ottahand7

Good morning everyone! We had a beautiful drive yesterday and had an enjoyable road trip. It is 40 degrees now and 66 in the cabin again but we will open the windows when it warms up to the 80s today. Rain in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday. Thanks for the Daily reports @richwmn. I like Donald Duck. A wonderful quote by Lincoln. Pass on the salmon and the sweet drink and my guess the wine is from SA, if so not a favorite. I never could "get" their wines. @JazzyVThanks for compiling our Cares and Celebrations reports. Lots of things to keep track of for us on the Daily. Prayers for everyone needing them and the people of Ukraine. Have a wonderful Friday. Nancy Last night's wing dinner at our local restaurant - 40 minutes away.

@smitty34877 I am sorry about your husband's test results and needing more chemo. Praying for him and your family.

Good morning. We dodged the frost. It was 38 when I woke but 66 inside. I lit up the backup propane lamps because they throw a lot of heat to take the edge off. I had moved my tender plants I could next to the cabin but I never covered my Tithonia. Just when I was thinking about it yesterday afternoon Iooked out the window and there was first what I thought was a large dog in the driveway. That thought lasted all of one second. No shaggy looking dogs here, it was a Wolf. About 30' from my potting bench. As usual for a Wolf it was on the move, probably looking for fawns. No sign of deer in the yard at all this year. @OceanSounds Bon voyage! 🛳️🍾 Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports. Today's quote is a good one. Today's Ocean Day is appropriate for all of us cruise lovers. I look forward to photos of today's port. We will be there in 2025. Thanks Vanessa for the Cares and Celebrations reports! Prayers for all needing them and the people of Ukraine. We are off to town today. Since our boat isn't in and John has all his cabin work caught up, he is getting "cabin fever". A pretty drive through the country to Watersmeet, probably to Wisconsin lake country and back to a grocery store. Have a lovely day! Nancy

Who do you call? HA general phone line, your PCC or your travel agent? I have gotten them through my TA but now I work through HA.

Good morning! The heat wave is broken and it is 41 degrees. We have frost warnings for tonight. I'll have to figure out how to cover my Tithonia - Mexican Sunflowers that are now 12" tall and not sturdy. I think it will involve stakes and a sheet. @richwmn and @JazzyV thanks for the reports to start us off each day. Last VCR I had was a tape copier VCR which I sold on eBay while I was preparing for a lifetime move to Michigan. I have something almost as obsolete, an iPod. It works with my headphones but it will not communicate with my truck. Thankfully no need for today's "window shopping". @summer slope today's fruity drink looks like a great one on a BHB but I know I would drink it too fast. The tacos will probably be good but another unheard of wine. A lot of the Kiwi wines never make it to the US. Prayers for all on our Care list, Pope Francis and the people of Ukraine. Lots of gardening today. Have a lovely day. Nancy

@smitty34877 thanks for the picture of cutie Camilla. @JazzyV thank you for the Cares and Celebrations reports!

Good morning. We are having more cool weather and it was great doing my garden exercise in mid 70s with a strong breeze every few minutes. I got a lot done. More of the same with extreme fire danger today. Rich, thanks for the Daily Report. After seeing a moving tribute to the Point du Hoc Army Rangers on PBS I pulled Steven Ambrose's D-Day out of the bookcase and started reading it anew. We visited the battlefields in 2003 and Point du Hoc still had the massive craters created by the massive shelling. I think I will pass on the Fajitas and the Apple cocktail but I have had Dr. Thanisch Reisling before and it was excellent. Thanks for the Care and Celebrations list Eva. Prayers for all needing them and the people of Ukraine, especially the people suffering after the burst dam on the Dnipro River. Have a great day. Lots of gardening ahead for me trying to get ahead so I will be ready to fish when the road repairs happen. Have a wonderful Tuesday. Nancy My first Iris bloom and a frequent visitor in my garden.

@Seasick Sailor your first photo had one of my favorite waiters in Canaletto, Rika. We always take photos with our favorite staff members. We are Facebook friends with three men who took care of us, 2 waiters and Assistant Wine Steward, we had so much fun with them every day. I use the Navigator app a lot, good and bad. We had no Laphroaig whisky on the Volendam and I commented how can they advertise a specialty cocktail Penicillin in their list if they don't have it on board. The bartender said they substituted. Next leg of the cruise they had it onboard. Much of my praise on the Volendam GSA was for food service. We had some of the best food in the Lido and MDR as we have ever had on a ship. It is always a mix of personal recognition, Navigator recognition and tips. One comment above was the $11 recognition for the room Steward. It is not a pittance for the hard working people on ship. We gave our Lido waiter Eleanor a $10 tip during a long voyage and she was thrilled and said "A day's wages in my country". The more we cruise the more we choose to recognize the humanity of our crew rather than just employees we deal with and it has made our cruises more enjoyable.

The seafood soup was my husband's favorite and the carpaccio was mine. We ate there weekly on the Grand SA. We'll give the new menu a try.

Good morning everyone. An interesting group of days which only the environment is the only one I truly care about. The quote is very true IMHO. Total pass on the salmon and the cocktail but the wine sounds good. I have been to Nassau but not in recent history. Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. I look forward to everyone's photos of Nassau. Have a wonderful day! Nancy

@StLouisCruisers thinking of you on this sad day.

Good morning everyone. @Seasick Sailor Morbier is a favorite of mine too. I had it at a restaurant and had to order it by mail order. I don't recall our Wegmans stocking it either. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports. I miss my cats, one loved hugs the other didn't. I will pass on the scallops, withhold judgement on the cocktail and another rare wine I am fairly sure. Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. We got our badly needed rain yesterday. I had just planted marigolds and zinnia seeds and the rain started. It really cooled things off too. A few garden visitors yesterday and a volunteer Jack in the Pulpit next to my Hosta. Have a wonderful day! Nancy

@danogg thanks for starting this thread. We booked this in March when we we returned from the Grand South America. We love sea days. Thanks everyone for all the great information.

We have another couple of hot days ahead of us but it will cool off for next week. We got a little bit of rain Thursday but it appears the dry weather will continue. Our trip to town went well and our food was excellent but the fried fish for first meal of the day upset my stomach. I hope they get the road fixed soon because fishing is good when it is really hot and the bugs don't follow us out there. Have a wonderful Saturday. Nancy

@1ANGELCAT I am so sorry your black kitty failed to make it. I really feel for you with two going so quickly and the empty house feeling. @marshhawk I hope that you and your DH are beginning to feel better. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports @richwmn. On the quote sleeping late isn't going to make it go away unless it is a hangover. Total pass on the comestibles. Melon drink, high carbs and I bet another hard to find vino. Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. @Suslorand @aliaschief Bon voyage! 🍾🛳️

Good Friday morning! We are heading into town which is an all day activity. Post office, then the hour long drive to Iron Mountain. Walgreens, Walmart and Home Depot with long lists for the last two. We will stop for Friday fish fry on the long drive back into the woods. Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. Have a wonderful day. Nancy

I am sorry that Ninja is doing poorly. When I lost Tiny at age 17 her pal Lydia looked for her for weeks and laid near the stairs where Tiny's bed was. She never missed a meal though until her thyroid disease and kidney failure got her at age 19. 😿

Good morning. Another hot day expected here. We ran the lake pump yesterday and I used a hose attached to water what the sprinklers don't reach or super water the Japanese Iris and Astilbe. We got the wiring for the exterior Starlink done indoors. Neighbors arrived yesterday. Lots of walleye fishing in order for them. They are also going to work on smoothing the washed out road between us. Maybe a break in the heat on Sunday. Tomorrow is a trip to Iron Mountain for groceries and home maintenance supplies. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports @richwmn. I have used the Heimlich Maneuver on my father and had a colleague save me in a Morton's Steak House in Atlanta. I would imagine that action saves many thousands of people per month worldwide. Pass on the Tilapia, I would have the Tom Collins with sugar free syrup and I bet the wine is a good one. Thanks for all the time our member do to research these. Welcome back @JazzyV. I am glad your knee is not broken and thank you for resuming the Cares and Celebrations reports. I hope your cruise and vacation were wonderful. Prayers for everyone needing them. @superoma I hope you get a good result with the realtor today. Prayers for the people of Ukraine. Some wildflowers blooming in the woods, Nodding Trillium and Star Flower. Have a lovely Thursday! Nancy

@marshhawk I hope you and your DH get over COVID quickly.

@smitty34877 Prayers that all goes well with your DHs surgery today. 🙏

Good morning. We are going to turn the lake pump on again. Yesterday we were near 90 with 15 mph winds. It dried everything out. Thanks Rich for starting our mornings off each day. A nice quote that are great words to live by. Pass on the cocktail and today's meal but the Cloudy Bay Chardonnay will be a nice wine. Thanks Eva for keeping our daily cares and celebrations lists for us. Prayers for all needing them and the people of Ukraine. Yesterday we smoked a fully cooked pork picnic and it turned out wonderfully. That cut has more fat and bone so it smoked well and stayed moist. Have a great Wednesday. Nancy

Happy Birthday Jacqui! 🍾🎂🍷

@RedneckBob I thought the same thing when I saw our cocktail and the minty chicken. Total pass on those. But the wine is a terrific wine. Good morning everyone. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports each day Rich. Yesterday was water the flowers day. We got the lake pump working so everything got a long drink and my rain barrels filled to the top. Good thing because we have little meaningful rain in our forecast. Today is attempting to get the Starlink installed on the roof of the porch. Lots of news coverage of the Carnival Sunshine in the bad storm. It had to be so scary for those expecting calm seas. Pipes do break when there are rough seas. We had just left Antarctica and the high waves and wind on the Volendam when the pipe broke on our floor. When one signs up for Antarctica one knows to expect rough seas but these poor folks weren't signed up for that. One thing was our Captain Arno kept us up to date on upcoming challenges. Eva thanks for keeping our Cares and Celebrations lists. Prayers for all needing them and the people of Ukraine. Have a great Tuesday. Nancy

Good morning. We recognize those who lost their lives to keep our country free. 🇺🇸. I think today's wine would be great and also the chicken dishes look wonderful. I think I will pass on the fruity cocktail. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports each day Rich. Eva thank you for keeping pure cares and celebrations list. Prayers for all needing them and the people of Ukraine. John and I were in Puerto Montt in January on the Volendam. We did a HA tour that was one of our best on the long voyage. We did a culinary trip with a former Michelin starred chef who left Santiago and opened a restaurant in the Lake District. We started out at a Farmer's Market choosing the food and the heading to his restaurant for our group to prepare the meal. There was also almost unlimited tasty wine from the chef's vineyards. It was also a great way to meet some shipmates early in our long voyage.

@smitty34877 I hope that your neighborhood crew can get Tana out to enjoy your picnic today! Good Sunday morning. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports. If we passed by today's port we must have missed the notification. I rather disagree with the Twain quote. No need to change one's opinion just because most agree. Today's chicken dish looks lovely. We have been on strict diets since we returned from our cruise. I woke up this morning thinking I need to figure out how to make our salads more interesting. Meat and salad can get boring. I will pass on the obscure wine but thanks to @cat shepard for finding some information about it. Total pass on the cocktail, way too sweet. @superoma Thanks for keeping our care and celebrations lists each day. Prayers for all of our group needing them and the people of Ukraine. More weeding here today and trying to get the lake water pump to work. We at least got the gauge to move off from zero. No rain in the forecast here until Wednesday so we really need to get it running for my plants so they flower like I like them. Have a wonderful Sunday and I hope a lot of you have wonderful get togethers to recognize this special holiday. Nancy