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Post by kds on Dec 13, 2019 14:05:08 GMT
We got a fire pit as a wedding present, and put it outside when we moved into our new house two years ago. Well, we had the baby in December 2017, and all but ignored everything in the back yard. Unfortunately, the fire pit rusted. We've not tried to use it, but I think the rust is just cosmetic, and it's still usable.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 13, 2019 14:12:27 GMT
bellbottoms, I'm afraid the bird bath is beyond repair. I'll wait until spring and then go bird bath hunting! I get a kick out of watching the various birds that come around and go for a swim. I think they're funny.
I've had a hummingbird feeder for about five years now and I have yet to see a single hummingbird. I keep buying this red hummingbird nectar with no success. I'll have to change that up next year.
I like to put finch bird seed in my bird feeder. Finches are cute little birds. I get both orange ones and occasionally yellow ones.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 13, 2019 14:15:41 GMT
We got a fire pit as a wedding present, and put it outside when we moved into our new house two years ago. Well, we had the baby in December 2017, and all but ignored everything in the back yard. Unfortunately, the fire pit rusted. We've not tried to use it, but I think the rust is just cosmetic, and it's still usable. Fire pits are "in" right now. My sister and brother-in-law splurged and had this really nice brick fire pit built on their patio. I like fire pits but I know that I would rarely use it, so we don't have one.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 13, 2019 14:17:03 GMT
I think this was the second summer of the hummingbird feeder and I've seen precisely three hummingbirds. Two the first summer, one this past one.
We do get a lot of birds generally in the back yard, though. There's a lilac hedge between me and a neighbor on one side, and he's got a gigantic oak tree, and I've got a couple smaller evergreens. We get a TON of cardinals, plus blue jays, finches, and various others. (Not being really into birds, I don't know what they are. My dad is really into birds and is always asking me for details; my responses are underwhelming. "Uhh ... kinda brownish? Medium size? Sounds like ... a bird?")
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 13, 2019 14:17:53 GMT
We got a fire pit as a wedding present, and put it outside when we moved into our new house two years ago. Well, we had the baby in December 2017, and all but ignored everything in the back yard. Unfortunately, the fire pit rusted. We've not tried to use it, but I think the rust is just cosmetic, and it's still usable. Fire pits are "in" right now. My sister and brother-in-law splurged and had this really nice brick fire pit built on their patio. I like fire pits but I know that I would rarely use it, so we don't have one. We got an inexpensive, portable one. It's a nice compromise, as a couple of times a year, usually in fall, it's pleasant to sit on the patio in front of a fire. But realistically there are about 362 days a year it is unused.
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Post by kds on Dec 13, 2019 14:29:20 GMT
We got a fire pit as a wedding present, and put it outside when we moved into our new house two years ago. Well, we had the baby in December 2017, and all but ignored everything in the back yard. Unfortunately, the fire pit rusted. We've not tried to use it, but I think the rust is just cosmetic, and it's still usable. Fire pits are "in" right now. My sister and brother-in-law splurged and had this really nice brick fire pit built on their patio. I like fire pits but I know that I would rarely use it, so we don't have one. That's why we registered for a fairly cheap one. We used it quite a few times the fall before my son was born, but not once since.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Dec 24, 2019 14:14:05 GMT
I just wanted to take this moment to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas! Wherever you may be, whatever you may be doing and whomever you may be with, I hope it's a joyful time and that good memories are made. Cheers!
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 24, 2019 14:18:40 GMT
The sentiment is seconded. Merry Christmas (or happy holidays for whatever it is you celebrate), everyone. Enjoy the season and hopefully some time with your loved ones.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 24, 2019 14:31:45 GMT
Each year, I make a video (actually a slide show) of old family Christmas photos put to a Christmas music soundtrack. I then show the video on Christmas Day when the entire extended family is gathered together. It can actually get quite emotional.
Anyway, I was going through some of the old photos and noticed one from Christmas 1969. I am sitting next to the Christmas tree in my pajamas on Christmas morning, displaying a special Christmas gift - my first transistor radio! It was a small General Electric model, grayish blue, and was only about 5 inches by 3 inches. But I loved that radio, and it opened up a whole new world. In the daytime, I would listen to several of the local AM radio stations. At about 6:00 PM, those stations would actually sign off or reduce their power, making them inaudible. Then, at night, I would discover faraway AM stations like WLS in Chicago or WABC in New York. It was an exciting time - 1970 - to be a young music fan.
I also remember, in the summertime, going to bed and listening to Phillies' games on that radio. Back in those days, baseball games, with few exceptions, were only televised on weekends, and usually only on Sunday afternoons, certainly not every night. You had to be careful, though, to make sure that you turned off the transistor radio before falling asleep or you risked waking up to a dead battery!
Great memories as I celebrate the 50th anniversary of receiving my first transistor radio!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 24, 2019 14:37:21 GMT
As I was typing the above post, bellbottoms and Kapitan made their posts, so I want to join them in wishing everyone a Happy Christmas!
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Post by jk on Dec 24, 2019 21:57:45 GMT
Merry Christmas to you, bb, and to the more familiar Sheriff (thanks for the kind words in the Shoutbox) and Cap'n. And of course to everyone else here. For me it's been a great end to a rollercoaster of a year. And it's great to find myself back here--who would have thought it? Onward and upward to 2020!
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 25, 2019 0:02:41 GMT
When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was pretty big. I liked it more than Christmas Day. Part of it was the magic of colored lights on a dark, cold night. However pretty white snow might be under the sunlight of Christmas Day, it can’t compete with tiny bulbs spanning the spectrum in the blue-black night of winter.
We would be coming home from the church Christmas pageant. Details varied, but you could assume we kids would be reading familiar verses, possibly with dishtowel turbans signifying how the Orient Are our Three Kings. Sometimes (when we were getting older) my three brothers and I were trotted out as a little Lutheran quartet to sing “O Holy Night” or something.
The highlight, though—what made Christmas Eve special—wasn’t the monotone readings or bad costumes. It was the procession out. See, we kids would march down the center aisle and turn left out of the sanctuary, at which point we were each handed a paper lunch bag.
These bags … they were what we waited all year for. There was the good—miniature candy bars—and the bad—an apple, an orange—and the transcendent: popcorn balls. These popcorn balls were homemade by Emma Sch——r, someone’s grandma who knew to use real butter and add gumdrops.
What else? Who cares! Yeah, we go home. There’s cinnamon-spiked hot apple cider or hot chocolate. Maybe peppermint ice cream. And every year, we’re allowed to open at least one present. Those bags are Christmas Eve in my memory, and I prefer Christmas Eve memories to those of Christmas Days.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 25, 2019 1:53:05 GMT
When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was pretty big. I liked it more than Christmas Day. Part of it was the magic of colored lights on a dark, cold night. However pretty white snow might be under the sunlight of Christmas Day, it can’t compete with tiny bulbs spanning the spectrum in the blue-black night of winter. We would be coming home from the church Christmas pageant. Details varied, but you could assume we kids would be reading familiar verses, possibly with dishtowel turbans signifying how the Orient Are our Three Kings. Sometimes (when we were getting older) my three brothers and I were trotted out as a little Lutheran quartet to sing “O Holy Night” or something. The highlight, though—what made Christmas Eve special—wasn’t the monotone readings or bad costumes. It was the procession out. See, we kids would march down the center aisle and turn left out of the sanctuary, at which point we were each handed a paper lunch bag. These bags … they were what we waited all year for. There was the good—miniature candy bars—and the bad—an apple, an orange—and the transcendent: popcorn balls. These popcorn balls were homemade by Emma Sch——r, someone’s grandma who knew to use real butter and add gumdrops. What else? Who cares! Yeah, we go home. There’s cinnamon-spiked hot apple cider or hot chocolate. Maybe peppermint ice cream. And every year, we’re allowed to open at least one present. Those bags are Christmas Eve in my memory, and I prefer Christmas Eve memories to those of Christmas Days. Special memories indeed...
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 28, 2019 18:50:26 GMT
It's surprisingly warm--about 35 degrees--which means it's intermittently sleeting and drizzling, and somehow feels colder than it would if it were 10 degrees colder and dry. Like an idiot, I decided to brave the highways to pick up a couple of things that frankly should and could have waited: so slick, so many accidents. It's worse than after a blizzard!
Anyway I'm not going anywhere the rest of the day. I think it's college football and assorted basketball in the comfort of the TV room from here on out.
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Post by kds on Dec 29, 2019 1:37:36 GMT
Between larger unhealthy meals, heavy seasonal beers, and cookies, I overdid it again this Christmas. As I near 40, eating bad and imbibing too often tends to flare up my acid reflux.
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