Christmas Countdown - 2011

[Crown 84]

Good Morning, Post-'Pines Friends.

Yes, a good time was had by all (as usual) at the old Shispering-P yesterday.
Carl was in rare (well, maybe not so rare) form as the fired twinkies, fired twinklings and sweet southern iced tea were passed around.

Speaking of passing, we are nearing the passing of another marker on our way to Christmas Season 2011:
Days to the Season: 150
Days to Christmas Day: 192
Under 1 1/2 weeks off from the Christmas Day half way Milestone.
(SINGLE DIGITS from tomorrow!)

Calm and cool here this morning where we stand at 69 wonderfully walkable degrees under sunny skies.
Rain is possible but there is less than a 40 percent chance for the next few days.
The humidity is supposed to return by this afternoon, however.

You have a Thrilling Thursday, secure in the knowledge that tomorrow will be Weekend Eve once again!
Keep the Christmas faith, Folks.

 

[Crown 84]

I've been meaning to ask for a while now but didn't want to seem dim - The Pines???? :?

Below is an edited copy/paste of what I posted back in February bringing newcomers up to date:

OK.
I'll try to review the history of some of the more -- well -- interesting characters and places mentioned here in our countdown thread.

First, of course, there is Carl.
Ah, Carl! Our 3-humped Coffee Camel.
Born about 5 years ago over at Christmas.com, he came about as part of the long-running interplay between Binger and myself in regards to coffee vs sleep.
(Carl's third hump stored the finest blend of coffee which der Bingster coveted.)

Originally, Carl lived with me and was a frequent over-the-shoulder commentator when I posted the daily count.
After a time, he began staying with willing thread contributors who agreed to be his host for short visits. After each visit, his antics were duly reported by the host for all to read and enjoy.

Over time, the humor wore a bit thin so Carl was mentioned less frequently. Eventually, he was dropped from the thread for several months until one of our members (Auntie perhaps?) inquired as to his whereabouts. At that point, it was revealed that Carl, owing to his unique ability to talk, had been offered an undercover position with the military on a secret spy mission in Saudi Arabia.
On his release and return, he accepted the position of activities director at the Shispering Pines where he remains to this day.

Carl's personality traits: He's fun-loving, talkative, experimental (primarily with coffee blends of a questionable nature) and -- yes -- a bit vain to the point of narcissism.
But under it all, he has a heart of gold and a guaranteed position at the 'Pines owing to his unique talents (and the fact the resort's business has tripled ever since his arrival).


That, of course, brings us to the 'Pines. The Shispering Pines, that is.
Name-christened by our own Jayish after a typo which was supposed to read "Whispering Pines", our thread-resident resort eventually took on a "Holiday Inn" (meaning the 1942 movie) like flavor, especially after Carl's arrival and his tremendous love for Christmas in general and that movie in particular.
Each Wednesday is open house day, where the first glass of sweet southern iced tea is complimentary along with the first Fired Twinkie (and now the newly-introduced Fired Twinkling derived from crossing Merry Carey's Kinklings with Carl's own Fired Twinkies).

Which in turn brings us to Fired Twinkies. That's right - FIRED Twinkes as (opposed to "fried").
Again, a typo was to blame. (Believe it was Binger this time.)
But our unique thread treat has endured, especially after becoming the official confection at the Shispering Pines.


Well, there you have it. A thumbnail sketch of an explanation as to what is going on here.

 

[Snow-in-Texas]

turns out it was started by a group who had planned to do this before the game even started. They had signs and t-shirts that said "Vancouver riot 2011"
It is truly sad that this happened. :-?
News says many actual fans began to leave after the 3rd goal realizing that Vancouver would not win and wanting to get out of the area.
I hope they get these trouble makers arrested.
http://www.thestar.com/sports/hocke...ouver-riots-i-m-ashamed-to-be-a-fan-right-now

It is a shame that a few people will ruin things for everybody else.

 

[brent]

150 Days to the Season?! Wow!!

Happy to stop in. Not much time, however. I need to get to work. Painting must be done! Then, off to my summer job, which starts full time in a week and a half. Have a fantastic day, everyone!!

 

[Bradmac]

Good Thursday morning, my Christmas friends!

We got some rain last night! I don't know how much, but it was much needed and much appreciated!

I got in the pool with the kids yesterday afternoon, then we had grilled hotdogs on the deck for supper. What a fun afternoon! Now I just need to finish building the deck...LOL!

We're taking my mom out tonight for her birthday. It was actually Sunday, but Nancy was in Atlanta with her sister, so we finally found a night everyone can agree on. Longhorns, here we come!

I hope you all have a great day! cheesy

PS - Where's Binger?

 

[Laney]

This is second only to seeing the Sox do it in 2004! (being a sports fan of course)

As a Cardinals fan, I'm still bitter about this! But much like the Canucks last night, the Cards kind of forgot to "show up" at that series, didn't they?

 

[MerryCarey]

Wow another great night at the pines!!!!!! That camel sure knows how to throw one heck of a party and those twinklings are out of this world!!!!!!! Now I am off to bed. Goodnight Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

Mmmmm, the Twinklings ... and I collected on my free ride from Carl---bumpy, but fun!

 

[JOHNOR]

HEY GANG!

i've decided i'm taking myself to the pines next wednesday, i may have to cross an ocean to get to it but it will be worth it, i'm sure cheesy

got my friend coming around with her daughter for a playdate for my little girl, we are getting pizza and having a gossip, so a nice day!

popped into starbucks on the way to college this morning, was desperate to ask them what special flavours they are bringing out this christmas, but i resisted, i will ask next month when it's christmas in july!!

 

[Laney]

Hello Christmas friends!

I'm a couple of days behind on posting! Seems like a I missed one heck of a party at the Pines yesterday too!

Sunday I went shopping at a friend's house from her late mother's Christmas collection. I brought home a whole CAR full of stuff! I got a...
A 3 ft. fiberoptic tree
A set of 2- 4 ft. trees
A rubbermaid tub full of Christmas paper plates and napkins
A rubbermaid tub full of white and silver tree decorations (including tree skirt and matching stockings)
2 table cloths
A "Merry Christmas" wall sign
A Santa wall hanging
A sleigh wall hanging
A 3ft x3ft x2ft sleigh that has a Santa in it and filled with presents
2 full size wreaths, 2 mini wreaths, and 1 9ft pine garland
A wall mirror
A box full of garland and a few other misc items

And guess how much I paid for all of this? $60!!!! I feel like I walked away with a killing!

Otherwise, since then, I've just been working a bit too much. I've got the day off today and going to try get the house cleaned up a bit. With construction going on in the house for the last 3 weeks - we're kind of a mess! Everything out of place and dust everywhere. Its taken WAY longer than they first said it would to remodel our bathroom, but it looks like it is going to get wrapped up hopefully by Monday at the latest. It will be SO nice to finally have a bathroom at home again! The fact that it is brand new is just icing on the cake.

Its a beautiful start to the day here - supposed to sunny and 86 today for the high. Absolutely beautiful! My day off work is rarely the nicest day of the week, but it looks like I got the pick this week! Hope you all get a beautiful day also!

~Laney

 

[MsChristmas]

Woohooo, thanks for the info!!! And July 10 Christmas programming on Comedy Central is awesome, too!


Glad Wish is doing well!!



Hope yuo are back to 100% soon!


Sounds like my day today! (Minus the appointment) - Same weather, maybe some cookies, trip to the park. My sister is in Ocean City, MD right now - is that near you? They went to Virginia Beach and she called me frantic because she found a cockroach in the room! Blech! So I foudn them a hotel in OC, MD and they are sooo happy there!!

Ocean City is about 2 1/2 hours from us. We are in the central part of MD near Baltimore... we love Ocean City... (not as much as our Florida vacation haha) but its a lot of fun down there..tons of stuff to do! We were suppose to go the end of the last week but the Boys were sick. Glad your sister is enjoying herself!

 

[mgramsey]

Severe thunderstorms hit us last night. We are blessed that no one was hurt bad but trees are down everywhere and many homes are damaged. Our house is ok but several large trees are down on our property. One took out a power pole so we have no power, phone or water (no power so well won't work). Duke Power estimates 7 days until we have power restored. This is like I remember my Grandparents home being when I was small. Our son gets to see what it is like to read by an oil lamp. Also we have never had cell phone service at our house, we have to drive several miles to get a signal so we are kind of isolated.

I'm glad we are heading to the beach for a week of vacation on Saturday. Hopefully power & phone will be restored when we get back.

 

[Bradmac]

Severe thunderstorms hit us last night. We are blessed that no one was hurt bad but trees are down everywhere and many homes are damaged. Our house is ok but several large trees are down on our property. One took out a power pole so we have no power, phone or water (no power so well won't work). Duke Power estimates 7 days until we have power restored. This is like I remember my Grandparents home being when I was small. Our son gets to see what it is like to read by an oil lamp. Also we have never had cell phone service at our house, we have to drive several miles to get a signal so we are kind of isolated.

I'm glad we are heading to the beach for a week of vacation on Saturday. Hopefully power & phone will be restored when we get back.

Wow! I didn't know it got that bad up there! I think I'll call our neighbors in Maggie Valley to make sure all is well.

Good luck with your repairs, and have a great vacation! Which beach are you visiting?

 

[Holiday]

Good morning Christmas friends! It was such a beautiful morning but our sun has left us now & it's supposed to rain later. And I have clothes to hang on the line...go figure!

Laney - sounds like you had a fun "shopping" trip yesterday! Woo Hoo!

And Brad had a fun day swimming & grilling hot dogs... ahhhh...gotta love summer! :smile:

mgramsey, sorry to hear about the damage in your area! Scary! Glad to hear everyone is ok though!! Hope your power is back quicker than expected! Have a great vacation!

We have a busy weekend planned at the lake - Saturday our neighbors from home are supposed to come out to ride the bike path, then we are grilling wings & everyone is bringing whatever meat they want to throw on the grill & a side dish for a cookout. Later on, our neighbor boy pitches for the Padres, so we are putting up the big screen & watching the padres game outside...and now there is a 50% chance of rain! Grrrr!! Sunday we have a Fathers Day party at the lake both for my family & my hubby's family. Always a good time. Hoping & praying for some good weather! I'm not sure what we would do if it rains...I don't want to jinx myself but we have had this Fathers Day party for 11 years & it has never rained! I hope to keep the rain free streak going...

Make it a great day everyone!

 

[mgramsey]

Wow! I didn't know it got that bad up there! I think I'll call our neighbors in Maggie Valley to make sure all is well.

Good luck with your repairs, and have a great vacation! Which beach are you visiting?

We are going to Oak Island. It is just south of Wilmington, near the SC state line. It will be nice to get away for a week.

 

[Laney]

I just went out and tried to do some work outside. Our driveway is just covered in pine needles, sticks and dirt from all of the storms over the last couple of weeks, so I was going to sweep it with the heavy duty deck scrub. We live on almost an acre, with the house at the back of the property, so the driveway is probably almost a football field long. I got through a 10 ft section and realized this was hard work LOL! So I arranged to just borrow a pressure washer instead! Seems like a much easier idea, plus I can get the sides of my house cleaned off too! I know what the hubster is doing this father's day. Does that make me a mean wife?

 

[MerryCarey]

I just went out and tried to do some work outside. Our driveway is just covered in pine needles, sticks and dirt from all of the storms over the last couple of weeks, so I was going to sweep it with the heavy duty deck scrub. We live on almost an acre, with the house at the back of the property, so the driveway is probably almost a football field long. I got through a 10 ft section and realized this was hard work LOL! So I arranged to just borrow a pressure washer instead! Seems like a much easier idea, plus I can get the sides of my house cleaned off too! I know what the hubster is doing this father's day. Does that make me a mean wife?

No, it just means you are a natural leader---you have a talent for delegating important tasks! cheesy

 

[Laney]

No, it just means you are a natural leader---you have a talent for delegating important tasks! cheesy

I like how you think!

 

[made582]

gotta go and pick up my daughter from work, and then off to bed. Tomorrow me and my other daughter leave for a couple of days at a conference for TOPS in Sarina. We will be camping rather than staying in a hotel. Cheaper, and for us more fun! cheesy

I hope you have a Great Time!!!!!!!!

 

[made582]

Xmas is dancing on the tables at the Pines....Made....is he family?

He must be that long lost cousin I have heard about!!!!!!!

 

[made582]

Morning! Woke up this AM to ants and flying ants swarming on one of our screens (that means many were INSIDE the window!!!!!!!!!!!) I almost had a heart attack but I think my hubby got them all. Guess I'll be calling an exterminator today. Gives me the shivers!!!

I get them around my back door at least once every summer. There is a colony down by my neighbors apartment and it doesn't seem to matter what we use on them they won't die. The maintenance staff won't spray anything real powerful because of all of the dogs around so I just make sure to keep plenty of raid on hand to keep spraying around the back door to keep them out.