailer, taller than many telephone lines, and longer than anything you've ever seen strapped onto a trailer, with a ground clearance of mere inches.
2) Deliberately tow this metal behemoth off the Interstate highway onto an all backroads route, intending to drive another 200 country miles to the state's northernmost tip.
3) Do not scout this route beforehand.
4) Ignore the incredulous stares and sincere advice of locals who surmise your intentions and know the road ahead.
By all accounts, it took them hours to get about 15 miles — on a route that takes me under 20 minutes — inching along and blocking both lanes of the road. As much as that road is lightly traveled (or would seem so to city folk), it is the only direct and paved thru road, so just about everyone driving it in those hours ended up stuck behind this rig which was slowly tearing down telephone lines.
A couple miles before the first intersecting 2-lane road, it reached the first, of several, “slides” where one lane of pavement and earth has fallen away into the creek (and not been repaired). This slide is at a sharp bend in the road, and well beyond where a 142 foot long rig could back up and turn around. Attempting to maneuver a 2-lane wide load through a 1-lane wide curve, some of the trailer's wheels went off the pavement onto soft gravel and earth which gave way beneath the massive weight. That’s when the driver admitted defeat. To be fair, I’m a little impressed they got that far.
No surprise that closing the road for half the day has been the subject of much local chatter. Also advice about which 1-lane roads will, eventually, take you through other hollers to the main east-west road. It took two huge diesel wreckers, the fire department, the state police and many hours just to lift and nudge the trailer back onto the pavement. For the past couple days its been parked in the nearby village, pending a new route plan.
https://www.facebook.com/hearthhill/?__tn__=kCH-R&eid=ARDKDdB8uyhY6UVsGJvgoCFFQ24miKau6rApou2cTWpr-EpAvJbMEm2abOt_C9Mm_7pQnQdrDxxuFT3n&hc_ref=ARRC62AXCtf4ZauzVC9WHQ44hpOeq_3eSj7W-0SIXuL07paAcQ0nOH62Sg3Wtpr0BD4&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARAodjbrjgxhKKBYe28PLLKT4AODJcgL9JginWGYr2Bdo5DpdKePw3Xghs6RHgvSeYidq5lAjDsT2rkcj-zs4CJL1Sru6cnu9u9qxvU3pBePeo3psm3HrRXes_R2J6mDKrb7bb4ukpdoU-9whOfw7TFTOibyYV_nwkEXPOyrgjmycG_UitJT_5z2OIEw4ch3x7kAVw9NSTMWx2Sm5_38ri4XyYhkuSEMrDAlrAXvl3IxneWUfdR38Lrip9LH3oD3g6_7Y-C_CwlV7HeeLMldsdiwTbaNFaPIJ4-1xziJp69BdNzV7elTTqgq12KLYyCJ-7_NCFTOYhuQe7RC
0 -
Regarding school term and closures, the roads in our area can be hazardous in Winter. The pics of the oversized load can give you an idea as that is a main road running North and South through our county school district. In addition, the side roads many busses travel can create challenges. A decision has to be made a 5am regarding school delays or closures. The first student is picked up at 6:30am. In Winter, we have students that leave home in the dark and arrive home in the dark.0
-
My goodness, Jean! What a mess, especially since it should never have been approved in the first place. On the plus side, it was nice to see pics of the beautiful area where you live.
Today I’m baking carrot cake cupcakes again. The ones I made a month or so ago for my friend’s surprise birthday party were such a hit that they were special requested for another birthday tomorrow. I have a small dilemma however. I have several recipes for carrot cake and I don’t remember which one I used! Hopefully if I don’t make the exact same one no one will notice.
I went to my PT appointment on Friday and they added several more exercises for me to do. I do think they are helping, but it is taking more and more time to keep up with them. The therapist did tell me that when one gets too easy that I can stop doing it. So far the only one that is easy is one that I was already doing because it has been very helpful in alleviating my back pain, so I don’t want to stop doing that one.0 -
Jean, what an unbelievable mess! Will the company be billed for the broken pavement and replacing downed wires. I wonder if the driver will still have a job even though he didn’t pick the route. I’m surprised the police didn’t get tons of calls about this rig even before it tipped. At 16 feet wide, he had to be using both lanes. Last I knew, it’s not legal to cross the line and drive in both lanes.0
-
I hope that company has to pay a huge bill before that thing's released into their custody!0
-
I wonder if that equipment would still work after falling on it's side and hitting the road. I hope they had insurance on it. I wouldn't think the company they were delivering it to would want a bang up compressor.0
-
The oversized equipment is still not moving.
I went to the city yesterday to get my nails done and have lunch with a friend. I had intended to do some serious grocery shopping at WalMart afterwards but the place was packed. The serious grocery shopping will be done later.
When I got home and turned on the TV that evening, I discovered my cable was out. All the electronic interventions by the cable company did not work so a technician will be coming Thursday, the first available appointment. We believe the cable box has gone to its electronic heaven. In the meantime, I have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime to entertain me.0 -
Lucky you have streaming services to watch while you wait for the Cable company. I went for a much needed massage. I’m at the laundromat drying clothes. My washer works but the dryer gave up the ghost. The state is having a tax free weekend mid August. We’re waiting for that and will replace both.0
-
Our 911 just posted on Facebook that the oversized load will start moving at 7am tomorrow, at which time US 33/119 will be shut down. This would be a time many people would be going to work so they are advising people to leave much earlier.0
-
Jean, what a PITA that piece of equipment has been! If I were having to try to get to work and being affected by that whole debacle, I’d be very annoyed.
I’ve been having problems with my Nook e-reader for the past few weeks with the battery suddenly discharging without warning. It’s several years old, but was working perfectly before this so I went on-line to see if it was possible to change the battery and revive it. The info said basically that if I took it back to B&N they would tell me it couldn’t be done, but that there are YouTube videos showing how to do it. So I watched a video, searched on Amazon, and found the recommended battery for about $18 dollars. Tonight my Nook suddenly started shutting itself down and restarting, then the battery died, so I decided it was time to give it a try. I’m waiting now to see if it will charge up as the new battery was completely discharged. Everything I read said I should charge it several times for several hours before it will achieve a full charge. I figure if it doesn’t work then I will look into replacing it, but I was willing to risk $18 first to see if it could be resurrected for awhile longer. I like this particular model and didn’t really want to spend money for a new one if I didn’t have to.0 -
Jean - PITA is right! Geesh! Sounds like the functional equivalent of closing the Beltway during rush hour and what a disaster that would be.
Pam - Ms. Fixit!!! Way to go!!
Helene - glad you could find a laundromat. I remember looking for one years ago and discovering they've pretty much disappeared around here. Although just last evening I saw a commercial for a service that will come to your house, pick up two comforters, wash and dry and return them the same day for $39.99. No idea why that's so much in demand and laundromats aren't. Our dryer is many generations older than our washer because apparently there aren't a lot of parts and what there are DH keeps replacing as needed. Some day I'm sure parts will be nowhere to be found.0 -
We have a cat show this weekend. I have two volunteers taking boxes and I loaded them Monday. I'll load me tomorrow. I got three spaces for this one so hope to take (and sell) a lot of stuff!
I'm finding some interesting things during my decluttering. Found my Gordy file. What a trip down memory lane. Gordy was one of a litter of kittens whose pre-neuter bloodwork showed kidney issues. We kept him going 8 years before taking him to Penn for a transplant (our Jack was the donor whom we had to adopt - no hardship at all). Gordy lived 2 years and 8 months post transplant and it was a roller coaster (including a diabetic coma at one point, which he recovered from). Anyway, he was the 100th transplant at Penn so he made the news (even the TV news in Philly). I found some of the articles. I had totally forgotten that in response to an article in a veterinary journal I had written a letter and sent a photo and they published the entire letter (probably because I thanked a ton of vets by name). Had to chuckle a little - every single article has at least one factual error and they managed to include a factual error in my "letter to the editor" by putting a wrong caption on the photo. For some reason I sent them a photo without cropping our Angel out of the background and they misidentified her as Jack. That file is 5 inches thick or so and I still can't shred it. That went back in the drawer.
Betterworldbooks cleaned out their donation "box" so I dropped off some of my old reference books (work related) that I can't see anyone buying at a flea market. Maybe they can sell them. I did keep one copy of the Internal Revenue Code. I'm picturing putting it out at a flea market with a sign that says "always wanted to read the internal revenue code? - here's your chance"). I think it's funny. Hee hee...
0 -
We have a lot of laundromats near me. I can think of at least 6 in a ten mile radius. It’s probably because I live in a tourist area. Those people renting cottages need a place to wash their clothes during vacation. The one I went to is the nicest but most expensive. It’s 25 cents for 2 minutes. The other one I’ve been to is 25 cents for 5 minutes. They’re in different towns so which one I use depends on the direction of my other errands.0
-
Well, we finally got rid of the oversized load which left later than expected because of rain. It took it two hours to go 30 miles to Spencer, the next town. I posted a video on Facebook of it going through Spencer. It was proceeded by utility trucks which were raising the lines as it went through town. This is the link to my page:
https://www.facebook.com/kona.jean0 -
My first attempt at DIY fixing my Nook wasn’t a success but I tried again and I think this time I got it right. After my first attempt it wouldn’t turn on, even after being on the charger all night. I took it apart again and reconnected the battery terminal and this time it immediately turned itself on! So I carefully put it all back together and it is now charging as it should. Yea!!!! Saved myself about $200 dollars with this fix instead of replacing it.0
-
Excellent job Pam. I love the idea of fixing rather replacing.0
-
Pam--Great DIY on the Nook.
I am waiting for the cable guy. When I went to the city on Monday, the cable was fine but that night nothing. I called a friend but their cable was fine. I called the next morning and they tried sending signals to the box to revive it but nothing worked. The first available appointment was today for a technician to come out. In the meantime, I've been watching Netflix, etc. Our cable company is headquartered in Virginia where they send the signals but the technicians are somewhere in our area.
The teachers reported to work today for professional development. Next Tuesday will be the students' first day. I am not ready. It doesn't seem that we have had a summer despite getting out the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.0 -
I know what you mean about summer. June was miserable- rain and cool. It didn’t get really warm until July 4th. I hope your cable guy knows his stuff and has a new box in the truck.0
-
Jean - how could you be ready? It's still summer!!!!!!0
-
Sunday is our 46th anniversary. Maybe if my cardiologist does her job I'll make it to 50. Since I'll be at the cat show Sunday, I'll make a nice dinner tomorrow (and DH can have leftovers Sunday).
Months after a ransomware attack, Baltimore City/County finally has its water billing system back up. According to the web site they plan to be mailing 10,000 bills a day! Charges won't appear on the web site until your bill has been mailed (there's no paperless option but you can pay online).
My decluttering has moved to cat photos. Boy, am I behind on those. (And yes, I still take photos and have them developed. I'm old.) I had to take a break when I stumbled on some photos of Willie at the end. My mind literally had never processed seeing her the way she looks in these photos. I know DH had told me she was at the end and the vet agreed but I realize now my mind just never processed what my eyes had to be seeing.
Speaking of being old, our firm's outside IT guy bothered me this morning to set up extra security on our email system. He wanted to text me something and was completely taken aback when I said I don't have that capability. Having already done something similar for our retirement web site I clued him in to the fact that there's always an alternative (it's usually calling and leaving a voice mail with a code). Turns out, there is, he just hadn't noticed it. Hopefully he learned two things: (1) there's always an alternative and (2) not every smart, educated person wants a smart phone (heck, this weekend at the cat show I know from experience I'll talk to tons of people who don't have email). I'm being a little stubborn, I know, but I've dug in my heels on the smart phone thing. I was a very early adopter of going "online", and we have SIX working computers in this house. I'm not opposed to computers. Heck, at one point in my career I was in charge of an IT department. I just don't want a smart phone. Don't like phones; never have; never will.
0 -
DH and I have been talking for the past month off and on about taking a cruise or trip somewhere in Europe but couldn’t find one that seemed interesting but wasn’t super expensive. Yesterday I got an email from a travel site I subscribe to about a land/sea package to Greece and the combined price, including airfare and trip insurance for both of us came to $4200 for an 8 day land package plus a 4 night cruise. It seemed like a great deal, and it got good reviews, so we decided to do it. I spent most of the morning discussing it with DH, writing down his many, many questions, then talking with the representative from the tour company to get the answers. In the end, DH was satisfied and we booked the trip. We leave October 28th and return November 9th. We are going to look into upgrading the overnight flight segment to business class, but I suspect it will be prohibitively expensive. DH thinks it won’t but I’ll be surprised if that works out. The weather at that time may be a little chilly at night, but it doesn’t sound too different than our typical weather here at that time of the year.0
-
Wow, Pam, that's exciting!!0
-
Sounds like a great trip. Take some photos to show us hen you get back.
Maryanne, I’m also married 46 years. Our 47 th anniversary is next month. I broke down and got an android phone a couple of years ago. I do use Google when I’m away from home. I do a little texting but not much. Usually just with younger family and friends who don’t use email. Email is my preference. My texts look like shorter emails...no creative spelling for me. I’m not a phone person either. I rarely give out the number and most of my calls are to DH to ask if we need anything from the store on my way home. I also call him from him Home Depot parking lot when I feel his time is up. I’d rather read a book or listen to an audio book. I hate going into the store with him. 15 minutes and I have our list items. The same list takes him an hour0 -
I’m a convert to the iPhone. I’m definitely not as tech savvy as my younger family members, but I do use a lot of the features and find it extremely helpful. Many of the apps are especially useful, such as WAZE for navigating in traffic, TripIt for when I travel to keep all the confirmations, addresses, flight numbers, etc. in one place, and various others that I use frequently. I do text a lot with family and friends and at this point I would never want to be without a smartphone. Plus, the camera is so good that DH and I never bother to take a camera with us anymore when we travel. I do find the scam calls and sales calls annoying, but nowadays they are just a fact of life whether using a cell phone or a land line. I do keep my phone on silent almost always, so I don’t always hear it immediately. I just try to remember to check it a few times a day and respond as needed to callers or texts.0
-
Pam-That sounds like a fabulous trip and one worth investing in. You found a fabulous price.
Maryanne--I've had a smart phone---android--for almost a year. Nearly everyone I know is big on texting. I don't live on it like some people do but it does come in handy at times.
Helene--I don't give out my smart phone number either. Most of my contacts are by texting with calls made on the road, etc.
I work two days next week and two days the week after at this point. I'm not really ready to go back. It doesn't seem like there has been a Summer. At least, I have cable now.0
