Right!!! I will have 16 stupid, scoliosis riddled Amish Paste tomatoes to scaffold. I have decided pumpkins are NOT going to be in the mix. I am making permanent trellises for my stupid tomatoes out of 1x1x8 wood with rope grid squares. Not cheap. Maybe with luck the dumb trellises will last 2 years before my alien tomato plants have trashed them! But I can't help myself. They made the best taco/salsa/chili/pasta sauce I have ever made. I am addicted to the ridiculous monsters.

Once you can get the court transcripts online, read them. The stunning level of inaction from these parents goes beyond just what was released as sound bites on the news. Their cell phones were dumped along with their son and the guy she was having an affair with. If you read all of it, you will come to the same conclusion as the jury. They didn't just neglect their kid. They didn't just fail to take him seriously. They literally admitted he was effed up and likely to kill someone and laughed it up. They bought him the gun knowing full well what he was probably going to do with it. The stuff they admitted to knowing and doing nothing about was beyond the pale. This was the case of a teen saying and being serious that he was going to kill someone if they did not get him help, a school that begged them to get him help (but should be charged with negligence and manslaughter for allowing him to go back to class instead of calling 911 and having medics with the permission of police to force him to be transported to the ER for altered mental status which was so effing apparent it staggered the imagination), and evil people who didn't give an eff if anyone died so long as they were not inconvienced, and then went on the lam because they KNEW they were guilty as sin. Children died, adults died, an entire community was shattered, and a generation of students have PTSD. They were 100% complicit, practically co conspirators in it. And all that mother wanted to do that morning was get back to her sex man/affair boy. Apparently it didn't occur to her that those text conversations would end up coming out nor that he would turn state's evidence on her and her husband. To quote Spiderman Uncle, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Don't want to accept the consequences for owning a gun and letting it fall into the hands of minors and mentally ill people? Don't freaking buy one!

I agree with you about pumpkins. I cannot get the stupid things to produce. I am not going to try again. 3 years of nothing.

What I do know is my mother in law, 2 years younger than fil, regretted working until 65 because he came down with cancer couple of months after she did retire. He died 2 years later. They had no retired time together, and it was exhausting going from full time work (she was a nursing professor and was often at work before 6 am during clinicals to work with the nursing staff on schedules for her students), to full time care giver with no down time in between. She had the opportunity to reiterate at 62 and lived to regret not doing it. So I vote if the finances align, retire and if you want, pick up side work whenever you want more money for something special. Mark is retiring in 5 years. I really want to get a full time job now to replace the fine arts job that went away during the shut down 2020 melt down. But he fears something similar. All of his male relatives have had some form of cancer by 67. He takes better care of himself than they did, and he gets a lot of screenings. However, genetics are genetics. So he prefers I not work at that point so we can do something things together before what he sees as his time bomb going off.

Mark projected the eclipse with our spotting scope onto white paper for our grandsons so they didn't have to spend so much time with their necks cranked looming up.

A hike to experience without crowds sounds wonderful! We rented a place in the mountains on a working ranch, but the home was WAY away from light sources. We have had lovely night sky viewing and a perfect day for the eclipse. Just us, our dd and son in law, and 3 grandkids. None of our other kids could get vacation from their jobs or time off from grad school. So not having them was a little sad. Still, it was very special.

I have a gardening magazine subscription and am get a facial once in a while that includes a really nice scalp and shoulder massage. I find it really helps me have fewer headaches.

The birds here became eerily silent, and a hawk landed about 50-75 ft from us and sat until totality was over.

Thanks! Good to know!

Dd said she got a "how to make your money work for you and build wealth" email one time from a rich, bank CEO which said everyone should stop buying 5 dollar coffee. She couldn't remember the last time she bought a coffee. Of course if one does it even once per week, $20 a month for 12 months is not exactly the bundle of money that will allow her to buy stocks and get rich. She was yelling at the screen, "Hey you entitled putz! Pay your damn emoyees enough money that they have some hope of being able to retire as a middle class citizen one day instead of facing the choice between affording their prescriptions or paying their electric bill!!" The entitled monied folk really need to get their heads out of their butts.

100%. My parents had the good dishes, the everyday dishes, the extra special once a year dishes. There were the tablecloths for each occasion and when money was flush they ate out with friends a lot while all the kids stayed home with the older teens and had pizzas which were ordered. We didn't that. I had one set of plain white dishes for everything and no tablecloths unless I thrift store found them or sewed them myself. But our kids went to Space Camp and had good quality music instruments. Our adult kids are frugal in so many area of life so that they fan save for experiences. Dd and hubby save to take their kids on field trips, special vacations. Our sons save so they can visit National Parks, pay cash for good used cars so they don't have car payments, and are currently saving to go to Denmark together to visit the area where their great great grandma and grandpa were from. My silent generation grandparents saved to travel frugally and for landscaping plants since gardens were a big deal to them. My other grandparents were very poor, but it was important to them to take their children on an annual adventure so no matter how tight money was, she would save pennies here and there and sell apples from their trees each fall so that in the summer, they could take their kids camping and fishing. A large tarp cast over rope tied between two trees, stake down on sides, a tarp to lay on with bedrolls, cooking simple meals over a fire, and usually eating a lot of fish. My mom and her aunt said these were the best times of their entire childhood. People have different priorities, and choose to enjoy and spend on different things. Diversity, the spice of life. That said, I am fairly certain my kids view home ownership as a non option. They also figure every dime they pay into SS is a goner to the generation before them so they are all packing it away for, as my middle son puts it, "The apocalyptic dystopia world burning future that awaits us in global warming and at a time when our bodies will be failing us. Maybe we will still be able to burn dollars for fuel in the winter." So ya. They aren't feeling much hope of any pleasant future so would like to make some good memories now.

Excellent cheeses High end cooking bourbon and wine Decent cuts of beef on the occasion that Mark wants a steak on the grill I cook a lot of gourmet type meals. But even with good ingredients we still pay far less per serving for those meals than we would if we ate them at a restaurant.

Apologizing to those you feel it is just a crappy thing to do to travel for it, and no big deal. Don't read further please. Our grandsons thought it was amazing. Mark used the spotting scope with a sun filter to project the eclipse on white paper so they could watch it without having to stare up for so long with their glasses. The animals here became very quiet, and a hawk landed maybe 50 ft away and just sat during totality. We got some nice pictures using ISO filter film for the lenses of our cell phones. We had a very remote location. We are at a ranch house in the mountains of NW Arkansas. We rolled in with all of our meals planned, every single thing we would need packed. We went into a quaint town the first day to seek our locally made items or farm market because we like to support local businesses when we do something like this. I scored some really nice lemon goat milk soap and bought several bars and some honey from a local lady, fresh milk, and some hand knit dish rags to take home. I love those things, but seem to be incapable of learning to knit. Play the Rach 2 Concerto? Sure, no worries. Make hands coordinate knitting needles? Totally beyond my brain ability. 🤣 We leave at 5:30 am tomorrow. Dd and family will leave around 9am. They only have to drive back Alabama and will be taking side roads in order to avoid Memphis. We will be using side roads nearly the whole way until we make it to I80 and pick I 94E into Michigan. Hopefully no traffic jams by avoiding the interstates.

This. Our adults kids keep a few bottles of nice beer, a bottle of wine, and selzer waters on hand because they never go to restaurants or pubs anymore. A splurge is a crappy Litrle Caesars Pizza because they are too tired to cook.

In the past 3 days we have gotten about 10 hours per day here at eclipse camp.

No one can go wrong with a runny egg on anything! I had a piece of leftover steak wamred up this morning and deposited an over easy egg on top of it. Divine.

It is a yummy paradise! I make all of my grits/polenta, and rice savory. So goat cheese or extra sharp cheddar is common and for polenta, garlic, basil, and onion. I am a big fan of savory. Sometimes instead of basil I use Rosemary just for a little different flavor profile. But goat cheese is just so darn melty that sometimes it is just the go to cheese.

I make it with butter and goat cheese which melts really well and has a nice tang.

Usborne Farmyard Tales

I don't know if you can find any new ones since they have been discontinued, but all our toddlers loved the Usborne farm series with the little ducks, a duckling hiding on each page. It was centered around farm life and a train that went through the village. Super cute stories and artwork. I wish I could remember the name. I will see if I can find out if they are available.

We are near Pangburn, AR outside of Heber Springs. The view is lovely. We have had really nice night sky viewing since we arrived but there is a prediction for partly cloudy tomorrow. Fingers crossed. We have the proper sun filters for our telescope lens which would allow us to watch the eclipse by scope IF the clouds clear. I am worried about the Tuesday trip home. We are leaving at 5:30 am and hoping for two things. 1. Some of the people started heading home after the eclipse tomorrow thus slightly less congestion. 2. That the sides roads I have found if the interstates are traffic jams will allow us to keep moving along. Mark needs to be at work Wednesday, thankfully remote so if we don't make it home, we can find hi speed and maybe a place quiet enough for him to work. But mostly, we really need to make it home. Our poor old dog is who is being well taken care of by my mom is getting rather depressed about how long we have been gone.

Eggs used to upset my daughter's stomach. Any kind of eggs. We finally figured out it was the white which is not unusual due to the albumin. She started separating the yolks and using only that to make scrambled eggs or to bake and was fine. Duck eggs can get you quite the rise with any recipe that calls for baking powder. Adjust accordingly. I have no idea why I have encountered it but wondered if it was higher fat or protein count affecting the result.

My oldest grandchildren, 8, was born premature and had feeding problems all the way until he was a year old. He is very picky, and doesn't handle things being presented differently. But he eats finger veggies and fruits, cheeses, rice, quinoa, whole wheat bread, salmon, and nuts so we are able to make charcuterie boards everyday and he happily grazes off them. His next youngest brother is a very good eater. The 1 year old so far is trying an liking numerous things. I feel for N. Sometimes he really wants to eat what others are eating and tries, but texture will often get him. Sometimes he gets upset because he feels weird. But we keep encouraging him and feeding him the healthy foods he will eat.

Why do I have this sneaking feeling that this thread is going to be a tragic number of pages😭🤯

Let me just say that as we see more and more people posting online their disappointment at not being able to find lodging last minute, I am so glad we booked ours 3 years ago. We had to message the Vrbo owners to see if they would agree to a booking that far out, and greased the skids by inviting them over on eclipse day for barbecue and viewing. They seem like great people! We have the guest house on their working farm. It is only 9:34am CST, and I am already tired of the packing. I am helping Dd get caught up on laundry, baking muffins to take, baking bread, making pasta salad for the picnic tomorrow, and turning the now washed muffin tins into charcuterie for the kids for tomorrow.Thankfully those little guys will eat off nuts, fruit, cucumber bites, carrots, and cheese all day every day so picnic will be easy. Then I have to run for a grocery order so we can take every single thing with us. The owners of the farm told us to fill up the cars right before we get there because their county and a couple neighboring ones are expecting to be out of gas by Monday, and the grocery stores have warned they cannot handle the influx of folks. When I get back from the grocery run, I have to make biscuits and put together the homemade pancake mix. Why did I think Papa Mark and Marmee Astronomy Camp was a good idea????? 😱