Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[George C]

2 hours ago, dpostman said:

I agree with you Greg.  Distractions with kids/adults running around, alcohol and explosives... What could possibly go wrong. 😬

 

dp

Speaking of what can go wrong, there is a bunch of axe throwing places that opened up in last couple of years and they are all byob 😁

[Sea Dog]

Rough night last night with heavy storms and rain. Because we have hills all behind us we get nailed. Luckily it flows between the houses but I have a lot cleanup to do.

 

[h20skibum]

3 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Rough night last night with heavy storms and rain. Because we have hills all behind us we get nailed. Luckily it flows between the houses but I have a lot cleanup to do.

Looks like a lot of silt and mud deposited.  That would be a real mess if it ended up on your artificial turf. 

[NHProud]

@George C  Happy birthday to Shelagh !  Have a fun time at your BBQ . 
 

 

[Sea Dog]

5 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Looks like a lot of silt and mud deposited.  That would be a real mess if it ended up on your artificial turf. 

Luckily the turf drains really well. I had a bunch of mulch debris on it but I swept part of it up and can leaf blow the rest. I am also lucky in that the turf sits up about 4 inches higher than the rest of the yard. 

[harryfat1]

48 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I think that the next time I go to Central Park maybe I need to go with a plan. I usually just walk around aimlessly and I've missed things that you have photographed and there is probably much more that I haven't seen. Making the transition from the grid layout of the city to the meandering paths of the park confuses my head.

I wish I could take credit for being able to find all these Central Park places on my own but the reality is that we joined a "free" walking tour of Central Park where the guide took us to many places that we wouldn't be able to find on our own as first time visitors of the park.

 

I put the cost of the tour as "free" in quotes as we all know there's no such thing as free tours. The business model is that you pay nothing up front to book the tour abd you pay what you think the tour is worth depending on how much you liked it. The suggested value is $20+/pp.

 

It's a good value considering these are typically 3 hour walking tours and you get to see and understand the historical significance of some of the sights.

 

I stumbled onto this free tour business model from my December cruise to Curacao when I was researching on what to do there. After doing the free walking tour there, I found couple of companies that does regularly for many cities worldwide, including NYC. So I booked 4 tours for our 9 days in town to get a better understanding of the city and historical background.

 

You can Google Guruwalk.com abd Free Tours by foot to get some background info.

 

Our tour guide took us into the dead center of Central Park where you can't see any buildings or hear any city noise. That's the place to go if you need a break from the concrete jungle of NYC.

 

 

To tie things back to a cruise theme (as in theory this is a cruise forum), the cartoon movie, Madagascar, is based on the front entrance of the zoo. That's the DreamWorks company that used to have contracts with RCI to showcase their characters in the parades on the cruises.

 

 

 

[BonTexasNY]

11 hours ago, George C said:

We can hear the fireworks currently but can’t see them , our favorite restaurant has a great view but traffic is terrible going and coming back since it’s the best fireworks in the city  in Addison. We were in New York City for Shelagh 50th everybody was walking down to docks we just stayed in Gallaghers.

Late last night, approx. 11pm, we saw beautiful fireworks from our balcony.  Not sure exactly where they were but looking South they were to the right of Plano and further South.  Loud booms and giant beams of light flashing on and off between colorful firework bursts.

 

Have a safe and happy July 4th, all!

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, Etta1213 said:

Correction - The Yeast Connection, by dr benjamin crook.

Thanks, I'll have a look at it.  When we were strictly dieting we stopped eating bread and yeast products completely, though didn't feel particularly better.  

There's a lot of talk here about ultra processed foods and gut health.

A book 'ultra processed people' has been particularly popular.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 02:45 PM by sgmn

[Sea Dog]

The hits keep on getting better. Basement has a soaked carpet at one end. Sump pump hole was dry so not exactly how the water is coming in even though we did extra waterproofing when we built the house. Needless to say I am upset on this holiday I already hate.

 

[Tree_skier]

 

Have a happy and patriotic Independence Day. 

 

[helen haywood]

Not a 4th of July issue…but back to the talk of cats drinking milk reminded me of polite Minnie…when the dish was too small for her to drink out of while her sister was drinking.

 

 

[Etta1213]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

Thanks, I'll have a look at it.  When we were strictly dieting we stopped eating bread and yeast products completely, though didn't feel particularly better.  

There's a lot of talk here about ultra processed foods and gut health.

A book 'ultra processed people' has been particularly popular.

 

 

You might read Dr Leo Galland, Power Healing, also.  He treated me years ago and uses integrative medicine; he diagnosed an illness that multiple doctors had missed for years. (It was Dr Crook that told my husband via telephobe call that if it were his own wife so ill, he'd take her to Leo Galland.)

Edited Thursday at 03:49 PM by Etta1213

[DaniDanielle]

8 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

+ 1   @George C 🥂 💐

🎂

[DaniDanielle]

Everybody enjoy the day!

Greg, I feel your pain.  We have an unfinished basement, luckily.   It gets water at strange times.  We go years without a drop then in it comes.  Thank goodness for sump pumps.

[Ocean Boy]

Last evening's serenity...

 

 

Has transformed into this today....

 

 

[HBE4]

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

Not a 4th of July issue…but back to the talk of cats drinking milk reminded me of polite Minnie…when the dish was too small for her to drink out of while her sister was drinking.

 

 

 

That is totally adorable.

 

Leonard used to dip his paw into the bowl & then lick it just like  Minnie. But only sometimes until we realized he only did it with a very shiny metal bowl. Apparently he saw his reflection in the bowl & didn't want to put his face too close. I guess he thought it was another cat?

[HBE4]

Car is packed, washed & cleaned inside and out and has a full tank of gas. Making sandwiches and a snack bag while waiting for Little Miss HBE4 to come home from work so we can hit the road. Hopefully everyone is where they need to be so the roads will be clear and it'll be a smooth drive. GPS says 4 1/2 hours but it's usually closer to 5.

 

Happy 4th to all!

[derorim]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

The hits keep on getting better. Basement has a soaked carpet at one end. Sump pump hole was dry so not exactly how the water is coming in even though we did extra waterproofing when we built the house. Needless to say I am upset on this holiday I already hate.

 

That looks like a very nice basement. I hope you get your water intrusion issue resolved so it doesn’t reoccur.

 

[derorim]

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

Not a 4th of July issue…but back to the talk of cats drinking milk reminded me of polite Minnie…when the dish was too small for her to drink out of while her sister was drinking.

So dainty!

[DaniDanielle]

Looks like we may be getting a new family member tomorrow.  Granddaughter who lives with us wants a puppy for her 16th birthday.  Her birthday is in August but they saw this puppy so are going to look at her tomorrow. Name will be changed I guess.

Edited Thursday at 05:19 PM by DaniDanielle

[voyager70]

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

Not a 4th of July issue…but back to the talk of cats drinking milk reminded me of polite Minnie…when the dish was too small for her to drink out of while her sister was drinking.

 

 

That is adorable. My little guy does the same thing dipping his paws in the water. I thought it was unusual until I saw your video 🙂

[bobmacliberty]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

The hits keep on getting better. Basement has a soaked carpet at one end. Sump pump hole was dry so not exactly how the water is coming in even though we did extra waterproofing when we built the house. Needless to say I am upset on this holiday I already hate.

 

 

Greg - You might want to run a dehumidifier for several days.  I'd even look into renting a commercial unit.  The drywall can absorb the moisture on the floor, and it will "wick" up several inches.  If you don't get all of the moisture out of the drywall, mold can form.  We had our basement flood (about 2 inches of standing water) in Cincinnati and hired a professional to do the cleanup.  They ran a dehumidifier for about a week, checking the moisture level in the drywall every couple of days.  They initial sensed moisture in the wall more than 6 inches above the floor...well above the water level.

 

PSA - Our basement flooded because of an extended power outage that overflowed the sump.  We had a battery back-up for the sump pump, but I didn't routinely check that the battery was properly charged, and the battery failed when we needed it.  I decided to install a water powered sump pump as a backup, and a moisture alarm at the top of the sump (I was NOT going to have that problem again).  The water powered sump pump works by having the water in your house flow through a valve that in turn sucks up water from the sump.  IIRC, every 3 gallons of water flowing caused 1 gallon of water to be "pumped out".  Here's an example model.  There are several on the market.

 

[Ocean Boy]

27 minutes ago, DaniDanielle said:

Looks like we may be getting a new family member tomorrow.  Granddaughter who lives with us wants a puppy for her 16th birthday.  Her birthday is in August but they saw this puppy so are going to look at her tomorrow. Name will be changed I guess.

Exciting!

[Ocean Boy]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

The hits keep on getting better. Basement has a soaked carpet at one end. Sump pump hole was dry so not exactly how the water is coming in even though we did extra waterproofing when we built the house. Needless to say I am upset on this holiday I already hate.

 

I don't understand how the floor gets wet if the sump pump hole is dry.🤔

[George C]

Anybody want a chicken leg