Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

I know this is a TOPP, but no quote. Just something heartwarming. I just received the nicest condolence card. It was from all the employees at my local bank, They were all shocked and upset at Heidi's passing while I was in the hospital and shared the kindest sentiments with me. The card made me cry, it was so wonderful. Heidi used to go with me to the bank several times a week, and they would stuff her full of treats while she was there. They all loved her.

Perfect topp

Wonderful TOPP, Heidi! It's so nice to know that four-legged Heidi was loved by so many and will be missed!

Sending more {{HUGS}} to you.

It has been a long day, which I will end by sending healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, prayers, positive thoughts, and

April 14 - and we got at least 3 or 4 inches of SNOW in northeastern Illinois. It was heavy, wet, and reportedly slippery. We didn't stray from the house. Well, hubby shoveled half the driveway, but it's still snowing. We have some errands to run tomorrow, so hopefully, the temperatures will reach about 50* F, as currently predicted.

Keeping everyone in my thoughts, and sending prayers, healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , and positive thoughts! Take care and be well, Everyone!

I’ve discovered that I’m not a complete monster. I heard a smoke alarm going next door. This is the woman who started a rumour that I was having a fling with a married man about 20 years older than me. She’s also hugely obese. Walking to the bathroom would be difficult for her. I knew if there was a fire, getting out would not be easy for her. I waited long enough to put my pad on the charger and put shoes on. It was still going so I headed out to check on her. Luckily it stopped right before I got to her yard so I didn’t have to talk to her, but at least I would have.

You could also have called the fire department when you heard the alarm. Either option makes you a good person, Suzy. Better than she deserves.

We're having a cold snap here, too, Julie. It's been in the 70's during the dat and upper 50's at night for the past 2 weeks. Tonight it's falling to a degree or two above freezing. I had to turn the heat on again.

What a disaster! Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is in flames! They don't know how the fire started or if anybody was trapped inside. But the fire is so massive that they may not be able to save any of the cathedral. It's been round since the mid-1100's, and now, destroyed. I hope it wasn't terrorism.

Suzy, we never had any doubt that you are a good person! Did someone suggest to you that you are a monster? Heidi is right; there was another option - calling the fire department. But you chose the more interpersonal option of actually going to her house prepared to do whatever was necessary to get her to safety. We're proud of you!

We ultimately got 6 or 7 inches of snow. Luckily today's high temperature of 50 melted much of that.

When we got to our daughter's apartment to babysit, she asked if we knew what was going on in Paris. We hadn't been listening to the radio on the way. I was afraid it might have been a terrorist attack or yellow-vest uprising. The fire at Notre Dame cathedral was shocking and devastating. Luckily, there were apparently no deaths, but the destruction of such an historic and religious monument is heart-breaking for so many!

It's getting late, so I will say Good Night to Everyone. But first, I'll send {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, , healing energy, and prayers.

Sad to see the cathedral but thankful it can be rebuilt. It has survived WW1 & 11 - amazing. The actual original Notre Dame Cathedral is about halfway between Chantilly and Paris and is very plain - nothing ornate like this one.
Good on you Suzy - hard to ignore someone else's possible plight not matter how you feel about them. Hope Alie better now.
DorA - sorry about your neighbour - I hope he finds a solution.
Julie - thank you for your wishes - it was certainly an op I do not want to repeat. Now have another 3 stents (5 in total)and taking a long time to heal.
Glad op went well Heidi and you are on the way to reaching your goal.
Sorry the cruise was not what you had hoped for CynB. Having Col sick too would have been awful. Niece spends 2 weeks every 6 weeks in Queenstown and loves it. Wish I had her job. Best wishes to all, leaving work early - still not up to a full day,

If I had seen smoke I definitely would have called the fire department. I suspected burnt toast and her unable to reach the alarm to cancel it, but that was best case. I had to check just in case. So glad I didn’t have to go there.

Notre Dame was very very sad. The rose windows survived apparently, and most statues had been removed for the renovation.

I'm so glad to see your post, Midge. So sorry the recovery/healing from your surgery is taking longer than expected. Give yourself whatever time is necessary to get back to normal!

Suzy, I hope it's true that the Rose windows and the large organ were not damaged or destroyed in the fire. I suspect they will know more in the coming days.

MizT, I hope you have been getting some relief from the pain and are able to get back to all of your usual activities.

Thinking of everyone and sending healing energy, , positive thoughts , {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and prayers! Good Night to all!

Since I'm feeling better every day, I've decided to do something crazy-fun. I'm getting some Alpacas! I'm going to go look at them on Saturday. I've been offered a fabulous pachage deal... 5 females, 4 of them bred to the male of my choice (she has 4 males), for only $3500!!!!

Morning all - nice TOPP Heidi.
Good to see Midge posting.
It was very sad about Notre Dame, so awful to see history go up in flames.
Hi to Julie and Suzy whi is a good neighbour even if she was pleased she didn't have to talk to the neighbour.

Col has this week off too but yesterday, finally, he seemed almost back to normal, even venturing out into the garden to trim some bushes, and he has plans for today.
He will go back to work after Easter - next Tuesday, and plans to return to full time work - in the office, until it's time for them to insert his new lens. I suspect this will be as minor as cataract surgery because it will be a similar op. I think recovery time will be minimal too. In ways I will miss having him around but in other ways I'm punching the air that he'll be out of my way!

Thanks for sharing the good news about Col! I know you've told us, but I forgot. When is Col having the surgery to get the new lens? Or don't you know because of waiting for a donor?

So while we will return to normal life after 15 months, it will not last long. As I mentioned about 6 months ago my daughter and her husband have separated. They have sorted out their property settlement. He wants to buy her share of the house, she's happy with that as she wants out of it. She and their adult kids have been living in it since the separation. The bank want her out before they will lend him the money to pay her and she can't buy anything until she gets the money, so when the time comes, in 5 weeks or so, she will move in with us, the kids will stay with their father until she can buy a house - hopefully by then she will have a purchase contract ready and waiting. I am looking forward to having her home with us but I suspect it will be short-lived. I remember our relief when she got married and left us!! Love her but she'll try to run our lives and we're older and crankier. She left in 1997.

Heidi, no, the lens is artificial as are the ones used in cataract surgery. The delay on the lens op depends on the healing time of the graft surgery. All has been going well there. Back to the Opthalmologist on 29th April so hopefully a date may be chosen. Fingers crossed.

Pictures posted of a few of the Alpacas on my page.

Love Alpacas - they are gentle animals that like to spit if you annoy them. Been caught that way by staring at them for too long. Had to laugh!! Best knitting wool too. Alpaca wool is expensive here. Good luck with them Heidi.
Glad Col will be back at work soon. Outrageous the bank wants your daughter out of there (and not the adult children) before they will lend him the money. The fact they are separated should be enough proof - maybe it is her ex that really wants her out first. Anyway, it would be a good situation to get out of. I wish her the best.

Alpacas spit a LOT less than Llamas do.
I have been having a very hard time recovering from the loss of my dear Heidi, the Malinois, and decided that I needed something to distract me. At first I considered getting another dog, but reslized that I'd compare it to Heidi. It's way too soon. I figured the fun of getting Alpacas might just help ease the pain.

I posted 3 pictures. One of the Alpaca herd at Ruth's, one of Ginnie (the youngest) and one of Skipper. I know another is named Barbie. She's a fawn color. I don't know the names of the other 2 girls. One is black and one is grey like Ginnie. All of then except Ginnie will be bred before I bring them home. Gestation is 11- 11.5 months.

Just a quick hello and Good Night! Sending the usual {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, prayers, , and positive thoughts!

Julie, according to the picture caption, on Heidi's page, ''Skipper'' is female.

DARN! It's happened again. I didn't close the page without posting, but went to a document that hubby asked me to proofread. When I came back, my post was gone.

Let's see what I can remember: I said Hi to Everyone!

I'm so happy for Heidi who is feeling better and has decided to do something nice for herself. Heidi, the alpacas look so cute and fluffy! I hope they have pleasant personalities and will be fun to get to know! I had misread your post and thought you were getting 4 females and a male. Luckily, DOrA read more carefully and was able to set me straight.

Cyn, it's so great to read that Col is feeling better and plans to return to full-time work after Easter. I hope he gets good news from the Ophthalmologist on April 29 and his upcoming surgery will be able to be scheduled.

I suspect your D has been going through a tough time. Hopefully, her time at your house won't be too long and she'll be able to find a suitable new home and be able to get on with her life. Wishing the best for her and for you and Col in the days ahead.

DOrA, thank for clarifying that Skipper is also a female. I suspect that my late night visits to the page may lead to my confusion.

I need to head to bed soon. We need to be up by 5:30 in the morning. So, here are today's positive thoughts, healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , and prayers. Good Night, Everyone!

I lost power, for a while, today shortly after lunch. No wind, no rain basically just another semi-gray day. The light went out and a couple of seconds later, I heard a bang. Almost sounded like one of my neighbors shooting. Turned out the cause was a squirrel that climbed a pole, got across the power line and caused a fuse to blow. The pole was at the edge of my property. The squirrel was found at the base of the pole. 7,500 volts will do that.

A neighbor remembered the 'hot dog' cookers from the '50s and wondered if the squirrel might have been cooked and be a candidate for a peel n eat meal...

Sigh DorA, roast squirrel under those conditions feels wrong.

Midge, I have a hard time with your health issues, knowing it’s the docs fault. Maybe that’s because of my own experience, but I’m pretty sure I was angry about them before. Not that that helps you....

Cyn, so glad to hear things are going well for Col. I almost wish he could retire on his bosses dime though since it was his fault the window was open in the first place. It sounds like you would enjoy a few more years of him working though, and he probably would too. I know I would enjoy feeling useful for a while, but know that being able to concentrate for more than 2 minutes is a prerequisite of the workforce.

MizT has posted ont tos so I know she is okay, probably not okay to sit at her computer.

Tomorrow I go to the Alpaca farm to see my new alpacas and chose the males to breed them to!!!!!

Well.... I started out planning on getting 2 or 3 alpacas to start with. Then I was given this great offer for 5 of the,. Now I'm getting 6 females, 5 to be bred in the next month before I pick then up. So 13 months from now I can possibly have 11 alpacas. Their owner has health problens and is getting out of breeding, so she decided to sell all her females and just keep her males.
The 6 are named Ginnie, Skipper, Julie, Barbie, Zoe and Tempe. Ginnie, Zoe and Tempe are grays, Skipper is medium brown, Julie is black and Barbie is fawn color.

DOrA, so sorry you were without power for some time today! Very frustrating - and hard on the squirrel, as well. The squirrel paid a larger price

Suzy, thanks for letting us know that MiizT posted on TOS. I hope her pain has abated at least some of it.

Heidi, have fun at the alpaca farm tomorrow!

Happy Spring, Happy Easter, and Happy Passover to all friends!

Sending healing energy, prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, prayers, and for Everyone!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter, Happy Passover, and/or Happy Spring!

It's late, so I'll just send the usual healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, , and prayers for each of you!

I had a dental check-up and cleaning today. Everything was fine. But I mentioned the Alpacas to my Dentist and she flipped out. It turns out that she's very into producing her own yarn and knitting with it. She's already spoken for the fleece from my next shearing of the Alpacas, even tho' it won't be for a year. I don't think I'm going to have much problem marketing the fleece in the future.

WOW, Heidi! That's terrific that you already have a buyer for the alpaca fleece! I know you said it will be a year before the next shearing. My questions are - how soon will you get the alpacas? Will you need to buy special feed, or do they mostly graze on whatever is planted in their pasture?

We need to be up early again tomorrow, so I'm about to head to bed. Sending lots of {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , healing energy, positive thoughts, and prayers! Good Night!

They mostly graze. I won't be getting them for about a month and a half. They will be dewormed first, them bred. Once they've been bred, they'll wait a week or 2 to verify that the breedings took. If not, they'll be re-bred. Once we know that the breedings took, I'll pick them up.

That sounds great, Heidi! You'll have some exciting times ahead! I think I can safely say that we will all enjoy sharing this new endeavor with you - especially when the new alpacas are born!

I've been thinking of all our fellow Sudokuaholics and hoping all are well! I suspect this is a busy time of year for many of us, so I'm not surprised that posts have slowed down. If I get whatever hubby has, I suspect I may miss a few days of posting. We assume it's a cold or upper respiratory infection, but he has been sleeping off and on during the day and complaining that his legs feel weak. I'm having a hard time figuring out if he really feels as miserable as he says, or if it's a man cold.

I'll be off to bed soon, as it's likely that I could be on my own to get to orchestra tomorrow. Sending healing energy, positive thoughts, , prayers, and {{{{{HUGS}}}}} for Everyone!

Heads up, I think next post is a TOPP.

Julie, I hate to be a scaremonger, but leg weakness doesn't sound like a cold or urti to me. I would recommend seeing a doc sooner rather than later if hubby doesn't improve very quickly.

That said, I hope it is just a minor ailment and he is back up-and-at-'em again very quickly.