Reading

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Poem: "An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government"

This poem is spillover from the March 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Secrets" square in my 3-1-25 card for the Tolkien Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Poem: "Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness"

This poem came out of the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by

janetmiles. It also fills the "close-knit community" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family; it follows "Signs of Their Trespass," so read that first or this won't make much sense.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Notes for "Always Surprised by Consequences"

These are the notes for "Always Surprised by Consequences."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Poem: "Always Surprised by Consequences"

This poem came out of the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

rix_scaedu. It also fills "The Harder They Fall" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Notes for "No Such Thing as Finished"

These are the notes for "No Such Thing as Finished."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Poem: "No Such Thing as Finished"

This poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

jake67jake. It also fills the "He's all hat and no cattle." square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Geology

Defying physics: This rare crystal cools itself using pure magnetism

Research team identifies atacamite as a magnetocaloric material.
Deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert, scientists studied a green crystal called atacamite—and discovered it can cool itself dramatically when placed in a magnetic field. Unlike a regular fridge, this effect doesn’t rely on gases or compressors. Instead, it’s tied to the crystal’s unusual inner structure, where tiny magnetic forces get tangled in a kind of “frustration.” When those tangled forces are disrupted by magnetism, the crystal suddenly drops in temperature. It’s a strange, natural trick that could someday help us build greener, more efficient ways to cool things.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is mostly cloudy and sweltering.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds. Bees are visiting the small metal birdbath again.

EDIT 7/6/25 -- It's raining, so I won't have to water anything today. :D

.

Backing Up Is Hard To Do

Google has had the same backup situation for years and years. You request what files you want and then they zip them all up and send you a link to all the zip files that you then must download. They do not understand the concept of incremental backup so to keep current, this process must be repeated often. I have a shithoad of files in Google Drive alone and that's not even touching Keep, email, photos, and a variety of other miscellaneous bits.

I am now nearly halfway through downloading the backup to the drive files. Once I get it onto my external drive, I'm done. I may or may not go back and copy over recent files/changes. I could be done. Their scheme just sucks eggs. And while, two days ago, I was all over the whole idea, today I'm rapidly losing interest. Who the fuck cares, I'll be dead anyway and if I'm not, the one vital piece of data I need will be in the haystack that is this mess. So...

My foot, now, only hurts once in a while. It's 100% manageable. And I'm enjoying wearing shoes that feel good knowing they are not exacerbating the issue. (Contrary to what the original podiatrist I went to two years ago told me.)

Today is laundry and baseball. The house is kind of organized. The kitchen is tidy. Nothing else really needs doing. I have good food in the fridge and the freezer. I have no pending Amazon returns. Things seem under control. It's warm here, not hot but the sun is blazing and I love my poorly hung shades and my very chill air conditioning.

I think I'll click a few more downloads (it seems to work best if I download about 4 of these 2 GB files at a time) and go get dressed.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

food,
recipe

Today's Smoothie

Today we made a smoothie with:

1 cup orange juice
1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup ice

The result is bright pink and on the thin side. It tastes mostly of orange. It's okay, but not as good as the tropical version from earlier.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Early Humans

125,000-year-old ‘fat factory’ run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany

Stone Age humans living by a lake in what’s now Germany systematically processed animal carcasses for fatty nutrients — essentially running what scientists describe as a “fat factory” to boil bones on a vast scale, according to new research.

Note that another thing you can make with animal fat is pemmican: a stable, high-energy trail food made with fat, powdered meat, and a carbohydrate such as berries. Since it's not something you'd make in a hot climate like Africa (where humans evolved) but rather in a cold climate (such as northern Europe), I'm suddenly wondering if it is in fact a Neanderthal or Denisovan recipe.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus some brown birds that might be female blackbirds.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I refilled the thistle feeder.

I picked up the concrete paver that we used for fireworks last night, along with scraps of paper and cardboard left behind.

Volunteer sunflowers are blooming under the fly-through feeder.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and some of the savanna seedlings. A sunflower in the telephone pole garden is close to blooming. :D

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I pulled some weeds from the septic garden.

Fireflies are out. Cicadas are singing.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Poem: "Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers"

This poem was written for the Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love. It also fills the "buffalo" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo Fest.

( Read more... )

Saturday

Volleyball was fine. Elbow coffee was fine. And now the rest of the day is mine which is VERY fine.

Dick and Jan (the new peops) were at elbow coffee this morning. They actually, officially, move in on Monday. The California king bed that they have slept on for years will not fit into their new bedroom so they are bed shopping. They said that the bad new is their bed won't fit but the good news is that Dick has now shrunken in his old age and he fits on a regular king which does fit! So win. They are a cute couple.

I got an email from Microsoft that they wanted $20 for another year of One Drive. Nope. After the password debacle, I'm over you, Microsoft. Plus, I pay for storage on my web site host so I'll just pop important stuff there. Mail is already copied so all I really need is the stuff on my Google Drive. Which is 23 4GB zip files. I was going to download them all and then upload them all but why? cheaper and easier just to plop them onto an external drive that I already have. So that's the plan.

I also figured out how to get Apple TV without fighting Apple. Somehow my Apple TV account got hosed and Apple won't let me back in. NFW am I going to call them which is my only option. BUT! Prime Video let's me subscribe through them AND they are having a sale. Win win.

Where there's a will...

My foot is far less purple and not nearly as hurty today. I did not even think about it while playing volleyball. And neither one of my feet or ankles are even remotely swollen. Nice.

There is stuff around here (Timber Ridge) that bugs me. Food stuff, services, stuff, options stuff. Having Scott and Julie around to point out all the marvelous thing here, has led me to rethink. I agree with them both that this place is lovely and impressive and comfortable and caring and a great place for me to live. But, I forget all of that when they replace french fries at lunch with fucking tater tots. Or they change the package receiving system so that I can't get my packages in a timely fashion. And then I tend to focus solely on the bits that are annoying.

I have two packages, neither of which is critical and one is a jacket I can't even wear til fall. I have a photo of the package being received so I'm fairly certain it won't get lost in the waiting. I have a lot of french fries in the freezer.

So what remains is training myself to NOT focus on the annoying bits. I think I can do that and that's today's project. I was going to do laundry but that will be tomorrow. In my fridge, for lunch I have fixin's for BLT's and two fried chicken thighs and one whole hot dog with chopped onions and potato salad. I'm not going to be hurting for meals anytime soon.

I having knitting to do and baseball to watch. And I might even watch some Wimbledon.

In 1985, I got to go to Wimbledon with my mother. My father gave her the trip for Christmas and then, at the last minute, could not go (union problems at work) and she asked me if I wanted to. ER.... yes!! We had a great time but it was, that year, the hottest Wimbledon on record. We fried our asses just sitting there moving our heads back and forth. I understand they are celebrating this 20th anniversary with even hotter weather. But, alas, without us.

I will be here in the cool, apartment remembering.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love

Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love

Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like
See "Poem: Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers."

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Philosophical Questions: Government

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What should the role of a government be, what boundaries and limitations should it have?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: happy

Entry tags:

Fireworks

Tonight we did our home fireworks show. :D These are the things we bought from JT Fireworks Sales in Charleston...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Writing About Fireworks

In honor of the Fourth of July, here are a few tidbits to enjoy.

Today's Adventures 6/28/25 -- We bought fireworks for our home show, and we watched the show in Tolono.

Fireworks 7/4/25 -- Read about our home show tonight.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is mostly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I checked the south lot and put topsoil in a few low spots, prior to our fireworks show tonight.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked up a trough pot that fell off the old picnic table, restored the curry plant and purple basil as best I could, then watered them and a few other things in the house yard.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I sowed 6 pots with mulberry seeds. Half are from a particularly pleasing mulberry sapling near the west end of the old fishpond, the other half from a mulberry that was left on the porch step as if a gift.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and a few seedlings in the savanna.

My partner Doug mowed the ritual meadow and prairie paths.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of herbs to make a skillet scramble for supper.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. There are plenty left; I ran out of heat tolerance long before I ran out of berries. :D

Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. Still more left, but I'll have to hunt those another day, because it is still hot and the sun is about to set.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- We did our home fireworks show. :D I'm sure it confused the bats and the fireflies.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

July 4

Years and years and years ago, the Vietnamese War killed my patriotism. I was in college. My friends were being drafted to go over and get killed. Then, an hour from my college, the National Guard fired guns at the students at Kent State. And that was the final blow.

I could have - maybe should have - left but never even seriously considered it. I got a little hopeful when Obama was elected but, of course, that's been squashed.

So celebrating the birth of this ugly political pit is not something I gravitate to. Red White and Blue represents stupid old white guys who make ridiculous decisions.

Yes, I have enjoyed the fruits of those stupid white guy decisions and I get the irony but I still hate all patriotic holidays and the crap that goes with them. So... today will be a Friday for me.

New menu day and the last week of my meal month so I need to eat up whatever they are serving. Scott and Julie helped this month so it's not so much of a scramble.

My foot is a little better. It's no longer bruised looking from the shot so there's that. I still have another shot to go but that's not til August. I've been watching my ankles and they are weird. One day they are huge and the next they are back down to normal, lather rinse repeat. I'm now taking an embarrassing number of pills each day. 1 for cholesterol, 2 for high blood pressure, COQ 10, vitamin D, AREDS2, now an allergy pill and one for my feet. That's 8 every morning and another AREDS2 at night. AND I'm healthy! (Oh and the allergy pills are working again so whew!)

Baseball starts at 10 today. And I might do some laundry or not. My little UPS shop is closed but I have nothing to return today anyway.