cllehto Posted April 4 Posted April 4 19 hours ago, bodotdot said: It's April...that wonderful month when the soft-serve cones return from their winter hibernation. Wonderful time of the year!
len_mullen Posted April 5 Posted April 5 April, bloody April. April is always a busy month for me. Because I was born in April, I must inspect and register my vehicles. Because I drive cars until no one can, this is usually an adventure. April is also the month Uncle Sam demands his pound of flesh. This year was just a little bit worse because our regulator was on the premises last week and I had to deal with a recall on one of my vehicles that would necessarily delay its inspection by a week. Assessment went well. recall was uneventful, and I finished my taxes this morning. So, on April 5, I am done except for two inspections and a visit to the tax collector's office. I rewarded myself for this with a bloody mary, two slices of reheated pizza, Top Gun, and a nap. Having checked in here, I am unofficially off the clock. Happy Shopping! 2
Kanyon71 Posted April 6 Posted April 6 It’s April and it’s been showering all day here. Taxes are done except the painful part of sending them even more money. Not looking forward to work tomorrow. Think I need a couple of weeks off with nothing to do. 2
bluebear Posted April 6 Posted April 6 We're having a rainy day today and tomorrow, with the potential for severe weather. Again. We had a tornado in our county a few miles from here on Monday, and scary weather a couple weeks before that. I'm about over it! Glad for the actual rain though. This week is our spring break. We have a list of things we want to do. We bought 30 bags of mulch today, and will likely get at least 30 more. Ugh. 1
HanShotFirst Posted April 8 Posted April 8 Well, I just lived through destructive tornadoes and massive flash flooding the last 4 days here in TN. The local meteorologists were on air for 18+ hours non-stop on Wednesday and Saturday covering the weather. It was said that the NWS out of Memphis issued over 100 tornado warnings last week. Unbelievable weather event that I don’t want to have endure again. My small hometown was hit by a deadly tornado 2 years ago, almost to the day, and another tornado hit in the night Friday/Saturday. There was damage but thankfully it was not massive and not deadly like 2 years ago. I am weather weary for sure. Otherwise Happy Spring to everyone! 4
bluebear Posted April 8 Posted April 8 1 hour ago, HanShotFirst said: Well, I just lived through destructive tornadoes and massive flash flooding the last 4 days here in TN. The local meteorologists were on air for 18+ hours non-stop on Wednesday and Saturday covering the weather. It was said that the NWS out of Memphis issued over 100 tornado warnings last week. Unbelievable weather event that I don’t want to have endure again. My small hometown was hit by a deadly tornado 2 years ago, almost to the day, and another tornado hit in the night Friday/Saturday. There was damage but thankfully it was not massive and not deadly like 2 years ago. I am weather weary for sure. Otherwise Happy Spring to everyone! Oh gracious how scary! Glad you are okay. We had another tornado hit our county this morning... 2 Mondays in a row now. 4
rockpzazz Posted April 13 Posted April 13 On 4/7/2025 at 7:05 PM, HanShotFirst said: Well, I just lived through destructive tornadoes and massive flash flooding the last 4 days here in TN. The local meteorologists were on air for 18+ hours non-stop on Wednesday and Saturday covering the weather. It was said that the NWS out of Memphis issued over 100 tornado warnings last week. Unbelievable weather event that I don’t want to have endure again. My small hometown was hit by a deadly tornado 2 years ago, almost to the day, and another tornado hit in the night Friday/Saturday. There was damage but thankfully it was not massive and not deadly like 2 years ago. I am weather weary for sure. Otherwise Happy Spring to everyone! I feel you. On April 2nd, my town of under 800 was hit with an EF-2 tornado. While it looked absolutely horrible with a mobile home that was just placed isn't even there anymore. Incredibly, there were no injuries or deaths despite the tornado warning going out after it had passed, the power going out 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, which caused the town siren to not activate (it was electrical powered from the 1940s and was set to be replaced next month). It was one of the earliest ones (around 8:30 AM) to hit the area possibly since the 1960s and the largest to possibly hit the county in 30 years. If I had to guess it passed around 500-1000 yards from my front door. If it didn't turn the first time, it would have went through the town. If it didn't turn the second time, it would have destroyed my uncle's mobile home (with him and my aunt inside). I think the timing helps prevent injuries since most of the kids were at school (who didn't even suffer a power outage), and a lot of adults on their way to work 15-25 minutes away. I have been near 2-3 tornadoes in my life, another which was a wind storm (I still believe it was a tornado) but this one was the worst. Usually I have a sense for bad weather, but I didn't feel like this one would do anything. Boy was I wrong. At least the community is safe and a cleanup effort was made today to help clean the fields and places littered with debris. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come this season. The week before wasn't much better with a water main break causing us to go 2-3 days with little to no water. So hopefully the rest of April and the year gets better. 5
HomeinKS Posted April 13 Posted April 13 I'm sorry to hear of all the weather related difficulties. Take care out there! 4
setlok73 Posted April 14 Posted April 14 Got to spend my Granddaughters 6th birthday with her. Such a blessing!!! 2 3
stacya Posted April 15 Posted April 15 Happy April! My luger and I are back in the swing of things since coming back from Salt Lake City last month. Kendall's second race there was the Norton Jr. National Championships, for sliders age 14 to 21. Kendall is one of the youngest on the team (she is currently 15), and raced against her teammates, as well as the athletes on the next level up, the Jr. National Team, where they are more experienced sliders, in addition to being older and bigger. Kendall managed a 6th place finish out of 17 athletes. The athletes ahead of her, except for 1, were all on the next level team, so out of those on her team, she placed 2nd. She finished 3rd overall for the season, so when she returns to Lake Placid for the summer (she will be training with the next level team for the entire summer), she has another medal waiting for her. The official team list gets released on May 1, though we already know what her placement will be, but we aren't allowed to discuss it openly until the list comes out. Today's video is of Kendall sliding into the finish on the 2002 (and 2034) Olympic track! VID_20250414_200821.mp4 1
bluebear Posted April 16 Posted April 16 I'm back to work this week after spring break last week, with 5 more weeks of school left after this week. I always like to have productive breaks, and we did a lot of stuff, but no really big projects. But that's okay. We got 65 bags of mulch, and maybe about half are spread. But, I did get a new car! That really wasn't needed or planned, but sometimes things happen. I had picked out what I wanted, and planned to purchase in the fall. But then I saw that the factory started shipping a new color, and that's all it took. So I found one in my state with the features I wanted, and checked the site every day until it arrived. Then showed up first thing the next day! I didn't need a car, and I feel horribly guilty, but I love it. 1 3
freesia39 Posted April 16 Posted April 16 Don't feel guilty! If the car works for you to fit your needs, and budget wise as well, you're fine! 2 1
Bopeep Posted April 16 Posted April 16 7 hours ago, bluebear said: I'm back to work this week after spring break last week, with 5 more weeks of school left after this week. I always like to have productive breaks, and we did a lot of stuff, but no really big projects. But that's okay. We got 65 bags of mulch, and maybe about half are spread. But, I did get a new car! That really wasn't needed or planned, but sometimes things happen. I had picked out what I wanted, and planned to purchase in the fall. But then I saw that the factory started shipping a new color, and that's all it took. So I found one in my state with the features I wanted, and checked the site every day until it arrived. Then showed up first thing the next day! I didn't need a car, and I feel horribly guilty, but I love it. Congratulations, she's a beauty! As for guilt, nah, sometimes we just have to show ourselves some love. Good for you! 1 1
bluebear Posted April 16 Posted April 16 1 hour ago, Bopeep said: Congratulations, she's a beauty! As for guilt, nah, sometimes we just have to show ourselves some love. Good for you! Thank you! 1
Gator Pam Posted April 18 Posted April 18 Can anyone use some Torrid Cash? I received $350 in Torrid Cash I have no plans on spending. It has to be used by this Monday.
cllehto Posted April 18 Posted April 18 April is going by fast. Almost Easter already! Happy Easter 1
len_mullen Posted April 18 Posted April 18 On 4/16/2025 at 8:53 AM, bluebear said: I did get a new car! I didn't need a car, and I feel horribly guilty, but I love it. I got an old car. Yesterday, I got my crappy Focus inspected. I was not willing to spend more than $1k getting it to pass inspection and not getting a sticker would have triggered a lot of changes in my life. Primarily, retirement. I would not have repaired the car, was unwilling to commute 18k miles per year in my F150, and was uninterested in any new or used car available to me at this time. The only recommendation of the inspection station was that I change the oil and rotate the tires. All green -- not a single yellow or red mark on their checklist. The service manager said I could put another 100k on the POS. I may. So I had the oil changed and rotated the tires. I'll have to find a better reason to retire than my crappy Ford Focus. 2
Gator Pam Posted April 18 Posted April 18 Last Saturday night was the start of the eight day festival of Passover. Saturday night I went to the local CHABAD for first night Seder, but I made second night Seder for the three of us and have been doing a lot of cooking ever since. Besides the ritual foods, the meal Saturday night started with a hard boiled egg (in salt water for me), followed by jarred gefilte fish with ground prepared white horseradish. Next up was chicken matzah ball soup made with the poultry bone broth I make in the Instant Pot. The main entrée was a 17 pound turkey I received from a food drive last fall and kept in the freezer. That’s a lot of turkey for the three of us; I usually do a 12 to 14 pound bird instead. But it’s what I was given, so I used it. Here it is after a three day dry brine. For Thanksgiving I usually do Alton Brown’s Good Eats whole roast turkey, but for Passover I like to change it up a little. I went ahead and butchered the bird into the leaping frog style, which barely fit on my three quarter sheet pan, and followed Alton Brown’s method for spatchcocked chicken for roasting. Here’s the bird right after I butchered it. The leaping frog style is much easier than spatchcocking, and you don’t lose the back bone. I made a garlic and herb compound butter I rubbed under the skin, brushed the skin with extra light olive oil (I decided next year I’ll also rub the skin with some lemon juice before applying the oil), and seasoned with fresh cracked black pepper, sweet paprika, granulated garlic, onion powder, and dill weed. Since I had dried brined the bird, I didn’t add any additional salt. Being Passover I couldn’t really use any premade rubs, due to potential ingredients which could be kitniyot, so basic seasoning it was. Roast for half an hour at 425 to start getting the skin crispy… …and then roast at 360 until a probe thermometer registers 161 degrees. Those pop up thermometers don’t pop up until the breast meat is a good 185 degrees, at which point for our taste it is bone dry. The turkey was sliced and served with homemade garlic mashed potatoes, homemade giblet gravy made via Chef Alex Guarnaschelli’s recipe which uses roasted onion and garlic that’s puréed to thicken rather than any type of starch so it’s perfect for Passover, honey and maple glazed with dill weed carrots, and the Sefardi charoses I made for the ritual portion as a replacement for cranberry sauce as it is made with dried fruit, including dried cranberries. Dessert that night was a noodle kugel that I made with kosher for Passover gluten free wide egg noodles and crumbled coconut macaroons in place of graham crackers for the topping. I was too busy preparing Seder on Sunday to stop for lunch, so I didn’t start doing any Pesadik (Passover) lunches until the first day Chol Hamoed (intermittent day) on Monday. That was a quick and easy childhood favorite: a gefilte fish sandwich on matzah: It consists of butter spread on matzah, a sprinkle of kosher salt, TempTee cream cheese, Passover prepared ground white horseradish, and sliced gefilte fish. Not the prettiest dish, being white on white on white. But it’s tasty! Monday night I went to see Jon wand The Band Geeks in downtown Seattle. I made the decision to get naked chicken wings and adopt a “don't ask, don’t tell” attitude towards what type of oil they were cooked in. Tuesday I made my grandma’s recipe for matzah meal rolls, and then used some of the turkey from second night Seder to make a sandwich. Since commercial mayonnaise tends to be made with soy oil and mustard, two items disallowed on Passover according to the tradition I follow, I made a cup of homemade mayonnaise and used that. The sandwich consisted of the matzah meal roll, mayonnaise, Sefardi charoses from Seder, turkey, and some warmed gravy from Seder. Tuesday night I think I just did a matzah board with butter and cream cheese for dinner. Lunch was pretty filling. I did make a cauliflower tabbouleh-style salad to refrigerate overnight to serve for dinner on Wednesday. Wednesday’s lunch was almost a repeat of Monday’s, although since I had the matzah meal rolls I made the gefilte fish sandwich on that instead of on matzah. I spent the day Wednesday making more sweets to see us through the rest of the holiday. Yerushalayim Chocolate, supposedly a Kosher for Passover version of Dubai Chocolate. I wasn’t happy with how they came out, but I have some changes in mind to implement for next year. Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons And Matzah Caramel Crunch Wednesday’s dinner was the rest of the matzah ball soup and the cauliflower tabbouleh made the day before. Thursday’s lunch was more of the cauliflower tabbouleh. Dinner last night was a turkey tetrazzini made with kosher for Passover gluten free fine egg noodles and diced carrots, as peas are considered kitniyot and are not allowed for Passover. No photo, but it came out pretty good. Today I started off by packing up the 10 cups of turkey left for the freezer. I usually package in two cup measure, but we had so much I went ahead and did three and a quarter cup measure for future casseroles. To be continued…
Gator Pam Posted April 18 Posted April 18 (edited) I then started a Passover adapted version of Joanna’s Sausage Kraut in the crockpot for tonight’s dinner. I forgot to show the apple and dried cranberries in the photo above, so I took this shot before combining. Well, at this point I’m being limited on uploads, so I guess to be continued later… Edited April 18 by Gator Pam Delete a repetitive merge. 1
wittenlover Posted April 19 Posted April 19 20 hours ago, Gator Pam said: Can anyone use some Torrid Cash? I received $350 in Torrid Cash I have no plans on spending. It has to be used by this Monday. Oof... As if last Sunday in my store wasn't wretched enough (we were supposed to close at 6 and be gone by 6:30 - last customers finally left store at 6:30 and we didn't clock out till after 8). I saw the email about the Torrid Cash "after party" going on this weekend and just wanted to punch a wall. smh LOL 1
Hubbalance Posted Sunday at 11:44 PM Posted Sunday at 11:44 PM I think I am out but Happy Easter anyway! 1
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