Subj : moving or not To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Tue Apr 28 2020 10:19:00 Hi Nancy! BM>> Was bright and sunny and hit 80ø here at the house -- went outside and BM>> did some more cleanup in the afternoon. A little after 7 p.m. things BM>> start to get interesting: warning sirens go off. My window up here BM>> faces South: nothing unusual. Check wUnderground: big colourful BM>> diagonal band to the northwest about the Cedar Rapids area, 90 miles BM>> from here. Hmmm! NB>> Sounds rather ominous... ;) And a good reason for the sirens... BM> Yes: they only go off if something serious in the area. Well, once a BM> false alarm when a trigger malfunction occurred. NB> Still, pretty good idea not to just ignore... ;) Right. 99.9% of the time there's something going on which needs to me monitored. We're supposed to have some 'potential for bad weather' late this afternoon. At this point for me it's just close the windows so the rain doesn't come in. BM>> About 8:15 the storm hits: winds are noticeable but not too bad, sounds BM>> like big raindrops, then the clunking starts: hail! Saw some which BM>> were pretty big: have one in the freezer which is about the size of a BM>> ping pong ball. Saving that one for Autumn when she's over later this BM>> morning. NB>> Was she impressed...? ;) That is a rather good-sized chunk of ice... BM> She admired it but said they had some bigger ones. What she did want BM> to do was rinse our hailstone off and eat it. Showed her the dirt and BM> said there was dirt inside and that squashed that idea. ...I guess BM> would be clean once rinsed but this hailstone had a bunch of dark BM> speckles. NB> Probably best not to ingest unless one was desperate for water... NB> and even then would probably be best to melt and then boil it... NB> ;) I wonder if she'd tried that on her parents with the hail NB> they got, and was also told not a good idea... ;) Probably - I'm not recalling. LIS she did want to eat the hail piece we kept in the freezer to show but was easily dissuaded, so either was another "no, don't eat the hail" agreeing with the no from home or just being shown the dirt was enough. BM>> Too early to go out to check for any damage; doesn't look like BM>> anything happened to the cars (no garage) when checked from looking BM>> out the windows. Also want to check for any damage to the roof and BM>> if any windows cracked. Hopefully not! NB>> I seem to remember a message later that indicated that your car did NB>> get some damage... did you have any other damage...? BM> Just some cracks and chips on the vinyl siding and a couple of rips in BM> the slider's screen. NB> Not too bad, then, considering the hailstorm itself.... Still have to do something about the screen replacement and chips in the siding...... NB>>> Actually, the powdered whole milk wasn't all that inexpensive... it NB>>> was more a way to keep milk as a shelf-stable staple, in particular NB>>> for baking and cooking... But the skim milk that my parents bought NB>>> was more an attempt to stretch the budget.... :) BM>> I remember growing up my Mother loved skim milk! To me was an odd BM>> light blue and tasted watered down. I don't recall anything about BM>> prices -- maybe because as delivered and all I had to do was go BM>> outside and get it out of the insulated metal box. NB>> Powdered skim milk was definitely less expensive... The bottled skim NB>> milk might have been a little less expensive (the cream skimmed off NB>> could be sold for a premium, after all...), but it might also have NB>> been close to the same price, delivered... I'd agree with your NB>> assessment... and would have as a child, as well.. :) BM> Costs and the concept of 'afford/not afford' never really occurred to BM> me back then, just sort of an "it costs money" idea and wasting was not BM> good. "Gimme-gimme-gimme" was definitely not allowed, though if I BM> wanted something and there was a valid reason plus I had earned it one BM> way or another (chores, being good, behaving and the like) I'd get it, BM> though I also remember rarely asking for anything. NB> Similar for me... as the oldest of 8 kids, I did have a concept NB> of things costing money, and of spending wisely and carefully.... NB> but didn't pay a lot of mind to exact costs... and knew better NB> than to ask for anything not a true need... which also meant I NB> didn't ask much... I'm an "only brat" (sort of a joke on being the opposite of brattish); just not my way to whine about wanting something (well, I'm quite sure my Mother could come up with a few examples!). Christmas and birthdays I'm a pain: "What do you want for ?" "Ah dunno..." "(Just like all the other askings.)" BM>>> And this just popped in: I remember something like "Tiger's Milk" which BM>>> was supposed to be more of a protein or some sort of supplement. As I BM>>> recall an 'odd' taste. I was probably pre- to early teen then. NB>>> Yes, I remember that too... probably was fortified with soy and other NB>>> proteins... not something I was impressed with either.... BM>> Maybe was something the adults bought to make up for the nutrients BM>> missing in the watered-down skim milk! NB>> I probably tasted it on my own, nothing that my parents would have NB>> bought, I'm sure... As I recall, it was rather pricey, too... Maybe NB>> a forerunner of today's sports drinks... ;) BM> It probably was! ...We need to get our memories going and update the BM> Wikipedia article: it says Tiger's Milk is a nutrition bar from the BM> 1960's, I'm remembering it or something in a rectangular box (like BM> cereal comes in) -- a powder added to milk. not really recalling water, BM> and I think occasionally orange juice but that made it taste 'off' and BM> gave a gritty texture. NB> It probably was originally the powder, and I wouldn't doubt they NB> might have then come out with a nutrition bar to make it more NB> convenient... Seems a logical evolution. The powder in milk (or any liquid) isn't as convenient as being able to acrry around a nutrition or now energy bar. NB> Shaklee (supplements) had a soy-based (IIRC) NB> protein powder supplement that I used for a while but then NB> decided I disliked it more than getting any benefit from it.... I've forgotten about Shaklee! ...If something doesn't taste all that good and the reason for taking it is semi-casual I'd stop taking it also. (And just to cover my rump, just because one person doesn't like the taste doesn't mean someone else won't.) NB>>> I don't think I'd add water to extend the mylks... just drink them in NB>>> smaller quantities.... BM>> Whichever ones I was buying back then, even the store brand, sort of BM>> had a slightly too-strong initial flavour ('uncut'). Not unpleasant. BM>> not oeverpowering, just noticeable. So the first pour or two (and I BM>> didn't use that much) was a treat because of the flavour; cut with BM>> water a couple of times to extend and save some money -- maybe got BM>> four or five extra cereal-for-breakfast out of it, which with my BM>> semi-randomness of what to have for breakfast would extend two or BM>> three weeks. NB>> I suppose, doing it just for your cereal would cover any weak/watered NB>> taste you'd get from doing that... cereals have a lot of taste NB>> themselves, usually.... BM> Not too much flavour from plain shredded wheat! Though I have munched BM> on the dry "little bales of hay" as I get kidded about and there is a BM> different taste when milk added. Never got in to the sweet cereals - BM> I don't like the coated shredded wheat. OTOH Corn Flakes taste bland BM> plus become a soggy mass so not really a fan of those either. OMG: I BM> _am_ a picky eater!!! NB> I grew up with plain shredded wheat, corn flakes, Cheerios, once NB> in a while raisin bran and the Chex cereals... nothing sugared... NB> oh, and wheat puffs and rice puffs... and various hot cereals NB> like oatmeal and Wheatena... I don't usually do breakfast NB> anymore... for a while was using cold cereal to munch on out of NB> the box, but don't now... once in a while still have oatmeal, NB> with raisins cooked into it and various toppings.... most a NB> holdover from childhood... ;) IIRC you also get up later which would tend to lessen the need for a breakfast to tide over until lunch. Or some people just aren't into a breakfast and don't need it. As for the 'besides cereals' some of them tasted like wallpaper paste to me: just bland no matter the topping or mix-ins. Oatmeal I like, preferably the flavoured kind, but not so much the insteat Cream and Berries type: too sweet. Rare times go out for breakfast I do go a little wild (and usually little to no lunch). BM>>> We did try various physical options, even to the point of stuffing BM>>> cotton in her ears and holding in place with earmuffs. I think that BM>>> lasted about four minutes! NB>>> That's longer than I would have thought it would last... BM>> She sort of knew what it was for, but the uncomfortableness BM>> or ticklishness or whatever finally got to her! NB>> OK. :) BM> She did look rather funny with earmuffs on! And she did try to keep BM> the cotton in her ears with the earmuffs holding -- maybe helped a BM> little which she knew but just couldn't stand it any more -- BM> shake-shake-shake! NB> Can't blame her much... :) No. can't. Probably between a lot more sensitive hearing, not understanding the fireworks noise, possibly even the compressions on her body as the sound waves struck.... ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Baby Boomers -- Then: Long hair. Now: Longing for hair. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .