The Coffee House-Come & Chat With Us!(May 2020)

[Chryssie]

Morning/afternoon y'all! It is a very warm, partly cloudy day. There is a small chance of some passing showers as we move into our summer pattern and rainy season. I will go to the library, which is still closed, to pick up a book I had reserved and return what I have finished. No other plans for the day.

 

[Val]

@Val - Is Unghshu a dog?

Answered in a PM.

 

[KLS52]

Answered in a PM.

Haha you could have just copied and pasted your response when I asked that question.

 

[Chryssie]

Hey everyone! I picked up the book and 2 DVD's that I just requested last night. I started reading but am taking a break. I got hungry! I am now watching an episode of "The Outer Limits" that is about a pandemic. A vaccine was delivered to a hospital but there are only 3 doses. How will the woman in charge decide who gets it?

 

[Urban Gardener]

My friend has been given an antler. Supposedly, they're shed naturally - no harm to the animals. He's happy.

 

[Val]

Haha you could have just copied and pasted your response when I asked that question.

Lol, i didn't remember where it was, so i answered a little differently, but the matter was pretty much the same.

 

[Urban Gardener]

Agh, dental pain is back! I wanted to get some good writing done today, but my tooth hurts so much. It causes nerve pain and numbness all over the lower right side of my face. I'm going to go to the dentist ASAP.

Advil isn't helping much. Red wine helps, but I've been alcohol-free for more than two months now and I want to stick to that. So I'm just resting.

 

[Amy SF]

Agh, dental pain is back! I wanted to get some good writing done today, but my tooth hurts so much. It causes nerve pain and numbness all over the lower right side of my face. I'm going to go to the dentist ASAP.

Advil isn't helping much. Red wine helps, but I've been alcohol-free for more than two months now and I want to stick to that. So I'm just resting.

Ugh, I know how that feels. I had a tooth infection several years ago that nothing helped. The pain was excruciating, until it stopped suddenly in the middle of the night and then I had some numbness. I ended up being prescribed an antibiotic for it and getting a root canal. That nerve is now officially dead, but I’m now seeing a great dentist; my sister got me an appointment with hers because it was right before Christmas and my own dentist at the time wasn’t available. Sometimes things work out for the best in unexpected ways.

 

[Raven]

It's really hot, it's meant to be the hottest day of the year so far. I went for a walk and then forgot to bring the bird food so I had to go out again.

 

[shyvas]

It's 28°C over here and far too hot outside. I may venture out to Lidl's later on as they have some veggie stuff on SO.

 

[Urban Gardener]

I used to write a lot of fiction and poetry. As I got older, it became obvious that my writing was often misunderstood because of a lack of information about my history.

Regardless of what you're doing, context matters. So I decided to write an autobiographical piece before putting out anything else.

And it will be fairly lengthy because, well, I've lived quite a life! And it will be self-published. I'll probably print it at home, photocopy it, and bind it by hand. Because I have to say some controversial things. So I want to be the only one to see it before it goes out there, and I want complete control. No editors. I have worked in publishing so I know how things work. I'm making an informed choice, though one that will be viewed by some as naïveté or a gimmicky attempt to look edgy. But I think others will appreciate the hand-binding! Colorful string and art on the cover!

I have about six pieces of writing that could be the first chapter. I keep restarting it. I need to relax and get in the zone, crank it out with confidence.

I'm better at writing fiction. Writing about your own life is challenging. There is a tendency, at least for me, to alternate between negative and positive stances on things. I wake up and rant abour injustice, then work out and then want to erase that stuff and write something lighter. Which is real life? Both!

So I'm trudging through that phase of the writing process and approaching a point of equilibrium where I can portray the good and bad at once. Where that comes naturally.

I need to go down the street and get coffee. I'm also doing some volunteer work tonight, which is exciting but also comes with some risks. I believe it will be worth it. That I won't get infected and will instead get to make a difference by dressing up and bringing people food.

 

[Lou]

My friend has been given an antler. Supposedly, they're shed naturally - no harm to the animals. He's happy.

They are shed naturally but they also obtained whenever a hunter shoots a deer.
And for some reason, dogs love to chew them. I sometimes buy them for my sister's dog. And they are expensive. At the pet store your dog's antler would be like $20.
A lot of the packages of deer antlers or what seems to be the most popular is elk antlers says they are naturally shed.
I wonder how the companies acquire them. Up in the mountains are there places that buy them?

 

[Urban Gardener]

They are shed naturally but they also obtained whenever a hunter shoots a deer.
And for some reason, dogs love to chew them. I sometimes buy them for my sister's dog. And they are expensive. At the pet store your dog's antler would be like $20.
A lot of the packages of deer antlers or what seems to be the most popular is elk antlers says they are naturally shed.
I wonder how the companies acquire them. Up in the mountains are there places that buy them?

I did some investigating and found this!

Amazon.com: Customer Questions & Answers

www.amazon.com

"We have a company that goes out and collects original antlers from different forest/mountain ground. Our Gnawtlers® are specially selected Grade A Antler with strict requirements as we have very high standards "

So I imagine the company goes to areas where they could collect large amounts of antlers - following larger herds at the right time of year.

When I lived in rural Maine, it was pretty easy to collect deer antlers if you knew where to go and when.

Obviously, they could also be obtained from hunters, but hunters usually like to keep the antlers. It seems like just collecting them from the ground would be more cost-effective, but who knows.

I guess this would be classified as, "possibly cruelty-free," with some questions remaining.

 

[Lou]

I did some investigating and found this!

Amazon.com: Customer Questions & Answers

www.amazon.com

"We have a company that goes out and collects original antlers from different forest/mountain ground. Our Gnawtlers® are specially selected Grade A Antler with strict requirements as we have very high standards "

So I imagine the company goes to areas where they could collect large amounts of antlers - following larger herds at the right time of year.

When I lived in rural Maine, it was pretty easy to collect deer antlers if you knew where to go and when.

Obviously, they could also be obtained from hunters, but hunters usually like to keep the antlers. It seems like just collecting them from the ground would be more cost-effective, but who knows.

I guess this would be classified as, "possibly cruelty-free," with some questions remaining.

Hunters probably have their own dogs to give the antlers to.
And it hadn't occurred to me that they could be following herds. Maybe that's why the packages say elk antlers. I don't think deer travel in herds.

And I don't know, maybe its all this sheltering in place, but right now a job walking around looking for antlers sounds pretty cool.

 

[Urban Gardener]

Hunters probably have their own dogs to give the antlers to.
And it hadn't occurred to me that they could be following herds. Maybe that's why the packages say elk antlers. I don't think deer travel in herds.

And I don't know, maybe its all this sheltering in place, but right now a job walking around looking for antlers sounds pretty cool.

It does sound cool!

I've spent a lot of time in the woods in deer country. Based on my own observations, they do have a different social structure than elk and caribou. They seem to mostly congregate in small family groups. Those exist within a bigger social group. They're kind of like people - you'll see a family of a few deer sharing sleeping quarters and wandering together. You also see larger groups come together to graze in a meadow, move to a new area, or (seemingly) sort out the social structure, such as when bucks fight.

It's been a while, but you find two types of deer antlers - those shed naturally and those lost in fights with other deer.

You can also buy deer antlers for dogs. My dog is a pit bull -ish mix(?) with powerful jaws, so I got him the largest elk antler.

 

[Chryssie]

Hey everyone! I was really tired when I got home from work so I took a nap! I was in the office today and things went better than the last time except the scale still won't connect to the computer. It continues to be really busy and number of customers is still limited. I had to put out stock after I finished in the office and it is a pain because every item must be scanned to see if it got marked down while it sat in the warehouse. Slows things down considerably!
It is summer time hot here today and will continue through the weekend with a slight chance of scattered showers. The usual summer pattern is in place! It is around 90 right now.
I saw a comment on FB about "shed hunting" so I googled the term and discovered antler collecting. There is quite a bit of information about it. I never heard of it but I have seen the chews for dogs at TJ Maxx.

 

[Val]

It's May 21st, and everybody will go to the country soon... except Unghshu. It's still cold, and our countryside electricity system won't stand another freezing person. Liza already damaged it once (she switched all the heaters that were in the house, and then boom... electric kettle, to complete the picture). Then they were sitting without electricity and waiting for a worker engaged by Elijah. (Elijah was here, in Kolpino, at the moment, proceeding with the repairs,- so the only thing he could do is to call for a specialist and tell him to come to our plot. Lickily, he fixed everything and didn't take a lot of money).
Today, i didn't speak to that ballerina girl (Alya's daughter, Sabina), but i read ALL the info that i'd given to her, because i wanted to be able to advise her actual things about her work on Beethoven's Sym.N°5. I've already read her 2 online lectures on the symphony's structure and semantics, but she's acting like a typical student: she doesn't want to read anything and asking me stupud questions. Now she's stuck on her work on psychology, and we're losing time. I was upset, so i called Alya, told her that her daughter is procrastinating (with "transparent hints"), and sent her the same books as i'd sent to Sabina. Alya thinks that i'm doing a "great job", but what's the use of it...? Uugh...
Today was a weird day. Tomorrow will be the same. Mom and i visited our Azeri market together. The vendors are sitting inside their kiosks now. Fortunately, in most kiosks, we can pay with a card, except the one with dried fruits and seeds. There were not so many customers, but i felt uncomfortable. It feels like people haven't realized the threat yet,- many of then, vice versa, are so used to it already, that they barely pay attention to the safety requirements.
Here is how every fruit/veggie kiosk looks like these days. OTOH, we are grateful, that this small market with vendors from Central Asia (like Azerbaijan, Uzbekhistan, Tadjikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turcmenistan, etc.), is still working, because the vendors are always nice and friendly, and fruits and veggies are fresh and yummy. Moreover, we can pay with a debit card. It's written here: "Attention! Use protective masks and gloves! Take care of yourselves. Comply with social distancing of 1.5 meters! The place is being disinfected every 2 hours. /Situation room of "SV" shopping mall".

There was an interesting conversation between me and some (presumably Tadjik) woman-vendor.
Me: "Tell me please, do you ever have sumac here?"
Vendor: "Huh?"
Me: "Do you ever order sumac? S-U-M-A-C???"
Vendor: "Ooohhh!!! Sumac!!! How on Earth do you know about sumac???"
Mom(!), about me: "She loves to devour various inedible nasty things".
Me (realizing that mom is confusing that migrant woman): "Sumac? The red one?"
Vendor, not listening to mom: "Ohhh, yes, sumac is great, we put it in everything, we cook everything with it, we make marinated this, sauteed that, roasted this, boiled that, everything with sumac...", etc., etc. (It was clear that she was excited).
Me: "It's yummy and beneficial. DO YOU HAVE SUMAC???"
Vendor: "Oh, unfortunately we don't have one right away, but i can bring you some from the stock. Give me your number and i'll tell you when we bring it here. How much do you need? 500 gramms?"
Me: "Not enough..."
Vendor: "Will a kilo suit you?"
Me: "Yeah, a kilo will do"...
So i gave her my number, we bought cucumbers, Azeri pomegranate juices and 10 huge apples from her. Then we moved to another kiosk.
Unghshu's new cauliflower head bought by mom the day before from that same woman.


Mom is good at growing spring onions on our window sill. I think, she needs to stop procrastinating and launch a small business of home-grown greens or smth., lol.


Unghshu's walk on May 18th. Gigantic bird cherry tree near the river (it's really big for a bird cherry tree).

 

[Val]

Unghshu's walk on May 18th, part 2.
<100 meters from my house.


Great Yellowcress.


Our former community and daffodils.


Our former house. We moved out of it when i was 4.5. y.o., but i still see it in my dreams (mostly fantastic dreams).

 

[Chryssie]

The sky pictures are so pretty!

 

[Raven]

It's really hot again and it's only 11. I have been out for a walk and I had to go to the pharmacy. It was empty apart from one other person. I have my CBT phone session soon. It's meant to be my final one.