Message Forum

Only 79

02/06/26 03:34 AM

#3693

William Nelson

I was heading to bed when I checked the email and saw your posts on the weather around the country. There wasn't any report from North Louisiana, so I put my 2-cents worth in. This has been the weirdest year for weather of the 55-years we've lived in the area. We went through a dry, blazing hot summer. Tonight's weather report said we'd still have to make up another 30% of rain just to officially end the drought. With week after week of 90+highs, we were having lots of humidity outside. The a/c was running >50% if the time and that was reflected in electric bills we'd never seen before. Autumn lasted a week or two, and the past week has been the worst on record for severa lmeasures. We've been seeing several weeks of freezing temperatures, but not as bad as the Milwaukee area. Our eldest son, who lives in Eagle said they've had layers of ice and snow, making it difficult to remove. Here, we had a new experience. I looked out to the back yard and out buildings and thought we'd accumulated about 3" of snow overnight. That's a lot for this area, but we've seen worse a couple of times iin the past. Mary said she saw some lights on in the shop. I got dressed and headed out to the shop, but didn't make it that far. It wasn't snow. It was frozen rain with ¼"cubes 3½" deep and very slick. I was able to grab the lower porch rail to avoid falling. I'm still recuperating from a fall in the bathroom on Christmas Eve. A magaziine rack broke my fall and nearly the ribs on my left side. It was a couple of days later when we made it to the ER. X-rays showed no rupture, but the ribs are still sore. Our GP has been after me to use a cane or walker when on uneven ground. There's a lot of that around here. The results of that storm will be remembered for quite a while. 3 o4 deaths due to hypothermia in our parish. One young linemen was electrocuted in a bucket truck while clearing off some downed lines. One guy, who rolled over his pickup when he slid off US-167 and wound up upside down with water filling the cab. There were two gaurdsmen coming the other way who began getting him out of the cab. The two cars behind him carried two doctors and two nurses. They resuscatated the driverwhile others called 911 and got the emergency crews to finish that procedure. The helicopter that arrived to take him to Shreveport couldn't land in the median, so the deputies found shovels and everyone there pitched in to make it usable. We hear he's in pretty bad shape, but the fellow who was electrocuted is in another Shreveport hospital and we're told he's doing better than any of the doctors figured he would. An Asplundh bucket truck showed up in our driveway this morning and cut off some big branches from over the road and power lines. We don't have much to pickup out there, but our neighbor across the road has a mountain of branches about 8' tall. hope they'll return with a chipper to clean up the mess. Our two Texas kids and their kids showed up after Christmas and our daughter, who lives in Wauwatosa told us she's coming down for a few days in mid-April to celebrate our birthdays. That's one advantage to getting old; they come to visit us now, instead of the 50+ times we made trips to Wisconsin. Our Generac ran for 37-hours and we've doubled our previous most expensive month, with the furnace fighting the cold temperatures, too.

02/07/26 03:29 PM

#3694

We love to rave about California weather, and tomorrow you’ll probably see the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium glowing in sunshine in the middle of winter (and we’ll all be quietly happy when the visitors from other states head home and traffic returns to its normal level of bad). I live just a couple miles from the stadium, so yes—the weather here really is great.

The tradeoff? We let rain run into storm drains instead of storing it, then act shocked when wildfire season shows up every year. We throw a staggering amount of money at high-speed rail that’s perpetually “almost happening,” somehow always over budget, and still not carrying a single human being anywhere .. if it ever will. Meanwhile, houses cost Monopoly money, gas flirts with $5 a gallon, and property taxes make you feel like you’re renting your own home from the state. We won't mention the fact that 45% of the nation's homeless, I mean unhoused, are located here because of our nice weather and generous social systems plus the $10 - $20 billion we gave away in unemployment benefits to unknown individuals during Covid.

Sunshine is wonderful. The invoice comes later.

02/09/26 01:29 PM

#3695

Well, at least the weather didn't disappoint for the Super Bowl, even if everything else about it did. The game was horrible (both teams ... with Seattle just a tad less horible than the Patriots), the ads were mystifying, and the halftime show was meant for the social media sycophants and political activists. I guess the NFL sees them as their current target audience and to hell with the rest of you. They must have more money than I thought. I felt our age group was pretty marginalized. Where's Frank Sinatra or Michael Buble' when you need them? Next year let's try it in German and dance to the Liechtenstein polka! And yes, the flyover did shake our house and every other house in Silicon Valley!

02/09/26 02:59 PM

#3696

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

There was a game Sunday? Oops. I was watching the World Cup T20 Cricket matches. Exciting, and no half time show.

02/10/26 02:31 PM

#3697

During the Super Bowl, I was with two friends celebrating one of their birthdays. Honestly, after watching the movie "Concussion", it really bothers me to watch these young men giving each other potential brain damage, future mental illness, dementia, and early death. I can't see how any amount of money can compensate for that.

02/10/26 03:59 PM

#3698

Cricket - a non-contact sport, almost continous action and suspense, and no screaming rock halftime show - they (and fans too) break for tea instead. And, in Test Cricket, you can read a good book over the 5-day match, and not miss much.

02/22/26 05:03 PM

#3699

So, the Olympics are over. Anyone else enjoy them as I did? The athleticism is obviously spectacular, but I just enjoy seeing the spirit of the Olympics, the humanities in action, and the snowball's chance in Thailand of athletes giving it their all, for their country, and because they were an Olympian. And yes, Thailand had skiers in the alpine and cross-country events. So happy for those individuals who were there, and the individuals who won a medal, any color, for themselves and their country, for the first time, ever. Forget "the agony of defeat," they remember the elation of being there, and we, the joy of watching them.

03/03/26 05:46 PM

#3700

I finally broke down and talked to my car today. I just can’t get used to talking to an inanimate object and expect it to do what I ask or answer. C’mon, I remember back when radios and heaters were extra cost add-ons in automobiles. Now, you can talk to them and they not only do what you ask, they talk back. Around the house too, your phone doesn’t just talk to people, it talks back to you too. Besides missing the internal, emotional attachment you have when talking with a person, or even a dog, talking to a car, or a speaker thing on the counter, you can’t read the body language or other innuendos of a conversation.

On the other hand, You probably get a more intelligent and understandable conversation than with some real people, so I there is something good about it.

And, the car got me to my appointment, so I guess it did what I wanted. Something else for my old age to get used to.

03/04/26 08:54 AM

#3701

OMG, Jim! Of all people, that you have fallen this low is a real disappointment. Luckily, you seem to have other admirable and redeeming qualities.

I refuse to talk to Alexa, or Siri, or anything else like that. Not sure how long I can hold out, but so far, I'd rather talk to the Christmas cactus on my desk.

03/04/26 02:22 PM

#3702

Ronald Imig

Jim,
Now that the Olympics are over don't forget to reset your alarm
because you don't have to get up at 3am anymore to watch curling.

Anybody have a Apple Watch? Just kind of hard to get use to answering
a phone call on your watch and talking to your wrist.
I don't talk to my I phone for directions either. I still know where I'm going.
On thing on my list that I don't have to worry about anymore is dying young. Haven't

tried talking to my car yet. It has several screens and

I''m still working on screen one.

03/04/26 06:45 PM

#3703

Nancy, Ron

I don't have regular conversations with the car, I just tried it that one time. It's a new car, with all the latest safety stuff, and I found out that the only time you can do anything with the GPS is when it's in park. My last car, if you were navigating with GPS and got hungry, you could punch up "restaurants" and it would come up with places along the way. The new one, you'd have to pull off, park, and push the buttons to get something. Not cool on a freeway.

The new car owner's manual says however, I can push a button on the steering wheel and tell the car what I want while I'm still driving, so I thought I'd try it. It worked. At least now we won't go hungry or wet our pants on trips. I suppose that's a good thing to concede to technology.

And Ron, my watch has hands, and I only talk to my Iphone if there's a person on it that can talk back. (Well, I don't answer, but I do frequently say some Navy/Marine words at it, when I get those 3-4 calls a day from the anonymous "credit agency" telling me I'm approved for a super$K loan and asking me to call to complete my "loan process," but I don't expect an answer. )

03/16/26 10:34 AM

#3704

Well, it looks like winter must be over. The forecast here is 90+ degrees every day this week, which honestly feels a little unfair for March. I had expected a few comfortable spring days before things warmed up, but apparently, we’re skipping straight to summer.

I know you’ll be concerned for me because I’m supposed to play golf tomorrow. Walking around a golf course for several hours in 90-degree heat isn’t exactly what I had in mind. I’m already planning the essentials: extra water, sunscreen, battery operated fans attached to my golf cart. It’s going to take some real determination to get through it. I’ll check the temperature on my pool to see if I can plunge in when I get home.

I appreciate the sympathies you’ll be sending me and concern for my health. It isn’t all luxury living in California you know! I hope you can appreciate my suffering as you enjoy Spring-like weather in your area.

03/17/26 08:28 AM

#3705

Tom Burger

Mmmm...still a pleasant 72 degrees here...last time I checked the thermostat.

03/17/26 11:28 AM

#3706

John Gilbert

Garry, here I thought we had it bad here in the midwest with anywhere from 8" to 30" of snow yesterday. However, after reading your message, I don't know how you put up with all those issues. I'd give up golf if I were you.

03/17/26 04:07 PM

#3707

Ah, Garry

But remember, in California, it's a "dry" heat.

03/18/26 06:41 PM

#3708

By now everyone has probably read the news of the fun and games in northern Michigan this week. We missed it by being in Boulder for our grand daughter's swim meet, but it might have been easier to get through it by being here, stuck in the house. We were scheduled to return here Monday morning, but when we got to Detroit we learned that the flight to Alpena was cancelled, as was the afternoon flight. And then on Tuesday that one was cancelled. After two nights in two different hotels, we hauled our old bones out of bed this morning at 5:15am to get through TSA for this morning's flight. The one that was cancelled. Giving up on Delta, we rented a car and drove from DTW arriving at the Alpena airport to find our car iced in. Drove home in the rental, with plans to return tomorrow morning with shovels, and maybe a pick ax. Karsten had left our John Deere in the garage closest to the road, but couldn't get it out through all the ice. So we walked to the house, along the way stopping at the other garage to pick up a pair of snowshoes which we thought would be great, as we'd crashed through the ice several times, up to our knees. Frozen old straps broke, so we tried duct tape. Nope. Carrying on, we faced a five foot drift which the wind across the lake had dumped ten feet from our door. That drift we crawled up on hands and knees, then slid down the other side. We can dig that out tomorrow on the way to the airport to dig out the car. We're very tired.....we may be getting too old for this.

03/18/26 08:24 PM

#3709

Nancy,

Sounds like you need a flame thrower - Amazon, $49.95, and they deliver.

03/18/26 10:41 PM

#3710

Nancy claims this is Karsten today in Michigan, though the photo mysteriously didn’t upload—so I’ve helped her out. Clearly, we’re supposed to feel sorry for them. I would… but I’m dealing with my own crisis.This afternoon I nearly incinerated my bare feet on a blazing 92° pool deck, and when I staggered to safety, the pool was an arctic 70°. Seventy! I don’t know how people survive these conditions. I require at least 80–85° just to consider basic floating. Karsten may be buried in snow, but at least he’s properly insulated. Also—what was the water temp at McGovern Park or Bradford Beach? Somewhere between ‘refreshing’ and ‘medical event,’ as I recall.

And John, give up golf? That’s my only remaining outlet for creative profanity—and competitive club throwing.

03/19/26 06:37 AM

#3711

Um, Jim.....deliver? Deliver? Nobody is delivering anything.....newspaper, mail......but the propane truck comes, if they can make it. Luckily we left our iced-in car full, as gas stations were reportedly empty for a few days. But our garage with all the tools in is only a five-foot drift away from the door.

03/19/26 10:25 AM

#3712

John Gilbert

Nancy, as Jim said get a flame thrower, saves on the back. Here ya go!!

Inline Image Not Displayed

03/19/26 02:30 PM

#3713

John — looks like Nancy wasn't the only one having trouble uploading photos. Luckily, I uncovered this gem, which explains a lot about their… “warm” relationship. Apparently, when Nancy says she’ll “help,” it’s best to stand well back and check your insurance coverage first. Lesson learned: never hand Nancy anything that plugs in, lights up, or involves fire. Good news — Karsten is out of the snowbank… just a touch more well-done than planned.

03/19/26 02:58 PM

#3714

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Well, Garry, I knew when I posted that you would somehow manage, in a perverted and malevolent way, to derive great joy from our misery. And you didn't disappoint.......

Jim, I thought you were joking about the flame thrower, until I checked the Amazon website. I think you're onto something.

03/19/26 03:22 PM

#3715

Nancy - OMG!

03/19/26 08:46 PM

#3716