Post your grumps here.

I do not have any gripes recently (yay).
Just wish there was a way to help others with theirs.
With regard to fireworks, I once knew a guy who grew up in a warzone.

But he had managed to enjoy fireworks. We were watching them one evening and he told me this that he had turned something terrible he feared (the bangs and pops) into something of beauty and majesty (fireworks). That was inspirational to me.

Wish I knew how he reprogrammed his mind to now enjoy the bangs and pops, so I can let war veterans in on the secret. All I can say is that it is possible.

That truly is remarkable, Orion!

I am thinking that I gained wisdom in my years of life. Doesn't mean life is easy. But I can find the strength to face another day no matter what.

Linda, are you ok? Friends, family, someone to talk to?

I'm okay. Cedar pollen is affecting me some, but mostly old age. Time goes by and some things just don't get done when they should. So I know the repairs on the fence will get done, but not until I feel better. In the meantime, I have to be patient. That's the hard part. Staying patient.

I try to occupy myself with other things while waiting and biding my time. I have a tendency to over react so I'm aware to keep that in check. After the initial onset of panic I have to remind myself to remain calm and be patient. Things will get done when they get done and until then look elsewhere for relief.

I hope we fill this thread with grumps transformed into better experiences this year.

Sometimes, though, it is unavoidable, at least temporarily. Things happen.

Our road out was flooded, but now the waters have receeded. Our basement was beginning to flood as well. ShopVac to the rescue.

Our power goes out a lot in winter. Now we have a Generac stand-by generator.

California has been in a drought for quite a while now. Now many low-lying towns and cities are getting flooded...and lots of downed trees. I just read of a tree falling on a house and killing a toddler. YIKES!!!

Evelyn, one extreme to another...

Be safe Evelyn!

Yesterday, I tripped and splashed a cup of tea over my laptop.
I am paranoid about liquid near the laptop so always close it whenever I walk away to do something, so I figured it would be fine after getting doused.

I was wrong. Somehow liquid did indeed find its way inside, somewhere. Despite me wiping everything dry outside within seconds. I left it open lastnight and on its side to allow anything in there to dry. Even then now it only works for 5 mins then switches off, switch back on and I get 1min of working, repeatedly. If I walk away for a while (say an hour), I once again get 5mins, then many repeats of 1min function.

So now it is back on its side in a dry location.
It is old so really not worth paying someone to fix it up, but I do want to get all my files out. But I do not want to shell out for another one. Not right after Christmas.

Might turn out to be a $1,000 cup of tea that I did not even get to drink.

[I am not writing this post on that computer].

Yikes...expensive cup of tea with no enjoyment. Bummer

I hope it will be better once it has more time to dry out, Orion - at least enough to retrieve your data
(Do you back your data up to an external drive or the cloud or anything? If not - might be time to start doing that once you're back in business with this laptop or another one.)

Orion, that's a real bummer, I drink tea and juice around my computer too, but I have a desk top so it would only be the keyboard, but that would be a bummer too, seeing as it's just a few months old.

I do have a 2Tb backup solid-state drive. But I do not use it so often, maybe once a year. Would be bad to lose a whole year of stuff.

that's more than annoying. I would hate it if that happened to me. Sorry that happened, Orion!

If that happened to me right now..with all the insane, "came-out-of-nowhere" BS I've going through I think I'd know just how to handle it. Grab the 2 rubbermaid containers of christmas cookies and lock myself in my bedroom until they were finished. When you don't have a Snickers bar homemade cookies work great.

The end of our road only flooded a couple of times during this last storm. When that happens, there is no going anywhere. That is the way "to town", or out of the hills. The waters have receded enough to make it to the store the other day. That was wonderful.

The power was out for about 24 hours yesterday, but we do have a standby generator, after years of having a portable generator which only covered a few circuits. This one goes on automatically and covers all the circuits to the house

Our last big rain about eight months ago took out my cable TV. It was about six months before my TV guy got here from Ca. and fixed it. He warned me that even one drop of water will take out the new box. It's no fun. Luckily my computer was not affected but doing without either is stressful.

Thhis morning began by collecting five shoe which my dogs had scattered around my yard. It would be much worse if they chewed them up but they don't. They just like to take them outside.

Hoping to be able to head north tomorrow. I have a little propane heater which is supposed to be OK inside but I can't get it to light. I'm hoping it will be another Tony to the rescue.

On the non-grumpy side, all the dogs are getting along well. Just an occational growl but no fihgts. New dog Rosie has stopped trying to kill Twink and, in fact, was sleeping next to her last night. I think Twink is still cautious and I will take her with me when I travel just to be sure.

Katie, I hope you have a carbon monoxide alarm if you are using propane indoors.

The news was saying using natural gas for cooking increases chances of asthma attacks, and possibly may aggravate other respiratory problems. No idea about propane, though.