HBE4

@grapau27 After seeing your videos, I'm definitely adding fjords to my cruise bucket list. @aussielozzie18. If I ever make a trip to The Land of Down Under, can you be my personal tour guide? Your photos & hikes are always so spectacular.

As soon as I saw the dates & where you were staying, I was going to guess that you were going to the game. It's going to be so much fun, the crowd seems pretty passionate. I was going to make a joke about buying tickets for game 7 now before they go up in price.😉 I mean, Florida did come back from being down 3 game to 1 against the best team in the league. But the Goldem Knights look totally dominate so I don't see that happening. We stayed at the hotel back when it was the Monte Carlo. Really enjoyed it, its a nice size not to big and not to small. Kind of a medium-size Mega Resort. In cruise ship terms, it'd probably be a Voyager-class ship. Really nice pool area although that might be overshadowed the City Center complex now. The only quibble I had with the place was the hotel rooms were very basic, like a road side motel. Although that probably was addressed as it was heavily renovated when it became the Park MGM. I purchased tickets for 2 Ranger Round 2 games via Ticketmaster and when the Rangers were eliminated (🤬) my money was automatically refunded in less than a week. It was direct ticket purchases, not third-party resellers but I'm petty sure its the same return policy/proces. Have fun, the crowd should be electric no matter who wins tomorrow. I'll be tuning in to see Lord Stanley's Cup being hoisted.

I've wondered why as well. It's not "hard to find" at all. I have my profile setup so that as soon as I post in a thread, I automatically follow that thread so every time I come into CC, I just click on notifications & it shows me if there are new posts in the threads I follow. Then I just click on that notification & it take me to the thread no matter where it's located. They could move this thread every day & I'd never lose track of it.

Thank you. The big difference is Lucy knows how to get back down without the aid of 15+ people working over 4 hours. Maybe I should send Leonard up to Canada so Lucy can train him properly. Lol. @A&L_Ont Do cats need passports? 😂

Too late to edit but I just wanted to add that I told Little Miss HBE4 she better get busy baking Thank You cookies for the neighbors. And she will!

You did! And a few others as well. @Coralc and @Keksie and maybe a few othesr think. And you guys were right! Funny, in the past when one of us has been outside, Leonard would in the window meowing to come out. Not today. I wonder if he's lost interest for now.

Thank you. Yes, it was truly heartwarming. In fact, my backyard neighbor who I barely know - the small but dense patch of woods separate our backyards so we don't really "see" each other except in the fall for leaf blowing & then just to wave / head nod towards each other - was the first to come help out and spent the entire time with us until Leonard was rescued. It was his wife that ultimately called the fire dept. on our behalf. . Thank you. Nice to know I'm in rare company! 🙂

Can you find the Leonard? Let me zoom 30 ft up to the top of the tree. Yeah, that happened. So Leonard is an indoor cat that occasionally comes outside when me or my step daughter (its’ her cat) are out. He usually stays within eye sight and always comes when called or if we go after him if he strays too far. Well, we got a little complacent yesterday as we busied ourselves with our various outdoor chores. In what will now be his last outdoor adventure, he wandered off property. After spending 20 minutes looking for him, the neighbor’s dog found him. Fortunately, the dog was behind a fence but still scared Leonard up the tree. Problem is, he didn’t know or was too scared to come down. Now, this tree is located in the middle of a very small but very dense patch of woods. On a steep slope surrounded by piles of leaves, soft ground and brush piles with plenty of sharp, dead branches that are like daggers. Not exactly the ideal location to setup my 24 foot extension ladder which, because of the angle necessary to avoid the aforementioned obstacles, was still 6-8 feet away from him. For the next 3 ½ hours, we took turns going up the ladder, shaking a bag of treats and opening cans of smelly cat food in an attempt to coax him down. Nothing. We left him along for a bit. Still wouldn’t budge. As night was falling and a growing number of neighbors joined the rescue party, various ideas were tossed around like shaking the tree, throw rocks to startle him, spray him with a hose, leave him to spend the night up there alone. Uhhh, that’s a hard NO to all of those well-meaning but less-than-excellent ideas. Pleas for help were sent out on various social media, calls to animal hospitals were made when one of my neighbors suggested the fire department. Of course, I scoffed at that cliché idea that you only see in old 1950’s TV show but she called anyway, saying what do you have to lose? Ten minutes later, a fire truck and 2 fire dept. SUV’s show up along with 8 firemen (and firewoman) and their 35-foot ladder. That attracted the attention of everyone up and down the street. Took another 45 minutes to get the ladder setup properly and one of the firemen to pry Leonard from the tree. He was holding on for dear life. Did I mentioned this happened right before dinner time after I spent 5 or 6 hours mowing, mulching, weeding, trimming, etc. All is well that ends well but I guess now I’ll be known as the guy that had to call the fire department to rescue a cat from a tree. I asked one of the more senior fireman there how many times have they done this and he replied this was the first time. It’s possible I might move out of town in the middle of the night in shame. 😨

@brillohead @bobmacliberty covered all the highlights pretty well and I'm glad I read his post before writing mine as I would have listed everything he did. Saved me a lot of typeing. 👍🙂 I can't really add to much more other than maybe try to hit one of the Ice Bars. It's expensive and gimmicky but I always thought it was kinds cool (pun-intended) to sit in a bar where everything is made of ice while outside is 100 degree desert heat. It's the kinda thing you only do once and celebrating 21st birthday seems like a good time do it. There are 3 of them in Vegas https://www.minus5experience.com/ I'd recommend the one in The Venetian only because that will give them a chance to take the Gondola ride thru the replica of Venice "Gran Canal". https://www.venetianlasvegas.com/resort/attractions/gondola-rides.html If you do go to the High Roller Observation Wheel - which I recommend - some of the observation cars come with a bar. It costs extra of course but hey, you only turn 21 once. The ride is about 30 minutes If this is your cousins first time to Vegas, they'll probably spend most of their time on The Strip but if time allows, they should try to head downtown to Fremont Street in the evening. Plenty of free entertainment, concerts, street performers, etc and at night, the overhead canopy has a light show projected, synchronized to music. While there, pop into the Golden Gate (not Golden Nugget) hotel and casino. It is the oldest, continually operating hotel casino in Las Vegas. There is nothing special about it other than it's old & tiny. But they do keep updating the interior. https://vegasexperience.com/viva-vision-light-show/

//Begin discussion of the definition of nice shorts// 😉

Enjoy! It makes sense that the ocean breezes might disperse the haze more than the inland areas. And while I can't speak for the Jersey shore, things are looking better in my area (about 45-60 minutes North of NYC). Today, the AQI (Air Quality Index) is down to 169 which is still considered "Unhealthy" but significantly better than yesterday 325 which is considered "Hazardous". There was another monitoring station near me that had a reading of 403 yesterday but is now down to 166. And while the skies are still a bit hazy, its more of a typical ordinary summertime haze. No weird orange glow and can actually see some clear sky. Looks like I'll be doing yard work after all. Many thanks to @Coralc and @akcruz for the links they've provided. I now know more about AQI than I ever cared to know. 😅

I guess it's the smoke haze that is impacting flight tmes. Did you check Westchester County airport (HPN)? It's small but JetBlue flies to most of the major Florida cities from there. And it's probably 30 minutes closer to Norwalk than LGA and an hour closer than JFK. The problem is that it's in a residential neighborhood so flights are limited with very few early morning or late night flights.

4 glasses of wines at the airport + Free JetBlue drinks = Taylor Swift! 🤣

So sorry for your loss and the impact it had on you. And kudo's to you for channeling that grief in a positive way.

Thanks!. Looks like my zip code is rockin a solid 325! Hazardous. I guess tomorrow's yard work is on hold.

Oh, and thank you for the link. There are 2 monitoring stations within 10 miles. AQI readings are 403 and 323. Since anything above 100 is considered unhealthy and it tops out at 300 with hazaderous, I'm guessing those readings are not good. Things are supposed to improve a little bit each day and should be back to normal by the weekend as the wind shifts, hopefully to unpopulated areas. And while this is serious to those with weak and compromised respiratory systems, it's more of an annoyance than anything. The "atmospheric rivers" you guys had this past winter was far worse.

We've had smoke haze before from California and western Canada fires but never to this extent. It was very high level atmosphere stuff. I guess being 3,000 miles away it would spread up and out. This haze is much closer to the ground & according to the weather guys, there is a narrow channel of wind that is blowing the smoke right thu the northeastern states so it's very concentrated. NYC had the honor of being the most polluted city on the planet today. Think about that for a second when you consider some of the heavily industrialized third world countries that have lax environmental regulations. A couple of pictures I grabbed off the WNBC (NYC) news stations website.

Whip Cream works pretty well too. At home I use Redi Wip on the rare occasion I run out of milk.

The haze from the wilderness fires is so thick & unhealthy that tonight's Yankee game has been canceled. Fortunately, I found out just as I was about to get on the Metro-North train to head down. Snapped this picture of the TZ Bridge from the Tarrytown train station. Remember the post from a week ago, crystal clear blue skies, Rockland County 3 miles in the distance? Picture doesn't capture the weird orange glow adequately Edit to add: On a normal, foggy day this wouldn't be unusual. But this is the haze from the 400+ Canadian wilderness files over 700 miles away & it still smells like a campfire.

And now you know how most people take thier coffee. Just in case we all stop by some day. 😃

Same here. And the smell of many campfires. Brings back memories of when I used to go tent camping in a much younger day.

My first time in Vegas was 2003/2004 when they were still trying to be a family friendly destination with hotels having massive pool complexes complete with lazy rivers, wave pools and waterslides. Many of the old gangster hotels like The Sands, The Desert Inn, etc. were long gone & the Stardust was dying while the new “themed” hotels had already been built all over that were designed to appeal to families such as Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay & New York, New York with its roller coaster. There were rides on top of the Stratosphere town and Pirates of the Caribbean pirate show at Treasure Island. There were a few signs of the old Vegas on The Strip with a couple of small run down casinos that still offered 99 cent Shrimp cocktail and 25 cent roulette tables. They were demolished a few years later to make way for even bigger hotel-casino resort complexes. So now if you want a taste of old Vegas, you need to head downtown to Fremont Street but even that is changing. We stayed at The Flamingo, one of the few old-time casino’s left on The Strip. The rooms were a bit dated but it had a fabulous tropical pool complex that was an oasis of relaxation and calmness amid the hectic frenzy of The Strip. Plenty of shade trees and waterfalls to cool off in, it was a great place to relax during the day before hitting the town at night. After bouncing around to a few other hotels, we returned to Flamingo but now it was during the “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” heyday. The rooms were remodeled nicely but the pool area was turned into a “day club” complete with thumping music and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds so thick you could barely see the water. Back in the good old days, Vegas would practically give away rooms and food to get people to come and gamble. Now, they make so much money off food, rooms, shows, concerts and day/night clubs, the gambling is almost a side business.

There are a few here that see the CC forums as nothing more than a place to practice their snarky, er, I mean witty one-liners. Don't get me wrong, I've joined in on the fun too. But I usually wait until after the question has been answered several times or the subject matter has been discussed and closed....or beaten to death when it comes to tipping threads. Back on subject and to the OP's question, from what I gathered, the answers seem all over the map. Some had no issue getting half-and-half, while other can't get it at all or only sometimes and in some places. Seems to be not only ship/venue specific but sailing specific as well.

My father would always say that the sign of a true coffee lover is they drink their coffee black with no sugar. Hopefully I wasn't too much of a disappointed to him as I'm Mr. "Coffee, light with two sugars, please". 😄 Although honestly, as long as I'm not scraping sludge off the bottom of the cup, I can take my coffee with any dairy or non-dairy product and any kind of sweetener, real or otherwise. Maybe that's the sign of a true coffee lover!

You've sent me down the rabbit hole of Ron Swanson quotes. That one tops many of the lists. My favorite: Just give me all the bacon and eggs you have. Wait … I worry what you heard was, ‘Give me a lot of bacon and eggs.’ What I said was, give me all the bacon and eggs you have. Do you understand?”