Hi everyone. I worked at the store 6 out of the last 10 days, which is a lot. Things are ramping up because it's spring, which in this area means oscillating back and forth between sunny/70s and windy/50s. (Do buy your pansies and kale now if you're in Zone 5. But for heaven's sake hold off on the petunias and tomatoes. We'll have a better selection 6 weeks from now, and they won't have to spend that 6 weeks feeling cold and not growing because it's not time yet. Impatience has no effect on weather. I plant my impatiens right after Memorial Day.)
Yesterday I did a substantial amount of physical work putting hoses in place, and I feel a great sense of accomplishment, all the greater for having managed to educate my relatively new boss about what needed to be done and why, to get set up for the watering season, and that little-old-lady me can take care of it because I've been doing it for a while. He's on board now, and prepared to take care of certain arrangements that require his authority. I arrived home tired and dehydrated, but a glass of lemonade and a bowl of macaroni and cheese, consumed in front of the TV, are effective for those conditions. Today I'm like "OK, where did I leave off when I had to stop doing stuff on my to-do list?"
Well, the good news is my MIL survived her fall, although she got a nasty bruise out of it.
I texted Janet (cc' Bob) telling her after 60 years of marriage "falling for Bob" was a metaphor! Bob got a laugh out of it. She did have a concussion, so they are taking it easy with her.
Katie thought it was a mistake for Janet to come to the quilt retreat, as she wasn't feeling well. She shared how she spoke to the former camp nurse, asking advice on ER locations. The next day the former camp nurse had to run home; her husband smashed the ends of two fingers trying to run pie dough through a rolling machine. But Janet didn't sleep well the entire weekend, and was almost a zombie by the end of it. FWIW & IMHO I think she fell because she was so exhausted from a lack of sleep.
The former camp nurse was at Quaker Haven when Pam was on staff, so they were very close. She at first had her suspicions of me, but grew to accept me (I was often introduced as "the worst behaved counselor at camp", because of my mischief). She admires Katie for stepping in to marry me and be a mother to my son with Pam. Katie comments how much goodwill she has a camp due to Pam. I tell her it's a sympathy vote for marrying the worst behaved counselor at camp.
In book 3 of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series (The Well of Lost Plots), Literary Detective Thursday Next (Prose Resource Officer, SpecOps 27) and Miss Havisham (yes, that Miss Havisham) are assigned to conduct the next Jurisfiction mandated Rage Counseling Session in Wuthering Heights.
Efforts by Miss Havisham to break the land speed record in a Higham Special at Pendine Sands may or may not lead up to a critical plot point.
In need of intelligent, delightful, absurd, erudite, goofy escapism? Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series* is the best. "His novel is satire, fantasy, literary criticism, thriller, whodunit, game, puzzle, joke, post-modern prank and tilt-a-whirl" according to the Washington Post.
*Meaning the first 4 books. Subsequent books are readable but do not invite re-reading, at least for me.
What came to mind after reading this post. What is the weirdest thing I’ve googled in the past 24 hours? “Rash that causes vesicles.” Noooo, not me but a friend at pickleball has the strangest rash I’ve ever seen. Started a week ago and is spreading and getting worse. Dr. Google didn’t help.
Not a Kate Bush fan, but I have, like you, gone down the rabbit hole of these types of YouTube videos. My fav is two hip hop artists listening to Michael McDonald singing "I Keep Forgetting".
Today’s special animal friend is the Helmeted Guineafowl, Numida meleagris, a large, ground-dwelling bird in the Galliformes order, which includes turkeys and chickens. Like other guineafowl, this one has a large, round body with relatively small wings and a small, bald, weird head. The head of the helmeted guineafowl has red, blue, and/or black skin and a yellow or reddish bony knob on top.
They are up to 2 feet high and weigh up to 3 lbs. Except for the head, they are dark gray or black with white spots, reminding me of a cute dress that doesn’t fit me anymore. They can fly, but they usually don’t; when they do, they glide as much as possible rather than flapping. They can run quite fast, keeping that round body nicely balanced, and ornithologists say it is common for them to walk or run more than five miles in a day.
As you can see, they are gregarious, assembling in flocks of 25 or so that feed and roost together. The flocks are hierarchical, with a dominant male as boss and his sidekick helping him to defend the group. Breeding females prefer the higher-ranking males, and the flock devotes the most care to the chicks of the highest-ranked adults.
They are seasonally monogamous, breeding near the end of the local wet season, which varies across their range. The females make a scrape in the ground in an area with good cover, lining it with feathers and grass. They lay 6 to 12 eggs. Females do the incubation, but males help to brood the chicks after hatching.
Helmeted guineafowl are omnivorous. Outside the breeding season, their diet is mainly vegetable matter: tubers, seeds, miscellaneous agricultural stuff. During breeding season, they turn to a mostly bug diet. Like our friend the banded mongoose, they will eat ticks off the backs of warthogs.
The helmeted guineafowl is a species of Least Concern. They are found all across sub-Saharan Africa. They have been domesticated. You can buy them as food in stores in the U.S. Feral populations are found in the West Indies, the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
This appears to be a pop-culture phenomenon of which I wot not. I had to read "Wuthering Heights" in school, though. I recall thinking that most of the characters were dopes making poor life choices, although in my late middle age I recognize that they had fewer options available than I do.
Good morning. Birds are singing. I'm going over to the nearby Scout camp this morning to pick up some bows and arrows to take up the Scout camp in the mountains on Saturday to teach Archery Merit Badge. Later in the day, Daughter D is going to the eye doctor, and Son F is coming to get his glasses adjusted again.
Hi everyone. I worked at the store 6 out of the last 10 days, which is a lot. Things are ramping up because it's spring, which in this area means oscillating back and forth between sunny/70s and windy/50s. (Do buy your pansies and kale now if you're in Zone 5. But for heaven's sake hold off on the petunias and tomatoes. We'll have a better selection 6 weeks from now, and they won't have to spend that 6 weeks feeling cold and not growing because it's not time yet. Impatience has no effect on weather. I plant my impatiens right after Memorial Day.)
Yesterday I did a substantial amount of physical work putting hoses in place, and I feel a great sense of accomplishment, all the greater for having managed to educate my relatively new boss about what needed to be done and why, to get set up for the watering season, and that little-old-lady me can take care of it because I've been doing it for a while. He's on board now, and prepared to take care of certain arrangements that require his authority. I arrived home tired and dehydrated, but a glass of lemonade and a bowl of macaroni and cheese, consumed in front of the TV, are effective for those conditions. Today I'm like "OK, where did I leave off when I had to stop doing stuff on my to-do list?"
Well, the good news is my MIL survived her fall, although she got a nasty bruise out of it.
I texted Janet (cc' Bob) telling her after 60 years of marriage "falling for Bob" was a metaphor! Bob got a laugh out of it. She did have a concussion, so they are taking it easy with her.
Katie thought it was a mistake for Janet to come to the quilt retreat, as she wasn't feeling well. She shared how she spoke to the former camp nurse, asking advice on ER locations. The next day the former camp nurse had to run home; her husband smashed the ends of two fingers trying to run pie dough through a rolling machine. But Janet didn't sleep well the entire weekend, and was almost a zombie by the end of it. FWIW & IMHO I think she fell because she was so exhausted from a lack of sleep.
The former camp nurse was at Quaker Haven when Pam was on staff, so they were very close. She at first had her suspicions of me, but grew to accept me (I was often introduced as "the worst behaved counselor at camp", because of my mischief). She admires Katie for stepping in to marry me and be a mother to my son with Pam. Katie comments how much goodwill she has a camp due to Pam. I tell her it's a sympathy vote for marrying the worst behaved counselor at camp.
In book 3 of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series (The Well of Lost Plots), Literary Detective Thursday Next (Prose Resource Officer, SpecOps 27) and Miss Havisham (yes, that Miss Havisham) are assigned to conduct the next Jurisfiction mandated Rage Counseling Session in Wuthering Heights.
Efforts by Miss Havisham to break the land speed record in a Higham Special at Pendine Sands may or may not lead up to a critical plot point.
In need of intelligent, delightful, absurd, erudite, goofy escapism? Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series* is the best. "His novel is satire, fantasy, literary criticism, thriller, whodunit, game, puzzle, joke, post-modern prank and tilt-a-whirl" according to the Washington Post.
*Meaning the first 4 books. Subsequent books are readable but do not invite re-reading, at least for me.
"Democracy Dies Behind Paywalls
The case for making journalism free—at least during the 2024 election
By Richard Stengel" MY NOTE: THIS IS BEHIND A PAYWALL. AND IS THE ANSWER TO, CAN YOU DEFINE IRONY?
What came to mind after reading this post. What is the weirdest thing I’ve googled in the past 24 hours? “Rash that causes vesicles.” Noooo, not me but a friend at pickleball has the strangest rash I’ve ever seen. Started a week ago and is spreading and getting worse. Dr. Google didn’t help.
I will work on those dance moves as long as y'all come visit me in the Emergency Room.
Not a Kate Bush fan, but I have, like you, gone down the rabbit hole of these types of YouTube videos. My fav is two hip hop artists listening to Michael McDonald singing "I Keep Forgetting".
Good morning. Kate who? I thought “Wuthering Heights” was a Victorian era romantic novel.
Today’s special animal friend is the Helmeted Guineafowl, Numida meleagris, a large, ground-dwelling bird in the Galliformes order, which includes turkeys and chickens. Like other guineafowl, this one has a large, round body with relatively small wings and a small, bald, weird head. The head of the helmeted guineafowl has red, blue, and/or black skin and a yellow or reddish bony knob on top.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvXU9vjk9OI
They are up to 2 feet high and weigh up to 3 lbs. Except for the head, they are dark gray or black with white spots, reminding me of a cute dress that doesn’t fit me anymore. They can fly, but they usually don’t; when they do, they glide as much as possible rather than flapping. They can run quite fast, keeping that round body nicely balanced, and ornithologists say it is common for them to walk or run more than five miles in a day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lu2vB_Tfho
As you can see, they are gregarious, assembling in flocks of 25 or so that feed and roost together. The flocks are hierarchical, with a dominant male as boss and his sidekick helping him to defend the group. Breeding females prefer the higher-ranking males, and the flock devotes the most care to the chicks of the highest-ranked adults.
They are seasonally monogamous, breeding near the end of the local wet season, which varies across their range. The females make a scrape in the ground in an area with good cover, lining it with feathers and grass. They lay 6 to 12 eggs. Females do the incubation, but males help to brood the chicks after hatching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MobasiNcJFk
The chicks are called “keets,” and only about half live to adulthood. They can live up to 12 years in the wild. The helmeted guineafowl sings a bit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oASLiM5sSDY
Helmeted guineafowl are omnivorous. Outside the breeding season, their diet is mainly vegetable matter: tubers, seeds, miscellaneous agricultural stuff. During breeding season, they turn to a mostly bug diet. Like our friend the banded mongoose, they will eat ticks off the backs of warthogs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZshnzrUFV78
The helmeted guineafowl is a species of Least Concern. They are found all across sub-Saharan Africa. They have been domesticated. You can buy them as food in stores in the U.S. Feral populations are found in the West Indies, the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
This appears to be a pop-culture phenomenon of which I wot not. I had to read "Wuthering Heights" in school, though. I recall thinking that most of the characters were dopes making poor life choices, although in my late middle age I recognize that they had fewer options available than I do.
Good morning. Birds are singing. I'm going over to the nearby Scout camp this morning to pick up some bows and arrows to take up the Scout camp in the mountains on Saturday to teach Archery Merit Badge. Later in the day, Daughter D is going to the eye doctor, and Son F is coming to get his glasses adjusted again.