Good morning!!!!

[check]

Good morning Noel. 1st cup of coffee, and looking out to see blue sky. Temps are the same as L4N, because he is so close to me. Had a lovely drive up from the city yesterday, with a few stops along the way such as washing the truck. Arrived at the cottage and the truck was filthy again!

FIL in Calgary headed into hospital via ambulance yesterday, and the nurse told us he was delirious and didn’t even know who he was or where he was. Bad sign. He lives alone and he is 89 years old. So there we were wondering if we had to turn around and head back to the city and fly to Calgary two days before Christmas. Turned out that it is probably a simple case of dehydration. Talk to him later in the evening and he was a lot better. Dodged a bullet there!

Meanwhile, getting ready to have our ( organic) Christmas ham tomorrow, and enjoying a lovely scene outside. Going to do some cross country skiing and maybe a ATVing and of course skating over the holiday. The neighbor two doors over always makes a great big rink on the lake, and we have our New Year’s Eve party out there.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas or whatever you celebrate this holiday season!

 

[lostcreekranch]

Good morning. It's 32° here this morning ... with frost on the pastures and we're expecting a high of 72° this afternoon.

Pies done before sunrise this morning.



Still have a few gifts to wrap ... then I need to get the backyard fire pit ready for our Christmas Eve Fire.

RNG ... if you get over to Coronado Island we can highly recommend Clayton's Coffee Shop for breakfast. It on Orange Ave just up the street from the Del Coronado Hotel. It gets a little crowded after about 9 a.m. when the "touristas" get up. If I recall they open at 6 a.m. travel safe today.

Mostly ... 6200? Go for it. Not sure why you had issues with pictures?

Ron ... I agree on the recumbent style bikes. I bought a Life Cycle R9i at a Texas Fitness Equipment Co. called Busy Body. They sell new and used ... and their used is primarily from fitness centers upgrading going out of business. I got the R9i for about 1/3 of retail and BB put a new battery in it and delivered it to the ranch for free. I used the very same model, at the fitness club I belonged, to before retirement.

BEF ... get well soon and birthday wishes for your Mrs.

Roy ... Jameson's is a nice prize. My favorite Irish Whiskey too.

Don ... I stopped at the H-E-B, in Columbus, mis morning yesterday for a few items and no lines, in fact they only had 2 checkouts open. Same at Brookshire Bros.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Safe travels for those getting on the roads.

Prayers to all.

 

[PJSprog]

29°F and dense fog this morning, going up to 60° today. Most of the snow has melted with all the sunshine and warmer weather the past few days. We'll have mid-60s through Thursday here.

HR lady came through the downstairs office yesterday at 2:30 (end of first shift) and announced that the boss was sending everyone home, they were locking up and setting the alarm, so get out. It's just me and the design engineer down here this week, so neither of us protested much. Traffic getting home that early on a holiday weekday was nice. I could get used to that.

Wife finished her holiday baking last night with five dozen more toll house cookies and another chocolate bundt cake to take to her aunt's Xmas dinner today. I am happy to report that my quality inspection of the cookies found no discrepancies.

Half day at work today, or off at noon anyway, which is slightly more than half the day ... 62.5%, to be exact. Then, home for a shower and off to Granite City to The Wife's aunt's Xmas dinner at 3pm. Tomorrow morning, both her boys and their girlfriends are coming by for a late morning brunch and present opening, then we'll probably sit around and watch movies most of the day. A typical Xmas Day at The Smith House.

Happy Birthday to Mrs. BEF.

Be safe if you're traveling this week.

 

[RoyJackson]

Roy ... Jameson's is a nice prize. My favorite Irish Whiskey too.


Prayers to all.

When it comes to liquor, I've always s been a Scotch guy. My step-daughter turned me on to Jameson's...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I got a Schwinn 270 recumbent exercise bike. Much less stress on an old body.

Happy Birthday Mrs Buckeye.
l.

That’s the one I bought $499 from amazon and sent back due to shipping damage. Yesterday when I looked it is $549 both amazon and Walmart. I am waiting for $450 max.


She never liked having bday on Christmas Day, but it wasn’t her choice.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 35, going up to 42. Snow is now out of the forecast for today, maybe a chance for an inch for tomorrow morning.

However, the daughter and family will be driving 250 miles tomorrow through heavy snow / winter storm warnings. MIL is coming in with her....she still does not know about her surprise... my BIL and SIL will be arriving this afternoon... they are in the air as I type this.... the wheels are in motion for “ the planned surprise “

Did the grocery store last minute thing yesterday.... place was packed with shoppers and the shelves were half empty. Glad we got that done and over with. I am sure there will be an item missing that I will have to get today..... wifey made 8 different kinds of cookies, few dozen of each, including the prized Italian pizzelle cookies. QC passed them all for distribution. :licking: She will be baking 4 pies today... I will not be allowed to QC them.

No tractor seat time today, maybe some maintenance... maybe. I might get chased out of the kitchen if I pester her enough...

The old “ big house “ is all set up for the Christmas family gathering / reunion. Looks like a wedding setup... 4 folding tables / chairs, plus 2 more for the food...and a 10 foot countertop, all decorated. It should accommodate 18 people.....

Hope everyone is prepared for the holidays and you enjoy peace and tranquility with family and friends. Special Prayers sent

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Been to bathroom at least 5 times in the night because of sickness. Both ends. I worry it will trigger my GBS again. With my feet already tingly, might not know it as soon if it happens again. I don’t know if it’s even likely to trigger again. Going to message the Dr also.

Got a little sleep in between. Need to email work.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Oh, I forgot.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mrs BEF! And hoping you get over your illness BEF

 

[hawkeye08]

Very long day yesterday, up at 3am (couldn't sleep), slept a little in easy chair. As we were discussing our day, the butcher called and said our half beef was ready. So off we went, gas at Costco on way out of town (the butcher was 130 miles away). Wife had Christmas presents for her dad and sister and a couple of frozen meat loafs. We stopped at their house first for a couple hours (they are 100 miles from us), then off to the butcher for just under 500lbs of grass fed beef, then off the BILs (he raised beef). It was after 7pm when we headed home, got home after 9pm. Unloaded meat into freezer. FIL had allowed us to take his years of pictures home so we can scan them and share with all the siblings.

Wife has a project to get them scanned.. I will be getting her a 8TB disk to connect to her laptop and get her setup in dining room with scanner so she can get that done.. older sister demanding the originals be returned to her, FIL saying to keep them that he doesn't want them back...

I think we are ready for Christmas, wife wants to keep it simple, meatloaf and scalloped potatoes, likely some broccoli. Just the 4 of us this year.

Stay safe, prayers for those in need.

 

[jbrumberg]

Good Morning Everyone!!!

A mostly clear and sunny 30ºF for today’s low and I am hoping for a sunny afternoon near 40ºF. Got my R-1’s back. I’ll be mounting them soon.

BEF- I hope that your Wife can avoid getting sick and please extend a Happy Birthday wish to your Wife. I wish her many more in health and happiness.

Phil- I am glad that you and your Wife enjoyed NYC. We had an equally + experience there ourselves. I’d rather walk in NYC in the dark than any city around here. Your “non traditional” Christmas dinner reads like great eats to me.

Check- I am glad that things worked out for your FIL. What happened to your FIL happens a lot.

Paul- I am glad your boss let everyone go early. I hope that you and your Wife have your typical Christmas.

Ted- I hope that all your family arrive safely and the surprise remains a surprise. Good luck with 18 dinner guests.

“Been to bathroom at least 5 times in the night because of sickness. Both ends. I worry it will trigger my GBS again. With my feet already tingly, might not know it as soon if it happens again. I don’t know if it’s even likely to trigger again. Going to message the Dr also.

Got a little sleep in between. Need to email work.”- BEF I really hope that this illness does not re-trigger the GBS. Good luck. Every time I get sick I still wonder if the sickness will trigger my auto-immune challenges. My + thoughts, wishes, and prayers.

I hope that everyone is having a decent pre-Christmas day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day and all those traveling get to their intended destinations safe and sound.


My + thoughts, wishes, and prayers.