In my own little world

[TikiSoo]

I am not comfortable providing specific location for several reasons. We are on the plains within a comfortable driving distance of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

sufficiently far that no one will drop by for coffee and chat.

I'd say if you're in the Midwest region near Iowa/Nebraska, you're in the MIDDLE of nowhere!

I grew up in rural areas only 30 minutes from large cities. When I bought my own home, all I could afford was in the City. An unforeseen perk was that EVERYONE would drop in unannounced for coffee & catch up visit because they were "in my neighborhood".

I love that & it still happens occasionally. Some relatives were in town for Thanksgiving & stopped in last Sunday-I was in the middle of working & covered in sawdust but so delighted to see them!

[Masha]

[...] you're in the MIDDLE of nowhere!

I grew up in rural areas only 30 minutes from large cities. When I bought my own home, all I could afford was in the City. An unforeseen perk was that EVERYONE would drop in unannounced for coffee & catch up visit because they were "in my neighborhood".

I love that & it still happens occasionally. Some relatives were in town for Thanksgiving & stopped in last Sunday-I was in the middle of working & covered in sawdust but so delighted to see them!

I have been told that the middle of nowhere is down the road and to the left. We are upwind and a bit to the west of there.

I grew up in a major port city. It was not polite to go to some person's home unannounced and expect to be invited inside. It was at all times that someone in the house who I did not know in advance would be there meant having to be on strict behaviour and to not talk of many family things even if they were a friend of mother or father.

My little Fuzzy was more rural and was raised in a town which was relatively small but served as trading center for a four-county area. I feel that I must state the he: 'was raised' there because I feel that he never truly: 'grew up' to any great extent. He says that going to some person's house unplanned was rude because it meant disturbing them at whatever work they were doing and such interruptions were never welcome.

We both are night-owls, have a tendency to compartmentalize our lives and fall slightly on the: 'introvert' side of the scale. It is also that we are both comfortable even when the shelves have not been dusted, the carpets vacuumed or the countertops polished within the last ten minutes. We are less comfortable with others seeing we do not live in a magazine-spread-photoshoot-ready environment.

All are welcome in our home if we know a few days in advance when you will arrive, if there is a purpose to your visit other than simply chatting and you are adept with the social clues telling you when it is time to leave.

[TikiSoo]

He says that going to some person's house unplanned was rude because it meant disturbing them at whatever work they were doing and such interruptions were never welcome.

And I agree with him 100%.
When my bf was living here, he was always angry with a random "pop in"-once he was watching TV in his underwear!
I otoh, am always fully dressed, although often look a mess uncoiffed & wearing work clothes.

Now that the downstairs of my house is my workshop, (where customers drop off/pick up art) people expect my house to have sawdust & paint smells. Who cares? I'm happy my drudgery is interrupted by friends/family dropping in. I just view my security camera and if I don't want to see anyone don't answer.

[Dargo]

[...] you're in the MIDDLE of nowhere!

I grew up in rural areas only 30 minutes from large cities. When I bought my own home, all I could afford was in the City. An unforeseen perk was that EVERYONE would drop in unannounced for coffee & catch up visit because they were "in my neighborhood".

I love that & it still happens occasionally. Some relatives were in town for Thanksgiving & stopped in last Sunday-I was in the middle of working & covered in sawdust but so delighted to see them!

I have been told that the middle of nowhere is down the road and to the left. We are upwind and a bit to the west of there.

Sorry ladies, but I beg to differ here. Neither of you are even close to identifying where "the middle of nowhere" is.

Ya see, I KNOW where that is. It's where the little unincorporated town consisting of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store, is located.

It's named "Hope, Arizona" and it sits in the northwestern section of the Sonoran Desert...the only place on earth where the iconic Saguaro cactus grow.

And as one drives through it along AZ Hwy-60, they'll see this sign telling them that they're now exiting what little there is of it...


(...oh, and if you might be wondering, no, there are no "springs" anywhere near it.."eternal" or NOT!...get IT?!.."Hope springs eternal"?!!!...sorry, couldn't resist...oh, and if you might NOW be wondering, nope, I had nothing at all to do with that sign up there!!!) LOL

[dianedebuda]

I grew up in rural areas only 30 minutes from large cities.

That's where I am/was.

It was not polite to go to some person's home unannounced and expect to be invited inside.

Same here.

Neither of you are even close to identifying where "the middle of nowhere" is. ... It's where the little unincorporated town consisting of one RV park, one gas station, one church, and one antique store, is located.

Maybe not the middle of nowhere here, but when we moved here in 1976, there were only a few more buildings than Hope. One stop sign in the center of town. That first Christmas we lived here (actually about 3-1/2 miles west of the town), they put up 3 - count them 3! - strings of lights across the main street.

Now I have 2 elementary, 1 middle and 1 high school within a mile or 2 of my place. A YMCA sports center, a fire station, gas station, CVS, and more pretty much across the street from me. And (gasp!) they're almost done building a McDonalds on my side of the road. Sure glad we built in the middle of our 13 acres & can't see the roads (and they can't see us either).

[laffite]

Balboa Park (San Diego)

[Masha]

I do not know who will benefit from this but it is a list which I have found invaluable:

[Detective Jim McLeod]

[jimimac71]

Google doesn't have to be in control of your searches.
I've been using DuckDuckGo for years.
Without Google's ads some websites would starve to death.
Changing your web browser's search engine is not difficult.
Eddy Arnold also recorded "Welcome to My World."

[Masha]

I am very nearly tempted to try this:

[Dargo]

♫ WHENNN...thaaa...Moon hits your eye like a big Meat-za Pie, THAT'S...umm...that's...ummm...

(...hmmm...ya know, I'm not sure WHAT that would be, come to think of it?!!!)

[jimimac71]

I am very nearly tempted to try this:

I’m don’t know how to boil water, but Mama does.
The vintage recipe looks good and I bet it’s good.
That’s Amore!

[Masha]

Per command to provide update on housework:

I am sorry to say that my work on the primary flower bed in November last was the last significant progress on any front.

We have simply been pulled in so many directions by various things that we have not had the time, cash or energy to do more than putter around the edges of the projects.

I have since the first of the year accumulated two-hundred-and-sixteen billable hours against performance requirements of one of my contracts. I need the money. I have calculated that my savings and ready cash have not been this low since I was in my twenties. My little Fuzzy constantly rails against our working at our time of life but I have seen the paperwork that he has more than three hundred hours since the first of the year. It is also that he is under doctors' orders that he avoid all stress and so should not be working on such things at all.

The weather turning so cold so fast disrupted my plans for outdoor work. I had finished one flower bed and meant to address what needed to be done to one of the tree stumps so that we can put in a second flower bed this year. The weather has prevented that except for a bit of puttering on the rare days when the weather is tolerable. My chainsaw and three extra chains are sitting on my desk at this moment waiting for me to find the Dremel and sharpen them all. It is disheartening work because each chain does not remain sharp for more than fifteen or twenty minutes because I am often dipping into dirt containing gravel and rocks.

A little more than half of the original stump is now down to ground level. That needs to go down at least six inches more. The remainder is mostly a full foot below ground level. That must be a minimum of two feet. There are four roots ranging from eleven inches to sixteen inches in diameter which radiate from the main stump area. These must all be removed to a depth of at least two feet. Two of them are only within the target area for approx. two feet but the other two may have to be removed from the full length of twelve feet.

I must cut deep grooves into the wood so that it can burn. It is very hard wood. Last year's work taught me that having it on fire for four hours consumes less than half-an-inch of the surface and blackens approx. an inch more. It reminded me also that natives in many cultures charred the tips of their spears to harden them. The tree stump is preternaturally hard to begin with and the fire strengthens what it does not destroy.

I am facing also the limitation that open burning is allowed here only in a small window in spring and one in fall. I must have all prepped and ready or wait until the end of the year. It is sad to say that extended forecast show few nice days before burn time.

My modified plan calls for concentrating on the area of the stump which will be beyond the flower bed and will be sodded only. I can then dig out and cut the roots throughout the summer. This does mean we will be able to plant only bulbs in the fall and the remainder of the bed will have to wait for next spring. This saddens me but I see no alternative.

Current status:
Most of the daffodils and crocus in the first bed came up during the spell of unseasonable warm weather. The crocus has bloomed but the daffodils are holding back. It was mid-April when they bloomed last year. I fear they will be stunted because of their premature appearance.

[Dargo]

Thanks for the update here, Masha.

You be careful while you're using that chainsaw, although I'm sure you already know to be, and are.

And speakin' o' which...I just found the following meme which you might like (and hopefully find funny), considering you're a cat person and all...

[TikiSoo]

One of my new favorite songs....the heavy rock opening leads to the best part-around 1:33 mark:



I can't hear a chain saw being used in the neighborhood without breaking out in a sleazy dance.