Comments on: Terseness on the Edge of Town

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:44:56 +0000

Wendy, I think it really shouldn't bother me, either. Because he was so congenial on the phone, I'm sure this was his weak area, and I'm fine with giving him a ton of slack.

But it does bring up the obvious, which is some people don't write well and they need us. :)

I'm an emoticon addict, but it's rare I'll put them in professional notes and only if I've received one from the client first. I hate them, but I'm addicted. What can I say?

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 10:31:26 +0000

The way that the reply is stated, doesn't really bother me. I agree that adding words like "Thank You" and "Have a great day", would be nice, but I don't always expect them.

However, I do have a list of pet peeves when it comes to the subject of professional-type emails. It's too numerous to list here, though.

One is the use of emoticons. I don't mind them in personal notes, but putting them in professional emails just rails me. Especially when it goes in where it doesn't belong, like in the middle of a sentence. Should I be flattered that your email is getting fresh with me (winking emoticon)? Maybe you're sending some kind of Morse code through the successive blinks to convey top-secret information, that I would have no clue how to read.

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:33:56 +0000

Well, Ashley, Mother Nature isn't listening. We hit 100 today (in the shade, no heat index included) and two of our three local TV meteorologists are predicting we'll hit 102 tomorrow. (I missed the third guy's broadcast.) Last time we surpassed 100 was the brutal summer of 1988, aka, the one time I recall my dad going to a movie. He went for the AC.

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:18:02 +0000

Paula, I know. I've seen people mowing (what exactly?). We were going to use the weed trimmer to knock down the weeds, but the weeds died. Pretty darned dry.

Cathy, I'm glad you have a reprieve. :) I like summers hot, but we're working on a month and a half of excessive heat. Though we did get one day in there where it was bearable (last week during the concert it was around 80 all day - amen!).

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:26:22 +0000

Well, I'll jump into the heat discussion. Wade, we are neighbors (I'm in ID) and we have hit the 90s, but it's been (knock on wood), a mild summer.

Since I moved from 20+ years in San Diego where the average temperature is in the 70s, I really appreciate the reprieve. :-)

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:25:53 +0000

Lori - tire ruts not withstanding, I hope your lawn bounces back. when they're brown & crunchy they're usually just dormant. That's how ours were after a few weeks of no rain, than immediately after last week's brief storm they all greened back up...for a few days before the heat kicked in.

I want to yell at the neighbor who's obsessed with watering his lawn and tell him he's wasting water and energy by mowing more often than he would need to if he didn't water the lawn. Lawns go dormant, that's all. Sure a year-long drought might kill the lawns off, but not a few weeks of dormancy. (That said, I hope the heat and drought kill off the weeds in my lawn.)

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:25:31 +0000

Wade, we had a lawn like that all through May. It rained nonstop.

Now our grass is crunchy. Parts of it I don't think will recover. Worse, we had a tree service come in to get a tree that fell during the heavy rains. Tire tracks in the yard. Think Oregon Trail - they look like that same kind of permanent damage. Doubtful, but it is reminiscent of damaging the delicate ecosystem in the West.... (I'm waiting for the tumbleweeds - they'd be our hedges)

Forget the lawn this year, I say. Everyone's lawns look awful. Better to save the water for something else, like drinking. :)

By: Wade Finnegan

Wade Finnegan — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:44:06 +0000

Well, here in Portland Oregon we haven't hit 90 once this summer and today it's 70 with showers. Believe me I don't want the heat, but a little warmth wouldn't be bad. My lawn is so long and green it looks like a jungle. I don't want to mow in the rain either. It is really hard to be happy with the weather. 🙂

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:40:33 +0000

Paula: I'm a firm believer that states that have snow in the winter shouldn't be forced to suffer in 100+ degree temperatures in the summer. And vice versa. I really hate weather below 50 degrees, and I was absolutely angry that it got below freezing several times last winter.

Hopefully Mother Nature is reading this blog and will take note :) Some rain would be nice, too!

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:18:04 +0000

I'm in northern IL, Ashley. I just checked the Local on the 8s - at noon we were 95 with a heat index of 109. And the real heat isn't supposed to hit until Wed & Thur.

Our last rain was the severe storm a week ago Monday that knocked out power to 880,000 customers in N. IL, including parts of the north side of Chicago. My brother lives in Lake County IL,just north of Chicago and his power was out Monday AM through Thursday afternoon. (Yes, he broke down and bought a generator but had to get it up in Madison.) Rain has been so sparse that lawns are dormant so the only person who's mowed in the past few weeks is the guy across the street who waters his lawn.

I watered my outdoor plants and mini garden around 9 AM and just before noon I saw a couple plants showing signs of stress, so I re-watered them. The back door's doorknob was HOT to the touch.

I'm so glad I have my little window AC! It keeps the whole house from getting too hot inside, and really gets rid of the humidity. Sure, the room it's in (dining room) is really cool, but if my office gets too hot I can step out there and be refreshed, or step outside so even the hottest room of the house will feel cool!