My morning online news sweep starts with The Guardian, Reuters, and CBC. The Guardian and Reuters come up in America-centric editions, but the Canadian site is Canada first … a refreshing change from the constant drumbeat of Trump this and Trump that. I’m reminded of the year we lived in Montana, tucked up in the northeast corner with our neighbors Saskatchewan and North Dakota, the strongest radio and television signals coming down from Moose Jaw. Another great news site with a decidedly non-U.S. bent is The Barents Observer, reporting news from the Nordic north, where Russia is the neighborhood bully.
Getting old and facing it head on: we hired a handyman to install safety bars in the master bathroom: one on either side of the throne, one in the shower. We’re not at the slipping and falling stage, but it seemed like a prudent thing to do given our age and the likelihood we’ll continue to live in this house a few more years. Feeling like candidates for assisted living, we texted a couple of friends our age about the new grab bars, and they texted back to say they’d done the same years ago … we’re feeling better about it now.
Took Donna’s car to the state emissions testing facility this morning (she passed) and stopped at In-N-Out for a to-go cheeseburger on the way home. In-N-Out has been talked about to death, but IMO it lives up to the hype (if you don’t count their fries, which are below average). I treat myself to a cheeseburger every other month or so, animal style with grilled onion and green chiles, yum.
A few years ago water condensation from our heating and cooling system backed up in a standpipe and started dripping on the furnace room floor. By the time we noticed what was going on, the carpet and one of the walls in the adjoining home office were damaged. Along with water damage repairs we installed a float valve on the furnace room pipe, so if the water ever reached a high level again it would shut the system down. Two days ago our air conditioner quit working and what do you know, it was water buildup again. The float valve did its job. The far end of the drain pipe extends outside the house onto the dirt. Apparently it got plugged, probably by bugs. The service tech applied air to the pipe under pressure and blew it out, so we should be good again. That’s not to say we don’t need a new air conditioner … we’re hoping to squeeze one more summer out of the one we have, more than 20 years old now, and budgeting to replace it this coming winter. One damn thing after another, this home ownership racket.
Really not much else to pass on today. Polly continues looking for work and has actually gotten an interview or two, so keep those fingers crossed. The dogs are happy, and so are we.
Stay fresh, cheese bags!
Sometimes I listen to Radio Free Moscow from Moscow, Idaho. Great community radio station. Loved some shows that have disappeared: Car Talk, Prairie Home Companion and one that’s still around E-Town.
I’d really like to see some Olympics coverage that doesn’t focus on US 99% maybe a CNN Olympics version, and BTW doesn’t cost $49.99.
Which base were
Which base were you stationed in NE Montana? I ask because a wikipedia session led me to Glasgow,MT. It had a training base for B17s during WW2 and later hosted B52s. What got me interested is the town of ~3200 is the largest town for 100+ miles in any direction and is the go to resupply point for all the farms and tiny hamlets around it. The people seem to be proud of being in the middle of nowhere. The NWS has a station at the airport that is HQ for severe weather alerts and fire warning for much of NE MT and the western Dakota’s. They have a High school (~245 students) with championship sports teams; middle school and elementary. And a huge Albertsons that must be really busy on weekends.
I’d almost like to live there except for the terrible winters and the flatness of the terrain. I’m a product of WV mom and upland Virginia Dad and love living in the Mountains/Piedmont.
Jack, we lived on Glasgow Air Force Base in 1972-73. At the time the airfield was in caretaker status: no aircraft were based there but a small USAF detachment kept the runways, taxiways, and hangars in order (it had once been a B-52 base). Some base facilities were used by my employer, a federally-funded adult education contractor serving low-income people from a six-state area, and we, our fellow instructors, and students enrolled in the program lived in otherwise-unused base housing. The town of Glasgow, a few miles away, was where we bought groceries and shopped (back then it had a Sears Catalog Store where you could place orders and months later go pick up what you’d ordered). One of my sisters, then and now, lives farther north near Opheim, close to the US/Canada border. I was long gone by then, but remember reading that after Mount St. Helens erupted, Boeing moved its flight test operations there from Seattle. I think the former base is entirely civilian these days.