The Chat Thread

[comet]

Nov 18, 2018 1:52:45 GMT Libby said:

Rugby?

It's not often Ireland beat the All Blacks at rugby,
The Kiwis beat us 28 times out of the last 31 games over the last 113 years
so we will celebrate this one with joy.

[comet]

Looked up in wonder at the same moon,
and wept when it was all done
for being done to soon.

[Dave]

Jan 21, 2019 20:28:52 GMT comet said:

Looked up in wonder at the same moon,
and wept when it was all done
for being done to soon.

Blood Moon Jan 21 2019 - S Hampshire UK by Dave, on Flickr

It looked much dimmer than my photo, though. A case of the human eye not doing justice to the photo - something thet none of the media who were all over it mentioned! Probably because few if any of the journalists covering it stayed up all night to see it.

Dave

[comet]

Thanks Dave,
I suspected you might have taken the shot, I fell asleep and missed the whole event, I could hear my camera laughing on the counter when I woke up this morning.

[Libby]

Luckily there were holes in the clouds at long enough intervals to catch some glimpses of it here in Seattle.

[Joe]

I, too, was fortunate to get a break in the clouds to see the total lunar eclipse. Earlier Sunday we had 8” of snow which turned into freezing rain. The wind shifted and by totality the temperature was 0°F. Needless to say I was not outside very long! Great pic Dave...that is exactly how the moon looked here in northeast PA. 

[Libby]

This relates to a figure skater, so I was going to post it in the skating thread. But since the story contains some similarities to Hayley's story from years ago regarding eating disorders and depression, I thought I'd put it where anyone might see it. It is a little bit long and has too many ads, but here it is:

Here's the article link in case you can't see the embedded post: t.co/ZBZDgvJ0CG

Thankfully Hayley's story didn't seem to include suicidal thoughts, but the obsession to lose weight is certainly similar. I also read Gracie's comment that said she "dropped off the face of the earth" for 45 days, and found it liberating. I wonder if Hayley feels/felt the same way during her periodic hiatuses (I'm sure there's another word for the plural of hiatus, but I'm going with this anyway). However, the difference here is that Grace didn't "disappear" before first announcing that she would not be taking part in the upcoming Olympic skating season and was seeking mental health treatment. So, at least her fans were made aware of what was going on.

I've never had an eating disorder, but I do experience depression sometimes and have had suicidal thoughts before, so I can empathize somewhat with some of the things she said. The part near the beginning is somewhat horrifying, but I'm not going to lie, thoughts like those have entered my mind before. Not so much lately, because I decided long ago that I do not really want to ever do such a thing, and that I'm never really going to give up. But the things that have long influenced those feelings have not gone away, and I still sometimes feel physically unwell because of it, and have all I can do to get myself through the day.

[Dave]

This photo on the BBC website made me chuckle, it's Seattle today but it reminded me of here in England in Feb/March last year!



Hope you're not being too badly affected, Libby!

Cheers, Dave

[Libby]

Well, I don't use salt, and neither does the city of Kent. Luckily the city of Seattle have had brigades of snow plows, focusing especially on roads leading to hospitals and such. I heard some customers discussing the matter at work the other day, and they were saying how in NY, it could be a blizzard, and you could still drive on the freeway with no problem because they de-ice everything. But in Seattle, they use environmental reasons as an excuse not to use the money. So basically, we Seattleites and Kentish folk (we don't actually use the term Kentish, but I don't know what we do use, so I'm using Kentish LOL), are screwed.

We got snow last Sunday evening, and by Thursday, the snow, ice in our street had finally managed to clear (by the cars, mind you, not any snow plows). Then it snowed buckets and buckets Friday night. It was rather deep, and still is, and is now snowing again, and is supposed to continue through the night and into tomorrow. The weather forecast shows a snowflake symbol for every day until Wed., but then may come back next Fri... I guess I might as well quit my job, because I may not have one anymore if I keep being forced to call out every day. The buses are on snow routes, our streets don't get cleared, and I can't drive or walk on ice. So... I'm basically toast.

[Libby]

Well, here are my videos, starting with "Round 1" last week, and ending with "Round 3" today:

Round 1 (notice my smiley emoji; I could kick myself now. LOL)

http://www.instagram.com/p/BtcJGPFhGwO

Still on the ground 3 days later:

http://www.instagram.com/p/BthkTYuFkfF

Round 2 (there's a video on the second slide, where you can hear birds tweeting in the background):

http://www.instagram.com/p/Bto7jpbBHG-

Round 3:

http://www.instagram.com/p/BtuKJrRBcDz

http://www.instagram.com/p/BtuL7KihObU

And right after this, I hear the lady on the news calling it Round 3. LOL

[Joe]

Hi Libby!

Thank you for sharing your Instagram photos and videos of the snow!  There is lots of beauty there. 

I am glad that Kent does not use salt on its roads!  It really ruins the undersides of cars, and affects roadside plants, trees and streams. 

In my area, sometimes the roads are pretreated with a brine spray before a snowstorm. Then depending on the temperature, roads get a combination of sand, cinders, gravel, rock salt and calcium chloride...spread from the back of snow plows.   

This week will be snowy here...with about seven inches forecast (most of it coming on Tuesday).  Snow amounts are very difficult to forecast, no thanks to elevation and temperatures in the upper 20's. 

There is about three inches of snow on the ground right now. About half of a normal amount of snow has fallen this winter...if I remember about 40 inches has settled since November.  And I have observed some snowcover in my yard since November 11. Some members who are friends with me on Facebook have seen pics of my 3' x 6' backyard ice rink. 

i hope, Libby, that your managers at work do understand if you cannot make it in. I am sure you aren't the only one.  Perhaps you can go in early or stay late to make your time up. But I learned that some things are just not worth getting into an accident for.  My managers were less than sympathetic if I came in late..despite getting double the snow as anyone else.  My brother and I were among the ones who lived farthest away from work but always managed to show up...even when coworkers living less than a mile away consistenly called off. 

So please be careful out in the snow, Libby. 

[Libby]

Well, they understand about the snow, I'm sure, but in the long run, if one has too many absences within a certain amount of time, you get "talked to". And I don't want to get talked to. LOL I once was talked to after I had called out 3 days in one week (not all consecutively) when I had a really nasty cold and cough. When I brought up the fact that I had been sick, they practically ignored me. I do think policies have changed slightly since then. Both full-time and part-time workers now get sick pay, and so now mgrs are finding that people call out more often because it doesn't hurt them as much. So I think they are more lenient now. Also, it used to be that if someone didn't show up without calling in 3 times in a row, they were automatically fired. But this past year, that did not turn out to be the case (I was not the one, don't worry lol). I was told by a co-worker later that the policy had changed. Still, I feel bad staying out so many days. I was lucky to have Fri-Sun off, but I've had to call out today, and it appears I will have to tomorrow, too. I mean, I like sleeping in and all, but I'm starting to feel like I'm sleeping too much. I'm getting a lot of headway in my book, though, and getting laundry done, etc. LOL

Here's today's not-so-delighted post:

http://www.instagram.com/p/BtwfqGplZNF

[Dave]

Sorry to hear how badly it's affecting you Libby, I hope the snow relents soon so you can get out and about again. I had no idea how long it's already lasted - longer already than the disruptive snow we had in England last year. They don't bother clearing the side streets here either, by the way - on the odd occasion when it's that bad. They say it's not worth investing much in snow clearance when it's uncommon here, and usually clears up within a couple of days.

Of course, Joe, I suspect that you are very used to it as it seems to be quite common in your part of the world. I can recall photos from you in recent years with it a foot or two (or more) deep. Hopefully the snow clearance is a bit better where you are than we who live on the west and usually milder side of the continents have to suffer.

Cheers, Dave

[Libby]

An amusing photo (found on FB) for those of us discussing Blockbuster video a while back. LOL

[comet]

Europe seems to be closing down.