karenmarie's reading in 2023 - part IV

Welcome to my fourth thread of Two Thousand and Twenty-Three!

Bibliomaniac, bibliophile, lectiophiliac, bookworm. Four ways to describe me and books.

The Good: Family, friends, kitties, books, in constantly-rotating order. Jenna being home is wonderful although I know living at home chaffs her and she’d rather have her own apartment and a kitty or two. Knee replacement Thursday March 9th went off without a hitch. All the PT and stuff after continuing, of course. Still using a walker.

The Bad and the Sad: Covid is still in the mix. Ukraine is still fighting for its survival as an independent country. Women’s rights in the US are under continuing and even escalating attack. Racism is alive and well and able to easily organize on the Internet. The haves keep wanting more and more and the have nots keep getting shafted more and more. Much extreme weather here in the US causing trauma and damage. I’m still pretty much avoiding the news these days, frankly.

The Ugly: The Gang of Psychos infiltrating at every level of government, state and federal, to undermine rights, force their religious beliefs on others, and poison our republic.

The encouraging: … I’m sure there’s something out there, but honestly, I haven’t seen much of it. Well, perhaps t**** getting indicted.

I’ll be 70 this summer. Like everybody else who gets there, I think “How did I get to be old? Not in a bad way, just a real way.

I am so glad I’m retired, and am beyond grateful that I don’t have to venture out to work to earn a living ever again. I paid my dues. Every day I don’t work is a cause for celebration.

I read and am a charter member of the Redbud and Beyond Book Club, started in 1997. We started meeting in person again last May. This book club year ends in April, with May to pick 11 books – one for each member – for the 2023-2024 year. I am President for our local Friends of the Library. I gave my resignation, effective June 30, 2023 at the July meeting. I’ll stay on the Board as Immediate Past President for however long the next President serves, then completely leave the Board and just stay on the Book Sale Team. The Book Sale Team meets on Tuesdays to sort donations for the spring and fall book sales. I’ll be going back to book sort meetings starting in April some time.

I have been married to Bill for almost 32 years and am mother to Jenna, 29. The three of us live in our own little corner of paradise on 8 acres in central North Carolina USA.

We have three kitties. Inara, Zoe, Wash. Book kitties, all hanging out in the Library because that’s where I’m sleeping while recovering from knee replacement surgery.
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Found this pic recently, our house from the pastures, December 26, 2010.
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My goal last year was 75 books, based on what I thought would be a tough reading year because of my health. Ha. I read over 300 books, mostly on my Kindle, mostly using Kindle Unlimited. They were, as my daughter calls them, smut, and my friend Karen in Montana calls porn. *shrugs* I really, really enjoy reading this subgenre of contemporary fiction/romance and will continue until it no longer interests me. This coming year’s goal is back to 100, but I’ve already read 86 books, am still enthralled with contemporary fiction/romance with no end in sight. I’m going to leave the 100 book goal as is.

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New Year’s Resolutions – 2023 – I think I’ll just posting this all year and make sure I read and update it!

Health:

Lose a minimum of 20 pounds.
Work out for cardio health 3 times a week when appropriate given potential knee surgeries.
Get knee replacement surgery (ies?) and assiduously follow through with all PT and other requirements.
Reduce red meat consumption and increase salmon and other healthy fish consumption.
Continue low-sodium lifestyle and gradually work to reduce sugared items to 2-3 times a week.

Reading:

Read 5% nonfiction this year if continuing with startling numbers of contemporary fiction - i.e., romances, otherwise 10% if the romance trend tapers off.
Inventory all book shelves in house, ruthlessly cull that which I won’t read/re-read and which Jenna won’t want when I’m gone. ~123 shelves = 10/month.
Finish The Federalist Papers, Pilgrim, re-start and finish Run With the Horsemen, a gift from Peggy.
Read A Brief Introduction to the New Testament by Bart D. Ehrman with friend Karen in Montana.
Maybe read Don Juan by George Gordon, Lord Byron, with Peggy.

House:

Get the Parlour back under control by making a decision about each thing in the room and immediately following through properly: keep and store, toss, donate.

Inter-personal:

Be in better touch with family and friends. I tend to isolate when stressed.

General:

As Judy says, pay attention.
Express gratitude for what I have - family, friends, intangibles and tangibles - every day.

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2023. I have high hopes for familial stability with Jenna living at home and socking money away for the eventual move to an apartment of her own. The new normal for Covid will, I hope, be continued vigilance and an eventual regimen of yearly vaccines as we do with flu. With politics, who knows, but I hope the Democrats continue to keep the Gang of Psychos in check as much as possible and the world does not implode via Putin/nuclear/Ukraine, Kim Jung Un in North Korea ditto nuclear, and the Middle East with Israel and Iran ditto nuclear. See a potentially devastating theme here?

Books Read - last year was 324

January
1. Glamorous by Romeo Alexander 12/31/22 1/1/23 202 pages Kindle
2. Commitment Issues by Ali Ryecart 1/1/23 1/2/23 372 pages Kindle
3. Take My Breath Away by Ali Ryecart 1/2/23 1/3/23 395 pages Kindle
4. Out of the Shadows by Ali Ryecart 1/3/23 1/4/23 364 pages Kindle
5. Loose Connection by Ali Ryecart 1/4/23 1/5/23 354 pages Kindle
6. Corporate Bodies by Ali Ryecart 1/5/23 1/6/23 318 pages Kindle
**abandoned Release by Ali Ryecart** 106 pages
**abandoned Time for Love by Laura N. Andrews** 84 pages
**abandoned Imperfect by Ali Ryecart** 52 pages
7. Hotline by Quinn Anderson 1/6/23 1/6/23 276 pages Kindle
8. Alaska by Cate Ashwood 1/6/23 1/7/23 182 pages Kindle
9. Bishop Ridge by Cate Ashwood 1/7/23 1/8/23 187 pages Kindle
10. Copper Creek by Cate Ashwood 1/8/23 1/8/23 198 pages Kindle
11. Bet on Love by A.F. Zoelle and Ariella Zoelle 1/9/23 1/10/23 178 pages 2020
**abandoned First Comes Marriage by Shira Anthony** 145 pages
12. Ex-Factor by CJ Bishop 1/10/23 1/10/23 22 pages Kindle 2022
13. Hot Boss by Scarlet Blackwell 1/10/23 1/11/23 110 pages Kindle 2021
14. The Mechanic and the Surgeon by Steve Milton 1/11/23 1/11/23 115 pages Kindle 2015
**abandoned Captured by Scarlet Blackwell** 82 pages
**abandoned Ironhearted by Cate Ashwood** 156 pages
15. The Best Man Problem by Jace Hadley 1/11/23 1/12/23 248 pages Kindle
16. Show Me Wonders by Riley Nash 1/13/23 1/14/23 327 pages Kindle
17. Hold me Under by Riley Nash 1/14/23 1/15/23 336 pages Kindle
18. Christmas Special by Riley Nash 1/15/23 1/16/23 261 pages Kindle
19. Gruff Touch by R. Cayden 1/16/23 1/17/23 170 pages Kindle
20. Off Limits by Riley Hart 1/18/23 1/18/23 265 pages Kindle
21. Trusting Tanner by Nicky James 1/19/23 1/20/23 197 pages Kindle
22. Not So Nice by Emma Lyon 1/20/23 1/21/23 215 pages Kindle
23. Reunion by Lynn Van Dorn 1/21/23 1/22/23 312 pages Kindle
24. Rebound by Lynn Van Dorn 1/23/23 1/23/23 381 pages Kindle
25. Be My Mistake by Lynn Van Dorn 1/23/23 1/23/23 92 pages Kindle
26. Wild By Nature by Lynn Van Dorn 1/23/23 1/23/23 134 pages Kindle
27. Damage Control by Lynn Van Dorn 1/24/23 1/24/23 426 pages Kindle
28. Delicious by Stella Starling 1/25/23 1/26/23 249 pages Kindle
**abandoned, 8 books** 693 pages
29. Sem by Cora Rose 1/27/23 1/28/23 276 pages Kindle
30. Whit by Cora Rose 1/28/23 1/29/23 290 pages Kindle
31. Emery by Cora Rose 1/29/23 1/29/23 294 pages Kindle
32. Luke by Cora Rose 1/30/23 1/30/23 276 pages Kindle
33. Lex by Cora Rose 1/30/23 1/31/23 233 pages Kindle
**abandoned Save Me by Beck Grey** 86 pages

February
34. Hard Target by Kelly Fox 2/1/23 2/1/23 246 pages Kindle
35. Full Contact by Kelly Fox 2/1/23 2/2/23 206 pages Kindle
36. Most Wanted by Kelly Fox 2/2/23 2/4/23 220 pages Kindle
37. Goodnight by Kelly Fox 2/4/23 2/5/23 264 pages Kindle
38. Heart of the Steal by Roan Parrish and Avon Gale 2/5/23 2/5/23 296 pages Kindle
39. In The Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish 2/5/23 2/6/22 428 pages Kindle
40. Out of Nowhere by Roan Parrish 2/6/23 2/7/23 316 pages Kindle
41. Straight to the Heart by Lynn van Dorn 2/8/23 2/8/23 302 pages Kindle
42. The Loner by Riley Hart 2/8/23 2/9/23 253 pages Kindle
43. The Husband Hoax by Saxon James 2/9/23 2/10/23 278 pages Kindle
44. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith 11/1/22 2/11/23 audiobook 32.75 hours
45. Pretty Obsessed by J.R. Gray 2/10/23 2/11/23 350 pages Kindle
46. Pretty Toxic by J.R. Gray 2/11/23 2/12/23 228 pages Kindle
**abandoned May the Best Man Win by J.R. Gray, Kate Hawthorne** 116 pages
47. Just Want More by Evelyn Jeannie Hall 2/13/23 2/13/23 203 pages Kindle
48. The New Hire by A.W. Scott 2/14/23 2/14/23 116 pages Kindle
**abandoned Ben's Boss by K.C. Wells** 231 pages
**abandoned Powder and Pavlova by Jay Hogan** 99 pages
**abandoned The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde** 18 pages
**abandoned Sawyer by J.J. Harper
49. Gus by J.J. Harper 2/15/23 2/15/23 120 pages Kindle
50. Pushing the Limits by Riley Hart 2/16/23 2/16/23 322 pages Kindle
51. Giving Chase by Riley Hart 2/17/23 2/17/23 355 pages Kindle
52. Murphy's Law by Riley Hart 2/17/23 2/18/23 343 pages Kindle
53. Hard Knox by Riley Hart 2/18/23 2/18/23 358 pages Kindle
54. Griff's Place by Riley Hart 2/18/23 2/19/23 353 pages Kindle
55. Beautiful and Terrible Things by Riley Hart 2/19/23 2/19/23 386 pages Kindle
56. Snowed in With Benefits by Misha Horne 2/20/23 2/20/23 422 pages Kindle
57. Working Out the Kinks by Misha Horne 2/20/23 2/21/23 362 pages Kindle
58. Just a Bit Bossy by Alessandra Hazard 2/21/23 2/22/23 251 pages Kindle
59. So Into You by S.E. Harmon 2/22/23 2/23/23 312 pages Kindle
60. Stay With Me by S.E. Harmon 2/23/23 2/24/23 272 pages Kindle
61. Chrysalis by S.E. Harmon 2/24/23 2/24/23 238 pages Kindle
**abandoned Texas King by A.R King** 150 pages ugh. got weirdly kinky. I like kink, but not this kink.
62. Charming Him by Louisa Masters 2/25/23 2/26/23 183 pages Kindle
**abandoned The Last Favor by Meg Harding** 15 pages
**abandoned Until You Say Otherwise by Kate Hawthorne** 120 pages
63. Fake It 'Til You Make It by Louisa Masters 2/25/23 2/26/23 39 pages Kindle
64. Eurotour by Jaberona BL 2/26/23 2/26/23 95 pages Kindle
65. Proud by Tatum West 2/26/23 2/27/23 231 pages Kindle
**abandoned Not Used to Cute by Becca Seymour** 40
66. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths 2/27/23 2/28/23 357 pages hardcover
67. 1066 by Professor Jennifer Paxton 2/14/23 2/28/23 audiobook 3 hours

March
68. Business As Usual by Alison Hendricks 2/28/23 3/1/23 219 pages Kindle
69. A Kind of Romance 3/1/23 3/2/23 by Lane Hayes 270 pages Kindle
70. Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Gray 3/2/23 3/3/23 336 pages Kindle
71. Honestly Yours by Jaime Reese 3/3/23 3/4/23 364 pages Kindle
72. The Marriage Contract by Aja Foxx 3/4/23 3/4/23 254 pages Kindle
**abandoned Out by Tatum West** 167 pages
**abandoned Forgotten:Luca by Sloan Kennedy** 116
73. Rare by Briar Prescott 3/5/23 3/5/23 302 pages Kindle
74. The Happy List by Briar Prescott 3/5/23 3/6/23 278 pages Kindle
75. The Dating Experiment by Briar Prescott 3/6/23 3/6/23 268 pages Kindle
**abandoned The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition** by Professor Teofilo F. Ruiz** .45 hours
**abandoned The Underdog by Briar Prescott** 22 pages
**abandoned Heal My Heart by HQ Kingsley** 24 pages
**abandoned The Long Game by Samantha Wayland** 14 pages
**abandoned Forgotten: Luca by Sloane Kennedy** 100 pages
76. The Inconvenient Love by Briar Prescott 3/7/23 258 pages Kindle
77. Dirty Forty by Mia Monroe 3/8/23 3/9/23 236 pages Kindle
78. His Touch by Elena London 3/18/23 3/18/23 55 pages Kindle
79. Redeem by Christina Lee 3/18/23 3/21/23 238 pages Kindle
80. Undone by Christina Lee 3/21/23 3/23/23 255 pages Kindle
81. Beautiful Chaos by Riley Hart and Devon McCormack 3/24/23 3/25/23 241 pages Kindle
82. Love Me Louder by Christina Lee 3/25/23 3/25/23 236 pages Kindle 2018
83. The Romantic by Riley Hart 3/26/23 3/27/23 270 pages Kindle
84. Destructive Relations by Hayden Hall 3/27/23 3/27/23 244 pages Kindle
85. Pretty Wreck by J.R. Gray 3/28/23 3/31/23 282 pages Kindle

April
86. Colin by Cora Rose 3/31/23 4/1/23 242 pages Kindle
87. Hard for Tristan by Brady Fox 4/1/23 4/2/23 86 pages Kindle
88. Roommate by Sarina Bowen 4/2/23 4/3/23 297 pages Kindle
89. Reaching Reed by Cora Rose and Nicole Dykes 4/3/23 4/4/23 264 pages Kindle
90. Filthy Sweet by R. Cayden 4/4/23 4/5/23 216 pages Kindle
91. Givers by Casey Cox 4/5/23 4/6/23 281 pages Kindle
92. The Unmasking of Kelly James by Belle Chapin 4/6/23 4/7/23 224 pages Kindle
**abandoned The Faker Rulebook by Baylin Crow** 77 pages
**abandoned Family Rules by Jacki James** 78 pages
**abandoned Moving On by Felice Stevens** 210 pages
**abandoned Filthy and the Beast by R. Cayden** 100 pages
**abandoned Thief of Hearts by K. Evan Coles** 17 pages
**abandoned Hired: Hadley by Nora Phoenix** 112 pages
93. Pretty Things by Devon McCormack 4/7/23 4/8/23 342 pages Kindle
94. The Night Screams by Devon McCormack 4/8/23 4/9/23 203 pages Kindle
95. #ROYAL by Devon McCormack 4/9/23 4/10/23 263 pages Kindle
96. Snowblind by Eli Easton 4/10/23 4/11/23 114 pages Kindle
97. The Trouble with Tony by Eli Easton 4/11/23 4/11/23 111 pages Kindle
98. Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews 4/11/23 4/12/23 263 pages Kindle 2016
99. Honeymoon for One by Keira Andrews 4/12/13 4/13/2023 269 pages Kindle 2018
100. In Case of Emergency by Keira Andrews 4/13/23 4/13/23 155 pages Kindle 2017
101. Dearest Milton James by N.R. Walker 4/13/23 4/14/23 218 pages Kindle 2021
102. 2 Dead Fish Named Kevin by L.A. Witt 4/14/23 4/14/23 84 pages Kindle 2023
103. Surprise Groom by D.J. Jamison 4/14/23 4/15/23 312 pages Kindle 2019
104. To The Moon and Back by N.R. Walker 4/15/23 4/16/23 209 pages Kindle 2023
105. Prince of Lies by Lucy Lennox 4/16/23 4/16/23 298 pages Kindle 2023
106. IRL: In Real Life by Lucy Lennox and Molly Maddox 4/16/23 4/17/23 267 pages Kindle 2019
107. Say You'll Be Nine by Lucy Lennox 4/17/23 4/17/23 265 pages Kindle 2020
108. Virgin Flyer by Lucy Lennox 4/17/23 4/18/23 254 pages Kindle 2020
109. Facing West by 4/18/23 4/18/23 4/19/23 271 pages Kindle 2017
110. Hearts Colliding by Ali Ryecart 4/19/23 4/19/23 310 pages Kindle 2023
111. Gideon by RJ Scott and Meredith Russell 4/20/23 4/21/23 190 pages Kindle 2020
112. Cover Me by L.A. Witt 4/21/23 4/22/23 386 pages Kindle 2014
113. Hitman vs Hitman by Cari Z 4/22/23 4/22/23 272 pages Kindle 2020
**abandoned Attraction by Kelly Fox** 120 pages
114. Takeover by Anna Zabo 4/23/23 4/24/23 230 pages Kindle 2021
**abandoned Just Business by Anna Zabo** 130 pages
115. Hard for my Boss by Daryl Banner 4/24/23 4/24/23 380 pages Kindle 2017
**abandoned Jerk: An ABCs of Love by Daryl Banner** 140 pages
116. The Intern by Serena Akeroyd 4/25/23 4/25/23 270 pages Kindle 2020
117. Revenge is Sweet by Felice Stevens 4/25/23 4/26/23 273 pages Kindle 2023
118. Make Me Fall by Riley Nash 4/26/23 4/28/23 296 pages Kindle 2022
119. Deadly Lover: Special Edition by Jocelynn Drake 4/28/23 4/29/23 338 pages Kindle 2021
**abandoned The Marriage Runaway by Aja Foxx** 120 pages
120. And the Best Man Ran Away with the Groom by Isla Olsen 4/29/23 4/30/23 185 pages Kindle

May
121. List Me With Your Best Shot by Isla Olsen 4/30/23 5/1/23 205 pages Kindle 2023
122. Friendly Fire by Cari Z 5/1/23 5/2/23 228 pages Kindle
123. The Art of Possession by Cari Z 5/2/23 5/3/23 171 pages Kindle
124. The Intern by Ally Porter 5/3/23 5/3/23 59 pages Kindle 2021
125. Tate by D Alex 5/3/23 5/4/23 138 pages Kindle 2021

Currently Reading:

Pilgrim by Timothy Findley 6/20/22 486 pages hardcover 1999
Soul to Keep by Garrett Leigh 5/4/23 Kindle 2018 Jamie and Marc
Pretty F*cked by J.R. Gray 4/29/23 Kindle 2023 Iris and
The Federalist edited by Jacob E. Cooke 5/28/22 656 pages hardcover 1961

adds - last year was 371, with way too many Kindle books. Kindle Unlimited will reduce that number significantly this year. I hope. We'll see.

1. Kindle - Dangerous Books For Girls: The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels Explained: Expanded Edition by Maya Rodale (BB from Meg)
2. Kindle - The Mechanic and the Surgeon by Steve Milton free :)
3. Kindle - Hot Boss by Scarlet Blackwell
4. Kindle - The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem
5. Kindle - Remember Him by Steve Milton
6. Amazon - Livid by Cai Emmons
00 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle - got rid of all L'Engle's books in a fit of pique, just found them all, want to keep this one, but won't count it against my acquisitions. A happy surprise finding it.
00 New Testament - family Bible never entered into LT before
7. Amazon - Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem
8. Amazon - Everything You Need to Know When I'm Gone
9. Friends Book Sale F22 - The New Testament Greek and English edited by Kurt Aland et. al.
10. Amazon - What Is Left The Daughter by Howard Norman
11. Amazon - Desperation in Death by J.D. Robb
12. Kindle - Baby Shark by Robert Fate
13. Amazon - No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child
14. Kindle - The Golden Asse by Lucius Apuleius (Author), William Adlington, translator free on Kindle
15. Friends book sale team discarded - Oldtown Folks by Harriet Beecher Stowe
16. Amazon - Call for the Dead by John LeCarre
17. Kindle - Powder and Pavlova by Jay Hogan $0
18. Stasia - The War Against the Jews 1933-1945 by Lucy S. Dawidowicz
18. Kindle - Fake It 'Til You Make It by Louisa Masters $0
19. Kindle - Eurotour by Jaberona BL $0
20. Kindle - The Fresco by Sheri Tepper
21. Kindle - Adreneline Jake by Louise Collins
22. Friends book sale team discarded - The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame, 1922 edition w/dust jacket
23. Friend Karen - Call of the Cats by Andrew Bloomfield
24. Friend Karen - Writers and Their Cats by Alison Nastasi
25. Friends book sale S23 book sale setup - Moby Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville, Easton Press edition
26. Friends book sale S23 - Jewish Participants in the Civil War by Harry Simonhoff
27. Friends book sale S23 - The Rain and The Fire and The Will of God by Donald Wetzel
28. Friends book sale S23 - The Lost Skiff by Donald Wetzel
27. Friends book sale S23 - The Bible in Pictures edited by the Rev. Ralph Kirby
28. Friends book sale S23 - A Treasury of American Folklore edited by B.A. Botkin
29. Friends book sale S23 - Halley’s Bible Handbook
30. Friends book sale S23 - Jesus, Interrupted by Bart D. Ehrman
31. Friends book sale S23 - Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman
32. Friends book sale S23 - Resurrecting Jesus by Adyashanti
33. Friends book sale S23 - The Tao of Zen by Ray Grigg
34. Friends book sale S23 - God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens
35. Friends book sale S23 - The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament by William Sanford LaSor
35. Amazon - The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
36. Friend Karen - Thrust: A Spasmodic Pictorial History of the Codpiece in Art by Michael Glover
37. Amazon - The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr
38. Amazon - The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey
39. Friend Rhoda - Bill Slider Omnibus by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
40. Friend Rhoda - Whoever I am by Eileen Dewhurst
41. Friend Rhoda - 1222 by Anne Holt
42. Friend Rhoda - The Secret Mistress by Mary Balogh
43. Friend Rhoda - The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
44. Friends book sale S23 - House of Trump House of Putin by Craig Unger
45. Friends book sale S23 - Space by James Michener
46. Friends book sale S23 - The World Bible Handbook by Lawrence O. Richards
47. Friends book sale S23 - The Complete Idiot's Guide to American History by Alan Axelrod
48. Friends book sale S23 - Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
49. Jenna - Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, French edition
50. Amazon - The Red Sea Scrolls by Pierre Tallet and Mark Lehner

culls - only 88 last year. I hope for more this year with my resolution to completely inventory my catalog yielding books that need to be rehomed.

1. The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows
2. American Sphinx by Joseph J. Ellis
3. The Wandering Fire by Guy Gavriel Kay
4. The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
5. The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay
6. The Chameleon's Shadow by Minette Walters - duplicate
7. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson - trade paperback - duplicate
8. The Bishop's Secret by T.C. Fairley
9. The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace
10. Closer Than You Know by Brad Parks
11. Sons by Evan Hunter
12. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
13. The Player by Brad Parks
14. The Fraud by Brad Parks
15. Say Nothing by Brad Parks
16. Eyes of the Innocent by Brad Parks
17. Faces of the Gone by Brad Parks
18. The Politics of Rich and Poor by Kevin Phillips
19. The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950-1953 by Clay Blair
20. A History of the Twentieth Century by Martin Gilbert
21. Waking Raphael by Leslie Forbes
22. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - mass market paperback, 50th anniv edition, duplicate
23. The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George
24. Complete Works of Lewis Carroll - yellowed
25. Fowler's Modern English Usage - everything I'd ever need is online
26. Lily White by Susan Isaacs - will never read again, Jenna will never want or read
27. The Winner Stands Alone by Paul Coelho
28. Four Spirits by Sena Jeter Naslund

YTD Statistics March 31

85 books read
2 of them on my shelves before 1/1/23 and not rereads
32 books abandoned, 2872 pages abandoned, 1 audiobook, .45 hours abandoned

35.75 audiobook hours
Avg pages read per day, YTD = 270
Avg pages read per book, YTD = 286
New Authors, month/year

Book of the Month: Beautiful Chaos by Riley Hart and Devon McCormack

Books by Month
January - 33 e-books, 19 books abandoned for 1711 pages
February 34 e-books, 1 paper book, 1 audiobook, 6 books abandoned for 718 pages
March 18 e-books, 7 books abandoned for 443 pages, 1 audiobook abandoned for .45 hours

Author
Male 8%
Female 86%
Undeclared * 2%
Non-Binary 4%
* - can't find info anywhere

Living 100%
Dead 0%

US Born 54%
Foreign Born 46%

Platform
Hardcover 1%
Trade Pback 0%
Mass Market 0%
Audiobook 2%
e-Book 97%

Source
My Library 5%
Library 0%
Kindle Unlimited 94%
Borrowed from a friend 1%

Misc
ARC/ER 0%
Re-read 0%
Series 78%

Fiction 99%
NonFiction 1%

Author Birth Country
Australia 9%
Canada 6%
England 11%
Ireland 1%
Undeclared * 18%
US 55%
* - can't find info anywhere

Original Decade Published
2010-2019 32%
2020-2029 68%

Category
Contemporary Fiction 97%
Crime Fiction 2%
Informational Nonfiction 1%

Acquisition/Source Date
Kindle Unlimited 78
2022 2
2023 4
Borrowed 1

Average Rating
2.0 - Bad 0
2.5 - Average 1
3.0 - Good 10
3.5 - Very Good 13
4.0 - Excellent 41
4.5 - Outstanding 20
5 - Masterpiece 0

Average Rating 3.91
Books acquired YTD 38
Books culled YTD 28

March Lightning Round

Business As Usual by Alison Hendricks 2/28/23 3/1/23 Kindle

Consultant Jamie is hired to help launch a product for Darren’s company. Darren’s been secretly mourning his lover and co-founder Ethan, dead 3 years. The product is a dog, both know it. There’s sparkage, working together on a scholarship program. Jamie says the L word, Darren panics, things end badly. Then they’re both fired. Darren finally says good-bye to Ethan and goes for what he really wants – Jamie. Highly satisfactory in all good ways. Caveat emptor re sex.

A Kind of Romance by Lane Hayes 3/1/23 3/2/23 Kindle

Zeke is a high-powered investor, the only gay son in a family of four brothers. His father was harsh and rejecting when he came out, said and did terrible things. They tolerate one another. His mother, his support his whole life, now has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t recognize him. Benny’s out and proud, works par time at the bagel shop Zeke’s father owns. They meet when his father falls and is in the emergency ward, pretend to be boyfriends to make his father happy. It eventually gets serious, and it’s a very sweet and emotional story, along with a reconciliation of Zeke and his dad, lots of sparkage and romance. Caveat emptor re sex.

Honestly Yours by Jaime Reese 3/3/23 3/4/23 Kindle

Gian is relaxing on a barstool at the private club he’s a member of, when he’s approached by a young guy with cheesy pick up lines. He agrees to meet up with him, is escorted to what he thinks is a private member room upstairs, and is stunned to find out that the young guy owns the club. Am emergency prevents them from getting romantically involved right then and there, so to speak, but they eventually start spending time together and there’s serious sparkage and permanent interest. The young guy, Warren, has tons and tons of baggage. Gian is patient, only requiring honesty when Ren shares. Ren’s baggage comes back to bite them but love triumphs. I liked the non-romantic bits of the story, and the discussion of a syndrome I’ve never herd of before, Capgras Delusion or Syndrome, colors the story and makes me so sad for those afflicted with it. Gian and Ren get their happy ever after. Caveat emptor re sex.

The Marriage Contract by Aja Foxx 3/4/23 3/4/23 Kindle

Improbable tale of a CEO who sees the distress a junior marketing staff member is feeling, decides to help him, and to do so marries him. Jake is a reinvented Harry Turner from the neighborhood, who remembers Jai when he was young. Jai’s family is Cinderella-like evil-stepmother-and stepsisters-plus-child-beating-father. When Jake marries Jai, they have to go to extraordinary lengths to prevent Jai’s family from hurting them. I tend to unfairly think that MM romances should be better than MF romances, but this is clearly happy-the-bad-guys-get-their-comeuppance and happy that Jake and Jai fall in love and have a truly wonderful HEA. Jai is particularly sweet, and Jake’s power and money and protectiveness make me happy. Caveat emptor re sex.

Rare by Briar Prescott 3/5/23 3/5/23 Kindle

In 2009, Alex is given community service at the other end of the country at age 19, meets Noah, also 19, who works at the same animal rescue facility. They fall in love, but Noah inexplicably rejects Alex. Fast forward ten years, when Alex meets Noah unexpectedly on a running trail in Seattle. They rekindle their romance and Alex finally learns why Noah rejected him. For those of us who are not gay, we learn about donating blood if you’re gay, Noah’s particular blood type – who here has heard of Rhnull phenotype? – and this fascinating subject and the personal and social implications are discussed in the context of a gay man’s sex life. This subject, on top of the sparkage and long-term commitment and HEA, make for a very satisfying read. Caveat emptor re sex.

The Happy List by Briar Prescott 3/5/23 3/6/23 Kindle

First in the Better With You series. Sweet story of best friends who become more. Kai has been in love with his supposedly straight friend Gray, who’s only ever had one serious romantic relationship, with a woman, that was curiously unemotional for him. Kai moves home, takes Gray’s second bedroom, and tries to NOT fall in love with Gray again. Gray, in the meantime, realizes he hates being a corporate lawyer, realizes he has never had fun in his life, and makes a Happy List. Kai finds it and they embark on an affair – sex only, supposedly – until Gray realizes what’s really important and Kai allows himself to trust Gray. Very sweet, funny, a great HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

The Dating Experiment by Briar Prescott 3/6/23 3/6/23 Kindle

Second in the Better With You series. Gray’s brother Connor is closed off, always in control, mostly a jerk to be around because he’s never known how to act in social circumstances. He’s been unbearably awful to Jamie, his PA, for 3 years but is secretly fascinated with him. At the same time, Jamie’s grandfather had recently died and his mother sent him his grandad’s cell phone. His grandad had been playing an online word game with “Seb”, although how this came about I have no idea – one of those fictional leaps of faith we’re required to take if we want to continue with a story. Anyway, I thought about giving this one 4.5 stars because some of the texting that went on between “Seb” and “J”, Jamie’s family nickname and the nickname he took when he continued texting with Seb. It got flirty and steamy, and I was howling with laughter. When they finally met up, it turns out it’s Connor and Jamie. Major sparkage after they know who each other is. Connor has to break down some personal boundaries to get Jamie. A second sweet, funny, great HEA book, and of course, caveat emptor re sex.

The Inconvenient Love by Briar Prescott 3/7/23 3/8/23 Kindle

Fourth in the Better With You series, having decided to skip the third. Isac has been in love with Max since he was a teenager. He kisses Max when he’s 19, Max is 28. Max freaks out, rejects Isac. Isac moves across country for 6 years, returns home for the summer before going for his PhD at a prestigious university in Zurich. Sparks fly, love wins out, HEA. I love the snarky banter between them and the humorous situations – who knew that you’re supposed to put a sock or tie on the door knob to warn people off? Caveat emptor re sex.

Dirty Forty by Mia Monroe 3/8/23 3/9/23 Kindle

First in the Friendship and Desire series. Zach has loved Dominic, his best friend and business partner since they were in 3rd grade. When they’re 21, Zach says they’ll get married when they’re 40 if they’re still both single, even though Dominic is straight. When they’re 39 things change dramatically. Dominic realizes he loves Zach romantically, and they get their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex. A very sweet book.

His Touch by Elena London 3/18/23 3/18/23 Kindle

Short sweet novella about Alex, a porter at a hotel, who sees a rent boy after he’s been attacked. He helps him, the rent boy returns with an unusual request, with the ending left happily open. Caveat emptor re sex.

Redeem by Christina Lee 3/18/23 3/21/23 Kindle

Fourth in a series, which I did not realize at first. Now I don’t want to read the first three. Oh well. Successful financial analyst Michael and barista Stewart hook up and over the course of the novel it becomes more, in a very sweet and HEA way. Caveat emptor re sex.

Undone by Christina Lee 3/21/23 3/23/23 Kindle

Temp Shea is hired by fashion stylist Rowan without any skills in the world of fashion, but the spark that Rowan sees and wants lets them have a great/complicated working relationship that becomes more. Rowan has been rejected out of hand for his personal sexual idiosyncrasies and Shea cares enough about him for them to end up falling in love and having a good sexual life. Great sexual tension, too. Caveat emptor re sex.

Beautiful Chaos by Riley Hart and Devon McCormack 3/24/23 3/25/23 Kindle

Two damaged men, Corey from being emotionally and physically abused by his partner, and Silas, a survivor of a serial killer but with crippling agoraphobia and other PTSD issues, meet when Corey moves in next door to Silas. It starts slowly with a piece of paper taped to a window with the word “Hi”, moves to conversations and eventually Silas letting Corey into his home. Both realize how damaged they are and Corey brings it to a head when he tells Silas to take care of his Potter kitties – Harry, Ron, Hermione – while he goes into an inpatient facility. Months later, after Silas has changed therapists and started a different kind of therapy, they are on their way to a life together. This one really got to me, both for their terrible pasts and the hot sex.

Love Me Louder by Christina Lee 3/25/23 3/25/23 Kindle

Less believable than Undone, but with a more serious backstory for Noah – almost electrocuted when he was 13 and with serious scars over his ches,t shoulder, and one side of his neck. He unknowingly hires escort Will, a coworker at the home décor store he works at, for a weekend visit to his best friend’s engagement party so he won’t feel isolated and alone and can pretend to have a hot boyfriend. Will’s mother is a schizophrenic, which is Will’s backstory. Lots of fun drag queen stuff. HEA, caveat emptor re sex.

The Romantic by Riley Hart 3/26/23 3/27/23 Kindle

Second in The Vers Podcast series, with member of the Vers Podcast romantic Parker waking up married in Las Vegas with a man he knows as a hookup artist. They decide to stay married 6 months once their marriage becomes public knowledge to safe the feelings of Elliott’s parents who married for love and Parker’s Dad, who also married for love. By the end of the 6 months, of course, they’re actually in love, because … HEA… and caveat emptor re sex.

Destructive Relations by Hayden Hall 3/27/23 3/27/23 Kindle

Stepbrothers Parrish and Levi have bad blood between them – Parrish’s mother marries Levi’s dad and Parrish acts out enough to get kicked out of the house at age 23. Levi’s 18 and their last encounter is full of sexual tension and horrible words from Parrish. There’s a family reunion when Parrish’s sister Natalie is getting married, but it all goes to hell when they act out on their attraction/sexual tension and get caught. Somewhat shallow compared to an earlier stepbrothers book I read recently and the parents are so over-the-top ridiculous that it’s hard to take seriously. However, they get their HEA and caveat emptor re sex.

Pretty Wreck by J.R. Gray 3/28/23 3/31/23 Kindle

Third in the Pretty Broken series has Alister and Kingsley reuniting after a two year separation, mostly against their wills since Kingsley is in the closet, they’re both famous rock stars, and their relationship is being blocked by Alister’s group’s manager, Alister’s lover who Alister is trying to break up with. Alex, the manager, has the group and Alister tied up with controls and contracts and the group is the unhappiest it’s ever been. Alister and Kingsley fight an almost uphill battle to figure out a healthy and meaningful relationship, made harder by Kingsley’s group’s new album, which, since Kingsley writes the lyrics, is basically a breakup album with Alister. However, they get their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

324 books read

1 Masterpiece
51 Stunning
181 Excellent
48 Very Good
30 Good
9 Average
4 Bad
0 Very Bad
0 Don't Bother
0 Anathema

Best Fiction
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
The Adults by Caroline Hulse
Should We Stay or Should We Go by Lionel Shriver
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Hopelessly Bromantic and Here Comes My Man by Blake Lively

Best (only) Nonfiction
Woke Racism by Dr. John McWhorter
The Book of General Ignorance by John Mitchinson
The Story of Human Language by Dr. John McWhorter
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

Top five overall for the LT Top Five Books of 2022 list:
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Woke Racism by Dr. John McWhorter
The Adults by Caroline Hulse
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

…...

Welcome one and all!

Happy new one!

Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread, Karen. I LOVE, LOVE your house! Beautiful photo too. The kitties are pretty cute too.

Your house is beautiful.! And, I am amazed at all the books you read! I have a bout of the flu and am slowly slogging through a book.

Your cats are beautiful. Our cat biscuit is skitish, though she loves my grand daughter Kayla and follows her where ever she goes. She allows me to pet her for about 30 seconds, then she jumps off. One day last week, she came on the blanket on my lap and fell asleep. That was the closest she allowed in this last year. I hope that gradually she will warm to me.

Happy new thread, Karen. Your toppers are great. I'd frame that house photo!

Happy New Thread! What a gorgeous home you have! And three lovely felines.

Happy new one, Karen.

*smoochiesmoochsmooch*

Happy new thread, Karen!

Beautiful all the way around!!!!!

Happy new thread Karen!

Happy new thread, Karen!

Lovely picture of your house up there.

Hi Karen, I love the house photo. I saw it on your previous thread but you started this one before I got around to posting a comment. I would think snow is rare in your parts, or do I have that wrong?

Also, thanks for sharing that update from Elly Griffiths. As Sandy commented, we were definitely led to believe The Last Remains was the last book. I don't think that was just a rampant rumor within the 75ers group LOL. I'm looking forward to reading the "not-last-book" soon and am sure I will read any others that come my way.

Have a great day ...

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. Lots of rain here. Storms rumbled through all night. It may keep me off the trails. Hey, I could always use more book time, right?

Thank you Anita, Jim, Paul, Richard, Irene, Susan.

>12 msf59: Thanks, Mark. If I could navigate the pasture, I’d go out and try to take one from the same perspective right now – the pastures don’t need to be bush hogged yet and the grass only JUST needs to be mowed in front of the house. Sigh. And we do love our kitties.

>13 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda. The books I’m currently reading are a combination of fluff, love, sex, and some serious subjects that include but are not limited to rejection of gay children, conversion therapy, agoraphobia and other mental issues, partner/spouse abuse, and rentboys. Although some of the rent boy stories have happy rent boys until they meet the love of their life.

I’m so sorry you have the flu my dear. Thanks re our kitties. It took our semi-feral Zoe and her son feral/shelter Wash a long time to become affectionate and even now they’re still skittish. We got them in December of 2019. She’ll come to visit more often now that she’s broken the ice.

>14 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. I’ve got one other thing to frame, the infamous pussy calendar. I’ll have to take them to professional framers in town. I actively dislike store frames unless they’re antique frames from a thrift shop and even then I’d have to take them to the professional framers to get the right glass and backing. So we’re looking at probably $300 for both. Perhaps soon.

Infamous pussy calendar. Print bought in 1980 in Montana with friend Karen, who gave hers away. I had mine, told her, and she badgered me for a print of it for a year until Jenna finally found tucked in a dormer that usually only holds Christmas tins and boxes. She got her print as a Christmas present in 2022.



>15 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah. We do love our house. We had it built in 1997-1998, moved in July 1998, and are on 8 acres. And the kitties – well, somebody (I'm looking at you, Zoe) brought in a lizard yesterday, actually part of a lizard. I saw it first, which, by the House Rule of whoever sees a critter disposes of the critter, meant that I should have gotten rid of it, but I Ewwww-ed loudly enough that Bill offered and took care of it. Yes, we love our pussy cats.

>17 richardderus: *smoochity-smooch*

>19 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy. Flattery will get you everywhere.

>21 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita, twice.

>22 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, and thank you. I actually didn’t mean to post there – was testing to see size – but posted and thought I should just leave them.

Winter 2022-2023 saw not a single snow flake out here. We had about a 5 minute period, late at night, of a bit of sleet, and that was it. The biggest snow we’ve gotten is 18” one time, perhaps 1999? Ice is more prevalent out here, and we had ½-3/4” of ice in our part of NC which shut everything down for probably almost 2 weeks. Our in-laws had to come stay for 3 days with their DAMNED dog, and we acquired Kitty William. Lost kitty, cloth collar no tag. We tried to find his family with our vet and with the shelter and other vets nearby, but nobody claimed him so he was ours. One of my favorite pics of him. He lived to be 19.



You’re welcome re Elly Griffiths. It is tantalizing to think there might be one or more Ruth books in the future. I do not like her Brighton series, but love Harbinder Kaur.

Wordle 655 5/6* adieu, bloat, manga, smack, smash

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PT at 11. Coffee in hand. Dare I try to fill two of 3 feeders? One I can tuck a cake of suet in the bag on my walker to carry out, the other is rather large but I can bag some seed and carry them both out. Decisions, decisions...

Other than that perhaps cataloging my Book Sale finds. Oh, exercising and icing, too.

Hi Karen my dear, Happy New Thread my dear friend.

>24 karenmarie: I think the big snow was in 2000. 20" in Raleigh. I have not seen anything like it in central NC before or since. The weird thing was that no one predicted it. It started on a Monday night and continued through much of the next day. At that time, I was in the habit of making my sandwiches for lunch at work, so I had taken a loaf of bread to work Monday, and didn't have bread in the house. I remember the weathermen finally saying something about it on the 11PM news, and I said "it's about time" after it had been sleeting for 3 hours straight.

I was out of town over Christmas 2010 when your picture was taken and completely missed that snow.

>1 karenmarie: The Ugly: The Gang of Psychos infiltrating at every level of government, state and federal, to undermine rights, force their religious beliefs on others, and poison our republic.
YIKES
That rings too true, sadly.

Antidote=>6 karenmarie: :)

Happy new thread, Karen.

>27 LovingLit: Yes indeed, Megan and the extremes of both sides unfortunately - and I would add "force their religious and irreligious beliefs on others...."

>26 atozgrl: Living in a place where the weather is constantly tropical but generally sheltered from its worst effects, we don't really have much in the way of variety here but I am sure that 3 hours of sleet would occasion comment in Kuala Lumpur!

>24 karenmarie: I always wanted to have my own home built, Karen and I may need to do so when I return back to the UK to find space for all these books.

>24 karenmarie: What a lovely picture of kitty William, Karen.

>25 johnsimpson: Hi John and thank you. Sending love and hugs to you, Karen, and Felix the Cat.

>26 atozgrl: Oh my goodness, no bread in the house. I don’t remember any of the details like you do, but do remember how much Jenna loved being out in it. She’d play and play, come in exhausted and cold and wet. I’d get her dry, put her in dry winter clothes and she’d go out again while I put all the wet winter things in the dryer to get dry for the next round. Rinse and repeat.

>27 LovingLit: Hi Megan. I’m not watching news very much lately, although I do admit that I’m thrilled that Trump has been indicted. Ah yes, reading my contemporary fiction, romances, smut. You’re right, it’s an antidote.

>28 BLBera: Thank you, Beth!

>29 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. What a lovely reason to have to build a custom home, Paul! I hope you can do so.

>30 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, and thank you. He was our sweet boy. He showed up in an ice storm in 2002 with a cloth collar, no microchip, and after trying for 2 weeks to find his family through the shelter and local vets, we kept him.

Wordle 656 4/6* adieu, steak, lance, leafy

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Note to self: Benadryl is not a good way to try to get sleep. I only got 4 hours total AND feel very groggy.

Nothing major or even minor planned for today, thank goodness.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. Thankfully the rain has moved out. Cooler temps but with sunshine. I think I will go birding. Sue is helping with Jackson this AM and I will take my turn tomorrow. I think he is staying the night here. I miss him.

I spotted 2 juncos at the feeders yesterday. They will be moving north any day now.

Nice place ya got here, Karen. All those lists and stats. I like that photo of you and Jenna, taken at the book sale. You are on an exhausting journey. But you look so good. I don't know if that's because of or despite all your work.

Sorry about the Benadryl and grogginess. I'm glad you have nothing you need to do today!

>34 katiekrug: Exactly right.

I have to do some things today to make up for taking yesterday off except for general Mama-maintenance. I see a meatloaf in our immanent future.

>31 karenmarie: Benadryl is also *awful* for your blood pressure, Horrible. Throw it away, the last thing you need to have around is something that could exacerbate your heart issues.

*smooch*

It's hard to think about the year with the big snow today. It feels like summer already; the humidity is awful today.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't sleep well last night. I hope you've been able to rest some today. And get some good reading in!

>32 msf59: ‘Morning Mark one day later! Nice for cool temps and sunshine – you sent the rain to us. On the high side, looks like we can get up to 3.5 inches of rain between now and Saturday night. I hope Sue’s time with Jackson went well and that your Jackson Time today is fun. Yay for Juncos. Too early for a birding report right now, plus I need to get Jenna to fill the feeders and put out a hummingbird feeder – Louise saw a hummingbird two days ago.

>33 weird_O: Well, gosh, Bill, thanks. I like Excel and @drneutron inspired me quite a few years ago with his stats and I’m happy with how mine have grown. The lists are the only place I keep track of what I read, what I acquire (because sometimes I acquire something then get rid of it in the same year), and culls. Plus, @msf59 inspired me with his Lightning Round so I didn’t feel guilty about not writing a full-blown review of every book I read. Thanks re me and Jenna.

I was thinking about my life since … oh, say, March 2020, when I first got diagnosed with the Bakers Cyst. The doctor gave me a cortisone shot and it basically went away. Bad Karen for not researching these suckers – they are always an indication of arthritis of the knee and my doctor (who should have explained it to me) and I should have immediately done work with an orthopedic specialist to determine the state of my knees. Hyaluronic acid treatments in 2021 - what a waste - a year’s worth of cortisone shots in 2022, and finally a knee replacement. The Bakers Cyst is becoming less of an issue, but those first two weeks after surgery with my expectations and the pain! make today’s 4 weeks 1 day after surgery a good place to be. I have worked really hard with PT, icing with a Breg Polar ice system, and walking around the house, using a calf compression sleeve quite a bit during each day. PT exercises at home… a bit less so occasionally, as discussed on my last thread. Nice to see you here.

>34 katiekrug: ‘Morning, Katie! I threw the 5 remaining Benadryl tablets that Bill had given me in an old prescription bottle away. I now have Melatonin 3 mg and took one last night. I think I got about 6 hours of sleep, only interrupted at 2:30 a.m. to take 2 Tylenol.

Yesterday became interesting when I had to call AAA because my 2012 Ford Es-kah-pay wouldn’t start. I did not realize they had a battery service as part of our membership. We were going to have it towed to our Ford dealership because that’s just what we do, but the guy came out, fully prepared to replace the battery. However, it had just drained for some unknown reason. We left it running for 30 minutes then Bill drove me around for another 20 minutes to make sure it was fully charged. It was actually nice to gt out for a bit that didn’t involve PT.

>35 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Oooh, meatloaf. I need to come up with a low-sodium version because even I am finally becoming a tad jaded with what I cook when I do cook and am getting tired of the 2 frozen meal options I currently like. I have ALWAYS been someone who lives to eat, but lately I've become a person who eats to live, which is very disconcerting. Tonight Jenna’s going to help me make EVOO-lemon baked salmon and baked potatoes. I hope you got your “things” done yesterday.

>36 richardderus: Done, RD. Although, I do not have high blood pressure – if anything, I have LOW blood pressure. It was 103/66 when I visited a PCP at my doctor’s office for a problem with my xiphoid process (and I didn’t even know I had one!) on March 24th. And that’s stressed and in pain recovering from the knee replacement surgery. *smooch*

>>37 atozgrl: Hi Irene! Hmm. I was actually outside yesterday waiting for the AAA guy to show up, sitting in the front seat of my then-dead SUV. I don’t remember thinking it was humid. I’ve gotten some good reading in and actually slept pretty well last night.

Wordle 657 4/6* Did a bit of browsing through the original list, don't know if it's the current list, of 2,309 words to come up with this one. adieu, sulky, blush, locus

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Jenna has today off for Good Friday. My friend Karen in Montana asked if Jenna, an atheist, should get Good Friday off. I told her Jenna didn't have a key to the building at work... but really. I've always taken advantage of getting religious holidays off even though I'm a Liberal Theist, not a Christian.

I have PT. We're probably going to make a small list for groceries to be picked up with their Shop and Go service. Alex the house cleaner is coming. I need to make a list for him - there's no way one person can do everything all the time here since I'm not willing to have him in the house 6 hours every two weeks. So I rotate things I want done, always having all 4 bathrooms cleaned and the downstairs mopped and swept/vacuumed plus whatever needs attention otherwise.

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. We had a great bird outing yesterday- clocking in 38 species which is impressive for this time of year. We had 2 bald eagles, an osprey and a brown thrasher. We also heard a Carolina wren singing.

I plan on doing a solo walk before Bree brings Jackson over. We will then take him to see the Easter bunny. Lets see how that goes. Grins...

Congrats on setting up the hummingbird feeder. I will wait until I get back from my Texas trip, toward the end of the month.

'Morning again, Mark! This time on the day you post...

Yay for a great birding outing. 38 species is amazing. Enjoy your solo walk and Jackson. Ooh, the Easter Bunny. I am honoring the holiday with Peeps... *smile*

Thanks re the hummingbird feeder. Jenna doesn't know it yet, but we're going to do all the feeders today since she's off for Good Friday.

Texas. Intriguing. Where, pray tell? Birding, family, friends, other?

>38 karenmarie: Hey there Horrible, happy FriYAY. The Benadryl disposal isn't because you HAVE high blood pressure, it's to prevent a transient and unpredictable rise in your blood pressure from using the drug. Those can cause their own strange problems. It's done, anyway, so all's well.

Why should anyone get a religious holiday off from work? Gawd can wait for you, or so the freak-os say when trying to convert me..."gawd is always there waiting for your soul to hear his call) like gawd's some cosmic Uber driver trying to get you to get in the car already. "Render unto Caesar" after all...show up and work your ten hours every damn day or don't get paid.

>38 karenmarie: Hello, Karen. Were you sitting outside in the morning yesterday? That might have made a difference. When I got out of my exercise class yesterday afternoon, it felt awful. Then, when I got home, I had to help my husband get bags of mulch out of the back of his SUV and cart them around to the patio behind our house. By the time we finished, we were soaked. It felt really sticky to us. I am glad it's a cooler day today, even with all the rain we're getting.

I'm glad you said something about the hummingbird feeder. I haven't seen any hummingbirds yet, but if you're seeing them, they must be around. I'll have to go pull mine out.

Yay for the good reading and the good sleep! I hope that continues!

Happy newish thread...I've been offline mostly hanging out with my family and digging in my garden.

>1 karenmarie: I love your house! Having a bit of land is lovely as well. And...you should read whatever makes you happy! A very long time ago when I was teaching undergraduates at William and Mary, I mentioned reading some popular fiction book, maybe one of the Twilight books. One of the students scoffed at what a waste of time that was. I found myself lecturing her: I have read Beowulf and Chaucer in their original translations. If I want to spend Thanksgiving reading vampire fiction, I have earned that right.

>24 karenmarie: No snow at all this year, not even a threat. And, I think our fruit trees that blossomed early survived the few cold nights. We might get pears AND hydrangeas this year.

>40 karenmarie: I put up the first few hummingbird feeders today. I *thought* I caught a flutter in my peripheral vision but my husband says it is wishful thinking. Aah...hummingbird season is here! It almost makes up for no snow.

Hope all is well!

Hi Karen. Do I remember correctly that you have a second LT account that you use as a repository for data. The details have faded from my memory, but I recall you explaining how you set up the account to...well...someone. I don't remember what you keep on that account. I don't know how far back the exchange took place.

What I'd like to do is establish a site for some book lists—Nobel Prize winners with books by them that I've read. Pulitzer prize winners. Booker winners. Would your second account idea provide a vehicle for my lists?

I looked at LT's WikiThing venue, expecting to be able to cut and paste coded files into a user page. But the WikiEditor (or whatever it's called) would require a LOT of fa-diddling to transmogrify the data, and the display is pedestrian.

Whaddaya think?

>38 karenmarie: It seems that you may be over the recovery hump, which is good to hear. There often seems to be unanticipated post-surgical nasties, which the doctors are so commonly aware of after you present them for their attention. My favorite is telling a post surgical patient at the point of release late in the evening that he will need a compression sleeve for the joint when he is in no condition to go shop for one even if one were available at a 24hr pharmacy.

>41 richardderus: Okay, Rdear, got it. I hated the groggy feeling anyway, and two nights ago 3 mg of Melatonin gave me … 5? 6? … hours of sleep. Last night I slept for 5 hours without even taking Melatonin at all. At 4:15 a.m. the Tylenol alarm went off on my cell phone. I couldn’t get back to sleep because of a critter of the feline variety wanting cuddles, and THEN came the siren call of coffee. Already had several sips.

Oh, you really shouldn’t get me started on how the influence of the earliest colonists has, 400 years later, given us evangelical whack jobs, eroded separation of church and state, renewed persecution of Jews and now, with so many Muslims in the US, caused/increased persecution of them, too, and etc. I just found an interesting article, Religion in Colonial America, with this quote:

The earliest colonies of New England were founded between 1620-1638 by separatists and Puritans seeking to establish religious communities in which they could worship freely. Both sects had been persecuted in England and, once they were firmly established in North America, then persecuted others. Their claim to have founded communities based on religious freedom extended only to their own beliefs with the exception of the Rhode Island settlements, which emphasized religious tolerance. The New England colonies made religion the priority and the peoples’ lives revolved around it.

I have an ancestor, the Reverend Joseph Hull (1596-1665), who contributed to this yet fought against it, too. He even has his own Wikipedia entry, from which I happily gleaned:

… he died at age 70 on 19 November 1665. His place of burial is unknown.

Acting as administrator, Agnes Hull filed the inventory of his possessions on 5 December 1665. Without back pay, his estate was valued at 32 pounds, 5 shillings, 5 pence, including only 6 shillings in cash. Far outstripping all other items in value were “his books.” At £10, they represented nearly a third of his wealth.

Are being a bibliomaniac, bibliophile, lectiophiliac, and bookworm inherited traits? *smile*

So. No Good Friday or Easter Monday, no Christmas off. Call ‘em something else, but I loved having Good Friday and Christmas Eve/Christmas Day off work. We had 10 paid holidays off work at most jobs I worked at IF you were permanent, full time. Which is now NOT the norm, but don't get me started on that either. *smooch*

>42 atozgrl: Hi Irene. I have not been sitting outside much recently – pollen – although I do take Claritin-wannabe loratadine every single day of my life.

Busy with mulch. Good for you guys. We’re having some mulch placed around the plum tree and around our house number post at the top of our drive this coming week, and if we like the cut/color will do 5 beds around the house. I really liked some black mulch that Osmar can provide, but Bill balked at the cost so we’re trying something less expensive, although it will still be shredded not nuggets and it will be black. We got over 3.5” of rain yesterday, with up to 1-3” more today and tonight. Our creek is seriously flooded, but there’s no danger to the house.

Yay for hummingbird feeders. And, I got 5 hours uninterrupted last night and might have slept longer but I am strict about taking Tylenol every 8 hours so actually woke up to the alarm at 4:15, as I wrote above.

>43 witchyrichy: Hi Karen, and thank you. So nice to ‘see you’ here. Hanging with fam and digging in your garden are all good things. Thanks re our house. I always think of the lyrics to the CSN song “Our House” –

Our house is a very, very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard … and etc.

Although we currently have THREE cats, but you can’t have everything in a song recorded in 1970.

What a great story about reading vampire fiction. Good for you for standing up to her.

We’ll get plums, but we let the birds have them. They’re very small and although quite sweet eventually, too much effort and etc. Oooh to pears and hydrangeas. I had a friend who had a pear tree. He said he could always predict the last frost – it was when his pear tree was in full bloom.

>44 weird_O: Well, howdy Bill. I actually have two additional LT accounts.

1. @kairfa, purchased at the lifetime cost of $25, which houses my wish list since 12/20/2020
2. @kenner1953, created after LT accounts became free, which will, if I can ever get them loaded, have all the books I’ve read since recording my reading here on LT starting in this group in 2008. That way, all the stats that work for reading history will be accurate since I ONLY keep books I currently have on my shelves in @karenmarie.

Let’s see. I’d create a new free account and populate it with the books in the lists – perhaps a tag for which list it is on even though that info is available in CK: Awards and Honors. That field is populated with more than the list you want to report and, as I recall, is not downloadable. If a book is on more than one list, have a tag for each list. You can also add a tag – I’m a tag lover – with which year a book was read in, perhaps, or use the reading dates in your book’s detail. I think just one account would work, as long as you use either tags (yay!) or collections (boo, hiss).

>45 quondame: Hi Susan! With Mike having recently gone through knee replacement surgery and HIS tales of woe (infection, I seem to recall?), your comment is particularly timely. Yesterday I got to 120° bending and the goal was ‘only’ 115°, and have been extending to 0° for a week and a half. He said I was pretty much over the hump but had to commit to the exercises for many months to come, obviously. The scar will want to contract – and this morning continued to prove that when I got up. Sitting up now, my feet are flat on the floor and I keep pulling my leg back to stretch the scar out. That’s a very sad story about needing a compression sleeve right away with no way to get one. I got one within 24 hours of being told I needed a calf compression sleeve to help with the Bakers Cyst issue which I did have to bring up with them. I didn’t want to try to navigate Walgreens and personally, we live and die by Amazon.

Wordle 658 4/6* adieu, drove, hedge, ledge

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So, as mentioned above, more rain, up to 1-3" according to a local TV station, which is usually more accurate than the National Weather Service for us. Bill will go to the dump if it's not pouring down rain, but definitely pick up our Shop and Go grocery order, which I placed last night. Possibly takeout, but I had it earlier this week and am not jonesing for a grilled chicken salad.

Reading, exercises, once again possibly cataloging the books I got at the book sale. And now that I'm reminded of account @kenner1953, may update my 'reading since being on LT' spreadsheet with late last year and all of this year so far and see if I can either import it or continue to add the entries manually.

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. Sorry about all that rain. That must have been the same front that hammered us. We took Jackson out for dinner last night for the first time. He was a good boy, but he gets antsy in his chair, when he is not feeding his face. We then took him to Bass Pro, where he got to run around.

Yep, the same group, (minus one, plus another) that did the Arizona trip last April are going to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas on the 18th. It is supposed to be one of the top birding spots in the country and this time of year the weather should be perfect. We are excited.

>46 karenmarie: Are being a bibliomaniac, bibliophile, lectiophiliac, and bookworm inherited traits? *smile* They certainly appear to be...

Rain, rain, rain...I wish for a cistern every time I hear about those levels of rain. Have a superb Saturday of relaxed reading!

Good morning, Karen. I'm already behind, so I can't comment on everything, but I'm thrilled to know your PT guy thinks you're over the hump! You are the best!

Are being a bibliomaniac, bibliophile, lectiophiliac, and bookworm inherited traits? *smile* I was thinking the other day about how some brains just seem to be wired for reading while reading is a chore for others. I suspect it's true and likely inherited although the sight of parents and grandparents sunk in books is powerful too.

My DH saw the first hummer sometime last week. Feeders went up immediately. All this cold wind is not their friend.

Glad we can both stay in today!

Strange for me to be in a county where Good Friday and Easter Monday are both holidays. Everything, and I mean everything, is closed. Today the stores were open and people were all out being as annoying as possible in all of them before they close back up for 2 more days.

Sorry about all the rain you're getting. I've mostly seen rain here too, but not in any quantity, just endless varieties of rain falling pretty much every day - misty, drizzly, steady, torrential downpours, hail, etc.

I'm really glad to hear that your knee is doing better and that the exercises are working!

That's a nasty huge amount of rain! I'd be floating down the creek if we received that much.

I heard that you were being encouraged to take a Montana trip. Of course, if you do, I would love to see you again. I can't remember if you have been to Yellowstone?

>47 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy Saturday to you, too. It’s raining again, very cold out. Well, cold for us, at 45F. Glad Jackson’s first dinner out with you last night went well. Your Texas trip sounds wonderful.

>48 richardderus: Out here it fills the aquifers, RD, in the city it goes down the storm drains. I’ve had a busy Saturday so far, with exercising, doing minor bits of the bird feeder stuff – the suet feeder and making the hummingbird food – while Jenna filled the big feeders and actually put out the hummingbird feeder. Napped for a bit, watched some soccer. I’m impressed that an ancestor of mine had 1/3 of his estate tied up in books at his death.

>49 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Thanks re my PT. I remember really starting to love reading in 3rd grade. Mrs. Faye Shigeta read out loud to us a lot – the book I specifically remember is Charlotte’s Web. We also had a room in the 3rd-6th grade, 18-classroom elementary school that was just shelves and books, but the first book I remember picking from there was about a bear named Max. We also had a contest that year, with a huge Charlotte’s Web on one of the bulletin boards, and for every 25 pages read, with a signed note from a parent, you got to move your spider towards the center one thread. I was enthralled.

In is good… although I’m now chilled because I can’t move quickly and had to be outside for a bit with the feeders.

>50 ursula: Hi Ursula! Wow, both are holidays? And everything shut down, too. Not everything's shut down here anymore, compared to 33 years ago when I moved here.

Where we live we can be safe and sound in our house, watching the rain and the creek flood then subside again. Spring is definitely springing. We don’t get rain every day at all out here like you do.

>51 streamsong: Thanks, Janet. I swore I wouldn’t push extra hard last week after the previous week, but unintentionally did on Friday because I’ve got a few pains here and there – Max said that the pain from one exercise, 10 reps, was safe for my knee even though it really hurt. I’m still feeling that one today.

Encouraged? I’m being tempted, bribed, enticed, reminded, and etc. Of course, can’t do anything till my knee is completely settled down, whenever that is.

Happy new(ish) thread! Glad to know the PT has worked for your knee. I've been going to PT for my left hip and both knees for a month and a half, and the physical therapist told me I'm about 45% improved. 45% doesn't sound like much, but, honestly, it's like night and day! Anyway, congrats on your PT win!

>46 karenmarie: The compression sleeve problem was due to my brother scheduling the surgery when his physician wife was traveling and thinking he would be OK to drive himself home from an afternoon surgery. I got him out of the hospital after 8PM and had to drive him to the wilds of Palos Verdes (Hi @mahsdad) where he immediately closed himself in the house and left me with his car without a GPS so I wasn't about to navigate about a relatively unfamiliar area in an unfamiliar auto. I had enough of an adventure getting downhill and East until I found a big N/S street and knew where I was. By the time his wife got back he had some nasty swelling which could easily have been avoided.

>53 Storeetllr: Hi Mary, and thank you. Yes, I'm coming along. I hope to graduate to a cane this week and may ask Jenna to let me drive my SUV to the end of our road today if it's not raining - 4 weeks is not unreasonable to consider to start driving again with a left knee replacement and an automatic. It seems I don't need my surgeon's permission, just be off opoids. Haven't taken one of those suckers since March 23.

I'm very happy to hear that PT is working for your knees and hip. 45% is huge, IMO, and is probably letting you be out of constant pain. Good luck!

>54 quondame: What a tale, Susan. Poor judgment on your brother's part, and the wilds of PV - yikes. My mom's first cousin, Lenita, and first husband Bob, then second husband David, lived there, and before GPS we had to rely on the Thomas Guide. And, I've got my calf compression sleeve on right now.

Wordle 659 2/6* adieu, snafu. Once again, not on the 2,309 word list. The only word ending in a u on that list is bayou, which was already used.

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Well. Happy Easter to those who celebrate either the religious or the candy holiday - I'm in the latter category and may eat a Peep or two today and/or the Lindt chocolate bunny that friend Louise gave me recently.

I have a bit of residual pain on the inside of my new knee today, left over from the PT on Friday. I'm going to baby myself although I will do the exercises, including the dreaded prone knee hang stretch.

I just realized I don't have an onion in the house, will ask Louise if she has one, and if so, will guide Jenna through making vegetable beef soup. If not, freezer time for the ground beef.

Reading is good, too.

Feeder report: I saw a female Goldfinch the other day scrounging around at the pretty-much-empty feeders. Since we did get the feeders refilled/out yesterday, I've seen Tufted Titmice and many finches and sparrows. It's just gotten light and ... ah. a female Cowbird and a Carolina Chickadee. No hummingbirds yet, though.

Morning, Karen. Happy Easter! Bree is hosting the holiday and our weather is beautiful. It might hit 70F with sunshine, so at least we can sit out in her yard. I hope your knee pain subsides.

Thanks for the feeder report. The male goldfinch are developing their summer plumage, in our area. I have seen cowbirds on my recent walks, so they are returning. I do not see them at my feeders very often. We have had a pair of American Tree Sparrows visiting the past few days. They are cute sparrows, similar to chipping sparrows.

Good luck with the driving experiment!

>56 msf59: 'Morning, Mark! Happy Easter! Enjoy your time at Bree's. Additional bird report: I've been seeing them around, but only heard a Mourning Dove this morning.

>57 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie!

>55 karenmarie: Have a happy-Sunday *smooch*

>46 karenmarie: I don't blame you for staying inside with all the pollen we've had lately. However, all that rain the last two days should have washed most of it away, for now. We supposedly got over 5" total here, according to the TV. I forgot to put our rain gauge back out for the year so I don't know the exact amount at the house.

It's wonderful to hear about all the great progress you've made with PT and your exercises! Also great that you're sleeping better!

Edited to add: I hope the driving experiment goes well!

>55 karenmarie: I definitely do the candy holiday - well all the candy holidays - and even ate a Peep to make it seasonal although the pastel Macaroons were much better. Happy Bunny Munch day.

I'm glad you enjoyed your Candy Holiday, Karen! I celebrate both, but I must admit I did enjoy my chocolate peanut butter egg and a few chocolate eggs from a premium Chocolatier here in Canada, Purdy's chocolate's . I suppose it may be like See's Candy's in the USA, though my mom and sister claim that See's are better than Purdys. We had lovely family dinner at my sister's - I guess there were a lucky 13 people at dinner. I took a cake for dessert, my other sister took chopped up raw veggies and my sister in law brought along a broccoli and bit of bacon casserole ( I actually like Brussel's sprouts! ) We had ham, mashed potatoes, carrots in a mustard and honey sauce, so it was quite delicious.

I'm glad that your knee is coming along so well, that you may graduate to a cane this week and get back to driving! Excellent to have that freedom again.

And yes, as a Friend Of the Library that you are , having people donate puzzles and selling them at the sales seems like a great idea. I'd be there for certain. As I mentioned on my thread, my local libraries lend a small number of jigsaw puzzles, about 6 at each of the three branches. I'm very pleased with that.

>59 richardderus: Hiya, Rdear. I did have a happy Sunday, thank you. *smooch*

>60 atozgrl: Yes, I’m glad to see a lot of the pollen knocked down. Yesterday was really cold, though, so I didn’t venture out. Wow. Over 5”. We have a weather station, so although it resets after midnight, I can ask Bill how much we’ve gotten this month.

I’m coming along, thank you, both with PT and sleeping. Last night was a tad less, though, at about 5 hours total, broken up into two pieces, 2 hrs and 3 hrs. *shrugs* I can nap.

And, between soccer, and icing and resting and etc., we didn’t get the driving experiment in. So unless Jenna’s particularly venturesome one night this week and not too whupped after she gets home from work, it will have to wait ‘til next weekend or I’ll have to rope Bill into conducting it with me.

>61 quondame: Yay for your Peep, Susan. Oh, I love coconut. I love macaroons. Haven’t had any in ages. Believe it or not, I did not eat the bunny ears off the chocolate. Let’s see… next Candy Holiday is Mother’s Day. Jenna just pointed out that Fourth of July is a Desserts Holiday, but I’m ‘rounding up’ and considering things Sugar Holidays now. So Fourth of July is a Sugar Holiday AND for me personally a Patriotic Holiday with reservations.

>62 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. Yes, thank you. It was Peeps all the way, with the Bunny still under wraps in the Pantry. Just checked out Purdy’s online, but have never had any. I couldn’t see that many dark chocolate options, and that’s what I get from See’s. I’m a See’s girl all the way, having been raised eating it in Southern California. My mom was a teller at Bank of America before they instituted the queuing option at banks to push you towards the next available teller, and her lines would almost go out the front door because everybody loved her, especially the senior citizens. We always got lots and LOTS of See’s Candy at Christmas, for sure. And, a high school friend of mine, Isabel, started working at See’s in 1970, the year before we graduated high school, filling orders in the lobby, wearing the cute little white outfit, which, of course, she hated. She retired from See’s after 50 years a while back, pretty high up in the org. Whenever my BF and I would go to the mall and Isabel was working, she’d always give us lots of samples. Bordeaux was my favorite then. I overdid, and now can't stand it.

Your family dinner sounds wonderful, family and food. I would be hard pressed to have 13 relatives to dinner, even if I combined my birth family and Bill’s step family.

Thanks re my knee.

I’m not going to go to the post Book Sale meeting tomorrow – Bill already takes me into town 3x a week as it is, and he’d have to take me then come back to pick me up. Plus, I don’t have that much to say about the sale per se since I was only there for 1.5 hours on the last part of the last day as a customer.

I will, however, send an email to the Powers That Be on the Book Sale Team, mentioning puzzle donations – a special drive – with a special, puzzles-only sale. We don’t have room to keep them in our normal donations/storage area, so someone – perhaps me? - would have to offer up other space. Might be worth it, though.

I think you were pretty much offline here on LT when I had the great Covid Book Donation Storage Issue at my house. The Library shut down unannounced on March 17, 2020 and because the Friends were not employees, we were not allowed into the Library. There were two donations I couldn't refuse. Dav/Eliza took 40 bags, I had over 100 bags for well over a year here at the house. Each bag cataloged, of course. *smile*



Wordle 660 4/6* adieu, bused, udder, under

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So today is PT and possibly going to the Library to put The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths in the Book Sort Room since I won't be seeing Rhoda tomorrow at the meeting. I'll also see if they'll let me take the cane that Rita's giving me from her office. She won't be there today but since I'll be there, they'll probably let me in.

Other than that, all the usual stuff.

Mark - the Carolina Wrens keep teasing me by starting to build a nest in the corner where the downspout comes down, but looks like they've rejected it again. Right now I've got a Cowbird and some finches. No hummingbird sightings yet.

Morning, Karen. We had a fine time at Bree's yesterday. The meal was wonderful and so was the company. I have Jackson duty this AM. Bree needed help. I will have seen Jack 5 days in a row. Hey, I'll take it...

Nothing happening at my feeders. Have the Carolina wrens nested in this spot before? I love their song.

Good morning, Karen! I'm enjoying the gorgeous day from Mama's warm kitchen - love to watch sunlit trees dance in the wind. (We can see why I'm not a poet.)

We are such See's converts here, and cousin Catharin sent Mama two more pounds of nuts and chews for Easter. Mama eats the nuts, and I chew. My favorite in this collection (and it's the only one we're ever had since Mama loves the nuts) is the rum, glac&eacture; cherry chew. Only one a poiund, and I sigh.

Do the PT just right and get the cane, and then enjoy your normal! I spent a lot of yesterday afternoon watching *HP3*, and I still didn't finish, and I'm still reading *6* more than anything else. Serves me right for snubbing the books when they first came out.

>63 karenmarie: ...puzzle donations...? Won't that be a major work-uppage since each one will need to be checked to be sure all the pieces are there?

PT well today. My next bout is Friday as the holiday will be over at that point. *smooch*

To follow up on my list obsession, I did set up a new account, then opened it and stared and stared...yes, and STARED at the screen. What I had envisioned was having a thread populated just with my lists. A post listing Nobel Prize winners, embellished with books by individual winners that I've read or have on the TBR. A post listing Pulitzer winners. And having opened the account, I realized that I couldn't see the starting line.

I already have these lists on Google Docs. I just need to collect them in a folder in Google Drive. (Yes, I know how you feel about Google. But I've been bought, don't you know.)

Anyway, this maneuvering must take a back seat while I deal with the tedium of taxes. Not difficult but awfully tedious. I'll get 'em done, then in August I'll get a letter from the IRS telling me that I did 'em wrong. If I'm lucky, I'll get back some of what I paid.

Stay out of trouble, mam.

Hello, Karen! Happy new one. I caught up with you yesterday, but I did not have the energy to post. I napped instead. I'm hoping that PT goes well today.

I see that Bill is telling you to stay out of trouble, but I think a tiny bit of mischief would be okay.

All caught up with you once again, Karen, although since I only peek around the threads occasionally, I can’t promise to stay that way. Very good news from Elly Griffiths from your last thread. So nice that she takes time to communicate with her fans like that.

I have fun reading the titles of your books. I can only imagine all the fun you have reading them. Good medicine! I’m impressed with your recovery from knee surgery. I have a friend who had both knees done at the same time and she was pretty much homebound for months.

I miss having a local See’s store. I may have to resort to mail order one of these days. I loved their toffee and lemon creams. Enjoy spring in your lovely home and setting.

>64 msf59: Hi Mark! Yay for a fine time at Bree’s. Oh poor Mark, to see Jackson 5 days in a row.

Yes, the Wrens had nests there in previous years, but that was before we repainted and got new gutters/downspouts. They tried a couple of years ago but abandoned it, and I don’t think this year’s effort will go very far either.

>65 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! It’s been a gorgeous day for sure. Yay for See’s. I have very specific things I like, all dark chocolate:

1. California Brittle
2. Raspberry Cream
3. Scotchmallow
4. Almond Nougat
5. Almonds
6. Molasses Chips

My sister has been known to send custom boxes for each of us for Christmas, depending on her finances.

I’m glad you’re enjoying the HP books now. And of course the movies are always fun. I scandalized Bill last year when I said I wouldn’t mind a remake of the movies.

>66 richardderus: I think that it was mentioned that all puzzles were sold “As Is”. *smooch*

>67 weird_O: You’ve taken the first step, Bill, so work those Docs! Just because I don’t like Google, although I do have a Pixel 7 for goodness’ sake, doesn’t mean that using their Docs feature is not valid. I still like you.

Ugh. Taxes. We haven’t heard back from our accountant yet, but she’ll let us know if we need to pay anticipated taxes by the …18th?... this year and then get an extension and actually do the detailed work later.

I do stay out of trouble, darn it.

>68 Crazymamie: Thanks for delurking Mamie! Napping should always have priority. Thanks re PT. The only thing I did today was actually drive all by myself around the neighborhood since Jenna and I didn’t get out yesterday. Shhh! Bill knew, it was just 10 minutes, and it felt very good.

>69 Donna828: Hi Donna! Thanks re my books. I’m still immersed in MM romances. My recovery is coming along. Ugh to double knee replacement surgery, although I recall that Reba did that and was glad she did it that way.

We have a See’s kiosk at some of the malls out here at Christmastime, but we rarely go mall-ing anymore. Toffee, yum. My mother loved their Lemon Truffles. I hope you splurge on a custom box one of these days, but definitely make it sooner than later so there’s no risk of heat problems. Thanks re spring and our house.

>63 karenmarie: Personally, I love the idea of puzzles! I'm a big puzzle fan too. I guess it depends on whether the folks at the library or on the Book Sale Team think it will be too much work.

And wow! to the COVID Book Donation Storage! I don't think I could find that much space at my house. I've still got stuff from my mom that I've got to go through taking up whatever space I could possibly provide. That's quite a picture!

>64 msf59: Those Carolina wrens have quite the song! They are so loud they wake us up some mornings.

>70 karenmarie: How great to hear you were able to get in a short drive! Progress!

Sleep well tonight!

Hi Irene!

I'm not going to the Book Sale Team meeting today, but will bring the Great Puzzle Sale up soon.

The bags started out in the Sunroom, which is where I am right now. They migrated to the Dining Room, then to the Library, which is where that picture was taken. We have stuff from Bill's mama everywhere from before she passed away in 2012, including some wonderful furniture that we actually converted our two-story living room into a one-story living room and upstairs Parlour to house. We have stuff from Bill's dad's passing in 2011, and Bill's stepmother Kay's passing in 2014. Plus, we're pack rats. Heck, we still have the basket that Bill's mama kept Bill in by their bedside when he was a baby in 1956 that she refitted with beautiful linens and new pad for when Jenna was a baby, 29 years ago. Stuff in every closet, dormer, and behind the guest bedroom closet storage.

I'm not good at bird song at all, alas. I listened to Carolina Wrens on

Morning, Karen. Thank you so much for the book. We both love it. I will have to bring it over on Friday, when I see him next. I have Rehab duties this AM. We will be in the 70s for the rest of the week. Yah!! Glad you have been hearing the Carolina wrens singing.

'Morning, Mark! You're very welcome. I remembered that there was an "I Love Daddy" book, and now that things have settled down a bit around here, am glad that I could provide the critical book for young Jackson/grandpa's reading entertainment.

I hope Rehab goes well, yay for the glorious weather, and the birds visited in droves for First Breakfast, and now the only one is a sparrow of some sort on the wild bird seed feeder. And, as I reported on your thread, I saw my first hummingbirds this morning.

Congrats on the hummingbird. I will have to wait until I return from my Texas trip before setting up mine. My feeders are quiet this AM, although I heard a woodpecker drumming on the chimney cap at 6:15.

Have a lovely day this Tuesday, Horrible, as you ruffle the pages of your new acquisition!

>75 msf59: Thanks, Mark. I was thrilled. You might see some hummingbirds in Texas, right? I remember that you have woodpeckers attacking your house regularly. 6:15 is no fun.

>76 richardderus: Hiya, RDear. Thanks. No errands or obligations. Heh. *smooch*

Good morning, Karen! I wish you full enjoyment of your day off! I love your See's list but need to sample more widely just to be sure of my own. I don't think they offer a lemon cream, and that makes me sad. It would be splendid in their dark chocolate.

I was stupid at Wordle today, but I got it at last on the 5th try.

Shower day for us after Easter ham biscuits. Yum!

>78 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Thank you. A box of dark chocolates would go a good way to helping you figure it out... *smile* Also, they do have a Lemon Truffle, my mom's favorite.

Busy day for you. Say hi to your mama for me, along with a gentle hug.

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Well, darn. I didn't post my Wordle.

Wordle 661 3/6* adieu, quota, qualm. Jenna, my favorite member of the peanut gallery, chimed in with qualm when I explained that QU were right and the A was not the last letter. Team work!

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Good news! Even though I still use the walker, I'm cleared to drive.

>80 karenmarie: Yayyy!

>80 karenmarie: woo hoo! That's great news Karen!

>80 karenmarie: FREEDOM!!

All RIGHT!!!! Enjoy! Enjoy!

Cleared to drive, Karen ! Wonderful news! We did have a lovely Easter dinner. My family is large - I have 4 sibling, 3 of them married, and then between me and my 3 other siblings we have produced 10 more kids, two of of whom are married , and those two married couples each have two children each and so the family keeps growing and growing,which is great. Three of my siblings live within a 30 minute drive, so we all see a lot of each other. Interesting story about your friend worked for See's Candies.

Of your list of favourite See's Candies, I'm quite certain my sister is keen on the Scotchmallow. Purdy's made something similar, but only briefly and my sister really loved them and I enjoyed a few too. Purdy's actually does have quite a few / lot of dark chocolate options. Most chocolates come in milk or dark chocolate options, but not all. I think my favourites at Purdys are chocolate hedgehogs ( Hazelnut cream ), salted peanut butter chocolates, Himalayan Salted Caramels, chocolate creams and also Vanilla Caramel.
Whoa! Storing 100 bags of books from your library! That's an awfully lot of books to store.

Thanks for taking the initiative to suggest a puzzle donation drive and sale! If I lived near you, I'd be there. I'm currently working of 1500 piece puzzle and it's proving quite challenging so far. Heye Country Fair here - https://www.puzzlewarehouse.com/country-fair-1500-pieces-by-heye/

>80 karenmarie: - Congrats!! So, where is the first trip going to be? ;-)

>85 vancouverdeb: - Ohhh, Purdy's!! My absolute faves! There is a store about 10 minutes from my house. Dangerous...!

>81 quondame: Hi Susan! Yup. 🤗

>82 lauralkeet: Yes, and frankly, even more important, Bill will not have to cart me around MWF and can/should go back to the office. His boss has started pressuring him again. I don't disagree with Tom's wanting Bill to be at the office at all.

>82 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, and I agree.

>83 richardderus: I’m also hoping to graduate to a cane this week, RDear.

>84 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, and thank you. I will. I found out just before I posted here – a response to my query/request of the surgeon’s office – so didn’t go out yesterday. I’m considering going to PT and then having the grocery store bring out an order (so I don’t have to go in), but I also need to take a book to the Library (for friend Rhoda) AND picking up the cane that Rita has given me and that might be a bit much. Gaagh. I hate feeling like three simple errands might be too much, so we’ll see. Bill can certainly take me today if I ask him to.

>85 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah. I wish I was from a large family, but it wasn’t meant to be in this incarnation. My brother never married, but my sister has a daughter/wife with 2 grandchildren, and a son/wife have a 6-month old baby daughter. Bill’s an only child. And having your sibs close is fantastic. My sister is in southern California and I’m in North Carolina. Scotchmallow is a good thing to be keen on. Your Purdys choices sound like something I’d like.

The bags became really burdensome. It was my choice, but I kept expecting the Library to open up when I took the donations in and/or us to find space somewhere else at the Library after it opened again. I lost control of first the Sunroom, then the Dining Room, then the Library over the course of an entire year. Each bag got touched at least 3 times by me, and Jenna at least twice. Out of the blue one day, a husband and wife team on the Book Sale Team called and said that they’d like to come over to put the books in their trailer, which had become available, and store it in their airplane hangar (!) until they could take them over for the next sale. They came, they took, I had my Library back.

Enjoy your 1500-piece puzzle. Funny about puzzles – I don’t personally like putting them together. I even had a wonderful strange one that I tried to work, but finally gave up and sent it to @weird_o. I do, however, love the idea of a special community puzzle event.

>86 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley. Mundane, for sure, but to be savored nevertheless. Like I wrote above, possibly PT and errands today. If not today, then PT on Friday.

Wordle 662 3/6* The only thing I did today was confirm that my word choices hadn't already been used, so I"m really happy. adieu, coral, borax

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So, PT. Reading. I still haven't cataloged the books I got at the book sale. Usually this is a joyous task, so I'm puzzled at my reluctance to make the time.

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. Hooray for being able to drive again. Yah! I am leading a bird walk this AM. We should have a nice group and migrants are really beginning to return or pass through. It also helps, that it will be a beautiful day. Nothing happening at my feeders...yet.

Hi Mark,and happy Wednesday to you, too! I was just posting on your new thread. I'm excited, for sure. Yay for leading a bird walk. I've got a Downy on the suet feeder and sparrows on the wild bird seed feeder. No more hummingbird sightings yet.

There's talk of horses on Mark's new thread, and I won't clutter it up. We spent perhaps $125-150K on horses here, including barns, a tack room, pastures, and etc. Oh, two horses. Hay, sweet feed, farrier and vet bills. However, here's my absolute favorite pic of Jenna and Dolly, taken in 2011.



My four memories of the horses:

1. Spending the aforementioned money that I was never in favor in of the first place.
2. Getting my booted foot stepped on HARD.
3. Having rope burns because nobody told me to not loop the lead line around my hand and Dolly shied.
4. Getting this cool hat.

My favorite pic of me and a horse. Rocky the Rocking Horse.

That's great news on the driving front, Karen! But don't overdo it too much in the early going :)

Morning, Karen! What Katie said.

Rocky the Rocking Horse is more my speed with horses, too.

>91 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie. You're right. Last time I drove was March 8th, if you don't count my test drive the other day.

>92 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie. I wish I still had Rocky... my parents were never savers or really, sentimental people at all. Oh well, Bill and Jenna and I have made up for it. We've still got her rocking horse, stick horse, ALL her Breyer Horses, horsie girl outfit, and her matching hat to mine above. Let's see... perhaps even her red horsie girl boots in her closet somewhere.

I had Marvel the Wonder Horse, and we had many fun adventures together:

>90 karenmarie: I like the hat! The rocking horse photo's adorable, too. That's one flirty side-eye that little toy's sportin'.

Knowing that three errands is just too much is a blow to your ego but honestly is a sensible recognition that you're still healing...and it'll be temporary, so you'll revel all the more when you drive yourself to the mall, shop for four hours, drive yourself back, and unload all the stuff you bought upstairs and suddenly it'll hit you: I DID IT ALL!

Good morning, Karen!!!! First, what Richard said. Be kind to yourself. That's a lesson that growing old teaches again and again. Retirement teaches that what you left undone will be there the next day.

HORSES!!!! I love all the pics - especially Jenna and Dolly and you rocking that hat.
I was so horse crazy as a child, but I never rode a real one. I spent an afternoon trying to climb on the back of my cousin's lazy pony..... When he felt me coming close, he'd simply shift his hind quarters. I read about horses; the H volume of my *World Book* set opens to "Horse." I read the novels about horses. My best friend and I played "horses," galloping or trotting or pacing or whatever wherever we went, tossing our heads and whinnying and snorting. That ended when we were 12, galloped up to her house with the horse behavior, dismounted, and realized that her father had the Boy Scout troop on the porch watching our performance.
I still have my box of Horse Cards which have detailed descriptions of every horse I owned. I owned a LOT!
Thanks for the memory!

So glad you are doing so well. I remember the first time I drove after breaking my angle, ankle, sneaking out the driveway to fetch mail, working both the gas and brake with my left foot.

I went to the dentist yesterday, then had to sneak past firefighters hosing a brush fire about a mile from the house. It apparently damaged power lines severely. Power went out about 2:30 p.m., didn't back on until about 1 a.m. I bought a "headlamp" a couple of years ago and used it to read whilst awaiting electricity's reemergence. Finished the last 50 pages or so of Drug Use for Grown-Ups, then all of Because of Winn-Dixie, followed by about 70 pages of Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America, my AAC read for April.

Today, I'm back to doing previously scheduled chores.

Hopelessly behind but congrats on being able to drive again! Whoohoo! And I love your pictures >90 karenmarie:. : )

Hi Karen my dear, good news that you are passed for driving again, as others have said, take it steady at first my dear. I remember when i had shoulder surgery and i couldn't drive for eight weeks, it drove me mad and sadly Karen doesn't drive, so the car was just sat on the drive gathering dust.

Sending love and hugs to you all from both of us my dear friend.

>90 karenmarie: >96 LizzieD: I wasn't horse crazy at all, but did ride for a couple of years with a group at the local stable. We were even in a parade with fancy turquoise shirts and white hats. On regular days we'd saddle the horses - the older kids 14+ would also bridle them though I never did, and ride into the dessert for an hour. I almost always rode a cranky, rather ugly, gelding and got thrown once.

There weren't any other girls within a year or two of my age in the riding group, though many of them were horse crazy in that they had large Breyer collections and were full of romantic horse fancies. Of course we were all saturated with movie and TV westerns in the 50s and 60s.

My mom does not like jigsaw puzzles either, Karen. Not to do them. I've even offered to feed her a chocolate for every piece she puts together, but no dice. She is 81, and I think she gets a bit bored at times, but despite being surrounded by puzzles with me , my two sisters and my sister in law - no dice.

I confess I was not horse crazy but I did like a rocking horse. I had one as a child - shared with at least one of my sisters. It was fun.

Glad to read you are allowed to drive again, Karen!

Love the picture of Jenna and Dolly. I was horse crazy for years. Never owned a horse, had weekly riding lessons for nearly ten years, and later helping at the stables of the race track. Sweet memories...

We had horses briefly. It was never my thing so I share your memory #1. They are, as Mark said on his thread, a money pit. They are beautiful animals but they were stressing me out and I wasn't sad to see them go. I didn't even get a cool hat!! 😀

>94 Crazymamie: Looks like you roamed the house with Marvel, Mamie.

>Thanks, RDear. Thank for the encouraging words about the temporary nature of my lack of stamina. Although there’s apparently another reason – I had tingling in my feet that over the course of 5 days (last Wednesday night – Sunday night) so Monday morning I was able to get in to see a PA in my doctor’s office. Among other bloodwork, she ordered a B12 test, thinking I had low B12. However, it turns out that I have a toxic level of B12. Normal is 211-911 pg/ml, mine is greater than 2,000 pg/ml. Nausea and fatigue are side effects, and I’ve had low grade nausea off and on for a while and more fatigue than I normally have. Sheesh. No vitamins for 2 weeks, no red meat, fish, seafood, dairy. Can you say chicken and turkey? And lots of extra water to flush it out of my liver. Thank goodness it’s a water soluble vitamin.

>96 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, and Good Morning to you the day after you wrote! I’m definitely my own worst enemy with expectations and fear of failure. Glad you like the pics.

Ponies are evil – a friend’s bit my arm one day when she was getting Jenna and her son settled in the pony trap. I had a horse-teeth shaped bruise for two weeks, but didn’t say anything. What fun adventures, so abruptly terminated by Boy Scouts watching, and when we get to see each other again, I want to see your box of Horse cards!

>97 weird_O: Hi Bill! It does not surprise me that you snuck out and used your left foot, not at all. You’re resourceful to have gotten a headlamp for reading when you have power outages. We have a generator, but if we didn’t have it we still have oil lamps and candles. Glad your reading’s coming along and that the electricity’s back on so you don’t have an excuse to not do your scheduled chores.

>98 Berly: Hi Kim, and thank you. Hump Day passed mostly nicely – turns out it wasn’t the battery last week because when I tried to out yesterday afternoon for my first official legal drive my SUV wouldn’t turn over. So about 8:30 I’m going to call AAA to come out and tow it to the Ford Place so Barry can find out the real problem and fix it. Bill thinks it’s the starter.

>99 johnsimpson: Hi John, and thank you. Wow. Eight weeks and Karen doesn’t drive. Much rougher than I have it, for sure. Sending love and hugs back to both of you.

>100 quondame: Good memories, Susan, always excepting being thrown. Thank you for sharing. Jenna got thrown once and her instructor made her get back on the horse immediately. She got through it.

>101 vancouverdeb: Major bribe, sorry it doesn’t work, Deborah. Does she read? Watch TV? Play cards? Rocking horses were so wonderful. I’m surprised that I never became a horsie girl like Jenna did.

>102 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, and thank you. More wonderful memories, thanks for sharing.

>103 lauralkeet: I’m sorry you didn’t get a cool hat, Laura – Jenna and I have the same identical ones, in the hall closet 10 feet from where I’m sitting right now.

Wordle 663 3/6* adieu, bloat, carat

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...
Bill was supposed to go back to work today, but alas. I'm getting really twitchy, frankly. Jenna's like me, and Bill doesn't know it yet but he and I are going out to lunch on Saturday to give her a bit of time truly alone in the house.

Getting my car over to the Ford Place is the only official thing I need to do besides my PT exercises and icing my knee. Perhaps clean off the desk since it's gotten out of control again?

Morning, Karen! Sorry that Bill has not gone back to work today. Lunch out on Saturday to give Jenna a bot of alone time is truly thoughtful. Abby, Birdy and I are like that, too, so I get what you mean about getting twitchy. Hoping he goes back SOON.

YIKES about the toxic level of B12 - I'm so glad you got that checked out.

Hoping today is kind to you, my friend. Keeping you in our thoughts and in our hearts.

>90 karenmarie: Love the photos up there. 100-150K? WOWZA! You sure are a great Mom!

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. We had a fine bird walk yesterday, spotting some nice migrants. 27 species. I am getting good at this...grins. Just doing some running around this AM. Enjoy your day.

drive-by *smooch*

>105 Crazymamie: 'Morning, Mamie!

So you, Abby, and Birdy need that alone time and Craig, Rae, and .. Daniel when he lived at home?.. didn't? Introverts and extroverts. Bill gets depressed when he doesn't get quite a bit of social interaction, so more extroverted. He has told us repeatedly that he loves it if we're in other rooms in the house when he's in the living room or his home office. All that does is make me twitch more.

Part of deciding on who to marry should include the introvert/extrovert tests. Opposites can work out, and Bill and I have been married almost 32 years, but wow, it can be a major issue sometimes..

>106 msf59: Well, Mark, it's barns, paddock, tack room, fencing, pasture prep and maintenance, horses, equipment, vets, farriers, horse blankets, sweet feed and hay, and just STUFF. We had to have everything built. Bill was a great Dad, I was a reluctant Mom. Congrats on 27 species. Of course you're getting good at this, Bird Dude. Enjoy your day, too.

>107 richardderus: Quick *smooch* back.

Good heavens! I am SO glad that you paid attention to yourself and found the B12 overage quickly. I wonder how that happened and can't look back right now to see whether you mentioned it. Balance is almost everything!

Craig and Daniel are extroverts, and the rest of us are introverts. Rae does not need to be alone, but she likes to do her own thing. She makes good use of her noise-cancelling headphones. She usually migrates to wherever I am, but she is perfectly happy to just be in the same space doing different things. Abby, Birdy, and I need actual ALONE time to function best.

Craig does not like to be alone, so we will have to work that out when he retires. For now, I can snag my alone time while he and Rae are at work because Birdy and Abby have rooms upstairs that they love to hang out in.

>80 karenmarie: Great news!

>90 karenmarie: Great hat! I always wished I could have a horse, but I knew I couldn’t afford one. I was lucky to have friends who had horses and invited me to ride. Good times - until the time I was thrown and trampled. It was a miracle my leg wasn’t broken! Yes, I got back on, but that was pretty much the last time I rode. I wasn’t really afraid, just that the opportunities dried up.

I’m also interested to know how your B12 levels got so high. So glad you got it tested!

>109 LizzieD: I was afraid of its being something permanent, which, of course, it still can be, but is not moving up and sometimes I don’t even have the tingles.

>110 Crazymamie: Ah, thanks for sharing the family introvert/extrovert status, Mamie. Jenna and I need actual ALONE time to function, too, and neither of us is actually getting at this point. *twitch*

You will have to work it out. I had a helluva time training Bill to NOT open the Library door to share something or ask something when I was reading in there. Now I’m sleeping there ‘cuz it’s downstairs, and I have to keep it cracked for the kitties otherwise they’ll bang it down. He takes that as an invite.

>111 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Thanks. See below for my first foray.

Sorry you were thrown and almost trampled. I wouldn’t have gotten back on for a bet. One time they persuaded me to get up on Dolly, who was almost 16 hands, on an ENGLISH saddle, which is squirmy at best and evil at worst, and I felt so insecure I wouldn’t even let them walk me around the pasture.

I have no clue as to how my B12 levels got so high. I do take high potency vitamins, but the dosage of B12 has only been 48 mcg since May of last year. It’s water soluble, so it’s not like old higher levels should have accumulated in my liver. If the no vitamins, more water, no beef/dairy/fish/seafood regimen doesn’t reduce it in 2 weeks, it might be liver related since they also did a comprehensive metabolic panel and my bilirubin level is high, but not off the charts.

…
So my exciting First Drive scheduled for yesterday was a bust because my SUV wouldn’t start. I discovered that at 3 p.m. yesterday, so waited to today to call the Ford dealership (because that’s where I get everything done) first to make sure it was okay to bring it over, then AAA so they’d tow it there. Barry just called from the Ford dealership and says he’s replacing the guaranteed-3-year but it’s 7-years old battery and checking everything else related to starting a car – don’t have a clue as to what those things are? Starter? Alternator? Wiring? *shrug* Bill’s taking me over about 4 p.m. and my First Drive will be driving it home. Tomorrow I’ll drive myself to PT regardless of whether Bill goes to work or not.

And, while waiting for Curtis from AAA to jump my SUV so he could drive it up to the tow truck, I took this pic from the brick retaining wall looking down into the pastures:

>108 karenmarie: I'm definitely an introvert, though I do like it when Becky and/or Mike is home - as long as neither is in a loud telephone conversation or playing really annoying music. Sometimes the beeps while they exercise with prompts can be a bit annoying. Fortunately when they are present there are many more quite hours than noisy ones.

>112 karenmarie: The high B12 levels sound scary, especially since there is nothing obvious.
I'm sorry the first drive was a bust, but what a pretty picture.

I once tried riding a Shetland Pony, by myself with zero experience. Well, very quickly the Shetland Pony walked underneath the branch of a tree, and I was scraped off the back of the pony and fell on the ground. Luckily I was young, like 11 or 12, so no problem. But I never wanted to try riding a horse or pony after that. Perhaps had I some lessons that may have helped.

My mom does read, yes, but only " happy reads" She , I suppose is an extrovert, and needs to get out of the house and see people every single day. The problem for her is that she is very hard of hearing, even with hearing aids. So being in groups, which she would normally love, well, no she cannot hear well enough to that. She also decided to give up driving when she turned 80, so that further isolates her, though she was never much for driving anyway. I pushed her to learn to drive after I got my own Driver's license. She does watch TV, but again, she has this idea that one cannot turn the TV on until after 6 or 7 pm. I'm not sure if she knows how to use the library, and I offered to go with her and get a card, and show her how the new electronic checkouts and check ins work, but once again, no , she was not interested in that. Then , during the pandemic she found some of her friends maintained their isolation status, so I think often she is at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Aging parents. Not always so easy. I've suggested the Seniors Centre as place to meet other people and go on outings, but in part her hearing prevents that , and also she does not perceive herself as a " senior", so to speak. She was rather angry when I suggested the Seniors Centre some years ago. Oh well!

I hope you are soon feeling better and I hope tomorrow's planned drive goes well. I am sure it will.

>104 karenmarie: >114 vancouverdeb: Being thrown didn't seem to phase me at all - I did return to the stable mounted behind the instructor and noticed what a cushy saddle he had all the while wishing I was in a saddle myself. We did ride bareback a few time and on grumpy Billy that was no fun at all.

Yay for being cleared to drive!

Boo! For the car not starting for your first drive. How frustrating!

>113 quondame: I’m glad that their presence only bothers you if they’re particularly loud, Susan. Re the B12 levels, I sent my PCP a message, including the note from the PA and the comparison of my Total Bilirubin between Nov 2021 and now. We’ll see what he says.

>114 vancouverdeb: Ooof with the pony deliberately getting you off his back. Sorry about that.

It sure sounds like you’ve done as much as you can to help your mother – Library and Senior Centre – and her belief in when the TV can be turned on is so wrong, of course. Ultimately we all make our own decisions, and you can only try to help her so much.

I got my SUV back with a new battery. Bill trailed me home and although I didn’t like it at the time, I realize that I hadn’t driven for 5 weeks except for that little jaunt around the corner and he was worried. This was on a 4-lane divided highway although there wasn’t much traffic. I had NPR on, which was very nice and something I don’t do in the house very often.

>115 quondame: It would have been my luck to get a permanent back injury if I’d ridden horses – I did get a permanent back injury when I was 21 when I was rear-ended by a drunk hit-and-run driver. I was in a Datsun 1600 roadster and plowed into the back of a Cadillac, which plowed into the car in front of it from the impact. Nobody came to my car for a while because they all thought I was dead.

>116 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita, and yes, thank you. I’m back in the saddle again in my Es-ca-pay (2012 Ford Escape).

Wordle 664 3/6* adieu, grief, thief

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I think I got about 5 hours straight sleep... I never remember to look at the clock to see what time I turn off the light. And sometimes I don't turn off the light and wake up with my glasses on. Anyway, I saw Jenna's light on and came out to say good-bye. Coffee is being consumed.

I will drive to PT all by my lonesome after going to the Library to drop off a book for friend Rhoda and picking up the cane Rita the Librarian is giving me.

A friend and I will probably chat this afternoon about his knee replacement surgery a year ago and mine 5 weeks ago. He's a dear man, puzzled by his wife's unhappiness and anger that he's having physical problems and can't do the things with her that she wants. He's scheduled for a hip replacement surgery next month, too. He's on the book sort team although I think he's going to resign for a variety of reasons.

Mark - too dark to see the feeders, but the birds are singing up a storm. The only one I recognize is a Crow.

Congratulations on finally completing your first drive. That was a bit of an ordeal! And toxic levels of B12 -- something I didn't even know what a thing -- sounds unpleasant. Do you have any idea how it happened in the first place?

Hoping Bill returns to the office soon and applause for your planned lunch date to give Jenna a break.

'Morning, Laura. Thank you re the drive. I came home and was rather whupped, for sure. Batteries for Ford Escapes are not cheap. The battery was $160, the labor, which the only charged us half for because we're something-or-another customers, was only $20. We also used Bill's FordPass credit, so literally paid nothing.

As regards the B12, it could be a symptom of a liver or bile duct issue because of the dramatic change in my Total Bilirubin levels from .6 to 1.9 in 17 months. I'm taking a whole new slew of drugs since my heart attack, and had anaesthesia and other new drugs with my knee replacement surgery. Like I wrote above, I've written to my PCP because I can't directly write to the PA - she's not listed as a provider on mychart.org and getting someone added takes an act of God and Congress. She also consulted with my PCP while I was there on the 10th, so he should remember things a bit. Thank goodness she ordered a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, not the usual Basic Metabolic Panel. Haven't heard back from my PCP yet, but I only sent the message late yesterday. The ball is in his court, although I admit that the PA should have looked at the panel she ordered, seen the high Total Bilirubin level and known they might be related. I had to look up Bilirubin, but then it clicked that they might be related.

Jenna left for work at 6:10 and Bill hasn't emerged from the bedroom, so he's staying home again.

Thanks for the explanation, Karen. Our PCP's mychart portal works the same way -- I have to address messages to the doc but I nearly always receive responses from someone else in the practice.

Your comments on the cost of battery replacement are also timely. We just took our cars in for their annual state inspections and they commented that the battery on our 2017 Nissan Frontier should be replaced. There's corrosion and it's old enough that I can't really argue with it. They quoted the price and my first thought was, "that's more than I expected", but now I see the cost of just the battery. There are certain things where the "what things cost" part of my brain is stuck in some previous era, and apparently car batteries are one of those things.

Hope you have a great day ..

Hi again! I just posted on your thread. *smile*

Everything's ridiculous to how I remember things - earning $19/hour for a basic admin job blows me away, and fast food employees around here earn $13-$15/hour, perhaps even more by now. Everything you put in your cart at the grocery store seems to costs $5, too. Oh well, welcome to the new normal.

I hope you have a great day, too!

"Coffee is being consumed." AM rules to live by! 😁

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. Hooray for getting 5 hours of sleep. Nice. I bet it felt great being behind the wheel again.

It is Jackson Day. I plan on taking him on the trails with me, if it all works out. We have another lovely day ahead.

My feeders have been uncommonly quiet the past few days, but I just spotted a male common grackle feeding under the main hopper. We had one that visited regularly last summer. I wonder if it is the same one.

Morning, Coffee Sister! Friday happiness to you! I'm happy you finally got your first drive in, but you really had to work at it, didn't you?! Hoping everything else goes more smoothly. Also hoping they can get the elevated bilirubin levels and the toxic B12 levels figured out. I used to run those levels all the time - I was a medical technologist in the chemistry department of a large hospital. We had to do the baby bilirubins by hand because the amounts were too small to go thru the machine. They probably have all kinds of fancy new equipment in the labs today that would make the ones I ran look like antiques.

Hoping your Friday is full of fabulous!

>122 msf59: 'Morning, Mark, and happy Friday to you. Yes! AM rules to live by. 5 hours is good, and I'm excited to be driving to PT by myself. Depending on my energy levels I'll go after to the Library to drop off the book and pick up the cane. Yay Jackson day and possibly taking him on the trails.

My feeders are mostly quiet, too, but that's because we've been having thunderstorms soon after I last posted. I mean loud thunderboomers and flashes of lightning plus rain. It's calm right now, but expected to be on-and-off storming all day.

>123 Crazymamie: 'Morning, Coffee Sister. Thank you, the very same Friday happiness back'atcha. What a crap time for my battery to die, honestly. But it's all under control now.

I never realized you were a medical technologist. Live and learn. Awww about the baby bilirubins - for jaundice, right?

In addition to all the new equipment, I'm here to tell you that my doctor's office is crazy on top of fast labwork results turnaround. They took the blood about noon on Monday, and there were results on the website by the evening, with the comments by the PA the next morning.

>124 karenmarie: Yep - jaundice.

The ability to get faster results is an amazing thing.

Good morning, Karen. As to coffee, I'm a bit stymied. Talk about expensive!!!!! My 18 ounce bag of Peet's MD beans was $36 when I looked last week at Amazon. It's down to $21 now, but that's still ridiculous, so I'm stuck with Wal-Mart's decaf until the price comes down some more. (The 10.5 ounce bag was at 83¢ an ounce, and that's still too much.)

In other news, we are The Three Sisters in Wordle today. (I put that on my thread, and because I think it's funny, I leave it for you here too.)

>117 karenmarie: I don't know what happened to the driver of the Datsun 1600 roadster that T-boned into me (my fault for turning left inappropriately) but I ended up with a broken pelvis and lingering back issues. Youth can be hard on us even if it isn't our fault, we are out there doing stuff and shit happens.

>120 lauralkeet: >121 karenmarie: That "what things cost" part of the brain does seem to have an increasingly upsetting lag time as the years pile on.

After my down week, I finally made it back over to your thread this afternoon, but I'd been away long enough that it took me awhile to read through all the comments and catch up. (Had to break for dinner.)

>72 karenmarie: I'm a pack rat too. Came by it naturally, from my mother, who loved to go to estate sales and antique shops. She was always coming home with something. My poor husband has to put up with it. His mom is a neat freak on the other hand, so he comes from a very different background.

As for bird song, I wanted to learn to identify the birds I could hear, so I picked up a copy of Birds of the Carolinas Field Guide and Audio CD Set some years ago. I listened to the CDs over and over for awhile driving home from work, and got to know a bunch of the bird calls. I learned the Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Towhee, Tufted Titmouse, and many more. The one that really surprised me was the Carolina Chickadee. They don't make just the chattering "chickadee" sound that they're known for. I kept hearing this beautiful 4-note song and couldn't figure out what bird was making it. Then I found it on the CD, and it was the Chickadee! I was amazed!

>104 karenmarie: Good heavens! I had no idea it was possible to have toxic levels of B12. I sure hope they can figure out what may have caused it, and that you can get it all flushed out of your system.

>117 karenmarie: How wonderful that you were cleared to drive, that you got the battery on your SUV taken care of, and that you were able to make a good drive by yourself! I usually listen to NPR when I'm out driving myself these days. When I was commuting, it was usually WRAL. I liked listening to music in the mornings, and I could hear the local news on the return home.

Sending you wishes for a wonderful night's sleep tonight!

>114 vancouverdeb: Deborah, I'm so sorry to hear that you're struggling with your mother so. It sounds like you've tried just about everything you can to find something she's interested in. As for the Senior Center, we have a Senior Center in town here, and I started getting involved with their programs within a few months of my retirement last year. I'm only in my mid-60's, and I don't feel like I ought to be a "senior" yet, but there we are. And their programming is great! I'm sorry your mother took your suggestion so badly. I think she's missing out.

>125 Crazymamie: I’ve been with this doctor for 25 years, Mamie. I started off with Bill’s doctor and had him be Jenna’s doctor, too. For some strange reason they couldn’t get her in for her go-to-kindergarden-visit – called in April, needed her seen before mid-August – so called the new doctor here in Pittsboro. The office manager said “Can you come in this Thursday?” and that was it. He’s moved offices twice, and is now in a shiny medical building that has x-ray services, bloodwork and other lab services, infusion services, and PT services in addition to his and 2 other doctor’s practices, plus ortho specialty doctors and PAs. My doctor is only a few years younger than me, so that’s going to be a problem in the next several years.

>126 LizzieD: Hi Peggy. Oh yes, coffee’s gotten ridiculously expensive. And I see on Amazon that MD beans aren’t even an easily ordered available option. Crapola.

I hope we’re the Three Sisters again today. I love it. I planted the Three Sisters when I was using my big vegetable garden, but it wasn’t as successful as I would have liked. I was planting Silver Queen corn then and had a nice 10’ x 15’ stand just up from my Three Sisters experiment, had Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans, and planted zucchini.

>127 quondame: Oh my, getting t-boned by a Datsun 1600 Roadster. Your injuries sound much worse than mine. I was wearing my lap belt, all they had at that time, and a heavy winter coat, so was somewhat padded and didn’t fly through the extremely small windshield.

The continuing shock with inflation I’m having is that I used to buy 18 ounces of whole bean medium roast grocery-store-brand coffee roasted by Starbucks for $6.79 plus tax, so around $7.28, so $5.20/lb incl tax. Covid killed that option, and after much unhappy experimenting we’ve settled on Real Good Coffee Company Donut Shop Medium Roast Coffee Beans - 2 Pound Bag - 100% Whole Arabica Beans at $25.19/ounce plus tax on Amazon’s Subscribe & Save since Real Good Coffee Company is out of stock on their website (Bill is on their subscribe & save equivalent). Looks like they’re selling to Amazon before their own customer base. And I don't even like it as much as the generic store brand we'll never see again.

When I was a kid, I got 50￠ a week allowance – pretty generous. I’d save 25￠ and spend the rest on candy bars. They were 5￠ each, so 5 candy bars. So not good for my teeth, of course, but I’ve always liked sweets.

>128 atozgrl: Hi Irene! Glad to see you here. I rarely buy ‘stuff’ anymore. Who really needs an 18” diameter metal bowl, just because it matches the metal bowls I use in the kitchen? But I have it, and it’s under the sink in the utility room because it doesn’t fit in the cupboard where the other metal bowls are. It's one of my last 'stuff' purchases.

Kudos to your husband for putting up with your pack rat nature.

I love it that you have learned the bird calls. I just can’t seem to retain that knowledge except for just a few birds. I just heard an owl in the distance and actually recognize it as a Great Horned Owl.

I really enjoyed being out on my own yesterday, that’s for sure. More on the B12/bilirubin saga below.

NPR is my friend. I’m a WUNC sustainer although at a fairly low level. My go-to listening while commuting was originally NPR in SoCal and early on here in NC, but audio books became my passion.

I slept about 5 hours straight last night, so I consider that a win. Unfortunately I couldn’t get back to sleep, so here I am.

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My doctor responded to my on-line query, telling me to just eat what I want, continue to not take the vitamins, and make an appointment to see him in 2 months. He says that the B12 levels take a while to come down but don’t have any symptoms. The Mayo Clinic disagrees, but I won’t quibble with him. This is what the Mayo Clinic says:

High doses of vitamin B-12, such as those used to treat a deficiency, might cause:
• Headache
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue or weakness
• Tingling sensation in hands and feet

My hopefully-temporary neuropathy has decreased to mostly the bottoms of my feet, sometimes no tingling at all, sometimes up to a lower level in my calves than earlier in the week.

>129 atozgrl: Our local Senior Center has lots of wonderful programs, but I am an introvert and am busy enough with Friends of the Library when not recovering from knee replacement surgery to not want to go to any of them. Until last September I used their treadmill for heart health 3x a week, 30 minutes a time, but the knee/Bakers Cyst stuff put paid to that. It’s on my list of questions to ask my surgeon next week for my 6-week follow up appointment, because my cardiologist will not be happy to hear I’m not walking if HE doesn't say the treadmill's okay before I see HER in May.

Wordle 665 3/6* adieu, among, agony. I always use adieu as my starting word, and this time it really helped.

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Today I will be going with Bill to the dump (major excitement!) and we’ve decided to actually eat in a restaurant – The Brewery – to give Jenna some alone time. So we’ll be gone about 2 – 2.5 hours. She’s like me. She needs true alone time, not just people not being in the same room she’s in. She doesn’t mention it often, but it occasionally comes up and came up two separate times last week.

Do I want to go out and eat in a restaurant, hobbling in and out on a walker? No, not at all. It's embarrassing - yes, I know, it really shouldn't be, but I hate being a spectacle in public. Will I do it? Absolutely, for my kidlet. And, I’ve decided that I’ll get a hamburger and French fries, so that’s exciting, too.

Tomorrow Arsenal plays West Ham at 9 a.m., so there's that to look forward to. Except for Paul and John liking Man City, I really want Man City to lose today. They probably won't because they play Leicester, 19th out of 20 teams and in relegation. Of course West Ham is 14th, but you never know with Arsenal. No chickens will be counted before they hatch.

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. I hope you had another good night's sleep. Bree caught a bad cold, so when I got there, I scooped Jackson up and we hit the trails, (he was such a good boy). I then brought him back here and he stayed with us. Sean will pick him up before noon. I am birding with a pal this AM.

Have a good time today at the dump & The Brewery.

>130 karenmarie:, Hi Karen my dear, Paul is a Leeds United fan and i am a Man United fan and i would prefer Arsenal to win the league as we have no chance this season.

>131 msf59: 'Morning the next day, Mark! 5 hours for Friday night, only about 3-4 for last night, broken up, alas. Yay for you and Jackson on the trails. I hope you enjoyed your birding time.

Heh. The dump and The Brewery. We changed our minds and went to Elizabeth's, because Bill discovered that they have a hamburger on the menu, so that's what I got. I ate 3/4 of it and just had the last 1/4th.

>132 johnsimpson: Oh, John, I know you and Paul told me your teams but I forgot! Sorry.

Wordle 666 4/6* I did use the list to get adieu, drove, deity (forgetting that there was no i), dwelt

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We were gone about an hour and a half yesterday to give Jenna a bit of a breather and I had the above-mentioned hamburger and some french fries. It was freezing in there so I had hot tea.

Jenna actually went out to meet up with her boss, Andrea, and a friend of Andrea's, Tim, at a local bar yesterday afternoon. Jenna does not drink At All, having scared herself with alcohol in her early 20s, and bars are, as they always were for me, boring to her. But she had a good time, was gone about 3 hours.

While she was gone I decided that I needed my nail clippers and nail scissors from upstairs. First foray upstairs, using the cane, leading upstairs with my right foot (non-surgery foot) and coming back down with my left foot (surgery side foot). We have a standing joke about leaving the toilet paper with that cute little fold like they do in hotels. Not always, of course, but I left it that way so she'd know I'd been up there. I didn't say a word, and after about 15 minutes she came down and said "So you went upstairs by yourself?" Felt like a little kid who got away with something.

Today is Arsenal vs West Ham at 9 a.m., other than that a big achy from going upstairs yesterday, actually.

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. Glad Jenna had a good day yesterday. I saw a pair of mallards under the feeder, when I went to turn the coffee on and when I went up there for my second cup, I spotted a pair of cardinals and 3 robins foraging on the ground. It will be a cool, rainy day.

Not a whole lot planned for the day- just getting things together for my trip and finish a couple of chores around here. Of course, I will try to get plenty of reading in. I am sure I will read very little while I am in Texas.

>134 msf59: - Yeah, they don't really encourage reading in Texas, Mark. :-P

Good morning, Karen! Glad you successfully navigated the stairs but sorry it took so much out of you. Two steps forward etc etc....

Interesting about the B12 overage. I'm taking a B12 supplement, so far without symptoms, but I'm due for a checkup with my PCP soon, and I will ask him what my levels are. I would have thought, since it's a water-soluble vitamin, that overage wasn't possible. Now I have to look things up. Sigh. Glad your tingling is diminishing.

Hi, Karen. I'm sure you're in soccer mode, so I'll feel free to tell my B12 story.

When I was 4 I went to Duke's Allergy Clinic and got the all-over-the-back and some-on the-arms scratch test. Every single one of the damned things blew up, and I was a miserable little child for a few days. Anyway, the experimental treatment in 1948/9 was a shot of B12 every single day for a year. I don't think I had an overage, but I don't think it worked either. I've now outlived most of those allergies, DG. Dr. Susan Dees is something of a legend among allergists, I think.

On the other hand, my B12 is always low and I have to take injections in order to absorb it due to no colon anymore. And then >137 LizzieD: I can relate because I had that same back, both-arms allergy test as a kid and failed miserably. I got twice or once-a-week allergy shots until college. Ugh. It's always something isn't it? LOL

Karen, I am glad you finally got to drive the car! And it was super nice of you to give your daughter some alone time. You get major parenting points. Also nice touch on the TP triangle. : )

Hi Karen my dear, since Karen had her Gastric Bypass operation in 2011, she has had to have a B12 injection every 13 weeks, she also takes Calcium tablets daily. Karen can always tell when she is just about due her B12 injection as she feels very tired and lethargic.

>133 karenmarie: I'm glad you got away with your adventure above. Alone for the day, I carefully check the stairs for dog toys and hold to the rail going down.

>117 karenmarie:

>129 atozgrl: Thanks to you , Karen and Irene with your encouraging words about how I have done a fair bit for my mom, and the advice that people make their own choices. I was chatting with one of my sister's yesterday, and I am happy that my new moved back to the Vancouver area brother and his wife take my mom to their place for dinner or out somewhere else once a week. At least that was she is a bit more content. I sometimes think she does not fully appreciate the four of her children that live in the area and are very good about keeping in touch and taking her out places.

I hope you soon sort out your high B12 symptoms - well, it sounds like you on way to doing that.

Glad you got out, even if was to the dump and also enjoyed your meal out with a hamburger and fries. I have to go to the dentist of Tuesday as I discovered I have crack in my lower central incisor. I never look forward to going to dentist, but I can't leave that crack to go on to become a cavity or worse. I hope there is simple fix. Not sure, perhaps it will need a crown? Those lower incisors are so small and thin and the crack is sort of a piece sheared off the the backside, so I'm not sure if filling will hold in place. I hope so!

>135 katiekrug: I heard about that, Katie. LOL.

>134 msf59: ‘Morning Mark a day later. Happy day after Sunday to you. Yay for your mallards, cardinals, and robins. I’ve always liked packing for trips, and it won’t surprise you that I always have a spreadsheet. I hope you enjoyed your day.

>135 katiekrug: Hi Katie! OMG. Texas. They should just secede, although that would prompt other states to want to do that, too. I’d have to show my passport if I ever wanted to visit my g-grandparents and g-uncle’s graves, but it would be worth it. (Emory, TX).

I seem to be doing better today – I think I actually slept almost 8 hours straight, don’t remember waking up at all in the night.

>136 ffortsa: Hi Judy! It certainly can’t hurt to talk with your PCP. The RDA for B12 is 2.4 micrograms, but of course B12 supplements go over that for good reason. With me, I think it’s a two-too-high issue with my Total Bilirubin. I’m going to be setting up a 2-months-from-now appt with my PCP this morning. And the tingles continue to diminish and occasionally aren’t there at all.

>137 LizzieD: ‘Morning on Monday, Peggy! Wow, what a story. B12 shot every day. And at 4 you can’t have looked forward to them. Glad you’re past most of your childhood allergies, for sure, my dear.

Oh, my. Rabbit hole time – here’s a link to the Duke page on Dr. Dees with an oral interview with her daughter in 2007, 6 years after she died at the age of 92. I’m going to listen to it, but it’s 49:21 minutes long and I can’t do it this morning. She sure did a lot of ‘first’s at Duke. Dr. Susan Dees

>138 Berly: Hi Kim. More B12 shots… yikes. It is always something. I, too, took those back and arm allergy tests after I moved here to NC. The only things that blew up were and are allergies to pollen, dust mites, and cat dander. I’ve gotten everything mostly under control with a daily Claratin-wannabe dose, but sometimes if I’m outside when it’s raining pollen, I get clogged up.

Ooh, to major parenting points. I love it. Thank you. And driving again… sigh. I’m a happy camper about that, for sure. I’m still not parking in the garage to give space to maneuvering with the walker, but that will end soon, too.

Poor daughter – I guess I’ll be going out every Saturday. Bill understands/doesn’t understand, and even suggested taking a drive after lunch to give her more time, but by then I was whupped. My stamina needs work. The TP triangle is always lots of fun. At one point, way before this knee-surgery-sleeping-downstairs phase, I’d drawn a smiley face on a piece and taped it up in the bathroom upstairs. We moved it around up there for 6 months as a joke and Easter Egg Hunt.

>139 johnsimpson: Hi John, and thank you. I know Karen had a Gastric Bypass operation, didn’t remember/know the year. I’m glad that she’s staying under doctor’s care and getting the supplements she needs. It sure doesn’t sound like she gets tired and lethargic – both she and you are whirlwinds of activity even with your health issues. Love and hugs to you both, kitty skritches to dear Felix.

>140 quondame: Thanks, Susan. Oof, yes, animal toys. Ours, of course, are cat toys. Zoe’s new favorite is one shaped like a wine bottle, and she gives it the death trill when she plays with it. Usually the death trill means a critter in the house, so I’m always disconcerted. I started holding the stair rails perhaps 3 years ago when my knees began giving me fits. Up until Jenna was about 12 I carried her up and down the stairs and she weighed 85 pounds then. I don't even want to know the max I can lift/carry now. Even Wash at 13 lbs is currently a challenge.

>141 vancouverdeb: I think that we always feel more guilt and memory of poor decisions, rather than pride in what we do right and the good decisions we’ve made, Deborah. You and your sibs are so lucky to be so close to one another and to help with your mom.

I’m on hold for appointments at my doctor’s office right now - wow. It only took 15 minutes and I'm scheduled for June 5th. 8:20 a.m. - ugh, but I'll take it. Makes sense if he wants bloodwork, so I'll fast to make sure.

Out is sometimes good, but going to the dentist is never a good out. Although, I used to go to a different thrift shop and look for books on the way home BC – before Covid – and will probably be able to go in there masked at my May appointment using a cane. Yuck to needing the crack attended to. I hope a filling suffices and you don’t need a crown.

>142 msf59: Our dear Stasia lives in Texas and makes up for a lot of NOT reading, for sure.

Wordle 667 5/6* Disclaimer: I did use the list of 2,309 words AND the list of words already used. Alphabet soup. adieu, slick, joint, privy, whiff

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Friends Board Meeting at 10 via Zoom. Only 3 more before I become Immediate Past President and our new President is officially in charge. I already know who it is, and the nominating committee has done an outstanding job of finding folks for it and the VP role. We have another potential At Large Member coming today and I'll confirm that she definitely wants to be on the Board and then get folks to vote. Of course, they didn't have to find a Treasurer. I have a great one, and he's agreed to serve another year.

Jenna's at work, Bill's at home, although he says he's going in tomorrow. I won't believe it until I see it, of course.

I'm actually walking around a bit in the kitchen without the walker. We have an island, so I can hold onto it or the counters.

Morning, Karen. Bree's husband Sean left for Nashville yesterday for a training class and will be gone all week. I will be gone too and so is our Aunt that helps out, so Bree will have to go solo. Cruddy timing, right? I am going to call Bree later and see if she needs a little help, after I finish some errands.

Can you believe we woke up to snow? It's very light but WTH? It was 82 on Saturday.

Hooray for walking around without the walker! Freedom!!

Good morning, Karen! You are the all-time great thread-notes answerer!!!!!!

I did see the Dees daughter's interview, but I couldn't do more than glance at the transcript. I see though, that I must have been one of her first patients.
My PCP has told me to grow accustomed to touching stable things as I walk about the house - that is, chair, table, doorframe, etc. I just got new house slippers to avoid very old ones tripping me. *sigh* I'm off to get Mama up and practice being old, I guess.

This is a very Monday kind of a day. Hoping it's confined to 40°N latitude. *smooch*

Spiffy new glasses, bag (love this color, don't you?), cushion...same old face.

Wow, Richard! You are looking pretty darn good. Same old face? Couldn't prove it by me, since that last photo of you I remember seeing, your face was partially hidden by a healthy beard.

>147 richardderus: Who's that handsome dude? Is that you RD! Looking spiffy!Nice bag indeed!

>143 karenmarie: Thanks for the kind words, and the ability to make out my somewhat gibberish post above. Argh.

Very stylish!

>143 karenmarie: So glad to hear you had a long sleep last night! Here's hoping for another good 8 hours tonight!

>144 msf59: 'Morning, Mark! Bree having to go solo only proves that it takes a village. I hope that your helping her yesterday either gave her a respite or helped her prep for the rest of the time Sean’s gone. Snow. I think it's past time for me to hope for snow here in central NC this spring. Everything’s beginning to leaf out except for the Crepe Myrtles.

Thanks re the walker. It’s only counter walking or island walking, but I can also walk with it only using my fingertips underneath.

>145 LizzieD: Why, thank you, Peggy. I try. Ah, furniture and wall touching. Or walking. And slippers – my slippers have hard soles. Yay for getting your mama up and I’m smiling at your practicing being old. I do it too. The trick is to try to do it gracefully without too much whinging, something I haven’t been good at lately. I need to take deep breaths and be less talkative about my various health issues.

>146 richardderus: and >147 richardderus: Hiya RDear! I’ve been retired for 7 years, 2 months, and 20 days and around here Mondays rarely occur on Monday. Other days usually have major crap. I love Mondays.

Thank you for the pic – for getting someone to take it for you and for being all spiffed up and with all the accoutrements. Yes, I love the color – for you, black would have been too dreary. *smooch*

>148 weird_O: Yes, the bearded wonder is now the smooth-shaven wonder with moustache.

>149 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. You’re welcome, and I hope my words made sense back.

>150 drneutron: Hi Jim!

>151 atozgrl: ‘Morning, Irene. I slept 6 hours straight and was up in enough time to chat with Jenna a bit before she left for work.

I’m sure this is everywhere, but both Jenna and I didn’t experience it before working in small southern towns. I’m referring to the constant shuffling in and out of boyfriends, husbands, step-children, family crises, and issues with baby daddies, ex-husbands who lie to get back in their ex-wives pants (Jenna’s boss), looking for friends and accidentally meeting up with swingers (Jenna’s coworker), pregnant female coworkers fangirling over your boss and getting a matching tattoo (Jenna’s coworker vis-à-vis Jenna’s boss), and my favorite from my time in Sanford, the secret lair in the warehouse with a mattress and where Men in Positions of Power (supervisors and floor managers) took willing (possibly non-consensual) female subordinates for sex during working hours. Nobody got fired over it, of course, just written up. And I only heard about it later. You just cannot make this stuff up.

Re the ex-husband and the ex-husband hookup: when Jenna’s boss’s parents found out, because they work there, too, of course, the mother said “Did Dan like the new mattress?” and the step-father-but-real-father-in-all-the-ways-that-count said “Did he come in with it hanging out of his pants?” This in front of all 5 women who work in the office. And the step-father, who is quite wonderful actually, now wants Funko Pops, which I'd never heard of and now officially give me the heebie jeebies. I told Jenna that I expect her to have serious drama to report this afternoon. I want to meet all of these people.

Wordle 668 5/6* adieu, cloud, bound, wound, hound. Alphabet soup.

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Bill has actually left for work. First time since my surgery, probably only one of a dozen times since the beginning of the year.

I have PT at 10 and am going to be placing a grocery order and see if Jenna can pick it up on her way home from work today.

The TV's off. The house is quiet. Happy dance.

I"m happy for your 6 solid hours and that you got to see Jenna and Bill off to work this morning!!!! Enjoy your day!!!!!!

I had to duck-go funko pops. Really????

Jenna's workplace --- she'd better watch out for TLC coming in to make a reality series out of it. Maybe, though, it's too typical to be interesting. Several years before I retired, the young teachers involved revealed a sex-during-planning-period circle. It came to light when one of the EC teachers let her students read an e-mail from one of the other women scoring a man's performance. Besides being disgusted, I was furious when the two women were fired and the men involved were allowed to teach the rest of the year. You can't make this stuff up.

Guess you're in PT now. I got Wordle in 4 mostly because I carelessly omitted one of the correct letters in guess 3 and picked up another one.

>152 karenmarie: It will be seven years retired for me on May 13 (I think). And today is the day Jim goes to his man cave in Queens. Not that he makes much noise most of the time, but it's nice to have the place to myself.

>153 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Yes for my 6 hours, yes for PT, and now I'm home, have placed a Food Lion grocery pickup order which Jenna will pick up between 5 and 6 p.m. so I don't have to go back out, and it's quiet. Time to ice my knee and read smut, as I just texted to Jenna. 😁

I know - let's get that drama going. Oh my, down there by I-95? Conservative *** county? Of course the women were fired and the men allowed to teach the rest of the year because MEN support their families and WOMEN are dilettantes.

>154 ffortsa: Yay, Judy - I remember when you retired and I was just getting to know you. Heh to Jim's Man Cave and brava for some alone time for you AND him both.

For some reason I specifically remember that I retired on January 29, 2016. *shrug* Numbers and dates are usually easy for me.

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The PT showed me how to use the cane, which I can start practicing with around the house although NOT for extended periods since I haven't officially graduated to it. He showed me how to use it, followed behind me for a bit down the hall. God help me if I'd fallen, because I don't look like I weigh as much as I do - I always look like I weigh 30-40 pounds less. He'd have had his hands full.

>152 karenmarie: Funko Pops *SHUDDER*

The South is a patriarchal haven... another reason I ran away.

I love my green bag even more with my red Pixel in it. This lady wallet version of a case is a real pleasure to locate in the depths of the bag.

Happy quiet day! *smooch*

>152 karenmarie: I'm so glad to hear that you've been sleeping better. I hope it continues! You must have enjoyed the quiet day at home today.

That whole work soap opera sounds totally bizarre! I'm glad I never encountered anything like that at my workplace. And I too had to do an online search to find out what Funko Pops are. I wonder why he wants them.

>156 richardderus: I've tasked Jenna with asking Brian why he is suddenly enamoured of Funko Pops. The man is at least mid-50s, ex-military, wonderful man and dad, but suddenly roared into the office several weeks ago talking about Funko Pops.

Patriarchal Haven is right, RDear, although less so where we are in the middle of NC. And fortunately for him when I came along, Bill had three intellectual and forceful women influencing him while young - his maternal grandmother, his mother, and his stepmother. so that when we decided to get married he quickly realized that I was not willing to be controlled AT ALL, only willing to work within the relationship on an equal footing. I look at the religious whack jobs on the step-family side and see that all three daughters/wifes of Bill's step-aunt do the "He's my husband, therefore I submit" thing, although at least one of them is more free-spirited and less controlled than that. My mother, from the Midwest, acquiesced in my dad's control of her. Since he wasn't religious, he basically refused to let her go to church or take us. She only started going to Sunday School when they were in their ... 60s? 70s? Ah, well.

Yay for the green bag with the red Pixel. My Pixel is black - shouldn't be a surprise to you. I have a clear silicone case over my Pixel, which I have already had to replace once since I got the Pixel last year. I also have a shiny new one waiting in the drawer for when this one rips on the side.

*smooch*

>157 atozgrl: Hi Irene! I slept 5.5 hours straight last night, so I count that as another win. I enjoyed the quiet sooooo much. See what I wrote to Richard about tasking Jenna, above.

My other workplace here in central NC was a tad less dramatic, but possibly only because I split my time among 3 plants - Mebane, Sanford, Roxboro - so didn't get into the drama on a daily basis. And after they gave me private offices in each of the three plants I was even less exposed to it. But Marelli in Sanford was a hotbed of drama.

Jenna reported this morning that yesterday's discussion amongst the women stems from one of them being pregnant with a boy and talking about penises, circumcision, and Hetero things that Jenna almost gagged on. However, since nobody there has actually asked if she's gay, she hasn't volunteered that info. I cracked up.

Wordle 669 4/6* adieu, trout, tusks, thump

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Today is the 6-week follow up with my surgeon at 10:50. I just finalized and printed my list of questions. I'm going to have Bill take because I'm worried that I won't get a close enough parking spot to not have to hobble with the walker through the parking lot, through the lobby, and upstairs to the office. He can drop me off in front of the lobby, go park, and hang out 'til I text him that I'm done.

This afternoon is PT. Sigh. I almost cancelled today with Max but didn't want to go three days without PT like I did from last Friday - yesterday, because 3 and 4 days between visits are a bitch on wheels.

My friend Karen in Montana asked me two nights ago what the most common first names were for my MM romances. Well, of course, I didn't have that info in my smut.xlsx spreadsheet, so am wasting spending time on adding those two columns. I'm retired! I have time!

Delurking to say hi. Cheers for being cleared to drive.
I had to skim and then stop reading (screens still giving me a vertigo effect).

>158 karenmarie: Wise decision re: riding v driving today.
FUNKO POPS!!

Re: time, I remind myself frequently that no one is waiting on me to get ___ done so who cares how long it takes. Including getting dressed, fixing things, all that jazz. I must say that this Pixel has utterly revolutionized my device usage. Once it got set up, that is. What a giant hassle that was.

I'll bet "Eustace" ends up in the number one slot.

*smooch*

Good afternoon, Karen! Thinking about you and all your medical doings. Hope the PT is manageable. I know you'll do well. That's you. I also hope that you can enjoy your time off when you get home.

>155 karenmarie: Another note on the school sex-circle: they were all singe. Obviously, the men were just being boys tempted by those low-life sluts who had to go. About the same time rumor had it that one vice-principal was not only having relations with another v-p but also with her 17 year-old daughter. I can't imagine that particular woman accepting such a situation and not knowing it if it were indeed happening, but then I couldn't imagine those six young idiots playing around at school either.

I hear the sounds of lawn mowing. So I'm thinking my favorite outdoor activity is in my future. My near future. Wonder if the machine will run. It's been 9 1/2 months since I used. I honestly didn't have to mow, the grass was green but it didn't grow. Why thank you, I was glad to take that.

Funko Pop? New to me, of course. Googled it, found the webpage, but I remain befuddled.

I was befuddled when told The Grand Helen had constructed a set in New York's Rainbow Room for a video being made with Dylan Mulvaney. I've since learned who Dylan Mulvaney is: a trans woman who built a TikTok following by posting daily about her transition. The video marked a year since she decided to make the change. And Helen got the set-building job via a professor at Fordham at Lincoln Center, who oversees set design/construction for a video operation.

I'm looking forward to Jenna's report on Funko Pop.

Regarding Funko Pops, i have the Devil (Gene Simmons) in my car, i had a Gene Simmons figure that Rob and Louise got me years ago but he got damaged and Karen sourced me the Funko Pop figure, makes the car easy to spot in the car park, Karen just looks for Gene, lol.

>158 karenmarie: The Nendoroid figures that my daughter collects are the same size as Funko Pops, but I don't find them quite as repulsive and expect they are more fun to own or play with because the faces, limbs, sometimes even the bodies, come with options and there are accessories.

Happy Thursday, Karen!

I hope all went well with follow up with your surgeon yesterday.
I am flabbergasted by the tales of Jenna's working place....

Good morning Karen! I was just over on Julia (@rosalita's) thread where she shared news about upcoming Elly Griffiths books, including a new series.
Quercus signs four books by Griffiths

This reminded me of some recent chatter on your thread about The Last Remains. The gist of it was, we were all led to believe this was the last book in the Ruth Galloway series but maybe it's not. At the time, I skimmed past it because I didn't want to inadvertently pick up any plot details. I figured I'd revisit after reading the book but Julia's post made me curious again. What exactly was the news about the Ruth Galloway series and how did you come across it? Thanks!

>159 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy, thanks for delurking. Not driving was the right thing until it wasn’t, so I’m pleased to be back in the beast when I want/need to and am listening to The Cuckoo’s Calling, first in the Cormoran Strike series.

>160 richardderus: Hiya, RD. My only exception to ‘all that jazz’ is Friends obligations, which go from being President to being Immediate Past President on July 1. When I mentioned that I could just cruise as IPP, the incoming President said “That’s what you think!” She’s a wonderful woman, and if there are things she wants me to do, I’ll do ‘em, always excepting Extroverty Things That Make Me Uncomfortable.

So far it’s Max, not Eustace. And I’m reading about Alex and Ryan in England.

*smooch*

>161 LizzieD: Hi Peggy. Yesterday got so busy in a positive way that I just didn’t get back here. More below.

People in positions of power taking sexual advantage of people who need their jobs is its own Circle of Hell. (The first rabbit hole of the day to see what exactly they are.)

And another Circle of Hell is needed for rape. In this case, raping a minor. Always love hearing about that. Unfortunately the consent laws in NC would still allow raping/abusing a 17-year old.

>162 weird_O: ‘Morning, Bill! Stunted grass is a blessing to folks. We broke down and have a landscaping company come in twice a month at a ridiculously low price each time to mow about 2 acres and get rid of limbs and other debris, blow stuff off the concrete, both porches and back deck. They’ll also bush hog the pastures twice each season for a small amount. I hope your mower starts up without a hitch so you can perform the Summer Sisyphian Task.

I just sent Jenna a text, asking her to ask Brian Why Funko Pops? I also told her that I and my curious-about-everything LT friends Need To Know.

Second rabbit hole of the day: I haven’t heard of Dylan Mulvaney. Wow. Yay for The Grand Helen and I’m gonna ask Jenna about Dylan because of course she’ll be following her on TikTok.

>163 johnsimpson: Hi John! Ah, a Funko Pop man. Of course that’s the one you have. And looking for him in the car park is a great idea. When I had my Datsun 1600 Roadster (actually had two, story for another day), I always looked for the negative space in a parking lot, because that’s inevitably where my car was.

>164 quondame: Hi Susan. Third rabbit hole of the day. Now I know what chibi is…

When Jenna was little, we bought and watched Spirited Away perhaps a dozen times. I know she's watched it more over the years. I might could watch it again… still not understanding quite a bit of it but game.

>165 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, and thank you. Report below… Small town NC is the definition of Drama. Yesterday’s report was that her boss was going to talk with her first ex, father of her older child, to get Closure re the hookup while he was still with his girlfriend. Jenna and I agreed that we did not need closure – when we want out of a relationship we simply walk with minimal explanation. No looking back, no regrets, not even necessarily a detailed explanation to the person being left about why. *shrug* We’re cold-hearted in some respects for sure.

>166 lauralkeet: Hi Laura! Thanks for the link – a new detective, Ali Dawson, and time travel. Right up my alley. The impression that The Last Remains is the last in the Ruth Galloway series might have been from friend Rhoda, it might have been somewhere here on LT or both. I simply can’t remember where it came from. Sorry.

Wordle 670 4/6* adieu, steal, least, plate

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Bill took me to my 6-week post-op appointment with the surgeon because I was angsty about having to park far away. He was able to drop me off at the porte-cochère, park, and wait for a text that I was done. It took a total of an hour, but I was with the surgeon for perhaps only about 10-15 minutes. He looked at my scar, held my leg and pushed down a bit and said "I realize that must hurt". I told him not nearly as much as PT, and he either smiled or laughed. He said I looked great, my leg looked great, and he wasn't worried about my flexion or extension, to keep going to PT for another 4 weeks (although the PT and I talked about 6 weeks, with perhaps 1-2 visits per week for those last weeks), and to come back in a year. No x-rays yesterday, they'll take them in a year to make sure everything's still in place. Something about the cement not eroding... whatever. He asked why I was still using a walker, and I explained that I'm already using the cane some around the house and the PT and I are working on strength and balance in addition to flexion and extension. He gave me photos of the x-rays taken while at the hospital, so I have two shiny photos of the new knee stuff.

I had PT from 3-4, but I was super tired. I drove myself, and Max and I only worked on bending (I got to 122°) and he tortured me with straightening, but it keeps hurting less and less. Ice, and I was ready to go. I go again Friday.

The surgeon gave me 2 good pieces of news when I asked: yes, I can now go back to the chiropractor, and yes, I can use a TENS machine on the spasms I get on my upper outside calf near my knee. And, he says I can use a treadmill again in about 4 weeks . Well, it helps to read your notes, Karen. He actually said 2-3 months Boo hiss. I might go use the treadmill at the Senior Center a couple of times before I see my Cardiologist in May.

I've got an appointment with the chiropractor today at 10:30. I'm so excited.

That's great news from your surgeon, Karen!

I think the Ruth Galloway "news" was in a newsletter from Elly Griffiths...

Hi Katie, and thank you.

Ugh. Really? A Poetry Month Hunt? Sadness for a probably missed badge. Can't even find haiku...

>167 karenmarie: pretty much a perfect report from the doc, Horrible! The future plans sound great, too.

*smooch*

Hiya, RDear! Yes, I was chuffed. Things are looking good, she says, as she knocks on wood.

*smooch*

YES!!!! You are living proof that being an adult pays off in the good life! I'm beaming for your progress and with pride. Enjoy the chiropractic session!

Hello, Karen! Excellent news from your surgery follow-up - very happy making.

I actually have some Funko Pops, and I love them. I don't collect them, but the kids have gifted me a total of five over the years. My favorite is Peyton Manning.

>166 lauralkeet:, >167 karenmarie: I think Katie is right - you posted an email from Griffiths' website on a previous thread. It's here Thread 3, post 282.

I hope your appointment with the chiropractor went well, and that the rest of the day is kind to you.

*edited to fix the link

>167 karenmarie: Great news that you're doing so well with the new knee.

I totally feel that being cold about old relationships is more productive than seeking closure. WTF even is closure - it's sure not something anyone can give you. I have a couple of ex-boyfriends in my social circle and with those have low-key friendly encounters. The ones that might have been troublesome for me just aren't around and don't require consideration.

>167 karenmarie: What wonderful news from your surgeon, especially that you can use a TENS machine! That should help! It sounds like you're making good progress with PT as well. And hurray for the chiropractor!

>170 karenmarie: I had trouble finding the Haiku too. I tried searching, poked around, and didn't have any luck. I finally went to a work page, scrolled down to the Haiku Summary, and clicked on the Help link. Fortunately, the WikiThing Help had the link to the Book Haiku page; otherwise I don't know if I ever would have found it.

>176 atozgrl: You can also find it by clicking at the 'More' tab in the navigation bat at top

Hi Karen! Passing through your thread. There’s too much to read it all, but glad to see your knee is doing well.
>1 karenmarie: Still enjoying your good, bad and ugly posts. Keep it up.

>173 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! I have been seriously adulting lately, for sure. Thank you re my progress. See below re the chiropractic session.

>174 Crazymamie: Hiya Mamie, and thank you.

Yay for your Funko Pops.

Ah, that posting. Brain rot, duh. I claim post-surgery fuzziness although it’s been 6 weeks now.

>175 quondame: Thanks, Susan. Closure works for some, walking away and putting up mental roadblocks or 'don't care' signs works for others. Related: I wonder how loved ones/friends can get closure after a crime was committed against their child/parent/friend when the criminal is sentenced. And, of course, forgiveness is a whole other issue…

’don’t require consideration.’ Yes, that’s how I feel.

>176 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene, and I’ve pulled it out, charged it back up, and used it already. PT’s going well, and I did see the chiropractor yesterday.

Thanks for the haiku hint.

>177 FAMeulstee: Ditto re thanks, Anita.

>178 EllaTim: Nice to see you, Ella. I’ve been seriously remiss about visiting threads pretty much this whole year, but am slowly trying to catch up. Thanks re my knee and my good, bad, and ugly.

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The chiropractor visit went well. Per my request, they put me in the room that has the adjustment table that you can stand in front of on a metal plate and it lowers you down. I was worried about my knee. And as she was adjusting me I had to move my knee out of strict alignment and she said don't worry about it and do what you need to do for your knee. I had a knot in my right shoulder that she had to press in HARD for quite a while, and when it released, it was wonderful. Instead of alot of hand manipulation and adjustments, she used the adjusting tool ('thumper') alot. She also used some CBD ointment on my right shoulder and behind my new knee, so I bought some. Not cheap, but I've already put some on my lower back this morning. I'm scheduled for one month from now.

I then went to the Library for three reasons - to see Rita the Librarian if she was there, to actually do some walking even if was only from car to Library back to car, and to check out the discarded books in case there were any I wanted. I got to see Rita, did the walking, but no luck with discarded books, alas.

Today is busier than I would like, and Bill, who was supposed to go to work today, is still asleep. Alex the house cleaner comes at 11, and i have an 11:15 PT appointment. I've also placed a smallish grocery store order to be picked up after my PT visit. Tomorrow we're gonna have strawberry short cake...

Morning, Karen! I have never been to a chiropractor, but I am so glad that your visit was a good one. How long have you been going?

Sorry that today will be busier than you like and that Bill is home. Hoping it all goes smoothly. And strawberry shortcake! Yum! That dish always feels like summer to me.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Horrible.

I'm spending a quiet afternoon because Old Stuff is out getting tanked. Won't last forever but I'm glad to have the time.

I'm glad for the chiropractic release, hopeful for the ointment, and in strawberry heaven right now with you. I didn't make shortbread or buy whipping cream, but fresh berries with Redi-Wip (!) or in yogurt or on Eggos are wonderful things. There. You see the depths of my 60s cooking addiction.

Hope your day has gone well and that you are able to relax, treat the knee, and read!!!!

>180 Crazymamie: ‘Morning the next day, Mamie!

Long answer: When I was 21, I was hit-and-run rear-ended while stopped at a left turn lane in SoCal. I was in my 1967 Datsun 1600 Roadster, lap belt and heavily padded winter jacket on. My car plowed into a very large, very heavy Cadillac. Nobody came over to me because they thought I was dead. Eventually someone did. My glasses ended up in the back seat. My insurance, AAA, had me sign a medical release after 3 months, and about 4 months after I started having upper back and neck pain. Jerks. I changed insurance soon after. I found a local chiropractor, then another, then ones in Connecticut and finally, about 8 years ago here in NC, a woman chiropractor, Dr. Nygren. She left the biz, her replacement, Dr. Sherwood, another woman, has done mostly right by me and now she’s moved to an office about 30 minutes away but HER replacement, another woman, seems to be good and is only 15 minutes away. However, the treatment has mostly worn off since Thursday, because I'm feeling my lower back, right SI joint, and the twinge in my upper shoulder. I might go back to Sherwood.

Short answer: Off and on since 1974.

Bill did end up going to work. I got some alone time. Technically we wait ‘til first weekend in May, but the strawberries have been good and I have a craving. I got 3 baskets, heavy whipping cream, and will probably make Bisquick shortcakes ‘cuz I’m lazy these days.

>181 richardderus: Hiya, RDear. I’m still contemporary romancing away, currently reading Hitman vs Hitman by Cari Z. It’s fun.

Yay for OS being out getting drunk. Time alone is time alone. I hope his return wasn’t more than him just keeling over and passing out.

*smooch*

>182 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! The chiropractor has definitely helped, but frankly, 2 days later, I might just consider going back to the 30-minutes away chiropractor. We’ll see. I’ve used Redi-Whip and been perfectly happy using it. And two Eggos aren’t too sodium prohibitive as it turns out, compared to two pieces of toast. I might consider buying them. Convenience is not a bad thing at all. Heck. I have popcorn kernels and an air popper but am going to buy

…
I did have a good day, interrupted by PT. Max said I’m doing fantastic. I practiced walking up and down his hall with my cane, and he said I could start using it around the house for short walks. I discovered last night that being tired made it a bit difficult to use it, and this morning discovered that being stiff also made it a bit difficult to use. BUT, practice, practice, practice! I hope to be able to walk into his office on Monday or Wednesday with it instead of the walker. My house cleaner came and did all the good basics for me. I read. I dozed. I puttered.

Wordle 672 3/6* adieu, clone, broke

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Jenna's going to spot me as I go up and come downstairs with the cane later this morning. We've talked about my moving back upstairs, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

Otherwise, puttering, and reading, and perhaps some soccer. Arsenal and Southampton yesterday - ugh. They tied at 3-3. Last place Southampton was leading 3-1 at one point and Arsenal only managed to tie it.

Glad to hear that your knee is progressing well and that you got a chiro visit in, even if the relief didn't last too long. Congrats on switching to the cane and good luck with the stairs and maybe even moving back upstairs!! I could use a good romance right about now. I laughed when you said you added columns for their names in your smut.xlsx spreadsheet. ; ) Enjoy your weekend!

Hi Kim!

I just posted on your thread.

Thanks to all the above. I also added the columns for what series it's part of, and what number in the series it is. Stats coming soon! So far Max is the most popular name, although part of that is a 13-book series with Max and Ethan as the romantic interests. *smile*

We just had a serious thunderstorm - thunder about 2 seconds after the lightning. We're in the severe weather portion of the local news station map, with possible hail and isolated tornadoes. Ah, NC in the spring. Gotta love it.

Sad news: Dame Edna has died. Nine News reports that a hip replacement led to complications and in someone almost 90, that was the end. RIP Barry Humphries.

Good morning, Karen. Wow! Moving upstairs very soon AND using the cane.......you remain THE WOMAN!

Off to roust Mama. She gets tarted up yogurt. I get my weekly 1-egg cheddar and mushroom omelet. (The only way Ms. Ma will eat eggs these days is deviled.)

>179 karenmarie: I'm glad you were able to get out and go to the chiropractor, but sorry to hear her treatment didn't last. Good luck with whatever you decide to do about future chiropractic visits.

Strawberry shortcake, yum! I need to get off my behind and make some.

>185 karenmarie: We're getting some of the weather too. We've had some spots of heavy rain, and I currently hear some faint thunder, but so far no big thunderstorms. We'll probably get that later this afternoon.

>186 richardderus: This Possum is so sad. RIP Dame Edna and Barry.

>187 LizzieD: Thanks. Progress. The stairs experiment went well.

Heh. Tarted up yogurt and your 1-egg cheddar and mushroom omelet. Sounds yummy. Well, the omelet, but every time I try yogurt any more I just can't. But I love deviled eggs…

>188 atozgrl: Hi Irene. Bill was able to get out to take trash to the dump and get us take out from Elizabeth’s. Time to eat a grilled chicken salad.

*blinks* Jenna all of a sudden remembered that she got her dad a Funko Pop Picard as Locutus many years ago. I'm aggrieved.

>189 karenmarie: Oh how nice! The salad sounds good.

How odd to see the Funko Pop Locutus, after watching the last episode of Picard season 3 last night. I didn't know Funko Pops had been around that long. Somehow I've missed them all these years.

>190 atozgrl: Hi Irene!

Funko Pops have apparently been around since 1998. When I first moved to NC to marry Bill in 1991, he was watching TNG. He had a big satellite dish and was able to find the episodes before they aired on network TV. He recorded them, too, and we have them upstairs somewhere. It never interested me as it did Bill, but I do have a couple of episodes I like (time warp with the number 3 and Picard and the flute) and I love that Deanna Troi's mother called Worf Woof.

Wordle 673 4/6* Ugh. Not enough coffee. Had to look at the list of 2,309 words. adieu, guilt, squib, unzip

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Yesterday's plans got disrupted because some friends of Bill's came over for a visit at 3, left about 4:15. I was whupped after, so we'll have London Broil, Baked Potatoes, and Strawberry Shortcake for dinner tonight.

I'm still working on smut.xlsx - I've been adding the romantic interest names, series if part of one, and number in said series.

>191 karenmarie: Somehow I've missed Funko Pops all these years. Not being around kids probably had something to do with that. Did Jenna ever find out why Brian was suddenly so interested in them?

I've been a Star Trek fan, mainly of the original series, since I was a kid. I didn't get into TNG as much, although I watched all of the episodes. It would have helped with Picard season 3 if I had remembered all the intricacies of TNG, since they made so many insider references to that series. I got some of them, but not all.

My sister had one of those big satellite dishes and could pick up feeds from all over the country back in the day. She and her husband live in Utah, and they used to be able to watch the evening news early.

Hope you're having a good Sunday!

Sunday *smooch*

>192 atozgrl: Hi Irene! Jenna has not found the right time to ask Brian, and that time may have passed unless he brings it up again. Oh, well. She collected Breyer horses, starting at age 3 when we were in a toy store, probably on Pawley's Island. We told her she could pick out a toy, so of course she found one of the most expensive low-hanging fruit - what turned out to be her first Breyer Horse. They all still have shelf space in what was her Playroom and is now my Retreat. We all collected Beanie Babies, and they're all over the house.

Personally I only collect two things. The first is Lladro Christmas Bells. I have all of them, from 1986 through 2023, all 36 years worth. I also have a whole bunch of this kind of sifter, although I only use the two on the left and the one on the far right. They're the only sifters I have and use:



Bill moved his big satellite dish from the house he was living in when we married, to the first house we built, then to this house. I forget when it made most sense to get a baby dish, but that was what we used until we got Spectrum high speed wifi, which required us to get their Platinum package. I just took this picture:



>193 richardderus: Hiya, RDear! Late Sunday *smooch* and a *smooch* for Monday.

Wordle 674 3/6*

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Bill is supposed to go to work M, W, and F this week, but may start working 9-5 at the office. He normally would have left by now. We'll see.

My PT appointment is at 1 p.m. today, and I may try to use the cane because I've been using it most of the weekend. The walker is my security blanket, though, so we'll see.

>194 karenmarie: I am one to talk given how my recent system challenge went, but it seems to me that you should use the cane when going to appointments because the way you cope while using it is valuable data for them.

But I spent a ghastly night after eating fish for the first time in forever, so I might not be the best guide here.

No matter what, have a Monday *smooch*

Hi Karen, popping by with cheers for progress in knee health.
I bet I'm going to see you started a new thread next time I delurk.

Where did April go *blink blink*? I didn't complete one single book. A lot of abandoning and then some vertigo and presto! I find it hard to believe that this month ismprobably the driest on (my) record since I joined LT.

I had to re-request a few and am looking to pick up Lavender House which expired on my e-reader. In the meantime, I'm re-reading comfort novels off my own shelf. Revisiting an old Heyer fave, The Nonesuch.

Good morning, Karen. I hope a good day awaits you in spite of the less than gorgeous weather.

>194 karenmarie: We used to wear our hands out using the sifters with the screen/wheel/screen construction. Now we just bap a fine sieve against our hand over the target bowl - much much faster and simpler.

>194 karenmarie: Well, that makes sense. Maybe someday we'll find out why he's into Funko Pops.

Of course Jenna went for the expensive toy! No surprise there! I've got cousins in Mobile, and one of them was really into Beanie Babies back when they were all the rage. She worked in a store at the mall and was always able to buy the newest one when it came out, so she had a complete collection. I forget--she may have actually worked in the Hallmark store and had direct access to them. I collected a lot of Star Trek stuff when I was young, but haven't kept up with it more recently. I probably wouldn't have room for anything else in the house if I'd kept going.

That's quite a collection of sifters! How did you get started collecting them?

I think at some point the technology changed and my sister and her husband couldn't keep getting the direct feeds on the satellite, so were forced to switch to the smaller satellite dish and the subscription package. Where they live in Utah was one of the first places to get Google fiber, so they switched to that when it became available.

Glad that things are improving with your knee, Karen. All this chat about coffee, and I'm afraid I don't like it! Eeek! But Dave does and he been so thrilled since a purchased him an Espresso machine a couple of weeks ago. it's partly for our 40 th anniversary which will be in July. He loves coffee and he's has been having a lot of fun experimenting with the new machine. He even purchased himself some decaff espresso so he can drink in the evening. He is particular about his coffee brands and beans but he has different favourites that what is available in the USA. Parallel 49 coffee, Kicking Ass Coffee, Lavazza, Ethical Bean. Likely Lavazza is available to you too.

I've been so thrilled to gift Dave with something he actually likes. When you've been married for a long time, it's not easy to surprise your spouse.

>195 richardderus: I used the cane at my PT appointment, RDear! And it was good. I used it all day yesterday around the house. My PT said that he liked the way I was extending my knee while walking – it was not conscious or to impress him, just focusing on walking into his office, so yay. A ghastly night because of fish? Wow. I’m so sorry. I hope you’re fully recovered today. I did have a Monday, mostly good. Lots of the goodness was leftover cold London Broil with vegetables. *smooch*

>196 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy. Nice to see you here. I start prepping my next thread when I reach about 260 messages or so, to be used at about message 300 – it requires new pics of all three kitties to be pasted together, a new Word document for the opening message verbiage, and review of same. Plus a new family or otherwise interesting picture.

No books in April, but for good reasons. I hope you're not beating yourself up over it. I’ve rarely completed a book I wasn’t really interested in, so I applaud that. The vertigo I’m so sorry about and hope it’s gone now.

Oooh, The Nonesuch. Good choice, it’s one of my top 8. Here are my top 8, all with 5* lifetime ratings:

Devil's Cub
Faro's Daughter
The Nonesuch
The Quiet Gentleman
The Talisman Ring
The Toll-Gate
The Unknown Ajax
These Old Shades

>197 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Good morning a day later. I had a good day. I hope you did too, and I hope your Tuesday is also a good one.

>198 quondame: Hi Susan. I do not like those screen/wheel/screen ones, never have. Another good method – bapping. *smile*

>199 atozgrl: Hi Irene. Oh my, a complete collection. We have hundreds here at the house. Here are the ones on the dresser upstairs, along with other soft animals. Me, waving, so I could send it to my sister in SoCal.



I got several wonderful old kitchen tools at one or more thrift shops when I was living in SoCal. One of them was the old sifter, which I loved and started using right away. I probably had a screen/wheel/screen one, which I would have gotten rid of. Over the years I’ve seen these types around, gotten them when I could. The one with the white handle is new, meaning the last 20 years. I got it at the Original Mast Store in Boone, but frankly don’t like it because if you don’t have something in it, it tips over because of the weight of the ceramic handle. If you look closely at the pic in >194 karenmarie:, you’ll see pie crust beads weighing it down for the pic.

Same issue for Bill re the tightening down of what you could actually pick up on the big dish.

>200 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah, and thank you. Congrats on this being your 40th wedding anniversary year. So glad you could find something for Dave that you already know he really loves. I’ve only heard of Lavazza. We’re simple folks, although we have two coffee makers because I like stronger coffee than Bill does. But we both like medium roast and after our favorite went away soon into the Pandemic, have settled on Real Good Coffee Company Donut Shop Medium Roast.

Our 32nd wedding anniversary is on Thursday. I’ve gotten Bill 2 cards, some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and a blanket that he’ll smile when he sees, cause it’s the ‘husband’ version of a ‘wife’ blanket he got me last year. I don’t have a single creative impulse right now, and when it came up on Amazon as an option when I searched for husband anniversary gifts, I went with it.

Wordle 675 X/6* Harrumph. Alphabet soup. adieu, honey, lover, poser, tower, boxer.

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I am meeting friend Jan at Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe in Cary for lunch - I'll get a Greek Salad, no onions, with grilled salmon. She'll probably get the same. Jan's a high school friend - we graduated in 1971 - and she moved to NC with her husband and 3 daughters about the same time I moved here to marry Bill. We 'found' each other on our high school's FB page and have gotten together when we can for the last 15 or so years. It will be a nice drive listening to The Cuckoo's Calling and using the cane for the first time socializing.

Other than that, reading, working on my spreadsheet, digging through the closet for smaller-sized short-sleeved shirts that fit. It's an archaeological dig that I'm having fun with. I've lost another 6.5 lbs since January 1st.

Losing weight at the rate you are is no doubt a weird feeling. I think the body changes associated with it can be unnerving. I do like the way people do a double take when first seeing your revised shape...a small thing but a fun one.

Your lunch plans sound great, and how lovely to get together with someone you've known since the crust was cooling.

*smooch*

>201 karenmarie: We never collected Beanie Babies, but several have infiltrated as mascots over time and when McDonald's was doing the mini ones when Becky was in grade school I tried to get enough of them to give as favors at her next birthday party, but never quite managed so they are all in a bag somewhere in my closet. I do love my jellyfish and camel though!

Ha! Alphabet soup for me today, too, but I struck out with different words. alien, gourd, voter, sober, homer, foyer Amazing number of possibilities!

Well, I used to have a large collection on Beanie Babies a few years ago. But finally I decided they were just gathering dust, and out the door they went. I'm bad for gathering clutter - very good at that, so getting rid my Beanie Babies was a plus for me.

Thanks for the congratulations re our 40th anniversary coming up this July. Congratulations to you and Bill on 32 years this Thursday! Dave and I are simple people too. Usually we don't exchange much in the way of gifts, but since it is 40 years, I decided to take a chance on the Espresso Machine. Dave had been using an Aeropress for coffee and then an mocha pot, and telling me about a coworker with a $10,000 espresso machine. I'm afraid Dave's machine just cost $350 dollars, which is plenty if you ask me. Dave won't drink say, Folgers or Nabob or that sort of thing, so he buys what is on sale that is local . For our 25th anniversary, sadly our dog was very ill with pancreatitis for the second time and he was 15 1/2 years. Sadly, our 25th anniversary was the day we had to have dear old Geordie put to sleep. So I thought I'd try to make our 40 th anniversary a little more memorable in a good way.

I hope you had a wonder lunch and congratulations on the weight loss! Lucked out and made wordle in 6 today.

That was a rough Wordle!! Well done. And congrats on the upcoming Anniversary! We just celebrated our 32nd this month as well. : )

Hi Karen, congratulations on the impending anniversary!

Speaking of Beanie Babies ... we didn't collect them in any systematic way, but we had quite a few as Kate (around 6yrs old at the time) liked to spend her allowance money on them. At one point we returned from vacation and found that one of our cats, Snowball, had spent the week "hunting" Beanie Babies. There were like a zillion of them, and some other small plushies, in a pile at the foot of the steps by the front door. We know it was her and not the other kitty because she would occasionally be seen with a Beanie Baby in her mouth, making that "I just found a mouse" meow. We still laugh about that.

Have a great day!

>202 richardderus: ‘Morning, Rdear! I’m only weighing myself once a week, and it’s much better for my mental health. Also, I’m not deliberately trying to lose weight, in that some days I’m hungrier than others and so eat more.

Amazingly, at least to a SoCal person who never, ever saw people out of context, when Jan and I were waiting on two women looking at the menu just before the ordering line, I saw a man at a 2-person high top look at me, smile, then get up to his 6’3” wonderfulness – our cousin David. He gives the best hugs in the world, and after one of those hugs I introduced him to Jan I answered his puzzled look with “Knee replacement surgery” and then “You, Rebecca, Bill, Jenna, (daughter) Cassidy and (new husband) Nicholas should meet here some Saturday.” He apparently eats lunch there frequently. He saw me last June when Cassidy and Nicholas got married, and I’ve lost more weight since then.

Lunch was wonderful. I almost feel bad for the restaurant but not quite, because I always order salads with NO ONIONS because I’m allergic to them (I’m not), and in addition to not putting them on my salad they created a special non-onion rub for the salmon, which they’ve never done before. BUT, no onion, so a total win. I never noticed onion in the rub, but they were so wonderful I almost feel bad for only leaving 20%. Jan and I talked for 2 hours, then went 2 doors down and each got a few pieces of Rocky Mountain Candy Company candy.

*smooch*

>203 quondame: We have quite a few of the mini BBs, too, Susan. I even went out of my way to get them, and the McDonald’s I went to allowed me to just order an iced tea and buy one for $2.99. Sorry you couldn’t collect enough for a party for Becky – I love that idea, by the way. I don’t remember which minis we have, but we also have some of the large Beanie Babies. We’ve got several ‘sets’ of mini, Beanie, large Beanie.

>204 streamsong: Hi Janet. I know, too many possibilities yesterday. I did better today, getting it in 4.

>205 vancouverdeb: Hello Deborah. Buh-bye Beanies. Thanks re our anniversary, too. $350 for something to push hot water through ground beans is a goodly amount, agreed. Bill drank Folgers before he tried a cup of mine one day, and although he has a separate coffee maker, now wants freshly ground beans. He grinds the same amount as I do, but makes a full pot, where I make about 2/3 of a full pot. Sorry about Geordie and how his going to doggie heaven tainted a significant anniversary. 40 is a great one to do something special, so I’m glad Dave is enjoying his new espresso machine. I had a great lunch, thanks for the weight loss, and yay for Wordle in 6.

>206 Berly: Hi Kim. Yay for 32nd wedding anniversaries in April!

>207 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. Great story about Snowball hunting the BBs and presenting them to you. We call that “I just found a mouse” meow a death trill because Zoe, our Artemis, our Diana, is a huntress and brings in presents all the time, living and dead.

Wordle 676 4/6* adieu, stoke, tenor, metro

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I am feeling every moment of yesterday's first solo social adventure, but the Tylenol is kicking in and I'll be using some CBD ointment on my lower back, right shoulder, and around my left knee soon.

Today is PT at 11 a.m. and I'm going to place a small grocery order and see if it can be ready by noon. If so, I'll pick it up, if not, I'll ask Jenna to pick it up in the 5-6 p.m. window.

Other than that, a bit of work in the kitchen. Bill normally does the dishes, but sometimes he gets hinky about emptying the clean dishwasher. So there's stuff on the counter and a dishwasher to empty. Reading, and puttering, and exercises at home, too, of course.

Have a lovely day today, Horrible my dear, with excellent time alone, good reads, and a skunkless Wordle.

*smooch*

'Morning, Rdear! Thanks, I hope you have a wonderful day, too. Heading off to your thread right now...

*smooch*

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. Thanks so much for keeping my thread warm while I was away. I am leaving for a camping trip around noon, so I won't be around here much for the rest of the week. I sure would have liked a few days to decompress from my trip, plus I miss my Jackson. Oh well...

I need to fill my feeders before I go. Poor neglected birdies. I hope all is well with you, my friend.

Happy Day, Karen!

Mine is starting well. I ground beans, and they smell WONDERFUL!!!!!!!! I've done a load of wash, and now it's past time to get Mama up for breakfast and coffee (Folger's Instant for her, bless her heart) and fresh Major D for me. BLISS!

>208 karenmarie: 😥I feel so sad for the unwanted onions. Little cheers me up so much as the scent of frying onions heralding savory deliciousness😥

'Morning, Mark, and happy Wednesday to you, too. Wow! Back to back trips. Have fun and I hope you can get your feeders filled before you go. Right now I've got a Downy on the suet feeder and a finch on the wild bird seed feeder.

>212 LizzieD: Yay for Major D, Peggy! Yay for the smell of freshly ground beans. You deserve them.

>213 quondame: Hi Susan. Ah, I love cooked onions, just not raw ones. Although, I cannot eat too many cooked onions or it messes up my system. But some, or onions in a soup or chili, are fine and good.

...
At PT today I walked down the hall and back just holding the cane, and now we're working on balance and being able to stand on one foot for 10 seconds. I haven't used the walker today at all.

>201 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I think my cousin had a complete collection of the Beanie Babies at that time. She was definitely getting all the new ones when they came out. Later she got married and moved to Texas, so I don't know how long she kept up the collecting. Your collection looks impressive!

Sorry about the Wordle. I guess it finally broke your streak. When Wordle had that same pattern some time ago, it skunked me too. I got it on 5 this time with one of the words I had guessed the last time. >204 streamsong: I knew it wasn't foyer this time because that was the correct word last time when I couldn't get it. Can you tell I was so frustrated last time? I remember most of my guesses from the previous instance because it annoyed me so much.

Congrats on the weight loss!

>214 karenmarie: Also great news on the cane! I'm glad to hear you're getting around so well with just the cane and not having to use the walker. I hope you will be less sore tomorrow.

Have a great sleep tonight!

Happy 32nd wedding anniversary, Karen and Bill!

Great to read the knee is still progressing, and you improved to just holding the cane at PT.

>215 atozgrl: We always collected them haphazardly, Irene, going for the ones we liked. We have more kitties than dogs, for example, because we’re not dog people. And I have three BB Dragons here in the Sunroom: Two Scorches and one Magic, guarding over me. Thanks re the collection – that’s only part of it, one bag. There are many others in the closet in Jenna’s bedroom, which I now sleep in, except when I’m downstairs here in the Library recovering from knee replacement surgery. However, I’m moving back upstairs on Sunday, and may ask Jenna to help me get them all out for a photo op. *smile*

It did break my streak, and now they rub it in each morning by saying how many days are in your streak. Harrumph. You may not have been visiting my thread when I mentioned this, but before they made it obscure, I downloaded the 2,309 word list AND a list of what’s already been used, which I’ve religiously added to every day. I check my guess against the first list (although GUANO is not on that list and I’m still irritated at that one) and if it’s there, I check to see that it’s not already been used.

Thanks re the weight loss. If I tried to get back to my weight when I got married 32 years ago, I’d look too emaciated and I wouldn’t have any padding on my posterior, so I’m not sure how much more I want to lose, but the 20 lbs this year goal still seems doable.

I was less sore yesterday morning, then worked hard at PT, and was really stiff first thing this morning. But, moving around, and just taking my every-8-hours dose of Tylenol will help. I'll also put some CBD ointment on my lower back, behind my surgery knee, and near my scar soon. I got 2 hours then 5 hours, so sleep was good, thanks.

>216 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! Bill’s still asleep. I’ve put his presents in a beautiful gold box that we have been reusing for 10 or more years, and there are two cards for him open, all in the Living Room for him to see when he wakes up.

Yes, I’m pleased with how my knee’s coming along and thankful that a combination of good healing genes, good insurance, good PT, and the not-perfect-but-good-enough discipline I have are making this reasonably good at the 7 week mark.

Wordle 677 4/6* adieu, stoic, comic, logic

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Jenna's off to work, Bill's still sleeping. Presents and cards out. We'll probably go to the local hangout for dinner, probably early-ish. There's a new restaurant in Siler City, but the menu did not appeal. (Beans Fire Grill).

In the meantime, more work on the spreadsheet, more reading, more updating of the April Lightning Round, and etc. Oh, yes, PT exercises at home, including the dread Prone Hang.

Great progress with your knee recovery Karen!
Best wishes for a happy anniversary dinner.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you both!!!!!!! Celebrate the day!

Our last 2 Wordle guesses are the same today.... had to be.

>217 karenmarie: Cell-ebrate your institutionalization well tonight, Horrible my dear. Looking forward to the lightning round to come.

DO THAT DAMN PRONE HANG!

Hi Karen my dear, Happy 32nd Wedding Anniversary my dear friend.

Happy anniversary!

>218 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy, and thank you. We had a nice meal out, see below.

>219 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy. We had a pretty nice day. Great minds on Wordle, too!

>220 richardderus: Hiya RDear. Heh. Cell-brate. I’m up to date on the lightning round. I only did the damned prone hang for 7 minutes, hangs her head in shame. But I did the rest of the exercises, too.

>221 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! Sending love and hugs to you and Karen, kitty skritches to Felix.

>222 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

Wordle 678 4/6* adieu, brain, vicar, circa

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We decided to make it a late lunch and had a very nice time. I did pretty well sodium-wise except for the 1000 Island dressing I indulged in on the salad.

Watched the recorded first half of Arsenal's embarrassing loss to Man City on Wednedsay, then watched an episode of Vera. We're almost at the end of season 12, sigh. However, apparently Brenda Blethyn has agreed to a 13th season.

PT at 11, then a visit with friend Louise. Her son-in-law was diagnosed with stage IV Pancreatic Cancer just after Christmas, and he's in the hospital in Florida, where he and her daughter live. Things are not looking good, although he may surprise us all and get to go back home.

I'm glad that yesterday was indulgent, Karen, and equally glad to see you back in your normal mode of rigor and kindness today. Enjoy!

I fourded Wordle too. OK with me!

Hello hello, Karen. How busy you are. That's great. I'm headed to The Big Apple this afternoon, spending a couple of nights to see student plays that my granddaughter built the sets for. I feel strangely apprehensive about the venture, since I don't know where I'm staying, where the theaters for the shows are, what sort of "dead" time I'll have Saturday. You know, the sorts of apprehensions that stem from knowing too little but imagining too much.

I sure it'll be fun. Hope you too have a fun weekend.

Rather hopelessly behind but because I have been away from technology except for audio books and my kindle. So good, I think.

I am glad you are recovering and can drive...I remember how excited I was when I could go by myself again!

>90 karenmarie: I will comment that you rock the hat and the horse is gorgeous.

>223 karenmarie: La Blethyn is wise to keep going with Vera... that is her legacy. Like David Suchet will always be Poirot.

Mild gout attack here. I hope Louise's SiL has a good passing when it comes. *smooch*

>224 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! This week’s been way too busy, but I hope next week is a bit calmer. Yay for four. Today I got it in three because of my starting word.

>225 weird_O: Hiya, Bill. Too busy, but like I wrote above, next week will be calmer. Yay for going to NYC to see granddaughter sets, mystery hotel, finding the theaters, and what dead time you’ll have today. Thanks re my weekend.

>226 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! I’m glad you’re using your still-early-days-of-retirement for books. Yes, the driving is wonderful, and I remember how well you recovered from your hip replacement surgery.

Thanks re the hat and horse!

>227 richardderus: Tonight’s our last Vera - episode 4 of season 12. Gotta find something else to watch. Any suggestions for an intelligent cop or PI series? We’ve seen quite a few of them and I’m currently not in re-watch mode.

Sorry about the mild gout attack, and yes to SiL’s way out of this world when it comes.

*smooch*

Wordle 679 3/6* adieu, drake, cedar

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Landscaping guys coming today, supposedly. Since we get a deal, we also get lower priority. I'd prefer someone to come on set days, but alas, that's not what Bill and Osmar agreed to.

Other than that, Inara has decided to show us that she's got kidney/bladder issues by peeing in the bathtub AND on some bed linens. This means Meloxicam for 3 days and a call to the vet on Monday. If I have to take her in, they'll have to come out to carry her carrier in with me hobbling along on the cane.

Tomorrow Jenna and I are actually going to go grocery shopping IN the store, and she'll get me moved back upstairs.

Good morning, Karen. You are busy!

Sorry Inara is having troubles. Our Lulu has some kidney problems too (she's so small that it's hard to think of her as a senior cat, but she is). After a treatment, she's doing well for now.

HOORAY for shopping in person! I can't imagine.

Wordle in four for me again today. Good for you in three!

ETA: We started My Big Fat Greek Wedding last night. I'm surprised that the DVD player works for anything beyond HP!

'Morning, Peggy! Yup, too busy. Next week is only 3 PT sessions and perhaps lunch with the Librarian Rita.

I love My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Haven't watched it in forever.

The verdict is in on a supremely time-intensive completely useless analysis, that of the names used in the MM romances I’ve been reading since last June.

642 names, most MM, a few MMF and MMM.

Here’s the breakdown. Max and Ethan are the characters in the 13-book Sin City series by Tricia Owens. Black and Calyx are the characters in the 11-book Juxtapose City series by the same author. I am only reporting one occurance for the name for each of those series, and of course Black and Calyx aren't in the top entries. Max and Ethan, however, still are.

Jackson 7
Owen 7
Tristan 7
Jude 6
Max 6
Carter 5
Ethan 5
Gideon 5
Jameson 5
Jared 5
Noah 5
Ryan 5
Sam 5

>228 karenmarie: have y'all watched MARE OF EASTTOWN yet? It's a good, solid series and Kate Winslet is excellent in it.

Happy -weekend *smooch*

>231 karenmarie: I think that was kind of fun. I recognize the toniness of every one of them!

>232 richardderus: Hiya RD. No, we have not watched Mare of Easttown yet. We'll only be able to watch it if I can persuade Bill to get HBO Max, either a 7-day trial and binge-watch or go for it and subscribe for $20/month. So, probably not any time soon. However, as I was wandering around BritBox, I saw Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators and it sounds like a lot of fun. Happy weekend to you, too. *smooch*

>233 LizzieD: And now I can add to it, too. Yes, I'm afraid there aren't any Bobs or Toms, although there's a Thom, from the first MM romance I read. Richard turned me onto it, Love, Hate, and Clickbait. There's also one Thomas.

Wordle 680 5/6* adieu, cloak, slant, llama, plaza

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Grocery shopping and getting me moved back upstairs. Both are big deals, actually.

But for now the fam's still asleep and there's peace in the kingdom.

Happy return to your own space day! Groceries don't inspire joy until they are in the kitchen, so endure and persevere until that happens.

*smooch*

Big deals for sure!!!! Hope your move upstairs goes smoothly without strain for you and that the grocery shopping feels like an outing. At this point it would for me.

Five for me today too. I had to check a list or I'd still be sitting here tonight worrying.

>236 LizzieD: Hi RDear, and thank you. I'll be glad when it's the end of the day, frankly. *smooch*

>237 karenmarie: The move upstairs will be later this afternoon. Jenna and I are leaving in about half an hour to go grocery shopping because we'll try to beat the church crowd. And if we don't, oh well.

Inara is now peeing on all the linens she can find upstairs. The way our house is laid out it's hard to keep her isolated without really, REALLY stressing her and the other kitties, so thank goodness for an extra-large washing machine and dryer.

...
Jenna and I made scratch buttermilk waffles with real butter and real maple syrup. Yum.

I love familysearch.org... I just got an email telling me I'm related to Lucille Ball - she's my 8th cousin.

>238 karenmarie: Hey, you natural red-head, you! What fun!!!!

Congratulations on the move upstairs, Karen!

>239 LizzieD: I know - red-headed. Strawberry blonde, actually. And, one of the most embarrassing pictures of my teenage years, but with my besties Lori, Linda, and Isabel. Linda went to our rival high school, hence the blue robes.



And, I was going to post this last Thursday on my 32nd wedding anniversary and couldn't find it for some reason. My parents, Bill, and I.



>240 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. We're back from the grocery store and will get me moved back upstairs after 7.5 weeks later this afternoon.

...
In the meantime, because I was able to connect to Eltweed Pomeroy, 1585-1673, on FamilySearch.org, it turns out that I'm related to some seriously cool people:

FDR, 8th cousin 2x removed
Babe Ruth, 12th cousin, 2x removed
Walt Disney, 8th cousin, 1x removed
Jane Austen (!), 13th cousin 1x removed
Rosa Parks, 14th cousin
Abraham Lincoln, 7th cousin, 4x removed
George Washington, 7th cousin 6x removed
Benjamin Franklin 5th cousin, 8x removed
Emily Dickinson, 7th cousin, 5x removed
Helen Keller, 8th cousin, 1x removed
John Wayne, 8th cousin, 1x removed
Marie Antoinette, 6th cousin, 7x removed
Princess Diana, 10th cousin, 1x removed
Queen Elizabeth, 8th cousin, 5x removed
Shirley Temple, 9th cousin, 1x removed
Susan B. Anthony, 9th cousin, 3x removed
Wilbur Wright, 7th cousin, 3x removed
Winston Churchill, 9th cousin

And, strangely, at least to my mind, LDS connections:
Joseph Smith Jr, 10th cousin, 3x removed
Brigham Young, 10th cousin 2x removed

...fun stuff...

>241 karenmarie: That is some list. Some of the 1x removed are boggling as I'd expect more in anyone dead before 1950 but there's lots I don't know about removed cousins.

Love all the photos and your many new-found relatives! How fun. : ) And congrats on graduating to upstairs again.

>241 karenmarie: Hi Karen. Beautiful wedding picture!

What a list of cousins, wow. But what does all that mean? Like Jane Austen 13th cousin 1x removed?
And so you have Jane Austen and Rosa Parks? And Winston Churchill? Not bad as family connections go.

>242 quondame: To be "once removed" from a cousin means you are separated by one generation. The number before "removed" will always represent the number of generations you are separated ("removed") from the cousin. My husband was first cousin once removed from his mother's first cousin John, because Bill and John were one generation apart. It's a very specific thing, but once you get to 5 times removed, and etc., it makes my head hurt. I just thought it was amusing.

>243 Berly: Thanks, Kim, and like I said - it's amusing but not practical in any way at all. I'll be moving upstairs within the hour.

>244 EllaTim: Hi Ella, and thank you. Remote bragging rights, nothing more.

...
Bill and I started watching Shakespeare & Hathaway and laughed out loud. We'll keep watching it.

>241 karenmarie: Lovely wedding picture, Karen. That is quite the pedigree! Enjoy Shakespeare and Hathaway. I thought it was a lot of fun!

Hi Deborah! Thanks. Bill wanted to wear a light gray suit with a white shirt and we discussed it - my dress is cream. He insisted, so I said "Fine." I knew the tux rental shop would ask what color my dress was and go from there. They did, I got the black tux and cream shirt I wanted and he got a paisley tie and cummerbund. *smile*

I'm childishly proud of the fact that I have ancestors on my dad's side who came over in the 1630s. This bit about being related to famous people is fun but meaningless.

Wordle 681 5/6* adieu, bleat, place, mange, range

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I may have overdone it yesterday, frankly, with all the walking I did, so getting upstairs last night was not fun. Interestingly, it was my right knee, but it's better for getting some sleep last night, and I've put a brace on it to just take the burden off for today.

PT this morning, nothing else on tap.

Karen, I thought of you yesterday ... I know you share my love for Sees Candies. I am back on their email list thanks to ordering some Easter goodies, and I received a Mother's Day email yesterday. The email included details of their candy subscription service: choose your favorites and select when and how often you'd like them to arrive on your doorstep. Change your selection any time.

OMG, this is both a brilliant and dangerous idea and frankly, the last thing I need. But it's still tempting ...

Hi Laura! Oh my, just what I don't need - regular infusions of See's. Sigh. If I could just get one piece a week, that would be fantastic.

Growing up with See's spoiled me for anything else. I tolerate Godiva, Lindt, Ghirardelli, and have looked at Jacques Torres and Astor but never gotten any. And yes, I eat Snickers, Butterfingers, Milk Duds, and Heath Bars, but don't consider them a meaningful chocolate experience.

Look Bars, on the other hand, are always a temptation but if I get them, I eat them.

Good luck resisting!

>249 karenmarie: a meaningful chocolate experience
I love this expression. I will eat chocolate in all its forms, because who would turn it down right? But Sees is the best. My parents grew up in California and when I was a kid we'd get gift packages from relatives because you couldn't buy it elsewhere back then. Hurray for mail order.

Morning, Karen. I am back. Whew! That was an active 2 weeks. I am glad I got back early afternoon yesterday, so I could hunker down with the books for a few hours. Bree needs me to help with Jack today and back to Rehab duties tomorrow. Our weather is kind of cruddy too- 40s and rain. Hoping for a rebound.

Thanks again for keeping my thread warm.

>241 karenmarie: Love the pics and the family history. You are a rock star. 😁

'Morning, Mark! Glad you're back. I hope you got some good reading in. Yay for Jack time today and Rehab tomorrow. We're in the 40s, going to a high of 68F. You're welcome re your thread...

Heh. Thanks re the pics. I've had fun with this bit of family history.

YTD Statistics April 30

120 books read
2 of them on my shelves before 1/1/23 and not rereads
41 books abandoned, 3846 pages abandoned, 1 audiobook, .45 hours abandoned

35.75 audiobook hours
Avg pages read per day, YTD = 283
Avg pages read per book, YTD = 283

Book of the Month: Prince of Lies by Lucy Lennox

Books by Month
January - 33 e-books, 19 books abandoned for 1711 pages
February 34 e-books, 1 paper book, 1 audiobook, 6 books abandoned for 718 pages
March 18 e-books, 7 books abandoned for 443 pages, 1 audiobook abandoned for .45 hours
April 35 e-books, 9 books abandoned for 974 pages

Author
Male 10%
Female 86%
Undeclared * 2%
Non-Binary 2%
* - can't find any info anywhere

Living 100%
Dead 0%

US Born 58%
Foreign Born 42%

Platform
Hardcover 1%
Trade Pback 0%
Mass Market 0%
Audiobook 2%
e-Book 97%

Source
My Library 3%
Library 0%
Kindle Unlimited 96%
Borrowed from a friend 1%

Misc
ARC/ER 0%
Re-read 0%
Series 67%

Fiction 99%
NonFiction 1%

Author Birth Country
Australia 11%
Canada 7%
England 9%
Ireland 1%
UK 1%
Undeclared * 11%
US 60%
* - can't find any info anywhere

Original Decade Published
2010-2019 32%
2020-2029 68%

Category
Contemporary Fiction 97%
Crime Fiction 2%
Informational Nonfiction 1%

Acquisition/Source Date
Kindle Unlimited 113
2022 2
2023 4
Borrowed 1

Average Rating
2.0 - Bad 0
2.5 - Average 2
3.0 - Good 12
3.5 - Very Good 18
4.0 - Excellent 62
4.5 - Outstanding 26
5 - Masterpiece 0

Average Rating 3.91
Books acquired YTD 49
Books culled YTD 28

April Lightning Round

Colin by Cora Rose 3/31/23 4/1/23 Kindle

Enemies to lovers, fighting over a weed on their property line. Colin has a young son he’s raising alone, Ethan is the neighbor who’s intrigued with Colin but doesn’t want a relationship. Sparkage, of course, lots of fun times with all three of them, HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

Hard for Tristan by Brady Fox 4/1/23 4/2/23 Kindle

Yikes the title, but a sweet novella about an artist and a very rich man who collide over a piece of art work and end up with their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

Roommate by Sarina Bowen 4/2/23 4/3/23 Kindle

Roderick returns to town on his last legs after a bad breakup. He is a baker and gets hired at a local bakery right away. He’s living out of his car. Kieran also works for the bakery and has a room to let… things go from there. HEA, of course, and caveat emptor re sex.

Reaching Reed by Cora Rose and Nicole Dykes 4/3/23 4/4/23 Kindle

Camboy Carter has a new video partner, Reed. Reed is trying to raise his sister alone. Carter and Reed start falling for one another. Very sweet, with Carter’s moms providing lots of love and comic relief. HEA and caveat emptor re sex without too much angst.

Filthy Sweet by R. Cayden 4/4/23 4/5/23 Kindle

Music exec Fox helps out when his best friend Reggie’s younger brother moves to Seattle to take up a job after getting his PhD. Sparkage, hiding it from Reggie, which of course goes sideways, HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

Givers by Casey Cox 4/5/23 4/6/23 Kindle

Robbie pitches his Wellness Package to the owners of a Property Development empire and one of the brothers, Dunlop, is immediately attracted to him. Separately from that, each of them is on a LGBT dating website and they are recommended to each other for anonymous conversations, possibly leading up to a meeting. Huge sparkage in person and on the website. Complications when Dunlop’s company buys the rest home Robbie’s grandfather lives in to raze it and put up high-end condos, but we get a rom-com HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

The Unmasking of Kelly James by Belle Chapin 4/6/23 4/7/23 Kindle

Kelly walks in on his fiancé cheating in their bed and leaves, returning to the town where he graduated college with his best friends. His temporary fix is to be a barista, where he meets Jonah, spilling coffee on him. Jonah is in a bind – his sister is returning to her life that she put on hold after Jonah’s wife was killed in a car accident, leaving him with 3 young daughters. He places an ad, Kelly answers it, and after the initial shock of Kelly being a he instead of a she, Jonah hires him full time, live in. Kelly turns the unhappy house around with love, dinosaurs, mud, and Halloween costumes, and slowly Jonah comes to realize that his arranged marriage to Marie, the girls’ mother, was never one of love only upper class expectation and expediency. He loves his daughters but doesn’t know how to be a father to them, and slowly come to realize that he has strong romantic feelings for Kelly. Kelly, ditto, and it’s a joyous time until Jonah’s mother makes a phone call. However, they get their HEA. So sweet and fun. Plus, caveat emptor re sex. I’m looking forward to more in The Tavern series as soon as the author can whip them out.

Pretty Things by Devon McCormack 4/7/23 4/8/23 Kindle

I wanted to like this one more than I did, an age-gap romance. Ty, 25, meets his father’s friend Liam, and it’s game-set-match for him with feelings for Liam. Liam’s 20 years older, just retired. However, he’s just retired from a secret agency job with the government and when Ty comes to visit, things go sideways with kidnappings, betrayals, and etc. All’s well that ends well, though. The thing that bothered me, and what has always been less appealing in any romance I read, is the squishy feelings and emoting. It just seemed over the top. Lots of growling if anybody even looks at Ty sideways, and Liam’s conflicted for most of the book. Caveat emptor re sex.

The Night Screams by Devon McCormack 4/8/23 4/9/23 Kindle

I do not normally read books about high schoolers, but this one sucked me right in. It started with Cal, a boy escaping a serial killer/rapist/torturer and showing up at a convenience store to steal some food. The clerk, a higher schooler named Jake, tackles him and takes him to his legal guardian Gary, who convinces Cal to go to the police. Cal, who is temporarily mute from the experience, writes everything down, lets them photo/process his injuries. Based on his evidence, the police find and kill the man in a standoff. Gary and his wife legally adopt Cal. Sigh. Normally, I’d run from this, but the family dynamic and Jake and Cal’s growing attraction, and the love Gary and his wife have for Jake, also adopted, and Cal, along with family tragedies and a HEA, make it very sweet. Marrying at 18? I don’t recommend it. True love? I do. Caveat emptor re mostly-implied sex.

#ROYAL by Devon McCormack 4/9/23 4/10/23 Kindle

I don’t know why I finished this one except that Keeg, the 19-year old tourist who gets thrown into a dungeon in Prince Owen’s family palace, is rather endearing. But then it’s too many puppies and cute-i-tudes. Owens’ recognition of his own bisexuality and thus justification for how he feels about Keeg is too trite for words. Eye bleach needed. Caveat emptor re sex.

Snowblind by Eli Easton 4/10/23 4/11/23 Kindle

Hutch is hiding out from the government agency that he quit unilaterally. They find him via facial recognition software and send in an agent to seduce him and force him to assassinate a bad guy. Sparkage between Hutch and the agent, Jude – and this cracks me up because the agent’s name is Jude Devereaux. Jude Devereaux is a prolific historical romance author, and one of my favorite time travel books of all times is her A Knight in Shining Armor. So back to the story. Jude tells Hutch to agree to the mission but disappear. However, that’s not Hutch’s style, so he shows up a day early, rescues Jude, and all in a highly satisfactory and hot way. Caveat emptor re sex. Total HEA.

The Trouble with Tony by Eli Easton 4/11/23 4/11/23 Kindle

Another short, sweet, and complete novella by this author has PI Tony pretending to be a sex clinic patient to investigate the murder of a woman who’d been going there. Tony’s demisexual, and when he meets the prime suspect, Jack Halloran, he can’t believe this is only the 5th person in his entire life he’s been physically attracted to. Sparkage, but Jack is under the constraints of the patient-doctor privilege. A particularly sweet HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews 4/11/23 4/12/23 Kindle

Oh, I loved this book of Troy, a boy band member storming off after his brother starts being wilder than usual. Troy rents a private plane to fly home, but the plane goes down, killing the pilot and leaving just Troy and the co-pilot Brian. They make do, are attracted to each other, are rescued of course, don’t think things will work, yet they do. I particularly like how the author writes about their resources and their experiences on the island. HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

Honeymoon for One by Keira Andrews 4/12/13 4/13/2023 Kindle

Ethan finds his fiancé and his best friend in bed together the day before Ethan and Michael’s wedding. He goes on their Australian honeymoon alone, where Ethan is attracted to a supposedly straight bus driver, Clay. Interesting learning about the emotional trauma and trials and tribulations related to Ethan’s being hard of hearing, losing his hearing gradually from ages 22-26 or so. Their unexpected attraction is sweet, and when Ethan returns to the US to close out his life their to return to Australia, there is a satisfactory confrontation with Michael and his best friend. No forgiveness, no wish for further contact, no information about his new life at all. Caveat emptor re sex.

In Case of Emergency by Keira Andrews 4/13/23 4/13/23 Kindle

Daniel is on his way out of town for a vacation with a potential boyfriend when he gets a call that his stepbrother, who he hasn’t seen or heard from in 10 years, is in the emergency ward. Cole put Daniel down as his emergency contact at Daniel’s mother’s request. So Daniel hauls Cole off to his vacay. The potential boyfriend brings other people, is a total jerk, and after everybody being snowed in for 2 days, it’s down to Daniel and Cole. Sparkage and the HEA, of course, and caveat emptor re sex.

Dearest Milton James by N.R. Walker 4/13/23 4/14/22 Kindle

From Amazon: Malachi Keogh finds himself in a job he neither wanted nor asked for when his father, boss of Sydney’s postal service, sends him to the end of the business line, aka The Dead Letter Office. Malachi expects tedious and boring but instead discovers a warehouse with a quirky bunch of misfit co-workers, including a stoic and nerdy boss, Julian Pollard.
Malachi’s intrigued by Julian at first, and he soon learns there’s more to the man than his boring clothes of beige, tan, and brown; a far cry from Malachi’s hot pink, lilac, and electric blue. Where Julian is calm and ordered, Malachi is chaos personified, but despite their outward differences, there’s an immediate chemistry between them that sends Malachi’s head—and heart—into a spin.
To keep his father happy, Malachi needs to keep this job. He also needs to solve the mystery of the pile of old letters that sits in Julian’s office and maybe get to the bottom of what makes Julian tick. Like everything that goes through the mail centre, only time will tell if Malachi has found his intended destination or if he’ll find himself returned to sender.

The mystery of the letters and the story of Julian and Malachi’s romance are both sweet, intriguing, and poignant. Also sexy and caveat emptor re sex.

2 Dead Fish Named Kevin by L.A. Witt 4/14/23 4/14/23 Kindle

Best.Title.Ever. Two men, Garrett and Tristan, meet at a zoo where they have both purchased a dead fish and named it Kevin, to be fed to the polar bear. Turns out that they both hate the same Kevin, manipulative and a cheater. They spend the day together at the zoo, there’s sparkage, and there’s a HEA. Caveat emptor re sex. The title is what attracted me to this one, and it was wonderful.

Surprise Groom by D.J. Jamison 4/14/23 4/15/23 Kindle

Caleb will be forced to sell the family island and wedding/event business to his father’s former friend unless Caleb marries the man’s daughter. However, the debt only states that Caleb marry a child of this man, and Caleb tracks down his son, Julien, and they have a contract to marry, stay married for two years, and then part. Straight-to-gay for Caleb, sparkage, romance, and HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

To The Moon and Back by N.R. Walker 4/15/23 4/16/23 Kindle

Gideon is an exhausted new father of a 6-week old, who’s devastated that his long-term boyfriend abandoned him and his son. He needs a nanny stat, and friends of his put him in touch with Toby. Toby gets the household under control, loves the baby, and he and Gideon start having feelings. HEA, of course, and caveat emptor re sex.

Prince of Lies by Lucy Lennox 4/16/23 4/16/23 4/16/23 Kindle

Oh, this one was funny. Rowe Prince is a lying liar who windmills into my life in full color, claiming to be Sterling Chase, a quirky, eccentric billionaire… and founder of the company I created.
Two can play at the lying game, though, and I’m not about to let some burrito-delivering, floppy-haired virgin from Indiana best me at a game I was born to play.
So I do him one better and pretend to be Sterling Chase’s new assistant. I’ll teach him a lesson that will hopefully wind us both up in bed… with nothing but the truth between us.
But it turns out his shameless lies are enchanting… unintentionally hilarious… and make it all too easy to forget the truth…
Until I learn that this cutie’s intent is to defraud the company I’ve spent years building. I have to choose: risk the company or say goodbye to the man I’m falling for. A guy who just might be…
The Prince of Lies

Rowe can’t lie to save his life, Bash is intrigued. HEA, caveat emptor re sex, and the first of what I hope is a series with all 5 of the Board of Directors of Sterling Chase.

IRL: In Real Life by Lucy Lennox and Molly Maddox 4/16/23 4/17/23 Kindle

A sexting message to the wrong cell phone number has Wells dominating Conor in a scorching and anonymous bit of sexy times. Unfortunately, the next day Wells recognizes the tie Conor’s wearing as one of the pics he sends. Juggling professionalism and growing attraction is lots of fun, and of course there’s their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex and hot sexting.

Say You'll Be Nine by Lucy Lennox 4/17/23 4/17/23 Kindle

One dilapidated cabin in need of renovation.
Two stubborn men pretending to be a couple.
Three summer months to get the job done.
Four tangled legs in only one bed.
Five cameras catching it all for YouTube.
Six hundred thousand Instagram followers.
Seven nosy family members with Opinions.
Eight thousand reasons they should never fall in love.
Nine million reasons why they will.

Cooper and Nine are pretending to be a couple, but of course feelings come about, and they have their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex. I particularly like the character of Nine, ninth boy in a family of very conservative parents, who is sweet and generous and a people pleaser.

Virgin Flyer by Lucy Lennox 4/17/23 4/18/23 Kindle

Unintentional re-read – once I started it and remember that I’d read it, I was happy to continue. Here’s what I originally wrote:

Teo has been in love and waited for Chris forever. Chris won’t commit. Teo meets Jack on a hookup to lose his pesky V card, and because Teo wants things kept anonymous they don’t know how to get in touch with each other when they’re really attracted to each other. They meet months later when Teo has to fly with Chris’s grandfather on a business trip and Jack’s one of the pilots. The flight has problems, Grandpa has a heart attack, and etc. Neither Teo nor Jack want a relationship with each other – Teo because of Chris, Jack not at all, but True Love wins out. I liked their dynamic and Jack’s caring. Caveat emptor re sex.

Teo’s and Jack’s story is even better as a re-read.

Facing West by 4/18/23 4/18/23 Kindle

Nico, who ran away from home 15 years ago, is shocked to discover that his mother and sister are dead and he’s the uncle and guardian of a 4-month old baby girl, Pippa, in a small town in Texas. He returns to settle things up and give the baby up for adoption but runs smack dab into Weston Wilde, gorgeous doctor who just happens to be gay and is the baby’s pediatrician. Sparkage, angst, and of course a wonderful HEA. Caveat emptor re sex. Oh, and did I mention ink? *smile*

Hearts Colliding by Ali Ryecart 4/19/23 4/19/23 Kindle

Sir Alex Love returns to his family estate in rural England and is planning on turning it into apartments, turn a local abandoned farm into low-income housing, and lots of shops. The village is distraught, and Ryan is the first to meet Alex upon his return after Ryan’s dog goes onto the estate. Two more times they unintentionally clash, then there’s a kiss, then secret meetings because the village has formed a Free Love campaign to fight the proposed plan. They’re found out, of course, they separate, of course, then realize that they’re meant to be together, of course. The plan is modified, and there’s a HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

Gideon by RJ Scott and Meredith Russell 4/20/23 4/21/23 Kindle

Gideon owns a successful company, with Rowan as his PA. They’ve been secretly attracted to each other forever. One Christmas, when Gideon is at loose ends, Rowan invites him to his two moms, lots of adopted sibs, lots of kids, lots of dogs, loud, and chaotic family Christmas. Gideon loosens up, they kiss and more, and although there are things to work out regarding their work relationship, it’s HEA time. Caveat emptor re sex.

Cover Me by L.A. Witt 4/21/23 4/22/23 386 Kindle

I gave this 4.5 stars because of the descriptions of what Nick, an EMT, goes through after triaging a crime scene, ‘black-tagging’ a black woman he thinks he cannot save, and saving a woman who, it turns out, is part of an undercover detective team and is white. Her partner and work husband Andrew and Nick have to meet up as part of the aftermath. City-wide uproar about Nick being a racist, two threats to him personally. There’s sparkage, with Andrew trying to keep Nick safe and dealing with his PTSD while they navigate their attraction. There’s a HEA (although the 3rd in the series is about Nick and Andrew again and so this might be really a HFN). Caveat emptor re sex.

Hitman vs Hitman by Cari Z 4/22/23 4/22/23 Kindle

This one had me laughing out loud all the time, as Ricardo and August are both hired to take out a billionaire. They meet up at a party – one in a wetsuit, the other disguised as a pest control technician – and decide to join forces since they’re suspicious of why both of them have been hired. Many hijinks, many rescues and much danger, and serious sparkage. The writing of this one just flowed, capturing me from the first page. Caveat emptor re sex.

Takeover by Anna Zabo 4/23/23 4/24/23 Kindle

A one-night stand in Curaçao becomes complicated when Michael realizes that Sam is the new fixer, come in to work magic at the flailing company Michael works for. They try, of course, to keep things professional, but alas, don’t succeed. There’s a HEA, of course, and caveat emptor re sex.

Hard for my Boss by Daryl Banner 4/24/23 4/24/23 Kindle

Ugh, the title. However, the intern Trevor is clutzy and being picked on by another intern, and the boss is hot and … well. There are complications from Trevor’s straight friend Elijah, who is also an intern. There’s a serious lack of professionalism, alas, but there’s the HEA and, of course, caveat emptor re sex.

The Intern by Serena Akeroyd 4/25/23 4/25/23 Kindle

Devlin and Micah meet up in a dark room at a private club – totally anonymous and hot until the power fails and they catch a glimpse of each other for the 2 seconds that the emergency lights come on. Okay, no harm no foul, until it turns out that Micah works in one of the marketing departments at the company Devlin owns. They try so hard, but the sparkage continues, and Devlin, totally repressed and in the closet, secretly woos Micah. Then, a dreadful thing happens to Micah at the company, Devlin takes care of him, things change dramatically at the company, and the HEA is particularly sweet. Some books discuss important issues, and this is one of them. Micah is roofagra’d with Rohypnol and Viagra and raped by the female marketing director. Made me sick, but the bits with Devlin taking care of Micah, accepting where he was in his recovery, and etc. were well done.

Revenge is Sweet by Felice Stevens 4/25/23 4/26/23 Kindle

Lyon is literally left at the altar when is best friend calls to say that he and Lyon’s fiancée have eloped to Vegas. Lyon is livid and decides to take his revenge on Dan with Dan’s brother Miles, a sweet young man who owns a bookstore. Revenge changes to attraction, there are secondary stories of Lyon’s Uncle Harry and his friend Malcolm, and although this one was rather shallow and preachy, I still liked it a lot. Lyon’s motivation was childish and ridiculous, but Miles is sweet and it works out. HEA and caveat emptor re sex.

Deadly Lover: Special Edition by Jocelynn Drake 4/26/23 4/28/23 Kindle

I really love it when hitmen fall for each other – guns, knives, contracts, violence, then tender feelings and romance. Justin and Gabriel are hired together as a team to take out whoever killed two scientists who were discovering that a cancer drug was not all it is cracked up to be, with the deadline of doing it before the FDA approves the drug. They’re both attacked, work out who is behind it, take out the bad guys, and it’s left on a cliff hanger with Gabriel needing to close out some open bits of his life before he and Justin can be together. So, not even HFN, but lots of fun. There’s a short story attached at the end with them meeting up for a booty call in London, up against part of Gabriel’s past. After another night of lovin’, Justin wakes up in the flat alone, knowing that Gabriel will come to him when all his personal loose ends are tied up. Book two, Vengeful Lover, is already on the Kindle ready to go.

Make Me Fall by Riley Nash 4/26/23 4/28/23 Kindle

A young man gets upgraded to business class because he is kind, and he is seated next to a Very Hot Man. Jonah, the young man, babbles about how he’s confused about his sexuality, and they meet in the business class restroom for an experiment. Fast forward, and Jonah meets a man who is visiting his 1st year law class, and it turns out to be the him, the man in business class. Gray is attracted to Jonah but stays away until Jonah is at the end of his rope trying to stay in law school but hating it. Gray offers him an internship, which doesn’t work out, but their relationship does, sparkage and caring. It’s a wonderful story, with a beautiful HEA and lots of understanding and caring. I particularly like that Gray is not put off for one second that Jonah’s left arm is missing just above his elbow, and Jonah understands Gray’s insecurities and emotional needs. Young sunshiney and optimistic meets grumpy and repressed… Caveat emptor re sex.

And the Best Man Ran Away with the Groom by Isla Olsen 4/29/23 4/30/23 Kindle

This was a lot of fun, with Trent helping his best friend Jack escape out a window on the day he’s supposed to marry Xavier. Trent offers to go with Xavier on what was supposed to be his honeymoon trip. Trent’s straight, but not really… turns out he’s demisexual for Xavier and things get steamy quickly and once they get back after the two weeks they realize that it’s not just a fling and there’s a wonderful HEA. Caveat emptor re sex. I already knew most, but not all, of the Aussie slang, but it’s nice to have it after each chapter.

>248 lauralkeet: >249 karenmarie: >250 lauralkeet: I have decided I need a meaningful chocolate experience and now the See's website is loaded in my browser. Thanks to you all...and I am not being snarky.

>241 karenmarie: Great photos and I love the list of relatives. Maybe my next early-retirement activity will be to continue my Dad's ancestry work.

Happy Monday!

>254 karenmarie: HOLY MOLY!!! You have been busy, Karen!!!

You were a radiant bride, and Bill looks fine in his oh-so-suitable tux!!!

Ah, chocolate! I am a lately enamored lover of See's. I also eat any chocolate I can get, but Aldi's Belgian chocolates and their Choceur brand (product of Austria) are very good for little money.

Enjoy your day. I'm guessing that PT won't be a walk in the park today.

>254 karenmarie: Holy moly, Horrible! What a month.

Eli Easton has a shifter series that I liked called Howl at the Moon that starts out with a *Meh* outing but gets lots better after that. The first is called How to Howl at the Moon and it is just okay, but the second, How to Walk Like a Man, is outstanding.

Happy week ahead 's reads. I'm still having gout pain but double up the nasty, torturous meds to knock it down. Makes digestion sooo much fun! Not.

*smooch*

>249 karenmarie: We have See's readily available - well I think we do, it's possible the store on the Sepulveda at the corner closed & I'd have to go further (nope, still there minutes away), but what spoiled me for most other chocolates were the Pernigotti hazelnut, and other nut blends, single pieces from my 20s & 30s. Aside from Baby Ruth bars, most of the candies I prefer are not stocked as a regular thing.

>241 karenmarie: What a lovely wedding picture! I'm glad it worked out with what Bill wore.

Wow, that's quite a list of cousins! It is fun--and mind-blowing. Marie Antoinette sticks out, because she doesn't quite fit into the same kind of grouping as most of the rest. Of course, neither does Rosa Parks.

Congratulations on getting moved back upstairs! I hope PT went well today. And aside from PT, I hope you were able to get some rest today after all the excitement yesterday.

>249 karenmarie: I've never had See's chocolate that I know. Although my sister went to UCSD back in the late '70's/early '80's, and I remember going up to La Jolla with her when I visited, so maybe it's possible we had some there? I think we had chocolate, but I don't remember what it was.

You and >248 lauralkeet: have convinced me I need to try this. The temptation may just be too much.

>90 karenmarie: love the pics, and you on your (rocking) horse :) :) :)

>253 karenmarie: 41 books abandoned
I have abandoned at least 2 this year, which is good for me (I usually force myself to finish). I am maturing in my ability to leave well enough alone!

>254 karenmarie: that's just one month!!??? Wowsers. I was three books, if I recall correctly...although I did finish one today, so that's 4 really...lol.

Morning, Karen. Wow! It looks like you had a good reading month in April. I barely logged in 8, but happy with the quality. Of course, I had a good time with Jack yesterday. I am hoping to take him back on the trails on Friday. Off to Rehab duties soon. With the rain yesterday, I never tended to my feeders. I will do it when I get back home.

>250 lauralkeet: Oops, Laura! Didn’t reply to this yesterday. I’ve actually started rejecting Hershey’s chocolate bars, even chocolate bars with almonds, and the Godiva dark chocolate bunny wasn’t worth the calories either – You do know about the chocolate calorie-satisfaction sliding rule, right? If you don't hit at least the middle of the blue arrow, it's not worth it at all. *smile*



>256 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Oh yes, I’ve gotten my smut reading mojo back. Thanks re our wedding pic. Something we did for our wedding album that I’ve never seen anybody else do is that since it was a small wedding (but big reception), our photographer staged everybody, including the minister, outside the church after the wedding and we have a two-page-in-the-center photo of EVERYBODY. The album is upstairs, so I’ll have to remember to ask Jenna to bring it down since I can only navigate myself and a shoulder bag up/down stairs so far. But when she does, I’ll try to get a good pic of the pic. Yes to your new love of See’s. Nice to know about Aldi’s Belgian Chocolates and Choceur brand.

I do remember having a wonderful time with chocolate while in (what was then West) Germany in 1979.

PT was not fun, but when I told him that I overdid on Sunday what with making brekkie with Jenna, going grocery shopping, AND moving upstairs, he was somewhat gentle, if you call getting me to bend to 121° and pushing my knee down to get to 0° extension gentle. But I am still feeling it in my right knee even this morning and didn’t exercise or prone hang yesterday afternoon. I will exercise and prone hang today.

>257 richardderus: I know, RD! Lots of good books. I also abandoned 9 books for a total of 974 pages. I haven’t been so interested in shifter/omegaverse/vampire MM stuff so far, but @SilverWolf28 recommended C.W. Gray and Charlie Richards, so might check ‘em out along with Eli Easton’s shifter series. Because… why not? *smile*

Thanks re this week's reads. It’s all off the cuff, random hookups so to speak. I’m enjoying Friendly Fire by Cari Z right now, and should finish it this morning before I meet Rita the Librarian for lunch somewhere in the Pitt.

I hope that when I come over to your thread this morning I’ll read that The Gout has retreated completely, a Gout Rout, so to speak. *smooch*

>258 quondame: HI Susan. Never heard of Pernigotti… I love hazelnuts and love chocolate, but not always together. (Nutella… *shudder*) I love, love, love Baby Ruth Bars and bought a bag of minis a couple of weeks ago. They didn’t last long, and I've learned my lesson. Single bars, not bags of little bars.

>259 atozgrl: Hi Irene, and thank you. The link to Marie Antoinette is because I have a French ancestor, a Huguenot, Reynier "Rene" Thomas Piatt (Pyatt) (~1649-1705), who fled France to Holland, then to New Jersey. He’s my 7th great-grandfather. Our common ancestors are Frederik Oldenburg (1534-1588) / Queen Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow Queen of Denmark-Norway (1557-1631).

Rosa Parks – our common ancestors are Sir John Tyndall (1476-1542) / Amphyllis Coningsby (- 1533).

Moving upstairs is good. The bed is better for my back, and I actually slept 6.5 hours straight last night. Jenna still walked me downstairs.

>260 atozgrl: If you haven’t had See’s, you’re in for a treat. If you have but have forgotten, still a treat. Break down! Get See’s!

>261 LovingLit: Hi Megan. Thanks re the pics. Abandoning books has always made sense to me, but I know some people are more careful of what they start and either abandon fewer books or never any at all. Of course, with the genre I’m reading (MM romance), there are quite a few authors whose books I can’t stomach after starting because of poor writing, shallow characters, bad sex scene writing, unintentionally going into a sub-genre that has a serious yuck factor, or the ridiculousness of the plot.

As I wrote above, I’m stuck in MM romance and have been pretty much since last June. Thank God for Kindle Unlimited, because before I broke down and actually tried it, I’d spent over $600 on MF and MM romances after reading the Bridgerton series after watching the Bridgerton series. And Richard got me to try Love, Hate, and Clickbait, which got me started on MM romance.

Wordle 682 4/6* adieu, flour, bully, sulky

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As I mentioned above, I'm having lunch with Rita the Librarian today. I'd like Mexican, but she hasn't replied to my email from last night yet. Small Cafe is an option, too, but it's pretty expensive for what you get and I only want a grilled chicken breast sandwich and unsweet tea, which will most likely cost me $20 or so. But, whatever Rita wants is fine with me, and there are other options, too, that she knows about.

Jenna headed off to work on time and Bill's still sleeping. I'm coffee-ing and will visit a few threads before returning to my book and etc.

I am not even trying to catch up on threads, Karen. Just wanted to drop by and say "Hello!"

Hi Mark!

You snuck in while I was fine-tuning >263 karenmarie:. I’m still reading up a storm with MM romance. Quality, not quantity. Good for you. That’s my usual goal, but of course here I am, burning up Kindle Unlimited and spending an inordinate amount of time keeping my reading spreadsheet, my lightning round, and my smut spreadsheet caught up. *smile*

Yay for good times with Jack, and I hope Rehab is satisfying. My feeders are all filled up, and I’ve got a few visitors right now. Downy, Tufted Titmouse, a Carolina Chickadee, a sparrow of some sort. Jenna and I saw a hummingbird yesterday, but haven’t seen one yet today.

...
Well, Rita had to bail, so I might ask the head of the sort team to let me know when they're heading over to Virlie's and have them save me a seat. Not up for sorting yet, but still want to get out for late breakfast/early lunch today.

>263 karenmarie: Enjoy lunch out with Rita, and have a generally excellent Tuesday. Sorry to disappoint you but there's no gout rout to report. *sigh*

*smooch*

Hiya, RDear! Alas, Rita had to cancel, and I decided to do a bit of adulting and NOT go out to meet the book sort team just because I was at loose ends. Instead, I'm babying my knees, reading, and going to catalog more of the books I got at the book sale on April 1.

I'm sorry the gout has not gotten routed. Boo, hiss.

*smooch*

... and your hanging...? That too of course.

Blech. Yes, I need to do the exercises, AND the prone hang, darn it.

You're keeping me honest. So, first a bit of lunch to get my blood sugar back up, then exercises. 🙄

I just finished cataloging books that needed to be cataloged and got all the covers right - either finding a good quality user-uploaded one or scanning in and loading mine.

>269 karenmarie: You are being much more productive than I am. I need to review two books I've finished and figure out if I can publish the reviews to my poor neglected blog. Am I doing that? No I am not!

I'm planning on redeeming a free pizza because I don't want cabbage rolls for dinner. Plus Old Stuff is out getting drunk so I want a treat for not killing him.

My forbearance is epic, no?

Pizza is its own reward, and your forebearance for your future self NOT killing OS offsets not writing the reviews.

Cabbage rolls have their place, but not, perhaps today.

I exercised and spent 10.5 minutes torturing myself with the prone hang. Longest single time hanging and cramping. Ugh.

Pain for gain.

We're now watching Arsenal and Chelsea - Arsenal is up 3-0 at the half.

My new book is Alex and Malcolm.

>263 karenmarie: I do use Kindle Unlimited, but I've got such great libraries that I don't need to much more than just barely covers the cost.

>263 karenmarie: love that graphic, Karen. They say a picture is worth a thousand words ...

>271 karenmarie: I am very glad you did your hanging exercise. Less glad that it hurt, of course.

Glad your team won, too.

>263 karenmarie: Fascinating genealogy! I need to get cracking on looking into more of mine.

I'm looking at the See's website. I think I'll have to break down and place an order. But it may need to wait until next month. I've already spent more than usual on stuff that isn't a necessity for this credit card cycle. And we're planning to travel at the end of the month, so better to wait until we're back from that trip.

Hurray for sleeping in a bed again, and even more so for a good long sleep! I hope that continues!

>272 quondame: Hi Susan. For me, Kindle Unlimited has become a lifesaver. Funny, I’m President of the Friends of the Library AND on the book sale sort team, but rarely use the Library for it’s main purpose – loaning out resources.

>274 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura – I made it myself and had fun doing so.

>275 richardderus: Hiya, RDear. Ugh to the hang prone. Just, ugh. And yes for Arsenal winning. For me, having my team score early and often, like yesterday, makes the game more enjoyable. There is no stress. I don’t want good games where the outcome is left to the last, I want to stomp the opposition into the ground and enjoy the joy of knowing we’re going to win.

>276 atozgrl: Hi Irene! I spent a lot of time on genealogy in the 2000s, got stuck on a paternal ancestor. All of a sudden I found his father and therefore back to the first one to come to America and even his forebearers in England and Normandy plus the maternal lines.

Ah, yes, the See’s website. See’s newbie – perhaps a dark chocolate or milk chocolate assortment might be the best, although if you have specific flavors you like you can get a custom mix. It sounds like June will be a See’s month for you.

I like sleeping upstairs better. For one thing, it’s quieter because Bill’s sleeping habits have deteriorated dramatically in the last year and he’s in the Living Room with the TV on sometimes as late as 4 a.m. Even closing the door mostly (kitties) there’s still light and sound. Upstairs, I close the bedroom door even though I leave the hallway door to the bathroom open for Jenna and close the bathroom door to the bedroom (kitties again) so I don’t hear a thing. For another thing, the bed’s a real bed and better.

And, finally, and admitting this is like an alcoholic going to AA and saying “Hi, my name is ____ and I’m an alcoholic.”, if I’m upstairs I can’t get up in the middle of the night and go to the kitchen to get something to eat like I’d gotten in the habit of doing. Not every night, but still.

Wordle 683 3/6* adieu, drone, horde

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I have to take Inara to the vet this morning for this kidney/peeing stuff. Smallest carrier because I can't carry heavy things, and they already know that a vet tech will have to come to the car to take her in. They'll keep her most of the day, call when she's 'ready', and then they'll have to bring her out to the car, too. That on top of PT and visiting Louise makes for a busy day.

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. I am getting some birding in early today and then I need to get home and tend to the lawns. Everything is looking pretty scruffy. I started a small part-time job working for Door Dash-a food delivery service, dealing with mostly fast food. I switch vehicles with Sue, because it isn't practical to use my pick-up. It is only a couple of hours through lunchtime and I work whenever I want, which is perfect for me. My goal is 2-3 days a week. It will help me fund some of my birding adventures.

The feeder activity has been slow- I did spot a cardinal, a robin and a couple housefinch a few minutes ago.

'Morning, Mark! Happy Wednesday to you, too. Yay for birding. Sorry about scruffy lawns needing attention. Well. Door Dash. Anything for the birds, right?

Speaking of which, I've got Cardinals, a Downy, and the ever-present finches. Ah, a White-Breasted Nuthatch, too.

You are the Wordle Woman!!!!! Took me 5, including a guess to eliminate some consonants because I was in soup sea.

You do have a busy day lined up! Lulu sends sympathy to Inara. Me too.

>277 karenmarie: Humpday orisons, Horrible. I'm glad you can escape the dreadful light-and-sound monster. I've finally gotten through to Old Stuff that the TV goes off at 10p sharp or the next day is gonna be hellish for him. It's a relief.

I hope Inara's vet visit goes well today and that the treatment plan, whatever it may be, isn't too onerous.

>277 karenmarie: I hadn't considered it, but yes, being on a different floor than the kitchen did cut down the number of nighttime snack runs - though it's been longer than my marriage since I've shared a floor with the kitchen. Still, if I am hungry enough that it's interfering with getting to sleep, down I go.

Happy Thursday, Karen!

>241 karenmarie: Lovely wedding picture, your wedding dress looks perfect!
Sounds like you are having fun at FamilySearch.org, that is some list. Well I suppose if you get way back in time we are all related :-)

>253 karenmarie: Great stats, you are still going stong.

>277 karenmarie: I hope all went well with Inara at the vet.

>280 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Heh. Soup sea. Yesterday was very busy, report below. I got Wordle in 3 today, too. But I’m only 8 days off a skunk, as it so kindly reminds me each morning.

>281 richardderus: Hiya, RDear. My mother always called it the idiot box and would randomly walk into the living room, turn it off, and say “Do something else.” I want to re-read Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander. I got it and read it in 1978 and still have that copy on my shelves. I also have another book by him, as yet unread, In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations, which I had on my shelves by September 2008 – any time I have an entry date of March/April or September/October, I suspect that I got it at a Friends of the Library book sale.

I’m glad you’ve trained OS. How, pray tell, do you make his next day hellish, or is that a trade secret? *smile* and *smooch*

>282 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura – see below.

>283 quondame: Interesting about where you sleep vis-à-vis the kitchen, Susan. Let’s see… 15 times the bedroom was downstairs with the kitchen, 3 times the bedroom was upstairs and the kitchen downstairs in my life. Except for right now, when going downstairs is the biggest threat of a fall, I go downstairs if I’m hungry enough that it interferes with my sleep, too. Since I’ve lost 63 lbs, I don’t get too distraught if I eat in the night.

>284 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, and thank you. I love that dress – it was professionally dry cleaned and properly sealed in a very large protective box. I think it’s under the bed in the master bedroom.

Yes, we’re all related! Back to Mitochondrial Eve:

In human genetics, the Mitochondrial Eve (also mt-Eve, mt-MRCA) is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all living humans. In other words, she is defined as the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend in an unbroken line purely through their mothers and through the mothers of those mothers, back until all lines converge on one woman.

In terms of mitochondrial haplogroups, the mt-MRCA is situated at the divergence of macro-haplogroup L into L0 and L1–6. As of 2013, estimates on the age of this split ranged at around 155,000 years ago, consistent with a date later than the speciation of Homo sapiens but earlier than the recent out-of-Africa dispersal.

The male analog to the "Mitochondrial Eve" is the "Y-chromosomal Adam" (or Y-MRCA), the individual from whom all living humans are patrilineally descended. As the identity of both matrilineal and patrilineal MRCAs is dependent on genealogical history (pedigree collapse), they need not have lived at the same time. As of 2013, estimates for the age Y-MRCA are subject to substantial uncertainty, with a wide range of times from 180,000 to 580,000 years ago (with an estimated age of between 120,000 and 156,000 years ago, roughly consistent with the estimate for mt-MRCA.).

Wikipedia

And, a more recent article, from a different source: Mitochondrial Eve and Y-Chromosome Adam

I just love this stuff!

Thanks re my stats.

Wordle 684 3/6* adieu, punch, guppy

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I started 45 minutes before having to leave with Inara in a carrier for the vet. Got the carrier inside, got myself sorted, then went looking. Not in the Library, not in the Sunroom, and etc. downstairs. Sigh. Went upstairs, good leg first, couldn't find her anywhere, came back downstairs, surgery leg first (bad leg first). Was at a loss. Bill came out of the bedroom and on a whim I asked him if he had Inara. Yes, Inara had followed Wash in when Wash 'knocked' at the door. One "Grab her!" later, and she was unhappily in the carrier. Dropped her off by 8:45. I got home by 9, and the vet called me at 9:17 (gotta love cell phones!). They got a good urine sample, the sample was a mess, Inara needed antibiotics, which was no surprise, and the vet was surprised that Inara was down 2 lbs, to 7.6 lbs. Aging/muscle mass loss/etc. Understandable, Dr. Cindy just wanted me to be aware that these were normal signs of a very senior kitty. I know kitty heaven is on the horizon, just not yet. Finally, she wanted to give subcutaneous fluids since Inara was slightly dehydrated, and I could pick Inara up after about 45 minutes. So. Back to town at 10. They brought her out, brought out the bill, and the antibiotics. 5 tabs, 1/2 tab each day for the next 10 days. They kindly split the pills this time, too.

I opened the carrier when I got her inside the house, and she immediately went outside, frisky as all git out.

PT at 1 and visiting Louise from about 2:15 - 3:15. Home, prep boneless/skinless chicken breasts for Bill and Jenna and boneless/skinless chicken thighs for me for Lemon Chicken. Put 2 russets into the toaster oven, and we ate about 5:45. By then I was so tired that I fell asleep during Shakespeare & Hathaway and when Bill switched to soccer to try to keep me awake I fell asleep within a minute of that, so Jenna herded me upstairs after we gave Inara Meloxicam and the first day's antibiotic. Of course, getting organized and upstairs woke me up for a while. Dozed a bit more, but spoke with friend Karen in Montana - we usually speak 3-4 nights a week - and stayed up 'til midnight. Ended up getting ~5.5 hours of sleep.

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Today is a visit with my previous chiropractor at 3:15. As much as I like the demeanor and possible skill of Dr. B, the treatment lasted less than a day, so I called Dr. S's office. They're in an umbrella organization, so I got to speak with the receptionist I know. They transferred all my records, Candace spoke with Dr. S., and they understand that it might be difficult for me to get down onto the table so might need some help. NP, and Candace also scheduled a 30 minute appointment. Can't wait. Other than that, home, exercises, the abominable prone hang, reading, puttering.

I'm glad to hear Inara is okay, Karen, or as okay as a very senior kitty can be (been there). I'm sure the meds will keep her comfortable and content.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. We are rootin' for Inara! I had a busy but productive day yesterday and it will be more of the same today. I am going to sneak in some solo birding and then do some volunteer trash pick up at one of the preserves. I hope to get back to Trail Watch duties next week. I then plan to do Door Dash for lunch. I am glad that I can get in a nice chunk of reading for the afternoon. 70F today! Yah!

Sounds like a busy and good day for you, Mark! I hope you do get a good chunk of reading in this afternoon.

A male Cardinal is visiting the wild bird seed feeder, otherwise it's quiet.

>285 karenmarie: You butterfly you! Whiz here flit there zoom over yonder... what a day! Inara feeling zippy after being rehydrated is a good sign of health. Long may she shed her toxic spit.

No wonder you were so tuckered out. I'm glad that you and MT-Karen still got to have your chat, though. It's such a joy to have someone like that in your life.

Yay for the chiropractor visit being on the horizon. You need all the pain relief help you can get.

I love the fascinating stuff we're learning from DNA research. The common ancestor knowledge should have knocked racism entirely out yet people love their hating boost to self-esteem too much to give it up. Racism=stupidity, no exceptions or get-arounds. Mistrust of science ditto.

Anyway, have a lovely Thursday. *smooch*

>285 karenmarie: Oh, that's a busy day. I hope Inara stays perky. And that the chiropractor's ministrations do for more than a day.

I tried counting my own domiciles and got up to 15, 4 with my parents and 4 at college, so not that many as an independent adult.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350624

I visited with my sister yesterday, Karen and she and my mom had headed down to the States and purchased some See's Candies. My mom was out dogsitting my brother and SIL's dog for a couple of days, so there was no sharing of her chocolate stash. So precious are those See's Candies, my sister allowed me to chose one chocolate from her box and we cut it in half and discussed how good it was ! :-) Actually my sister is really nice, and she shared a couple of "lesser " chocolate with me too. The Covid" can't cross the border" took a toll on my mom and sister since they could not get down to the Washington State for See's Candies. Personally, I think I might prefer my Purdy's. I tried a Scotch Mallow and it was quite good.

I hope Inara stays lively and healthy for quite a while now, Karen.

>277 karenmarie: Thanks for the suggestions on what to choose from See's, since I'm definitely a newbie! I love dark chocolate, so that's probably the place to start. I also love truffles, and I see they have a box of those as well. I might have to break down and try both.

Fortunately, I don't get late evening or overnight cravings, so haven't had to worry about that. Although everywhere I've lived (except when I was in an apartment) had the bedroom upstairs and the kitchen down. Of course, now that I said that, I'll probably start getting cravings. :-P

I relate to needing the room dark to sleep. Any bit of light seems to bother me. (Why do all the modern electronics all have some kind of light to them?) But I'm afraid I'm the one who tends to be up late with the TV on in my household. I just don't wind down that early. I've got headphones and turn the sound on the TV off when Mr. A. wants to go to sleep earlier, so that helps. We've also got a white noise machine.

It sounds like you've had a busy couple of days! I'm glad to hear that Inara seems to be doing better. I hope the visit to the chiropractor went well! Sleep well tonight!

Good to see that you've graduated to the upstairs bedroom, Karen. You're making process for sure. Nice that the vet visit perked Inara up. Shakespeare and Hathaway is a fun series. I think, the best part is the assistant. Belated congrats to you and Bill on your wedding anniversary!

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday! Jackson Day for me and we will be hitting the trails. Sunny, 78F. Yah! I did put up my hummingbird feeder yesterday, although not many sightings in our area yet. I am also not seeing much diversity at my other feeders. I did have a male cowbird and red-bellied WP drop by, otherwise it is housefinch, sparrows, robins and cardinals.

>286 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. She spent yesterday morning on the couch cuddling with me, but has been active and vocal.

>289 richardderus: I know – too busy again this week. *blinks* thank you re Inara since I know you don’t even like thinking about the devil’s spawn.

I’ve known Karen since September of 1971, when I was a freshman at Pepperdine University, Los Angeles Campus, and she was a transfer junior. We lived on the same block of the women’s dorm, but our real connection came about because she was a journalism major when I was dating Michael, a journalism major. Socializing and partying… I still have some books on my shelves that she gave me when I graduated in 1975.

See below re the chiropractic visit.

I honestly don’t get the racism thing. It’s not only here in the mid-Atlantic in the slave-holding-and-seceeding-state of North Carolina, but really all over the US. Prejudice against and attempted extermination of Native Americans starting the second white people stepped foot in North America, prejudice against Latinx people starting in the Southwest and now all over the US, prejudice against Asians starting on the west coast and also spreading all over the US. Makes me sick.

*smooch*

>290 quondame: It was definitely a busy day, Susan. Inara is still perky – slept with me most of the night after meowing her 90-year-old-smoker’s-meow to get my attention so she’d get a free ride up to the bed. She can get up and down by herself because I’ve put a chair at the end of the bed, but still.

Two domiciles with my parents, 3 at college (one in the dorms, albeit different rooms, and an apartment near the campus and a small cottage in Redondo Beach).

>291 SilverWolf28: Thanks, Silver! I need to start participating, don’t I?

>292 vancouverdeb: Just your first sentence makes me envious, Deborah, visiting with your sister. Mine’s 2600 miles away from me. Anyway, sharing See’s and hoarding See’s are completely understandable. I’m glad you liked the Scotchmallow – I prefer the dark chocolate but the milk chocolate ones are probably the ones I first had growing up. I can understand preferring what you grew up on. I went over to the Purdy's website, just for S&G, but think that shipping will be more than the product, so hard pass for now. Thanks re Inara. She’s 16 and we go through this about once a year, but so far so good. I’m not a person to keep a pet around because I can’t make the tough love decision. I’ll know when we’re there, and I hope it’s 3-4 more years.

>293 atozgrl: Hi Irene! Yay for another dark chocolate lover. Truffles are usually a bit rich for my blood, although See’s in general are very rich – the chocolate is so smooth and the flavors so vibrant. No to overnight cravings. Don’t pay attention to anything I’ve said about that here. *smile*

It’s quite dark at night where I live always excepting the moon. Our little 15-house cul-de-sac subdivision has no street lights by design, and we were very vocal and upset when a neighboring subdivision put in street lights – but they did agree to get low-spread ones to satisfy some of the people who moved in there and us. I don’t see any light from them ever.

Bill used a fan as a white noise machine when we got married. It kept me awake, so he sacrificed it, along with the TV in the bedroom.

Yes, this week’s been too busy, again. See below re the chiropractor. I slept 5+ hours in one go again last night, but woke up and got myself downstairs just before Jenna left at 6:15 so I could say good bye to her.

>294 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg! Yes, it’s much better for my sleep and once I get these kinks out, will be better for my back, too. I love the assistant – Sebastian – too. Thanks re our wedding anniversary.

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The chiropractic visit went well – I caught her up on the surgery, recovery, and issues relating to my back, hip, and shoulder. She used heat, massage, and adjustments, including the thrust adjuster. She also put CBD ointment on my shoulder and lower back.

Best of all, I was going to ask about submitting to Medicare because at a minimum the shoulder pain is a result of the trauma of surgery, but she mentioned it first. I’m going back today and twice each week for the next two weeks at a minimum.

Wordle 685 4/6* Disclaimer: I used the 2,309 words list a lot today. adieu, prone, extol, below

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So today is the chiropractor at 11:15, PT at 1 p.m. I’m going to hang out in town and have lunch all by my lonesome because it doesn’t make sense to come home for 20 minutes between appointments. I’ve also got Alex the house cleaner coming today.

And this is absolutely hilarious to us: Jenna got invited by her boss Andrea and Andrea’s best friend Tim to go to what they called “redneck shit” tonight – aka a NASCAR race. Jenna agreed, which absolutely stunned me and rendered me speechless, after which I couldn’t stop giggling. I’ve always said that NASCAR is simply a very long left turn.

However, Bill’s grandmother and mother were both serious NASCAR fans, especially of driver Bill Elliott. So last night we pulled out the Bill Elliot Pitt Crew jacket that Bill’s mom got from Bill Elliott in 1998. I made Jenna model it and she sent a pic of herself in it to Andrea. She and Tim went nuts.

'Morning, Mark! Happy Friday to you, too. Yay for you and Jackson on the trails with good weather.

Glad you got the feeder up and filled up your other feeders. It's quiet here right now, between first and second breakfast, I think.

>241 karenmarie: What fun photos! All those happy people :)

>271 karenmarie: Good job on the difficult workout. It sounds like you are healing nice and fast and PT is working well.

>296 karenmarie: What a nifty jacket! nice!

Have a great weekend!

I LOVE the pics of Jenna in NASCAR heaven. Like you, I don't understand it at all, but I hope she has fun tonight.

I don't think I spoke to you anywhere yesterday although I came by here. You have been and are very busy. We're fine. Mama had the best day yesterday in some time after unconsciously instigating a meltdown for me on Wednesday. It is up and down, but we hope for another good one today!

Would you believe a 3 in Wordle today? I have no idea how that happened. It certainly wasn't logic or list.

And ---- my DH has pulled a favorite jigsaw puzzle down from the attic. At a frenzied pace of 10 pieces added a day (which I definitely won't do), I should finish in September????

>298 figsfromthistle: Hi Figs, and thanks. I am healing nicely, and PT is not fun but coming along. I'd forgotten about the NASCAR jacket, so it was a hoot to pull it out. Thanks re our weekend - it will be quiet, which is as I like it. I hope you have a great weekend too.

>299 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy! Heh. NASCAR heaven. I'm sorry you had a meltdown, my dear, and hope you're back on an even keel today. I hope your mama has another good day. Yay for Wordle in 3. Sometimes it's just magic. Wow. A huge jigsaw puzzle. Go for it! And, dare I say it? Better you than me - I don't have the patience for them.

...
Back from the chiropractor, lunch, and PT. Alex the house cleaner will be leaving in about 30 minutes or so, then I can relax.

Onward - creating thread #5, so give me a few minutes over there.

>296 karenmarie: I am so envious that you live on a street with no street lights. I want to be able to step outside of my house and look at the stars at night!

How interesting that fan noise bothers you. When I was young, I remember one day when I was trying to read and the traffic noise outside was bothering me, so I got up and turned on the fan to drown it out, even though we didn't need a fan for comfort. After that, I used a fan a lot to help me sleep. The white noise helps me. Sorry to hear it had the opposite effect on you.

Yikes! Jenna has to leave for work at 6:15? I'm so glad I'm retired now and don't have to get up so early any more. Of course, by the time I retired I wasn't getting up that early any more!

It sounds like the chiropractor helped! Hopefully you'll be feeling better soon.

NASCAR! I don't get it either. But Jenna looks good in those pics!