Sudokuaholics Anonymous 7

Okay, if you insist.

I will be back after the puzzles.

Rena, I enjoyed the youtube. Quite a contrast to the one I'd listened to before it. I read an article about Cold War Kids so decided to listen to their new single. Um.... I'm getting old!

That was so kind of you Suzy to turn the page. Up at the crack of dawn...watering day [between 6 - 8am] ...now for 40 winks before we head out to Cockatoo...
Have a good one everybody.

Bean, hope the weather is kinder to you today.

Yum, drool... Just reading an article about foods that will probably make it onto Superbowl tables, and probably shouldn't! It reminded me of the yummy seven layer dip rcipe I used to have and lost. Off to search for a new one....

Updated TOPP list:

46-Suzy
35-Tami, June
31-eaa
20-Julie
18-CynB
17-MizTricia
14-Gail
12-Dizzy Lizzy
10-Vici
9-Stella
8-Broni, Heidi, Rolanda, Brenda, Nola
7-Judy, Mariana, Bean
6-Viv
4-Mamacita, Susan
3-Becky
2-vdV
1-Gath, Rena

catch you all later.Going around to sons place with the trailer and make a trip to the tip.
Have a great day in Cockatoo Bean,and everyone else.

Good Morning SA7, hope you are all well or improving.

hehehe, Suzy, welcome to SUD, have a nice day.

BEAN, Gail and assorted sudokuites, have a great day meeting up with Mary today. I hope the heat is a bit more tolerable today for you. Photos, we want photos and a video again would be wongerful!

For all the dog lovers out there, take a look, a nice tribute to dogs.

GROWING OLD WITH MY DOGS

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Growing%20Old/index.htm

Hi guys. Ebob has asked me to download all the school certificate papers I can so here I am... I've already got most of the math and science ones, but she wants them for all subjects.

Suzy. what are school certificate papers? Hope you find the remainder.

Hi. Back again after spending most of the day chipping ice off of our driveway. Don't know if I'm getting old or am out of shape. Maybe a little of both.

Tuesday we got 4 inches (10 cm) of snow. Overnight we got 1/2 inch (1+ cm) of ice, then another 5 inches (13 cm) of snow on Wednesday.

Suzy, the icicles are pretty when the sun hits them, but they can cause all kinds of damage. If you don't knock them off, an ice dam can build up, go under the shingles and leak into the house.

Suzy, sending you a PM with a link. Hope it helps.

MizT, the school certificate is earned at the end of Year 10 in NSW (don't know about the other states). Students are given a number of state wide exams, plus they have in-school assessment tasks they have to complete. It originated at a time when the majority of kids left school at the end of year 10 to do an apprenticeship or other trade type qualification. Ebob wants to see past papers to help her prepare, though she will go the additional 2 years to get the higher school certificate she wants to do well.

Hi MizT.

While cleaning off my car yesterday, the neighbor's gutter fell off their house. Told hubby that I about wet myself. It was so quiet that the noise seemed really loud.

Well I got a couple of English papers done, but have to take off now. This is not going to be a quick job... Maybe I should show her how to do it for herself....................

Sorry Becky, I giggled.

Snorting here Becky!

BECKY, wetting yourself in those temps outside, you would have yellow ice hehehe

Suzy, thanks for the information. Since I have no children in school, do not know about certificates. I do know that before a child can graduate and get a diploma, they must pass an exit exam, otherwise they get a certificate of attendance. They get 2 or 3 chances to pass the exam.

Really, I am sorry you got such a scare, I imagine the noise would have been very loud. Something about a snow covering that changes sounds, don't you think?

Don't be sorry, had to laugh at myself, too.

I think it's because there's no leaves on the trees to muffle the sound.

Well, time for me to put the old feed bag on. Will try and get back later if I don't fall asleep on the couch.

Food was flung, the dishes put into that convenient box, and some TV has been watched. Now a bit of time to check in with everyone here and catch up with the posts and the playground is empty! Way to many blue Gemini Avatars on this page.

Hello lovely SA7 people - lovely to see Becky, Rena and Vici here. Topsiders have been quiet lately but thanks to MizT we are getting the odd bulletin about Heidi. No more news? I hope things are improving and they are finding solutions to their power, heating and water problems. I find myself not just worrying about them but about their animals.
Once again - warm thoughts and love to you Heidi!

Suzy - please tell Ebob not to wear that hoodie unless it's cold. I find it so threatening to see a teenager coming towards me with a hoodie. I do not feel safe.
Tell her from her cyber-aunt CynB she's too pretty to cover her face up with a horrible hoodie.

The neighbouring community to us has a very high Korean and other Asian population. They were having a Luna New Year festival today so I took Laura to see the Chinese Dragon and other characters. she was intrigued by some of the costumes but everything was a bit drawn out and it was hot(about 338c). We could not even get close enough to get any good photos. (bit hard with a pusher!)

MizT, second chances are hard to come by in NSW exams. In fact I can't think of any way to get a second chance at the school certificate. For the higher school certificate I THINK you can repeat your final year, but then I heard some rumblings that the results of both years are considered. When I finished high school I did six of seven 3 hour exams (I can't remember if there was one or two English exams) and produced an art major work. Whether or not I got the major I wanted at University depended 100% on those exams. It was all or nothing!!! You definitely could not afford to get sick...

June, that is definitely too hot to enjoy being outside for a long time. It would have been interesting though.

Cyn, maybe hoodies will feel less threatening if you think of the people as wearing them for the same reason Ebob does - lack of self confidence.

I vote we run up MizT's phone bill some more and ask for a Heidi update! So rude!! But I'm too far away to see her shock, horror, how rude look so I'll be brazen. Don't really mean it of course, am just worrying a tad, like Cyn.

Yes, Suzy, I can see that point, particularly in Ebob's case but they are associated with a criminal element.. Maybe I watch 'The Bill' too often ....'last seen wearing jeans and a black hoodie, Sarge'. Do you think?
But as I have become older I am more aware of the dangers around me. Mostly younger people do not even notice my existence (warning Will Robinson - old person ahead - ignore! ignore!) so if a young person heads toward me in a hoodie - yes, I do think the worst.

Life after ice storm dire, getting worse in spots


Jan 30, 8:59 PM (ET)

By BRUCE SCHREINER

MARION, Ky. (AP) - In some parts of rural Kentucky, they're getting water the old-fashioned way - with pails from a creek. There's not room for one more sleeping bag on the shelter floor. The creative are flushing their toilets with melted snow.

At least 42 people have died, including 11 in Kentucky, and conditions are worsening in many places days after an ice storm knocked out power to 1.3 million customers from the Plains to the East Coast. About a million people were still without electric Friday, and with no hope that the lights will come back on soon, small communities are frantically struggling to help their residents.

One county put it bluntly: It can't.

"We're asking people to pack a suitcase and head south and find a motel if they have the means, because we can't service everybody in our shelter," said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown, who oversees about 9,000 people, many of whom are sleeping in the town's elementary school.

Local officials were growing angry with what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees.

"We've got people out in some areas we haven't even visited yet," Smith said. "We don't even know that they're alive."

Smith said FEMA has been a no-show so far.

"I'm not saying we can't handle it; we'll handle it," Smith said. "But it would have made life a lot easier" if FEMA had reached the county sooner, he said.

FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak said some FEMA personnel already are in Kentucky working in the state's emergency operations center and that more will be arriving in coming days. Hudak said FEMA also has shipped to 50 to 100 generators to the state to supply electricity to facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, and water treatment plants.

Hudak said travel is still dangerous in some areas and communications are limited.

"We have plenty of folks ready to go, but there are some limitations with roads closed and icy conditions," she said.

From Missouri to Ohio, thousands were bunked down in shelters, waiting for the power to return. Others are trying to tough out the power outage at home, using any means they can to get basics like drinking water, heat and food.

Lori Clarke was stuck at home in the western Kentucky town of Marion with trees blocking the road out. She trudged more than half a mile through snow and ice carrying 5-gallon buckets to bring drinking water for her horses and dogs and to flush her toilet.

"When you live out in the country, you just shift into survival mode," she said.

Even for those who wanted to leave, it wasn't possible. The one gas st

OMG - MizT Is there more to that, it ends mid-sentence? I do feel for Heidi and I'll bet that if the authorities try to move her she won't budge without the animals and who can blame her. I hope they're all still safe and by some miracle they've developed a plan.

Even for those who wanted to leave, it wasn't possible. The one gas station in Marion that was up and running was able to supply gasoline to emergency vehicles only until another delivery of gasoline arrived Friday. Only half of that gas was made available to the public, and there was a $10 limit.

Linda Young, who is staying the town's shelter, said her car only had enough gas in it to get around Marion. Even if she had gas, there was nowhere to go - all of her relatives in other parts of Kentucky also were hit by the ice storm.

"For right now, this is the best we can do, so this is where we're at," said Young, as she sat on a mattress with her 9-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.

By midafternoon water service had been restored to the city of Marion thanks to a generator, while efforts continued to restore service to the outlying county, Police Chief Ray O'Neal said. Residents were being told to boil the water before drinking it.

Meanwhile, the death toll was rising: Since the storm began Monday, the weather is suspected in at least 11 deaths in Kentucky, nine more in Arkansas, six each in Texas and Missouri, three in Virginia, two each in Oklahoma, Indiana and West Virginia and one in Ohio, with most of them blamed on hypothermia, traffic accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.

Among the latest deaths reported were those of a man in his 60s, a woman in her 50s and a woman in her 40s who were found in a southwestern Louisville home Friday. The younger woman was found in bed; the other two were found in the garage, along with a generator, police spokesman Phil Russell said.

The fight to return power to Kentucky and other areas affected by the ice storm is difficult because of the sheer number of outages, but also because of the ice itself. Crews have joined the effort from around the country, but more than a half-million homes and businesses were still out in Kentucky on Friday, along with roughly 78,000 in Missouri and 284,000 in Arkansas. Thousands more were still in the dark in Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.

"As ice is melting, power lines and tree limbs are springing upward and hitting other power lines," said Rita Alexander, spokeswoman for Gibson Electric Membership Corp. in Tennessee. "It is just an unpleasant part of the process."

While generators were able to bring some water pumping stations back to life Friday, thousands still didn't have access to running water, and thousands more were under boil advisories. Roughly 200,000 people across Kentucky still don't have water. In Hayti, Mo., alderwoman Lisa Green said a temporary generator was in use to run the water plant, and power was being moved around to pump wastewater through the sewage system, she said.

That wasn't enough. "Our water plant is up and running, but people are inundating it," Green said. The community has received some bottled water, she said, but needs more.

A precious few had

Well that made me feel better!

Heidi is resourceful. I'm sure she will be okay. Come on, chant with me...

Chanting, Suzy, chanting!!

It is much to late tonight to try to call Heidi. I can give a try tomorrow, tell her I was forced to call by all her cyber friends hhehe

Good Ni8ght everyone. We will be below freezing again tonight, more changeable weather, back to winter again. I shall not complain though, it could be so much worse, like Kentucky.

Isn't that ridiculous and typical of authorities anywhere - they're telling people to drive south and find a motel or whatever but not making sure gas is available for them. Beam me up, Scotty, I want to head south for the winter!

Take care and stay warm, MizT! And thanks.