Not A Carousel

Since this isn't Instagram, this isn't a carousel, just a few pictures.

This popped up in my Pinterest feed.  I don't know who to give credit to, but I do appreciate the share.

This is why many of us knit: to perfectly frame toddler cheeks.

Twinnie may be especially attuned to this sentiment just now, but any of us who craft know the feeling.

I must admit, I'd probably have taken a picture, too.  Before, you know, unsticking the poor thing.

What in the world?  I think I get the wordplay, but in the broader sense --- HUH?

Puppy Tap wishes all a happy Year of the Horse.

And in the equine spirit:

Well?

Meanwhile

The boots wait.  For their future and hopefully lit life.

What should be the shameful aspect of that photo is that that is maybe only a third of my boots.  These were mostly in my bedroom closet, with some in an old entertainment center in the dining room.  There are still pairs left in both those places, plus up and down the stairs.

There are some quirky things about this house.  One is that there is a little closet in my bedroom that has a shoe rack in it.  It was there when we moved in.  Today I've been cleaning out that closet, and have a fully accurate count of how many dress shoes I own.

Off-white, tan, and black.  And I cannot remember when I last wore any of them.

Lights Off

 Ya ever get just plain ol' overwhelmed?

The lit shelves for my boots have animated and excited me.  Until today.  The plan to buy lighting was sunk after a MUCH too long search this morning.  Light strips, which can be held in place with adhesive, have to be cut to fit my shelves.  Then the cut pieces have to be connected so the electric current can run through.  That means several boxy connectors which will ruin the aesthetic.  (Oooooh, fancy.  Or snobbish.  Take your pick.)  Light bars that will fit the shelves all seem to  be motion sensored.  That isn't what I want.

Light strips plus all the connectors plus the --- admittedly not that difficult --- work pushed the price close enough to the lights built-in shelves that I'm back to them.  After all the research and the measuring and the configuring, I'm not too excited about this now.

Lights On

Some time ago, I brought a bookcase down from Hannah's room to store some odds and ends that were kind of haphazardly around.  Since then, there have been books and Funko Pops and yarn and framed things...  You get the idea. 

When I was putting away the Christmas decorations, I realized how very many strings of clear lights I have.  After that, the idea struck me that I could line the bookcase with lights, and store some of my boots on the shelves.  

Whoa, whoa, whoa --- hold on there, Walt.  I dreamed, I visualized, but it just wasn't happening.  I couldn't figure out how to put the lights in place so they'd stay.  AND, the lights are strung on green wire while the bookcase is white.  Not pretty.  Until the lights were turned on at night.

So what did I do today?  Shopped for bookcases that come pre-lit.  My college roommate BFF gave me Amazon* gift cards for Christmas and my birthday, so I've got a bit of a head start.  I'll let you know what happens.

*Should we capitalize this?  In the logo, the "a" is lower case.  Shouldn't the capital be reserved for the river and the rainforest?

Forward and Back

 So the "I'm mad" palindrome?  Cool as that is, "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote an entire song in palindrome.  It's title is "Bob," and it's remarkable.

Kind of a nothing day here.  I've nothing to show for Tiny Needle Tuesday, of course.  There's a new button on AI that's caught my fancy.  It's "Lunar New Year."  This is my daughter and me from the weekend of the Walking Dead convention and the Hugh Laurie concert.  We both look pretty much the same, I guess.

Well, her hair is back to its natural brown.  For the time being.  😉

Just a Little Knowledge

 

DP

Oh, no no no no no.  Uh-uh.

 
I have tried a whole lot of Dr Pepper products, except Peeps.  I don't do Peeps.  Candy, beans, Tic Tacs, Jack Links, even Dr Pepper cake.  Most of them weren't great, but let's not kid ourselves --- I'll try this.

For me, the best Dr Pepper comestible remains 

and the best Dr Pepper-adjacent product is

Gone now, but I bought many, many a tube...

Are We At the Caboose?

A couple more cars on the purple train started yesterday:

My therapist gave me these today as a late birthday gift.  (We've been "together" so long that we joke we could switch chairs in the office and get just as much done.)  I don't know why that one rose stem bent on me.  Maybe as I tried to get everything in the vase?  At any rate, they're so pretty and so much appreciated.

I got myself a new crock pot (or slow cooker these days, evidently) the other day.  It's a little guy, 'cause I'm sure not cooking for crowds anymore.  The one that I had to replace was a wedding gift, I think, so I can't complain about it lasting 40 years.  This is the new one:

On the bottom of its carton was this:

Ohhhhkay...  I'm well past reproducing, and please, Fates, let me be done with cancer.  The warning, though, is due to chemicals you might be exposed to.  It isn't clear where the chemicals are, though.  The paint?  The heating case?  The lid?  The crockery itself?  It's sad thinking you might have to wear a hazmat suit to make some chili.

Paragraphs Featuring Purple

Did y'all have to chew on these in elementary school? One of those days each year when routine went by the wayside?  If memory serves, they tasted awful, and chewing for as long as we were supposed to seemed impossible.

Then we judged one another based on how many purple spots were on our teeth.  (We were SO cruel.) I'm kind of surprised they're still around.  We all got a new toothbrush at the end of the day.  Really, really out of the ordinary for us in the 60s.

Some exciting news from tonight.  I polished my nails!

First time since my fall.  The left hand dealt with my right hand easily, but the reverse was not true.  These two dang fingers are still making fine motor work tricky.  But I got it done.  Success!!

A Little Birdie Taught Me

Today has felt like a sick day.  I've just sort of shlumped on the couch, no energy, listlessly scrolling through I did learn some things.

For instance, pigeons can sit:

It is true and clear that I over-anthropomorphize animals.  Looking at this, I "hear" the pigeon saying, "Nope.  Not in the mood for Central Park.  You can't make me, you can't make me."

Still on avian topics:

Cassowary eggs are bright green.  And big, it would seem.  The evolutionary purpose of green eggs* escapes me.  They can't be easily hidden.  Then again, cassowaries are considered the most dangerous birds, so maybe they aren't worried about predators.

*So in the book title, are only the eggs green, or are the eggs and the ham green?

Recall

Jesse Jackson gave a speech at Alabama when I was in grad school.   I think it was a campaign stop as he ran for president.  The room was packed;  I got there early enough to claim a chair.  The scene is crystal clear in my memory.  Jackson was bigger than I expected, in a lot of ways.  His speech was electrifying.  I don't remember the exact topics he covered, but I remember the hair on my arms standing up again and again.  He led the "I Am Somebody" chant.  One of the work-study students from the Sociology department was also there, and he and I walked back to ten Hoor Hall, talking about what we'd just seen.  I have a lot of memories from Tuscaloosa --- this is one of the clearest.

Looking at this picture takes me back to how that building smelled, the department's office (oooh --- I had my own mail cubby!)  I can hear Don Muir whistling as he walked the hall where all the offices were.  Very good memories.

Markers

Am I right?

This is where not having any place to be (a job, for instance) sometimes pays off.  I can't caulk or weatherstrip to keep stupid out, but my house can protect me from some of it.  As long as I don't watch too much television.

I clear-cut a WHOLE lot of collage stuff last night.  Which means I don't really have a whole lot left to work on.  Knitting is still such a slow go.  Reading it is, therefore.  One novel (The Golem and The Jinni), and two non-fiction (Code Talker and The Horse God Built)

SFX

I like this so much, I'm sure I've shared it before.

It's the picture on the left for me.  I'm imagining all the little bee grunts...

Here's What You Need

A twinnie.  If you don't have one already, getcha one.  They tell good stories, often punctuated by pretty pictures.  They grow things and love animals and marry good people.  They make things, and share them, e.g.

Look at that snappy red zipper!

And your twinnie will make you fabulous cards.

And everything will arrive in a hand-crafted bag/envelope.

🩷

Days

I have never been more glad to leave an age behind than 65.  Frankly, 2025 kinda wasn't a good year for me all around.  Still, the couple of times I've had to fill "66" in on forms today has been strange.

This is a face I showed you a while back

You know I can't stop with the "Make my pet human" button.

This app is killing me.  In, you know, a good way.

Shout-out to my fellow "12ers" (well, some of them):

Lincoln, of course

Charles Darwin

(They were actually born on the same day, same year.  There's a wonderful book about them: Angels and Ages)

Christina Ricci

Taylor Dearden (IYKYK)

Bill Russell (HERO)

Josh Brolin

Michael McDonald (A favorite voice)

Hope y'all have a good Friday the 13th.

My Sense of Humor?

It's interesting how algorithms work.  I shouldn't be surprised that lots of animal-related things show up on my Instagram feed.  This made me chuckle:

Honestly, I know what a chicken saddle is, but, also honestly, it has been a minute since I've thought about one.  (First thing that inevitably comes to mind is "Who/What is small enough to ride a chicken?"  "How do you put on the bridle and the reins?")

Those of you who might have gone a little naughty with the phrase "ride a chicken?"  Here's your pay-off.

The fact that there are two names for this is tremendous.  Personally, I prefer "mating saddle."  "Chicken apron" is something that mama chickens in children's books wear.  Like so:

So, you put the mating saddle on your hen because you have a rooster who might overmate.

(Why do I find this so funny?  I'm having to stop periodically while typing this to giggle.)

So you, as the chicken farmer, have to know 1) which roosters have overmating tendencies, including treading, 2) when mating is likely to take place so you can 3) put the mating aprons on the hens to whom your roosters have taken a fancy.

Poultry are complicated.  Think about these things if you're contemplating backyard chicken ownership.

Now, if any of you are going to do research on anything here, understand that you might wind up someplace that has pictures of chicken sex.  Some harmless, some showing graphic treading.  If you don't go that far, you'll at least find some cute chicken saddle patterns!

Presto

I have been goofing around with an AI app.  (Don't tell my son.  He'll LAUNCH headlong into a tirade.)  Still, one of the prompts available to me was "Turn my pet into a human."  Here, firstly, is my pet Tap.*

Asking that he be turned into a human resulted in this.

This thoroughly delights me, in no small part because it's sort of reminiscent of my daughter.  Also, there's a smattering of freckles across the nose.  I do like freckles.

*This is another AI: "Pencil sketch."

Horizons

 I, like many I suppose, am just kind of hanging around until the Super Bowl starts.  I did have a visitor a bit ago:"Mother, I have arisen from my nap.  It is time for you to brush me back into good-looking-ness."

(I did.)

Although we are often told that a journey is more important than a destination, sometimes the reverse is true.  Take, for example, the recent trip I took through animals' reproduction behavior.  (And NO, it doesn't matter why.)  You, dear reader, may wish not to learn what I have learned.  If you don't, scroll down the picture of a pier and a calm sea to resume your sure footing.

Those of you still here are required to know that male ducks have corkscrew-shaped penises.  I assume many of you already did.  And have possibly searched for a photograph of said phalluses.  No judgment here.

What I arrived at after my trip through animal reproductive behavior, much better than what it took to get me there, was this:

Firstly, of course females solved a problem.  DUH.  It's what we females do.  The use of the word "endowed" isn't quite working for me, though.  "Undesirable but aggressive males" sounds like a place I've been before. 

What is fantastically brilliant is that females evolved their own conception control. (👏)  Even brillianter are "dead-end cul-de-sacs and spirals in the opposite direction."  (👏👏)  With flourishes this problem was solved! "Take that, drakes," they might be heard to quack.

I managed to knit two rows the other night.  One had been as far as I'd been able to go before. It was a surprise to keep knitting past that without any significant discomfort.  This hat may be done before mid-Summer!

Huh?

I don't understand why criminals confess their crimes to their cellmates.  (Other, I suppose, than trying to sound big and bad.)  Cellmates go to the police.  Come on: watch a crime TV show, or a documentary, even.

Has anyone ever seen "Dreary" used in a weather outlook before?  "I'd love to come to your pizza party, but the weather's due to be 'dreary' that day."

How do you dress for "dreary?"

Have any of you ever seen an animal capture your mood and personality PER.  FECT.  LY?

Do you know about We Love Poppets on Etsy?  I've bought several prints to give as gifts, and gotten a few of the wee little sculptures for myself.  Here are the latest two to arrive:

No, not Garth Brooks Poppet.  That is the Little Witch of Winter, and this

is knitting Poppet, "Gathering in the Wool."  You can't quite see the delicate little needles, but they're wonderful.

Did you know there's a new protest hat making the rounds (ha --- pun) on Ravelry?  Of course you do.  Y'all are savvier and on Ravelry more than me.

Quick Question

Does the guy come with the wig?

'Cause I may have a little room on my Amazon card...

Excruciatingly boring around here.  My visit to the car dealership went well;  all that needed to be done was putting a patch on one tire.  It was the back passenger tire, and for the last several months, it would lose air at random.  As in, I'd get the warning on my dashboard, put air in it, and then drive for however long without a problem.  Weird.  It never even looked that flat.

Did you know that velvet is manufactured to catch light?  I didn't;  just found that out, and I think it's fascinating.

(I know this looks like satin, but it's velvet.)

Since I'm all caught up on "The Pitt," my TV time is now spent on "Broadchurch."

Olivia Colman has never let me down.  (Thank you, crush on Hugh Laurie, for getting me to watch "The Night Manager" --- that's how I found out about her.)   David Tennant is all kinds of charming, even playing stern characters.