The Coffee House

MartinCrabtree · Dec 29, 2025

I'm sitting in the middle of a large forest listening to the 50 MPH wind gusts blow the trees around wondering about insurance.

smoke665 · Dec 30, 2025

Morning y'all! Well the beast is back here, 60 lows and mid 70s highs of the weekend, have turned to lows in the low 20s and highs in the high 30s.

No snow but the cold wind is wicked, like a knife cutting you.
My four day holiday from treatment was nice, but I was just getting over some side effects and had to start back yesterday. So like the weather here we go again.
Plan on starting another batch of fig wine in the fermentor and a few photo ideas I'd like to try, but my motivation is strangely AWOL. New Years eve/day will be a quite time at home for us. Staying warm, feet up in the recliner binge watching CFP Quarter finals.

cgw · Dec 30, 2025

Fig wine=wicked! Low-mid 20F+skin-paring winds+snow squalls. Welcome to S. Ontario! Winds off Lake Huron often result in near-record snow dumps. Still, a good snowblower and a husky kid with a shovel keep things clear! Early beer/booze top-up today; food tomorrow early before snow builds up. Did home-made(frau's term for it; mine is "artisanal")akvavit: vodka with steeped anise, coriander, dill, fennel, dried orange peel, cinnamon. Kept in the freezer after straining. Denounced as just an excuse to drink more beer. Guilty!
Commented elsewhere about photo doldrums.

terri · Dec 30, 2025

I've been sick since Christmas day.

Slapped down with the creeping crud: low-grade fever, sinus headache, rumbling tummy - whatever these germs are doing, they've been enjoying their stay. Of course the hubby got it next, and he's not the stoic type. :lol:

He gets annoyed when he gets sick. The nerve of those germs!

The winter weather gave us a snow squall yesterday and we watched it flying by horizontally, the wind was so strong.

Today we're both marginally better and the sun peeked out a bit. Bitter cold for the rest of the week, too - cold ending and cold beginning to the change in the calendar!

Tomorrow I hope to be well enough to sit up and watch a ball drop somewhere - we'll see!

smoke665 · Dec 30, 2025

@terri I just saw this on FB.....thought it would give you a chuckle

cgw · Dec 30, 2025

smoke665 said:
@terri I just saw this on FB.....thought it would give you a chuckle
View attachment 293359

Utterly consistent with the current zeitgeist...

cgw · Dec 30, 2025

terri said:
I've been sick since Christmas day. Slapped down with the creeping crud: low-grade fever, sinus headache, rumbling tummy - whatever these germs are doing, they've been enjoying their stay. Of course the hubby got it next, and he's not the stoic type. He gets annoyed when he gets sick. The nerve of those germs!

The winter weather gave us a snow squall yesterday and we watched it flying by horizontally, the wind was so strong.

Today we're both marginally better and the sun peeked out a bit. Bitter cold for the rest of the week, too - cold ending and cold beginning to the change in the calendar!

Tomorrow I hope to be well enough to sit up and watch a ball drop somewhere - we'll see!

Feel your pain. We got sucker-punched by RSV last Xmas. Barked like trained seals for a week. No herring treats, though. Get better soon!

jeffashman · Dec 30, 2025

Howdy Folks! We've been having our bit of fun, North Texas style. The temps dropped on the weekend from 85F/30C to 35F/1.6C like they saw a Texas DPS Trooper up ahead... Starting tomorrow we will be back in the mid to upper 60's for about a week I guess.

Got lazy on Monday when we found a box of hamburger helper our youngest left behind... 1 lb ground beef, Hamburger Helper, and a bag of frozen peas equals the laziest dinner short of pulling a TV dinner from the freezer. No, we don't have any of those. lol.

Some folks at work must not have gotten the word they were supposed to take this week off, and I've been busier during this supposedly quiet week than I have been in a while. Oh well, guess they've got to get those end-of-year requirements met.

One more work day then a day off, and then back to work for what should be a quiet day... unless more last minute requirements are levied.

cgw · Dec 30, 2025

OK, it's year-end awkward question time, y'all...How to make TPF better in 2026? What we need more/less of for next year?

snowbear · Dec 30, 2025

Sorry, Terri. My father was a baby when he got sick. I try to be the opposite and not ask for anything unless I legitimately can't get it myself. I usually want to be left alone.

I'm still having minor pain on right side from tendonitis and rotator cuff. I slid down the steps outside yesterday. It looked pretty funny on the Ring camera. Luckily it's only three steps so the worst that happened was getting a soaked @$$ from the ice melt. Ten minutes laying down and I was fine.

SquarePeg · Dec 31, 2025

jeffashman said:
Howdy Folks! We've been having our bit of fun, North Texas style. The temps dropped on the weekend from 85F/30C to 35F/1.6C like they saw a Texas DPS Trooper up ahead... Starting tomorrow we will be back in the mid to upper 60's for about a week I guess.

Got lazy on Monday when we found a box of hamburger helper our youngest left behind... 1 lb ground beef, Hamburger Helper, and a bag of frozen peas equals the laziest dinner short of pulling a TV dinner from the freezer. No, we don't have any of those. lol.

Some folks at work must not have gotten the word they were supposed to take this week off, and I've been busier during this supposedly quiet week than I have been in a while. Oh well, guess they've got to get those end-of-year requirements met.

One more work day then a day off, and then back to work for what should be a quiet day... unless more last minute requirements are levied.

My laziy dinner plan is always pasta with butter, garlic paste and parmesan cheese.

smoke665 · Dec 31, 2025

snowbear said:
slid down the steps outside yesterday.

Yikes! Glad you only hurt your pride. The older you get the less you bounce and the more you break. I'm having to learn to be more cautious as I've taken a few spills of late.

snowbear · Dec 31, 2025

smoke665 said:
Yikes! Glad you only hurt your pride. The older you get the less you bounce and the more you break. I'm having to learn to be more cautious as I've taken a few spills of late.

Don't I know it. MLW still has a bruise from a fall she took on Thanksgiving. I noticed some muscular pain in my chest and back, yesterday evening, that I'm guessing is from the fall. I probablt chenched, going down.

It's going to be warm today: 26 F / -3.3 C. Right now irs 14 / -12. Chance of snow flurries tomorrow and Wednesday with little accumulation both days. Today's adventure is grocery shopping and a stop by the town public works department and see if they still have any sand available. They allow two buckets per husehold; I got a couple buckets but then the snows hit before I could get there.