The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Gabe1]

He was so special. That's why I love dogs....so many personalities and so accepting of the flaws in human's. Best example of God's unconditioning love....

I WANT A DOG!!!!!!

AnyWho yeah Walt, the lab was awesome and he was pretty good with storms and fireworks but the Golden Retriever I was speaking of was Jethro Bodine. I had him and a female Golden at the same time before I had Walt. Jethro Bodine was MY dog. I rescued him from a loving family who couldn't care for him. He was living in a crate in the basement with his litter mate sister, they were 4 months old. The lady didn't know she was pregnant when they bought them and then she was confinded to bed for the duration and already had a toddler. So one person to the girl dog and I took the boy dog. It was a road trip to get them and he nicely sat in the back seat of my truck. Then there was an accident on the highway. We sat still for another hour waiting for cars to move again. We bonded. He seemed to love me for bringing him to a big yard that he could run in. He had his own crate, his own dog bowl and lots of walks. Wherever I went, Jethro went. If I told him to sit, come lay down, he did. Didn't have to train him he just wanted to follow me EVERYWHERE. But when I eventually let the girl Golden out in the yard he fell in love with her big time. He'd always nap right next to her. He really loved her, she on the other hand could careless about him, she was all about following my DD everywhere DD went and even slept outside her door. Golden girl and my DD were 2 months apart in age, babies together.

Someday I'll tell you about my first born, my Shepard.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

As promised...

The finished CAD preliminary floor plans from last week...sorry about the glare, I forgot to turn on the overhead fluorescent lights in my office... I prefer to work at the computer with just the natural light from my open window shades, and the natural light and a desk lamp over my drafting table, but, it was getting dark out when I took them...

Main floor, upper floor, and lower floor, respectively...

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And, a much more developed rendering of the monster house model...

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"Dusk" view...

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And, another huge one we did recently up in Lubbock, Texas, actually, that may, or may not, be more to some peoples liking...

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Awesome layout! That is a heck of a lot of bathrooms. Do you do basements in Texas? I see a third floor. Is that in an attic area or a basement? I like the exterior personally. My favorite is Craftsman style.

 

[donaldtoo]

Yeah, see if I had that much money, I don't think I'd spend it on a big huge house. I'd take some really nice trips to Disney and stay in Deluxe resorts and fly first class. I'd go to Italy, and Greece and all the places on my travel bucket list, and I'd buy copious amounts of books to read on the plane on these trips. I'd go visit my best friend because I miss her. Sure, I'd get a house, because this one is really small and we have very little storage. We have 3 bedrooms 1.5 bath...I'd want 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms and an attic for storage, but that's all I need. I'd get more enjoyment out of the money by traveling. But that's just me.

Yep, as I've posted before, we'd never need or want a home as large as the vast majority of homes our firm designs. Just not needed.
But, the vast majority of the clients CAN afford it all...the giant homes AND plenty of travel. Over and over again, in fact. One recent design I worked on, the clients live here for 6 mos. and then 6 mos. in Hawaii, not to mention a lot of travel on the side.
Believe me, again, I've been doing this for decades, and the amounts of money still blow my mind...

 

[Gabe1]

I went to 4 H camp. And across the lake was the boy's camp. I met my first boyfriend there. I was 14 years old. So long ago!

I spent my childhood through teen years in summer camps. Most were in Wisconsin. In my later teens I worked at one during the summer, I met a boy there too, a true summer camp and done---we lived no where near each other. He was fun, my Dad called him carrot top. No idea over the years what happened to him, pre FACEBOOK, pre TEXTING, pre SmartPhones.

 

[Gabe1]

Love your pictures and the squirrels...they are quirky and funny. We had squirrels the would go along the power line to our house (upside down) and jump into the bird feeder. I feed them for over 18 years, and after they left I got out the really good sunflower seeds and fed the cardinals and finch's. Then the bluebirds came along and ran everyone off, and when they left I went back out to feed the rest. We always had beautiful sunflowers until the squirrels, would cut off the tops and take it back to their nests. Did I say I love animals?

I can't explain it! I love squirrels. So fun.

We lost all of our crows and blue jays to West Nile. Both mean bird brains but those blue jays were beautiful. I kept finding dead ones all over my property. We didn't have crows in our trees so I was spared them. The crows last summer seemed to start to reincarnate, not amused. This years I've seen a couple of Blue Jays now. Wonder if they are flying here from elsewhere or if a few survived? Hmpf.

 

[donaldtoo]

Awesome layout! That is a heck of a lot of bathrooms. Do you do basements in Texas? I see a third floor. Is that in an attic area or a basement? I like the exterior personally. My favorite is Craftsman style.

Hahaaa...!
Yes, I almost posted rustic/craftsman/bungalow, but to me they are all kinda' similar, so I just went with rustic.
That is the lowest level, and the lot slopes about 10 ft. To that corner. If we do a "basement" here, we usually do what we call a "Texas Basement".They are usually a partial basement on a sloped lot. True, fully below ground, basements on flat lots are very uncommon here in the Central Texas Hill Country because of the prominent limestone, not far below topsoil.
But, as you can see, there is an optional basement area with a concrete retaining wall behind the Game/Media Room...!

 

[Gabe1]

Bring a note pad and make sure to burn the papers you don't like

^^^^
This!

 

[Gabe1]

Coming from humble beginnings...our house is now too much for me. For us, it's best to come into the world with little and go out of the world with little.

Humble in FLORIDA !!!!!!

 

[Gabe1]

Great idea. Hubby sees how stressed I am, so he is giving me some slack. I'm back to my margarita per day.

Amen Sister Friend! I'll buy ya some big, dark sunglasses so your Hubby doesn't catch on.

 

[Gabe1]

Hubby watches the tequila in the freezer. Maybe I need someone to deliver!

Oh No! Stop No! We love him but maybe a hobby or volunteering would help all that for him. My guess he wasn't your keeper until he retired? You are over 21 right?

I have a friend, her hubby opens her mail and her email. He even deletes emails he doesn't think she needs to waste time reading. This is year 3 of his retirement. Ladies tend to nest when having babies, seems some men nest when they retire and get underfoot.

 

[Gabe1]

People must have really enriching lives on the weekends. BECAUSE.....here on Monday I came home from work and after doing some private music instruction on the side....I come on to WDWMagic at 5PM and I have 27 ALERTS....27!
On the weekend the game forum is a ghost town. On the weekends I get hardly any alerts.
Yet when others are on here...I'm too busy at work Mon. - Fri.to post on the game thread 8:50AM -4PM.....but on the weekend I have a lot of free time.
Maybe some people can enjoy some game thread posts while at work. I have just 2 gigs of data with T Mobile....it's an affordable plan that I want to keep. Anyway.....I'm glad everyone has such busy weekends but sometimes I miss you guys.
*
THIS weekend is my daughter's Sweet 16th birthday.
THIS WEEKEND WE WILL have enriching lives also
*
We will spend time in Manhattan and even spend a night at a hotel in the Times Square region. My wife and daughter will enjoy going in MACY'S ....just days before the Thanksgiving parade passes by that same location.
I'm done rambling on now LOL

Awe. Sweet Sixteen! Awesome. I took my DD to WDW on her Sweet Sixteenth as she shares the same Birthday as Mickey Mouse.
Bonus was her brother had been inducted into the Disney College Program 3.5 months before that so we got to see him too and of course feed the ManChild too. Good Memories. Enjoy! And happy birthday to your DD, hope it is memorable.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Ah, stores. How I do not miss ye since I started doing 90% of my shopping online.

 

[Pixieish]

This sounds just like a novel that my 10 year old dd and I read for her schoolwork. Called “Sign of the Beaver”. Takes place in the 1700’s up in Maine. Great story. Sorry you had a rough bit of time in your childhood. What do people slways say? What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

Thanks! It was actually a great experience overall...not for the weak of heart, but a character builder, for sure. I was actually sort of proud that I was on my own (I had 2 room-mates, but none were family), and doing what I needed to do. It really helped ground me in a lot of ways, too.

 

[donaldtoo]

I LOVE this photo!!!

Winsor McKay's "Gertie the Trained Dinosaur" decked out for Chtistmas...!!!!!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I ended up going to the doctor because my migraines have been BAD lately. Especially after last week when I had a migraine starting Sunday and it didn't go away until Saturday night, it was time for a change.

So he put me on a preventative medication. I actually qualified because I've been getting migraines basically weekly for 1-3 days, and I have aura with them. So we shall see if this helps.

 

[donaldtoo]

Indeed, its never fun when you're the only one in charge of everything (from Design to deployment and maintenance)
I even do the support for normal members.

I still laugh at my cousin(who is a huge IT for a very important bank) who says that if I was in Texas, I would be earning at least 25k a month.
I unfortunately didn't have the privilege of being born in the same town and state

We found out about SonILs Facebook offer today. Crazy!!!!!
A raise that is pretty much off-the-charts, free healthcare (no salary contribution needed), free breakfasts and lunches on campus, no more weekend work, etc., etc., etc., etc....!!!!!!!
He starts Jan. 8th...!!!!!

 

[Gabe1]

Got Jarvis back from the car Dr
Goes into a different car Dr Wed

Oh No! He got sick while you crossed the pond. So sad, Jarvis missed you.

 

[Gabe1]

One can only hope

Yep. Amen.

 

[Gabe1]

Share?

Recipe or premade?

 

[Gabe1]

HAHA! I actually lived in a tee pee for six months when I was 19 (not by choice...we were so broke we couldn't afford crackers, lol)...we fished for dinner every night, I learned about Native American culture, taught myself to do beadwork, carved a bow and set of arrows from branches of an ash tree, learned to make the best beef jerky EVER...it was really pretty cool. (And taught this gal - who was originally a pretty high-maintenance teenaged girl - a thing or seven. ) We met so many amazing people from all over the world...good times!

Oh my. You need to read this novel if you have not since it is a favorite of many school districts for awhile already that is on our school districts reading list and have your kids read it too. Reads exactly like your life you are speaking of. Maybe your life?