Tundras live: Now with one picture for every 45 paragraphs!

Thanks for sharing. Please be sure to take care of yourself too.

 

I have lost both parents, grandparents and all aunts and uncles at this point. Sometimes I still feel overwhelming grief and sadness particularly when it comes to my parents. In those moments I like to remind myself that they wouldn't want to see me being sad but instead enjoying and making the most of life. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't.

 

A little different take, meant only as a grain of solace. Be happy you can be sad. I had a horrible mom. She passed when I was in my late 30's, and I hadn't spoken to her in more than a decade. When I heard she'd passed, I didn't care at all. Still don't - not a whit. That's a little corner torn out of a single page in a long past chapter in my life. I seldom examine the book close enough to see the flaw, but it's there.

Condolences again.

 

Well said. My mom passed away last February, and she was an extremely difficult and toxic person, made exponentially worse by the fact that she married my dad. Her parents were also two of the meanest people I have ever had to endure.

We moved her here and got her set up, but we were also constantly guarding our kids to make sure they were not effed up by her craziness. I have been taking care of her and our household since my earliest memories, while also navigating her fucking with everyone including myself.

When my dad "told us" that he was also moving here over a decade ago, after his second divorce, we kept it a secret from my mom that he also lived here -- both per his request, but also because that was the least objectionable option. I feel a lot of things with their passing, but mostly relief. What a relief to freely navigate the holidays, finally.

This past summer was the hardest time I have ever had, and I dug really deep to get through it. I have done a ton of home renovation over the years, but renovating my mom's condo by myself was the hardest thing I have ever done. I had to pull out some Glenn Harrold and psych myself, and a lot of sci fi audio books. And this thread helped as well. Maybe I will even go find some snow now.

 

HAH!
I ripped the carpet off our stairs nearly 10 years ago. We painted the OSB treads brown and the OSB risers slate and I still haven't gotten around to actually redoing it all in hardwood.

 

You know you're going to put off a home project when you paint the OSB!

 

Fucking amiright?!

 

you mean painting OSB isn't finishing the project?

 

Inside the house, nah.

Outside the house, 100% complete

 

@T-Rex266 needs this.

https://youtube.com/shorts/SIwGo2RYJEw?si=51Bg1hQo9YJKLK04

 

You can have them, but you can't use them.

 

you really are a Heathen

 

Nope. Gotta suck the sauce off your fingers.

 

takes all kinds.

 

❤️

 

sounds like somebody wanted to be served a free Thanksgiving dinner this year at an intimate setting

 

I use 2 forks.

 

Well played. If you need a knife for bbq, you're eating the wrong bbq.

 

I really love bbq but find the places local to me are generally super expensive and don't always serve the best bbq. We just don't have the mom and pop type places that make great food. It's usually a fancy/expensive restaurant that still misses the mark when it comes to really good bbq or just a tourist trap related to the wine country.

 

WA and CA are not known for bbq… that’s for sure. It is very expensive here and the quality will vary day to day.

 

It goes beyond that for my area. All we have out here are either some sort of restaurant chain or gourmet place. The amount of mom and pop shops are relatively few and even then they are more often breakfast places.

There used to be a lot more when I was growing up and they have mostly faded away. I miss being able to go to a local spot with wholesome staple food dishes that were great and still affordable.

 

Me too. There are a lot of mom and pop places around me, but they are mostly Asian food and maybe a few Mexican places. And you are right, the few places around me still serving American food are typically breakfast joints.

 

If you're ever in the Sacramento area I can point you to a couple decently good BBQ places.