Thursday This n That

I don't understand the new style of tucking your shirt into the front of your pants and leaving it untucked in the back.  I've seen it on several shows now.  Erin does it on Hometown.  I think Jenny does it on Fixer to Fabulous.  Nancy Kerrigan (the figure skater) was wearing her shirt that way on Antiques Roadshow - Celebrity Edition.  Is it to cover your ass?  It seems like the mullet of fashion - business in the front, party in the back.  :shrug:  Not keen on it.  I leave the whole shirt untucked these days.  Cover the belly and the butt.  

It occurs to me so many people are trying so hard to avoid death that they're no longer living.

Yesterday, I went out on the deck for a smoke and it looked like something had stolen one of my tomato plants.  I was thinking birds or a squirrel.  Then when I looked closer, I realized that tiny baby plant was laying flat in the dirt.  When I watered yesterday, I'd forgotten the tomatoes.  Derp.  I might have lost like four of them.  We'll see.  Someone local I follow on FB posted pictures of their tomatoes this morning.  They already have fruit!?  WTH?  My plants are only like 2-3 inches tall.  

The latest in stupidity from our Impostor in Chief is that he's trying to ban menthol cigarettes.  Because menthols are racist and target black folk, or some stupid shit.  Legalize drugs, ban menthols.  I smoke menthols.  What a dipshit.  (And yes, I know it's not actually him because he can't think his way out of a paper bag.  He's merely the figurehead.  Universal dipshit and his dipshit handlers.)

Hey, did you hear Snow White is awful because the kiss of the prince that saves her wasn't consensual?  Can't make this stuff up, people.  I guess mouth-to-mouth resuscitation should be out shortly, too.  Dipshits.

In happier news, we had a bunny in our yard yesterday!  And a raccoon!  Spring is awesome.  Here's pic of the bunny after it hopped into the woods.  Can you find it?  

In additional happy news, our black walnut trees are all starting to recover from the hard freeze that killed most of their new leaves.  Even the baby trees I was especially concerned about have new leaves.  Nature will find a way.  Yay.

My irises are blooming.  Yay!  And my lilies have buds.  Yay!  

And on that note, I'll let you get back to your lives.  Have a great day, folks.  And try to find some happy amidst the chaos.  :hugs:

Going Maskless - a Chaos Diaries Update

Yesterday, I went to Wallyworld.  Walked right in without a mask.  The old gal who was greeting told me it was nice to see someone smiling.  I couldn't see most of her face, but her eyes looked sad.  Again, about a third of the people in there were maskless.  And she had to wear hers or lose her job.  No wonder her eyes looked sad.

Also yesterday, I heard about an MIT study that said masks are ineffective inside (and I'm guessing they would've said outside, too, but that wasn't the point of the study).  I haven't read the study, but I'm also guessing they referenced the paper/cloth masks we're all using and not the heavy duty N-95 suckers.  

I'm at the point in my life where if I get it, I get it.  And if I die from it, you can all point and say 'if only she'd listened'.  I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees. Actually, I'd rather live on my feet than die on my knees.  Living is always preferable to dying and being on your feet is always preferable to kneeling.  

Speaking of masks, has anyone else gotten to the point where their brain is just filling in people's faces behind the masks?  I was sitting here trying to remember who was wearing a mask and who wasn't, and the interactions I had seemed like no one was wearing a mask, but when I thought about it hard, I realized all the employees had to be wearing masks, so I was filling in faces in my head.  It'll be surprising if I ever run into them without their masks and I was right about how they actually looked.

Toward the end of my dad's life, he contracted Hep-C and he was genuinely worried he'd give it to Mom.  I don't remember if he wanted her to mask up, but I'm pretty sure he wanted her gloved up any time she had to touch him.  I can't imagine.  Poor Dad.  And poor Mom.  Being afraid to touch your own wife and to have her touch you.  It gives me a sad.

The thought of being so afraid of the 'rona that you live your life under a mask staying six feet away from other humans and sanitizing everything around you gives me a sad, too.  And talking to Mom, who's trapped in Halfwit Land* (aka Michigan) makes me sad.  Unfortunately, I think talking to me down here in Freedom Acres makes her afraid for my life.  I wish I could wrap her up and bring her here, so she could see that things are nearly as bad as she's being led to believe.  

Anyway, I'm going maskless unless and until someone stops me and makes me wear one.  (Which is pretty much how I've been all along.  Walmart was about the only place I still wore one until recently.)

And yes, I am totally on board with people having the right to wear a mask if they want to.  I'm just against people being made to live in so much fear they feel they have to... or they feel they need to make me wear one.

Nuff said.

* Halfwit = the current governor of Michigan

Sunday Update - Week Somethin' or Other

I'm late and I don't feel like looking up the week number.  It was the last week of April.

I started out the week writing gangbusters and then fell apart.  Still, I did write 5 out of 7 days and I got down 6835 new words.  DN2 is at 14428 as of last night.  

No editing, obviously.  I rarely edit when I'm laying down new words, except for the editing I do WHILE I'm writing.  That's so natural I don't even think about it.  Hell, I'm editing this post as I type, too.

Let's not talk about marketing, k?  I had a sale and didn't sell a single copy.

In reading news, I had a pretty good week.  I finally finished that NF.  If you want to read about how attempting (or pretending to attempt) to make everyone equal actually hurts us all, read EQUAL IS UNFAIR.  

I didn't bake anything last week.  Shocking, I know.

On the activity front, I did something active 6 out of 7 days.  Mostly working with the container garden, but there was some walking and cleaning in there, too.  I'm up to just under 25 miles walked for the year so far.  Now that the weather is warmer, I should be able to up that third of the year average (thirdly?).  If I can walk about 10 miles a month from here on out, I should make my goal of 100 miles this year.  Sounds doable.

Gardening is going well.  Stop over to my Totally Amateur blog for updates on that.  We're supposed to get splooshed upon, so I have all the pots inside.  I jumped the gun on that.  The splooshing is supposed to start this afternoon, so I'll put them back out, water them, let them drip, and then bring them back inside.  I'll have inside pics and will post over there later.

And on that note, I should probably get started on my day.  How are things in your world?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 5/1/21

May Day!  May Day!  Umm... yeah, I always get the urge to do that on May 1st.  Sorry.  Anyway, here's the skinny on my reading week...

No new books this week.

Books Read:

30) Curtains for Three by Rex Stout (4/29/21) - Hard-boiled crime - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but I think these books can never be appreciated enough.  Part of the box lot I received.
Review: "Nero Wolfe is always fun and this is no exception!"

29) Equal is Unfair by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook (4/27/21) - NF - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but not appreciated nearly enough.  Paid full price after an accidental one-click when I was trying to add the hardcopy to my cart.
No Review.  

28) Eye of the Monster by Andre Norton (4/26/21) - SF - 5 stars.  Not new to me but way underappreciated.  I've had this book for years.  I got it when I bought a box of Andre Norton's at a garage sale.  I'm still working my way through them and I hadn't read this before now.
Review: "This is probably my favorite Andre Norton out of all I've read so far."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... A fun SF/F anthology of chicken stories.  Yes, CHICKEN stories.  It's eggcellent so far.  ROFL

What's did you read last week?  Anything fun?

2021 - Books Read

Another year has begun.  And I finished my first book of 2021, so it's time to start the Books Read post for the year.  Over there on the left, you'll see I've done one every year since 2007. 

If you haven't been here before, here's the deal - Every book I read and finish goes here with links to the Goodreads page for it.  Most recent at the top.  Then I put title, author, date finished.  I list the genre I think suits it best.  * means ebook.  # means 'new to me and underappreciated'.  If there's a number after the #, it's where the book fits in the series (if I remember to do it).  

This year, I set the goal for 75 books.  That may change later in the year if I'm reading more than I expected to.  I never set it to less.

Update:  Oh, and if you're just seeing this now, I originally posted this in early January.  I keep moving the date of this post so it's easier for me to find and update it.  My new browser isn't giving me the option to update directly from the post itself.  :grumble grumble:

Okay, let's get started...

31) Cracked: An Anthology of Eggsellent Chicken Stories by Various (5/3/21) - SF/F Shorts*
30) Curtains for Three by Rex Stout (4/29/21)
29) Equal is Unfair by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook (4/27/21) - NF*
28) Eye of the Monster by Andre Norton (4/26/21) - SF
27) The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (4/23/21) - Mystery
26) The Source of Magic (Xanth #2) by Piers Anthony (4/20/21) - Fantasy
25) The Sound of Murder by Rex Stout (4/11/21) - Hard-boiled crime
24) Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (4/9/21) - Mystery
23) Ogre, Ogre (Xanth #5) by Piers Anthony (4/7/21) - Fantasy
22) The Case of the Perambulating Hatrack by Cedar Sanderson (4/3/21) - Paranormal Noir Mystery*
21) Death by Chocolate by Sally Berneathy (4/2/21) - Mystery/Suspense*
20) Northern Affair by DK Findlay (3/31/21) - Adventure
19) Hot Under the Collar by Roxanne St. Claire (3/28/21) - Romance*
18) Defending Free Speech By Simpson, et al (3/25/21) - NF Essays
17) Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (3/22/21) - MG Literature
16) Salt in the Wounds by Mark Richards (3/22/21) - Suspense*#
15) Savaged Illusions: The Complete Series by Jennifer Lyon (3/19/21) - Romance
14) Boulder Dam by Zane Grey (3/17/21) - Adventure
13) Uptown Blues: Herbert and Melacon #5 by Seth Pevey (3/10/21) - Suspense*
12) The Bullet Catch by John Gaspard (2/28/21) - Mystery*
11) The Ambitious Card by John Gaspard (2/26/21) - Mystery*
10) Fighting for Justice by Silver James (2/20/21) - Paranormal Romantic Suspense*
9) Pawsitively Poisonous by Melissa Erin Jackson (2/16/21) - Paranormal Mystery*
8) Dead at Third by Gregory Payette (2/12/21) - Mystery*#
7) Twice the Temptation by Silver James (2/9/21) - Romance*
6) Fear is the Key by Alistair MacLean (2/5/21) - Suspense
5) Horse Heaven Hill by Zane Grey (1/29/21) - Western
4) Just for Now by Rosalind James (1/18/21) - Romance*
3) Five Complete Miss Marple Novels by Agatha Christie (1/15/21) - Mystery
2) Peonies and Peril by Sue Hollowell (1/5/21) - Cozy Mystery*#
1) Wholesale Slaughter by Rick Partlow (1/4/21) - SF*#

What plans to do have for your reading year?

Thursday This n That

I finally checked the last things off my to-do list yesterday.  As a result, there's a new remote control in the mail (ours had a couple buttons that don't work anymore) and there's a guy from the phone company coming to figure out why we have static in the line and, hopefully, fix it.  Oddly, there was static in the line when I called the office and when I called DirecTV to get the remote, but no static in the line when I called the phone company to report static in the line.  

We've had static in the phone line on and off for about a month.  Yeah, I procrastinated the hell out of that call.  And hey, why does it always have to be me that calls about that stuff?  Couldn't one of my neighbors call?  So part of my waiting was to see if anyone else would bother.  Umm, no.  Their laziness outwaited my stubbornness.  Bastards.  

I had all my zucchini and carrot plants out on the deck.  Then yesterday morning we got a sploosher, so there I was dragging all those pots back into the garage so my baby plants wouldn't get drowneded.  They'll go back out later today when this system passes through.  At some point, they're going to have to stay out there even through the splooshers because there's no way I'm dragging all those zucchinis back into the garage.  

According to Hubs and our rain gauge, we got 4 inches of rain in this system.  Sploosh.

I don't know what the hell my fingernail just accidentally touched, but suddenly I had a whole big sidebar thingie here that looked like programming language and junk.  Eeek.  Luckily, I could exit it easily.  They really ought to warn people about that shit.

I was over 44 million in poker and hit a string of bad luck during which I dropped 800K in chips. Beats so bad that I actually banged my head on the desk.  I mean, when you flop the nuts and go all in and they need runner runner to beat you and they make the runner runner, that's horrific.  And it happened twice inside ten minutes.  So, that was 400K out the window and then little beats here and there ate the other 400K.  (Yes, I understand most of you won't have any clue what I'm talking about there.  Sorry.)

In happier news, I've added 6200 words to Duke #2 this week.  So twisty.  Not only do I have no clue about who dun it, I have no clue who the bodies are.  Hehe.  It's so much fun finding out.

And that's all I've got today.  What's on your this-n-that radar today?

You Really Have to Laugh

I did an experiment yesterday.  A friend got warned by FB for saying something they considered 'hate speech', so I posted the exact same verbiage on my page.  (For the record, saying 'boys are idiots' is not hate speech.  Come on.)  She got warned.  I got nothing.  I'm beginning to feel slighted.  I suspect this is because she is someone with a lot of followers and a reach.  I'm no one in the scheme of things, so they don't give a rat's ass if I post stuff.  Hell, I actually swear and junk... without the asterisks.  Most of the George Carlin words and then some.

I did get warned once for sharing something they'd already considered 'bad'  They told me it was bad and that if I shared it I might be considered bad, too, so I should probably think before I dismissed their warning and shared it on my page.  I shared it anyway.  Nothing happened.

FB has become such a joke.

Basically, I'm at the point where every time FB 'fact checks' something, I assume it's true.  My reasoning?  If it wasn't true, they wouldn't be afraid of it and feel the need to tell everyone how untrue it was.  If I want to check whether something is actually true or false, I go over to Duck Duck Go and look for valid sources.  Multiple valid sources, usually.  I don't rely on FB to tell me the truth.

Speaking of which, a page I follow posted a meme this morning.  The meme showed a see of exactly the same face looking up into the sky and chanting FB's COVID-19 verbiage, which had then been tagged with the same verbiage and then tagged with the same verbiage again.  The meme was tagged with the same verbiage.  Which was hilarious.  

A while back, someone posted something that talked about being unable to understand how a senile pedophile and a high-priced call-girl could've received so many votes.  FB fact-checked it with 'he's not a pedophile!'  I found it incredibly funny that they didn't fact-check his senility or her being a hooker.  Apparently, you can say he's an addled minded old fart and she's a ho, but for godsakes, don't call him a pedophile.

You really have to laugh at this shit.  It's comedy gold, people.

I'm so sad Carlin died.  He'd be calling all of this out, dragging it into the light and showing how astronomically stupid all of it is.

Seriously, though, the only appropriate response to this shit is to laugh at it.  Gretchen Halfwit now says children aged 2-4 have to wear masks.  You can't get kids that age to keep their clothes on and you want to mask them up?  That's going to go over well.  A comedian back in the '80s... I want to say either Robin Williams or Howie Mandel*... has a bit about their kid taking off all their clothes and running around screaming 'LOOK AT ME!  I'M NAKED!'  Keep a mask on that, you silly twatwaffle.  

Sure, it's serious.  Our country is swirling the drain and headed right for the septic tank.  People are dying.  Others are going broke and still others are killing themselves.  Maybe if everyone had laughed at this shit from the very beginning, it wouldn't be as bad as it is.  I don't know.  All I know is if I don't laugh at it now, I'll go nuts.  

*Yes, that Howie Mandel.  He was a comedian before he was a gameshow host.  I still repeat some of his stuff.  It was that memorable.  He was also an actor on one of the most highly-rated medical dramas of the time - St. Elsewhere.  Look it up.