Norms Bait and Tackle

MaryPage · February 27, 2025, 10:27:12 PM

Back from watching a nine o'clock show I never miss, & Junee, one thing more, I know how proud you must be of that great granddaughter studying at Oxford. I would be over the moon if it were one of mine! So good on her! Let your heart exult in her achievement!

Wishing you all a good night's rest filled with happy dreams.

MarsGal · February 28, 2025, 06:05:27 AM

Jackie, there your are. I am glad you are back.

Nothing of note to report this morning. Tomorrow Sue and I will be out celebrating St. David's Day. Hopefully, I will find a blooming pot of daffodils to bring home. It is a little early, but Daffodil Day is later in the month, so perhaps the garden center will have a few early pots available.

Speaking of daffodils, I see some of the ones I planted last fall are just peeking up out of the ground. When it warms up sufficiently, I hope to plant some flowering perennial ground cover that doesn't mind the shade most of the day.

Marilyne · February 28, 2025, 10:16:44 AM

Jackie . . . so nice to see a message from you when I looked in last night. Sorry you were back in the hospital with that same leg infection. Hoping that this time will be the magic cure!

Yesterday was a lost day for me. We had a planned power outage from our Gas and Electric Company, that lasted from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. They were removing and replacing a power pole in our neighborhood. I sure missed the warmth from the furnace, as well as lights and appliances . . . but I especially missed my computer!

Marilyne · March 02, 2025, 02:17:18 PM

Good morning everyone - still morning here at almost 11:00 am. Woke up to a drizzly rain today, that's supposed to be off and on all day. We always need more, so hoping it will turn into measurable inches.

Ciaobella - what an unpleasant surprise it must have been for you to get a diagnosis of cirrhosis. The good news is that it sounds like it's manageable, and is something that has appeared in other members of your extended family. Good that you have a doctor who will follow up, and keep track of all the tests you will need, going forward.

Jackie - Hoping that you're feeling much better, and will not have any more hospital visits for a long, long time! Have you been able to get back to your Church, for services or other activities? I hope so, as I remember that the Minister and the congregation seemed very kind, the last time you were hospitalized.

Mars - I'm sure you and Sue had a Happy St. David's Day? I'll have to look that up online, and see what it's all about. I know it's a Welsh holiday, but I have no idea why it's celebrated?

Barb - I saw your post in Soda Shoppe, that today is Texas Independence Day. Sounds like lots of fun and good food ahead for you! Hope your tea worked, and that you're having a nice nap before the celebration begins.

MaryPage - Looking forward to your next message. I want to hear more about the 100th birthday celebration that is being planned a few years from now? Also hoping we hear more from Junee?

MarsGal · March 02, 2025, 03:08:18 PM

Marilyne, if you haven't looked already, St. David is the patron saint of Wales (like St. Patrick is for Ireland). We didn't go to Hoss-s as originally planned. Sue decided she didn't need any Daffodils, never mind it was me that wanted to see if the garden center had any potted and in bloom.

I didn't fuss about it. We ended up at our favorite Mexican food restaurant instead. We hadn't been there for a while. Yankee Doodle has an extensive menu of Mexican dishes, in spite of the name. Even though the latest owners do Mexican, they still have several local favorites like traditional PA Dutch Chicken and Waffles, and liver (ugh!) and onions, and most of the standards along with the Mexican fare.

Marilyne, you probably go right by it on your visits down here. It is on Rt.11&15 in Wormleysburg. It has a lovely uncluttered view across the river to the capitol.

patricia19 · March 02, 2025, 09:33:52 PM

For those of you into the eagle cams,

https://youtu.be/53y4I376v70

Marilyne · March 02, 2025, 10:11:08 PM

Patricia - I really enjoyed watching that video . . . the best bird cam I've seen! Hoping all who visit this discussion will take a look.

BarbStAubrey · March 03, 2025, 01:51:40 AM

Great video Patricia - seeing the eagles up that close was an eye opener - they are strong looking birds - nothing I would want to tangle with - Watching them move around in that huge nest reminded me how lucky we are today - those birds had to find and bring every one of those twigs and place them just so to make their home which made me think it was not that long ago when most people had to build their own home compared to having those who specialize in construction build the houses versus being able to use our skills to make money and buy them - even as a kid and certainly after WWII there were many families in order to afford a home built their own - usually building first the garage to live in while after hours and on weekends husband and wives along with those family members who could and would pitch in built the house. Don't hear about that happening any longer...

patricia19 · March 03, 2025, 12:27:01 PM

It still goes on, Barb, we just don't always hear about it.

If you ever go to Haines, Alaska, you can see up to three thousand bald eagles mobbing the fishing boats as they bring in their catch.

We don't have Bald eagles here, We do have Golden Eagles that are similar to juvenile Bald eagles in plumage but are actually just a tad larger than the Bald eagle adults.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/behold-americas-largest-congregation-bald-eagles-180976198/

https://youtu.be/y0pOndzESnY

patricia19 · March 03, 2025, 03:27:21 PM

Eagle eggs are hatching.

https://youtu.be/MdI9hLbsmiU

Marilyne · March 04, 2025, 12:08:57 AM

Watching and waiting

MarsGal · March 04, 2025, 08:04:10 AM

Nice to see them again. I was a bit concerned last year, when the forest fires were nearby.

MaryPage · March 04, 2025, 05:48:40 PM

]

I have to admit to dementia making those first homes after World War II costing very little. Is this possible: I think we paid $12,500.00 for our first? And $1,650.00 for our first car. The house was in Rockville, Maryland & the car was a two-door Plymouth sedan!

[/u]

patricia19 · March 04, 2025, 06:13:02 PM

MaryPage, I can't help with either question, as I've never owned a house or driven a car.

Here is Jackie Eagle first feeding new chicks,

https://youtu.be/2rISnlyiEq8

Marilyne · March 04, 2025, 07:59:20 PM

Patricia, when I woke up this morning, I saw that the chicks had hatched during the night. A joyful sight it was to see! I didn't know that Shadow and Jackie Eagle, had lost so many chicks in the past.
I'll have to look back at the old videos, to find out what happened.

MaryPage, my parents built their first house a few years after the War was over. They bought a lot in a nice area in Southern Cal, that had previously been an orange grove, and with the help of friends and family, they built a lovely three bed, two bath single story house. My brother and I were teenagers by then, so we were part of the work crew. I don't know what the total cost was, but I'm guessing it was around $12,000? Maybe less? My father was a Vet, so he got an FHA loan.
A thousand dollars was a lot of money back then!!

MaryPage · March 05, 2025, 04:08:32 PM

My husband was a WWII veteran, also. And despite the cost of home (the subdivision still exists, but the houses are all much improved over the years), we still had a mortgage! We moved in in 1951. We had car payments, as well!

MaryPage · March 08, 2025, 10:53:08 AM

Did you all see the three baby eaglettes being born last night on TV? I think I may have been watching MSNBC at the time, but I truly cannot remember.

Marilyne · March 08, 2025, 12:58:14 PM

Another weekend has arrived. This one will bring us a return to Daylight Savings Time. I prefer Standard time, but I know I'm in the minority on that issue. I try not to complain when the days are long and hot, and the sun is still shining at 9:00 PM.

Ciaobella, I've been thinking about you, and hope you're feeling much better since we last heard from you? You were having some serious health issues with food poisoning, and then got diagnosed with cirrhosis. Interesting that you have siblings who also have it, so you are aware that it's a family thing. Hoping you felt well enough to attend church on Ash Wednesday?

MaryPage, the house my parents built in Southern California, still looks as good as it did when we moved into it in 1950. They continued to live there until each of them passed - my mother in 1975, and my father not until 1991. We sold it then, and I've always wished we had figured out a way to keep it. The trees they planted are now fully mature and so beautiful. I wonder if the two orange trees from the original grove, are still in the back yard?

Patricia, I have the eagle icon on my desktop, so I can take a look at what's going on in the nest, whenever I remember. I haven't looked today yet, but will as soon as I finish this message. I saw in SS, that you got your shingles vaccine. I got mine the first week of January, so will get the second one in about a month. I did get a reaction to the first shot, but it only lasted one day.

Mars, interesting that you and Sue went to a Mexican restaurant on St. David's Day, that has such a wide variety of food to choose from. I really like Chicken and waffles, but have only had them in Los Angeles restaurants, when we used to travel down there a lot. I don't know of any place here in the San Jose area that has them on the menu? Plenty of good Mexican restaurants here though ... one is within a fairly short walking distance from our house. When younger it would have been a nice walk, along with a few other cafe's and coffee shops, but now we have to drive everywhere.

patricia19 · March 09, 2025, 03:07:18 PM

Three little eaglets

https://youtu.be/h3kePuNY-48

Marilyne · March 11, 2025, 03:06:17 PM

This morning I drove to my favorite local market, to take advantage of "Senior Day" which rolls around every Tuesday. Lots of specials, and fresh cooked foods in the deli. Also . . . Five percent off of your total if you're over age 55! We all laugh at that discount, as it hardly makes a dent in the overall price at check-out. So, I got lots of interesting food items, which will be a refreshing change from the usual.

Temperatures are supposed to be in the low 70's today, and its already 68 degrees at noon, so I'm looking forward to a nice sunny day. Tomorrow it's supposed to start raining, and keep it up over the weekend, so some gloomy days ahead. We still need more rain, so I'm not complaining.

Patricia, I love that picture of the three little chicks! All looking healthy and strong. I wish the weather would warm up there at Big Bear . . . located in the high mountains that overlook the Los Angeles area. What a difference in temperatures.

patricia19 · March 11, 2025, 03:15:54 PM

Marilyn, we've got sunny skies presently with no clouds to hold the heat in. YouTube has dozens of videos about the chicks. There are also some other videos of another eagle pair and one that looks like a pair of hawks?

Denver · March 11, 2025, 09:10:35 PM

Good evening.

First thing....I have had shingles on my back and arm and I cannot stress enough how important it is for anyone to get the shingles shot. My husband did not have any of the childhood diseases and it has been an issue when our children had them if he needed to be inoculated or not. He did get the shingles shots anyway even if he never had chickenpox. Good to read you got yours MARILYN. HOPE everyone has. Shingles are miserable.

We have a lot going on with family......seems we always do🤣🤣🤣

Our #4 son, wife and doodle dog has just moved to Phoenix. We went down last week to help him move a few things in. We love his new home and enjoyed a nice swim in the pool that he kindly heated the water for us. We are looking forward to many more fun times there together.

MARILYN....I apologize to you for not getting a note off to you. Things seem to change so quickly and I guess I am waiting on the latest news to share with you.

Hugs to all.....sleep well.

Marilyne · March 13, 2025, 09:27:21 AM

Good morning to all who all who look in here this morning. We had some wild weather here yesterday! Warnings coming in all afternoon on the TV and on the cell phones of the possibility of a tornado. We did get thunder and lightning, but no tornado, and no loss of power! That's what I was dreading most. All caused by an Atmospheric River storm from Hawaii. The wind was strong and erratic, with lots of rain - but the lights stayed on! Calm outside this morning, with a gentle rain that's supposed to keep up all day.

Jenny, it's good to see a message from you! I'm surprised that #4 son and wife moved from San Francisco, to Phoenix? I remember you saying how much they liked SF, and that they had a lovely home there. Well, now they're closer, so you'll see them, (and the Doodle), more often.

Patricia, I haven't yet looked at the SoCal weather report, nor have I seen the Eagle nest yet this morning. Hoping they didn't have the wild winds in SoCal that we had here? Time to get dressed and get myself a cup of coffee, before I tune in and watch the chicks for a while.

Hoping we hear from MarsGal today, as well as MaryPage, Barb, Jackie, Callie, and all others who post here. I'm still hoping we hear from Ciaobella, and that she's feeling much better?

Ciaobella · March 14, 2025, 12:06:44 PM

Good morning or is it nearly noon... I'm sorry I have not been around much lately since my last post, the days just seem to be flying by and here we are just days away from Spring!!

Marilyne, thank you so much for the thoughts and words of concern. I am actually feeling pretty good, and my tests are showing good numbers so I'm very optimistic. I did indeed attend Ash Wednesday mass immediately after our Wednesday morning Bible study. We are a twinning church which means Fr. Jim needed help with distributing ashes to the shut-ins, so I volunteered myself and my hubby to do it. I can't begin to express how rewarding it was for us to sit with each elderly lady praying with them and placing the ashes on their foreheads. I walked away with a new outlook on accepting my health issue which I am reassured is manageable. I do hope your bad weather has passed. I love listening to rain falling but thunder and lightning still gives me a fright.

Patricia, what an adorable picture of the eaglets. There are sightings of Bald Eagles in our subdivision lately. What do you make of that? We also get at least one Cooper's Hawk every year in our back yard. I videotaped him swooping down and clutching a rat from my neighbor's backyard and flying off with it. That was a sight to see. NO more rats around since we bought a solution from our Nature's Corner store to rid rodents. The solution has the scent of predator's urine and is not harmful to pets. We live in Ohio just over the Michigan line in a subdivision and the activity of wildlife in our backyard is as if we live in a preservation park area. My grandkids love watching out the kitchen window. My grandson told me one day I have the Garden of Eden right in my backyard with my flowers and animals that visit.

Okay, must get off and enjoy our sunny, warm day. We are expected to hit the low 70's!!

Y'all have a great day!

BarbStAubrey · March 14, 2025, 11:18:57 PM

Just lost an entire post - sheesh haven't had that happen in awhile now - not going to attempt a recreation - just a quicky glad to see your post Ciaobella

CallieOK · March 15, 2025, 02:29:08 PM

Good Afternoon,

Last several weeks have been either medical appointments, having people coming for various reasons or weather bouncing back and forth from below freezing to hot! I've read posts but that "Round Tuit" for posting was missing. Sorry.

Weather was wild winds and dust yesterday in Oklahoma. Sky was orange - a combination of dust and smoke from over a hundred wildfires across the state. Lots of neighborhoods destroyed.
Closest one to me that I've heard about was about 5 miles away along a railroad track. Local firefighters put it out. Neighborhoods where family live were okay - although son turned on his lawn sprinklers...just in case.
Sky is cloudy gray today and there's very little wind.

Wishing Everyfriend a Safe and Happy Day.

Marilyne · March 16, 2025, 01:35:00 PM

Ciaobella, Good to see your message, that all is well and that you did, indeed, attend Ash Wednesday service. Volunteering to visit the shut-ins and distribute the ashes, was very kind of you and your husband. My older daughter come over early this morning, and while we were drinking our coffee, we were reminiscing about Ash Wednesday's of the past. Remembering when we used to see people all day, everywhere, with the ashes on their foreheads. Now it's a rare sight to see or hear about anyone going to church on that day. Things have changed so drastically in the past twenty plus years! Things that were important to our generation and to our children, are no longer even mentioned.

Callie, I understand the sadness and hopeless feeling, that comes with the wildfires! Being surrounded by the smoke, destructive winds, and that unnatural looking red sky, can be very depressing. Always hard to imagine the total destruction of neighborhoods and sometimes, complete towns. People comb through the ashes later, but usually find nothing left of their homes.
I saw your message in SS, about your quick spaghetti, made with the canned Chef-Boy-R-Dee! I remember making it many times in the distant past, when it seemed I was always in a hurry. A family favorite for sure. Now that I'm reminded, I plan to make it again for just the two of us. I'm no longer able to handle the BIG pot of boiling water, to cook any pasta.

patricia19 · March 16, 2025, 04:16:48 PM

Canada's Yukon, animal cam;

https://youtu.be/rITjvTwU_Tw

BarbStAubrey · March 16, 2025, 06:33:51 PM

Marilyne just reading you can no longer handle the big pot of water to cook spaghetti was such a relief to read - I'm finding that I can no longer cook as I did and now I can stop beating up on myself - that this is how it is and I'm not the only one - whew

Although I must say, cooking for one I don't use the amount of water that I thought I needed - read it in someone's cookbook - and so I use a 2 quart pot - don't bring the water all the way to a boil before I add my pasta and then to a boil - it works... yes, there is a bit more film on top so I scoop it off before I empty the pasta into my sieve. What I really miss is cooking some of the meat dishes oh and Dauphinoise Potatoes that require a larger pot or a gratin baking dish and cooking in the oven. I bet there is a way to cook just enough for one or two and I need to probably get a few smaller pans to do just that. Unfortunately I'm turning to more and more canned prepared foods which are not healthy for me but also here there are not the Farmer's Markets I was used to - something about fresh veggies with soil still on the roots that gave me the desire to cook all sorts of meals.

Being honest with myself though it is not just the difficulty of handling the larger pots full of water or food but I have been so focused trying to get everything in its new place in this house that I had not been doing much else. Down to the end of it...

Biggest aspect is the closets in this house are so very different including and especially the kitchen cupboards - the shelves are so high I cannot reach the top shelf at all and so the large - in fact too large - pantry is holding much of my china and glass and so I've tried to turn the hall closet into a pantry for cleaning supplies, vacuum etc. It is all very awkward but not willing to yet cull my beloved china and crystal - I know, that is next - as much as I tossed before the move now I need to get serious about good things - with 5 grandboys and no grandgirls it makes it harder. [/color]

Marilyne · March 17, 2025, 12:32:14 AM

Barb, Not being able to handle a big pot of boiling water, is just one of my kitchen problems, but probably the most dangerous. I can't get a good firm comfortable grip, on any of my pots and pans, eating utensils, cooking utensils, etc. Bad arthritis in both hands, so hard to hold on to anything anymore. So I mostly use the oven or microwave, or the back burners on the stove. I've also started using more canned food and frozen dinners. Some of the canned or boxed soups are delicious.

I was never an enthusiastic cook anyway, so I don't miss it that much. My favorite type of cooking used to be to plan and prepare the BIG holiday dinners, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all others. When it came to the everyday meals, I was definitely a "short order" cook. I planned food that could be prepared quickly and easily, but tried to stick with healthy foods and always a big salad.

You mentioned that you might have to get rid of your beloved china and crystal? I hope that you don't, and that you continue to enjoy it for as long as you live. Try too find an open shelf or small space where you can display a few pieces or a place setting, just for you to enjoy! That's what I do with mine, and I still get a lot of pleasure from just looking at it. Occasionally I'll have my morning cup of coffee in a favorite china cup and saucer. I used to rent a space in an antique store, where I specialized in vintage American dinnerware, china, crystal and all sorts of old kitchen stuff like mixing bowl sets, Pyrex, etc. Although most of it has been sold or given away, I still have plenty to enjoy.

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