USMB Coffee Shop IV

[gallantwarrior]

You made those? That's more talent then I have.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I like the forget-me-nots! (Our state flower, or course.)

 

[gallantwarrior]

Good evening, all. Still posting when I can. My pneumonia seems to be double now, but I was good and have visited the doctor's office 3 times in the last 2 weeks trying to adjust to medications that will work. One of these mornings, I'm going to wake up fully well. I hope. Every day you wake up is a good one, though.

Agreed! I still hope you get better sooner rather than later. It's a terrible way to loose a summer.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Hello, Dawn! Welcome to the CS. A bunch of geezers with a couple of mature youngsters mixed in, but a congenial bunch overall.

 

[Ringel05]

Okay, been badmouthing Apple for so long I decided to give the iPhone a chance. Switched over to T Mobile, great monthly rate with a deal on the iPhone XR, it was a better deal than Verizon offered to keep our business.
The phone is going to take some getting used to as I'm only familiar with Android but all the pro reviews rate iPhone better in almost every category than Android phones.
The XR is smaller than my Verizon Moto Z Force droid, which I would not recommend, it sucks but the XR screen is the same size as the Droid screen. The XR is fast, really fast it's just figuring out where everything is on the phone and where to find what I want.
As for Apple macs, their still overpriced and overhyped.

I don't know about smartphones, as I've never had one. I completely agree that Macs are overpriced. It's almost all about marketing rather than actual performance with them IMO.

I do own an iPod. I bought it used on Ebay a couple of years ago when the Creative MP3 player I had died. I used the Creative for 10+ years. I ended up buying the iPod not because I wanted an Apple product, but because it was the best price I found with the amount of storage I wanted. There really aren't a lot of MP3 players out there at this point and Apple dominated the market when they were popular, so there wasn't a huge selection to choose from.

I've considered getting an iPhone before, but again, I would have to find one used at the right price for what I wanted. I almost certainly wouldn't buy one new unless the price was comparable to a similar Android phone.

In most cases only the higher end, expensive Android phones have the same quality manufacture as the iPhone and prices in the mid to high range are compatible. Heck you can get an iPhone 6 for around a hundred bucks, the iPhone 7 for two to three hundred an 8 will set you back three to four hundred.
In most instances you chose a plan then pick a phone, the cost of the phone is spread out over two years, my XRs are an additional $31 each per month which is roughly $650 each, Not bad when you consider the cost of a Samsung Galaxy, etc.

 

[gallantwarrior]

July 4th begins. Lots of stuff going on all around, just no fireworks. They have been banned because it's been hot and dry and there's already too much of the state on fire. Fiercely hot, 83F in my neck o'the woods yesterday. That's brutal for South-Central Alaska. I'll still have to get some work done. I'm down to two weekends and two weeks of work before I go into fix-it mode. I'm getting pretty nervous and have almost convinced myself that I don't really hurt so much. I don't know if I'd kick myself harder if I chicken out and cancel surgery or if I go through the surgery and have a tough convalescence. My brother is planning 6 weeks here, so I am looking forward to having him around. He's one of those people who can keep you laughing. He's also a challenge to play Scrabble with.
I'll be visiting periodically as my schedule allows and hope all of you find good health and happiness.

 

[beautress]

July 4th begins. Lots of stuff going on all around, just no fireworks. They have been banned because it's been hot and dry and there's already too much of the state on fire. Fiercely hot, 83F in my neck o'the woods yesterday. That's brutal for South-Central Alaska. I'll still have to get some work done. I'm down to two weekends and two weeks of work before I go into fix-it mode. I'm getting pretty nervous and have almost convinced myself that I don't really hurt so much. I don't know if I'd kick myself harder if I chicken out and cancel surgery or if I go through the surgery and have a tough convalescence. My brother is planning 6 weeks here, so I am looking forward to having him around. He's one of those people who can keep you laughing. He's also a challenge to play Scrabble with.
I'll be visiting periodically as my schedule allows and hope all of you find good health and happiness.

No Fireworks? Well I found some at NASA.. Happy Fourth of July, everybody!

​

 

[beautress]

I like the forget-me-nots! (Our state flower, or course.)

So many of them were growing at the Fort Richardson base we were stationed at when I was a little girl (near Anchorage).

When we got back to the states (Alaska was just a US province in 1953-4), my mother always made
sure we had forget-me-nots in her flower garden around the house. It was fun to touch their little seed
pods and watch them pop! and scatter tiny little black seeds everywhere.​

 

[gallantwarrior]

July 4th begins. Lots of stuff going on all around, just no fireworks. They have been banned because it's been hot and dry and there's already too much of the state on fire. Fiercely hot, 83F in my neck o'the woods yesterday. That's brutal for South-Central Alaska. I'll still have to get some work done. I'm down to two weekends and two weeks of work before I go into fix-it mode. I'm getting pretty nervous and have almost convinced myself that I don't really hurt so much. I don't know if I'd kick myself harder if I chicken out and cancel surgery or if I go through the surgery and have a tough convalescence. My brother is planning 6 weeks here, so I am looking forward to having him around. He's one of those people who can keep you laughing. He's also a challenge to play Scrabble with.
I'll be visiting periodically as my schedule allows and hope all of you find good health and happiness.

No Fireworks? Well I found some at NASA.. Happy Fourth of July, everybody!

​

With current conditions, I'll forego fireworks, thank you! But thanks for the Hubble "fireworks" to substitute.
The fireworks stands haven't even opened this year, thank goodness. But that won't stop the more determined morons from finding a way to get some. Of course, a lot of the type that will find some place in the woods to shoot off their munitions and have nice campfires are the very ones that set the woods ablaze. I just hope people are heeding the warnings. It would suck to either wake up from my nap to a wildfire or come home to charcoal and rubble. I like living off-grid but some people take remote locations a carte blanche to do whatever they feel like. It took me a few years to get most people to quit using the parking lot adjacent to my place as a shooting range.

 

[Ernie S.]

I'd pay 100 bucks for a day with a high of 83. At 8:37 AM it is already 84, headed for 93. As usual, we will be having a cook-out/fireworks display at the home of my business partners. We expect about 50 people and our biggest display yet. We have spent in the neighborhood of 2,500 bucks on pyrotechnics and will have 8 men setting them off for probably 30 minutes. There are a few pieces that will lay fear in the hearts of neighbors, but what the hell, we do it up good. The after party promises to be even better as the young lady I've been seeing has decided that I shouldn't have to drive her back to Pensacola that late and it would be better to drop her off at work after breakfast.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I like the forget-me-nots! (Our state flower, or course.)

So many of them were growing at the Fort Richardson base we were stationed at when I was a little girl (near Anchorage).

When we got back to the states (Alaska was just a US province in 1953-4), my mother always made
sure we had forget-me-nots in her flower garden around the house. It was fun to touch their little seed
pods and watch them pop! and scatter tiny little black seeds everywhere.​

I always liked the wild aquilegia. I even planted some of the domestic version of aquilegia.
Wild in AK:

Domestic varieties:

 

[gallantwarrior]

I'd pay 100 bucks for a day with a high of 83. At 8:37 AM it is already 84, headed for 93. As usual, we will be having a cook-out/fireworks display at the home of my business partners. We expect about 50 people and our biggest display yet. We have spent in the neighborhood of 2,500 bucks on pyrotechnics and will have 8 men setting them off for probably 30 minutes. There are a few pieces that will lay fear in the hearts of neighbors, but what the hell, we do it up good. The after party promises to be even better as the young lady I've been seeing has decided that I shouldn't have to drive her back to Pensacola that late and it would be better to drop her off at work after breakfast.

Lots of people think we're nuts, complaining about this heat. But seen from our point of view, 70 is more than hot enough. 65 is just about right this time of year. Lots of our visitors can usually be spotted because they suit up in jackets and sweaters when locals are running around in shorts and wife-beaters.
Enjoy your holiday. I hope all y'all will have a great celebration of our Independence.

 

[beautress]

I like the forget-me-nots! (Our state flower, or course.)

So many of them were growing at the Fort Richardson base we were stationed at when I was a little girl (near Anchorage).

When we got back to the states (Alaska was just a US province in 1953-4), my mother always made
sure we had forget-me-nots in her flower garden around the house. It was fun to touch their little seed
pods and watch them pop! and scatter tiny little black seeds everywhere.​

I always liked the wild aquilegia. I even planted some of the domestic version of aquilegia.
Wild in AK:
View attachment 267682
Domestic varieties:
View attachment 267683

During our years in Wyoming, I loved the Columbines on Casper Mountain, just a couple of hundred miles from Colorado, where Columbine aqualegia is the state flower. They come in every color, too.
Oh, well, imho nothing can top the amazing fields of bluebonnets we see here in the Lone Star State:

 

[gallantwarrior]

I like the forget-me-nots! (Our state flower, or course.)

So many of them were growing at the Fort Richardson base we were stationed at when I was a little girl (near Anchorage).

When we got back to the states (Alaska was just a US province in 1953-4), my mother always made
sure we had forget-me-nots in her flower garden around the house. It was fun to touch their little seed
pods and watch them pop! and scatter tiny little black seeds everywhere.​

I always liked the wild aquilegia. I even planted some of the domestic version of aquilegia.
Wild in AK:
View attachment 267682
Domestic varieties:
View attachment 267683

During our years in Wyoming, I loved the Columbines on Casper Mountain, just a couple of hundred miles from Colorado, where Columbine aqualegia is the state flower. They come in every color, too.
Oh, well, imho nothing can top the amazing fields of bluebonnets we see here in the Lone Star State:

View attachment 267685​

We have those here but call them lupine. I believe they are the same genus. They sure do look a lot alike!

 

[Big Black Dog]

Happy 4th of July! Many thanks to all of the Patriots, past and present, that have sacrificed to make this a special day in America.

 

[Foxfyre]

Okay, been badmouthing Apple for so long I decided to give the iPhone a chance. Switched over to T Mobile, great monthly rate with a deal on the iPhone XR, it was a better deal than Verizon offered to keep our business.
The phone is going to take some getting used to as I'm only familiar with Android but all the pro reviews rate iPhone better in almost every category than Android phones.
The XR is smaller than my Verizon Moto Z Force droid, which I would not recommend, it sucks but the XR screen is the same size as the Droid screen. The XR is fast, really fast it's just figuring out where everything is on the phone and where to find what I want.
As for Apple macs, their still overpriced and overhyped.

I don't know about smartphones, as I've never had one. I completely agree that Macs are overpriced. It's almost all about marketing rather than actual performance with them IMO.

I do own an iPod. I bought it used on Ebay a couple of years ago when the Creative MP3 player I had died. I used the Creative for 10+ years. I ended up buying the iPod not because I wanted an Apple product, but because it was the best price I found with the amount of storage I wanted. There really aren't a lot of MP3 players out there at this point and Apple dominated the market when they were popular, so there wasn't a huge selection to choose from.

I've considered getting an iPhone before, but again, I would have to find one used at the right price for what I wanted. I almost certainly wouldn't buy one new unless the price was comparable to a similar Android phone.

In most cases only the higher end, expensive Android phones have the same quality manufacture as the iPhone and prices in the mid to high range are compatible. Heck you can get an iPhone 6 for around a hundred bucks, the iPhone 7 for two to three hundred an 8 will set you back three to four hundred.
In most instances you chose a plan then pick a phone, the cost of the phone is spread out over two years, my XRs are an additional $31 each per month which is roughly $650 each, Not bad when you consider the cost of a Samsung Galaxy, etc.

If T mobile doesn't work out for you, we bundle our land line, high speed wifi internet, and cable with Comcast. We have the low end cable--no premium channels at all--for economy but there isn't much on the premium channels we want to see anyway. But the big bonus for us is that they throw in mobile phone service with unlimited calls and text and 100 mgs of data for free. They do require we use their Adroid smart phones and we pay for those at $7.50 per month per phone for three years at which time we can upgrade, and 100 mgs isn't enough so we pay an additional $12 per gig for data that we share. So with taxes and fees, our total cell phone bill with all the bells and whistles is about $33/month for two lines. And the 4g coverage nationwide is terrific because they use the Verizon network.

 

[Ringel05]

Okay, been badmouthing Apple for so long I decided to give the iPhone a chance. Switched over to T Mobile, great monthly rate with a deal on the iPhone XR, it was a better deal than Verizon offered to keep our business.
The phone is going to take some getting used to as I'm only familiar with Android but all the pro reviews rate iPhone better in almost every category than Android phones.
The XR is smaller than my Verizon Moto Z Force droid, which I would not recommend, it sucks but the XR screen is the same size as the Droid screen. The XR is fast, really fast it's just figuring out where everything is on the phone and where to find what I want.
As for Apple macs, their still overpriced and overhyped.

I don't know about smartphones, as I've never had one. I completely agree that Macs are overpriced. It's almost all about marketing rather than actual performance with them IMO.

I do own an iPod. I bought it used on Ebay a couple of years ago when the Creative MP3 player I had died. I used the Creative for 10+ years. I ended up buying the iPod not because I wanted an Apple product, but because it was the best price I found with the amount of storage I wanted. There really aren't a lot of MP3 players out there at this point and Apple dominated the market when they were popular, so there wasn't a huge selection to choose from.

I've considered getting an iPhone before, but again, I would have to find one used at the right price for what I wanted. I almost certainly wouldn't buy one new unless the price was comparable to a similar Android phone.

In most cases only the higher end, expensive Android phones have the same quality manufacture as the iPhone and prices in the mid to high range are compatible. Heck you can get an iPhone 6 for around a hundred bucks, the iPhone 7 for two to three hundred an 8 will set you back three to four hundred.
In most instances you chose a plan then pick a phone, the cost of the phone is spread out over two years, my XRs are an additional $31 each per month which is roughly $650 each, Not bad when you consider the cost of a Samsung Galaxy, etc.

If T mobile doesn't work out for you, we bundle our land line, high speed wifi internet, and cable with Comcast. We have the low end cable--no premium channels at all--for economy but there isn't much on the premium channels we want to see anyway. But the big bonus for us is that they throw in mobile phone service with unlimited calls and text and 100 mgs of data for free. They do require we use their Adroid smart phones and we pay for those at $7.50 per month per phone for three years at which time we can upgrade, and 100 mgs isn't enough so we pay an additional $12 per gig for data that we share. So with taxes and fees, our total cell phone bill with all the bells and whistles is about $33/month for two lines. And the 4g coverage nationwide is terrific because they use the Verizon network.

We have a large enough bill with Comcast with Home (security) bundled in. Besides I'm really starting to like the iPhone, it's much better than any Android phone I've ever had.

 

[Foxfyre]

Okay, been badmouthing Apple for so long I decided to give the iPhone a chance. Switched over to T Mobile, great monthly rate with a deal on the iPhone XR, it was a better deal than Verizon offered to keep our business.
The phone is going to take some getting used to as I'm only familiar with Android but all the pro reviews rate iPhone better in almost every category than Android phones.
The XR is smaller than my Verizon Moto Z Force droid, which I would not recommend, it sucks but the XR screen is the same size as the Droid screen. The XR is fast, really fast it's just figuring out where everything is on the phone and where to find what I want.
As for Apple macs, their still overpriced and overhyped.

I don't know about smartphones, as I've never had one. I completely agree that Macs are overpriced. It's almost all about marketing rather than actual performance with them IMO.

I do own an iPod. I bought it used on Ebay a couple of years ago when the Creative MP3 player I had died. I used the Creative for 10+ years. I ended up buying the iPod not because I wanted an Apple product, but because it was the best price I found with the amount of storage I wanted. There really aren't a lot of MP3 players out there at this point and Apple dominated the market when they were popular, so there wasn't a huge selection to choose from.

I've considered getting an iPhone before, but again, I would have to find one used at the right price for what I wanted. I almost certainly wouldn't buy one new unless the price was comparable to a similar Android phone.

In most cases only the higher end, expensive Android phones have the same quality manufacture as the iPhone and prices in the mid to high range are compatible. Heck you can get an iPhone 6 for around a hundred bucks, the iPhone 7 for two to three hundred an 8 will set you back three to four hundred.
In most instances you chose a plan then pick a phone, the cost of the phone is spread out over two years, my XRs are an additional $31 each per month which is roughly $650 each, Not bad when you consider the cost of a Samsung Galaxy, etc.

If T mobile doesn't work out for you, we bundle our land line, high speed wifi internet, and cable with Comcast. We have the low end cable--no premium channels at all--for economy but there isn't much on the premium channels we want to see anyway. But the big bonus for us is that they throw in mobile phone service with unlimited calls and text and 100 mgs of data for free. They do require we use their Adroid smart phones and we pay for those at $7.50 per month per phone for three years at which time we can upgrade, and 100 mgs isn't enough so we pay an additional $12 per gig for data that we share. So with taxes and fees, our total cell phone bill with all the bells and whistles is about $33/month for two lines. And the 4g coverage nationwide is terrific because they use the Verizon network.

We have a large enough bill with Comcast with Home (security) bundled in. Besides I'm really starting to like the iPhone, it's much better than any Android phone I've ever had.

I'm sure it is, but our smart phones do everything we need efficiently enough and I sure like that low bill for our phones.

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[Ernie S.]

It's cooled down to a manageable 92 with a 30% cloud cover. One storm to the west of us that seems to be losing its strength over Mobile Bay. Even if it reforms, it should slide by to the North.