Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Meeting at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Good Morning Connie, Gerry, Fogfighter, Draclvr, Hagatha and everyone else who pops in for coffee and treats. The Double Dark Wide Awake coffee is wonderful Gerry and will couple nicely with Danish from Connie. I've always enjoyed a blanket of new snow FogFighter. Footprints and tracks are temporarily erased. And the air feels crisp and clean inviting you to step outside and experience the peacefulness of winter.

I can only imagine what the air quality was like back when the only heating options were wood and coal Hagatha and Draclvr.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Gerry, unfortunately when I wear a mask I feel like I can't breathe at all. COVID was difficult for me because of that, especially when I had to spend hours in the hospital with John. Hopefully the new medication will do the trick for me. This is definitely the worst asthma attack I've ever had. I'm coughing all night and I just feel like staying in bed all day. I have no energy, not even for gaming.

Some municipalities in BC have banned woodsmoke, but most of the older rural and semi-rural homes here on the Island all seem to be wood-heated and people burn leaves in the Fall, too.

So Dude is now Outdoor Boy. He's happier than I've ever seen him. I can't get him to understand the cat flap into the garage but I'm working on it. Until I can get another flap installed, I want him to at least have a protected spot if he can't get in because I'm out. Willow has decided she'd rather stay inside with me. It's cold and there's no food bowl out there.

Where I live in Eastern Missouri there was a time when we did not meet Federal air quality standards. St. Louis is the major metropolitan city and all the contiguous counties were included in a very strict regulation to mitigate the air quality. One thing that was banned was leaf burning in addition to ALL open burning during the months of April through September. That along with special pollution reduction on vehicle gas pumps and strict limits on factories on their emissions slowly but surely turned things around. When I first started working for the Department of Natural Resources enforcing these regulations, the air was orange in the mornings in the summer. My eyes would be burning by the time I got home about an hour west of the office. But the air is clear now even in the metropolitan area.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to a new week!

Way back when I was young, I used to love to file my taxes. For about the last 5 or 6 years of my tax filing days, I used a service. I don't have any reason to file taxes anymore though now.

I also love a crisp winter day with fresh fallen snow, soot.

I don't know about the air quality, but I do remember my grandparents having a coal furnace and the house I grew up in had an oil stove which kept us quite warm. When we had to get rid of that, all we had was a space heater that really only heated the living room. All other rooms, we froze, and we used to use the kitchen stovetop burners a lot!

Well, enough reminiscing. Have a good day all!

oldbroad, I remember being terrified of our old coal furnace which had been converted to fuel oil! I had to walk by it to get to the storage room where mom had all her canned goods and potatoes in the burlap bags. I guess I thought it was some kind of monster in the basement!

Drac, I thought I was the only one! And we had to get past it to go our canned good storage too! What a flashback!

Hey everyone!

It didn't help that there was no light in that back room - after I had to walk past the terror of the old furnace, I had to go into that dark room to pick up potatoes to bring upstairs! I always prayed it wouldn't kick on while I was walking by it!

You too, eh!!

Bates Motel 😱😱😱

Grandma's coal furnace and coal room didn't bother me a bit but the oil storage room in our basement did. No lights in there and all the way at the far end of the basement; 3 barrels of oil, if I remember correctly, transferring oil by flashlight from a barrel to some container that then got poured into our stove in our living room.

Our lighting was a pull light that you needed to go right next to it in order to turn on and yes, heaven forbid it turned on with it's loud roar and flames! That was scary as heck!

My paternal grandmother had a grand old house with a huge, very dark and spooky basement that had a monstrous old boiler in a back room that had no light. None of us would go in there when we were kids.

I'm starting to think this isn't an asthma attack, or at least not entirely. I can't stop coughing. My luck may have finally run out on the COVID thing, even with all the boosters. It's a good thing I loaded up on cat food when I went out yesterday! I've got my priorities straight.

Oh, my, I hope not! Can you take a COVID test? I have at least 6 of them here which I got when the government was sending them out for free. I am so grateful for the vaccines and all the boosters. If Trump did nothing else, he did that for us in record time and I am grateful to him for it. My husband would have been one of those who had to go on a ventilator or would have died without them according to his doctor. He was just extremely sick for about 5 days. A good friend who refused all of them and was a super healthy 62 years of age and died.

Even if it is COVID, you will be fine since you are vaccinated and boostered! Just maybe miserable for awhile. Hang in there and maybe it's just a cold!

I do have to go to the pharmacy tomorrow to get some cough medicine so I'll grab a box of COVID tests while I'm there. I've been coughing and feeling low for a few days so I doubt I'm contagious at this point. Also, my new asthma medication should be ready soon so I'll be able to try that, too. I almost never get sick, but unfortunately when I get something in my chest it tends to stick around for a while.

I keep my fingers crossed for you Hagatha. Be better soon.
I'll make some double dark wide awake coffee for you and for the rest of the boomer team.
I'm not sure it helps against coughing but it's a good start of the day.

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday Fogfighter, Connie, soot, hagatha, Draclvr, oldbroad, Ana, Mad and everyone! Happy to hear you are enjoying the double dark Wide Awake brew soot.

I also grew up with the "pantry" in the basement near the big old oil burning furnace, but we did have a light in the pantry!

Hagatha you should ask the pharmacists about taking the asthma medicine if you have Covid...you may need the therapy meds for Covid and it could cause a reaction...check with your doctor too. Lets us know how you are doing...sending healing prayers your way too.

Enjoy a peaceful day everyone.

Gerry

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Lunch and Netflix with a friend today. Bowling at the Eagles tonight. Hagatha, hugs and prayers are on the way. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

hagatha, hope you feel better quick. We have a lot of prescribed burns here and yesterday was brutal where I had to hike with 100+acres burning next to where I hike my client dogs. The only real trigger I have for my asthma is wood/leaf smoke. I was shocked I had no reaction yesterday, even one of my dogs I was walking was having issues. My daughter, grandson and 2 clients are all home with covid right now. At least it's like a cold for them all but I am still staying far away! Hope your meds help!

Gerry, hope your snow is better and you can get out for a walk! We have frozen grass in the morning and then it is springlike in the afternoon. Finally!

Connie, anything good on Netflix? Enjoy!

fogfighter, have a great day!

Drac, we will have to agree to disagree on the vaccine. I thank God every day that I stood fast and refused them all given all the health issues coming to light from those that took them. Thankfully, we still have the right to choose for now.

Have a great day oldbroad, soot, Mad and all to follow!

Good morning Ana Connie Gerry FogFighter Hagatha Draclvr OldBroad Mad and everyone else who pops in for Break Room double dark wide awake coffee. The coffee is a hit with me FogFighter. Hagatha, I hope you get well soon. I remember my grandparents furnace in the basement and their huge attic which was fun to explore as a kid. Enjoy lunch and Netflix Connie. Glad you made it past your burns without too much trouble Ana. That's good news the air quality is better Draclvr. Happy Tuesday y'all.

Good morning! It's prescribed burn time around here too. It's an excellent way to control underbrush and exotic plants. It's the way good old mother nature used to do it! But the smoke can be awful - even when the burn is many miles away.

Yes, as with any medication there are always potential side effects. I laugh when I see commercials on TV for medications which always end up with long warnings about a chance of the most horrible consequences and I wonder how people are brave enough to take them! Luckily no one in my huge circle of family and friends ever had any issues with the COVID vaccines and boosters. Other than a sore arm - when was less than a tetanus booster - I never even knew I'd gotten it. And my hubby is alive because of the vaccine. So, any risk was well worth it. At our ages and health issues, we weren't taking any chances. It's why we always get a flu vaccine every year too. Thank heavens we can all make choices that are best for us!

Hagatha, hope you can get your coughing sorted out!

Happy Tuesday!

Good morning and thank for the good wishes. As soon as I've had coffee I'll shoot down to the little local pharmacy and grab whatever I need. Then It's curling up with Willow and a cup of chai for some Netflix in front of the fire. I have nothing on my schedule for a couple of days so I'll just take it easy.

Dude is outside so we won't have to listen to the pacing and chirping. He's started to understand that once he's in for his dinner that's it; he doesn't go out again. It's nice to see him so happy and stress-free, and he's very affectionate when he's at home.

I had no reaction to the COVID vaccinations either. The one that really got me was the Shingles vaccine. That one hurt for about ten days. Having seen how much John suffered with shingles, I'm glad I got the shot.

The Shingles vaccine wasn't a big deal for me, but hubby was like you. But I've seen how a couple of people have suffered with shingles. Nope, I'll take the vaccine!

Good Morning and Happy Hump Day everyone. I am so ready for a mug of double dark Wide Awake brew this morning! It is chilly in the house!

Lots of budget, insurance, and paperwork issues to get to today. Looking forward to a nice long walk this morning.

Hope you all enjoy a stress free day!

Gerry

Good morning boomers. I'll make some DDWAB for the room. Over here snow and fog but no blizzard. The furnace in the basement runs on electricty. Which can be scary when bills arrive.

Happy Wednesday!

Same to you Fogfighter!

Gerry