Global Pandemic of Boredom



  • What’s the most entertaining thing right now? Need some fresh ideas. I’ve been working on the garden. Green beans, squash, cucumbers, green onions, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, carrots, watermelons, cantelope, basil, jalepenos. Anyone getting into anything enjoyable? Also we watched Mindhunter. Not for people who can’t hear vulgar, despicable ideas being expressed, but excellent script and acting.



  • Upped my cooking game a lot. Made a lot of things I always meant to try including home made pizza (the dough is quite easy to make with flour and yeast) and it has all turned out quite well. Outside of that trying to stay somewhat active walking around the property, have a treadmill as well for when it’s raining. Watching some stuff, playing some games. Did a run of Dark Souls 3 including the DLC which was a huge time sink.



  • @BShark I wish our property was bigger. The neighbors don’t do social distancing and walks around the block feel like playing Frogger.



  • @approxinfinity said in Global Pandemic of Boredom:

    @BShark I wish our property was bigger. The neighbors don’t do social distancing and walks around the block feel like playing Frogger.

    That sucks. I’m on over 10 acres so I can do a lot without encountering my neighbors. Closest are behind the house but there is an okay distance to the property line, I think about 10 feet perhaps, I haven’t measured. Their house is well back from that but still it’s the closest. I could go outside and yell and if they were just outside their house they could probably hear me. Likely the only neighbor where that is the case. Had some issues with them but we’ve got a proper fence up now. Even before that they had at least started to keep their horses a bit in check. Nothing against horses but I didn’t sign up for divots and poop all over my property.

    With money being tight for some I’ve noticed more of the stray cats around. Guessing other people might have stopped putting out cat food for them.



  • We started a garden, took mulch outta the the flower beds and put in rock and put together a pool for my son lol. The last dance is a good documentary on Jordan’s last team but only 2 episodes have been released.



  • I still have work that fills about half my days, but I actually feel busier than usual. It’s weird. Maybe because my wife is working at home too… and there seems to be so many meals to make, and the DISHES.

    During the extra time during the day…

    Planted a bunch of in-ground lettuce and some potted tomatoes. Not enough sun for a big garden. Started painting again (I do have a degree in fine art, LOL) Running more miles Probably drinking more beer… well, maybe the same, but at home instead of out at a brewpub (picking up growlers and cans from a local breweries each week).

    I’ve been really uninspired by most of the TV streaming series except for some British stuff (End of the F***ing World, Flea Bag, Happy Valley, Sex Education). Too much violence, crime, drug cartel stuff in all the American dramas (seems out of touch at this point), and the British acting is just so much better. Less violence. More sex. Better acting. Easy trade.

    Also… extra walks with the dog. She seems pretty happy with the pack situation.



  • Would love to be able to garden, BUT not in an area for that anymore. Miss it for sure when growing up my Mom and Dad we had huge gardens , and of course it was up to the kids to help keep it up.

    We use to have LONG rows of pea’s , Carrots , raddish , Onions , 10-15 hills of cucumbers ,5-6 hills of watermelon , cantaloupes, Potatoes Rows of sweet corn and at least 20 tomato plants ( Usually JetStar ) and those rows had to be weed less lol. Get buckets of water from the well every day and take like a 5 lb coffee can poke holes in the bottom and go down the rows and water everything.

    I remember Dad taking spike Nails and sticking 2-3 around each tomato plant keeping those nasty tomato worms from getting on and eating the plant. Couldn’t believe how that worked but it did. The zinc off the nail, the tomato worms hated that just stick those nails in the ground around the plant and Presto lol.

    Soas how as I can’t have a garden I actually found myself watching Boxing last night on ESPN. It has been sooooo long since I had watched that. Watch Meri Weather fighting Pacial where Mere Weather went to 48-0 and was only going to fight one more time and then call it quits. Believe it or not actually kind of enjoyed. - -Watching a lot more TV - -Been watching a lot this morning of Log Cabin living.

    It’s crazy all these people wanting Log cabins – Beautiful Cabins - - - on the OUTSIDE lol. Most of them though on the inside NOTHING cabin about them, Sheetrock walls , Carpet - - THAT’S not log Cabin. - People spending like 835,0000 and such for that. If I want a Cabin which I would love it would be Cabin.- There were some Awesome Decks, wrap around - -HUGE bay windows, Massive fire places - - lofts - -Awesome Cabins other then sheet rock walls and carpet… - -Don’t get me wrong not all of them , a lot right by the mountains isolated , wilderness - - I love that.



  • @kjayhawks I’ve been meaning to watch The Last Dance. Maybe tonight.

    I was trying to get some cedar planks for an above ground garden but they didn’t have any at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Asked on Reddit and someone directed me to a good local lumber place. Realizing how dependant I am on the internet for all the answers. I’m appreciating reddit more and more as I start to contribute to it.



  • @DanR I tried to grow mixed greens with grow lights vut when I moved them outdoors the stems were too weak and a thunderstorm last night wiped them out. I think I’m going to reboot by planting seeds in a shadier part of the garden. Need our salads!

    Thanks for the recommendations on Brit shows. Have watched season one of end of the ****ing world already and thought it was great. Will look into Happy Valley.

    Glad to hear you’re painting. I should be writing more. That’s what I did at school. English, Religion minor, Poli Sci (9 creds), education minor (30 creds).



  • @jayballer73 Thanks for sharing your recollections of your garden as a kid. You paint a vivid picture and it’s beautiful man.

    Once my kids get going they’re into it. Certainly breaks up sitting in the house all day, which is what we did most of the week. And with it being wet and overcast, the hammock doesn’t have the same allure today.

    We took a drive yesterday. Amazed at how busy everything was (worries me), but that’s a story for a different thread.



  • @DanR hey thanks for calling out how ridiculous the dishes are atm. Reminded me to ease up on my boys. Dishes are their chore and it’s often pulling teeth, but the volume is crazy right now.



  • @approxinfinity said in Global Pandemic of Boredom:

    @jayballer73 Thanks for sharing your recollections of your garden as a kid. You paint a vivid picture and it’s beautiful man.

    Once my kids get going they’re into it. Certainly breaks up sitting in the house all day, which is what we did most of the week. And with it being wet and overcast, the hammock doesn’t have the same allure today.

    We took a drive yesterday. Amazed at how busy everything was (worries me), but that’s a story for a different thread.

    Thanks. Those are memories that will be there for ever. - I remember was kind of a family thing. on a Summers night snapping beans and podding pea’s lol. - -Remember Mom Making Cucumber pickles dam they were good lol



  • @approxinfinity said in Global Pandemic of Boredom:

    What’s the most entertaining thing right now? Need some fresh ideas. I’ve been working on the garden. Green beans, squash, cucumbers, green onions, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, carrots, watermelons, cantelope, basil, jalepenos. Anyone getting into anything enjoyable? Also we watched Mindhunter. Not for people who can’t hear vulgar, dispicable ideas being expressed, but excellent script and acting.

    Mind hunter is phenomenal.

    I’ve been working on my Masters degree. Would be a good time to try and add like a 4-week self paced certification if it can help your career.

    For fun we’ve started making fancy cocktails. We got a bartender set and that’s been fun to try a new drink a few nights a week.

    I’ve been working with our dog a lot. Fixing bad habits, going on long walks, etc.

    I have had the smoker running a lot. 6 pork butts (giving some away), 1 brisket, a pizza, sausages, a meatloaf, and wings so far.

    I also take a nap every day right now. It’s going to be brutal goin back to work in the office 😂



  • @approxinfinity We’ve been doing a butt load of fishing. Not so much catching, but fishing. It’s still good for my soul.



  • @BShark Our “backyard” neighbors have this little dog-like critter that yaps CONSTANTLY. Me and another neighbor were talking about it one day and she said “I HATE that little yapping S.O.B. - and I don’t like his dog either.”



  • @nuleafjhawk said in Global Pandemic of Boredom:

    @BShark Our “backyard” neighbors have this little dog-like critter that yaps CONSTANTLY. Me and another neighbor were talking about it one day and she said “I HATE that little yapping S.O.B. - and I don’t like his dog either.”

    XD

    These people also train service dogs which was the bigger reason for the fence going up.



  • I’ve been working from home, too. I feel like I get a lot done, but that there is always plenty to do. I think I live on Zoom at this point.



  • @justanotherfan said in Global Pandemic of Boredom:

    I’ve been working from home, too. I feel like I get a lot done, but that there is always plenty to do. I think I live on Zoom at this point.

    We were talking the other day how people have become too zoom happy. That there are actually even more meeting now than before.

    Instead of sending an email, a zoom gets set up. And it’s harder to make excuses to get out of them because everyone knows you’re at home.



  • @Kcmatt7 Who’s zoomin who?



  • I hate meetings. 90% of the time they’re a tremendous waste of resources. I have been called out for not attending a meeting maybe twice in 7 years at my company. I don’t go if it doesn’t seem necessary, and I think that is the healthiest policy. We are adults. We should know whether its important or not for us to attend. If on the off chance we missed somethign important by accident, someone else should easily be able to bring us up to speed. That is much more efficient than attending a bunch of meetings that are not important.



  • I caught my first salmon of my life during the pandemic. Lake Michigan is at all time record high water levels, so I’ve been building a lighthouse. I collect brick shards that wash up on our beach. Much of Chicago’s lakefront is landfill, so much construction debris gets moved around. Been watching too much TV. Enjoyed the Windermere Children on PBS.org last night. Really interesting true story of children that survived the holocaust. Very moving. Hated tiger king after 2 episodes. Corner Gas is awesome, available on Amazon Prime. Jordan documentary has been fascinating. Watched a prison basketball team at San Quentin on Netflix. Aaron Miles had a role in that documentary. QBall is the name of that one. Rez Ball is a great series too on Netflix. Been taking lots of walks. I guess I should mention our daughter had to pare her guest list from 250 down to 1o when she got married last week in a secret place. That’s been the highlight!



  • @wissox congratulations to your daughter. The tiger king is one of the most ridiculous shows ever but I couldn’t stop watching, maybe it’s because it’s only 3.5 hours from my house lol.



  • Thanks on the congrats!



  • @wissox I’m taking the lovely couple were ok with it! Gonna have a reception later? Have to cost dad more than that, huh? So many people having to change plans, weddings, funerals, games, graduations, etc. You need to tell us about it.



  • @BShark people might even be dumping animals at this point. I’ve been doing situps and alot of walking. And I’ve taken up drinking Maker’s Mark, three shots a day tops - being worried about my slim figure Lol. Found myself drinking a bit too much beer there, at the start.



  • It was supposed to be on the 25th. We had to cancel, you’re right, lots of cancelled flights, motel reservations, etc. The church where my daughter attends told us two days before our very small gathering of 12 people couldn’t have the wedding there on that Sunday. A friend found us a beautiful and private backyard and God provided us with a beautifully sunny day and warm enough that sweaters/jackets weren’t needed. Then they had a drive by reception line that was kind of fun so at least some people who were local could stop by and say hi. We are having the reception later this summer…we hope.



  • @wissox It sounds lovely. My best wishes to the bride and groom!



  • I listened to a nick bahe podcast w/Self. Nick loves him some Self. I know I liked nick doing our game, 2 yrs ago? He could do all of our games. I hope everyone is well and wearing masks in public! 😷



  • @approxinfinity

    Mindhunter was fantastic. Upset the 3rd season looks toast after they released the cast from their contracts…



  • At first we redid our kitchen floors. Then I started painting all the trim in the house. That task is still on-going. Painted the walls going downstairs. Will paint the stairs soon. The weather has been a complete mess in the northeast so we started yard work but then had to stop. Started getting the grill and all spring summer stuff out but then the weather would take a complete crap on us. Been hard at work getting our 3 year old potty trained. He was real hit and miss when our schedules were normal but I had a week off recently and that really kicked in better habits. I think he’s on his way now. My other half started her garden inside since it was still too cold to plant outside. She’s hoping to transfer most of it coming up since it looks like winter will finally leave us. The last 3 weeks or so we’ve gone hiking every weekend. We’ve had to find trails that were toddler friendly but getting out in nature has been refreshing and he’s enjoyed it. Last week we found an abandoned marble quarry hidden in a cave. That was fantastic. We hope to Kayak soon as well weather permitting. We started re-watching Game of Thrones from the beginning in our down time at night. Currently at the end of season 4 which was a fantastic season by the way. The end of that season has been exciting to re-watch again.



  • Well you know when this all 1st came down and there was nothing I was thinking mercy what the heck am I gonna do - - -NO SPORTS - - NO NOTHING Well not to worry the wife took care of that with Honey Do’s lol.

    The Wife decided she thought it would be a good idea to put some fresh paint in the Bathroom & re-tile the bathroom floor, - -Then we progressed to fresh paint in the Kitchen & re-tile - - then Retile the utility room, she thought it would be a good time to re- organize the work shed , bring all her totes of yarn out and paperwork so she could go through and then re-organize in the shed. - - ya so I’m good lol - -LOTS to do, with this on top of my regular maintence of the yard and trimming hedge & bushes - -maintaining the Roses so guess no need to worry lol



  • @BeddieKU23 I’m impressed! Work and fun!



  • @Crimsonorblue22

    Yes all while working full time still during this! Keeping busy. Hope you are as well



  • @wissox Congrats on catching the salmon. Im curious about your lighthouse plans. What kind of rocks have you found? Any interesting ones? And your daughters wedding! Wow. I’m glad you were still able to do it. I hardly remember much from my wedding. What I do was good, but I’m surprised I don’t remember more. This split between ceremony and reception seems like it will hopefullt leave the couple with more lasting positive memories. Thanks for all the suggested viewing. We too have watched a lot of TV. The Jordan Documentary has been a nice release. New footage of big sports moments in the past is exactly what the doctor ordered.



  • @BeddieKU23 we finally got the rest of our indoor plants in the ground. But even our “sunny” garden gets only about 8 hours of light with all the trees foliage in. I would be happy to replace our front lawn with beds but my wife has made it clear that this option is not on the table. 😉

    A marble quarry? Wow! Where?

    I’ve been thinking about GOT but don’t want to watch the tail when they’re mailing it in. I dont think we’ve rewatched Season 4. Good thought.

    Our youngest has been slow to walk (he’s the best crawler I’ve ever seen fwiw lol) but he seems very in tune with when he will poop and warns us when we will need to change him. He’s 15. Just kidding. Hopefully we can get him potty trained early.

    Impressed with your house renovations. Ive got windows on the front of the house that I need to replace and a treehouse I need to build. But… I’ve needed to do this for quite some time lol. I need to dig deep and knock it out!



  • @approxinfinity The predominant rocks on our shoreline are sandstones and limestones. I look for flat pieces that have squarish shapes. I’ve also collected little shards of glass that get sanded by the gravel/sand and make interesting little pieces for where I need to fill a spot. I’ve even put a couple of cool looking board pieces that are 3-4 inches long and an inch or two wide. Been fun to do. Trying to figure out the light and structure for the top right now.



  • @approxinfinity

    Congrats on getting the plants in the ground. What’s next?

    An abandoned Marble Quarry in Southern Vermont that is about 1 to 1 1/2 miles into a hike. You approach this cave and get inside and its amazing. Pictures I took didn’t do it justice. That was one of the best hikes we’ve ever been on. A few of our other recent ones ended up finding some really cool waterfalls.

    I forgot how good Season 4 was. That season is when you first start noticing how much more money HBO threw at the show. Tyrion was great in that season as well. The story he tells Jamie about Orson smashing the beetles was epic! We just got to the beginning of Season 5. It’s amazing how much you forget even though before each new season we would watch the previous season to “catch up”.

    I laughed so hard at the line about your youngest. Thanks for that!

    Thanks, we bought the house a few years ago so we’ve been hard at work making it the way we want it. All the floors in the house have been renovated to get rid of carpet. Paint on every wall is different. I’ve got a slew of other projects to do after painting get completed. I figured this was the perfect time to just get it all done before hopefully, a somewhat normal life can get back on track.

    Sounds like you’ll be busy with projects as well!



  • @approxinfinity

    Agree on Meetings. I hate them. Since Covid the amount of meetings I’ve had has decreased. We either do Zoom or Microsoft Teams now from our offices which is better then being stuck in a room with no where to go. I’m also guilty of not attending meetings I’m invited to just for the heck of it. If you need something from me and it takes an hour meeting to decide what a waste.



  • Hi All and just checking in. First day in weeks that I have even turned on my computer. Like a lot of you, my gardening has been my sanctuary and most enjoyable thing. This weekend I figured out how to turn on the irrigation systems (8 zones). Mike always did. The girls provided so much knowledge of the planting of some green beans, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. Began seedlings and have just now put them into the ground. Hadn’t been tilled in 3 years so during Feb and March spent a lot of time taking my frustrations out on weeding and clearing new patches. I ended up with thousands of wild sunflowers in there and began my butterfly garden last year and expanded a bit this year. Has been beautiful sitting out there weeding and watching hummers, butterflies, honey bees, bumble bees and birds flying around me. The girls and I had done a huge, 2 cart shopping trip on March 2nd and the last time I went anywhere was on March 9 for my mammogram. I’ve been doing a lot of baking (breads, cakes, cookies, cupcakes) and have traded some of the goodies to neighbors who have brought us milk and bread. Guy across the street is bringing me more sugar and vegetable oil this week as I used a whole lot more sugar for the hummers. Have a lively group of them. We set up the ping pong table and play a lot and then the girls can play basketball, tennis in the driveway and we are going to put up a volleyball net and play badminton. There is no shortage of work to be done around the house and I always look forward to a White Russian at the end of the day. I found a brand new bottle of Kahula and there was plenty of vodka and we had a bunch of milk, so that has helped me. Haven’t been able to keep my yearly doctor visits but am not feeling any issues and just keep livin’ ALLRIGHT ALLRIGHT ALLRIGHT Am so fortunate to live where we do as social distancing is not a problem. I just couldn’t imagine living in a small apartment in the middle of a huge apartment complex. I am spoiled. Does are getting ready for the fawn births.
    Have recorded all the KU games that were at first being broadcast and it was so different watching them again from a whole different perspective. So enjoyed seeing all my old favorites and so thankful for all that program has given to us all. Can’t wait for whatever comes next. I felt so sorrowful for the guys and coaches that they never got the chance to finish the season. I know how much it had to hurt them. RockChalk and Stay Safe!



  • @RockChalkinTexas sounds close to heaven! Have you checked out "self-perspective"s games? There are now 8. They are on KU athletics. He has done clips of some favorites and broken them down with his perspective. Really fun. Love to see your garden. Sounds lovely! Glad your health is great!🙏👩🌾🦌🦌🐇🐿🌻🌻🌻🥕🍓🥗🍅🥒🌽🥦🥬🧅🥔🏓🖼🏡



  • @RockChalkinTexas Great to hear from you. And, you are right - we are blessed to live in places where we’re not living on top of each other. I’m glad you have your girls and lots of fun activities to pass the time. I do a lot of cooking, some baking, but mostly big pots of stuff on the stove top. Can’t wait for all of this to be in the rear view mirror. I miss my friends, but am glad to have this site to keep up with all my buckets friends! I join @Crimsonorblue22 in being glad your health is great.



  • @RockChalkinTexas It sounds perfect. Are you attracting the hummers with anything? We have a hummingbird feeder that we haven’t put sugar water in. We should.

    My little guy loves bird watching. We have a pair of robins that have built a nest on the crook of the gutter where it meets the roof and they’re constantly on the deck picking up the grass that fell off their nest. He gets so excited 😂

    It’s weird being at home so much with the weather still being crisp. Time has slowed down and it had been moving so fast. I’m thankful for that part.

    I’m really glad to hear you’re doing well!



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  • Sorry for making gifs but that’s the only way I could post pictures from my phone because jpgs are too large.



  • @RockChalkinTexas So beautiful, just lovely! Thanks for sharing.



  • @RockChalkinTexas I love it! That’s a lot of garden to tame. Wish I had fence to keep the critters out. I made a bunch of pepper spray by throwing some peppers and garlic in a food processor and then mixing it with a gallon of water and some handsoap. My garden smells like my cooking (always heavy on the peppers and garlic!) when I spray it. I can’t imagine it not being delicious to the squirrels 😂



  • I don’t know if anybody has cox, but at 3, on 22 or 2022, the 08 Mizzou KU fb game at arrowhead is on. I was so mad at my son for leaving early to go to the game! Weather was bad. Obviously mom was wrong! First time though!



  • Self-perspective 11, Ohio State 2012, final 4 is up


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