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Honored Social Butterfly

MORNING ROLL CALL DECEMBER 2025

MORNING ROLL CALL DECEMBER 2025
Top of the morning to everyone on this First day of DECEMBER 2025 
Happy Birthday to all of our DECEMBER Birthday members.
 

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Posted by Dave the Lighthouse Keeper
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Honored Social Butterfly

@LisaS961881 , I had a 2009 Tacoma (which I bought new) with about 200K on it, but last October, it got rejected during its annual inspection for rust on the frame which basically sounded the death knell on it. 😢 They suggested I could get it block welded and I did check with a few body shops, but no one wanted to touch it.  It probably wouldn't have been worth the cost anyway, so it was time to bid farewell.

 

The flowers are nice, but I really love the skeleton family with all the fur babies. 😄 There are a couple of houses in the area (including one across street) that have giant skeletons up year round, and dress them according to the season/holiday.  Right now, they are sporting bunny ears.  Here is a picture of the one across street.  The other one about a mile from here is humongous!

 

------Mr. Bones is in the Easter spirit.------Mr. Bones is in the Easter spirit.

 

I have a couple of cat skeletons and was thinking of putting them out with little bunny ears and maybe colored eggs too. 

 

@Winter2025VA , speaking of cats, yes, they definitely shed when it gets warmer and they even get mats which hopefully, they usually can groom themselves, although a brush definitely helps the process.  Giorgio has long fur, so he can be a mess sometimes.  His mama, not so much.  When I had indoor cats, I wore cat hair.  A friend (with cats) gave me a canvas bag that says "Cat Hair Both a Condiment and Fashion Accessory".  I love that bag!  I don't worry about hairballs, since they're outside and if they puke, so be it.

 

Willie Mae showed up with her 2 kids in tow in 2016.  We think Willie Mae had her babies in an abandoned trailer at a house next door and then, when the homeowner discovered them, she moved them to under my deck.  She may have had more, but only 2 survived.  Yes, they were absolutely TNR'd.  The boys were fairly easy to trap once they became old enough to fix, but Willie Mae proved elusive.  She would NOT go near the trap no matter how well we tried to disguise it. AND she was a priority, since we already knew she could pump out kitties. Finally, we got her trapped in a shed and my neighbor put on a Carhartt jacket with leather gloves duct taped to the sleeves and I had on leather gloves to hold the trap and door open and he manhandled her screaming and fighting into the cage. Impossible mission accomplished!

 

And lastly, about weights and exercise -- yes, I have weights, a weight bench, exercise bands -- I am even typing this on my desktop sitting on a exercise ball.  My rule of thumb is when I am watching TV or Netflix or whatever, that I also need to be doing something -- whether it be pumping out bicep curls, tricep dips, leg lifts, etc.  Of course, I love hiking and bushwhacking can be a challenge -- climbing over, crawling under fallen trees, boulders, rocky and steep terrain.  I don't walk around the neighborhood because the furkids would follow me.  So we go on walkabouts and runarounds on the property.  I stick in my Airpods and we're off on epic "adventures".

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….Sounds like you had an old friend too! 🙂. I think you made the right decision to bid farewell.  Being that I’ve had my Tacoma for 20 years, that it’s only the third vehicle that I have ever owned, and that so many who once sat in the passenger seat are no longer with here, I promised myself not to “throw good money after bad” if something major goes wrong.  I’ll admit it is an emotional attachment - this truck got me home safe and sound through countless snowstorms too.
    Oh gosh - thanks for sharing the skeleton with bunny ears!  I should try something like that.  Last Halloween it made me smile when a group of parents with their four and five year olds came to my door.  The kids ran up to pet all of the dog, cat and kitten skeletons!  It was sweet.

     (I noticed that, in your photo, the skeleton is attached to a slim plant hanger, which is a great idea.  While my skeleton was tied to the trellis with fishing line, I just realized that I could get a tall thin tomato stake and place a standing skeleton pretty much anywhere!)

 ~ Lisa

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I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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wanted to share that I saw the first Monarch Butterfly of the season yesterday.  I figure planting more pollinators helped! 

I also wanted to share a photo of an Iris that a friend gifted me with last year.  It’s in full bloom and made me smile this morning!

~ Have a great weekend everyone! 🌈🌸🏠🪺🪴IMG_3417.jpeg

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Only one has broke ground. Hope the warm weather in forecast will wake up the rest of them. I have 2 other plants that didn't handle the bad weather so well. Should have the final tally after next week on those that are going to make it. 

Papaw of Boo
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I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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@Winter2025VA , Sorry to hear about Mrs. G, but you have pretty much assumed caretaker duties for Mister, anyway, right?  Sometimes cats will get an attitude with people they knew, but haven't seen for awhile, and after the initial snub, they will come around and all will be forgiven. I had a cat who always greeted me at the door when she heard the car.  But on the occasion where I was gone for several days and someone else was catsitting the brood, she would still be at the front door, but once she saw me, she would promptly about-face and walk away totally ignoring me.  After a sufficient time of giving me the cold shoulder on purpose, she would eventually forgive me and all was forgotten.  Just her way of telling me she wasn't happy I had taken off.

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I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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Have not checked lately. First we had the flood, 14+ inches in 4 days. Houses floating down the river, people being taken from home in boats, and happy tow truck drivers making money pulling dumb peoples cars out of flooded areas. Then for some reason ole man winter yelled out, 'I'm back". Temps in low 40's and lion wind of March blowing. On top of all this I have to listen to my wife say, "Ann (her friend) said never plant until after Easter." Back to your question, I don't think I'm going to be that lucky.☂️😫

Papaw of Boo
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I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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….giggling here at what PapawofBoo wrote! 😊

   I’ve started my seeds, and, so far, success!

 

~ Lisa

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My seedlings are all indoors.  We hit a low of 26 degrees up here!  🧊 

Today we have a single day of respite - cold, but bright and sunny with crisp, dry air. ☀️

 ~ Lisa

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  Hi Everyone!

     I don’t have a greenhouse.  I start my seedlings in the basement under a plant light.

     In the past, I did grow or buy floral annuals, but now I am too cheap to do so. 😌.  For three years now, I have been cheating and placing Dollar Tree plastic/fabric flowers within my “real” plants and nobody is the wiser.  I cut apart the DT floral picks/clusters, and then remove the leaves, which always seem to be an unnatural color.

   Then I stick just a few stems within my ivy, hosta and other green plants.  It is the same look, but it lasts for years, and I am getting a tad lazy as I get older.  
  ~ Lisa

  

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I deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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  I found a photo from last year.  Every flower you see here is from Dollar Tree!

 

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I deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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I deleted comment. Nicole  👵

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@Winter2025VA , actually exploring/bushwhacking season occurs during the winter when everything is bare, since almost all of our forays are off-trail.  Hard to find or see anything when everything is green, so one, maybe two weeks left.  Off on another adventure tomorrow in SNP and maybe another one next week to find the location of an old school that's at a higher elevation and hopefully, not so green.  Probably not much left.  Maybe the old foundation and a few artifacts.  Plus with spring come the snakes (saw one last week on a bushwhack to an old Poor House and cemetery in Prince William Forest Park) and the bugs. 😝

 

Stay tuned.

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@Winter2025VA , I have plenty of pictures from this season's adventures, but mostly if you like looking at old cemeteries (frequently just fieldstones) and remnants and artifacts of old homesites.  Not everyone finds them interesting. 😁

 

No spectacular mountain views or waterfalls or sunsets. 🚫🌄🏞

 

But let me cull through and find something.

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I deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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   I’ll add that I mourn the loss of Anne Perry, Shelia Connely, and M.C. Beaton (although Green has done a fine job continuing her series).  I so enjoyed Thomas Pitt and Hamish MacBeth !

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@Winter2025VA , I generally go for historical fiction (no, not the swashbuckling romance kind) that are based on real facts and research, but the author adds fictional characters and dialogue to make it more relatable. Anything from prehistoric times through the Civil War.

 

Another source to try is BookBub.  I have an account and receive daily emails for the latest deals based on my preferences.  Bought a few books (Kindle, of course) from them.  Sometimes they offer books for free for a limited time.

 

To each his own, but I love my Kindle and Kindle app.  I can 'carry' a whole library on my phone to wherever I go.  And no stains or torn and dog-eared pages. 

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@Winter2025VA , @LisaS961881 , do you still have used book stores in your area?  I used to score some good finds there.  Also, check out the little free libraries.

 

I'm a Kindle user myself and have been for years.

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I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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I just picked up a cozy mystery from Dollar Tree.  It will have to wait until I am finished with ~ The Mirror & the Light -.  It’s the final book in her trilogy about the final years of Thomas Cromwell.  The first was ~ Wolf Hall ~ , and the second ~ Bring Up the Bodies ~.  
I enjoyed the PBS adaptation, and want to finish this book before I watch the final segment on PBS.  

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