USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Sbiker]

Well, I mentioned I had a check up at the dentists and I just got back. She gave me the good news that I don't need any fillings as usual. But then she gave me the very, very bad news that I have early signs of gum disease.
She said it could end up resulting in my having to have all my good teeth removed. BUMMER !

Watch for your teeth and don't repeat the fail of Akela!

Btw, I've just found "The Roman Centurion's Song" as original. I read it only in Russian translation before and translation was brilliant, like original...

Legate, I had the news last night --my cohort ordered home
By ships to Portus Itius and thence by road to Rome.
I've marched the companies aboard, the arms are stowed below:
Now let another take my sword. Command me not to go...

 

[SeaGal]

I confess, faced with 40 pages of catch-up, I came to the end of the CS first. We're now a week into the new year and I seem to have missed Christmas here entirely. That doesn't alter my best wishes for all of you and hope that each and every one of you thrive and find your happiness, this year and every year after.
I've been watching the weather and we Alaskans are feeling the pain a lot of you have been experiencing. OK, well, maybe a little bit. I woke up New Year's night to the sound of snow sluffing off the roof and melt water dripping after it. Of course, whenever we have a winter melt, the resulting ice makes life...challenging. I suppose we should have our share of challenges, heh?
Christmas dinner was tuna casserole here. Christmas isn't a big deal, not as important as the Solstice. The turning of the year is significant in my Nature-grounded world. Of course, when sunrise is around 10:30 and sunset 3:30, those short days wear on you. We call it cabin fever here.
New Year's Eve was postponed for me because as I was driving home the neighbor called and told me he had one of my dogs, the other had run off. I've been having problems with the farm dogs lately. So I called my guests and asked them if they minded a delay. George, who was stressing about a job he had to get to in a few days, was relieved. Alan preferred to get here during daylight hours, so New Year's day was better for him, too. So, I actually had time to do justice to the meal I had planned. I made my first Beef Wellington (with green pepper sauce). After overcoming the sticker shock induced by the sirloin roast required by the recipe, the meal was delicious! It's definitely a special occasion meal, though. The bread pudding for dessert was a great complement to finish the meal.
Happy New Year (belated) to everyone!

That ice makes life challenging is a good way to put it! I fear ice. lol Mr SG, an avid fisherman, says he has no interest fishing where you have to cut a hole in the water to get to the fish.

Your New Years feast sounds fantastic - one year we did a standing rib roast for Thanksgiving, I too suffered from sticker shock.

Though Christmas is very meaningful to me - the Winter and Summer Solstice are significant days in my life also. The Winter solstice is a day of relief and rejoicing for me as the sun begins its journey back 'home', and in my mind is really the start of a new year. The Summer Solstice always makes me a little sad knowing the sun is diminishing. Since we live closer to the equator than you do there is not as great a variation in the length of our day light hours - in summer it will briefly be light as late as 9pm, and in late fall dark by 5:30 pm.

Not many people mention the Solstices anymore...though of no religious significance to me they are an integral part of the magnificent tide of life and nature...and I appreciate the ebb and flow.

Hope your New Year is full of light and warmth - even if it's by firelight.

 

[Nosmo King]

I watched the game last night. Frankly I'm a bit tired of National Championships going to schools not located in Columbus, Ohio.

 

[Foxfyre]

Hmm ! My computer had a start up problem since the last big update for windows 10, but it seems to have sorted itself out now. Oh well, I am off to the dentists for a 6 monthly check up, Usually my teeth are ok and I have not had to have any fillings for years, so here's hoping they will be ok today.

Every time they do a major update, my desktop icons (personal settings) don't want to load for awhile. But it does eventually sort itself out.

 

[Foxfyre]

I watched the game last night. Frankly I'm a bit tired of National Championships going to schools not located in Columbus, Ohio.

We did too. And while its really hard to emotionally root against Alabama we were really sort of pulling for Georgia because they haven't won a national championship in so long and they were the decided underdogs. But the game ended as championship games should--in overtime.

 

[Foxfyre]

I confess, faced with 40 pages of catch-up, I came to the end of the CS first. We're now a week into the new year and I seem to have missed Christmas here entirely. That doesn't alter my best wishes for all of you and hope that each and every one of you thrive and find your happiness, this year and every year after.
I've been watching the weather and we Alaskans are feeling the pain a lot of you have been experiencing. OK, well, maybe a little bit. I woke up New Year's night to the sound of snow sluffing off the roof and melt water dripping after it. Of course, whenever we have a winter melt, the resulting ice makes life...challenging. I suppose we should have our share of challenges, heh?
Christmas dinner was tuna casserole here. Christmas isn't a big deal, not as important as the Solstice. The turning of the year is significant in my Nature-grounded world. Of course, when sunrise is around 10:30 and sunset 3:30, those short days wear on you. We call it cabin fever here.
New Year's Eve was postponed for me because as I was driving home the neighbor called and told me he had one of my dogs, the other had run off. I've been having problems with the farm dogs lately. So I called my guests and asked them if they minded a delay. George, who was stressing about a job he had to get to in a few days, was relieved. Alan preferred to get here during daylight hours, so New Year's day was better for him, too. So, I actually had time to do justice to the meal I had planned. I made my first Beef Wellington (with green pepper sauce). After overcoming the sticker shock induced by the sirloin roast required by the recipe, the meal was delicious! It's definitely a special occasion meal, though. The bread pudding for dessert was a great complement to finish the meal.
Happy New Year (belated) to everyone!

That ice makes life challenging is a good way to put it! I fear ice. lol Mr SG, an avid fisherman, says he has no interest fishing where you have to cut a hole in the water to get to the fish.

Your New Years feast sounds fantastic - one year we did a standing rib roast for Thanksgiving, I too suffered from sticker shock.

Though Christmas is very meaningful to me - the Winter and Summer Solstice are significant days in my life also. The Winter solstice is a day of relief and rejoicing for me as the sun begins its journey back 'home', and in my mind is really the start of a new year. The Summer Solstice always makes me a little sad knowing the sun is diminishing. Since we live closer to the equator than you do there is not as great a variation in the length of our day light hours - in summer it will briefly be light as late as 9pm, and in late fall dark by 5:30 pm.

Not many people mention the Solstices anymore...though of no religious significance to me they are an integral part of the magnificent tide of life and nature...and I appreciate the ebb and flow.

Hope your New Year is full of light and warmth - even if it's by firelight.

Our daughter was born on the winter solstice and has always felt that was a positive charm for her.

But I was surprised to hear you say in late fall you are dark by 5:30 pm. For most of December and January, so are we. I figured it would come much earlier for you that far north, but then Alaska is a LOT of real estate and you are in the south. There is quite a bit of difference in the climate in New Mexico say between Las Cruces and Santa Fe. Probably a huge difference between Willow and Barrow.

 

[Foxfyre]

Hi all! I'm drinking coffee at workplace, having first working day in this year and I glad to see you all after holidays. Happy Christmas, New Year and so on!

LOL. So you haven't posted much over the holidays but are posting at work after your vacation? Too funny. You Russians and us Americans really are a lot alike.

But a belated Happy New Year to you Sbiker. Welcome back.

 

[SeaGal]

Our daughter was born on the winter solstice and has always felt that was a positive charm for her.

But I was surprised to hear you say in late fall you are dark by 5:30 pm. For most of December and January, so are we. I figured it would come much earlier for you that far north, but then Alaska is a LOT of real estate and you are in the south. There is quite a bit of difference in the climate in New Mexico say between Las Cruces and Santa Fe. Probably a huge difference between Willow and Barrow.

5:30 in late fall for us - in my region of Fl. GW said 3:30 pm for him, I believe. Sunset is about 6pm here now...a precious minute later each day, at least for a while.

 

[Foxfyre]

Our daughter was born on the winter solstice and has always felt that was a positive charm for her.

But I was surprised to hear you say in late fall you are dark by 5:30 pm. For most of December and January, so are we. I figured it would come much earlier for you that far north, but then Alaska is a LOT of real estate and you are in the south. There is quite a bit of difference in the climate in New Mexico say between Las Cruces and Santa Fe. Probably a huge difference between Willow and Barrow.

5:30 in late fall for us - in my region of Fl. GW said 3:30 pm for him, I believe. Sunset is about 6pm here now...a precious minute later each day, at least for a while.

No, he said 5:30 though he might have meant 3:30? I dunno. Sunset for us today is 5:12 pm. Sunset was at 4:58 on December 21. I just looked up Anchorage and sunset is at 4:08 there today. But maybe they have a long twilight? Albuquerque has a relatively short twilight period probably because of the nearby continental divide and mountain ranges between us and the setting sun. But in Amarillo, roughly 4 hours east of us as the crow flies, sunset tonight is 5:52 pm and the twilight out there on the flat plains lasts for a looooong time.

If anybody wants to check out sunrise/sunset in their own locale, this is a great site:
timeanddate.com

 

[SeaGal]

No, he said 5:30 though he might have meant 3:30? I dunno. Sunset for us today is 5:12 pm. Sunset was at 4:58 on December 21. I just looked up Anchorage and sunset is at 4:08 there today. But maybe they have a long twilight? Albuquerque has a relatively short twilight period probably because of the nearby continental divide and mountain ranges between us and the setting sun. But in Amarillo, roughly 4 hours east of us as the crow flies, sunset tonight is 5:52 pm and the twilight out there on the flat plains lasts for a looooong time.

If anybody wants to check out sunrise/sunset in their own locale, this is a great site:
timeanddate.com

Thanks for the link!

btw...he did say 3:30. The other time frame (5:30 pm) quote was mine...unless I'm completely losing it, which is always a possibility.

 

[Foxfyre]

No, he said 5:30 though he might have meant 3:30? I dunno. Sunset for us today is 5:12 pm. Sunset was at 4:58 on December 21. I just looked up Anchorage and sunset is at 4:08 there today. But maybe they have a long twilight? Albuquerque has a relatively short twilight period probably because of the nearby continental divide and mountain ranges between us and the setting sun. But in Amarillo, roughly 4 hours east of us as the crow flies, sunset tonight is 5:52 pm and the twilight out there on the flat plains lasts for a looooong time.

If anybody wants to check out sunrise/sunset in their own locale, this is a great site:
timeanddate.com

Thanks for the link!

btw...he did say 3:30. The other time frame (5:30 pm) quote was mine...unless I'm completely losing it, which is always a possibility.

You're right. I did pick it up off your post. So now we can debate which of us is losing it. And it probably isn't you.

 

[Ernie S.]

I watched the game last night. Frankly I'm a bit tired of National Championships going to schools not located in Columbus, Ohio.

There is a Columbus Alabama, you know...

 

[Ernie S.]

I watched the game last night. Frankly I'm a bit tired of National Championships going to schools not located in Columbus, Ohio.

We did too. And while its really hard to emotionally root against Alabama we were really sort of pulling for Georgia because they haven't won a national championship in so long and they were the decided underdogs. But the game ended as championship games should--in overtime.

The mood at Doc's crashed when we missed that field goal, then it was even more subdued when the Dawgs scored in OT.
But Damn! That was one hell of a pass to end it.

 

[SeaGal]

You're right. I did pick it up off your post. So now we can debate which of us is losing it. And it probably isn't you.

As long as we don't both lose it at the same time it's all good. Right?!?

 

[Ernie S.]

It's been a while since I stopped by. It has been hectic at Doc's from changing the corporate structure, dealing with lawyers and CPAs to organizing Christmas and New Year's Eve parties.
Christmas at Doc's was awesome as usual, but New Year's Eve was the party to end all parties. We served 100 complimentary glasses of champaign at midnight. Not bad for a building with a 99 person occupancy.We've been holding events for a battered woman's shelter and for Christmas gifts for kids who wouldn't have gotten a visit from Santa.
We have had some interesting guests show up. One has quite a few classic cars that have been updated for reliability. He has stopped by with a 57 Rolls, a 63 Ferrari, a 57 Belaire, a 38 Buick and a 28 Ford Model A.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The turning of the year is significant in my Nature-grounded world. Of course, when sunrise is around 10:30 and sunset 3:30, those short days wear on you.

 

[gallantwarrior]

The Job interview went fine and I went home and slept. I have vapor rub on my chest. I hope this clears up quickly.

Hopefully the vapor rub helps clear things up. The job interview should bring good tidings.

It always makes me smile when I see you post and know you and all of your critters ect. are okay GW. We just watched Alabama squeeze out a win over Georgia in overtime in tonight's championship game. We were emotionally pulling for both teams but maybe a wee bit more for Georgia as the decided underdog.

Although I don't follow sports much (I just don't have time), I am always glad to when the teams folks I know pull through. It's always a good feeling to back a winner, yanno!
The next week looks pretty grim, temperature-wise. It's currently -10 here and I'm going to put a sweater on the little kid. I've only one kid left since the others were loved to death by the partner. I was very fortunate that the last two does I wanted bred this season went into a late heat and the buck did his job over New Year's. That will make four does with kids, the first two will kid in mid-March, these last two will have their babies in May. I didn't want early kids because I don't have the warming boxes here I had at the other place. I've downsized the herd significantly because of this move.
This Spring will be busy. I've got to get the barn up and I'm going to get some chickens, too. Nothing like a fresh-picked hen fruit. I'll set up a small compost bin for the kitchen scraps but the garden and the compost heaps for the barn waste will have to wait, probably until next year.
To all my CS friends, have a great day, week, etc...Things are looking up because there's more sunlight every day. Of course, the increase is not as obvious to many of you as it is to us, by March we'll be gaining somewhere around five minutes of sunlight a day!

 

[Montrovant]

I watched the game last night. Frankly I'm a bit tired of National Championships going to schools not located in Columbus, Ohio.

We did too. And while its really hard to emotionally root against Alabama we were really sort of pulling for Georgia because they haven't won a national championship in so long and they were the decided underdogs. But the game ended as championship games should--in overtime.

The mood at Doc's crashed when we missed that field goal, then it was even more subdued when the Dawgs scored in OT.
But Damn! That was one hell of a pass to end it.

Don't college teams generally score in OT? I mean, they start in FG range....

 

[gallantwarrior]

And there is GallantWarrior!! Good to see you finally get here. You've been muchly missed.
So what is going on with the farm dogs? Why did one run off? Cabin fever for him too? You take care of yourself, you hear? And give me a call the next time you feel like yakking again!

Meanwhile...beef wellington? I always wanted to try that. Maybe someday.

The dogs ran off because Pyrs are known to establish as much territory as possible. Judging by the tracks in the snow, they were all over the place here and when they discovered the road, they just kept going. The neighbor's daughter caught the older dog, but the puppy ran away. By the time I got home, the puppy was waiting for me. Roxie, the older dog, hates being inside just about anything so loading a 125# dog into the back of a Lexus was...challenging. The neighbor had to help me lift and shove, but I got her home again. With my hip the way it is, I just could not face walking three miles to collect her and get back home. (Neighbors are few and far between here.)
Yeah, Beef Wellington! It's not as tough as it sounds to make it. It is definitely a special occasion treat, though. The hardest part was making the mushroom stuff. Recipe calls for putting it through a food processor. Well, around my place I am the food processor, so have-chopping-knife-will-travel was busy.
You take care of yourself, as well. And make sure Mr. G. stays fed and content! And the phone works two ways, so you feel free to call and yak, too. If I'm napping, I'll let you know, or not. I have such a strange schedule.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Hi all! I'm drinking coffee at workplace, having first working day in this year and I glad to see you all after holidays. Happy Christmas, New Year and so on!

Happy New Year to you, too, Sbiker! How's the weather there? It's been pretty normal for us in Alaska but the East Coast has been getting a lot colder than they are accustomed to being.