Absolutely Anything Else

Happy Christmas Everyone!

fluffy2560 wrote:

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Same to you and all

2021 predictions from Baba Venga....the summary (not all of it good, some of it could be true now):

Humanity will get rid of cancer.  The day will come when cancer will get tied with iron chains.

President Donald Trump will from a "mysterious disease" - 45th POTUS will become sick with a "mysterious disease that will leave him deaf and cause brain trauma".

Petrol production will stop, and the Earth will rest - “trains will “fly” by using sunlight.

Europe's economy will fall

An assassination attempt will be carried out against President Vladimir Putin by someone within his own country

Islamic extremists will stage an attack in Europe.

Extremists will use an arsenal of chemical weapons against Europeans.

The world will suffer from a lot of cataclysms and great disasters.

The consciousness of people will change.

Difficult times will come. People will be divided by their faith.

Devastating events that will change the fate and destiny of humanity.

A dragon will take over the planet - a strong dragon will seize humanity.

The three giants will unite. Some people will have red money.

The numbers 100, 5, and many zeros significant.

So that's all positive then for 2021.  An improvement on 2020. I was looking forward to something else coming along to just add a bit more to the aire of direness:

Current:
a) COVID19
b) Brexit

Options:
c) Alien invasion
d) Zombie apocalypse

If Aliens did land then we could blame everything on them!

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

If Aliens did land then we could blame everything on them!

Are you sure you've never worked in politics Marilyn? 

I was detecting a policy of never letting a good alien invasion go to waste.

I am not sure which I prefer - Aliens  or Zombies.  Assuming equal flesh eating capabilities or desires I suppose Aliens are unknown quantities but Zombies are more local. 

OK, they are Zombies but they're our Zombies.

Stop Press:

There are apparently news reports of an earthquake in Croatia - over 6 on the Richter scale.

People in buildings in Budapest felt it.   I didn't feel anything.

Link to video and reports.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Stop Press:

There are apparently news reports of an earthquake in Croatia - over 6 on the Richter scale.

People in buildings in Budapest felt it.   I didn't feel anything.

Link to video and reports.

I'd like to say Happy New Year to all but instead will just say Good luck for 2021.
I didn't feel that earthquake at all but then again growing up in S Ca. we never mentioned earthquakes unless they tossed you out of bed.
We put up a new brick wall in S. Ca and reinforced 2 other brick walls with metal rods for earthquakes.Re did the concrete all around our home and pool because of old cracks from earth movements.We moved away but heard the walls came down in parts anyways with the Northridge quake. I mentioned in the past to my husband that we are goners here in Budapest in these old brick buildings if we ever get a large quake...Hate to think about it they are scary. We sometimes just got up in the middle of the night and stood half asleep holding onto the doorway for protection, just went right back to sleep after it was over with, So routine to shake rattle and roll in Ca.
They are upsetting if you've never experienced one before.
We had earthquake insurnace on our home, I wonder how much a policy would cost these days, maybe they don't even sell them any longer?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I'd like to say Happy New Year to all but instead will just say Good luck for 2021.
I didn't feel that earthquake at all but then again growing up in S Ca. we never mentioned earthquakes unless they tossed you out of bed.
We put up a new brick wall in S. Ca and reinforced 2 other brick walls with metal rods for earthquakes.Re did the concrete all around our home and pool because of old cracks from earth movements.We moved away but heard the walls came down in parts anyways with the Northridge quake. I mentioned in the past to my husband that we are goners here in Budapest in these old brick buildings if we ever get a large quake...Hate to think about it they are scary. We sometimes just got up in the middle of the night and stood half asleep holding onto the doorway for protection, just went right back to sleep after it was over with, So routine to shake rattle and roll in Ca.
They are upsetting if you've never experienced one before.
We had earthquake insurnace on our home, I wonder how much a policy would cost these days, maybe they don't even sell them any longer?

I remember that Northridge quake being on the news. I specifically remember seeing a hotel or apartment block that had lost a couple of floors. 

Kind of morbid fascination and maybe a few years before I'd seen the disaster movie Earthquake with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner.  I think Ava Gardner falls out of a window - I don't think she was popular on set so was she pushed or did she fall?

That Croatia quake killed about 6 people. Not a nice thing. I have been in a couple of quakes in FRY (Former Republic of Yugoslavia).  Coming from the UK, we never experienced these things so found it disconcerting to say the least.   Our grip on the surface is somewhat tenuous giving all the things going on below our feet.

We see cracks in parts of our house.  The insurers said it was settlement. One of our windows was cracked and so we claimed for that. Makes one wonder what the builders did wrong, if anything. I've noticed things have moved a bit here and there.  Nothing that some gooey filler and a bit of paint cannot fix. 

Mrs Fluffy have been wondering about upping our insurance recently but we've found out there's a cap on the value in the area and we cannot get more coverage.  I'm not too happy about that.  Apparently they look at house prices and use that as a model.   

Insurance is a strange thing - people think it's a waste of money until they need it.  We pass a house about  500m away that has a burnt out roof.  They didn't have insurance so that's bad news for them but I can see they are still living in the lower floors.   Same for another one nearby but in that case, I think one of the people's kids (like 11 or 12) who was mentally disturbed set fire to the house and killed the other kid (about 8) who was sleeping upstairs.  What can one do in those kinds of circumstances?

Today is the first real work day.  The dog will be in shock.  No more endless Xmas lockdown COVID19 walks for the fluffymeister kutya.    Kids are all back in school - half the teachers are missing.

Heard it may snow this Wed. in Budapest, doubt it though.

I remember waking up during the Sylmar earthquake in S. Ca. in the early 1970's. I was mad, I thought I was being pranked by one of my siblings because my bed was moving across the room.We had a swing light in the livingroom that hung from the ceiling. Very 1970's style light.
It almost hit the ceiling during the quake.
When we had already bought our house in Ca. my husband went under in the crawl space, he was shocked it passed inspection before purchase. He couldn't figure out how it was still standing, so many cracks in the foundation.Guess it was good enough to pass or the inspector just didn't want to crawl down underground that far and just passed it.
House was built in 1956 and was built solid for the times, a real middle class sub house that was standard for middle income in the 1950's. When we bought it was all long timers living there or upperclass, prices had gotten high even for the mid 1980's. Had a Rabbi move in next dor just befre we moved away.An Iranian family across the st. and our behind neighbor who was only 28 years old bought our house and owned another one in the neighborhood. 3 homes in all and he was an immigrant from the middle east and worked in food prep fr the airlines. HIs father walked to the bus every morning for work so it looked like they knew where to invest and not waste a penny.My husband said he wished him luck having 3 homes in the same area, just in case they all toppled over one day.I remember he said the area was perfect for investment and that in the future China would be owning all of S. Ca. No sure where this guy got his info but it seems he was correct.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Heard it may snow this Wed. in Budapest, doubt it though.

I remember waking up during the Sylmar earthquake in S. Ca. in the early 1970's. I was mad, I thought I was being pranked by one of my siblings because my bed was moving across the room.We had a swing light in the livingroom that hung from the ceiling. Very 1970's style light.
It almost hit the ceiling during the quake.....My husband said he wished him luck having 3 homes in the same area, just in case they all toppled over one day.I remember he said the area was perfect for investment and that in the future China would be owning all of S. Ca. No sure where this guy got his info but it seems he was correct.

Mrs Fluffy remembers being in a quake here.  Light was swinging the same.  When it happened to me, it felt like someone lifted up my chair and put it down again. I wasn't sure if I'd really felt it or not.  Only when others said something, I got nervous. Everyone rushed outside but that was a bit strange because the street had high buildings and a bit of a risk of flying debris.   We didn't have any aftershocks but I wasn't very happy as I was staying in a high rise hotel and those quakes always come at like 3am, just when everyone is in bed - well, anyone who is avoiding turning into a pumpkin.

Sounds like your neighbour was creating a little empire with his 3 homes.  It's a good thing to own land as they aren't making any more of it. Ok, slightly untrue as they can reclaim from the sea but better have some anti-global warming sea level rise walls. 

Here of course many Hungarians own property in some form.  The Mrs Fluffy family have various properties but if one looks at it, it's really complicated with a share here and a share there, and of course trying to get an agreement between the owners is useless.  Earlier relatives had left houses to their grandkids and caused a massive screw up.  Grandparents thought they were being nice but didn't take into account loopy relatives.   Now it only takes one owner-nutter to screw it up. 

Ever since I've been with Mrs Fluffy it's been a discussion point.  And it gets worse.  As the older ones die off, new owners (the children or partners of the deceased) come in diluting it all further.  There are all sorts of mini-family feuds going on.  And some of the owners are keen to sell but cannot get anyone to agree.  We've come to the realise that it's just not worth engaging on it.  It's an absolutely useless asset.

Strangely enough, we've noticed a sudden increase in older Chinese folks here in the area.  Don't know why but I keep seeing them walking around, in cars and I think one lot own a nearby ABC and possibly a restaurant.  All good if they sell decent stuff - we went to Dunapanda on Sunday to get  Thai cooking supplies but we decided we wouldn't go again as they didn't have any emergency Cayenne Pepper.

Says rain and cold during the week with minus temperatures.  Was pretty windy yesterday.

Insurance is an interesting remark, I think for certain items it really should be obtainted (car and house), having said that I have my own company and was insured for liability, then I indicated an additional client and they just told me that the insurance was invalid after all (for 3 years running). I did not go to court (perhaps I should have).
With home insurance I do have it and chimney inspector was there last year, still I am very worried. (should we have this or that, ...)

Having said that home insurance and car insurance is cheap (relatively in Hungary)
Conceptually I do not like insurance too much, but they give a bit of peace of mind.
You pay a lot in the end for staff, infrastructure and profit.

cdw057 wrote:

Insurance is an interesting remark, I think for certain items it really should be obtainted (car and house), having said that I have my own company and was insured for liability, then I indicated an additional client and they just told me that the insurance was invalid after all (for 3 years running). I did not go to court (perhaps I should have).
With home insurance I do have it and chimney inspector was there last year, still I am very worried. (should we have this or that, ...)

Having said that home insurance and car insurance is cheap (relatively in Hungary)
Conceptually I do not like insurance too much, but they give a bit of peace of mind.
You pay a lot in the end for staff, infrastructure and profit.

Ah, insurance requirements border on insanity sometimes.  Public liability is a necessity usually - just a fact of life.

Usually if I see a project contract with $X millions of liability insurance,  I tell people to reduce liability to the value of the contract.  Otherwise could be unlimited risks.  There's one thing I kept seeing is being jointly insured - i.e. the client and the supplier are jointly named in the insurance.   The idea is to stop them suing each other in court over insurance claims.  To me, it doesn't work as the cost can prohibitive and any costs are going to be built into the price so the client pays anyway.  But big organisations have one size fits all approach.  Not workable.  Bit of a D'oh moment.

Car insurance is the one to worry about.   We are unable to insure my hobby car.  It costs more to insure it than it would be to replace it. Therefore no risks involved for the insurance company.  So we have the most basic insurance on it. 

On the other hand, other cars have the full "Casco" which I never understood what the hell that was.  In my own country, we call it "fully comprehensive" and maybe in the USA, it's called "all risks".   

I think our chimney is covered within the buildings insurance.   We also have contents insurance. I think our upper limit is too low.  I'd want "new for old" type policies and I reckon we're under insured by at least 20%.  Cost of replacement likely to be very high.

BTW, best insurance you can get is useless if you're dead - smoke alarms and CO detectors should be compulsory here but we know they aren't.

cdw057 wrote:

Insurance is an interesting remark, I think for certain items it really should be obtainted (car and house), having said that I have my own company and was insured for liability, then I indicated an additional client and they just told me that the insurance was invalid after all (for 3 years running). I did not go to court (perhaps I should have).
With home insurance I do have it and chimney inspector was there last year, still I am very worried. (should we have this or that, ...)

Having said that home insurance and car insurance is cheap (relatively in Hungary)
Conceptually I do not like insurance too much, but they give a bit of peace of mind.
You pay a lot in the end for staff, infrastructure and profit.

Yes, the auto insurance here is farirly cheap. We have a very basic plan since we don't drive often and out car is 31 years old and not worth full coverage on it.
I collected a few times in S.Ca with auto insurance when people hit me.Don't believe the insurance would pay much for personal injury claims though here.
My sisters long time boyfriend in S.Ca was an auto accident insurance ajuster.
He made a nice income with deals with auto body shops, scammer, maybe but it was legal robbery.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

cdw057 wrote:

Insurance is an interesting remark, I think for certain items it really should be obtainted (car and house), having said that I have my own company and was insured for liability, then I indicated an additional client and they just told me that the insurance was invalid after all (for 3 years running). I did not go to court (perhaps I should have).
With home insurance I do have it and chimney inspector was there last year, still I am very worried. (should we have this or that, ...)

Having said that home insurance and car insurance is cheap (relatively in Hungary)
Conceptually I do not like insurance too much, but they give a bit of peace of mind.
You pay a lot in the end for staff, infrastructure and profit.

Yes, the auto insurance here is farirly cheap. We have a very basic plan since we don't drive often and out car is 31 years old and not worth full coverage on it.
I collected a few times in S.Ca with auto insurance when people hit me.Don't believe the insurance would pay much for personal injury claims though here.
My sisters long time boyfriend in S.Ca was an auto accident insurance ajuster.
He made a nice income with deals with auto body shops, scammer, maybe but it was legal robbery.

We'd call that kind of insurance - basic coverage, "third party".  If someone hits you, then it's their fault and their insurance who pays (assuming they are insured anyway).  Have to think about theft and fire too on top of that.  I think we managed to get that level of cover for my hobby car.  Getting decent travel insurance is more or less impossible.

Since the virus, our car usage has plummeted to almost nothing.  I put in my car about 10K HUF of fuel and it lasts anywhere between 2 weeks and a month whereas it would last just a few days.  Furthest I've gone for months is to the gliding airport at Hármashatárhegy  for dog walking.

The furthest we go family wise is to school and back.  There's nowhere else to go as everything is shut.  We were just considering where we might go at the weekend for a day trip but we are having difficulty thinking of somewhere to go that would work in a COVID19 world. 

So far, we've considered places we've mostly been to:

Esztergom
Danube Bend
Szeged
Szentendre
Matra/Eger
Tatabánya Turul

But what would we do when we got there if everything is closed?!

Yes, we put in 10,000 in petrol a couple months ago and the tank is still half full!
We only use the car for short errands to Tesco, we walk almost everywhere else or use the public transport, that isn't very crowded now days either.
Been to most if not all the places on your list in the past.
We used to go when they had some sort of events happening at the same time. Just walking in  a strange city or town and heading home is a waste of petrol and a bit boring if everything is closed.
Years ago we always had a nice large meal in every place we went with me having a glass or two of wine.
For a few years now my husband hasn't enjoyed eating out at all so that part of our day trips is out. I will pack a snack or we might grab a slice of pizza somewhere.
I really do miss those local events in towns, seeing dancing and horse racing.
Got a haircut yesterday, first time in months that I bothered to even fix my face, had a cut with a mask on but I felt dressed up by fixing my face.
Realized that the first thing I am buying if and when we can ever go out without these mental masks on is a new tube of outrageous lipstick!
Hard to "doll up" when you smear your face with a mask on.
( First world problems!)
I rang up the US IRS a few days back, trying to get sme info for my lazy son.
Was only on hold for 2 hours.
The women was actually very nice but 2 hours?
I told my husband I was in direct contact with He** as I waited.

I really am looking forward to getting my eyes fixed one of these days.
I am thinking I may fall over in public one day soon, hard to see where the sidewalk starts and the road begins, it's weird, went downhill with the eye site really fast.
Might have to look into a private clinic if things drag out much longer.

I heard flights from the UK are back and running ,Didn't hear if there were any outgoing flights though.
One week we are all going to be on a ventilator and the next week it's party time again. It is confusing.
Heard that S. Australia is in a serious lckdown where people can not walk their pets or go out to exercise.
I'm am grateful Hungary hasn't lost it's mind , not yet anyways.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Yes, we put in 10,000 in petrol a couple months ago and the tank is still half full!
We only use the car for short errands to Tesco, we walk almost everywhere else or use the public transport, that isn't very crowded now days either.
Been to most if not all the places on your list in the past.
We used to go when they had some sort of events happening at the same time. Just walking in  a strange city or town and heading home is a waste of petrol and a bit boring if everything is closed.
Years ago we always had a nice large meal in every place we went with me having a glass or two of wine.
For a few years now my husband hasn't enjoyed eating out at all so that part of our day trips is out. I will pack a snack or we might grab a slice of pizza somewhere.
I really do miss those local events in towns, seeing dancing and horse racing.
Got a haircut yesterday, first time in months that I bothered to even fix my face, had a cut with a mask on but I felt dressed up by fixing my face.
Realized that the first thing I am buying if and when we can ever go out without these mental masks on is a new tube of outrageous lipstick!
Hard to "doll up" when you smear your face with a mask on.
( First world problems!)
I rang up the US IRS a few days back, trying to get sme info for my lazy son.
Was only on hold for 2 hours.
The women was actually very nice but 2 hours?
I told my husband I was in direct contact with He** as I waited.

I really am looking forward to getting my eyes fixed one of these days.
I am thinking I may fall over in public one day soon, hard to see where the sidewalk starts and the road begins, it's weird, went downhill with the eye site really fast.
Might have to look into a private clinic if things drag out much longer.

I heard flights from the UK are back and running ,Didn't hear if there were any outgoing flights though.
...
I'm am grateful Hungary hasn't lost it's mind , not yet anyways.

I've had to put my hobby car on the charger as it never goes anywhere far enough to truly charge the battery.  It's got a bit of a battery "leak" 3 weeks, it'll have a flat battery.  It's actually got two batteries - I can jump start myself.  I installed a system like on a boat (in fact, exactly as on a boat).  Boats can have starter batteries and house batteries.  So having the boat lights on will never run down the starter battery.  Bit critical on a boat and a flat battery is not what one wants when out on the water at the mercy of the weather.  Both charge off the engine when it's running.  But I can leave my charger on all the time as it's a "maintenance charger" and can be connected non-stop.

My MIL has cataracts and is actually becoming worse day by day.  She'll be unable to do anything soon.   She keeps trying new glasses but of course it does nothing.  Mrs Fluffy says her Mum cannot see properly to clean up so she goes twice a week to tidy up everything for her.  It must be very annoying.  My Mum had macular degeneration which is irreversible and her form was the kind that could be managed but it wasn't really helping by the time she passed. Couple that with deafness and that becomes a very isolated life. Be like Helen Keller (her story really made an impression on me - might watch the movie again).   Probably best to get eyes sorted here on the health service.  I presume everyone medical is busy though with COVID19.

Those places on my list we've been to multiple times.  We're getting a bit fed up being stuck at home. We're not used to it.  But where to go? Really need something to entertain us. I've given up on going anywhere outside the country.  Have to wait until the world comes back to some normality.

Our eldest here in HU has taken to dying hair and has red streaks and offered to dye my grey hair.  Mrs Fluffy has said that she's not in favour of that.  I don't know why, I didn't get a chance to be a bit of a punk when I was younger or whatever and with lockdown, no-one can see us except on video and I can turn off the camera.  Washes out anyway.   We must be really bored.
 
Maybe you could have just looked up stuff on the IRS online?  2h is crazy.  I suppose they are short on staff.  I think in the UK, they are now complaining there are not enough Border Force and Customs people to properly control the borders and no-one can get an answer about anything.  Perfect storm of reducing government, Brexit and COVID19. 

BTW,  Hungary is way down the vaccination points table.  So in one way, it has lost its mind.   The leader is Israel who have done about 13% of the population.  UK has done about 1.3M people and plans to do millions per month but other EU countries have done almost nothing.  France was particularly singled out for a real pathetic programme - their rate of vaccination is ludicrously low.    I don't think the Netherlands have even started. 

I don't think there's a lot of forward planning going on here or in the EU.  All the time they take messing about means more deaths.

My older sister got her first ,"jab"of the Madrena vax. Said her arm is sore and puffy.
She works in an old folks homepart-time and does in-house care for a older couple. Guess the guy wasn't too old, 78 but he broke his leg or hip while trying to care for his wife.
Now she has to run errands and such for the 2 of them.

Yes, the IRS was my idea to call up. My son is owed a ton of mney with his stimulus checks and his tax return., He just let it all slide, closed his US bank account and now has to run after his money.
He drives me crazy, he doesn't care a fig over it either. He said he was, "done" with the US and it looks like he means it.Still bugs me to know he worked everyday for years, over 25 years and never got any "freebies" from the US when I know so many slackers who are first in line for a handout. Sooner or later he will wake up, I hope.
One of my last school friends standing has a married grandson and he has children. She is a few months younger then I too. It's odd to think of my friends as a great-grandmother.
Her grandson's wife it seems has found her moment of fame.
Posted on FB a video of the local new 4 channel in N. Ca.
She is being hailed as the, "Singing Nurse" in a C-19 unit in a major hospital.About a 2 mins, news clip showing her at her desk, wearing her C-19 space suit and singing to the ill.
Her husband, my buddies grandson is a firefighter, such All American people.
My friend's father was a fireman too and their entire family is into public service.Great-great grandfather is still alive , guess in his early 90's now, active still driving. My friend has 120 acres of land and they built a family complex on the land and he has his own small cabin near everyone.
Sounds rather nice really.

We went to a chiropractor here last night. My husband never gets ajustments but he pinched a nerve and thought this would help. Will take a few weeks probably to relax his back.
It was weird though, the guys add on the internet stated he was not taking any new clients due to C-19.
He took my husband though.
Had a set up in his tiny flat, he is suppose to have another office but wh knows. A full of "Hippie Dippy" pictures and paintings and the new age trinkets all over. A  dog, the dog was sweet, I gt to pet him but still not what you'd expect in a doctors office setting.
The oddest part of that visit was the doctor.He shook our hands, no mask on and then gave us both a huge bear hug when we were leaving. OK, so no new clients but a bear hug? He was OK though, sort of an old school new ager.
We walked there as parking is getting in short supply around here. was not too far away. It was 7:50 when we got home, it was super quiet outside as we came home, like a ghost town.I'm weird though went with him for ,"protection" we never walk around in the dark, never know who will creep up behind you. I brought my cane ( to use as a club if needed) my spray can of pepper spray, a knife and a flashlight. My husband thinks I'm crazy, he may be right.
I also made him leave all his money at home except for the payment of his treatment.
i am not paranoid , just always ready for the worst to happen.
Will be interesting and hopefully nothing will happen with my sisters second dose of vax.

Bit coin is now $40,600!! We almost bought at the high of $9,500. You snooze you loose!!
I'm not sure what is going on but all that drama in Washington D.C. was like watching a bad movie.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

My older sister got her first ,"jab"of the Moderna vax. Said her arm is sore and puffy.
She works in an old folks homepart-time and does in-house care for a older couple. Guess the guy wasn't too old, 78 but he broke his leg or hip while trying to care for his wife.
Now she has to run errands and such for the 2 of them.

Yes, the IRS was my idea to call up. My son is owed a ton of mney with his stimulus checks and his tax return., He just let it all slide, closed his US bank account and now has to run after his money.
He drives me crazy, he doesn't care a fig over it either. He said he was, "done" with the US and it looks like he means it.Still bugs me to know he worked everyday for years, over 25 years and never got any "freebies" from the US when I know so many slackers who are first in line for a handout. Sooner or later he will wake up, I hope.
.....

We went to a chiropractor here last night. My husband never gets adjustments but he pinched a nerve and thought this would help. Will take a few weeks probably to relax his back.....

We walked there as parking is getting in short supply around here. was not too far away. It was 7:50 when we got home, it was super quiet outside as we came home, like a ghost town........

Bit coin is now $40,600!! We almost bought at the high of $9,500. You snooze you loose!!
I'm not sure what is going on but all that drama in Washington D.C. was like watching a bad movie.

Wow, pretty good your sister got the Moderna vaccine.  We see precious little vaccine injecting going on here.   We don't know anyone who has had any vaccine.

There was an article from an economist at the OECD who says it will be next year before anything much changes from life now, even with the vaccine.  Rest of the article wasn't that interesting - headline was all that was needed.  I reckon earliest things will get better would be about September 2021 and air travel might improve by about mid-2022.   I see news that the EU screwed up the ordering and delivery of vaccines too. 

I need a chiropractor!   My back has been dodgy for a year and was slowly getting better but I decided to empty my shed's guttering which meant twisting while climbing up a ladder.  I managed to clear about 75% of it before I had to stop.   It's all caused by my neighbour who needs to chop off the top 6m of his tree next to my fence and gutter.   When it sheds, all the leaves blow over, land in the gutter block up the pipes and pile up on our paths.  Maybe I've cleared the gutter enough that any remaining stuff will be washed out.    So job done at the expense of my back recovery.  We're a little bit annoyed with that neighbour and his giant trees next to our fence.  He has this giant fir tree which needs to lose about 10m.   All the cones end up in our vegetable patch.  I trim it as far as I can reach but  there's no way to get up  to the branches there more than about 3m.   I should send the neighbour a bill for my back injury. 

Out in the sticks here, it's dead anyway come about 20h and the curfew is in force.   Like a ghost town. All it needs is tumbleweed.    Anyway, it's so cold now - way below zero, perhaps -4 C.  Heavy frost but the amount of sunlight is increasing.  I can see the days are slightly longer and the birds are tweeting.  Today is supposed to be a dog walking day but I'm not very enthusiastic.  Rumour on the street (ok, weather site) is that it'll snow big time soon.

I get spammed on Bitcoin all the time.  Most of it gets caught by the virus checker and gets deleted immediately.   Never gets downloaded to my machine.   There's no reason for Bitcoin to be worth $40K.  It's a mania like tulip bulbs.  People will pile in there and suddenly it'll collapse and people will be thousands lighter and some others at the top of the pyramid will have new Ferraris.  Solid stuff like gold or property are better bets longer term.   

If your son is owed by the IRS, then it's his right to have it back - he might need that money sometime and need it more than the Feds.

Sorry about your back.
I've had back and neck issues for over 40 years, think that's why I am so into exercise. It helps to relieve that tightness.( Too many auto accidents, getting hit from behind)
Went to a chiropractor every week for years and years.When I cut hair in NM the onwer's son was a doctor and would do us hairdressers for almost nothing, $10, a visit!
In Las Vegas I had a good one who tk my work insurance but was only allowed a limited number of visits per year, think 15, he charged about $60 otherwise.
I use an inversion bar in the flat, hang upside down like a bat from my ankles, not an ajud=stment but does reverse gravity, not a miricle but helpful.
My husband never uses the bar, he probably would find it very drastic . Have an inversion table in Vegas in storage which is a lot more gentle too use for newbies to "Hangings".
The price listed with the guy my husband saw was 20,000 for the first visit, 7,500 after that and 5,500 for regulars.
He only charged us 8,000, maybe because he said to come back in 6 weeks?
He told us both to take more magnesium.1,000mg for my husband and 500mg for me. He said his next adjustment would hold longer if he took the mineral.
The doc didn't have a fancy set up,just a massage table and a chair,one of those massage type chairs. In the US they always had drop tables and traction tables.Much more ,"professional" of a set up.

I say the same about Bit coin , think we missed the boat on that one now. I hate to gamble with anything, one reason being a games dealer was a perfect job for me. I was never tempted to gamble after seeing how hard it was to  break even.
Nothing worst then a lazy neighbor.The young guy who bought our home lived right behind us. He was so lazy ( or frugal/cheap) that he allowed his lawn to dry out and his swimming pool was not filled, well he drained it after it turned green and the frogs arrived! Gross.
I was always the one to trim the common bushes between the homes. If I didn't do it, it would never get done.
We took pride in our house, changed the flowers every season outdoors and kept the lawn really green and triimed nice, put in the new brick wall to make it neat looking, new gate and painted the house outdoor and in.
My back would probably be broken now if I still had that house.
One day a women neighbor walked by my home while I was out working my dog. We chatted a bit then she asked me why my neighboor didn't keep up his hoome. She told me I shuld tell him to fix his lawan. Really, no way was I going to start a fight like that. Good thing he was behind us so we never really had to look at his house.
We visited the area years after we moved away. I almost cried, our house was turned into a rental and it was repainted in an ugly color and the lawn was patchy and dry.All that hard work we put in.
Guess it is best to not get emotional about material things.
Sun is out .,looks like a nice day to get out before it goes dark again.

Doesn't take long....no concept of "too soon"....the latest Lego set.....

fluffy2560 wrote:

Doesn't take long....no concept of "too soon"....the latest Lego set.....

[img align=C]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErNR4sgXMAY33i2?format=jpg&name=small[/url]

What a sad message to children. Forget being a firefighter, or doctor, be a rebel and have a riot.
World is truly going insane right now.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Doesn't take long....no concept of "too soon"....the latest Lego set.....

[img align=C]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErNR4sgXMAY33i2?format=jpg&name=small[/url]

What a sad message to children. Forget being a firefighter, or doctor, be a rebel and have a riot.
World is truly going insane right now.

It's not a serious thing.  Lego wouldn't be involved in something like that unless they are habouring fascist intentions.  But some DT supporters could well be taking it seriously and would like that Lego set for their kids.   Get them early and have them for life.

There might be some hidden messages in that picture - it says 10621 pieces but I'm wondering what that refers to?  I thought it might be an address or Zip code but 10621 is White Plains, NY.  No idea of the connection.   It's not the address of the Capitol building.

I'm not very surprised about the media reaction to the invasion.  It's all conspiracy theories and embellishment.   But it would only have taken a small hard core faction to take the building and it could have been classed as a coup (more accurately an insurrection or sedition).  A little bit more and it could have been like the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

Media pundits are saying GOP will split and there will be three parties.  That means the Republicans will never get in again but it could mean consensus politics emerging.

BTW, I'm watching the TV show The Stand (remake of the Stephen King story of the same name).   In that show a charismatic older woman leads humanity against an domineering,  cruel and malevolent supernatural entity in the midst of a virulent and fatal epidemic/plague.   Like deja-vu.

I sort of thought that Lego box wasn't real but  these are some odd times, anything goes.
I have huge boxes of Lego sets in my storage.
Have a few GI Joe dolls from the 1960's that belonged to my brother.
Wish I kept ahold of some of ur old toys.
My sister had tons of Beatle and 1960's objects. All the Beatles doolls,playing cards teen beat mags and even ticket stubs from concerts.
One day without telling them my mm just tossed them all in the trash can!
Oops.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I sort of thought that Lego box wasn't real but  these are some odd times, anything goes.
I have huge boxes of Lego sets in my storage.
Have a few GI Joe dolls from the 1960's that belonged to my brother.
Wish I kept ahold of some of ur old toys.
My sister had tons of Beatle and 1960's objects. All the Beatles doolls,playing cards teen beat mags and even ticket stubs from concerts.
One day without telling them my mm just tossed them all in the trash can!
Oops.

Tell me about old stuff.  When I was about 11, I had a complete set of a comic called TV21, I had meticulously collected over some years - maybe 100 of them in total. 

My Dad wanted a clean out and said either in the bin or somewhere else.  I was forced to sell my comics for a really low price to a comic shop.  It was that or in the trash which to me seemed criminal.  They were a treasured possession I had kept very carefully.   Never forgotten how upset I was about.    Probably worth about $100 each now I think.   

Your sister's Beatles stuff would have been worth a lot now.   But Mum's and Dad's don't think like that at the time but they should do!  Traumatic.

What the hell is going on in America?

SimCityAT wrote:

What the hell is going on in America?

I guess a lot of people are asking that.   

One "good" thing about it (if there can be a "good" thing) is that it's just mega rich source for media commentators, pundits, opinion makers and no doubt, soon enough Hollywood. 

I can see a movie within say a year called "The Truth about Trump" or "Trumpland" or "Mein Trumpf" some such thing.

I heard Mary Trump (DT's niece, a clinical psychologist) talking on LBC and I wanted to know the details about Donny's personality so I looked up malignant narcissist as Mary Trump calls him and I found a list of characteristics which just really says it all - click here.  The shoe really fits.

The world has got about 10 days now while DT can do a lot of damage.  I only hope the rest of the cabinet, military and what have you can keep a lid on it.   He's already "recognising" Taiwan and that's going to inflame the Chinese rather a lot.  Leaving a poison pill for Biden at any cost.   That South China Seas area is ripe to blow up any minute.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I heard Mary Trump (DT's niece, a clinical psychologist) talking on LBC and I wanted to know the details about Donny's personality so I looked up malignant narcissist as Mary Trump calls him and I found a list of characteristics which just really says it all - click here.  The shoe really fits.

I have her book and wow, such a good read. I do recommend it.

SimCityAT wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

I heard Mary Trump (DT's niece, a clinical psychologist) talking on LBC and I wanted to know the details about Donny's personality so I looked up malignant narcissist as Mary Trump calls him and I found a list of characteristics which just really says it all - click here.  The shoe really fits.

I have her book and wow, such a good read. I do recommend it.

I did wonder about buying it but I wondered if it was just more ranting about how bonkers El Donaldo really is.  Confirmation bias and echo chamber and all that.  We can see all that so it's not news.  The book will need an update once the Teflon Don is banged up for a stretch.   

I'm quite interested in objective diagnostics to know how this kind of lunatic is formed.  It seems from what I've read, the stars were aligned to make him into the malignant narcissist that he is.  Poor parenting for one -   I believe his father was a nasty piece of work and DT was created in his image as he was the most impressionable and vulnerable.   

Inevitably people are drawing parallels with Adolf Hitler but Godwin, discoverer of Godwin's law has said fairly recently that degenerating arguments comparing Trump to Hitler is OK.

BTW, I think he's going to be impeached so he cannot hold public office, he'll pardon himself anyway and leg it to Scotland.  Melania is going to divorce him by the end of the year.  He could try registering himself as a British citizen  - it's possible - but I can imagine the powers that be in the UK really struggling with that particular application.   

If he entered British politics, we'd all deserve to sink into the North Sea.  Imagine Donny  as PM with Nigel Farage is his advisor.  Ugh.....

Let's hope he is Impeached Will Donald Trump be impeached again?

SimCityAT wrote:

Let's hope he is Impeached Will Donald Trump be impeached again?

I don't reckon they'll go for it.  They need to pass it in the House of Representatives, then send it to the Senate for trial.  And Pence needs to support it.  McConnell is probably thinking he can save the Republican party.  It's obviously dead and buried or likely to split.  If it splits, they'll never get  in again.  He'll try and keep it together as a rump party.  Donny has already said he'll form a new party. 

One upside of impeachment is that Trump will be banned from public office.  But it's not his game plan anyway, as he'll be too old next time. He's going to push Ivanka into running as his proxy and cement his dynasty.   

His problem is Ivanka is a complete airhead - just watch interviews of her, she says nothing - but she's the only Donny offspring that's got potential. Her brothers have as many smarts as a box of rocks. 

For US people, they need to make sure anyone with the Trump genes is kept away from any political office.  They can never be trusted. Perhaps Mary Trump is the only one worth anything.

Ita heating up now https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/11/pence-gi … -13881452/

SimCityAT wrote:

Ita heating up now https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/11/pence-gi … -13881452/

Not really.  Looks to me like a lot of it is posturing. 

Pence isn't really in a difficult position. 

He only has to drag it out for a few days and the problem (Trump)  goes away.  And he survives to fight another day or retire gracefully by fence sitting.  He might even be remembered as holding the GOP together or at least, in being passive, not being divisive. 

He seems like a non-person with almost no personality or backbone of his own.    The fact that he spoke up for Biden and the handover is about as much as we've ever heard from him.   

Maybe he should resign to get himself out of the process and leave Trump to wallow in it. 

Pence is a religious nut anyway - with views that no-one should want as a "better" alternative to Teflon Donny. 

Maybe Pelosi gets to be President for a few days!

I really am going out of my mind, 3rd lockdown here which could end 6th February but pubs, restaurants and cafes will stay closed well into March. Oh so do miss a pint or a coffee at my local catching up with my town folk.

Well at least I have SKY television and Netflix but even that is getting boring. Roll on next month for The 6 Nations.

It could be worse, I could be in the UK dealing with the floods.



I wish the weather would warm up a bit then could go for long walks got no snow which is a bonus. I just don't fancy it in wet, damp weather.

SimCityAT wrote:

I really am going out of my mind, 3rd lockdown here which could end 6th February but pubs, restaurants and cafes will stay closed well into March. Oh so do miss a pint or a coffee at my local catching up with my town folk.

Well at least I have SKY television and Netflix but even that is getting boring. Roll on next month for The 6 Nations.

It could be worse, I could be in the UK dealing with the floods.

[img align=C]https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-2021-01-21-at-07.35.42.png[/url]

I wish the weather would warm up a bit then could go for long walks got no snow which is a bonus. I just don't fancy it in wet, damp weather.

You're not alone. I'm getting really fed up now.  I'm keen to go and see my 96 year old Dad back in Blighty.  Good news is he had the Pfizer jab yesterday.  But 96 years old, every day is a bonus.  He's not really ill or anything, just old.  Even if I just hang out with him, chat about the weather, drive him around here and there, it's good for me and him.   We also planned to go to the Canary Islands to learn some Spanish on a Spanish "taster" course.  Ain't gonna happen.

But really, no-one should be bored.  There's always stuff to do.  One has to invent stuff sometimes.

Outside, it's not bad here in HU.  We have 10 C now on the upside and the downside is that it's raining.  We've got a large'ish dog so that forces us out walking, even in the rain.  If it's raining it might stop the crowds.  Some places we've been walking are mobbed as no-one has anywhere else to go.

Maybe you need a hobby of some kind?  I have multiple things I'm doing to try and keep busy - work obviously takes up time but I find that difficult to care about it as it's all quite routine for me. 

I've also got an off road hobby car I just replaced parts on this morning and it needs to go to the jetwash after I drove it stupidly and too fast around some fields and got it really muddied up.

I'm also working on an outside on my roof weather station and associated weather cam.    The weather station is temporarily up and working but the weather cam I haven't put up because I haven't received the roof attachments I need to fix it permanently. Maybe Monday I can work on that if the weather is better.

I was doing a bit of garden tidying as well yesterday and today.  I only came in because of the rain.

I think I'm going to do the dinner today.  So there's that.

Some people have very odd niche hobbies. Friend of mine is a railway enthusiast.  I sent him a packet of old HU railway tickets that belonged to my FIL.   He was grateful to have them.  I never knew there was so much to know about railway tickets. He offered to swap me a platform ticket for Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch but I wouldn't feel it was legit unless I'd been there myself.  My BIL is also keen on railways and seems to know the UK timetable by heart.   

What I'd really like is someone very rich to sponsor me to do and look into anything I am interested in.  I keep thinking Elon Musk should send me say, $100M and I'll get going.  OK, I'll take $5M Elon, I'm not greedy.  I've got plenty of ideas on stuff to do.   

Oh and before I forget, we've got two kids at home.  I have to do the eldest one's homework regularly.  Mrs Fluffy does the other one's homework.   

My very eldest in the UK is fed up -  wants to go to Ikea to buy some furniture. But closed! Another sprog is living/working in NZ and the timezone difference for a chat is hopeless.

I don't mind the garden, but the snow we had stopped that, then we have rain.

I finished off installing a new shower and sink. I didn't like the tiles so covered them with a resin.

But we don't have a dog or kids

I am doing all the cooking anyway for a while as the misses was in hospital for 2 days after operation on her hand.

Oh some sad news today, Larry King has passed away at the age of 87 

SimCityAT wrote:

I don't mind the garden, but the snow we had stopped that, then we have rain.

I finished off installing a new shower and sink. I didn't like the tiles so covered them with a resin.

But we don't have a dog or kids

I am doing all the cooking anyway for a while as the misses was in hospital for 2 days after operation on her hand.

You could always borrow a dog.   We were test driving other people's dogs before we got ours.  And some of the dog-less neighbours come around with their kids and test drive our dog now.

Sorry to hear the Missus was in the Krankenhaus.  Bet she was well looked after.

SimCityAT wrote:

Oh some sad news today, Larry King has passed away at the age of 87 

Obviously he wasn't well.   

I'm sorry to say the only thing I really remember very distinctly about him was a purported story when some despicable people went through his rubbish bin, collected some men's incontinence pads and included them in an art exhibition.   

Pretty low stuff.