Hi, all -

Our host is doing some upgrades on Monday, so there may be a few minutes of downtime around 10am board time. Do not be alarmed!

The annual Delurking thread is now open! (Late, oops, so we'll leave it open a bit longer than normal.) Come out and play, lurkers, the water's fine!

Liese S. "Delurking 1: Because we don't always check our e-mail." Oct 14, 2015 6:07:37 pm PDT

If anyone wants an Elf on the Shelf figure, send me a message at my profile address, and I'll send it to you. I think the one we have is supposed to be a girl.

Hi friends! A reminder that when you shop on Amazon using our links, we get a percentage! So here are some places to start:

Shop Amazon's Holiday Toy List - STEM Toys

Shop Amazon's Holiday Toy List - Family Night

Shop Amazon's Holiday Toy List - Movie Favorites

Thanks!

Speaking of shopping and gifts...

We are very close to time to sign up for The Annual Funscapade of Love, Support and Gifts Shared Amongst Buffistae (AFoLSaGSAB. If everyone is ok with it, I will happily moderate again over on Elfster.

Sign up is open until 11/14/15 and ideally gifts will arrive by end of the year. If you have never done it before, please consider it this year. If fear you cannot manage it, you can always be a mayhem elf and drop things in the mail unexpectedly to spread confusing joy - (I share addresses and personal information WILLY NILLY(not our NILLY, but you know what I mean))

signup link is below.

[link]

I've been hosting a couple whose house burned down (2200-2400 degrees estimated) in the Valley Fire on Cobb Mt. (between Calistoga and Clearlake) in September. They are trying to get back on their feet. They're my age, and thought they had the equity in their house for their older age.

Insurers in CA now commonly decline to renew insurance based on reports from Cal Fire + reviews of Google maps. Entire zip codes are now excluded from coverage. They were caught in the worst sitch - insurance declined to renew in Aug., they couldn't find another insurer, the fire was Sept. 14. It's all gone. House, deck, art, books, guitar, computers, truck, woodshop. They spent the time they could have used to grab stuff making sure their neighbors got out instead, and saved the lives of about a dozen people, including my former roommate and her husband, their neighbor.

They won't get a. thing. from insurance, and FEMA etc. is helpful, but not all that, also. If you'd like to help a couple recover from fire losses, they have a GoFundMe going, or paypal (they take less out) to equuleus at gmail dot com, or contact me if you want to make a direct deposit to their bank, profile addy fine. Thanks. [link]

eta link to Public Radio report on what insurers are doing. [link]

Given that the day after an election is often a bit depressing, this is for people who enjoy a bit of political silliness with a slightly dark edge. Our electoral process explained entirely in popular music videos:

[link]

6 more days, seis dias mas

To sign up for The Annual Funscapade of Love, Support and Gifts Shared Amongst Buffistae (AFoLSaGSAB). I am moderating again over on Elfster. We have 10 people signed up now which is ok, BUT I DO NOT SETTLE FOR OK without at least trying for MORE.

Sign up is open until 11/14/15 and ideally gifts will arrive by end of the year. If you have never done it before, please consider it this year. If you fear you cannot manage it, you can always be a mayhem elf and drop things in the mail unexpectedly to spread confusing joy - (I share addresses and personal information WILLY NILLY(not our NILLY, but you know what I mean))

signup link is below.

[link]

If anyone's gifting Updraft for the holidays and would like a personalized bookplate for the giftee, I have a limited number of bookplates left. Will make good on requests sent by Dec. 1 - still figuring out details, but wanted to post here first.