Monday, January 14, 2019

News and Updates

1. So the Eagles will not repeat as champions, which is a bummer really.  They squeaked into the playoffs when nobody (including me) thought they could do it, won a playoff game that I watched happen and still don’t actually believe what I saw (“double doink!”), and very nearly beat a better team in a game they had no right to be playing in the first place, and if that isn’t the ideal way to end a season it’s not all that bad really.  They put up a good fight and left it all out there on the field and fulfilled all those sports cliches that actually matter when you see them done right.  Fly, Eagles, fly.

2. We’re back down to three people in the household now that Tabitha has returned to college.  It was really nice having her back for the semester break.  You get used to having everyone home again, and then they’re not.  I’m not going to like this whole empty nest thing once they both move away for real, I can tell you that.

3. I’m trying to stay more on top of the blog these days.  The last six or eight weeks have been kind of iffy that way, with a few comments left unresponded to for too long.  It’s been that kind of time.

4. It’s hard to keep reading a book when you know what’s going on better than the characters do and it’s really obvious that they should just stop whinging and get on with things.

5. Lauren has decided that the kneewall behind her closet would make an ideal movie-watching space, and I can’t really see it but if she wants to put in the work and make it happen then you go girl.

6. Part of me wants to rant and rave about the current depravity in Washington but the rest of me values my sanity a bit too much to give in to that wholeheartedly.  We have a foreign agent in the Oval Office who has done a masterful job of destabilizing both the United States and the entire post-WWII international order and 40% of Americans are just fine with this.  Poor Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – born 70 years too soon.

7. It’s been a really uninspiring winter here in Baja Canada.  No real snow, not even any real cold temperatures.  Now that everyone is where they need to be in my family and nobody needs to be traveling anytime soon, I think I’m ready for a good blizzard followed by some bitter cold weather where all the Manly Men can burst through the snowbanks in their V8 Hemi all-wheel-drive Compensators to put in a full day’s work at the office while the rest of us sip whiskey by the fire at home.

8. We’ve taken down the Christmas tree, and the living room looks empty and sad now. 

9. Tabitha and I spent some time sorting through the foreign coins in our collection – a large and motley assortment of things that are not particularly valuable but are still rather cool, we thought.  The United States has the world’s most boring money.  Also, I have no idea how we ended up with so many French francs and centimes, since I have spent a grand total of 16 glorious hours in that country and that was after they switched over to the euro.  Also, what is it with countries and their triple-thick coins? 

10. Have you ever seen a pre-euro Dutch dime?  They’re about half the size of an American dime.  You have to be careful not to inhale sharply around them. 

10 comments:

  1. 1. Could be worse. Could've been the Vikings.

    2. Trust me. They’re never really gone. Quite the contrary. Just when you think you have the house to yourself, you’ll find ‘em sneaking in the back door and raiding the ‘fridge.

    3. Just trying to stay on top of the sofa is tough enough. Do life, then regale us here till we’re jealous.

    6. Even Julius and Ethel would feel out of place in that crowd.

    7. Sending cold front your way. Duck. Or don’t. Just don’t get in front of any Compensators - it appears that they do not come equipped with brakes. Or brains.

    8. Put up a cat house* where the tree was. Then next year you’ll have to figure out how to keep the cats out of the tree …

    10. I really think this one should have just been tagged on to that ninth paragraph. But then who am I to play editor.

    Lucy

    * No, not one of those, one of these:
    https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07F83M4G5/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07F83M4G5&pd_rd_w=crrTp&pf_rd_p=21517efd-b385-405b-a405-9a37af61b5b4&pd_rd_wg=lhMTU&pf_rd_r=S2RTQQQEBXX7BQM7BPPP&pd_rd_r=4e540017-191b-11e9-9afe-e19854ff74f0

    (With Thor as my witness, the single best investment I’ve ever made!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. I KNOW! I am still not entirely sure how the Vikings gagged up that playoff spot, but I am grateful to them. Sorry about your fandom, though.

    2. I'm okay with that. The fridge will ever be open to them.

    3. I shall do my best, kind sir!

    6. Well Julius and Ethel actually had principled reasons for what they did.

    7. Bring it. The cold front, I mean. The problem with Compensators is that the part they are compensating for is the part that you're not supposed to be thinking with in the first place, really.

    8. Oddly enough, we DO have a cat house where the tree goes. One of the ones for actual cats, I mean. It's almost EXACTLY like the one in that picture, except with one less nesting box and it's beige instead of chocolate brown. We're on the same page! Neither of the cats bothers the tree though. I'm not sure why, but I'm not going to question it either.

    10. Possibly, but it was such a striking thing that it seemed worthy of a separate paragraph. Plus 10 is a nice round number and I couldn't think of anything else worth writing down.

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  3. *FOR your fandom.

    That was meant to be an expression of sympathy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I actually didn't notice the missing word, so you drawing my attention to your omission was probably a tactical error on your part.

    If it wasn't for the fact that I actually married a Viking, I would have given up on Minnesota after the 2nd time they choked at the Super.

    The problem with the kids coming back home to 'visit' is that they always seem to bring a few extra stray hungry mouths with them. This is a feature, not an actual bug. Most of the time. It only becomes a problem when the kids leave, and the strays stay.

    Julius and Ethel actually understood what principles are, which is why the would not fit in with the current bunch of ... [fill in the blank with an appropriate adjective] ... [noun]

    And 10 is a good number. Unlike One. Which I understand is the loneliest number since the number two, and also the loneliest number that you'll ever do.

    (Sorry for the earworm.)*

    Lucy

    *(Well, no, not really. I've recently taken up a new hobby, as it were: earworms from the late '60s thru the '70s. Making new enemies one post at a time.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, whatever floats your boat, but remember - two can play at that game. Mwahahahahaha.

    Someone left the cake out in the rain!

    It is a feature, isn't it? I like when the house is full and the dinner table is surrounded by people. Every so often one or the other of the girls will have a pile of friends over, and it's nice. Although eventually the strays do have to go home, I'll give you that.

    That is the scariest part about the current bunch of Deleted Expletives. It's not that what they believe is evil so much as that they don't really seem to believe in anything. As a resident of Wisconsin I had six years to get used to this under Governor Teabagger before der Sturmtrumper and his Merrie Band of Idyots took over, and to be honest it didn't really make it any easier to deal with.

    And have you noticed they're not even trying to hide it anymore?

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  6. "And have you noticed they're not even trying to hide it anymore?"

    Hide what?

    The younger of our daughters brought home a stray two years ago. Hasn't left yet. In other news, neither has that idiot currently occupying The White House. As for scariest, I think the later.

    "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale"

    A tale of a frightful trip ...

    Lucy

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  7. Well, yes, two years is a bit much. Although I'd gladly have a friend of my daughter's stay with us for two years if it meant removing that petit-Fascist disgrace from the White House.

    A frightful trip indeed.

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  8. Oh - hide the evil they do and the lack of principle by which they do it.

    Forgot to add that bit above.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You seriously need a refresher course in rhetoricals.

    I forced myself to sit through that whole thing. The spookiest part is that I'm not at all certain which song he murdered worse. But it was an interesting torture session, nonetheless.

    You understand, don't cha, that you will pay dearly for that? And when you least expect it, too.

    Lucy

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  10. Yeah, I kind of figured that.

    ReplyDelete

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