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Post by fallenangel on Feb 24, 2015 15:43:38 GMT -6
It started out as sleet then turned to snow. It's melting now.
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Post by stepper on Feb 24, 2015 19:05:11 GMT -6
I'm glad it wasn't too severe in your area Angel. Hopefully you're not dealing with re-freeze to much.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 24, 2015 22:34:15 GMT -6
We've got a couple days worth of softened/refrozen snow. It's shiny slick . . . and beautiful . . . but I wouldn't want to walk on it.
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Post by stepper on Feb 26, 2015 20:43:43 GMT -6
We've gone from freezing, to 80s, then 60s, tomorrow is 30s (again) and Saturday includes precipitation - but that's mostly north of us (again.)
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Post by stepper on Feb 27, 2015 21:47:18 GMT -6
The weather guessers were right this time - today started cold and slowly got colder. At lunch time one of the guys from the office intended to go out but instead he ran into freezing mist and spent lunch in the break room watching Fox News. I don't blame him - I needed to go cash a check and it was blowing besides being really cold. I'm not bothered by cold, but the cold AND wind is a different story - as different as Young Frankenstein and Mary Shelley's version.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 28, 2015 7:57:47 GMT -6
That's a perfect comparison, Stepper. Tuesday here was cold and snowy, with a bitter wind that made it feel unbearable to be outside, even just walking from the front door to the car. I let the dog out, and heard what I thought was a robin chirping - probably b!tching out loud to himself that he headed north way too early.
Wednesday, on the other hand, was just as cold, but without the wind, and the sun was shining. While I was shoveling snow, it felt warm enough to take off my scarf; I even got a bit sweaty. LX called while walking between classes just to tell me that "you know winter has lasted too long when it's barely 30 degrees and you feel like you should be wearing a t-shirt and shorts".
Though rest of the week has been colder and slightly windy, the sun has been out everyday. For some weird reason, BP doesn't like the sun in winter - it's not supposed to shine, she claims. I love it though; I was sitting on the back porch a bit earlier this morning, drinking coffee while waiting for the dog, and with the sun just up over the ravine, it actually felt nice outside despite what the thermometer said - 1.1 degrees. Again, I heard the robin - and this time I'm sure it's a robin - and sure he's complaining about arriving home too early.
Road trip later today for the hockey game I got Hubs for Christmas. I'm not sure if it'll be a good game or not: Michigan's in first place in the Big 10; they're playing Wisconsin, who is in last place.
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Post by stepper on Feb 28, 2015 14:01:06 GMT -6
I have a problem with the sun too, especially if it's reflecting off snow. I'm photophobic - sun and snow requires sun glasses.
I like the cold too - as long as the wind isn't blowing.
That would kill some of the people who live here.
If the home team wins, it's not a bad game. However it works out, I hope you both have a good time.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 1, 2015 9:17:34 GMT -6
Always! Even if a person isn't photophobic, the glare from sun hitting snow makes it almost impossible see.
The sun combined with wind is one of the toughest conditions on plants - even on a pleasant summer day. We've had plenty of sunny, windy days this month and they're already thinking the grape crops are going to be a total loss here - you could see the effects in the grocery store even down there; Michigan grows much of the grapes for processing that companies such as Welches uses for jelly and juice.
It's official - the average daily temperature this month here has been 25 degrees below normal, making this February the coldest...and snowiest February on record for this area. Unless we have a very quick thaw, I'm doubtful the nursery will reopen in March at all.
They did win, 5-2. Even if they had lost though, we had a lot fun. It was a great day trip, just us two.
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Post by stepper on Mar 1, 2015 18:13:13 GMT -6
I thought grape vines were safe until they started budding in March. Steppet is from central PA and that's how the grapes in their garden grew. You're even closer to the Canadian border - I'd be guessing you'd have a later season than PA.
Sorry to hear about the delayed launch for the nursery. But we know spring is coming - next weekend is daylight savings - that's one of the events that says the seasons are turning again even if it's not related to the weather. And you said you've got a robin already. Unless it over wintered there - that's another sign. BTW - are you feeding it?
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Post by Phalon on Mar 2, 2015 11:27:49 GMT -6
That's sort of right, Step. Bud break happens in spring; here I think it's more like April than March. But grapes - like many plants - set bud the previous year. Even in the cold hardy varieties, many of those buds are lost due to temperatures falling below zero in winter. Adding wind and sun into the mix can be bad news - the buds are dessicated to nothing.
It was kind of funny last week: One night we were sitting down for dinner, and something seemed a bit off - just a little different than normal. Suddenly, it hit all of us at once - "OMG, it's still light outside!" Even without the time change, it's staying light longer.
It could have over-wintered here - there was a flock that stayed last year. This is the first I've heard it, though. I still haven't seen it, but yesterday morning it sounded like there was more than one, calling back and forth to each other. No, I'm not feeding it/them specifically. I have the two feeders, but robins don't feed from them even in summer - I always just see them pulling worms from the ground. Early last week, I put out two large shallow bowls of stale Cheerios mixed with stale, unsalted shelled sunflower seeds and stale bread (BP apparently has difficulty to a non-existent ability to close a zip-lock bag or box or use a twist tie). A flock of cute little Juncos fed from them, but the snow quickly covered the remainder of what was left.
Another recent winter dilemma - where to put the trash cans on trash day?! Normally, people just wheel them to the curb on the parkway; we've always just kept a swath shoveled for that purpose. The parkways now are buried in three feet of snow or more, most of it left by the plows. People have been leaving the trash cans in the street. This morning driving down the road, it reminded me of a pinball game and I fought the urge to zig-zag down the street, hitting the trash can "bumpers" on either side.
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Post by stepper on Mar 2, 2015 20:50:24 GMT -6
I didn't know that. Thanks!
A 30 second drill on robins which winter in your area pretty much agrees with your observations. The sites suggested "If robins happen to overwinter near you, you can offer them frozen or fresh fruit. They'll go for apple slices, raisins, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and cherries." They also suggested mealworms - I'm sure Steppet would object rather strenuously to that - but who know? You're a landscaping and nursery worker so maybe you and mealworms are on good terms?
Interesting - that was on the news recently, but they were talking about Boston and the big piles of snow, and how to deal with trash days.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 4, 2015 8:46:34 GMT -6
HA! My co-worker, ordering supplies for our bird section at the store, got little bags of dried mealworms, and a suet variety called "Bits o' Bugs". They sat there forever, no matter how many cute little signs he put out about birds needing protein in their diet (tastes like chicken?). My boss finally ended up taking the suet home for her feeders because it was close to expiring, but the bags of mealworms hung around for a couple of years, migrating to the counter every once in a while as an impulse item (more like a repulse item, I'm sure - they were disgusting-looking). Finally some guy bought all of them this fall (at a low, low markdown price). He wasn't even feeding the birds - he had some kind of lizard as a pet, who loved mealworms.
I imagine it might be some kind of hazard in a big city; here it's just an annoyance finding a place to put the receptacles, and then dodging them while driving through the neighborhood.
Had some icky weather yesterday; it started off pretty with heavy-falling but fluffy snow, then changed to sleet, and finally freezing rain. Got the shoveling done between the sleet and rain; it was like shoveling heavy broken plates...kinda cool actually; I liked the noise it made.
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Post by stepper on Mar 4, 2015 21:10:36 GMT -6
So you're saying the birds didn't find the worms to be that mealy?
On the news they were showing that people had dug and maintained a small cutout in the snow bank sort of like this п - big enough for one or two containers depending on need.
For us it starts soon. Today was warm compared to the past several weeks - we only hit 69 but San Antonio was a degree or two warmer. A cold front is coming in - they call it a Blue Norther - today was still, foggy, summer time humid, gray, and overcast. It's already changing and before midnight they expect freezing rain that will affect bridges and overpasses. It goes down hill from there. We're past the normal last freeze but maybe things are changing.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 5, 2015 7:10:00 GMT -6
Hope they were wrong and you didn't get that freezing rain that was predicted.
It's a mess here - the neighborhood roads are an icy nightmare; next door neighbor probably burned up his transmission or at least the treads on his tires trying to get his truck moving down the street, and further on down another pick-up tried to pull out a car that had slid around the intersection and somehow ended up stuck against the snowbank on the parkway. At least that's that it looked like happened; I honestly couldn't figure out how else the car could have got there. Instead of driving through the neighborhood the way I normally do to take BP to school, I've been going the opposite direction which is only a half block to the main road, which is clear, thank-goodness. Adds about 2 miles to the overall drive, but easier in the long run.
Sunny, but cold and miserably windy yesterday - the kind of day on which you walk outside, say f**k this sh!t, turn around and walk back inside. At least that's what I did. Not so for a woman I saw pick her way down the street - using ski-poles. Lots of people use ski-poles while walking for exercise to work their arms, but this lady was using them strictly for balance on the ice. How ingenious is that!
Hubs says this is the last day of bitter cold...he swears it is; 'course he's been saying that for the last week and a half. He is so sure this time though, that if it's not, he said we're packing up the truck and moving...if we can drive it down the street.
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Post by stepper on Mar 5, 2015 19:21:20 GMT -6
We didn't get the freezing rain - the cold front stalled out. Around and north of us they weren't so lucky; we were just wet and cold. One good thing, the cold pushed the wet south. When I left work to head home it was not quite so cold, and somewhat windy, but it was sunny!
Those words seem to go together on more than one level.
Our today - after the morning cleared up.
The weather guessers are that bold, but there's only one more cold morning coming and that's tomorrow - in the 20s - and after that there's a warming trend. Rain on sleep-late-because-you-"accidentially"-forgot-about-changing-the-clock day, but the trend is up and by the middle of next week we're in the 70s. I know they're only guessing but I'm hoping they're guessing right.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 6, 2015 7:08:08 GMT -6
Same here - this morning is supposed to be the end of it - that's what Hubs said anyway. "This is it, this is it, this is it", he repeated when he looked at the thermometer. It read 7 degrees. I think he was trying to convince himself more than anything.
I'll believe it when I feel it.
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Post by stepper on Mar 6, 2015 17:33:11 GMT -6
I believe you're right.
We hit freezing this morning - we're at 55 now and the coldest temp on the boards is tomorrow - 38 degrees. After that it's a slow climb but there will be days where the lows are in the 50s and the highs are in the 70s - warm is coming. And according to the weather channel, we have a 90% chance of rain Monday. If it mists for 2 seconds they'll congratulate themselves on their amazing powers and call it an accurate forecast. We still need real rain.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 7, 2015 7:34:37 GMT -6
Yes, it is. It has! This morning is already 23 degrees! After the single digits and all the wind, this feels wonderful.
Whoo-hoo! Roadtrip on tap for this morning - going up to the college to pick up LX for spring break.
Later Taters. Enjoy the day.
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Post by stepper on Mar 7, 2015 19:13:03 GMT -6
A few days ago when it was truly cold - for us - I saw a guy walking into the food court and he had on a short sleeve shirt. No jacket. He had to be here TDY from a northern tier base - it's the only explanation because it really was too cold for how he was dressed. The next closest thing was the pilots wearing only flight suits and they are at least long sleeved and thicker.
They've been talking about spring break down here - normally there's tons of people heading for the gulf coast but it's been so cold they aren't sure how it's going to work out. I don't know what they do up there - except maybe go south - but since we are the south...usually the river rides open up for tubers but I'm sure it's just to cold for that. There's always Sea World and Fiesta Texas, both of them are good for a full day,
How ever it works out - have a good week with LX.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 8, 2015 9:23:07 GMT -6
Thirty-one degrees already and climbing! Hubs has already went out and bought steaks for the grill for dinner tonight.
LX is using the week as a "working" vacation; she's just basically getting things done that she can't do while she's up there. She's got an orthodontist appointment, another with the Dental Dominatrix, and a third with her tattooist (Mom sigh on that last one, but attitudes about tattoos have changed completely from what they were in our generation). She's also talking to a few places about jobs for the summer. I hoping she doesn't go back to Dairy Queen; I think it's time she branch out. I believe she's still planning on it though; she likes it because she's always had the DQ 5-to-close shift, so can work a 'day job' also.
Since we're talking spring breaks and I mentioned the Dental Dominatrix, here's a kind of cool way to spend spring break ...
I had my appointment with the Dominatrix last week (obviously not the cool part of this story). Her niece and LX go to the same university; her niece is a senior this year, and is taking a class this semester only offered to upperclassmen who are honors students...a course about Harry Potter. For spring break, the class is going to England to visit all the places mentioned in the series.
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Post by stepper on Mar 8, 2015 17:56:34 GMT -6
[/quote]Thirty-one degrees already and climbing! Hubs has already went out and bought steaks for the grill for dinner tonight. [/quote] Sounds like you guys are in for a great dinner. What's on the menu? Is he going for burgers and dogs or steaks or what?
Before she gets one, maybe she should find out what it's like to have it removed. There's lots of that going on too. Personally, I've never seen one good enough to convince me that I'd want one too. And I was one of the people who jumped off the bridge too because it looked like it was fun. (It was.) At the very least, tell her to go to the best artist she can find - if she goes to a slop jockey she'll regret it AND she'll have to have it zapped out - or done over by an expert because you can't cover slop by going to another slop jock.
I know she's your daughter and you love her, but I'd be suggesting that anyone who thought I was going to help pay for college, transportation, or anything else, would be well advised to wait until after they were done borrowing. (But, I'll use "MY" money for the tat!" Really? And you'll borrow more from me because you spent it on the tat instead of school. You can afford to wait a couple more years.)
Those are words that I never thought you'd put in the same sentence.
But I agree, visiting Diagon Alley and Gringotts Bank and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in England, would be a great Spring Vacation!
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Post by Phalon on Mar 9, 2015 11:39:14 GMT -6
HA, Stepper. "Hubs has already went out and bought steaks for the grill for dinner tonight", so uhm, we had steaks for dinner. Yes, she is my daughter and I love her, and (LMAO) I'm going to totally disagree with the rest of that. We aren't paying for her college; it's being paid through scholarships she earned and by the money my brother left her for that purpose; it's looking like she'll finish with little to no debt (she's living off campus next year, and I honestly can't believe how much less expensive it is to rent an apartment than to live in the dorm - thousands less per semester!!!). If there isn't enough to get her through, the student loans will be hers, not ours. We do pay for toiletries, medical expenses, her monthly phone bill ($50), for her to be on our car insurance (which is actually mandatory since we still claim her as a dependent), food when she's home, and of course, I drive to and from the college. She pays for everything else throughout the year (including summer when she's home) with the money she earns from her summer jobs - this is by her, not just choice, but insistence. I think she likes to see that "poor college student" thing she brings up as a badge of passage; that she's going to do as much of this as she can on her own, which is just her personality. But even if this wasn't the case, we would not put stipulations on helping with her education, other than requiring she doesn't waste her time and our money by blowing off classes, and receiving bad grades. Certainly, not any stipulations regarding something like a tattoo. She has several of them actually - all but one is just writing. The one that is a picture, she researched artists first, talked to clients, and found a well recommended and respected artist not too far from here; she had him do that one, instead of the guy in town that did just the writing. Going back to the same artist this week instead of the town guy. I can't really pinpoint how I feel about her having tattoos - it's not like I'm going to encourage her to get any, and I did try to discourage her from getting the first one. But I'm accepting of it now - the whole 'it's a form meaningful self-expression' conversations we've had about it, I get. Surprisingly Hubs, who doesn't think tattoos can be attractive in any way, sees her point of view (I can at least see the artistry in some of them - actually, I find the whole tattoo culture these days fascinating - the diversity of the people who get them, and get lots of them). The Mom sigh is more of a generational thing; she's not just the next generation following ours; there is another generation between (Gen X - I'm a Baby-Boomer; she's a Millennial), and the attitude gap is sometimes difficult to bridge. It's not impossible though. I look at her and don't even notice the tattoos anymore, actually. And this is a total Mom Mush Thing - there's a photo of her taken last summer I absolutely love. I was upset because thought I lost it when my computer crashed; though computer guy saved my files, a lot of the photos are only red "x"s now. BP, who took the photo though, had a copy on her iPad. It's not even a good photo really - she's sitting at an angle that makes her look bigger than she is, she's wearing crappy clothes she picked up at the thrift store, and most of her tattoos are visible, (though not in this small copy). I don't really see any of that though - it's her expression that I love. It's the way I always think of her - a look I rarely, if ever, saw during the 3 years she was involved with the Loser, and one I didn't think I'd ever see again. It's back though, and is way more important to us than any ink that came along with it. Oh, and btw, she doesn't look like that anymore. She had her hair put in dreads recently. Maybe, I should stop buying her shampoo now? I never read any of the books or saw the movies, but I'm a'thinkin' they'll be going to actual places. Maybe just sites the movies were filmed?
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Post by stepper on Mar 9, 2015 20:39:53 GMT -6
That she's going to graduate debt free is an achievement all by itself. Even if she doesn't quite make it, it's still noteworthy. I read an article recently that said the student load default rate had dipped to 13.7% - it's down to 13.7%? More than 10% of the people who get student loans will default on them? And some of the for-profit schools had a 30% default rate. It makes me shudder.
I suspect that if I had a daughter who came home sporting tats, I would not be able to disguise my disappointment; nor would it be cause for eviction. And I'm glad that you all survived the bad years involving the Loser. I know it was a very trying time in your life.
Renting an apartment is cheaper because dorm life includes food, salaries for cooks, security personnel, maintenance, etc., none-the-less you'd think the difference wouldn't be in the thousands. That's nuts!
They filmed outside of course, but all of the Potter films relied heavily on sets and CGI. There’s substantial differences between what they filmed and what made it to the screen.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 11, 2015 7:22:39 GMT -6
It's not too hard to imagine when you consider the cost of attending college has skyrocketed, increasing about 5% per year (according to a report it's risen to over 1,120 percent what it was during the late 70s-early 80s), which far outpaces inflation of any other goods and services... and the income of a fresh-out-of-college new-to-the-professional-workforce employee. At the same time state funding for colleges has decreased. The average cost per year for LX's college (tuition and room and board) is $22,000 - which is the typical in-state cost for a public university in Michigan; I'm sure there are other states which are higher, and some that are lower. A four-year undergraduate degree costs $88,000? Then there are those that go on to graduate school for their Masters and Doctorates, incurring additional costs. None of this takes into account scholarships and grants, of course, but still the loan amount of some college students has to be astronomical. I know! I was shocked! Check this out - her cost for room and board per semester is $4,582; her apartment rent which includes utilities for a semester will be $1,775! Would you feel the same about a son with tattoos? Just curious. I think you'd most likely feel differently if you had kids in their early 30s and younger (what is generally referred to as the Millennial Generation)...more accepting maybe. You'd almost have to be in order to relate to your child, which is a big part of being a parent; you don't have to agree, but you'd got to learn to accept. Tattoos were once considered part of a subculture...kind of a deviant thing; now they are mainstream. Out of all of LX's high school friends (girls and boys), only two of them didn't have tattoos when they graduated - one girl and LX (and the only reason LX didn't have one is because she was under 18, and we would not sign for her). Both of them are tattooed now. Tattoos are so common place in high school now, that the yearbook had two-page full-color spread of tattoos of just the seniors; that's more than some of the sports and clubs got (this was LX's idea, btw - she was on the yearbook staff, and was disappointed she couldn't be on the pages she designed). The girl next door got her first at age 15. All of LX's college friends that I've met have tattoos. Since I like to drill, and I've already put more numbers in this post than any other I've ever written, I might as well continue...(just copying and pasting because even typing numbers gives me a headache)... "...18-29-year-olds are by far the most tattooed generation (Millennials) in American history, 38% having a tattoo compared to 32% a generation before them (Gen Xers). And among the tattooed, youth are more likely to become heavily tattooed than ever before....the largest gap in who’s wearing tattoos, is between the Gen X at 32% and the Boomers with 15%, with over 65s at 9%." (source; thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/01/19/generational-change-in-the-social-acceptability-of-tattoos/ ) And if you're excluding a tattooed son from your disappointment, here are some "daughter" statistics... "Tattooing today is the sixth-fastest-growing retail business in the United States. The single fastest growing demographic group seeking tattoo services is, to the surprise of many, middle-class suburban women....80% of the customers were 'upper middle-class white suburban females'. This trend -- the spreading popularity of tattooing among well-educated women in affluent suburban communities -- is one of the most striking aspects of the new attitudes about the art form....almost half of all tattoos are being done on women." (source; www.tattooartist.com/history.html)Interesting stuff, even if you never come into contact with a person sporting a tattoo. Oh! Maybe the tour is something like this! www.classic-england.com/england-tours/grand-harry-potter-tourDang, even though I know or care nothing about Harry Potter, I'd love go on that tour! I've been to England a few times, but never this time of year...today here is what I imagine the weather to be like there in winter. Temperatures nearing 40 with heavy fog; it feels damp, and chillier than the temperature indicates.
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Post by stepper on Mar 11, 2015 17:13:16 GMT -6
One year at Harvard - $43,938, plus room and board $14,669 = $58,607. To that add $3,643 for personal expenses which includes between $800 and $1200 for books, and estimated travel costs ranging up to $5,800. Total for one year is between $62,250 and $68,050. Last year the estimate was $65,150, meaning the increase just this year was $2,900. Without tuition assistance, there's no way it's worth the cost. Yale was $63,250, Brown was $59,428.
Yikes!
No, I wouldn't. It's one of my prejudices - I expect more of and am less tolerant of childish foibles in males. Making a mistake is one thing - we all make mistakes - but intentionally doing something as stupid as this? Screw up some of your employment opportunities for life over a tat? He would be better off staying with a friend for a while to give me time to get over it.
Before you read the next line, we're talking about "my" kids and my reaction to them. And before you ask, I'll answer the next obvious question. If he comes home sporting a nose or lip ring, or some kind of pierced earring thing, he'll only be home long enough to visit - mostly with his mother.
I can't say I considered them deviant - just mostly ugly and some were sort of repulsive resembling a Halloween evil clown mask.
Not around here.
And I'm so proud of you!
The military insists that tats must not be visible when a person is in uniform. Since military personnel constitute the majority of people I know, I don't see many. Although I just remembered, a person who used to be really good friends with me had three or five tats, but her hubs cheated on her recently and now she hates all men; we don't see each other at all anymore.
That'd be an excellent tour!
Generally, we'll get fog in the spring, but not so much in winter - the prevailing winds carry the gulf's moisture eastward during fall and winter which is away from us. Spring and especially summer are very humid but the temps are so high that the dew point doesn't get there very often so there's hardly any fog in the summer.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 13, 2015 6:51:12 GMT -6
That's attitudes toward tattoos in the workplace are changing too; even large corporations are more lenient regarding them than they were in the past. The trend is most likely to continue as Baby Boomers retire (or as my friend sardonically says 'die out'), and are replaced by the younger generations.
Probably due to the demographics of your area - the large population of military and military support personnel, and I'm thinking you might not have a many close friends under the age of 30 you hang out with outside of work, (not a dig on your age!!! As we get older, the age of the people in our circle of friends are older too!). But just a hop, skip, and jump from you is one of the most heavily tattooed cities in America; Austin ranks number 6 in America's Top 10 Most Tattooed Cities.
And so in light of this conversation and curiosity, I went with her to get her tattoo yesterday; she asked me last week to go with her for this one, and all her others previously, but I always declined due to three things I have aversions to that I've always associated with getting a tattoo: needles, blood, and pain (I can't even watch someone, myself included, get a simple shot in the arm). It was nothing like I expected.
The place reminded me of a doctor's office except in the reception and waiting room area there were artists' tables for consult, the tattooists' portfolios on the tables instead of magazines, and a lot more artwork on the walls. And better music. The rooms where the tattooing was done were like doctor's office examination rooms too. It took three hours to get her tattoo, so I left the room from time to time and wandered around the waiting room just to stretch my legs (the chairs were just as uncomfortable as doctor's office room chairs). Clientele that came in while we were there was a mother and her son in maybe his late teens/early 20's who wanted his first tattoo - a brain cancer ribbon with the word "survivor" incorporated in it; when his mom said "brain cancer" as a fellow mom, my heart kind of did a drop, but rose when she said "survivor". A 30-something guy wearing khakis, a shirt and tie; don't know what he was getting - he went right into one of the rooms with another tattooist. There was a woman about my age who had a consult appointment; she wanted tropical flowers with her mother and dad's names - a date with the mother's name, but not the dad's who was still living.
No blood, needles, or pain either...maybe just an occasional wince from LX. Saw nothing repulsive or evil clown mask-like. The only freaky, bizarre thing I saw that made me do a double-take was a cow standing on the side of the highway on the drive up there. A full-grown cow!!! Standing on the side of a four-lane highway!!! As if chewing on the grass where the snow had melted along a highway was the most natural place to be.
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Post by stepper on Mar 13, 2015 17:37:17 GMT -6
For reasons that completely escape me, one of the ladies who called in to the help desk has decided I'm her newest best friend. This by itself should be taken as a warning sign. She was raised as a Quaker by her grandparents. After numerous very surprising twists, she ended up in the Air Force. She's married to an EOD tech - one of the guys who defuses bombs for a living. And she has several tats - all in places she can hide except for one. She has the formula for TNT on her wrist and it's low enough that it can be partially seen. She's also got the chemical compound for oxycontin below her left collar bone, and two slightly larger tats that are pictures - star bursts. She mentioned more but that's all I remember. However, in spite of the tats and what they imply, I can still pick out some of the Quaker and Catholic influences. She's a real scrambled egg if ever there was one.
I've talked to very few Quakers - but an active duty Quaker with tats is a curiosity at the least.
Down here, the snow would have been the thing that got everyone's attention. A cow eating grass - not so much.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 13, 2015 17:46:00 GMT -6
I have been meaning to look up Quaker marriage. In the 'Outlander' book series, there is a double wedding with two Quakers marrying non-Quakers. It was interesting. So, I thought I'd look more into it. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.
I wonder if Quakers are somewhat similar to the Amish? That might make for a cool 2-minute drill when I have the time. Might put that in a folder for a book idea.
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Post by stepper on Mar 13, 2015 18:12:36 GMT -6
The Quakers are not the same as Amish, or the Mennonites. But the majority of people not a part of those communities have trouble figuring out the differences. For instance, people see a horse and buggy and associate all of these religions with the passengers, but they'd be wrong. They'd be looking at the Amish.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 13, 2015 19:58:58 GMT -6
Yeah. I know the Quakers are not against modern technology. But from the book I gathered they do shunnings. (disownments?) But I really liked how they got married in the book. I want to learn more about that. Put that in a folder for future pondering.
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