karenmarie reading and occasional nonsense in 2026 - Part I

Welcome to my first thread of 2026. I’ve recycled the theme from my threads of 2017, which I saw SuziQoregon use in 2016 and liked. I’m up for nonsense and reading to help dull the pain of where out country is this January of 2026.

Eight ways to describe me and books: bibliolater, bibliomaniac, bibliophile, lectiophiliac, bookworm, Book Dragon, biblioflâneuse, and librocubicularist.

Book Worm, Book Dragon, Book Angel

If you cut me open, you will find volume after volume, page after page, the contents of every one I have ever read, somehow transmuted and transformed into me. Alice in Wonderland. the Magic Faraway Tree. The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Book of Job. Bleak House. Wuthering Heights. The Complete Poems of W H Auden. The Tale of Mr Tod. Howard''s End. What a strange person I must be. But if the books I have read have helped to form me, then probably nobody else who ever lived has read exactly the same books, all the same books and only the same books as me. So just as my genes and the soul within me make me uniquely me, so I am the unique sum of the books I have read. I am my literary DNA.

Howard's End on the Landing by Susan Hill

The Good: Family, friends, kitties, books, and soccer in constantly-rotating order. Smut, of course, and book sort team and sales/Friends of the Library.

The Bad: The chaos of illiterate people, illiterate people in power, the world allowing the threat of fascism again, and most religions and their pursuit of a world with only their religion in it.

The Shadenfreude: The New York Times reports DJT’s approval rating on December 31, 2025 as 42%.

From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock. This information was published on January 29th when the clock was set to 89 seconds before midnight, apocalypse. 89 seconds is the shortest time to apocalypse since the clock was created in 1945. Rather than try to quote parts or even the whole thing, I’m going to provide the link for those with the stomach to read it: Doomsday Clock 2025

The ugly: Everything political in the US at the national level and quite a bit at the local level in almost every state.

I read and am a charter member of the Redbud and Beyond Book Club, started in 1997. This is the schedule for our 2025-2026 Book Club Year.
Jul – Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro **abandoned at 56%**
Aug – The Awakening by Kate Chopin – read in my 20s, remembered the ending, and just no
Sep – Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie – read the intro and first chapter and no again
Oct – The Future by Naomi Alderman – loved it. Gave it 4.5 stars.
Nov – The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - abandoned
Dec – Yellowface by RF Kuang – appreciated the writing, loved how the MC was portrayed, although I disliked her
Jan – How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith – loved his method of 7 different places, lots of good info 4.5*
Feb – Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope - OMG. Word vomit. I bailed after 10 pages.
Mar – The Women by Kristin Hannah
April – How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
May – book selection for 2026-2027

I have been married to Bill for 34 years. I am mother to Jenna, who turned 32 last August and is married to Hwan, who turned 30 last June. Bio daughter and bonus daughter have moved to Washington State. I’m happy for them. I’m unhappy that they are 3 time zones away from me.

The Pomeroy children: me, brother Doug, and sister Laura circa 1959 in Hawthorne, California.



Zoe and Wash, March of 2020 in a rare moment of peacefully sharing the kitty condo.



My goal is still conservative, 250 books, but more than last year’s goal of 200. I still really, really enjoy reading MM romance – aka smut – and will continue until it no longer interests me. It’s getting more challenging to find books as I’ve refined my targeted trope(s), but I’ve become a great detective.





News avoidance is still about 85-90% of the time.

And, finally, I always, always need to remember to express gratitude for what I have - family, friends, intangibles and tangibles - every single day.

Currently Reading:
The Long Game by Rachel Reid 2/7/26 Mine Shane and Ilya Game Changers 6 2022
Breathe by Sophia Soames 2/7/26 Kindle Unlimited Ryan and Luke London Love 1 2021
Rothko: The Color Field Paintings by Janet Bishop 2017
The Women by Kristin Hannah 2/8/26 hardcover 465 pages 2024
The American Civil War by Professor Gary W Gallagher The Teaching Company 2000 24 hours mine
The Federalist edited by Jacob E. Cooke 5/28/22 656 pages hardcover 1961

001. 3.50* An Omega for Christmas by Sam Abbot 12/31/25 1/1/26 87 pages 2017 ebook KU Matthew and Grey Alpha and Omega Stories 5
002. 3.80* Ruined by the Bodyguard by Jenny Pineapple 1/1/26 1/1/26 167 pages 2025 ebook KU Grayson and Wyatt
003. 4.20* Unhinged by Onley James 12/30/25 1/1/26 306 pages Kindle Adam and Noah Necessary Evils 1 2021 *reread* mine
004. 3.40* Pascal and the Forger by Avril Ashton 1/2/26 1/3/26 274 pages Kindle Mathieu and Win 2023
005. 4.00* Psycho by Onley James 1/1/26 2/3/36 283 pages Kindle August and Lucas Necessary Evils 1 2021 *reread* mine
006. 2.80* Anonymous Alpha by MM Farmer 1/3/26 1/4/26 233 pages Kindle Evan and Sable Bangers & Mash 7 2023
007. 3.20* The Wrong Omega by MM Farmer 1/4/26 1/5/26 232 pages Kindle Ty and Winslow Bangers & Mash 2 2022
008. 4.00* Top Secret by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy 1/5/26 1/7/26 272 pages Kindle LobsterShorts and Sinner 2023
009. 4.00* Ruthless Titan by EV Olsen 1/7/26 1/8/26 406 pages Kindle Ryan and Connor North Shore Titans Hockey 6 2025
010. 3.70* Masked Marionette by EV Olsen 1/9/26 1/9/26 88 pages Kindle Jasper and Adrian 2024
011. 2.50* Apple Pie by West Greene 1/9/26 1/9/26 27 pages Kindle Noah and Lincoln Slice of Forever 1 2022
**abandoned Alpha Unleashed: Two Werewolves for Sebastian by DJ Heart ** 283 pages
**abandoned Christmas Heat by MM Farmer ** 148 pages
012. 4.60* How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith 12/30/25 1/11/26 hardcover 293 pages and Kindle 2021
013. 4.30* Saddle to Sunup by Emmy Sanders 1/10/26 1/11/26 315 pages Kindle Oakley and Lawson The Darling Brothers 3 2025
**abandoned Alpha's Claim by Oliver Kingsley ** 121 pages
**abandoned The Holiday Exchange by Christina Lee ** 52 pages
**abandoned Salad on the Side by Karenna Colcroft ** 88 pages
014. 4.80* Finance Bros by August Jones 1/12/26 1/13/26 448 pages Kindle Ryan and Malcolm Bay Area Bros 1 2025
015. 4.85* The Liar's Reckoning by August Jones 1/13/26 1/15/26 605 pages Kindle Unlimited Silas and Graham Doormen of the Upper East Side 4 2025
016. 3.80* Money Shot by Eden Finley and Saxon James 1/15/26 1/15/26 314 pages Kindle Unlimited Finn and Curtis 2025
017. 4.10* Game Changer by Rachel Reid 1/16/26 1/16/25 378 pages Kindle mine Scott and Kip Game Changers 1 2018
018. 4.90* Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 1/16/26 1/17/26 342 pages Kindle mine Shane and Ilya Game Changers 2 2019
019. 4.00* Tough Guy by Rachel Reid 1/17/26 1/18/26 288 pages Kindle mine Ryan and Fabian Game Changers 3 2020
020. 4.40* Heartbreak Hockey by S Legend 1/18/26 1/19/26 438 pages Kindle Unlimited Jack and Mercy Heartbreak Hockey 1 2023
021. 4.00* Common Goal by Rachel Reid 1/19/26 1/20/26 320 pages Kindle mine Kyle and Eric Game Changers 4 2024
022. 4.20* Ice Dance Hockey by S Legend 1/21/26 1/23/26 463 pages Kindle Unlimited Rhett and Logan Heartbreak Hockey 2 2024
**abandoned A Cowboy Holiday by Lane Hayes ** 87 pages Sickeningly sweet.
**abandoned The Curse Before Christmas by Eli Easton ** 97 pages Ugh. Krampus doll
023. 4.00* Breakneck Hockey by S Legend 1/23/26 1/25/26 427 pages Kindle Unlimited Casey and Sutter Heartbreak Hockey 3 2024
024. 3.70* Hidden Scars by Andi Jaxon 1/26/26 1/26/26 456 pages Kindle Unlimited Preston and Jeremy Darby U Hockey Boys 1 2022
025. 3.60* Textual Confusion by Fifer Rose 1/27/26 1/27/26 Kindle Unlimited Asher and Marcus 2024 **reread**
**abandoned Iced Out by CE Ricci ** 142 pages
026. 4.70* Bean by Nora Phoenix and EM Lindsey 1/27/26 1/27/26 322 pages Kindle Unlimited Bean and Jarek Honorably Discharged 2 2024
**abandoned Omega for Rent by Liam Kingsley ** 108 pages
027. 3.20* The Quirky Vet by Casey Cox 1/27/26 1/28/26 214 pages Kindle Unlimited Muir and Fitz Vet Shop Boys Down Under 2 2024
**abandoned Iced Out by CE Ricci ** 142 pages
**Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope ** 10 pages
028. 4.90* Heart by Jesse H Reign 1/29/26 1/30/26 344 pages Kindle Connor and Lennon 2026
**abandoned His Pretty Omega by Raven Matthews ** 189 pages Emotions too strong too early. A bit twee.
**abandoned The Billionaire Bear's Feisty Fox by Asher Wylde ** 132 pages
**abandoned Hawk by Jacki James ** 51 pages
**abandoned Too Hot to Handle by JD Light ** 27 pages
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
029. 4.20* EWB (Enemies with Benefits) by NR Walker 1/31/26 2/1/26 353 pages Kindle Unlimited Marshall and Valentine reread 2023
030. 4.40* Switched by NR Walker 2/1/26 2/2/26 277 pages Kindle Unlimited Israel and Sam 2016
**abandoned Puck Hard by Brooklyn Cate** 117 pages
031. 4.30* Darling by Scarlett Drake 2/2/26 2/3/26 366 pages Kindle Unlimited Christian and Asher Famous Young Things 3 2025
032. 3.90* Pretty Mess by Lily Morton 2/3/26 2/4/26 418 pages Kindle Unlimited Wes and Cormac 2025
033. 2.50* Omega's Forever Home by Lacey Daize 2/4/26 2/5/26 108 pages Kindle Unlimited Kent and Beau Harris Cove Billionaires 1 2021
034. 3.80* Omega's Flaw by Sasha Silsbury 2/5/26 2/6/26 234 pages Kindle Unlimited Jamie and Carter Prime Match 5 2026
035. 4.30* Role Model by Rachel Reid 2/5/26 2/7/26 341 pages Kindle mine Troy and Harris Game Changers 5 2021

read 2

adds

1. Kindle - Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by Himself
2. Audible - A Coin for the Ferryman by Megan Edwards, narrated by Mark Ashby
3. FoCCL - Wilmington's Lie by David Zucchino
4. FoCCL - The Worst Case Scenario: Expert Advise for Extreme Situations by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
5. FoCCL - Animal Farm: The Rest of the Story by Forrest C. Greenslade, PHD
6. FoCCL - O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker
7. FoCCL - Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb by Roberta Kalechofsky
8. FoCCL - Captain's Dinner by Adam Cohen
9. FoCCL - The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly
10. Kindle - Apple Pie by West Greene
11. Kindle - Game Changer by Rachel Reid
12. Kindle - Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
13. Kindle - Tough Guy by Rachel Reid
14. Kindle - Common Goal by Rachel Reid
15. FoCCL - Arcane Carolinas: Folklore, Urban Legends, and Tales of Modern Weird from the Carolinas Volume 1 by Charlie Mewshaw
16. Audible - Up the Down Staircase by Bell Kaufman narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
17. Audible - The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution by Barbara Tuchman, narrated by Wanda McFaddon
18. Audible - The Island at the Edge of the World: The Forgotten History of Easter Island by Mike Pitts
19. Kindle - Role Model by Rachel Reid
20. Kindle - The Long Game by Rachel Reid
21. FoCCL - Islam by Karen Armstrong
22. FoCCL - Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen

culls

1. If You Exist by Lillian Moats
2. The Jumblies by Edward Lear Drawings by Edward Gorey
3. Chasing Shakespeares by Sarah Smith
4. Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews
5. Dear Committee Members by Julia Schumacker
6. Wet Pussies: Hilarious Snaps of Damp Cats by Charlie Ellis
7. Big Cocks: Hilarious Snaps of Prominent Poultry by Charlie Ellis
8. Calico by Lee Goldberg

YTD Statistics through December 2025

419 books read
387.5 ebooks, 23 audio books, 8.5 paper books
97893 pages in completed books
213.5 hours in completed audio books
173 books abandoned, 19594 pages abandoned, 26.5 hours abandoned

117487 total pages read

Avg pages read per day, incl books abandoned: YTD = 322
Avg pages read per book, only those completed: YTD = 234

Book(s) of the Month:
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
Tilt by Emma Pattee
Dance of Defiance by Jagger Cole

Books by Month
January: 26 books read - 18 ebooks, 4 audio books, 5 paper books
February: 24 books read - 21 ebooks, 4 audio books, 0 paper books
March: 36 books read - 34 e-books, 1 audio book, 1 paper book
April: 37 books read - 35 e-books, 2 audio books, 0 paper books
May: 43 books read - 41 e-books, 2 audio books, 1 paper book
June: 37 books read - 35 e-books, 2 audio books, 0 paper books
July: 39 books read - 37 e-books, 2 audio books, 0 paper books
August: 42 books read - 37 e-books, 5 audio books, 0 paper books
September: 30 books read - 30 e-books, 0 audio books, 0 paper books
October: 43 e-books read, 0 audio books, 2 paper books
November: 28 e-books read, 3 audio books, 1 paper book
December: 27 e-books, 0 audio books, 1 paper books

Author
Male 10%
Female 72%
Undeclared * 16%
Non-Binary 2%
* - can't find info anywhere

Living 99%
Dead 1%

US Born 33%
Foreign Born 14%
Undeclared * 53%
* - can't find info anywhere

Medium
Audio Book 6%
e-Book 92%
Paper Book 2%

Source
My Library 12%
Library 0%
Kindle Unlimited 88%
Borrowed 0%

Misc
Galley Proof 0%
Re-read 3%
Series 78%

Fiction 99%
NonFiction 1%

Author Birth Country
Australia 3%
Britain 1%
Canada 3%
China 1%
Czechoslovakia 1%
England 2%
Finland 1%
Germany 1%
Grenada 1%
Netherlands 1%
New Zealand 1%
Nigeria 1%
Puerto Rico 1%
Scotland 1%
UK 2%
Undeclared * 45%
US 33%
Wales 1%
* - can't find info anywhere

Original Decade Published
1870-1879 1%
1940-1949 1%
1980-1989 1%
1990-1999 1%
2010-2019 18%
2020-2025 78%

Genre
Contemporary Fiction 1%
Crime Fiction 1%
Historical Fiction 1%
History 1%
Humor 1%
Informational Nonfiction 1%
Memoir 1%
MM/MMM/MMMM Romance 93%

Average Rating
0.5 3
2.0 - Bad 10
2.5 - Average 23
3.0 - Good 40
3.5 - Very Good 112
4.0 - Excellent 189
4.5 - Outstanding 41
5 - Masterpiece 1

Average Rating 3.67
Books acquired YTD (last year 306) 361
Books culled YTD (last year 219) 193

5895 books cataloged on 12/31/24
6240 books cataloged on 12/31/25

December 2025 Lightning Round

Any in bold are NOT MM romances, few and far between as they are.

Quite a few of the smut books have warnings about triggers that I don’t mention here. Caveat emptor re triggers if you want to dip your toes in.

Muscle and Bone by Mary Calmes 12/1/25 12/3/25 322 pages Kindle

Omega Avery, a detective and omega pretending to be a beta, is at a party at his parents’ when he meets Graeme, an alpha billionaire head-of-pack and etc. They realize they’re fated mates right away yet have things to work through – Avery afraid of giving up his autonomy and expected to be a stay-at-home partner/dad and Graeme, realizing he needs to give up total control in order to keep Avery. Oh, and there’s a mystery, with two murders, pack politics and cultural pressures, and etc. Highly satisfactory, with depth and thoughtful discussions about relationships and love. Caveat emptor re sex.

John Wilder Gets Schooled by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey 12/3/25 12/4/25 228 pages Kindle

John, who goes by Wilder, is a single dad, working 2 jobs, trying to make ends meet. His parents kicked him out when he wouldn’t marry his girlfriend. He took the blame even though neither wanted to get married and she wanted to go to college. He has an adorable 5-year old, Gracie, who is just starting kindergarten. Her new teacher is Avery, new to teaching, new to town. He disapproves of Wilder because he’s late bringing Gracie and forgot snacks the first day, and is frequently late the rest of the first week. Imagine Avery’s surprise to see Wilder stripping at the bar Avery’s coworkers go to every week on Friday. One of them pays for Avery to get a lap dance, but it’s not until Wilder’s straddling Avery that they recognize each other. And it goes from there. Avery has bought the house next door. Getting acquainted as neighbors and then Wilder hurting his hand with no one else around and screaming for Avery, really get things going, because under the influence of Percocet Wilder kisses Avery and tells him how pretty he is. Wilder’s nominally straight, so we’ve got a bi-awakening happening, and Avery’s happy to school Wilder. Lust becomes love, becomes everything for both of them. His parents and her parents, disapproving and lurking in the background, never got more airplay than that, fortunately. I’m always one for schadenfreude, but this book doesn’t go there. It’s all the better for it, given all the other positives in this book. Wilder’s roomates/found family are quirky and lovable, and there are quite a few steamy times for Avery and Wilder. Caveat emptor re sex.

With George, 3 novellas by Mary Calmes

Just George 12/4/25 12/4/25 60 pages Kindle George is Army reserve, a black ops guy who goes in when he has to. At home he’s a high-level security guard for a huge corporation CEO’s 17-year old goddaughter Hannah. They are attending a charity event and in the limousine George meets Hannah’s therapist, Kurt, who she thinks it would be nice for George to know and perhaps date. They immediately start bickering, but at the event they care for one another – George helps with Kurt’s panic attack and Kurt tries to cater to George even though George is there to guard Hannah. George only wants hookups and Kurt wants a relationship. Before anything more can happen however, a friend of Hannah’s gets kidnapped. George, being George, goes out to rescue him, Hannah trailing behind. And George, being adept at all forms of security, murder, and mayhem, kills 3 and incapacitates one. Boy rescued, Hannah helping. George and Kurt start dating. Caveat emptor re sex.

Wintering with George 12/4/25 12/4/25 120 pages Kindle George is going to spend the holidays with Kurt’s sister/husband/2 kids. The parents have gone out, leaving the boys home alone. They’re old enough to leave at home, after all. However, when Kurt and George get there, George is suspicious of O, so many things. Kurt goes in the front and is confronted with bad guys and boys held at gunpoint. George goes around the back with Kurt’s two Doberman Pinschers, breaks in, with murder and mayhem against the bad guys resulting. Cops and FBI come, bodies and bad guys are escorted out, bloodied furniture and rug removed. Family is panicked, George calls a Very Good Black Ops Guy/Very Morally Gray friend of his to find out what’s going on and arrange for all 6 of them to escape and hide before more bad guys come. He does, they do. Christmas is spent at a chalet hidden away. The family starts being honest with one another and George and Kurt get engaged. ‘Wintering with George’ refers to ‘wintering’ with blankets, comfort food, and movies. Having been in foster care, these are important to him and he teaches Kurt, and Kurt’s sister/family the importance of this downtime. Good communications lessons, sweet proposal, caveat emptor re sex.

George's Big Day by Mary Calmes 12/5/25 12/6/25 122 pages Kindle George and Kurt are finally getting married, but first need help from all their black ops, FBI, CIA, and assorted other high-powered friends in order to foil various and sundry plots to maim, kidnap, or kill one or more invited guests or George. Way too much discussion about George being pissed off at his wedding day possibly getting derailed. A bit of discussion about how Kurt has to cope when George is deployed. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned You & I, Rewritten by Chip Pons ** 120 pages

New marketing executive has the hots for the CEO/owner of a prestigious firm. They have a few miscues but eventually start dating. It didn’t grab me, and frankly, it seemed weird that the employee was the dominant partner in the bedroom. *shrug* Caveat emptor re sex.

Timing by Mary Calmes 12/6/25 12/6/25 233 pages Kindle

Marketing exec Stefan is coerced by his boss to go to Texas to talk the last holdout to sell her farm to the consortium that has fronted money to other farms. It’s puzzling, but Stefan agrees to tack on a morning visit to his best friend’s wedding week. Her brother, Rand, and Stefan have been enemies for 10 years, but it turns out that supposedly-straight Rand has actually been pining for Stefan for that entire time. And Lo! Behold! Stefan has had crush on Rand for the same time. Rand is happy to switch teams, and he and Stefan start a serious relationship at his farm as the wedding preparations go on. Stefan also visits the hold out, a grandmother who he actually talks into selling. Unfortunately, there re some nefarious doings going in the background and Stefan’s life is in trouble. Rand simply won’t stand for this, and when things get dicey, he comes to the rescue with cops and sheriffs. Caveat emptor re sex.

Frog by Mary Calmes 12/6/25 12/7/25 162 pages Kindle

Web and Cyrus met 3 years ago, had instant explosive chemistry. Weber rides the circuit, Cyrus is a neurosurgeon in SF. Weber calls Cyrus, wet, cold, no money, when he comes through San Francisco on his way to Alaska. He’s 44, has never made it big, and just can’t go through another season. Cyrus is frantic to get Web to his house, take care of him, and persuade him to finally stay, finally let Cyrus help him. Web is ornery and proud, but is beat down and agrees to stay for a few days. Cyrus’s sister shows up with her three children the next day, frantic because her husband left with the nanny. Web is good with children and animals, and the three boys are instantly in love with him. Sister needs a nnny, Web agrees to helping out for 2 weeks until he needs to leave for Alaska. This makes Cyrus happy. Web starts taking over the running of the house and taking care of Cyrus, his sister and the three boys. Cyrus and Web each have to change their mindset – Web to believe that he’s worthy of being loved by Cyrus and become a house husband whose responsibility is the emotional and physical well-being of all 5. Cyrus has to trust that Web won’t leave, wants it to be forever, and trusts that he’s who Cyrus wants. This one was absolutely stunning because of the emotional breadth of the writing. The three boys were wonderfully written, especially Micah, who had been traumatized 6 months earlier when his grandmother had died in front of his eyes and he became selectively mute. Web provides the physical and emotional trust for Micah to start talking again… Caveat emptor re sex.

Red Dirt Heart by NR Walker 12/7/25 12/7/25 180 pages Kindle Travis owns one of the largest station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Every year they host an agronomy student for a month. This year it’s Travis, an American. Travis fits right in, is attracted to Charlie. Charlie’s not exactly out of the closet, but he heads to far-away towns to hook up. He’s attracted to Travis too, and they secretly hook up. Travis goes out to bring in some strays but only his horse returns. Charlie and all the hands and the neighbor’s hands try to find Travis, and they’re just about ready to give up and just look for his body when one of the ranch hands finds him. He cannot return when he’s supposed to because he’s so dehydrated and has a torn ACL. He asks Charlie to ask him to stay. Charlie resists until he can’t, and they get a very sweet and sexy HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

More than Life by Mary Calmes 12/7/25 12/8/25 348 pages Kindle

Hart is in a relationship with Lee on Lee’s ranch in Wyoming. One day Lee snaps, beats up Hart, deeds the ranch to him and disappears. Five years later Hart and the foreman and ranch hands have turned the ranch profitable, making part of it a wedding venue, part still a working ranch. In the meantime, the son of a neighboring rancher has been killed on Hart’s land. There’s a question of easement rights, and Hart is still being questioned about it 6 months later. Hart’s secretly been in love with Morgan, the foreman of the ranch. Turns out Morgan has been secretly in love with Hart. Between keeping Hart safe and keeping the ranch going and dealing with Lee when he returns and trying to figure out who killed the neighbor’s son, the book is quite busy. However, it works because the characters are so vivid, the dialog a riot, and we need to kow who killed the neighbor’s son. Oh, and gotta find out what happens to Lee. Caveat emptor re sex.

Deviant by Cora Rose and Lark Taylor 12/8/25 12/9/25 312 pages Kindle

Second in a series about 6 brothers, all abused by their father, all with … quirks … The father is dead, the sons all have money and legitimate businesses and a secret ‘charity’ where someone can put a note behind a brick at a church with a request. The request gets granted, but the requestor has to be willing to be called upon to return the favor, whatever the favor is, unquestioningly. Ansel has pissed off a dangerous cartel. They’re forcing him to kidnap ‘Brad’ so they won’t kill him, so when Ansel goes to the bar as requested and there’s a Brad there, he kidnaps him. It turns out that Brad is one of the Buckingham brothers. Cade obsesses over Ansel because he’s a sociopath, but the instalust between them is undeniable. Cade wants to keep Ansel. Ansel goes with him, meets the brothers. The cartel comes after Ansel again, the brothers step in, Cade and Asel get their HEA. The dialog is quirky and laugh-out-loud over the top, it’s a mystery and a romance, and the ending sets the stage for another Buckingham brother to fall in love, this time with Ansel’s friend Neo. Caveat emptor re sex. And sex. And sex.

Sixty Five Hours by Mary Calmes Kindle

Cameron is the son of a marketing firm’s owner and Lucas has been hired in an equal role as the son. They despise each other on sight, but most of that is Cameron’s reaction to Lucas telling them he’s gay and is that a problem? It’s not. They each have their projects, but they’re called in to create a campaign in sixty five hours to woo a sex toys and supplies company. Between the campaign and really spending time together and Cameron coming out to Lucas and them spending intimate time together, they win the campaign, and are on the road to falling in love. Sweet and steamy. Caveat emptor re sex.

Yellowface by RF Kuang 11/11/25 12/13/25 318 pages Kindle

I was going to write a review, but don’t have much more to say than Juniper stole Athena’s manuscript after Athena had died in front of her. She made it publishable, got it published, became the darling of the publishing world, and dealt with her feelings about Athena and the fallout from the rumors that she stole Athena’s work. I did not like Juniper Song, I did not like Athena, I certainly did not like the probably true description of how books are chosen to be published and the bad luck or luck of the draw that lets an author’s work be timed right, be PC, be whatever. I started to go to the next chapter, but realized that the book had ended… I do admit that the fallout from the final scenes made for some interesting interpretation.

Ice Around the Edges by Mary Calmes 12/11/25 12/11/25 56 pages Kindle

Evan is shot where he works at a homeless shelter. While in the hospital, his ex, Dixon shows up, wanting to fix the major misunderstanding that ruined their relationship 10 years previously. Evan has never stopped loving Dixon, Dixon certainly has never stopped loving Evan. Short and sweet, detailed enough to make sense, vivid characters, and a HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

Claimed by the French Mafia Boss by WR Vale 12/11/25 12/12/25 290 pages Kindle

Gabriel is an omega who owns a pastries shop. He doesn’t know his dead father and his very-much-alive brother have racked up more debt than can be paid off in a dozen lifetimes. Alexandre, an alpha, is the owner of the debt and teaches Gabriel what he’s up against by trashing the shop. However, he’s attracted to Gabriel. Another crime family is encroaching on Alexandre’s territory and there’s a battle for the shop and Gabriel. Way too much description of their scents, way too much time explaining how Gabriel learns to love Alexandre. And mpreg. Caveat emptor mostly implied sex, which is also possibly a reason I didn’t particularly get immersed in this one.

**abandoned Trust Fund Baby by Aiden Bates ** 107 pages

Omegaverse romance, not strong enough or with provocative enough characters to interest me. I think I’m jaded…

Christmas Mafia Prince by KA Merikan 12/13/25 Kindle

Killian is a 21-year-old twink who has made sooo many bad choices since his parents kicked him out when he was 16. His most recent one is coming to hit him when he asks the gorgeous guy, Damen, to pretend to be his boyfriend. Damen does, and outside the bar dispatches Happy (unfortunate name), to Killian’s shock and wonder. Damen decides to offer Killian the opportunity of a lifetime by pretending to be his husband for a visit to Damen’s family for Christmas. Killian does not know this involves the crime family’s Christmas hunt, where some of the criminals that would otherwise be killed are kept in order to allow the married men of the family to hunt them. I know… Merikan writes bizarre scenarios. Occasionally, I love to read a book by her because it’s so over the top. In this one Damen protects Killian from his family, and both come to realize that their fake marriage can and should be real. Murder and mayhem aside, they get their HEA. Caveat emptor violence and sex.

Murder Under the Mistletoe by RS McKenzie and Lee McCormick 12/14/25 12/15/25 148 pages Kindle

Remi has an off-and-on again relationship with a terrible man named Trevor. They’re going to the cabin at the end of the street that … well… Streeter … 😊 lives on. Streeter starts having a bad day, Trevor contributes to it, and being a psychopath, Streeter decides that he’ll kill Trevor and the twink. When he gets there he sees that Trevor has brought 4 friends, and their intentions towards Remi are evil. Streeter does not like rapists, and he kills all five men. He’s going to kill Remi but decides not to. They get the bodies out of the house, clean everything, then spend the rest of the storm together. They get their very unusual HEA. Caveat violence and sex.

Heir's Reluctant Witness by SD Baraiya 12/15/25 12/16/25 221 pages Kindle

Eli unintentionally crashes a Mafia execution on the docks and expects to die. However, Nico doesn’t kill him and takes him home with him. Other people are looking for Eli and they also realize that Nico can be gotten to through Eli. Honestly, it was shallow and over the top and I don’t know why I finished it. Caveat emptor re violence and sex.

Omega Kidnapped by SC Wynne Kindle 12/16/25 12/18/25 285 pages Kindle

Omega Carter is kidnapped for ransom and Alpha Jack is his jailer. Carter keeps expecting to get ransomed since his father is wealthy, but that doesn’t happen. He finally sees Jack’s face, learns about the plot, and we learn that male Omegas are rare. Jack ends up saving Carter from his unscrupulous relatives. They are approached about going to a safe haven for pregnant Omegas (yup, mpreg). They’re almost killed there, too. Eventually they have their baby and decide to stay together. HEA. The end. Sheesh. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Bent Not Broken by Ki Brightly ** 135 pages

Madden is a defense attorney, Evan is a police officer. Madden defends members of a motorcycle club and almost always gets them off, to Evan’s fury. One night Madden is roofied and Evan rescues him. Things from there, but it honestly didn’t interest me enough to keep going, although it’s enemies to lovers, one of my favorite tropes. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Not My Groom by Devon Doe ** 217 pages

Logan has reluctantly come to his female cousin’s wedding. The night before, he runs across a gorgeous man in the barn at the venue and takes what he wants. The gorgeous man, Kyle had never been with a man before then but had realized quite a while earlier that he was gay but was too afraid to break the engagement. He looses one of his virginities that night. Logan is furious that he was misled into having Kyle use him to cheat on Logan’s fiancé, his cousin. It’s love hate, enemies to lovers, eveyrbody’s cheating on everyone else except Logan has never wanted to be with anybody who’s in any kind of relationship. It’s quite a song and dance. After the wedding’s called off and Logan returns to Texas, Lyle shows up one day, hoping for more. Logan, however, is a relationship-phobe. It became too improbable. The sexual tension and yearning were not well-written, IMO. Logan’s cousin’s being a Bridezilla irritated me, too. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Run Boy, Run by RJ Raze ** 95 pages

Cooper is a resident and his next rotation is with Reed, in surgery. At the same time, he tempts death by running at night with a serial killer loose. Admittedly the serial killer has so far only targeted women, but still. Reed stalks at night, a psychopath in addition to being a surgeon. He singles Cooper out during rotation to stitch his arm up. That night, he rescues Cooper from a member of a family of killers that is enemies of the family of killers that Reed’s part of. Reed brings Cooper with him to a family meeting, they bond together over a particularly gruesome killing, and that was enough for me. Caveat emptor extreme violence and dismemberment and sex.

Not That Guy by Felice Stevens 12/19/25 12/20/25 278 pages Kindle

College enemies become law firm enemies/coworkers become lovers. Caveat emptor re sex.

Slightly Foxed - but still desirable: Ronald Searle's wicked world of Book Collecting by Ronald Searle 12/21/25 12/21/25 128 pages hardcover

To be honest, this one is clever but I don’t like some of the illustrations. Anything referring to loose or able to be interpreted as sexual has an illustration of a woman. Sigh. I’m culling it.

The Fake Christmas Boyfriend by Rose J Hogan 12/21/25 12/21/25 238 pages Kindle

Over-the-top nasty family members of Rhys’s family and he and his (fake) boyfriend Leo in what Rhys remembers as a very nice cottage on the grounds but is actually a hovel. Nobody from the family thinks to send food to them from the kitchens, and, of course, it’s one bed. HEA, caveat emptor re sex. Oh, and having stopped reading Louise Penny because of Her.Punctuation.To.Emphasize.An.Emotion, I should have abandoned this one because of the author’s ridiculous overuse of the ellipsis. You know - … … … But I didn’t. Caveat emptor re sex.

My Partner the Wolf by Hollis Shiloh 12/22/25 12/23/25 258 pages Kindle

Tom is a human detective and his partner Sean is a wolf shifter. They work in a special unit of a government organization and are assigned all over the country as needed. They have a special bond forged from tough cases and their strong intuitive sense of how to work with each other. The book starts with a young girl abducted. They’re called in right away and when they arrive, Sean shifts and takes off after her scent. Tom follows as best he can. They find her chained up in a locked cellar of an isolated cabin. They’re happy to incapacitate the kidnapper and are gentle with the girl. Tom has been given her favorite soft animal toy, which they give to her as they gain her trust and get her out of there. The reason I mention this in detail is that it was powerfully written with the urgency needed to find her before the trail went cold.

Tom’s married, but his husband Lowell is flighty and immature and irrationally jealous of Sean. Sean’s secretly in love with Tom. There is a lot of emotional angst in and among the cases they’re called on. Tom gets seriously injured at one point. Tom and Lowell divorce because Lowell finally pushes Tom away once too often in his jealousy over Sean, and Tom moves in with Sean. Sparks fly, emotions are high, but although they start a sexual relationship, Tom’s reluctant to commit emotionally. Sean is endlessly patient. This is a HFN book. Caveat emptor re sex.

Whispers of Home by AL Kelly 12/23/25 12/24/25 220 pages Kindle

down-on-their-luck single dads and bisexual cowboys with commitment issues sums it up. Jaron is the legal father of Bobby but not his biological father. Bobby’s mother is an addict, finally killed in front of Bobby with a boyfriend of hers. Jaron returns to his hometown. There’s honestly not much more to the book than this. Caveat emptor re sex.

Omega's Formula by Sasha Silsbury 12/24/25 12/25/25 265 pages Kindle

Fourth in the Prime Match series has Nolan forced into registering in the government’s omega/alpha matching system in order to qualify for aid for his seriously sick sister. His work was stolen from him by an ex, who sold the rights to Erik and his company. Nolan sued and lost and is bitter. Imagine how horror-struck they both are at the match. At 98.8% compatible, they’re legally required to marry. Nolan agrees but requires Erik to pay for all his sister’s medical bills for the rest of her life. Enemies turn to lovers turn to true marriage partners. Nolan realizes Erik was hoodwinked by his ex and Erik realizes that Nolan's claims of being defrauded are true. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Jilted by LA Witt ** 172 pages

Eric and fiancée Selena share a night with Jesse. They’re set to get married when Jesse gets in touch with Eric to tell him that his fiancée is cheating on him with … Jesse… who didn’t know that Selena didn’t break up with Eric. Both feel hurt and betrayed, and when they eventually confront Selena, they realize what a shallow and vapid and vindictive person she is. They start have feelings for each other, but I didn’t care to let it play out. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned ILYSM by Leslie McAdam, JE Birk Rachel Ember** abandoned 140 pages

Ben returned home to take over the family Christmas Tree business. He seems to get easily diverted and his level of chaos gave me the shivers. His friends Embry and Adam come running when he needs them. All three eventually fall into bed, but I quit before I had to warn you Caveat Emptor re sex.

Rule Breaker by Lily Morton 12/25/25 12/26/25 276 pages Kindle

First read in November 2022. I gave it 4.5 stars then, 4 stars now.

First in the Mixed Messages series, a very well-written, funny book about two men and how love can overcome … well. Spoiler time. Each chapter begins with an email from Gabe, the boss and alpha male, and Dylan, his assistant. Their work relationship is fraught with tension and conflict, but it seems to work well. Then, there’s a business trip where things change, and Dylan realizes his feelings for Gabe. Gabe absolutely cannot cope with commitment and feelings, and it goes from there. I was interested from the first sentence, and this book did not disappoint in its exploration of commitment, love, and how changing can bring the rewards of a wonderful relationship. Caveat emptor re sex.

Rumor Has It by Crea Reitan 12/26/25 12/28/25 338 pages Kindle

Dak has seen Sparrow around on campus for a year and has been unwittingly attracted to him although he’s nominally strait. Sparrow earns money on the side by playing gay chicken at a club, Rumor. Dak comes bck again and again but always chickens out early on in the 20 items on the checklist. Finally, he asks Sparrow for private lessons. They start and have a relationship that turns into love. Dak takes a while to realize he’s demisexual for Sparrow, and Sparrow realizes that Dak’s the only one for him. It’s a suspenseful romantic dance, as they start spending private time together, then finally showing PDA in public. The author knows how to write about sexual tension between characters. Both characters are likeable and I wanted it to work out for them. Of course, being a MM romance and not part of a series, they got their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

The Room I Paid For by Crea Reitan 12/28/25 12/28/25 82 pages Kindle

Gay for you short story has a luxury cabin double booked with Edries, who is straight, and Gabe, who is not. They can’t get another cabin because everything’s booked up, can’t get a room for one of them because the lodge is booked up. They irritate one another then captivate one another and by the time the snowplows make it to their cabin they are well on the way to falling in love. The title becomes a running joke between them. Edries’ children meet Gabe and they become one family. The ending is cute, when a year later the teenagers give them two onesies – one for Baby Brother and one for Baby Sister. They want a sibling, and it seems like that will happen before the next Christmas. Caveat emptor re sex.

Killer Crush by Onley James 12/29/25 12/30/25 83 pages Kindle

Cade is a contract killer and has been hired to take out a mafioso. He knows his target will be on a Titanic cruise. In the meantime, a dating app he’d installed in order to target a mark pings. The message, “What’s the worst date you can think of and would you do it with me?” intrigues him. There’s a hilarious conversation between him and Tris, who is “horny and suicidal”, where Tris accuses him of being a serial killer, and Cade replies “Positive (I’m not). They have rituals. I’m flexible.” They discuss reincarnation, Cade accuses Tris of being high, they argue about whether an emoji is praying hands or high-fiving hands (you know the one they mean), and what particular emojis mean, and they eventually trade pics of a private nature. Tris agrees to meet Cade for their date on the Titanic Cruise because what the heck – Cade can multitask, right? Tris witnesses Cade killing the mafioso, they work together to dump him overboard, and they get their very weird HEA. For only being 83 pages, the author crams quite a bit of action, quite a bit of attraction, and quite a bit of sexual tension and ultimately sex on the Titanic cruise. Caveat emptor re the sex.

**abandoned Chained By Fate by Kira M Rose ** 102 pages

Andy needs money and stability to care for his sister. Matt is a high-powered CEO who is attracted to Andy and hires him. It is poorly written, IMO, with shallowly written characters whose behavior doesn’t ring true. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Hell Creek Boys by Atreus Rosewood** 134 pages

Jesse fled the ranch, his stepbrother Cole, who is the bio son of the ranch owner stayed and worked hard to keep the ranch going. Father dies, will requires Jesse to work with Cole for a year or the ranch and trust funds for both of them will go to charity instead. Jesse decides to stay in order to give Cole the ranch. There will be sexual tension and sex, but I just couldn’t be bothered to continue.

419 books read


1 Masterpiece
41 Stunning
189 Excellent
112 Very Good
40 Good
23 Average
10 Bad
3 Very Bad
0 Don't Bother
0 Anathema


Best Fiction
James by Percival Everett Review
Dinosaurs by Lydia Millett Review
The Future by Naomi Alderman Review
Tilt by Emma Pattee Review
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith Review

Best MM/MMM/MMMM Romance
Omegaverse - Matehub: Legend by Marie Reynard - February Lightning Round
Romance - To Catch A Firefly by Emmy Sanders - June Lightning Round
Stepbrothers - Chokehold by Leigh Rivers and Harleigh Beck - September Lightning Round
Hockey - Last Guy on Earth by Sarina Bowen - October Lightning Round
Western - Red Dirt Heart by NR Walker - December Lightning Round

Best Nonfiction
Back With the Tide: Memoirs of Ellen Douglas Bellamy Review
Honor, the Duel, and Indiscretion: The Life of Elizabeth "Betsey" Pollock Devereaux Jones (1818-1879) by W. Davenport Robertson - March Lightning Round
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green Review

Top five overall for the LT Top Five Books of 2025 List
Dinosaurs by Lydia Millett Review
Tilt by Emma Pattee Review
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith Review
To Catch A Firefly by Emmy Sanders June Lightning Round
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green Review

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No errands! Just reading, puttering, and having Trevor here to set up Bill's weather station and put 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds in the metal trash can in the garage.

Our friends Geoff and Diane were supposed to come over yesterday afternoon/evening; however, Diane texted at 8 p.m. on the 30th to let us know Geoff has been sick since they got back from Costa Rica although he went to the doctor and didn't have Covid or the flu. We cancelled, because even if he's not contagious, ugh to congestion and coughing. I wish she'd mentioned this the day before or even before I went to the grocery store. Harrumph.

We winged it for dinner - i.e., Karen doesn't cook. Bill's responsible for Bill's dinner, Karen's responsible for Karen's dinner. We watched 2 episodes of Cold Case. I spoke with Karen and Jenna, turned the light out at 3:30 a.m., got up at 8 a.m. I foresee a nap in my future.

...
Coffee, and 2.5 hours spent on setting up this thread. 2025 stats and the December 2025 Lightning Round took most of the time.

Reading and puttering are on my agenda. I'm revamping my Books Read spreadsheet to make entering things easier and removing a category or two that I don't really care about.

I might make Orange Roughy and multigrain Rice for supper, along with succotash. Then again, I might get lazy.

Welcome and Happy New Year!

Happy new year, Karen! I will try to keep up better this time around than I did last year, but no promises :)

I hope Bill's weather station goes up without a hitch. My husband has one and loves it. He also loves sharing all the stats with me, which I don't love quite as much. Heh.

Happy New Year, Karen. Love your best of list! I also loved James, Dinosaurs, The Future, and Tilt! Which is great because I don't have to add them to my WL.

I hope 2026 is a great year for you.

Happy new thread and new year, Karen!

Ah, those *rare* moments of kitty peace. ;-)

Welcome back, Karen!

Happy New Year, Karen. Looking forward to hanging out with you for another year, my friend. It was so nice to bring in the New Year with Jack & Co. I somehow made it to midnight too. We just got home. Juno had a swell time too.

>12 katiekrug: Hi Katie, and thank you. Thanks re Bill’s weather station. This is the 3rd one of our marriage. The first two were Davis, this one is Ambient. Bill got me a console, which is set up here in my Sunroom. I can see everything he sees so can avoid much weather talk here.

>13 BLBera: Hello Beth. Thank you. It’s nice to see lists and not get twitchy over BBs, isn’t it? Thanks re my 2026 – I hope yours is great, too.

>14 jessibud2: Hi Shelley, and thank you. It’s zoomies or complete quiet with my gingers. Right now they are both near the propane stove in the living room – Wash in his basket and Zoe on the arm of the sofa. I hope Theo and Owen are doing well.

>15 drneutron: Hi Jim, and thank you. Thank you for our new group and all the work you do during the year to share information and help us when needed.

>16 msf59: Hello Mark, and Happy New Year to you, too. Wow. You made it past midnight, good for you. Enjoy New Year’s Day.

Two male Cardinals, a Mourning Dove in the tray feeder, and six more on the ground. A Tufted Titmouse is waiting for a female Cardinal to leave the feeder he wants to sit at.

New Year greetings from Kuala Lumpur. My project is at least physically completed and an addition to the city scape.

Look forward to keeping up with you in 2026, Karen

>9 karenmarie: Your last cartoon about the three sounds of C -- yup, that's one of the reasons why the English language is so hard! I have that posted on my wall for my dyslexic students. They totally get it.

>10 karenmarie: Roughy is scrumdiddlyumptious indeed so I hope it got made. It would seem N.R. Walker is one of the smutwrights who pleases you most. You'll be ever so smugly thrilled to know Red Dirt Heart's on my Kindle. Fiend.

*smooch*

Happy New Thread!

All the Happy New Years!

>9 karenmarie: I love everyone one!

>1 karenmarie: I read How the Word Is Passed a couple years ago as part of Go Big Read and got to see the author speak on campus. I liked it for its accessibility and as an interesting approach to antiracism.

I stumbled over Onley James last year, quickly read everything, and promptly bought the ebook Necessary Evils collection. It feels like Cards Against Humanity in book form. I have a hard time figuring out which Mulvaney is my favorite.

Happy New Year, Karen!

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. As expected we had a good time with Jack & Co. Got home yesterday about noon. We will see Jack again on Sunday. I strained my left calf muscle about a week ago. Of course, I still played on it and now I need to take a break for a few days. More book time?

Juncos and cardinals at the moment.

>18 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, and thank you! That is an amazing accomplishment and stunning building.

I’m looking forward to keeping up with you, too. I need to write my Resolutions out in order to make them real.

>19 Berly: Hello Kim, and thank you. My daughter-in-law is Korean, spent ages 6-17 in Beijing, then here to Ohio. So, 24 years in the US. Her accent is flawless, and she gets most of the language. However, every once in a while, even now, Jenna or I will say/write something that is slang or region-specific that she needs to have explained. She also speaks French… Happy New Year to you, too!

>20 richardderus: I got lazy, RD, and the roughy is in the refrigerator defrosting. Ah. Yes. NR Walker. She is one of my earliest discoveries in the wonderful world of smut. These the books that I have read:

Benji
Best of Both Worlds
Bossy (November 2022)
Bossy (November 2023) reread
Clarity of Lines
Dearest Milton James
Doctor's Orders
Elements of Retrofit
EWB
Galaxies and Oceans
Into the Tempest
Learning to Feel
Outrun the Rain
Red Dirt Heart
Reindeer Games
Second Chance At First Love
Sense of Place
Spencer Cohen Series, Book One
Tallowwood
Taxes and TARDIS
The Kite
To the Moon and Back
Touch the Lightning

**I've also abandoned more than a few by her.**

Yay for Red Dirt Heart. You rarely report on smut, but I’d be interested to hear what you think when you eventually get around to it. *smooch*

>21 SilverWolf28: Hi Silver, and thank you!

>22 justchris: Hello Chris. Thank you. Sigh. I’m on page 8 of How The Word is Passed. Book club is January 11th, which means that I need to average 28 pages a day. I can do that, right?

I originally borrowed the Necessary Evils series by individual book, up through book 5. Rather than try to roll forward after reading the first 5 in July of 2022, I’m going through them again and will pick up 6 and 7. Exciting. I’ll have to ‘vote’ on my favorite Mulvaney after #7.

>23 quondame: Hi Susan, and thank you.

Killer Crush just came out last month in case you haven’t read it yet. I commented on it in my December Lightning Thread.

Wordle 1,658 3/6* trope, croup, proof

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Whew. Major laziness. I did clean out and refill the bird bath. Spent the time necessary to start this thread (2.5 hours, but that included getting my stats for 2025 done and finalizing the December Lightning Round). I also started my 2026 books read thread.

What else? I decided to NOT make the Orange Roughy. That'll be tonight. Read, of course. Watched 2 episodes of Cold Case. Doomscrolled.

...
Visiting threads, reading, napping. I might work on Jenna's Closet and/or the Guest Bedroom Dormers. All of the things in the dormers that may be kept or donated are still out. The trash is gone.

>25 karenmarie: Decluttering is such a worthwhile effort. Keyword there is "effort." I'm inspired to emulate you. We'll see how far I get.

I won't review books I've bought for myself, or the publishers will have an excuse to stop giving them to me! Can't risk that!

*smooch* for a solid, pleasant putterfest of a day.

>26 richardderus: I want to get the Guest Bedroom Dormer stuff ready for Trevor to put back in on Monday, along with things to take downstairs to donate or toss. Like the 1970s TV stand, which currently has framed pictures on it. Sigh.

*smooch*

Happy New Year, and Happy Reading, Karen. Happy Decluttering as well!

Hi Ella, and thank you. I'm going to head upstairs now to continue decluttering.

...
I am on target with How The Word is Passed, having gotten to page 40. It's definitely a dense read, and I'm still on the chapter about Monticello.

After reading Alexander Hamilton and understanding that Jefferson fathered all 6 of Hemings' children, freed one or more, but kept her enslaved, I have gotten rid of all things Jefferson except for 2 books about the Hemings/Jefferson relationship and Poplar Forest, about one of his plantations.

Happy New Year! You are well on your way, of course, and your thread is burbling along. (Hm, title for a thread??) Wishing you a great year, good health and lots of reading joy.

>1 karenmarie: I very much appreciated How the Word Is Passed when I read it a couple of years ago, Karen. I hope you do as well. 'Enjoyed' is definitely not a word to apply for that one, I do not think.

>7 karenmarie: Yellowface is certainly one that could be discussed for a while, isn't it?

>8 karenmarie: Thanks for your 'best of 2025' lists, Karen. I will have to check out those I have not already read - although I know that Tilt is in the BlackHole, I am not sure about the others.

Happy New Year! I wish all of the best for you in the coming year.

Happy new year! Happy new thread!

Congratulation on the decluttering. We decided to make a quick birding trip to the Outer Banks this weekend so I have decided to extend vacation until we get back. Then, maybe, I can start on the attic room.

>27 karenmarie: A TV stand! I had one of those, a metal-framed cart with a shelf to put the VCR on. Memories....

Happy New Year and New Thread, Karen.

>30 ffortsa: Hi Judy! I love it – thread is burbling along. I’ll make a note of it for next year. Thank you for your wishes for me this year. I wish the very same to you.

>31 alcottacre: Hello Stasia! I wish all the best for you this year, too. Yes, I guess appreciated is a good word for Smith’s book.

Yellowface generated discussion for almost the entire two hours. None of us loved Juniper, and by the end of the book most of us didn’t like Athena, considering her a writing vampire.

I found Tilt to be a hold on to your seat, can hardly put it down thriller.

>32 witchyrichy: Hi Karen, and thank you. Thanks, too, re the decluttering effort. Good luck on the attic room after you return from OBX.

>33 richardderus: Yup, RD, a metal-framed cart with a shelf to put the VCR on. This one needs to be dusted before Trevor brings it downstairs to be taken to the swap shop at the dump. Somebody might want it, right? *smooch*

>34 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deborah, and Happy New Year to you, too.

Wordle 1,659 3/6* trope, shirt, sitar

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I spent quite a bit of time upstairs working on decluttering the stuff from the Guest Bedroom dormers. I was ruthless getting rid of weird and/or unusable frames, artwork by Bill's step-grandmother from 1965, old Certificates of Notary Public for Bill's Mama, and etc. I had a box of papers brought down by Trevor. It's been staring at me balefully since last Friday. Old bank statements, checks, cards, and etc. There are some things I'm going to keep, but more being ruthless. I also moved all the Beanie Babies found in 3 bags onto the sofa in the Retreat. There are some that I'd completely forgotten about.

Reading How The Word Is Passed, and smut. I've got two books going. Bill and I watched two episodes of Cold Case. I chatted with Karen and Jenna. I got lazy and didn't make the Roughy.

...
Well, I've been up for 3 hours, so perhaps a nap before Arsenal plays Bournemouth at 12:30. I really need to make the Orange Roughy. I found a good recipe with EVOO, s&p, basil, panko, and a hint of cayenne. Perhaps some multi-grain rice or scalloped potatoes if want to pull out the mandoline.

Morning, Karen. I think we cross-posted yesterday. Just letting you know about my leg issue which is still nagging me. I will be laying low again today with the books. Just checked the feeders- nada.

>35 karenmarie: I repurposed mine as an indoor garden. My desire for radishes, dill, chives, etc. has always (before being in places inimical to indoor growing) led me to have pots of them.

Nap well, enjoy Arsenal's inevitable crushing victory, and *smooch*

>31 alcottacre: >35 karenmarie: Loved Tilt, especially because it takes place in Portland and I could envision all the places she walked by. Also, very scary because this could really happen...! But you don't have to live here to appreciate this book. Well done.

Happy New Year, Karen!

Happy New Year, Karen! I will as usual be following along with your "nonsense" and your reading.

My book club is also reading The Women and How to Read a Book this year. Interesting overlap. We'll be doing How to Read a Book in March.

>40 atozgrl: Read both of those last year and they were for bookclub -- enjoyed them a lot!

>41 Berly: That's good to hear! Funny, I was just over at your thread and I noticed more overlap between my book club and yours.

You're almost inspiring me with your decluttering, Karen, but that feeling will soon pass.

>24 msf59: Sorry I missed you up here, Mark! I’m glad you rung in the New Year with you, Sue, Juno, Bree, Sean, and Jack. Doggos, too, but I don’t remember their names.

>36 msf59: ‘Morning, the next day, too, Mark! I am sorry about your leg issue and hope resting it up will get you back to PB soon! Yay for books, boo hiss on the feeders.

I’ve got a Red-Bellied Woodpecker on the porch underhang wild birdseed feeder, Cardinals galore, Juncos, a Blue Jay on the bird bath, and 3 Fox Sparrows foraging under the bird feeder pole. There was also a squirrel, but he was on the concrete, not the feeders, thank goodness.

>37 richardderus: I thought about using it for plants, RD, but all the places in my house that would get enough sun for an indoor garden aren’t available or are inaccessible right now due to … stuff… being in the way.

>38 Berly: Your reading/Portland experience is the same as my Harry Bosch/Micky Haller experience of El Lay.

>39 Copperskye: Hi Joanne, and happy new year, to you too.

>40 atozgrl: Thank you, Irene, and I look forward to another year of us following each other. Dare I say that I’m not particularly looking forward to The Women? Even though ‘Frankie’ is from SoCal, reading about the Vietnam War doesn’t appeal right now. I’m all into happy endings. Plus, the cover has a helicopter on it, and our dear friend Dwain manned a turret gun on a Huey in the war. His only good stories about the war are the ones with weed in them.

>41 Berly: and >42 atozgrl: Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a thread where fellow 75ers could list what their book clubs are reading? Mine isn’t on a calendar year, but I could post it and then post the 2026-2027 reading list after the May selection meeting. Just a thought…

>43 Familyhistorian: Watch out for those pesky decluttering feelings, Meg! Think about books or Anything else, right?

Wordle 1,660 3/6* copse, posse

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Arsenal beat Bournmouth 3-2. It was a nail biter, and I'd prefer it if Arsenal scored early and scored often. I wish Declan Rice, who scored 2 of the 3 goals, had gotten a hat trick. Now I just want Man City to lose to Chelsea to help Arsenal get way ahead on the table. They play at 12:30 today.

I read. The biggest accomplishment was going through an old Pampers box of cards, papers, letters, and etc. I got rid of soooo much, put the rest in a smaller and newer box. There are two smaller boxes of the same upstairs. I'll have Trevor bring them down tomorrow and I'll go through them and add to the New and Improved Stuff Box. It will get labeled and I'll put it upstairs in Jenna's closet..

I made the Orange Roughy, and found a wonderful recipe. It is beyond easy, plus it has neither garlic nor mustard.

Orange Roughy with Basil Panko

Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
30 mins
Total time
40 mins

Author: Keys to the Cucina
Serves: 2

Ingredients

2 filets of Orange Roughy or any white fish
3 tbs panko bread crumbs
Extra virgin olive oil
5 basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp cayenne

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F.
Place the filets on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Drizzle some evoo on them and rub it in to be sure the seasoning will stick.
Sprinkle half of the salt, pepper, and cayenne directly on the fish.
In a separate bowl, combine the panko, basil, and the rest of the salt, pepper, and cayenne.
Drizzle in evoo until the mixture starts to resemble wet sand.
Spread the panko mixture on each filet.
Cook for 25 minutes, and broil for an additional 2-3 minutes to get the panko golden and crispy.

I doubled the Panko part, used dried basil, and didn't measure S&P or Cayenne - just used small amounts. Baked 20 minutes, then broiled for 2.

We watched 3 episodes of Cold Case, I read and doomscrolled. I got about 7 hours of sleep.

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Nothing that I have to do today, although I might go grocery shopping. I'm also eyeing the basket of mail - mostly stuff from BCBS, prescription info sheets, and financial stuff - to go through as I did with the Pampers box yesterday.

Read, of course, and I need to update the January Lightning Round and spreadsheets.

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. Glad to hear back from you. I thought you may have been under the weather. All good here. My calf is still nagging me, putting tomorrow PB in question, which is a bummer. Not much planned for today- some chores, books and lots of football. Go Bears!

Bree's dogs are Duke, who is 14, which is an amazing age for a shepard and Cooper, who is 7 or 8.

I haven't checked the feeders much this AM.

The fish recipe sounds good. Sadly, The Wayne doesn't like most seafood (except for sushi, really) so I never make it. I'm going to save that recipe, though, for when he's away :)

>44 karenmarie: In a vain attempt to make tilapia tasty I used a similar technique only with cornbread and cranberry sauce. What a bland fish that is, compared to the roughy!

Happy Sundaying, sweetiedarling.

>44 karenmarie:, >46 katiekrug: I like that fish recipe too. Everything is better with panko! Even more so if you double it *smile*

Hello Karen - I wanted to say happy new year, I hope your year goes well and isn't too, well, chaos demoned (some hope...). I won't be visiting LT threads much for a while as my dad died yesterday, so my head is all over the place, but I'll try and keep up my Category Challenge and ROOT threads so I don't get stressed out with the thought of having to catch up.

>44 karenmarie: I wasn't sure I wanted to read The Women either when it came out. But the book club selected it, so now I'm committed. Since you've got a friend who served on a helicopter in Viet Nam, I'm sure you have even less desire to go there. I was working in the University Library while I was in college, and I remember the huge number of Viet Nam books (nonfiction) that came out then. I had no desire to read any of them.

Interesting idea about tracking what our book clubs are reading. I guess we just need someone who has the time and desire to start a thread.

Hi! Stopping in so that I remember to visit your thread periodically! I hope you have a good year in spite of everything that is going on in the world.

Morning, Karen. Normally I would be playing my heart out on the courts right now but I am sitting this one out. Hopefully the leg feels better on Wednesday. 🤞🤞

We do have Jack over so he keeps our spirits up.

Nothing happening at the feeders. I saw a lone dove awhile ago.

>45 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! I’m not under the weather, though I am a tad depressed. However, I’m doing all the things, keeping busy, reading, and etc. I just checked your thread out – will post after I finish this message up – and saw that your calf is still bothering you and you’re shooting for Wednesday. Glad Jackson is there, although you might not want to play tag!

Thanks re the dog names.

Let’s see. Three Cardinals and a Mourning Dove. I need to give the feeders attention today. Since I started this message I've also seen a Carolina Chickadee and a Junco.

>46 katiekrug: Hi Katie! I’m sorry about TW not liking most seafood. Save away, though, for when he’s out of town.

>47 richardderus: Hiya, RDear. I’ve always considered tilapia a garbage fish. Just checked it out, and if it’s farmed responsibly, it’s okay. I have no idea on how to determine if a store’s selling responsibly farmed tilapia. Sigh. It is blander than Orange Roughy. I cannot conceive how to make it taste good with cornbread and cranberry sauce. Just sayin’…

>48 lauralkeet: Hi Laura. Everything is better with Panko! EVOO, too.

>49 Jackie_K: Ah, my dear Jackie, I’m so sorry to read this sad news. I am sure your head’s all over the place. We’ll be here when you’re ready to visit again.

I haven’t set up a ROOT thread yet, and I abandoned last year’s very early on. Kindle and Audible AND smut do not make for serious inroads in the books already on my shelves.

>50 atozgrl: ‘Morning, Irene. I found a copy of The Women while sorting books and have to pay $4 for it if I don’t return it to Friends donations before September. We’ll read it for March discussion and even if I finish it and adore it, I won’t keep it. I remember a 1978 movie about the war, Coming Home, which absolutely tore me up. I became even more politically left wing in the late 60s and early 70s than I already was because of the war. There are many antiwar songs, too. The ones that still stun me are Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, The Fish Cheer, and Give Peace a Chance.

>51 ursula: Hi Ursula. Nice to see you here. My personal life this year will be a combination of missing my daughter and her wife, doing more and more of the things around here as Bill becomes less and less mobile, reading, puttering, decluttering, and dealing with the world of medicine, although I have no pressing bad issues right now.

News avoidance most of the time, although I unintentionally saw a few headlines about the idiot in chief conducting an illegal war against Venezuela and kidnapping it's elected President. Regardless of that and all the other horrors being inflicted here in the US, I hope you have a good year, too.

>52 msf59: ‘Morning again, Mark. I’m really sorry your calf is still acting up. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you can play on Wednesday, too. 🤞🤞 Yay for Jack visiting. Awww, for the lone dove. My feeders are hopping.

Wordle 1,661 5/6* trope, china, squib, idyll, filly

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Major puttering, major reading. I did get Jenna to help me change the PIN on her old laptop so I can get in, although I need to get a friend to help me change the Microsoft password and email address without bothering Jenna about it again. There's really nothing on it that she wanted. No pictures at all, no documents besides some for her classes at CFCC.

Zoe brought a mouse up late last night, trilling about it as she brought it in. Wash followed her. I scared him out, but she wouldn't come out from under the bed. So I went to sleep. This morning it was set out as an offering on the carpet. I disposed of it.

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A trip to the grocery store and perhaps a visit to the Library to say hi to Rita and see if there are any donations that want to come home with me.

Otherwise, reading and puttering and working on dormer items from the Guest Bedroom.

>53 karenmarie: You didn't tell the c-a-t how marvelous a huntress and provider she was? *tsk* She brings you her treasure, you should offer praise!

...look at me, defending a c-a-t's feelings...

I did smooch the top of her head and pet her this morning. She was resting on the bed all night after her effort.

And, I'm dumbfounded. You, defending a you-know-what's feelings.

There is much cute-i-tude. Zoe's on the left, Wash on the right.



Coffee and books and c-a-t-s. I'm all in.

*smooch*

Leonard started occasionally leaving us little gifts last year (maybe the year before), though he hasn't in several months. He's an indoor cat, so anything he kills was inside the house, and I appreciate his efforts :) TW now calls him "Murder Kitty."

Hi Karen my dear, i have starred you again and hope to be a more visible presence this year on here. More turmoil at Old Trafford with Amorim getting the sack, we are now looking for our ninth manager since Sir Alex retired in 2013, your boys are still looking good for the title this year.

>53 karenmarie: I got a copy of The Women during one of Amazon's sales. I don't know yet if I will want to keep it. I might donate it to one of your book sales.

The latest news was pretty disturbing. Maduro is bad and he needed to go, but the US actions were not legal. Maduro actually was not Venezuela's elected president. He lost the last election, but refused to leave office. Which led to huge numbers of Venezuelans fleeing the country, and many of them came here. And the Trump administration has been rounding them up and accusing them of being part of a gang, and sending some of them to that horrible prison in El Salvador. What a total mess.

It would be fun to have a thread of bookclub reads!! Tag you're it. LOL.

And The Women was a good read, even if the subject is hard. I read a fun romance at the same time so I could keep my mood up. It also really was a very good discussion book -- Good luck with it!

Morning, Karen. I had a good bird walk yesterday (report on my thread) and my leg didn't give me any trouble but remains sore and tender. Back to dealing with the kids today, after a little break. Bree is sick so I am not going out there today and will deal with Jack on Thursday. We enjoyed having him around late Sunday and yesterday.

>56 katiekrug: I love it, Katie. Murder Kitty! Go Leonard. Our kitties are indoor-outdoor kitties. I’m always appreciative, too. Zoe’s belled, but still, she’s lightning fast.

>57 johnsimpson: Hello John. It’s lovely seeing you here, and hope you’re able to visit more frequently. I abandoned most threads last year and hope that I can (sort of) keep up, too.

I saw that about Amorim. I wasn’t following Man U as much this year, although every time your boys won I was happy. There seems to be a lot of talk about how he wouldn’t abandon the 3-4-3 formation. They're is in 6th right now, and I hope they move up in the table. Not any stability with 9 managers since 2013, for sure. Oh yes, my boys are riding high right now. Lots of draws for Man City, Chelsea, and Liverpool. And really, Aston Villa’s Unai Emery was such a poor sport when he wouldn’t shake Arteta’s hand after we whupped them 4-1. I'm sad they won against Nottingham Forest.

>58 atozgrl: Hi Irene! Kristen Hannah books always sell at the sales. We’d happily accept it.

I haven’t been following it in detail, but arresting Maduro and bringing him to the US and illegally declaring war on Venezuela put the US in a dangerous and embarrassing position. Reminds me of Iraq.

>59 Berly: Hi Kim! Okay, sometime this week I’ll create a thread. How does What’s Your Book Club Reading This Year? sound?

Since I have The Women on my shelves, I’ll at least start it. Thanks.

Wordle 1,662 3/6* trope, soapy, oomph

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Groceries were purchased, puttering, reading, and updating spreadsheets and the January Lightning Round occurred. We watched 2 episodes of Cold Case last night. Chatted with Karen, but she was watching the Montana U Illinois game. I just watched the highlights and oh, my goodness. Montana won in overtime, 35-34.

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Book sort, Virlie's, and cleaning ladies. I need to get cash for them. I also need to work on the Guest Bedroom dormer things. Trevor comes tomorrow and I want to have things so he can get most of what I want to keep put away and get the rest downstairs.

>61 karenmarie: Heavens, book-fondling day again so soon. It was only a day or two ago you had that very light day....

It's dank and unpleasant outside. I really hope Friday's nicer. *smooch*

I like the idea of a thread that collects our book club reads. Karen, if you don't feel like creating it, let me know and I will. I have a pretty easy week this week :)

>61 karenmarie: The whole Venezuela mess makes me sick to my stomach. They threw any hopes for a happy 2026 into the toilet over the weekend. Totally illegal. It does sound like Iraq in some ways. All I can hope is that it causes this administration the same fallout. (And maybe Steven Miller is the one we need to worry about even more than Trump.)

Wordle in 3 today? I thought today's word was rather difficult. It took me 5, and I had a logical progression. (Didn't check any lists though.)

I'm sneaking in just to speak, Karen. It's about feeding time #3.

I"m with Irene on Venezuela. I have no words. My DH is of the opinion that the entity is so far gone that the people around him are pushing him around. I'll save the general quote from Dave Barry for my own thread if I just have to say something.

I also thought today's Wordle was a hard one. I think I took 4 with some pretty weird tries even for me.

>62 richardderus: We made up for it today, RD, and didn’t even finish. We’re going to have an extra sort on Friday. *smooch*

>63 katiekrug: Katie, I’ll take you up on that if you don’t mind and since you offered. Thank you!

>64 atozgrl: It was a tough word, Irene, but there aren’t that many words that O as the second letter and P as the third that don’t in a Y. I got lucky.

I must admit that he’s doubled down on craziness.

>65 LizzieD: Hello Peggy. I agree with both of you. Your DH is probably right, too. Your 4 and Irene’s 5 were probably without using spreadsheets or the internet, as I did.

Morning, Karen. It looks like we cross-posted again yesterday. WTH? LOL. I am going to play some PB this AM and see how I do. I sure miss it. Of course, books in the PM. Our Mutual Friend is a Monster!

>60 msf59: Don’t give up on me! I’ll try to do better in not missing your posts, Mark. Sore and tender still doesn’t sound good. I hope it’s better today. Hope the kids runs went well. And, I’m sorry Bree’s sick. My sister is, too, but she did test negative for Covid. She’s been diagnosed with long Covid but she says she’s never actually tested positive for Covid. I read on the CDC’s website that this can occur.

>67 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Wednesday to you. Good luck with the PB. I like the premise of Our Mutual Friend but won’t be reading it any time soon. I've got male Cardinals and a few sparrows.

Wordle 1,663 3/6* trope, spied, pecan.

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Book sort was demanding and we didn't finish until 11 with one whole rack left undone. We're planning on a Friday sort to stay on top of things. I acquired a book for Karen - Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb, a gorgeous book reading right to left with Hebrew and English. Multiple copies of this one, so I brought it home for free. Two for me:

Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy. There were 6 copies, so I brought this one home for free, too.
The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Expert Advice for Extreme Situations

Some of the chapters in Worst Case include How to Escape from a Mountain Lion, How to Win a Sword Fight, How to Jump from a Building into a Dumpster. Some more relevant chapters for me include How to Survive a Flaming Cell Phone, How to Survive a Drone Attack, How to Identify Fake News,and, my favorite, How to Survive if Your Smart Home Outsmarts You.

Lunch at Virlie's, with 7 of us. My cleaning ladies came, cleaned, and left. I did a bit of work in the Guest Bedroom. I read, discovered that the book I'm reading for Book Club on Sunday is on Kindle Unlimited, downloaded it, and am happy about that. I've read 30%, and may not get it all read before the meeting.

Chatted with Karen, chatted with Jenna, watched two episodes of Cold Case.

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Trevor will be here around 10. I'll be reading, puttering, working on spreadsheets and Lightning Round, and start going through two boxes of papers that were in the dormer, plus all the usual.

>66 karenmarie: - Sure thing! I'll do it this afternoon probably.

>68 karenmarie: Six copies! The author must've died recently, I'm assuming. (Love his name, it's the singular form of zucchini. I still don't get why they named those bland little squashes "sweeties".)

Have a successful auxiliary sort on Friday. *smooch*

I can't remember if I have posted on your thread this year yet…so here I am delurking to say hello :)

>68 karenmarie: How to Survive if Your Smart Home Outsmarts You.

We have a friend who is all in on smart homes, lights, window shades, the works. When we visit we need a cheat sheet on the right words to use. When I read about smart light bulbs controlled by your smartphone, I decided I was a Luddite. No thanks!

eta: Wilmington. I had no idea.

>69 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! I look forward to posting my book club’s reading list.

>70 richardderus: Our Library deaccessioned them. Don’t know why, don’t particularly care. I hope they kept a copy or two. It’s an important subject. *smooch*

>71 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita. Hope you’re doing well.

>72 ffortsa: Oh my. Having to monitor what you say so that the AI doesn’t obey. Bill and I do have an app for our security system, an app for the generator, and an app for 2 cameras that are in lighting fixtures on the side of the house. That’s enough for me.

I had no idea about it until I moved here, but not until probably about 15 years ago.

I live in KKK country. Here’s a link to an NC State article about the KKK in my county and an event in my town. KKK in Chatham County, NC

>73 karenmarie: ...wait...the library itself deaccessioned them? How deeply depressing that is, it usually means no one's checking them out. *sigh*

Oh, Karen! Was there another copy of the *Haggadah* that you could pick up for me on Friday? I'd gladly add it to my Pay The Friends list!!!!

The 1898 Wilmington race riot was hideous and shameful. I probably should ask for one of those too, but I've faced enough of it for anytime these next ten years...

HERE is a short account of the most famous KKK rally in my county. In 1958 the Lumbee Indians broke up a Klan rally. Spare 7 minutes to listen to a Lumbee participant tell her story. (Also listen for her pronunciation of "time" ... it's one reason that local people have believed that the Lumbees are the descendants of Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony - it sounds like a High Tider from the NC Outer Banks.)

Have a lovely day, 3 Sister and Sister in Other Ways!

Book Club thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/377533

>68 karenmarie: >73 karenmarie: My book club read Wilmington's Lie in 2023. I gave the book 5 stars. It's a very important book, especially for NC, so I really do hope the library kept a few copies at least.

How to Jump from a Building into a Dumpster? That is unexpected, but it sounds intriguing. People do that in movies sometimes, but I never thought of it as realistic.

>76 katiekrug: I will go take a look. Thanks, Katie.

>61 karenmarie: Arsenal will play tonight Karen and I am rooting for them this year to win the league as I do think that Arteta deserves a title in his trophy cabinet.

My boys have been coping well recently narrowly losing to Man City (3-2) drawing twice with Liverpool and beating Chelsea & Crystal Palace. Our unbeaten run came to a cruel end last night losing 4-3 after having lead 3 times and their goal coming in the 13th minute of extra time (when only 10 had been signaled).

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. My leg felt pretty good after playing yesterday so that is good. Looking forward to hanging out with Jack today after I deal with my other "kids".

Wiley Cash is opening a bookstore in Wilmington NC. I am not sure when I will make it to eastern North Carolina but I WILL stop in if I do. Of course I would NEED to see you first. 😜

>74 richardderus: Hiya, RDear. I live in KKK country. Here’s a link to an NC State article about the KKK in my county and an event in my town. KKK in Chatham County, NC

>75 LizzieD: Hi Peggy. I’ll see if there are copies still in the cubbies on Friday. No guarantee, but probably. I think we kept 4?

Thanks for the link about the Lumbee Indian rout of the KKK in 1958. I started the YouTube video but got interrupted. I’ll go back to it.

>76 katiekrug: Yay, and thank you, Katie! I’ve starred it an will get back to it later today.

>77 atozgrl: Hello Irene. I can see someone having to escape a burning building from perhaps the 2nd or 3rd floor.

>79 msf59: Thank you, Paul. My team is really strong right now, with Gabriel, White, and Jesus back, and Havertz available. Things are clicking for them. I’m so sorry your team got robbed of the draw. I wonder why the referee thought he should extend beyond the 10 minutes of stoppage time. Heartbreaking.

>79 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and sweet Thursday to you. I’m glad your leg felt pretty good after yesterday’s PB. Glad you get to see Jack today.

Floodplain Books, summer of 2026. We’ll absolutely have a meetup if you get to NC – you’ll have the full NC west-east experience.

... Our 3-library county library system still has 3 paper copies, one set of CDs, one downloadable e-audio book, and one e-book of Wilmington's Lie. There are also podcasts and at least one documentary.

Wordle 1,664 4/6* trope, butch, blitz, blast

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Trevor replaced the fixtures in an upstairs faucet, helped Bill get trash in his SUV for a trash run today or tomorrow. I had him put things back into the dormer and bring things downstairs that need to go to the thrift shop or the swap shop at the dump. He'll be back on Monday.

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I have a limited echocardiogram at 11 today at the UNC Hospital at Siler City. It's preventative. I was supposed to see my cardiologist on the 19th, but they've decided to take MLK Day off - who ever heard of medical systems taking holidays off? - and it's now scheduled for February 23rd.

Arsenal play Liverpool today at 3 our time. If Arsenal win, we're 9 points ahead of Man City, the 2nd place team. Liverpool have stumbled badly this season after winning the championship last season, and are in 4th, 14 points behind Arsenal.

Busy day, but there will be at least some time to read. Not much for puttering, but definitely reading. *smile*

>80 karenmarie: I hope the day's a good one for reading, Horrible. It sound like a lot of fussy stuff, much like my trip to get stitches out makes today. *sigh*

I hope you get a good echo. today. In fact, it's probably going on right this minute. Our regional UNC hospital brings the techs who do them in for a couple of weeks from all over. I guess I've had 3, and the last one was absolutely the best. She'd never move here, but I wish she'd become a regular.

Hope you get to read and maybe have a good lunch somewhere before coming home for the game. Go Arsenal!

>80 karenmarie: I hope to hear that your medical appointment went well today. Too bad they had to reschedule your appointment with the cardiologist. I wonder why they scheduled it on MLK Day in the first place.

Ooh, Mark, if you come this way, we will definitely have to have a group meetup! Karen's too close for me to miss that. Besides, Cubs fans have to stick together, right?

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/377584

Re: smart homes. We have an app to control the cats' feeders, and one to monitor our humidity sensors (it's a big thing in Germany, making sure that the humidity stays below certain levels to prevent mold - the landlord can make you pay for mold damage if you don't open the windows enough). Then through Apple's Home App we can operate our cameras (it's reassuring to me when we're gone to be able to check on the cats) and our lights. The weather here is so gray and it was depressing me so much that we got full-spectrum lights for the fixtures. It's nice to be able to change the temperature as well as the brightness of the lights.

Sorry your cardiologist rescheduled - that's a pretty long delay until the new appointment.

>80 karenmarie: Well all things considered it is as you were as 0-0 means they don't gain any ground on you either. To be fair Liverpool were much better in the second half but Gabriel almost won it for you at the death. Arsenal will prevail this season, I am confident.

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. I had a good time, as usual, with Jack yesterday before taking him to school. Torrential rains here last night. We had to get 2 or 3 inches. Sure glad it wasn't snow. Off to play PB. Books in the PM.

>81 richardderus: Your stitches and my echocardiogram are blech, right, RD? I read a lot. Was stressed a lot. *smooch*

>82 LizzieD: The echocardiogram was going on right then, when you texted, Peggy. Between the waiting and them having to stick me 3 times for the IV for the contrast, I didn’t get out of there ‘til 12:30. The appointment was for 11. I have a lovely bruise on the inside of my elbow. Grrr. I don’t think I’ve had this tech before, not sure about the IV incompetents. Arsenal played to a draw. Sigh. Not horrible, but certainly could have been better.

>83 atozgrl: Hi Irene, it got done, let’s put it that way. Delay calling me in, a newbie tech, and incompetent IV nurses. They scheduled the cardiologist on a day that was open in their schedule but it’s changed. Or, somebody scheduled it on a day they weren’t supposed to? Honestly, between the echo and the rescheduling of the cardiologist, I’m not best pleased.

>84 SilverWolf28: Thanks, Silver!

>85 ursula: Oh my, Ursula. It sounds like the smart home features you’re using are important for your health, your pocket book (no mold = no fines), and your kitties. Brava.

My cardiologist has gone to two days a week. Part of it’s because she now has two small children, don’t know the other reasons. The other cardiologist available is not taking this cardiologist’s patients because he’s overbooked, too.

>86 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Liverpool definitely played better in the second half. Arsenal looked lackluster, which doesn’t make sense given their starting 11. Arteta then used all his substitutes pretty early on. And yes, Gabriel almost saved it. Nobody gained on Arsenal, but Arsenal didn’t get the additional 2 points. I hope your confidence helps carry my team!

>87 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Friday to you. Glad for the good time with Jack. 2-3 inches of rain. Whew. I hope PB goes well, and enjoy those books!

Wordle 1,665 X/6* So stupid. trope, least, fumet, anent, eejit, edict. Word is eight. My lucky number too. It let me down. I let it down.

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Reading, puttering, echocardiogram. They were behind schedule and had a new tech. Incompetent nurses - took 3 sticks to get the IV for contrast going. An hour at the most that took an hour and a half. I then schlepped over to the Library to check on the book for RD and the book for Peggy. I was only lucky for the book for Peggy, Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb. Grocery store for a couple of things, Arsenal drew with Liverpool. By then it was time for dinner, Cold Case, reading and lights out.

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We're having an additional book sort this morning, although when I went in there yesterday there weren't that many more books than we left off at on Tuesday. Oh well, camraderie and possibly a meal at Virlie's... I have a chiropractic appointment at 11:30, then I need to drop off a few things at the dump's swap shop and return an item via UPS. Then home.

I bought some raw peanuts in the shell yesterday, and am going to add them to the tray feeder later.

I need to read A LOT to get through How The Word is Passed by Sunday. Fortunately, it is Kindle Unlimited, so I've been getting more done than I would otherwise.

Gotta go! I'll have to visit threads later.

>88 karenmarie: Here's hoping you can get all the books fondled. Enjoy the fun time! I'm in the lobby waiting for my meeting...I'm an hour early, very little traffic and a good time chatting with my driver who might know someone with a van to move me if I get in.

Frustrating that your appointment went so poorly, Karen. At least you had something pleasant to look forward to.

>89 richardderus: 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

We got all the books fondled, 3 of us went to Virlie's. I had to leave a bit early to get to the chiropractor's. After that I dropped off an item to be returned to Ammie at the UPS store, stopped at the Habitat for Humanity Store but didn't see anything I wanted.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

>90 Familyhistorian: I won't be as 'medicalized' this year as last year, fingers crossed. I always look forward to book fondling and eating at Virlie's.

>38 Berly: Glad to see that Tilt has another fan. I really need to get to it soon!

Have a fantastic Friday, Karen!

>92 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! I really and strongly and adamantly ... suggest ... that you read it sooner rather than later.

Friday's been good so far. I called to schedule an appointment to get my SUV inspected so I can register it this month. John @ the Ford dealership said "Can you come in now?" I said yes. Got there in about 25 minutes, got out in about 20 minutes. AND, since I was one stoplight over from my optometrist's, I went in and got my glasses adjusted. I've been meaning to ever since I picked them up a month or more ago. So. Two birds with one stone.

>91 karenmarie: Sweetiedarling! The Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat Series by Karenna Colcroft! Fun, funny, smexy enough for moi possibly toi aussi.

I'm about to be on my way, Karen. I'm glad today felt better than yesterday! Except for Wordle. I'm sorry, but it happens when you least expect it. Sleep well!

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. I felt fine after playing PB yesterday. We play again with the family tomorrow afternoon. We haven't done this in several months. Rain and snow here this AM. Gearing up the Bears/Packers match-up tonight. Go Bears!

>94 richardderus: Thank you, RDear! I just downloaded Salad on the Side, first in the series. It’s KU. We’ll see if it’s sexy enough for me. *smooch*

>95 LizzieD: Hey, Peggy. Living with the humiliation of getting skunked in Wordle is the least of my worries, although personal things are going tolerably well. Politics, both domestic and international, scare the bejusus out of me. I did sleep well – I took a Tramadol for the first time in at least a year. I had a few aches and pains from the chiropractic adjustment - sometimes she digs deeper than others.

>96 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Saturday to you. I’m glad you’ve recovered from your calf injury and can return to one of your favorite things – PB. Ugh to the rain and snow. Go Bears!!!!

Speaking of football, Karen was watching the Montana Grizzlies play Indiana State. I watched the highlights on YouTube, and oh my! Much drama, so glad Montana won for Karen.

Wordle 1,666 3/6* trope, cavil, manic

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Summary of yesterday's busy-ness:

1. Book sort. I acquired 6 books, one for Peggy. The others are:

   Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb - saw another copy and grabbed it.
   O Caledonia
   Captain's Dinner
   Animal Farm: The Rest of the Story by Forrest C. Greenslade PHD - a local, apparently. I just duckduckgo'd his artwork, and I.Want.It.All except for the dog stuff, of course. *smile* Here's his website:
   
   Organic Forrestry

2. Virlie's
3. chiropractor
4. package drop off to UPS
5. Habitat for Humanity store cruise - I avoided purchasing anything.
6. SUV inspection so I can register it
7. glasses adjustment
8. Reading, puttering. I finished going through one of two boxes of papers from the dormers, have one to go.

Cold Case, three episodes because we started early. Reading, doomscrolling, and sleep.

...
Nothing I have to do today. I want to read more of How the Word Is Passed, my current book of smut, and finish looking at the Rothko paintings (Kindle Unlimited). I honestly don't get them, but they speak to Richard, so thought I'd give them a whirl. And I actively disliked the introduction by his son because being a philistine, I thought it was pretentious drivel.

I might make scalloped potatoes or the mac'n'cheese recipe that Laura posted on someone's thread.

>97 karenmarie: All the yum for either dish you're thinking of making...I'm always delighted when cheese and/or cream get sploshed all over carbs. mmmmmm

Saturday orisons, smoochling.

You read so fast it always impresses me. The only reason reason I got as many books as I did last is all the books I read to IL. And I didn't even make 250 then! Lol. Maybe you have more time to read than I do. And/or read a lot faster than I.

>97 karenmarie: Hi Karen, are you having the same kind of rainy day that we are? Because mac & cheese would be purrrfect for a day like that! Have a good one, whatever you decide on for dinner.

Darting by to say that Lizzie and Wm. are here and coming over for a visit in a bit. I ate a quick lunch and am now enjoying tea and a cookie or 2.
I've decided that Isaiah 49:1-6 is beyond me. Maybe some of the SS class can give me a hand.

I wish you another very good night - with no tramadol!

>98 richardderus: Happy Sunday, RD! Sploshed carbs – book, movie, or recipe title, right? I got lazy and didn’t make either. What can I say?

>99 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel and thank you. You probably read as fast as I do, but I don’t have 3 children and a father and a husband and jobs and etc. like you have. Plus, I’m almost exclusively STILL reading MM romances. Not to say there aren’t weighty themes and strong emotions, but they are not dense reads, like How The Word Is Passed, which I have just 71 pages to finish before book club today at 3:30.

>100 lauralkeet: We did get some rain yesterday, Laura, but not much. We got .03” yesterday and have had .11” total so far this January. It would have been a great day for Mac & Cheese would have been purrrfect. Can’t make it today because Arsenal play at 9 and I still have to finish the book.

>101 LizzieD: I hope your time with Lizzie and William was pleasant. Hmmm. I’ll have to read Isaiah 49:1-6 later. I just returned several Bibles to the Library, but still have an ESV here. I hope your class can help elucidate for you.

I didn’t need Tramadol last night. The chiropractic adjustment had settled down, fortunately. I had a short night, about 5 hours, though.

Wordle 1,667 4/6* trope, dairy, wharf, quark

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I spent quite a bit of the day reading How The Word Is Passed, reading my current romance when my mind shut down. I watched the penalty shootout between Everton and Sunderland. I can't believe Pickford, Pickford, letting 3 in while Sunderland's goalie blocked 3. Unbelievable.

I put some more whole peanuts in the tray feeder. I can see that some are gone, but haven't seen who's taking them. I cleaned and filled the bird bath, too.

Bill and I watched 3 episodes of Cold Case. My favorite was The Brush Man.

...
Arsenal play Portsmouth in the FA Cup in about half an hour. After that finishing the book before the book club 3:30 meeting.

>102 karenmarie: How many episodes of COLD CASE are there?! It's starting to seem inexhaustible.

I'm here in the not-warm not-cold dankness of the beach and hoping I get to leave this month. Enjoy book club, preferably after Arsenal's victory!

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. Watched that Bears game with much trepidation last night but they came together and won it in the end. Whew! So long Green Bay, our oldest rival.

We are playing PB with the family this afternoon. We haven't done this in awhile. Sue is making chili and we will come back here afterwards. Jack will be with Sean's family. Sue got to see him last night.

>97 karenmarie: Thanks for the link to Forrest Greenslade's website. I love the watercolors especially. It might be fun to visit the studio and sculpture garden. We are less than three hours away.

Man, I hate to feel all this north wind cooling us down! I hate really hot weather, but I hate cold weather too. My own personal summer that I carried for 30 years or so has disappeared, and I've gone back to cold hands, cold feet, and therefore, cold everything else.
You had a complete day before you even got to book club, seems to me. Hope Arsenal won and that you had a very good discussion of it. I should look at the book.

Stay warm tonight!

Hi Karen. I'm finally getting around to making the rounds of folks' new threads and have set up my own. I wish you all the best in 2026.

>102 karenmarie: It's been a little while since I made it over here for a visit. I'm sorry that we got so little rain here out of that cold front. My SiL in Mississippi got 4" one day and another 4" the next day, and their bathroom flooded. We're so dry we could have used some of what they got.

Funny--Wordle in 4 for me, and I had the same last 2 words as you today. I usually do that with Peggy.

Morning, Karen. We had fun playing PB with the family and Sue's chili and cornbread was awesome. Off to play PB soon. Enjoy your day.

>103 richardderus: 156. We have watched 128, so have 28 left. Alas, it’s not inexhaustible, since at 2 a night (some nights 3), we only have two weeks before we have to argue about what to watch next.

I just checked your now-last thread and am waiting for you to finish setting up your new thread. I’ll probably not be first since I won’t be hovering and refreshing the page, but consider that I’m there first in spirit. Both book club and Arsenal’s win were epic. More below. *smooch*

>104 msf59: ‘Morning the next day, Mark! So glad your Bears won. I hope your Sunday PB family fest was fun. Chili sounds wonderful. Hmmmm….. Except that I want to make scalloped potatoes or mac’n’cheese.

>105 witchyrichy: Hi Karen, and you’re most welcome. His art is quite wonderful, and his studio is only 16 miles from my house. It would be fun to visit – if you came, we could have a meetup!

>106 LizzieD: ‘Morning, Peggy. I know. Brrrr. We’re both barely above freezing and will both get to ~51F. Heh. Personal summer - one of the women I used to work with said that she had her own personal microclimate.

Yes, my day was quite busy even before book club. Good busy, but definitely busy. It got to 24F here last night and is only 34.9F now.

>107 EBT1002: Ellen! I’m glad to see you here. I just found and starred your thread. Thank you re my 2026. I wish the best for you and Prudence this year, too.

>108 atozgrl: Hello Irene. I know, it’s quite dry here, and we’re officially in Severe Drought Condition. Looks like you’re in Moderate Drought Condition.

>109 msf59: ‘Morning again, Mark! Chili AND cornbread. Yum. MORE PB? You, sir, are an addict. In the best way.

I’ve got two female and one male Cardinals, a female Downy Woodpecker, a Carolina Chickadee, and a sparrow of some sort.

Wordle 1,668 3/6* trope, trunk, trial

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Arsenal played Portsmouth in the FA Cup and beat them 4-1. Martinelli got a hat trick. We were worried, because in the 11th minute Portsmouth scored, but we held them after that.

I finished How The Word Is Passed for book club discussion. There were 8 of the 10 at book club. One woman didn't finish it, but everybody else did. Everybody was animated in the discussion. We all learned new things. We also discussed Judy's house, The Alston-Degraffenreid Plantation. It was built in 1810 by slaves and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Judy lives in the former kitchen, behind the main house. One of her children/daughter-in-law/children live in the main house.

The two things that absolutely staggered me were:

At the base of the Statue of Liberty, on both sides, near her feet, are broken chains, representing emancipation.

Juneteenth was first celebrated on June 19, 1866 and became a federal holiday on June 16, 2021.

I can't believe I didn't know either fact. I'm going to write a full review of it, possibly today, probably later this week.

Cold Case, reading, doomscrolling. I chatted with Karen for a bit.

...
I have a massage at 1 today, so will leave around 12:15. 90 minute massage, brief stop at the grocery store, then home.

I want to continue working on the upstairs, making decisions about things still out in the Guest Bedroom, and putting some of Jenna's soft animals into bags to take to someone, somewhere, who can use them. Our county thrift shops are not allowed to sell them. One of our book sort team members volunteers for a local thrift shop that supports a shelter for battered women/children. Perhaps she can use them there. Otherwise, it's off to the swap room at the dump.

This does not include the Beanie Babies, which I'll keep.

Reading, and etc.

>110 karenmarie: I have only ever done one meetup in Colorado so would LOVE to do another one! DH is always up for a road trip.

>110 karenmarie: I hope you're plotting out your Juneteenth celebrations for 2026 even as I type, Horrible. I'm confident you'll enjoy the cuisine at least.

I'll be over in my quiet, shady corner worrying....

I knew about Juneteenth but did not know about the broken chains at the base of the statue of liberty. The symbolism seems so poignant right now.....

Morning, Karen. All good here. Tending to the kids and then heading out to Bree's until I take Jack to school. She has an office day. It should be a joyful visit. Enjoy that massage.

>111 witchyrichy: Hi Karern. Autocorrected to Colorado? The three hour trip sounds about right from VA to here.

>112 richardderus: Gads, RD. I haven’t even started planning for Bill’s February 20th birthday. I love the cuisine with the exception of any type of field pea or greens. I’ve even come to enjoy pork bbq as long as it’s pulled not sliced and has the right type of vinegar sauce.

Ah yes, the worrying. I just zoomed over to your thread and saw that there wasn’t any news yet. Darn those people!

>113 EBT1002: Hi Ellen. I wonder how many other broken chain symbols there are that seem to slip under the radar.

>114 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark. Happy Tuesday to you. Kids, Bree’s, Jack. Ah yes, about that massage. See below.

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So, I had gotten dressed and was 5 minutes from heading out the door for the massage when I got a text asking me to confirm the massage for the 13th. Well. I checked my desk calendar, and sure enough - Tuesday massage at 1 p.m.

Back into jammies and then upstairs to continue working on the Guest Bedroom. Lots of good things done, decisions made.

Reading, puttering, spreadsheet and January Lightning Round updating, making lunch plans with both Tamsie and Rita the Librarian. Two episodes of Cold Case. Reading and doomscrolling, and I pulled out all the soft animals from Jenna's closet about 1 a.m. and arranged them on the floor. I also put all the Beany Babies in a wire basket.

...
Today is the massage. No book sort/Virlie's because I screwed the date up. This is my week for screwing dates up. Gads.

Reading, puttering, Guest Bedroom and Jenna's closet. And etc.

>115 karenmarie: I'm shocked, shocked!, you're having a spreadsheet failure! It does run in cycles I've noticed. The shambles I can make of my calendar...! Maybe no book-fondling and no Virlie's will annoy you enough to revamp your calendar entirely. In which case get that Juneteenth feast and bunting-hanging on there soonest!

*smooch* have a lovely massage

>115 karenmarie: Not autocorrect, just not clear: I was referencing the one LT meetup I did years ago in Colorado with a few 75ers. Another one closer to home would be lovely.

You don't love field peas and greens???? Karen! I could sop up pot likker every single day. *sigh*

I duplicated your last 2 Wordle guesses one guess after you, so I at least saved my current 55 streak.

Enjoy your day! We're about to walk.

Morning, Karen. I am sure the massage felt just as good yesterday. We have a cold front blowing in today and it will stay very cold through early next week. At least we seem to be avoiding the white stuff. 🤞🤞

>116 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear! It was actually a failure to look at my physical desk calendar for the whole week and misreading an email from Our Fearless Book Sort Team Leader. I’m back on track. Trevor today, coffee and a sweet at The Belted Goat then a quick visit next door to McIntyre’s Books with Tamsie on Friday.

I had a lovely massage, see below.

>117 witchyrichy: Ah, I get it, Karen. I’ve had meetups with three different people from LT. Once with Janet - @streamsong, four times with Jenn - @nittnut, and … lots of times with our dear @lizzied – Peggy. I’d like to add you to that list, Karen.

>118 LizzieD: You should have seen my face when I saw and then as a gracious guest, had Bill’s stepmom Kay’s mother Pat’s greens. There were chunks of fatback floating around in them. Kay usually had field peas at one dinner or another over the years. I always tried them, always thought that I’d prefer to spend my calories on other things.

Saving Wordle streaks is important. I’m still recovering from my recent streak loss. I hope your walk was a good’un.

>120 karenmarie: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Wednesday. The massage was good – if I could afford it, I’d get one every week. Brrr to your cold front. I do hope you avoid the white stuff, but weather.gov says you’ll be getting a few flurries today, but nothing serious.

The bird report: a Downy Woodpecker on the wild bird seed feeder since I need to replenish the suet feeder, three male Cardinals, three Mourning Dove, a few sparrows, and a Carolina Wren on the tray feeder.

Wordle 1,670 3/6* trope, smoky, avoid

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Guest Bedroom stuff decisions, Jenna closet decisions, massage at 1 p.m., filling my SUV tank because getting it down to 14 miles available is NOT good, grocery store, home.

Three Cold Case episodes. Bill always leaves it up to me as to how many we watch, and the third episode was a mistake because it was the first of two parts and we didn't know that. Lily was rammed and her car plunged off a bridge into a lake.

Reading, chatting with Jenna. She's very stressed about the appointment with the INS for Hwan's Green Card, because she has horrible visions of Hwan being taken away by ICE and deported. I didn't write the date down, but I know the appontment is within the week.

...
Trevor will be here this morning. We're going to put boxes in the dormers. He's also going to shut the water down temporarily while he removes a valve stem from the hot water fixture in the jacuzzi. It needs to be replaced, then i can take jacuzzis again. We're going to get a security pole/grab bar and have Trevor put it up.

Reading, puttering, otherwise.

>120 karenmarie: It sounds delightfully replete, but not busy enough for stress. *smooch*

OOOOO! In-house Jacuzzi up and running!!! Hooray for Trevor! WONDERFUL FOR YOU!!!

I will help you and Jenna stress about Hwan's appointment. I had hoped that marriage fixed all that.

I'd seriously like to have nothing going on this gray and dankish day. Niece Lizzie is coming through to pick up some boxes for a day that requires her presence in Charlotte. We expected her to have come and gone by now. (Just got a text with 2:30 arrival time.) Tax documents have finally started coming in, and we need to get on top of that.

Enjoy your day!

>120 karenmarie: You forgot about me. We've had meet-ups too, twice for lunch, and a couple of short chats at the Friends book sales.

How nice to get the jacuzzi fixed. Trevor is absolutely a treasure!

>121 richardderus: Hiya, RDear! My stress levels are pretty high right now. However, there’s no way to go but forward. *smooch*

>122 LizzieD: 'Morning, Peggy. I admit that I can’t wait to take a jacuzzi. I do not remember when I stopped taking them, and then I assumed it didn’t work because it had been so long.

Please don’t add to your stress burdens by taking on ours. Marriage was one step. Hwan’s still on some kind of visa, and only a green card will keep her truly safe because visas have to be renewed.

Oh gads. Tax documents. Our mortgage statement is available online but it’s not obvious where it is. Morgan Stanley won’t be available for a while.

I hope Niece Lizzie came through when she said she would for the boxes.

>123 atozgrl: Abject apologies, Irene. Yes, we have met up twice for lunch and you actually had to track me down at the last one in the Children’s Room. We should actually try to make plans to meet up soon.

We’re so lucky to have Trevor.

Wordle 1,671 4/6* trope, clang, chaff, chasm

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For a variety of reasons, Trevor didn't come over yesterday. I worked on getting things from Jenna's desk into a box. I also worked on reorganizing my shelf of sentimental things and putting some of those items into a box. Arsenal played Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semifinal. It's aggregate, and they will play another game at Arsenal's home pitch sometime down the road. Arsenal won, 3-2. Bill and I watched two episodes of Cold Case. We're on the last season.

...
We're planning on Trevor for today. So more work upstairs before he gets here so I can have more boxes to put in the dormers. Otherwise, puttering, reading. I really want to make either mac'n'cheese or scalloped potatoes for dinner to go with hamburger patties tonight.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. I was considered doing some solo birding after the kids but it is currently 15F and will not be much warmer all morning so I think I will go PB instead. It is nice to have alternatives.

I had a sparrow fest out back yesterday. There had to be 25-30, decimating my feeders. I did briefly see a blue jay and a red-bellied.

'Morning, Mark! Sweet Thursday to you, too. Ugh to 15F. It's 31.8F here at the house, only going to a high of 38F if you believe WeatherUnderground and weather.gov, 45F if you believe our local news station.

Indoor PB is a much better idea than cold birding.

Sparrows decimating the feeders... bad sparrows. I've got 2 female Cardinals and a tufted Titmouse. And ... a few more Cardinals just swooped in.

>124 karenmarie: You've almost finished the show...any thoughts on what should come next? Do you have access to The Broken wood Mysteries? It's a New Zealand-set crime-solving show, a lot like Midsomer, all in one small town that would stand out on a statistical map like an interstellar beacon but it's fun and I think it's got at least 50 episodes; plus it's still being made.

I'm quietly knuckle-gnawing myself to sleep to get the waiting over....

*smooch*

I only lost one pecan puff this year to this vile wretch...now I know why:

They arrived on psit{taco}saurus Tuesday!

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. It sounds like you are dealing with some cold temps too. Not bad here today but frigid temps on the way for the next few days. It could be close to single digits for the Bears game on Sunday night. Brrrr...

>127 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear! We haven’t spoken specifically about what could be next. We’ve watched quite a bit of The Brokenwood Mysteries. Other than that, we’ll probably bicker about what to watch next. To be clear, it’s ME that’s the naysayer on most of the things Bill suggests. No knuckle gnawing. *smooch*

>128 richardderus: Oooh. Yay. I had a new method to my madness and all Pecan Puffs mailed seemed to hav arrived in more than dust. *smooch again*

>129 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and happy Friday to you, too. It may have gotten colder, but I checked the temperature on my the handy dandy weather app on the new weather station’s website. Bill has it set to see what’s actually going on weather-wise here on our property. It was 16.7F. It’s up to a balmy 23.9 right now.

High of 15F on Sunday, low of 3F? My oh my. Heaters and those gorgeous long puffer coats. Plus the normal gloves and etc. I want a long puffer coat, but I’d probably only be able to wear it once every 5 years or so. And, they’re only ~$500.

Male Cardinals, a Tufted Titmouse, and some kind of sparrow are visiting.

Wordle 1,672 4/6* trope, flier, cyber, racer

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Trevor came over yesterday and we got 6 boxes and my professionally cleaned/preserved-and-boxed wedding dress back into the left dormer. A huge bag of soft animals came downstairs and is in the back of my SUV. He also fixed the hot water faucet on the jacuzzi. Now all I need is the floor-to-ceiling 'transfer pole'. I need to make a decision and get it ordered. I do NOT want to fall getting into or out of the jacuzzi.

I made the NYT Mac'n'Cheese, and Bill loved it and I was only moderately impressed, although that may because I used all cheddar. I hated the smell of the gruyere I bought. I've never bought gruyere before and my store didn't have fontina. In hindsight, I should probably have used the mozzarella I already had here at the house for smoothness. All cheddar made it seem grainy to me.

Two more episodes of Cold Case. I got to bed relative early and got about 7 hours of sleep.

...
I'm supposed to meet friend Tamsie at the Belted Goat in Fearrington at 2 for coffee and whatever. After that I might take all the things in the back of my SUV to either the dump's swap shop. Or, I may not. I'll continue to work on the upstairs. Read, putter, and etc.

>130 karenmarie: Every time you type "The Belted Goat" I can't help but giggle. I see a ram in a trench coat and a fedora perched between his horns drinking a mug of something steamy with a big wedge of clover blossoms pressed into shape.

Enjoy Tamsie-time! I'm just sitting quietly under a blanky trying not to will it into being Wednesday the 21st.

>124 karenmarie: No worries. We should plan some time to meet. We never did reschedule last year after the icy conditions interrupted our planned lunch. I have to warn you that I'll be watching a lot of Olympics in February, so we might have to wait a bit to schedule. But we definitely need to do something before too long!

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. I played PB 3 days in a row and I am feeling it. I am taking it easy this weekend. Books & football playoffs for next 2 days. I just saw a lone junco in the tray feeder.

>131 richardderus: Hello RD! I like your visual of belted goats. From a brief foray into duckduckgo, I think that they are a genetic abnormality. Here are some at Fearrington Village, near The Belted Goat.



Having to be patient sucks, doesn’t it? Hang in there. *smooch*

>132 atozgrl: Hi Irene. There’s still a bit of January. Let me know. Otherwise, March?

>133 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and happy Saturday to you, too. PB three days in a row. Good idea to take it easy. Books and Bears…

I've got 3 female and 3 male Cardinals and a Mourning Dove.

Wordle 1,673 4/6* trope, cyber, derby, fiery

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Tamsie and I met at 2. Normally, she cuts it off after an hour so I would have had plenty of time to go into town to drop things off at the swap shop, but we chatted 'til 4 and then went next door to McIntyre's to look at books.

Two episodes of Cold Case, reading and etc.

...
I watched the last 12+5 minutes of the Man U/Man City game, and Man U beat City 2-0. It's great for them, and great for Arsenal. If Arsenal win at today's match, they'll be up 9 points over City.

And our dear John is a Man U fan, so there's happiness there. Man U are 4th in the table now.

Arsenal play Nottingham Forest at 12:30, with 5 matches being played at 10.

Other than that, reading, puttering, and cleaning out another box of papers. Tonight will be Cold . We might get a bit of snow tonight and into tomorrow morning, but nothing will stick.

Warmish and then COLD again. That's NC in the winter. I once knew a woman who didn't have sinus cavities. I don't know what our weather did to her, but I would happily do without mine, given the choice.

Two 4 Sisters today. I wasn't pleased with myself, but I'm never displeased with that score.

>127 richardderus: and >130 karenmarie: I really enjoyed The Brokenwood Mysteries. I was introduced to it on PBS and then was able to watch 9 seasons on Hoopla!

>136 justchris: Oh, on Hoopla? That's very good to know, thank you, Chris.

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. Enjoyed a fairly lazy day yesterday. We were invited to an engagement party this afternoon. The good thing is we are taking Jackson with us. There will be plenty of other kids there. We will have Jack until tomorrow. He is off school for the holiday. The Bears play at 530 so we hope to be home at halftime. A frigid weekend here- currently 7F and that will be our high tomorrow. Ugh!

Go Bears!

>135 LizzieD: ‘Morning, Peggy! My favorite seasons, in order, are fall winter spring summer. So I’m in my favorite time of year and prefer the cold. At this time of year, warmish only confuses the flora and fauna. A woman without sinus cavities. I can’t even imagine. I guess I’m glad I’ve got mine. I used to have terrible allergies but Claritin-wannabe every day for the last 30+ years keep me sinus infection free.

Two sisters is good regardless of whatever the number except for getting skunked. I guessed wrong of the two words it could have been on the third word, so 4 it is today.

>136 justchris: Hi Chris. I just actually realized that for most of us, it’s now become figuring out where the show/movie/etc. is on. And then realizing we don't subscribe to it. And, the darned things keep switching. And, some services have some seasons and other services have other. It’s mostly exhausting. I leave it to Bill. Except that I just realized NC PBS is free for viewers in NC and there's an Edward VIII/Wallis Simpson show I've left queued up.

>137 richardderus: See, we have to play detective to watch things we want to watch. 😊

>138 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and happy, cold Sunday to you. Yikes to 7F. Enjoy the engagement party and being able to have Jackson. Go Bears! LA Rams, eh? Growing up the Rams were THE football team in Los Angeles. They left, they came back, and I actually like their new logo.

My aunt and uncle are sad because the 49ers got annihilated by the Seahawks.

I’ve got male Cardinals, a Mourning Dove, a Carolina Chickadee, and a Tufted Titmouse. ALL the feeders except the suet feeder need attemtion. It’s 41.7F and lightly raining… but I’ll replenish the feeders after I take my meds and eat a bit of brekkie to keep my blood sugar up.

Wordle 1,674 4/6* trope, slain, scuba, sumac

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Arsenal tied Nottingham Forest, which was mostly embarrassing - the #1 team vs the #17 out of 20 teams.

I dozed, puttered, and pulled a LARGE black plastic trash bag out of Jenna's dormer. I found several soft animals that are now bagged up, and mostly stuff that isn't worth keeping or even donating.

Bill and I watched 3 Cold Case episodes. Reading, doomscrolling, and I got 7 hours of sleep and actually woke up to the 9:30 alarm.

Nothing planned, nothing scheduled. Reading, replenishing bird feeders, and puttering.

>139 karenmarie: It sounds like the best kind of Sunday on tap, Horrible. I'm doing some of the same, plus polishing a review of another good-not-great read. *sigh* Statistically, reading as much as I do almost everything is going to be okay. I keep hoping for those outliers!

*smooch*

>139 karenmarie: Jim and I are always figuring out where our shows are being shown. We probably have too many subscriptions, but we've gotten used to 'no ads' and that always costs more. We could get a lot from Spectrum for free except for that restriction. I guess everyone has to make money somehow.

Enjoy your day with nothing scheduled, Karen. They're like a gift, I find.

>137 richardderus: Happy to help! They've also got 12 seasons of Call the Midwife and 19 seasons of Midsomer Murders. But good luck finding anything recent. More for old classics of one sort and another.

>139 karenmarie: and >141 ffortsa: I do understand the modern challenge of finding where to find things. Hoopla is the free library app for media, much like Libby for ebooks and audiobooks. I'm a bit of a control freak and a miser, so I am still watching stuff on DVDs or where I can find it free. So I don't quite feel your pain. But I have toyed with the idea of subscribing to Britbox or Acorn.

>143 justchris: I just never think to check, TBH, but recent stuff isn't my most intense interest bar GBBO.

>144 richardderus: I'm right there with you. I enjoy seeing the buzz around new things on LT and at book club, but I spend most of my time in the back catalog, regardless of medium.

Morning, Karen. We had a good time at the party and Jack had fun playing with the other kids. I wish the Bears could have won but they played a solid game. Zero degrees at the moment. Of course, getting ready to go play PB.

A red-bellied woodpecker has been visiting the hopper feeder but does not mess with the suet. Go figure...

>143 justchris: I always mean to check for DVDs of series I like at the library. They do have a lot of movies, and I think series DVDs which might be convenient for us. That said, I suspect we are part of the large lazy population that will just keep paying.

>140 richardderus: It was a good Sunday indeed, RD. Ah, that dratted Bell Curve. I understand wanting the stuff on either end of the bell. *smooch*

>141 ffortsa: I feel like we have just the right number of subscriptions right now, Judy, but Bill will eventually want another one, and then that number will grow. Me, I don’t need much more than soccer channels, specifically ones for Arsenal, Premier League, Champions League, Carabao Cup, and World Cup. I don't even really need to watch anything with Bill in the evening, but except for soccer, it's really the only time I spend with him.

I don’t begrudge businesses making money. I begrudge their wanting to make so much and the consolidation of channels and networks and streaming services. That only benefits the businesses, never the people.

>142 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg, and thank you. Yes those days are a gift. Although, things are settling down for me this year – less medicalization and, unfortunately, no Jenna/Hwan except for perhaps once this year. I’m also considering resigning from the Friends Board. I’m Immediate Past President, and I don’t like where things are going but am only one cranky voice. I’ll stay on the book sort team.

>143 justchris: Hey Chris. Bill and I still have 2 working DVD/CD players. One for the upstairs TV, one for the downstairs TV. Do we ever use them? Only for Christmas movies, and we didn’t even watch any Christmas movies last Christmas. Sigh. We have both Acorn and Britbox. As soon as we unsubscribe from one we’ll need it…

>144 richardderus: This addresses my need for instant gratification: I do not like watching current series because I have to wait for the next episode. I like a series available for binge watching. If there’s going to be a new season, Bill and I always wait ‘til the whole thing is available.

>146 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Glad the party was fun for both the grownups and the children. I’m sorry about your Bears. Ugh to 0F. PB doesn’t surprise me at all.

I did manage to fill my feeders yesterday, even with a bit of rain. I’ve got several male Cardinals, several sparrows, and several finches. I’ve also got one Downy Woodpecker on the suet feeder.

Wordle 1,675 5/6* trope, deign, lumen, sheen, waxen

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Reading and replenishing the bird feeders. It was raining most of the day until it was lightly snowing. We got a good dusting, which, since it was 16.7F when I got up nad only 29.8F now, is still out there where the sun isn't hitting it.

I took quite a few paintings/pictures down in "Jenna's Bedroom", which she calls "Mom's Bedroom". I've replaced several of them with things that please me. Like, do I want to see the 15" x 18" photo of Jenna's G-G-Grandfather Jefferson Davis Cranford? Nope. Not any more. And etc.

I also cleaned out more things from Jenna's Closet.

We watched 2 episodes of Cold Case. Reading, doomscrolling. Jenna didn't call but has been sick since last Sunday and Hwan took her to urgent care. It's turns out to 'only' be viral and is that nasty one that seems to last for 2 weeks or so. They were thorough, testing her for flu, Covid, and stress, plus a chest x-ray. She's going to stay home again today. Hwan's off school for MLK Day so can take care of her. Sigh.

...
Nothing on the schedule. I do, however, want to be able to walk in the Sunroom again so need to finish going through old cards/letters/etc. to save what is important and 86 the rest. Looks like perhaps an hour or so. There are some books I'll be taking to donate to the Friends. Book sort and Virlie's will be on Thursday since the Library will be continuing to clean the carpets. They started Saturday.

Reading, spreadsheets, Lightning Round, enjoying the snow/ice until it melts.

>148 karenmarie: Ah, the lightening of the load continues apace. I honestly can think of no task more miserable to do that offers such a great upside of accomplishment.

Thursday! That's disorienting. It'll be a strange week, then. I'm not sure how next week will unfold so I'm packing all the review-scheduling I can into the next few days. Sore fingers hooo-ooo-oo!

>149 richardderus: Hiya, RDear! I just posted on your thread.

Yes, the upside of accomplishment. I'm getting close to getting 2 rooms completely decluttered.

I hope that you're front-end loading the reviews for Good News.

*smooch*

Whew, Karen! I can't imagine having anything completely decluttered. We'd soon fix that in any case, so better the clutter that I already know than having to find my way through a new clutter. *sigh*
I'm sorry to hear that Jenna has that lousy viral 2-week layer-low. I know you both wish you were there to baby her and am glad that Hwan has a long weekend to comfort and care for her.
I don’t begrudge businesses making money. I begrudge their wanting to make so much and the consolidation of channels and networks and streaming services. That only benefits the businesses, never the people. Exactly! Precisely! We both have said this and agree 100%, hence losing our cable network 2 or 3 years ago.

Enjoy your day!

>143 justchris: You're singing my song in a slightly different key, Chris. I invest in the used DVDs of old movies or series that I love and watch them again and again. In most cases, buying good or very good quality from a reputable vendor that previews (or claims to preview) them works beautifully. When I've watched them twice, I've covered the cost of two rentals, and from then on they're available and free to me to keep them cycling or simply replay favorite scenes.
In theory I'd love Acorn or Britbox, but I don't want to spend my life watching. This is a win for me right now! (I'm currently watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers over a couple of sessions.)

Sorry to hear Jenna has been floored by the 2 week virus, Karen - I'm currently recovering from it too, today is the first day I've felt more human than not for what feels like forever. It's definitely a nasty one.

Trying not to feel inadequate at my lack of decluttering (this year the Room of Doom will be conquered. How many times have I said that before?). Well done though - I bet it feels good to have the rooms cleared.

Darlin' Karen how u farein'...

Ok I got nothing. A belated Snappy New Year!

>148 karenmarie: I read, somewhere, that the streaming services are under pressure from traditional broadcast services to crap up their offerings and make them more like what we had before streaming- ads and 1 episode/week. And they're doing it because it captures viewers who would have left the expensive streaming option but for the ad-supported cheaper options. Another downside is that both streaming and trad models want to engender water-cooler buzz by uploading new episodes weekly rather than as a series. So monetary optimization forces (MBA geniuses) are pushing providers to reinstate the old, ad- clotted model that caused viewers to abandoned traditional providers in the first place.

Really, it's all gone to hell since they canceled USA Up All Night. And what, in God's sweet name, would I have some in 2021 if I hadn't been able to drag my stress induced insomniac ass out of bed at 4am to binge the delightful, nostalgic, and color saturated The Marvelous Mrs Maisel?!

Much love my dear friend.

>151 LizzieD: “ so better the clutter that I already know than having to find my way through a new clutter.>” this is a fundamental truth. I doubt I’ll ever be able to use my sewing room after Mike exceeded his remit to vacuum by removing everything on the floor - which resulted in a complete re-arraignment and new shelves.

Morning, Karen. Another frigid start to the day. Bree just texted me- she doesn't need help with Jack today so I am glad I got to hang out with him the past 2 days. I will tend to the other kids, run a couple of errands and enjoy the books for the rest of the day.

>151 LizzieD: ‘Morning, Peggy! Decluttering is always temporary, but the deep-decluttering I’m doing right now leaves storage places with only things in them I want to have. So far that’s only two dormers, but hey. I’ve decluttered the pantry so many times, and now it’s in reasonable but not perfect shape. Things Need To Go.

Yes, my child is puny. I haven’t gotten up with her since the info about the Urgent Care visit.

We are an under an obligation to have Spectrum Platinum package cable because of the 51-home agreement with Spectrum when they gave us high speed wifi. We still only pay $110/month for both, and since the only other service here in our subdivision is Brightspeed, we’re very happy with Spectrum.

Okay, one of these days I’m going to gather all the DVDs and BluRay DVDs together, put them in the Media Room Closet, and see what we’ve got. I won’t even hazard a guess right now.

>152 Jackie_K: Hi Jackie, and I’m so sorry you’re just recovering from it. How did those germs travel from Scotland to Washington? 😊

Do not feel inadequate. I rarely tried to declutter when Jenna was a youngster, and I’m sure A. keeps you busy, plus Pete and the rest of your life. I’ve only been doing this because Jenna and Hwan are gone and sometimes doing something besides reading is good.

>152 Jackie_K: Larry! …. Larry!! I’m so glad to see you here. Since you are in my time zone, your 3:29 am post is suspiciously insomniac-ass-ish.

I are faring okay. ‘Nothing’ works. I just found the quote from Mamie in Richard’s second thread of 2025 that I loved then and love here: I got nothing but I wanted to share it with you. I got more than nothing, but I love the quote.

So monetary optimization forces (MBA geniuses) are pushing providers to reinstate the old, ad- clotted model that caused viewers to abandoned traditional providers in the first place.

Reminds me of the Peter Allen song Everything Old Is New Again, but not in a good way.

I know you and Parker D were still on the 16th floor of that apartment complex in Alexandria VA in 2021 and Covid isolation had to have been worse for you than for us – we could at least go outside on our property and get fresh air.

Much love to you, too.

>154 quondame: Hi Susan! Bill knows to not touch my stuff, and I usually don’t touch his… sorry Mike exceeded his remit.

>155 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and happy Tuesday to you. Ugh. Frigid temps and possible snow this week. Stay warm and enjoy the books.

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Several bags of trash made it downstairs. I found a Beanie Baby named Kicks, a bear with a soccer ball on his chest. Appropriate. I finished going through the box of cards/letters/etc., got the recyclables out to the garage, and have one box to go back into the dormer. This time, everything is in a plastic trash bag, and the box will be sealed and labeled.

Read, puttered. Watched 2 episodes of Cold Case.

Read and doomscrolled.

...
My cleaning ladies are getting here around 11:15. No book sort/Virlie's today because the Library is having the carpets cleaned. It started Saturday and the Library should be available by Thursday so we can book sort then.

I need to go get cash for the ladies. After they leave I need to go out again to take things to the swap room at the dump and do a bit of grocery shopping.

Reading, puttering, and etc.

>156 karenmarie: I'm stunned to see Larry around here! It's been a long time.

I'm not too clear how anything ever gets better without the absolute certainty that it will be enshittified by greed very very soon afterwards.

>157 richardderus: Larry and I are occasionally in touch via text, and I always send him a Christmas card. I'm always happy to see him here.

>134 karenmarie: Dang. It looks like I haven't been over here since Friday. My only excuse is being tied up in A Gentleman in Moscow most of the weekend. Wonderful book! And I love your review of it.

Given the current forecast, maybe we should plan for March. If we do get hit by a big winter storm this weekend, I don't know when we'll be able to get back out again. My semi-annual dentist appointment is Thursday, and I'm very glad it was timed to occur before the storm.

I'm sorry to hear that Jenna's gotten the flu, and that it was so bad that Hwan had to take her to urgent care. I sure hope she feels better soon!

>152 Jackie_K: Room of Doom - I like that! I'll have to remember it. It sounds like the current state of our guest room, which has become a dumping ground for all kinds of stuff. I really do need to go through it.

Morning, Karen. Keep us posted on Jenna's health. I was feeling a bit out of sorts last night and I think a cold is working it's way into my system. I did not have a solid night's sleep. Hoping I can dodge the worst of it. 🤞🤞

>159 atozgrl: Hello Irene! That's a great reason to not have visited - A Gentleman in Moscow is a stunner. I'm glad you're liking it. Thanks re my review, too. I just re-read it and am still happy with what I wrote.

I just looked at the forecast - Snow after 1 a.m. Saturday, and snow/freezing rain/sleet through Sunday night. Huh. Guess I'll go grocery shopping today after Trevor leaves.

My semi-annual dentist's appointment is Feb. 2nd, so probably no weather worries there for me.

Jenna had that 2-week virus going around. She and Hwan had Hwan's INS appointment yesterday for her green card. They think it went well and just have to wait for a decision. At least Hwan wasn't carted away by the fascist and dictatorial regime's ICE criminals. (Tell us what you really think, Karen!)

I guess if there's room to dump in, dumping will occur. *smile* My Rooms of Doom are the Parlour and the Media Room Closet/Room itself/closet on the Media Room landing. So, really 4 rooms.

There are other things that need to be gone through, but those are the worst right now.

>160 msf59: 'Morning, Mark. Happy Wednesday to you, although I'm sorry to read that you might be coming down with a cold. I've got Cardinals, a Downy, and a Mourning Dove.

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I went out and got cash for the ladies. They came, saw, cleaned, and left. I had a slight reprieve then Arsenal played Inter in the Champions League and won 3-1. They're on the top of the table there in addition to being top of the table in the Premier League. After that reading, puttering. We watched 2 Cold Case episodes then reading and doomscrolling.

...
Trevor's coming over in a while. Nothing major, just getting some bagged trash out of the house, packing up Bill's SUV with trash and recyclables, and putting some things into the Guest Bedroom dormers. Oh, probably bringing things out of what I'm now officially calling Karen's Bedroom's dormers so I'll have something to work on during this storm system. I might also have him empty what's in the Kitchen corner cabinet for the same reason. All the things in there will go on the floor in the Dining Room. There are a lot of things.

I need to go to the grocery store today before the panic buying for the storm starts. I was going to go anyway, but it's now more important.

Reading, puttering, spreadsheets and Lightning Round, too.

>161 karenmarie: Pleasantly busy, though the storm barreling down on you promises to be a doozy. I hope all's well after it.

I'm about to move into the lobby. I am ready to get moving....

'Morning, RDear! I just posted on your thread, successfully avoiding all BBs and wish list items. Fingers and etc. crossed so that you get Good News today.

I didn't even realize a storm was approaching until Irene mentioned it above.

*smooch*

>163 karenmarie: TYVM Sweetness. Me too about good news. If it's not I'll be really ticked at being summoned so far.

Good morning, everybody! That's especially (((((KAREN)))))!

>164 richardderus: Positive thoughts are surging for you all across this board, Richard.

*Room of Doom* - not really close. I'd call this *House of Mouse* except that the 7 cats keep us pest free since we keep them flea free.

I wish you a good day. I'm off for a haircut and grocery binge at Aldi. We are low on all our Aldi fun stuff. *sigh* Even we are supposed to get weather of some kind. Just not ice. PLEASE NOT ICE!!!!!

>165 LizzieD: PLEASE NOT ICE!!!!!
That's what I've been saying for the past couple of days. Only the forecast gets worse every day. I don't want a repeat of 2002. Anything but ice. I'd rather have the 20" of snow we got a couple of years before that.

Karen, have you been following the Monks for Peace, walking from Texas to DC? They finished today in Siler City and it looks like they might pass through Pittsboro next.

https://dhammacetiya.com/walk-for-peace/live-map/

>167 lauralkeet: They've been reporting on them every day on the local news since they got into NC. Of course, Karen doesn't watch the news, so I don't know if she's seen the coverage. Coincidentally, I'm watching a story about them right now, as a matter of fact. I'm a bit worried about them, given the horrid weather we're supposed to get this weekend.

>164 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear! Happy (?) Thursday to you. I cannot believe they really did summon you without giving you a firm commitment/contract. Sadness. *smooch*

>165 LizzieD: ‘Morning, Peggy! Many hugs back at’cha.

Pest free and flea free sound like the perfect mutualistic symbiotic relationship (thank you duckduckgo!)

Alas, we’re not appeasing the weather gods properly – looks like it’s going to be freezing rain/sleet/snow/ice for you, Irene, and me here in NC. I just checked Larry’s weather forecast and it’s not looking good either. Pretty much all the Northeast/Mid Atlantic are going to get lots of bad and dangerous weather.

>166 atozgrl: See above, to Peggy, Irene. The forecast does keep getting worse. WRAL’s Mike Maze said in one video that there might be up to an inch of ICE. Never mind sleet and snow…

>167 lauralkeet: I have not been following Monks for Peace, Laura. Looks like they will be 2 miles from my house sometime today. Thank you for the link. I’ll keep an eye out for them on my way home from book sort/Virlie's/Food Lion (for just a few things - wish me luck!), and bird seed. They may not be as far as 64 at Hadley Mill Road by the time I'm coming home.

>168 atozgrl: You got me, Irene. I do not watch the news, local or otherwise, except in emergencies. Like the upcoming one re the ice storm. Their schedule shows them getting to Raleigh on the 24th, which should be pretty nasty by the afternoon. And that’s after rain today and tomorrow.

Wordle 1,678 3/6* trope, winch, clink

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Trevor came over and took out quite a bit of trash that I had collected upstairs from various boxes and bags of Jenna's stuff. He also took some things to donate. He also emptied out one of Jenna's dormers so I have something to play with this weekend. He also emptied out the top shelf of the corner cupboard in the kitchen. Everything that was on it is now on a sheet on the floor in the dining room. I can see quite a few things I don't want or need any more that Jenna will never want. Donation time, although it will have to wait til next week because of the coming storm. He packed Bill's SUV so that he can take trash today and pick up some prescriptions.

I went grocery shopping, braving increasingly-panic-stricken shoppers. it was a little bit chaotic, with a lot of bad energy and bewilderment, but I got most everything. Bill and I watched 3 episodes of Cold Case. Reading, doomscrolling.

Book sort/Virlie's this morning, followed by a quick trip to the grocery store for just a few things that they didn't have yesterday. I'm hoping they're stocked today. I should also stop and get bird seed - 50 lbs of black oil sunflower seed and 40 pounds of wild bird seed. Fun times with panicky people out and about. After today, we'll be in for the duration.

Reading, puttering, decluttering, and all the other usual things.

>168 atozgrl:, >169 karenmarie: I've been following the Monks' Facebook page for a little while. They post several times a day with photos and video of their walk and interactions with the public. I saw a post the other day saying something about having plans to deal with the cold weather. Typically they sleep outdoors "under the trees" but I think they have a plan B for extreme conditions.

Karen, they're walking from Siler City today, and I believe their route is on main roads (with a police escort). An FB post last night said they'd be stopping tonight at the Chatham County Fairgrounds, with a time for visitors from (I think) 6pm-9pm. They've been attracting increasingly larger crowds so if you drive near their route you'll probably know they are near.

Irene, are you in Raleigh?

Hi Laura. The Chatham County Fairgrounds are across the street and down a bit from the grocery store I shop at. They won't be there when I'm there today, and I really don't want to go out tonight. Thanks for the update.

The timing of their trek through NC doesn't go very well with the terrible weather we're supposed to get.

Irene is in Apex, which is close to Raleigh.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. Still feeling rough his AM. I will deal with the kids and then come home and chill. I will also cancel my dental cleaning for today. I am sure they don't want me to be breathing in their faces. We are bracing ourselves for an arctic blast that arrives later tonight. Oh, joy!

>171 karenmarie: I get it, Karen. If the monks were walking right past my house I'd be out there, but I really dislike super-crowded events of any kind so I won't be venturing out to see them when they arrive in the greater DC area.

>169 karenmarie: Mo(u)rning, Horrible...I'm still processing the not-really-satisfactory results of yesterday. I have things to get ready, so more work.

I'm not ecstatic about this oncoming blast of Arctic ugh, but, in All honesty, I have no need to go outside until it's passed so...hunker down, accept the pain, and read. Status quo, in other words. Stay safe! *smooch*

Not even trying to catch up, Karen. Why does it take so long to recover from being out of town for a week?! Yikes. Anyway, I hope you have a good time reading, puttering, etc today.

Crowds of panic buyers for sure!!! In Aldi yesterday they were buying bottled water. Good Grief!!!!! We'll almost certainly lose power, but water??? (Of course, my night texting friend in Cornelius, just outside Charlotte, has had no water for a couple of days because a very main water main broke. I guess you can't be too careful. Sadly, I have flats of water in Mama's house from the '18 hurricane.)

Stay in! Somebody will take care of the monks, I'm sure.

Hope the book sort and Virlie's were as good on Thursday as on the normal Tuesday.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/378083

Morning, Karen. I hope you aren't frozen in place. Brutally cold here. I am not budging from the house. I am hoping I can finally shake this cold. I just saw one lone male cardinal at the tray feeder. I guess he doesn't mind the -7F temps.

>172 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! I’m glad you took it easier than normal yesterday. Your temps are brutal and so very dangerous.

>173 lauralkeet: I don’t like super crowded events any more either, Laura.

>174 richardderus: I just do not understand why they required to be there when they didn’t have a decision ready. Did they ask any new questions?

Looks like 9-15 inches of snow for you between Sunday and Sunday night. *smooch*

>175 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. Getting back into your routine is always hard. Looks like you’re going to be in a deep freeze starting later today through Tuesday morning, including precipitation.

>176 LizzieD: I don’t get the buying water thing since you live in a city with city water. Unless they’re all rural folk on wells?

I made a deliberate decision on Wednesday to not buy bottled water. I keep Deer Park 23.7 ounce bottles and refill them.

It was weird being in Virlie’s on Thursday because they didn’t have fried chicken. The special on Thursdays is meatloaf.

>177 SilverWolf28: Hi Silver, and thank you.

>178 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Friday to you. We’re not frozen into place yet – it’s 43.9F outside right now. The cold will start tonight with a low of 22F, the precipitation will be of a frozen variety starting tomorrow afternoon.

Staying in with the horrible cold up there makes sense, and I hope you can shake the cold you have. I’ve got finches, Cardinals, and sparrows. I need to replenish the feeders this morning AND tomorrow before things get bad.

Wordle 1,679 3/6* trope, sonar, baron

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Book sort was busy. Very busy. There were twelve of us and we worked 9 a.m. - 10.40 a.m. We stopped then because there was another entire cart and we didn't want to start it and have to stop in the middle. We always stop at 11. I found one book for me:

Arcane Carolinas: Folklore, Urban Legends, and Tales of Modern Weird from the Carolinas. This is volume 1. I didn't want to mess around with the touchstones to get the right one of three volumes.

Lunch at Virlie's was nice. Nine of us went to lunch. After that I braved the supposed hordes at the grocery store to get a few last minute things and it was only busy not crazy. I also stopped and got 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds and 40 pounds of wild bird seed.

I saw a few people lined up on the sides of US Hwy 64, which is the road I get into town on. There weren't many at 8:50 a.m. but quite a few in town and then perhaps 100 cars and more people on my way home at 12:50. I did not see the monks, but one of the women had the Monk Tracking App on her phone, so we got updates.

After I got home it was Horizontal Time, which includes naps, reading, and doomscrolling. Bill and I watched the last 3 episodes of Cold Case. There were several hints of future romantic involvement for everybody except one of the characters.

I monitor the weather every 3 hours to get the latest updates. Right now it looks like a small amount of snow, a fair amount of sleet, and then freezing rain, which will become .5-1" of ice. We will lose power, and our generator's good to go. However, if an outage goes more than 4 days, we'll have to turn the generator on and off so we don't run out of propane. We have a 500-gallon buried tank, which they fill to 80%, so 400 gallons. I got mad at Bill yesterday because he texted me that he asked Payne Propane to top off the tank since we got it filled in early December, but with the weather looking like it does, it is a good idea. They said they'd get here before things got nasty on Saturday. 🤞

...
A few things to do around here in preparation for the nastiness, reading, spreadsheet and Lightning Round updates. And etc. We need to find a new series to watch for tonight.

>179 karenmarie: I'm glad book-sort time was busy as that because it means donations were solid. Interesting book discovery!

I will be an indoor pup until it's nice again. I'm not even going to order in on Saturday evening if it's snowing to give Felicia, my Chinese-delivery lady, a break. If it's not snowing yet, it's mango chicken and fried dumplings all the way!

The director had not met me, only the subordinates, so I had to pass her sniff test. There are still things they have to do, and paperwork I don't have; when directly asked if I would lose my spot if the paperwork arrived in February, they said no, it would not be an issue...I could move in on 27 February. I can live with that.

Hiya, RDear. Happy before the Nasty Weather Event.

There are almost always interesting books, but I've gotten much more selective over the years about what I bring home.

I've filled all the bird feeders and cleaned/filled the bird bath.

I know you're going nuts with the wait, but at least on the outside you're handling it well.

I found this cartoon while looking through a box of papers this week, and it's how I feel right about now. It's dated 5-13-1982. Perhaps you can relate.



*smooch*

>181 karenmarie: I'm now completely positive nothing will happen this month, but I've already ascertained that will not mean I have no chance, or even a reduced chance, of getting a place. It hugely reduces my stress levels.

>181 karenmarie: Oh, Celeste!!!!

(Do you listen to WUNC? My least favorite announcer is Celeste Gracia, who pronounces her name "Celeste di Grrrassia." I now hear the other announcers calling her Celestee. I initially disliked her for saying "UNC-ah" when it came at the end of a sentence. I couldn't tell whether her name was Grrrassi or Grrrassia. I still don't like it. I don't like that she sounds 13 or 14 but looks to be late 30s. At least she doesn't do vocal fry or upspeak. Is that curmudgeony enough for the day?)

We are going to walk, so I'll wish you a good day and less ice than you are expecting! At least our session canceled Sunday services yesterday........ the interim had posted that he would decide Saturday night. Sheesh.

Stay safe and warm this weekend, Karen!

>184 alcottacre: What Stasia said, Karen.

>182 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear. Knowledge is power, being able to not expect a decision until February is definitely good for you stress levels. *smooch*

>183 LizzieD: ‘Morning, Peggy! I am a WUNC sustainer but rarely listen to it any more. However, we need to keep independent journalism and reporting available. I’ve never heard Celeste say her own name and can’t easily find an example. However, I did just learn what vocal fry and upspeak are. I am not an upspeaker at all, thank goodness, and I don’t deliberately drop my voice, so not vocal frying. *smile* Of the two I am disturbed by upspeak more than vocal fry.

I just saw a couple of Celeste Garcia’s YouTube shorts, and ugh. Just… ugh.

Thank you for the less ice good wishes. Alas, I don’t think that’s going to happen. .25-.75” ice predicted on weather.gov for Irene and me, .25” for you.

>184 alcottacre: Hi Stasia, and thank you. Looks like you’re getting hammered. Sleet, snow, and ice. I hope you stay safe and warm, too.

>185 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. Thank you. We’re as prepared as we can be. Propane tank filled, generator working, food and beverages stocked up. We expect to lose power, and even with the generator will not have wifi. So Bill’s been recording things he wants to watch. I reminded him that we have several hundred DVDs and BluRay DVDs, too.

Speaking of which, I need to make sure I have enough books on my Kindle. That does not count the 6K+ physical books...

Wordle 1,680 3/6* trope, slain, cliff

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I basically didn't get anything done except read. I got it in my mind that my aunt and I were going to talk at 1 p.m. my time, not the 1 p.m. her time, 3 hours behind us, that we'd agreed upon. We spoke for an hour and a half, and the rest of the day was worrying about what's going to hit us and filling birdfeeders and cleaning/filling the bird bath.

...
We aren't supposed to get 'weather' until late in the day - 6 p.m.ish. It's 29.7F right now, going to a high of 33F. Ugh.

I've got several decluttering projects in process, many books to read, planning for tonight's dinner and making a pot of soup for the duration. Possibly cornbread, too.

We're just waiting for the hammer to fall.

>186 karenmarie: Well, you do have the small matter of Arsenal v Manchester United to look forward to, Karen. Good luck!

>186 karenmarie: I felt hammered by the cold this morning. Even coffee isn't enough! The poor little heater is crankin' it out but the cold is overwhelming.

Cornbread! Yummmm

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. Good luck with that storm later today. Hope you avoid the dreaded icy stuff. We are still stuck in the deep freeze but no new snow. Maybe a little tomorrow. I will top off my feeders later. They remain active.

>179 karenmarie: >173 lauralkeet: The monks passed by us yesterday, not too far from where I live. Unfortunately, there isn't a good place to park a car to see them at the spot closest to us. I did eventually think of a place where I could have driven, not too far away, and parked. But we were worried about losing power and possibly having our cars stuck in our garage with the door down. Our garage door is supposed to be lift-able even without power, but my DH couldn't get it up, so he called someone to come look at it. The technician set it so we could raise and lower it manually, but we're not supposed to use the automatic opener for now. And we had all the cars in the garage and the door down by the time I thought of where I could go to see the monks, and I didn't want to bother by that point. As it turns out, there was a pretty big crowd at that spot, more than I would have expected. Like you all, I don't really enjoy getting into crowded events at this point, so I guess it's just as well I didn't try to go.

We had a passing bit of sleet about an hour ago. The main line of precipitation won't get here for a few hours yet. I hope it doesn't get as bad as they think it might. I'm glad you've got the generator. If power goes out here, we'll have to wait until they get it back on.

Stay warm and dry, Karen. I myself have abandoned my own home and will be sponging on Son the Elder and his wife. Their three daughters are off on their own. Helen in NYC, Claire in Palo Alto, and Gracie in Switzerland. If the storm is as wicked as forecast, I'll be better off in town. I've brought several books, of course.

>187 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Yes, I’m definitely looking forward to the game. It’s today at 11:30 our time. Thank you!

>188 richardderus: It’s a day later, RDear. You’re in a deep freeze with 5-9” of snow coming. Stay warm.

>189 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Sunday to you. Thanks re the storm. So far so good. We didn’t wake up to ice – which was a surprise to both of us – and the birds are not panicked. They had a bit of breakfast a while ago and are probably in a bird food coma.

>190 atozgrl: Hello Irene. I can understand the worry about the garage door opener if the power’s out. We couldn’t lift the garage doors with the red pull cords even if the vehicles weren’t there.

>191 weird_O: Aye, aye, Bill! Ditto to you with Son the Elder and his Wife. What? You have books available? 😊

Wordle 1,681 3/6* trope, girth, strut

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Yesterday was incessant checking of the local weather report and weather.gov. We did all our normal things and I made Baked Chicken Thighs with Panko and sticky Arborio Rice in my new-at-Christmas Cuckoo Rice Cooker. Total yum for both. We've got leftovers. We started rewarching Only Murders in the Building Season 5 for some reason. I don't remember why I liked it so much, but perhaps the first two seasons didn't grate. *shrug* We'll continue.

I started fighting a cold yesterday and was pretty miserable last night. Read, doomscrolled, and finally got the username/password we use for HBO Max as a subset of our Spectrum Platinum Package. I watched the first episode of Heated Rivalry yesterday afternoon.

...
I woke up feeling better than I thought I would. We didn't get freezing rain overnight, only about 3/8" of sleet. We're still projected to get .2-.4" of freezing rain/ice between now and tomorrow morning.

And as I mentioned above, Arsenal play Man United at 11:30. Arsenal need to win to keep 7 points ahead of Man City. 🤞

Reading, possibly puttering, spreadsheets and Lightning Round.

Stay safe and warm, everybody affected by the storm.

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. It looks like we got more snow than predicted and it is still coming down. I will have to go out later and shovel. Otherwise not much happening here. NFL payoffs later.

>179 karenmarie: >190 atozgrl: Are you referring to monk parakeets? They were introduced here 50-60 years ago and there are a few different nesting groups. They survive by nesting in the coils of the electric power stations. The electric companies don't like it but the monks have persevered. I have seen them a few times over the years but not in the past 2 or 3 years.

Looks like we cross-posted again. I hope you see it. Glad the storm didn't hit you too hard.

'Morning, Mark! Brrrr for both of us.

I'm watching a Brown Thrasher gobble wild bird seed. Here's a pic I just snapped:

>195 karenmarie: what a great picture!

Hi Anita, and thank you!

Mostly luck with the pic. Timing is everything, right?

>195 karenmarie: Great shot, Karen. I love these guys. Our thrashers have all gone south for the winter. They will be back in the spring.

Did you see my post about the monk parakeets?

>195 karenmarie: I love that image! Moody, evocative of the nature of winter and Winter in Nature.

I hope it stays like it is now, steady snow but frigid temps because if it stays it won't be snowmageddon. I'm glad there no serious wind! You're in for some fun with Heated Rivalry as the season rolls on. They all change so much due to growth and Life happening from book to book, I was wondering how this would transfer to the screen...it's usually the place adaptations fail...not this one, gratefully.

Off to read some May books. *smooch*

>193 msf59: I actually saw and inadequately responded to it in >195 karenmarie:. Ugh, more snow for you, AND shoveling in your future. Enjoy the NFL playoffs.

I didn’t know how to respond to the monk parakeets info, so like a stupe I didn’t reply at all. Monks for Peace, not monk parakeets. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as monk parakeets. Invasive critters, aren’t they?

>194 msf59: The storm is still supposed to smack us, and there’s actually freezing rain now. Very light, but still.

>198 msf59: Thanks re the Thrasher pic. See above.

>199 richardderus: Thanks, RD, re the pic. I've still only watched the first episode, perhaps I'll head upstairs to curl up under the covers with a heated corn bag on my feet and watch episode 2 after The Arsenal game. Heated Rivalry seems really seems to be a faithful representation of the books so far. Except Robbie GK as Kip, of course. I don't know what about him doesn't seem to fit, but oh well.

Enjoy your May books. I'm reading a much filthier series than Game Changers - Heartbreak Hockey. I'm on book 3 of 5.

Uh oh. It's feeding time already. That's what happens when I sleep in and am slow. I expect that you're watching your GAME. We still have no precip falling that I can see. We're marginally above freezing now anyway. WHEW!

Congrats on your Wordle 3 and enjoy your day!!!

Hi Karen my dear, i did wonder whether i ought to show my face here today. I have caught up with my lost sleep after my hospital stay and my reading verve has picked back up. I just hope that the rest of 2026 is a bit on the quiet side after what January has thrown at me. I have to have surgery but that could be a year away and so i have to deal with a Catheter until then but it could have been so much worse if i hadn't gone to get a Doctor's appointment and the fact that he was so on the ball and got straight onto the hospital about it.

I hope that you are keeping nice and warm my dear, we have seen on the news what has and has to fall over such a vast distance and we are supposed to experience a 40 hour blizzard sometime over the next week, i won't hold my breath as i have seen so many stories like this that haven't come to fruition.

Sending love and hugs to you, Bill, Jenna and Hwan and kitty skritches for Wash and Zoe from both of us and Felix.

Morning, Karen. Did the storm pass through? How bad was the freeze? Thanks for clarifying the monk thing. You never mentioned parakeets so that one is on me. Monk parakeets were introduced to our country and thrived in certain areas. Some consider them invasive but I don't hear many people complain other than the power stations where they nest and unlike starlings who number in the millions, the monks have a very small population.

My cold is still clinging on but I am going to go play PB and see how it goes. Getting a bit stir crazy. Still frigid here. Only 6F for a high today.

The Storm Report: We dodged a huge, nasty bullet here in central NC. Sleet and some freezing rain, so far no power outage. We’ll stay home ‘til at least Wednesday because we have no real reason to be out. We got about half an inch of sleet, then perhaps .1” of freezing rain, which, of course, is now ice. The concrete parking area is impassable because it’s just above freezing, but should get to 39F today and melt some. It’s going down to 10F tonight and will get below freezing by 6 p.m., so will refreeze overnight. Hark! I see blue skies NNW.

>201 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! It’s such a shame that kitties need feeding – ours do too! Zoe is restless and is parading back and forth between me and the monitor.

>202 johnsimpson: Hi John! Darn that Cunha! A gorgeous last minute goal for your team gave my team a huge loss. Man U is on fire.

I’m so sorry about your continuing health woes, my dear. … I just visited your thread for a catch up and am appalled at the ineptitude in fitting you with the original catheter and am so glad you went in, got it replaced. Several days in the hospital weren’t fun, as I can attest to with all the staff ins and outs, but am glad they got things under control and you were able to go home. Go Karen with the cotton wool!

Love and hugs to you and Karen, kitty skritches to Felix.

>203 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Storm’s come and gone. See above for The Storm Report. I’m sorry your cold is lingering. Enjoy PB. Your frigid temperatures make me glad it’s ONLY going to get down to 10F tonight.

I felt like I had a cold coming on Friday night and a bit rough over the weekend. However, hot tea with sugar (!) did the trick yesterday. Except for a very slight headache, I seem to be fine.

The birds are visiting quite a bit, but not in panic mode. None of my feeders need attention, thank goodness.

Wordle 1,682 2/6* trope, freak

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I was a combination of productive and lazy yesterday. Arsenal lost, darn it. I finished cleaning out 2 huge 55-gallon trash bags of things Jenna had put in the dormer in her bedroom aeons ago and dragged two huge 55-gallon trash bags filled with trash into the Guest Bedroom for Trevor to take out the next time he comes over. Napped. Bill and I finished watching the 'last' season of Only Murders in the Building, although there was a hook in the last episode in case they want to continue it. Worried needlessly about the storm, see above.

I stayed up until 3 a.m. finishing a book, Hidden Scars. I didn't get up until 9ish, so got a solid 6 hours of sleep.
...
So far all I've done is snap a few pics of outside, feed the kitties, drink coffee, and 'play around' here on LT.

I'd like to get both spreadsheets and January's Lightning Round updated, get more done upstairs, and, of course, read and putter.

>203 msf59: Mark, I guess you live too far away to have seen the stories about the Buddhist monks and their walk for peace. Here's one story with some information about them: https://www.wunc.org/race-class-communities/2026-01-23/buddhist-monks-walk-peace...

Morning, Karen. Glad to hear you dodged both the worst of the storm and an encroaching cold. Good going. Kids this AM and then meeting my birding buddies for lunch. They just got back from Costa Rica so I can't wait to hear about it, even though I will be deeply envious. No Jackson this week. 😒

>205 atozgrl: Yep, I completely missed the walking monks story. Thanks for sharing the link. Awesome story. Could they make a little detour to Minnesota?

>205 atozgrl: Hi Irene! I feel bad about the timing of their walk through NC, what with the ice storm and all…

>206 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! We did escape the worst of the storm, but it was 7.2F this morning and we lost power for about 45 minutes. Our handy-dandy generator kicked in. I was still in the arms of Morpheus and didn’t wake up until after commercial power came back and it was up to 10.1F. It’s gotten up to 19.9F in the last hour.

You’ll have to report on any rare sightings they had in Costa Rica. And, no Jackson? Sorry, Grandpa.

The Brown Thrasher has already visited this morning, along with Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, and Juncos. The Thrasher hung out in the tray feeder for a bit. That was fun to watch. A Blue Jay just took a sip of water and a Downy is frustrated that the suet is gone and has been reduced to wild bird seed.

Wordle 1,683 3/6* trope, flush, dusky

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Let's see. What did I do yesterday? Huh. Well, I read and updated my spreadsheets and Lightning Round. And drank coffee. And had grandiose plans to do more upstairs. And didn't.

We had leftover chicken and rice and started watching a new-to-us series, Ludwig. David Mitchell, who I know from QI, stars as a reclusive twin who's 'summoned' to London by his sister-in-law because his brother, a Detective for the Cambridge Constabulatory, is missing. It's fascinating and I'm absolutely hooked. Looks like a second season is in the works... We watched two episodes. I can hardly wait 'til tonight to watch two more.

I stayed up 'til 3. I may have had some chocolate about 7 p.m., keeping me wired. Anyway, I slept 'til about 8:30.

...
Bill says that the temp got down to 7.2F at 7:40 this morning. That's in the top 5 lowest temps we've had here.

Reading, and definitely doing more upstairs today are on the agenda. As is replenishing the feeders, treading carefully where there's still sleet and ice. It's melting off the concrete

I may or may not make Vegetable Beef Soup and Cornbread tonight.

>207 karenmarie: Soup and cornbread sounds wonderful. It's really just too cold. In y'all's next kaffeeklatsch with the goddesses, maybe point out how unpleasant it is to be freezyfrosty cold indoors?

Putter hearty! *smooch*

Hiya, RDear! I just posted on your thread.

Apparently we might get another weather event this weekend. Perhaps some sleet and/or snow Friday night through Saturday night, but with no details.

*smooch*

>209 karenmarie: I haven't looked that far ahead, so I'm unaware. I'll stay that way.

>207 karenmarie: “started watching a new-to-us series, Ludwig.” I LOVE that show. So happy that you’re loving it too!

Karen O

>207 karenmarie: Oh, we loved the first season of Ludwig. Can't wait for the next!

>207 karenmarie: We enjoyed Ludwig, too!

Morning, Karen. It sounds like you are dealing with some very cold temps. Hooray for that trusty generator. It is currently -1F and will inch up to 16. I am so glad I didn't have to carry mail during this rough stretch.

Glad to hear the thrasher has become a regular visitor. I had my red-breasted nuthatch (and the white-breasted too) visit yesterday. He is the smallest of my visitors and has to patiently wait his turn. Off to play some PB...

Oh yeah- I enjoyed Ludwig too.

>210 richardderus: Hello, RD. weather.gov shows a visual for ‘today’, tonight, and the next 4 days/nights. Here’s what’s on tap for us:



*smooch*

>211 klobrien2:, >212 ffortsa:, >213 lauralkeet: Glad you all liked it, too.

>214 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! For us, these temps are pretty cold. They’re not arctic, but definitely colder than normal for this time of year. Ugh. -1F. Unbelievable. The coldest it’s EVER gotten here at the house is 2F. And that’s at before sunrise.

I’m glad you don’t have to carry mail anymore period, but definitely during this dangerously cold period for sure.

Yay for another Ludwig fan.

It’s after first breakfast and before second breakfast for the birds, although a male Cardinal caught the sun and was brilliantly displayed taking a drink at the bird bath. He left before I could take a photo of it.

Wordle 1,684 4/6* trope, crier, creek, cruel

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I did quite a bit upstairs, putting trash in bags and putting donations in other bags for Trevor. He'll come over on Friday.

Made soup, but didn't make cornbread. I might make that tonight. We finished the first and only-so-far season of Ludwig.

Read, doomscrolled. Seriously avoided starting Barchester Towers for February's book club discussion. I really need to at least start it.

...
No need to go out again today. I'd like to refill the bird feeders. I think by early afternoon there will be the most melt on the concrete.

Reading, upstairs work on some of the boxes in the Guest Bedroom where I optimistically saved some of Jenna's clothes. After going through other things, I realize most of them need to get donated. Other puttering.

>215 karenmarie: Cold for y'all but looks like March to me. I'd happily settle for over freezing and sunny to start melting ice.

...so many meanings in that sentence fragment...

*smooch*

>215 karenmarie: Your forecast looks quite a bit like ours. The ice and snow are actively melting today and I hope that continues. Snow is one thing but we got quite a bit of ice as well.

Have a wonderful puttering day, Karen!

>216 richardderus: Hiya, RD. We still have ice on the concrete pad. A bit of it looks like black ice. We’ll see if I can get out of here this morning to go to book sort. If I can safely make it 2 miles to US Hwy 64, I’ll be fine. *smooch*

>217 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. I watched your forecast a bit over the storm and saw that you were like us for sure. Oh yes, ice is the worst. I puttered quite a bit. 😊

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There's an insurance hold when I try to register my SUV, but it's a hold on Jenna's Kia. The State Farms in WA and NC didn't chat properly. I got everything I need to go to the DMV to get it sorted. I read. I cleaned out more in Jenna's closet. We watched Arsenal beat Kairat. They're top of the table in the Champions League, having won 8 out of 8 games.

We started watching another season of Shakespeare and Hathaway for lack of having done a bit of research to try to find something that we'll both want to watch. It's more riduculous than I remember.

I've boycotted most documentaries for a couple of years now, but perhaps now's the time to try to find something. Perhaps a Lucy Worsley we haven't seen AND that is available on the platforms we get?

Read, doomscrolled, chatted with Jenna and Karen.

...
Gads. Book sort, Virlie's, lunch with Rita, visiting the DMV. Reading and etc.

Edited to add: We might get 3-5" of snow Saturday.

.

>215 karenmarie: That is a damn chilly forecast, my friend. It is especially tough when you are not used to it. Keep warm.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. Now, Sue is sick and she isn't happy about it and guess who is getting the side-eye? She is still managing to go to work.

Kids, PB, dentist, books. at least the dentist is just a cleaning. 😜

>218 karenmarie: Snow is welcome in comparison to ice, but y'all ain't set up for it. I hope All goes well as you begin your peregrinations, Horrible, since book sort's up again. Enjoy Virlie's!

>218 karenmarie: My DH cleared a path on our patio Monday so that I could get to the bird feeders to refill them. It's a good thing he did, because what's left has refrozen hard. Fortunately, it's not black ice. The low wall around the patio has had ice on it the whole time, and it's not budging because it doesn't get sun this time of year. (I'm glad our driveway is on the other side, facing south, because the ice all melted there and was easy to clear.)

I hope you were able to get out and go to book sort.

>204 karenmarie: We got ice that is still very much around in eastern VA. But, I was in central PA where we got somewhere in the 10 inch range? I had a snow day at my cottage and then dug out the next day.

>209 karenmarie: Now, I am home and waiting for what they promise will be snow not ice.

>215 karenmarie: I like Ludwig. Did you?

>218 karenmarie: Shakespeare and Hathaway has actually gotten sillier. But it's easy in a not-so-easy world.

Seems that you have most things under control. I can't cope with the —to me—conflicting weather forecasts. They are undigestible (or indigestible, if you prefer). The weather is mimicking the state of the nation, I think.

During my time in Easton, I ate a lot of homemade sourdough bread. My older son got into a routine during the COVID of baking such bread, and he's sticking with it. He exchanged emails with a guy in California who was looking for j...u...s...t the right flour for his baking, as was Jeremy. Of course, Jeremy was getting flour—50 lbs at a time—from California, and his correspondent was similarly buying from New York. And both were paying more for the shipping about than for the flour. Oh my. Long piece in WaPo yesterday (?) today (?) about mostly ladies with young children who started baking during COVID and now are earning money doing it.

Weather notes from downstate New York/upstate New Jersey: The Grand Helen spent last weekend with her girlfriend's folks near Warwick and had Frozen Frolics on Greenwood Lake. GF Claire's dad bored through the lake ice and measured its thickness at 16". Impressive.

Remembrance: The Grand Gracie escaped last weekend's storm by flying out of Newark for Geneva, Switzerland, where she's doing a semester. When she was packing, I was told, she found some cash she'd squirreled away and decided it was from Judi and me. "It smells like Gram," she said. (Gram died around this time in 2022.)

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/378251

Morning, Karen. Not much to report- just heading out to play PB. I will top off the feeders when I get home. Are you expecting snow this weekend?

>219 msf59: Hi Mark. Now we’re getting more snow tonight through Sunday morning. We could get up to 10”. After that, absolutely (for us) frigid temperatures.

>220 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! I hope you had a sweet Thursday. I’m sorry Sue’s sick. Did you share germs? If so, no wonder she’s giving you the side-eye! Sounds like yesterday was a busy day.

I got a notification from my dentist yesterday that they’ll make a decision on Sunday as to whether the office will be open on Monday because OF COURSE I have a dentist’s appointment after a snow storm.

>221 richardderus: They’ve been brining the roads again, RD. It’s 21.7F here right now. How dare we actually get winter weather? I peregrinated lots and LOTS yesterday.

>222 atozgrl: Smart DH, Irene. I’m going to ask Trevor to scrape a path to the bird feeder pole. My birds need food and it hasn’t been safe for me to attempt to get there since the sleet/freezing rain.

The north wide of our house doesn’t get any sun, so the concrete pad is about half icy. There are also ice patches going from the concrete to the top of the traffic circle.

I did get out and about.

>223 witchyrichy: Hi Karen. You almost sound ho-hum about 10” of snow. We’re looking at up to 10”here in central NC tonight through Sunday a.m.

I absolutely loved Ludwig. Intricate, nuanced, well written, well acted. Bill and I simply must find another series to watch. I’m past Shakespeare and Hathaway. I’d even rather watch last week's Premier League or Champions League matches, even if I know the outcome.

Looks like you’re going to get snow from this newest storm, too. Stay safe and warm.

>224 weird_O: ‘Morning, Bill! Weather predicting is rather a crap shoot, isn't it? I look at the National Weather Forecast, local TV station WRAL, and Weather Underground. Does any of it really work? Not particularly. Last weekend’s ice was supposed to be .5”, with serious anticipated power outages. We got .5" of sleet and perhaps .1-.2" of freezing rain, which has caused quite a nice sheet of ice on the concrete. Half of it's been melted because of the sun, but the other half made for careful maneuvering AND the way to get to the bird feeder pole is potentially dangerous.

This weekend’s snow event could be as little as 2”, 6” or 6”+ if snow bands come through our area.

Oh my. Cash smelling like Gram… Poignant.

>225 SilverWolf28: Hi Silver, and thank you.

>226 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Enjoy PB. We’re expecting whatever amount ends up falling because the forecasts are all over the place. However, I’m pretty sure that we ARE getting snow. It seems to be of the powdery variety and may not weigh down trees and/or power lines.

Wordle 1,686 3/6* trope, loamy, jumbo

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Book sort was busy. There were 13 of us, which made for interesting logistics. However, we got everything done by 10:40 and by the time we got to Virlie's there were 8 of us. After Virlie's, I was supposed to have lunch with Rita ~12:30, so was planning on having just hot tea. However, Rita got the last 2 wires out of her left hand on Wednesday. She said the pain was so bad she nearly threw up and didn't look good at all. She was soooo pale. We decided to put off lunch.

So I came home without going anywhere else, hung out for a bit, then went to the DMV to pay off the Liability Insurance penalty on Jenna's Kia. I could possibly fight State Farm on their screwing up - Jenna had continuous coverage. Frankly, $55 isn't worth it to me right now. So, I paid it and registered my SUV. So easy. The clerk was wonderful and knew what she was doing. The DMV in Siler City is in the basement of the city/county/state administration building. Interesting to look around while I waited. Fortunately, there were only 3 people ahead of me.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home because I decided we needed a few things in case it's hard to get out and about next week. $100 later... The store was very busy.

Bill and I had leftover Vegetable Beef Soup and watched two stupid episodes of Shakespeare and Hathaway. Doomscrolling, chatting with Jenna.

...
Trevor's coming over around 10. We have a nice list.

Other than that, reading, puttering, updating spreadsheets. I'm officially abandoning Barchester Towers. Ugh.

We must find something else to watch tonight.

>227 karenmarie: Barchester Towers is one of my favourite books of all time!

>228 SandDune: I read the first chapter, Rhian, and even though I'm pretty good at reading Austen, Dickens, and etc., this just didn't do it for me. Thank goodness I got all of the series on Kindle, most likely at $0.

Another book I love from the period-ish is Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. HER writing worked with the way my brain works and I relished it.

>227 karenmarie: Month-end! Omigawd I forgot! Off to do some thinking...*renews pain patch in advance of headache*

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. We did the best we could avoiding each other while I was sick. We slept in different rooms and mostly hung out on different floors. At least she has the next 3 days to recover. Not much planned for today. We got a little snow so I will clear the drive and I will do my best to take Juno for a walk. Due to the frigid weather we haven't got her out much in the past 2 weeks.

It’d been a while since I visited. Happy weekend! 🙂

>228 SandDune:, >229 karenmarie: I loved Barchester Towers on a second attempt, and only after reading the first book in the series, The Warden (which, btw, is shorter). LT member @lyzard did "tutored reads" for all of the books and her insights and context really helped. If you're ever interested in having another go at it, I can track down links to those threads. But it sounds like it may not be your thing, and that's totally fine!

Have a great day ... hope the snow isn't too bad in your area.

Hello visitors! I got up late, have barely had a chance to make coffee and solve Wordle. Arsenal play in 8 minutes. I'll be back after.

No snow. At this point they're saying this afternoon through this evening. We'll see.

Wordle 1,687 4/6* trope, hoist, jabot, allot

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>230 richardderus: Yes, RDear, today’s the last day for you to produce reviews for January! *smooch*

>231 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Saturday to you. Ah yes, the germ-avoidance dance. I do hope Sue gets better real soon. A little snow to clear, Juno for a walk. And books?

>232 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita. Yes, hello and thank you. Happy weekend to you, too.

>233 lauralkeet: Sometimes it does take a restart, but I’ll probably go to book club saying that I only got the first chapter read before bailing.

At this point, please don’t make the effort. If I decide to restart it before the meeting on the 12th, I’ll be in touch. So far, they keep delaying the snow event and downgrading it. Still might get up to 6 inches, but it’s looking less and less likely.

...
Trevor came over, took out trash, brought several bags of donations downstairs and put them in my SUV, filled my bird feeders, filled the bird bath, put a new battery in the bottom of the propane stove for the remote control (🙄), and put a bit of electricians' tape under the kitchen sink to keep the faucet swing nozzle fully functional. Because of our garbage disposal's being larger than the old one, it gets caught every once in a while.

Trevor did all this, by the way, with a broken collar bone. He had a bit of reduced range of motion, but not much. The other one's been broken, so he was not as worried as I was.

Arsenal are beating Leeds 2-0 (#sorrynotsorry Paul!) at the half. No snow so far. My plans for the rest of the day are to get my bedroom under control with the things from the second dormer sorted. I also want to make more decisions about the closet.

Reading and puttering, too.

Back to Arsenal...

Well, Karen, we have a little snow on the ground from overnight with the big amounts predicted for later in the day. If it's going to do it, I hope it comes while there is still enough light enough for me to see. I'd just as soon have no more at this point, but I don't remember being consulted. Main streets show traffic with no problem, but it's frozen on our north-facing street on the "hill" down to the river. (It's one of the steepest hills in town, I'll have you know.)

I'm sorry to hear about Trevor's broken collarbone. Was that from a fall on ice? I understand it's very painful, so he must be a real Stoic.

Go Arsenal! Enjoy and stay in. That's my plan, and I'm infinitely grateful that we can. I find myself thinking about Kiev and Gaza, not to mention all of you north of here.

New first: Lulu on my lap at the computer. She has been catnapping on me when I've stretched out on the sofa, but not like here and now!

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. Yes I did get Juno out for a walk and hopefully I can do it again today. I also got a nice chunk of reading time in. It is nice to be immersed in this ancient sea-faring world with The Wayfinder, a reprieve from the frigid cold and the continuing chaos.

Today- laundry, food-shopping and much more book time. Despite all the glorious AM sunshine, nothing at all happening at the feeders.

ETA- Sorry to hear about Trevor. What a trooper he is.

>236 LizzieD: ‘Morning, Peggy! Happy Sunday to you. One website said your town got 4.6” from this storm.

Glad you were able to stay in. What?!?!! I’m shocked that you wren’t consulted. *smile*

Yes, Trevor slipped on some ice. And he was wearing Crocs. It’s amazing that he didn’t also break an ankle. He is definitely a Stoic.

Arsenal won handily, 4-0. Top of the Table although the teams in 2nd and 3rd place are playing today. They won’t tie or get ahead of Arsenal, but would nip at their heels.

I loved watching the snow. It was super small, powdery flakes, but there is quite a bit on the Crepe Myrtle branches and the Magnolia leaves. Go Lulu!

>237 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and happy Sunday to you. I’m glad you got Juno out for a walk, and yes to reading. Hope your errands all go well. My feeders are hopping, since our Southern Birds aren’t quite used to all their food sources being buried. A Chickadee, many Cardinals, sparrows, and several finches. A Mourning Dove, too. Thanks re Trevor.

Wordle 1,688 2/6* trope, spiny. The Wordle Gods were kind.

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It started snowing about 11:30 a.m. and didn't let up 'til about 1:30 a.m. It looks like about 5". It's a nice, bright 21.4F.



Arsenal beat Leeds 4-0 (#sorrynotsorry Paul!).

I watched the snow, read, and napped. We had the last of the soup with garlic toast.

We are very happily watching Shetland. It's almost familiar but not exactly. Anyway, it's very good. We both have to train our ears for the accents. Reading, puttering, and doomscrolling upstairs.

...
We're happily housebound. Kitties haven't figured out that the kitty door is still locked. They won't go crazy, but we may get an unhappy yowl or two and perhaps more zoomies than usual.

Reading, updating spreadsheets and the January Lightning Round, then stats. Puttering around upstairs a bit, then definitely a nap and more reading.

Bill's watching soccer. Dinner will be winging it. I might make cookies. Or brownies.

>238 karenmarie: Isn't it lovely to see snow where there usually is none? It's good you can remain contentedly housebound while Nature frosts your world.

No lightning round yet? *tsk*

;-P *smooch*

Your Trevor is a trooper, Karen. Are you sure you can't clone him? Reading through all the weather woes I'm glad to be out of the snow belt. It must be different to see rain rather than snow during the winter for Jenna.

Morning, Karen. Love the snowy pics. 5 inches is A LOT for you guys. At least your snow will not stick around long. I think we will be stuck with ours for a long time, although we finally get to the freeze mark this week for the first time in 3 weeks. Whew!

PB for me. Sue will head out to help with Jack. She is finally feeling well enough. I will take my turn tomorrow.

Morning Karen! Shetland is one of my favorite TV series, especially the first 7 (I think) seasons with Douglas Henshall as Jimmy Perez. How far along are you?

Also, inquiring minds want to know: did you bake cookies? or brownies? I'm feeling the urge to bak myself.

>239 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear. It really is. It covers up the unpleasant or chaotic stuff, mutes the world, and makes me happy. Lightning Round today. I started things yesterday. *smooch*

>240 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. He’d love to be cloned – he’s had a rough time in recent years, according to our mutual friend Rita the Librarian, and is trying to get an official handyman service started. If we could snap our fingers, he could come to you as needed along with all his tools and equipment.

Jenna joked to me that since she now lives out of state, she can’t help block snow and ice. Cheeky. And I joke with her and ask if they’re moldy yet.

>241 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark. Thanks re the pics. The last two were with you in mind. It got to 3.9F at 6:15 this morning according to Bill. I was up earlier than that and also saw 3.9F. It was ‘only’ supposed to get down to 10F. Today’s high will be 41F and tonight’s supposed to get down to 19F. At least through Friday night it won’t get above freezing. Depending on how warm it gets during the days, it might make getting safely up to the road possible. And then again, perhaps not. The 200’ gravel drive ending in the concrete pad is a gentle slope down from the circle. When we built this house, we were not thinking with this weather in mind.

You typically have lots of snow most of the winter, don’t you? I’m sorry Sue’s still sick, although ‘finally feeling well enough’ doesn’t sound pleasant. Yay for both of you getting Jack time.

I've got the Brown Thrasher, Cardinals, House Finches, sparrows, and a Mourning Dove camped out in the tray feeder. I saw a blizzard of Juncos yesterday. I love that they're a blizzard. I'm not even going to try to get to the feeders today although they are getting low.

>242 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, and good morning to you. We’ve watched the first 4 episodes – two books worth. So we have some pleasant watching ahead of us. Sigh. I baked neither. … I just pulled up the Brownies recipe and the next time I go to the kitchen, which will be in a bit to get some breakfast, I’ll get out the four eggs needed and let them come to room temp.

Wordle 1,689 5/6* trope, curvy, cairn, chair, cigar. This is the first reuse of a word by the Wordle Gods. It was previously used on June 19, 2021.

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Happily housebound, took a fair few number of pictures. It barely got above freezing, and if some snow melted, I can't see where it was except for some that was on tree branches.

Read. Worked on dormer boxes upstairs and found Darcy the (rubber) snake. He's a bit battered, but that's to be expected at the ripe old age of 31. He's the first toy Jenna named. She was 18 months old. He's coiled but stretches out to about 15-18". She carried him out of the toy store by the neck, so proud. I got several interesting looks. I also found 4 more Beanie Babies.

Napped. Worked on spreadsheets and January's Lightning Round. Bill and I watched more of Shetland. Talked with Jenna for the teensiest bit - they got official notification that Hwan's been approved for her Green Card. We're sooo happy for them, and they are a combination of happy and relieved. it could have taken longer, more documents could have been required, or it could have been denied.

Chatted with Karen for a bit. We had some nice talk about Heated Rivalry, which we've been chatting about for a month. I finally got Bill's log on to HBOMax, and watched it upstairs. I've read the first 4 books and am going to overcome my sticker shock on the next two, which are $9.99 on Kindle.

I'm going to watch the series again, probably starting tonight.

...
I've been up since about 8:30. It's still below freezing, although warming up quickly from 3.9F to 34.4F now.

Stats and Lightning Round, puttering upstairs.

Bill reports that there's a burst pipe somewhere near the master bedroom bathroom/bookbath. He turned the water to the house off and left a message for the plumber. We have a 50 gallon reservoir in the garage. The only thing I'm worried about is being able to make coffee and brush my teeth. We can turn the water back on, leak and all, to refill the reservoir.

I was going to bake and make chicken for dinner, but the less dishes we have to deal with the better until this is resolved.

So. Everything else. 😎

Great news about Hwan's green card! I'm so happy for them.
Also happy for you, with so much Shetland ahead :)

>243 karenmarie: HOORAY FOR JENWAN!!

Somehow I'm not that surprised you're enjoying Heated Rivalry onscreen. They did something remarkable, those Canadians, something unthinkable in the pusillanimous world of Hollywood. Authentic and sincere storytelling vaulted a never-was actor into a Name Brand Producer/writer; two no-name gay kids starting their careers into global superstardom; and bought the author whose books they adapted respite from limbo on access to the very best care for her Parkinson's.

I'm so delighted by their success. I hope they build on it in this show and that it catalyzes the entire field for others. Kit Connor and Joe Locke and Alice Oseman should All find the same level of success now to balance their head start into less fame.

And faGawdsake can we finally hear the end of that craptastic shambolic nuisance Stranger Things and its queerbaity ending?! It was boring before but hearing about it and hearing about it is wearin' my last inch of nerve.

>244 lauralkeet: Thanks twice, Laura.

>245 richardderus: Hiya, RD! Yes, I'm so thrilled for my daughters. They were so meticulous in preparing the documents, forms, submissions, and etc. that they needed when they had their interview.

I loved, loved, loved Heated Rivalry. I'm going to watch it again, probably starting tonight. Hudson Williams, playing Shane, and Connor Storrie, playing Ilya, are electric both and off screen. Although the TV series minimizes Scott and Kip's story (first book in the series) and François Arnaud and Robbie GK's chemistry nowhere matches Williams and Storrie's, it's necessary for both the book and TV series.

I've never watched Stranger Things, and as it's not normally in either Bill's or my favorite genres, will happily forever pass.

*smooch*

YTD Statistics through January

28 books read
27.5 ebooks, 0 audio books, 0.5 paper books
8832 pages in completed books
0 hours in completed audio books
14 books abandoned, 1535 pages abandoned, 0 hours abandoned

10367 total pages read

Avg pages read per day, incl books abandoned: YTD = 334
Avg pages read per book, only those completed: YTD = 370

Book(s) of the Month:
How The Word Is Passed by Clint Smith
Heart by Jesse H Reign

Books by Month
Jan - 27.5 ebooks, .5 paper books Used both media for How The Word Is Passed

Author
Male 4%
Female 76%
Undeclared * 18%
Non-Binary 2%
* - can't find info anywhere

Living 100%
Dead 0%

US Born 20%
Foreign Born 36%
Undeclared * 44%
* - can't find info anywhere

Medium
Audio Book 0%
e-Book 98%
Paper Book 2%

Source
My Library 27%
Library 0%
Kindle Unlimited 73%
Borrowed 0%

Misc
Galley Proof 0%
Re-read 11%
Series 68%

Fiction 96%
NonFiction 4%

Author Birth Country
Australia 4%
Canada 25%
Grenada 4%
Undeclared * 40%
US 27%
* - can't find info anywhere

Original Decade Published
2010s 11%
2020s 89%

Genre
Contemporary Fiction 0%
Crime Fiction 0%
Historical Fiction 0%
History 0%
Humor 0%
Informational Nonfiction 4%
Memoir 0%
MM/MMM/MMMM Romance 96%

Average Rating Expanded to include .1 stars.
.1-.5: Anathema 0
.6-1: Don't Bother 0
1.1-1.5: Very Bad 0
1.6-2: Bad 0
2.1-2.5: Average 1
2.6-3: Good 1
3.1-3.5: Very Good 4
3.6-4: Excellent 11
4.1-4.9: Stunning 11
5 - Masterpiece

Average Rating 3.96
Books acquired YTD (361 acquired in 2025) 18
Books culled YTD (193 in 2025) 8

6232 cataloged on 12/31/25

January Lightning Round

Any in bold are NOT MM romances, few and far between as they are.

Quite a few of the smut books have warnings about triggers or scenarios that I don’t mention here. Caveat emptor re triggers if you want to dip your toes in.

3.50* An Omega for Christmas by Sam Abbot 12/31/25 1/1/26 87 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Matthew is a rejected omega, who works as a barista in the town managed by his former pack. Grey is the pack alpha of a neighboring pack, there to negotiate with Kelvin, and is attracted to Matthew. Kelvin doesn’t want Grey to have Matthew even though Kelvin has another omega. Grey rescues Matthew when Matthew flees Kelvin and they become trapped by a blizzard in Grey’s cabin. Being that this an Omegaverse mpreg book, Matthew goes into heat, they bond, and Matthew becomes pregnant. Baby, happpiness, caveat emptor re sex.

3.80* Ruined by the Bodyguard by Jenny Pineapple 1/1/26 1/1/26 167 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Wyatt is the spoiled son of a very rich man, whose bodyguard, Grayson, has finally had enough of Wyatt’s shenanigans and when Wyatt is betrayed his best friend and his girlfriend, Gray steps in to keep Wyatt grounded. They begin a relationship even though they’re both sure Wyatt’s parents will not be pleased. However, they are pleased with how Wyatt’s become responsible and finally seems happy. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.20* Unhinged by Onley James 12/30/25 1/1/26 306 pages Mine, a reread.

First in a 7-book series, with father Thomas Mulvaney and his six adopted psychopath sons. Each has his own way of manifesting his psychosis and his favorite way to kill the people Thomas sets them free to kill because they will never be brought to justice. This first book starts with Thomas meeting Adam as a child, diagnosed as a psychopath and adopted by Thomas. By day Adam is involved with Thomas’s charity work. Years earlier he killed Noah’s father, who was a pedophile. Noah is barely surviving, working for one of the men who abused him as a child. He does not remember this abuse and does not remember that his father also abused him. He is determined to find out who killed his father. He and Adam meet and Adam is instantly smitten by him and wants to keep him for his very own. Being a psychopath, he’s been taught to mimic human emotions and behaviors, which he uses on Noah. Noah is smitten with Adam’s power, strength, and attraction to himself. They start a romantic relationship, which Adam’s brothers and father do not like at all. However, as they research what happened to Noah and find out that his abuse is part of a much larger pedophile ring, Noah proves to the family that he loves Adam and is valuable to the family. Adam keeps Noah safe and the family goes to extraordinary lengths to break the back of the ring. There’s a lot of humor in this book with Adam trying to attract Noah, Noah understanding more about Adam than one would expect, and their very unusual HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

3.40* Pascal and the Forger by Avril Ashton 1/2/26 1/3/26 274 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Full of holes, with emotions all over the place. Win was rescued by Mathieu when Mathieu kills the rich man Win is being paid to have sex with. Ten years later, Win has already broken up with Mathieu after Mathieu cheats on him. Oh, and Mathieu is Haitian mobster royalty. Win’s now married to one of Mathieu’s rivals. There’s much pining by both of them for the other. Honestly, I just read it and it’s still vague and confusing. Houses are bombed, people are killed, people are deliberately shot but not killed… by the end they get their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.00* Psycho by Onley James 1/1/26 2/3/36 283 pages Mine, a reread.

Originally read in July of 2022. Next brother to be obsessively attracted to someone he’s just met is August, a tenured professor and killer for the family. He meets Lucas, a new professor, kicked out of the FBI when he touches a coworker and sees that the coworker is a serial killer. Nobody believes him, he’s institutionalized and released from the FBI. He and August literally run into each other and Lucas is horrified because he can ‘see’ that August is a killer. As he is wooed by August, he is charmed by August’s deliberate attempts to do ‘boyfriend’ things. August believes his clairvoyant skills and Lucas learns about August’s family and that August only kills those who are outside the law. In the meantime, Lucas is working hard to find the women killed by the FBI agent, who has now come to taunt Lucas as a preface to killing him.

“I want to keep him.”
“Bruh. Those are thinking thoughts not speaking thoughts,” Noah coached. You can’t just go around telling strangers you’ve imprinted on them like some werewolf in a Twilight movie. They won’t get it.”
August shrugged. “He already knows I’m a psychopath”.

August’s family helps bring the FBI agent to justice. August and Lucas get their clairvoyant/psychopath HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

2.80* Anonymous Alpha by MM Farmer 1/3/26 1/4/26 233 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Evan is a famous pop star. He hires an ESA – an Emergency Support Alpha – to safely and privately take him through his heat. Everything goes fine until a video is leaked of their time together, with editing to make Evan sound like a cold and calculating star who doesn’t value his fans. Sable takes him back with him to his house, where they try to keep their sanity while discovering who leaked the tape. Sable remembers drones outside, and even the hint of a camera inside, now that he came to think of it. Evan is known, Sable is not – hence the title, Anonymous Alpha. As they hide out and deal with Evan’s manager and everybody else who wants a piece of him, Sable and the owners of Bangers and Mash protect him and give him resources to move forward. As this happening, they fall in love, of course. Caveat emptor re sex.

3.20* The Wrong Omega by MM Farmer 1/4/26 1/5/26 232 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Ty is an ESA who has been hired to help an omega through heat. He goes to the hotel and discovers an omega clearly in distress, almost incoherent with pain and fear. Ty assumes that this is his client and takes him inside to the suite that his company, Bangers and Mash, has reserved for Ty and his omega. As time goes on, and Winslow’s heat intensifies, Ty figures out that Winslow isn’t his client but needs him. Winslow comes out of heat accidentally bonded to Ty. Oh, and Winslow’s brother is rather despicable if adorable and clerly ADHD. He has no filters, clings to Ty and Winslow like a limpet. As Ty tries to protect Winslow while dealing with trying to persuade a potential partner to Bangers & Mash to join forces, Winslow unintentionally attracts the worng man, his brother starts growing up and gains a vocation, and Ty AND Winslow fall in love. Sweet and sexy. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.00* Top Secret by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy 1/5/26 1/7/26 272 pages Kindle Unlimited.

An interesting premise. Keaton’s girlfriend Annika, asks Keaton for a MFM threesome for her birthday, Keaton, a college jock and frat member, signs up for an app, where he goes by LobsterShorts and meets SinnerThree, a bisexual male. They start texting and sexting. Luke is also college student who’s got a full scholarship but is struggling to pay for room and board. He joins a fraternity because he can get reduced rent in the fraternity by doing so. His neighbor on the third floor is an obnoxious jock who plays loud music all the time. They seriously dislike and don’t respect one another. Keaton is President of the Frat, Luke finds out that the President gets free room and board. and immediately puts his hat in the ring. In the meantime, Keaton and Annika have a hotel suite for the threesome, but she chickens out when they are there and their third is outside the door. Keaton steps outside the door and it’s Luke. Total shock and unhappiness on both sides, but their texting and sexting makes them realize that they are emotionally and sexually attracted to one another. They secretly start hooking up. It eventually comes out very few people are happy about it except for Luke’s mother and Annika, who has now regained her friendship with Keaton. Enemies to lovers, a hard-fought-for happy ending. The texting and sexting in the beginning chapters are laugh out loud fun. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.00* Ruthless Titan by EV Olsen 1/7/26 1/8/26 406 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Roll-your-eyes premise has college hockey teammates Connor and Ryan not really knowing one another until Connor forces Ryan to marry him to keep Connor from being forced into a marriage to cement a business merger for his father. He kidnaps Ryan and they get married and return as though nothing’s changed until Connor takes Ryan to the press conference to supposedly announce his engagement to the daughter of the proposed business partner. Needless to say, it doesn’t go well, and Connor keeps being threatened by his parents. The threats escalate, but Connor staves them off and starts hiding his assets from them. In the meantime, Connor and Ryan start bunking together and Connor quickly learns that Ryan’s traumatized and cannot stand to be touched At.All., except for when he’s playing hockey. He starts protecting Ryan at practices and at the games. The team learns that they are married and they start protecting Ryan, too. They start having feelings for one another, and Connor realizes he’s GFY for Ryan. Connor’s family takes Ryan, where he is used as bait for Connor to come home, where he knows he and Ryan won’t come out of it alive. Connor and Ryan have powerful college and other friends, and they’re saved while Conor’s parents don’t make it out alive although Connor isn’t the cause. Other enemies del the final blows after Ryan and Connor escape. Needless to say, Connor and Ryan fall in love and decide to stay married. Caveat emptor re sex.

3.70* Masked Marionette by EV Olsen 1/9/26 1/9/26 88 pages Kindle Unlimited.

I read this one at night and was sorry I did so. I made sure the blinds were drawn, as the horror kept escalating. Jasper is enticed to go to Adrian’s house with the temptation of a weekend of wild sex. Jasper sees hints of people, sees things that don’t make sense until he realizes that he’s the newest sacrifice to the demon of the house itself. Scary. Caveat emptor re sex.

2.50* Apple Pie by West Greene 1/9/26 1/9/26 27 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Noah loves Lincoln but Lincoln doesn’t know it, Lincoln loves Noah but Noah doesn’t know it. After a particularly brutal deployment, Linc returns and confesses that he loves Noah. Noah tells him the same. One more deployment where they are engaged, then Linc comes home with a marriage proposal for Noah so that he can come on his next deployment. Sweet and spicy short story. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Alpha Unleashed: Two Werewolves for Sebastian by DJ Heart ** 283 pages

Sebastian signs up for a program that gives him money to help his mother get treatment for cancer. Several years later, pretty much after he’s forgotten he signed up, he’s notified that his contract has been bought by Viggo, a rich alpha. Oh, and Viggo has a mate, another alpha, named Bjorn who is currently lost to his human side and is only acting out his wolf. Sebastian is brought into the fold, discovers that Bjorn has been attacked and has a silver-like substance that negatively affects him. Once the substance is removed, he’s interested in Sebastian, too. Weird, with an interesting premise but ultimately not interesting enough to continue. Size and … well, size… differences between Sebastian and the two alphas. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Christmas Heat by MM Farmer ** 148 pages

Another in the Bangers & Mash series is poor pitiful omega with job problems and who drives his SUV into a snowbank. Goes into heat, calls in an Emergency Support Alpha, Teddy, and it goes from there. Rather boringly, IMO. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.60* How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith 12/30/25 1/11/26 hardcover 293 pages and Kindle Unlimited.

I was going to write a full review, but this is enough space to say that I loved the premise of Clint visiting hundreds of sites that were involved with slavery one way or another and settling on 7 to explore in depth:

Monticello Plantation
The Whitney Plantation
Angola Prison
Blandford Cemetery
Galveston Island
New York City
Gorée Island
And, epilogue

Each is well researched and his personal experience at each and the interviewed he conducted make for fascinating, horrific, and embarrassing reading. The only one I knew anything about was Monticello Plantation and Thomas Jefferson.

Of all the hundreds of facts that were presented, two stood out to me:

1. There are broken chains, symbolizing emancipation, at the base of the Statue of Liberty, near each of her sandaled feet.
2. Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1866. Eighteen sixty-six. And I, sweet entitled white woman from California, had never heard of it until about 15 years ago.

Not easy reading but more easily digested as the 7 places and the epilogue. My only complaint is that some of his descriptions of people were unsettling and even a bit cruel.

4.30* Saddle to Sunup by Emmy Sanders 1/10/26 1/11/26 315 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Oakley and Lawson have been best friends since they were little. Oakley’s gay and has secretly been in love with Lawson since they were little. Lawson marries a woman and has a daughter, Wendy. Oakley is supportive of the marriage and loves Wendy like she was his own. However, he leaves with his partner. Lawson gets a divorce. Lawson desperately misses his person, Oakley, and once he finds out that Oakley and his partner (never named) split up, he brings a trailer for the miniature cow Belladonna and tells Oakley he’s moving home. Oakley comes home to the house he owns that has conveniently become tenantless. He works as a hand on Lawson’s family’s ranch. Bits of drama, Lawson gradually realizing he's in love with Oakley and starts spending more and more nights with him after they start a sexual relationship. Eventually they both realize everybody’s been holding their breaths about when they’re going to REALLY be together, and they get their HEA with Wendy, Belladonna the cow, and the rest of their families. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Alpha's Claim by Oliver Kingsley ** 121 pages

Rowan has been hiding for 10 years. He’s a rare male omega and is terrified of being discovered. He uses suppressants and is a vet. However, Kieran, the alpha of the Silverpine Pack, scents him and realizes he is an omega and also he’s his fated mate. He persuades Rowan to visit the pack and see if being a member of a pack again is something he wants. Kieran also promises to protect him from other packs seeking him out. Well. We have an unplanned heat, a bonding between Kieran and Rowan, a pregnancy… and I just couldn’t continue. Rowan seems oddly persuaded to visit the pack, oddly accepting of Kieran helping through the heat, and totally accepting of his pregnancy and probable role as the mate of Kieran. I either wanted more acceptance from Rowan right away or more resistance after he’s on Kieran’s pack’s lands. It seemed facile. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned The Holiday Exchange by Christina Lee ** 52 pages

Dawson owns his own small coffee and pastries business. He’s twins with Nathan. Every day he sees Briar come in for coffee and a pastry and is attracted to him. However, one day he sees Nathan with Briar but realizes Nathan is in ‘break up mode’ after 3 months. Briar, however, has told his parents he’s bringing a boyfriend home. Dawson agrees to be the fake boyfriend. Dawson loves small towns and everybody knowing everybody, Briar has escaped it because he felt isolated. When they are at Briar’s parents’ they help with the tree cutting business, navigate the very small bed in Briar’s childhood home, and all of a sudden it became way too predictable and didn’t have any edge to it. They are attracted to one another, but there’s no caveat re sex before I abandoned it.

**abandoned Salad on the Side by Karenna Colcroft ** 88 pages

Sorry, RD. This one didn’t do it for me because a human is turned into a werewolf and seems nonchalant about his new status and life. He’s vegan, which is amusing at first. The story devolved into pack politics and tiptoeing around the attraction between him and the alpha of the pack.

4.80* Finance Bros by August Jones 1/12/26 1/13/26 448 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Ryan and Malcolm are former step-brothers. They bonded upon their parents marriage until they didn’t. Ryan told Malcolm he loved him and Malcolm freaked out and bullied him the rest of their high school career. Fast forward after they’ve both gotten degrees and have both accepted internships with a prestigious asset management company. They are both freaked out and the hate flows. However, they and a young woman named Bailey are put together on a project – each intern has been given $100 and they must do whatever they can, legally but with no other rules, to grow it over the course of the internship. They are panicky until thy come up with the idea of Malcolm giving finance advice shirtless and holding his girlfriend’s cat. Bailey knows how to work social media, Ryan starts making videos too, holding Malcolm’s cat. Malcolm and his girlfriend of 10 years are on a break. As Ryan and Malcolm rehash their disastrous teenage years and enmity, Ryan realizes that he still loves Malcolm and Malcolm realizes that he's at a minimum bisexual and probably gay. They start spending more and more time together and exploring their sexuality together. They take on a fourth intern, Nathan, after the group he’s in starts imploding. As they start growing their brand and monetizing it across platforms, They figure out how to work together professionally and grow their relationship personally. By the end, their team has amassed almost $1 million net, winning the project. Malcolm has quit the internship, but they’re so successful that Ryan doesn’t accept the offered job. Several years later they’re wildly successful and have just bought a new house together. They see love, happiness, success, and babies in their future. I loved the project and how the three, then four of them were logical and persistent and savvy and created their business. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.85* The Liar's Reckoning by August Jones 1/13/26 1/15/25 605 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Fourth in the Doormen of the Upper East Side series. High-price escort Silas is hired by Graham. Graham is running for US Senator on the Republican Ticket, a member of an extremely conservative/rich/influential Catholic Family. On the night before his marriage to a woman, he wants to have his first and only gay experience before he never gets a chance to. He and Silas have a night that is memorable for both of them. Two coincidences – Graham and his now-wife Avery move into the East Side building where Silas is a doorman, and Avery recommends that Graham go to a local gym, where Silas also works. After both freaking out about seeing each other again, Graham pursues Silas and they start a sexual relationship, first in a hotel, then in an apartment Graham owns that nobody but his parents know about and they probably have forgotten about it anyway. Avery knows Graham is gay. They both want children, so Avery dominates an extremely awkward sexual relationship so she can get pregnant. She secretly is trying to ‘convert’ Graham, but knows about Silas. She succeeds in getting pregnant. Graham stops seeing Silas. Avery loses the baby, Silas and Graham start their relationship up again and Graham moves Silas into the apartment. They are video-taped and the tape released. Graham is forced to stop seeing Silas by his powerful father and Silas loses his gym and doorman job. There is a lot of drama and more plot twists, all run through the prism of Silas and Graham having off-the-charts chemistry and first Silas and then Graham falling in love. Silas loses his escort job because of a political shift that the owner doesn’t want to deal with. He is at the end of his rope after Graham repudiates him and he is forced to move into a small apartment. He cannot forgive Graham and refuses to see/talk with/text Graham. However, they eventually get their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex. This has been a wonderful series so far. I hope the author continues with it.

3.80* Money Shot by Eden Finley and Saxon James 1/15/26 1/15/26 314 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Finn, brother to bride-to-be Melanie, moves to Edmonton, Canada since he’s restless and he feels like there’s nothing in Chicago for him anymore. Melanie’s fiancé David’s best friend Curtis will be his best man and the two of them are thrown together with some early planning. Unbeknownst to Finn, his favorite porn star Gunner is Curtis. Curtis does not know that one of his favorite fans is Finn. Finn is a relationship kind of guy, Curtis is relationship-phobic. Various and sundry subplots occur, but the biggest is that once they figure out the porn connection, Finn agrees to do a video with Curtis. And they continue to do so until Curtis gets so stressed about his feelings for Finn that he cuts him off completely. Finn flees to Chicago. He has to return when Davis and Melanie decide to move their wedding up to 2 weeks from then because David’s mother and Curtis’s adoptive mother’s Alzheimer’s makes them realize that they need to do this before they lose her completely to her disease. Eventually all’s well that ends well. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.10* Game Changer by Rachel Reid 1/16/26 1/16/25 378 pages Mine.

First in the 7-book series and phenomenally popular series on HBO Max called Heated Rivalry has Scott, a deeply closeted NHL team captain going into a smoothies and etc. shop where he meets Kip, the barista. Kip makes him a blueberry smoothie and when Scott comes out of his slump, he is superstitious enough to believe that he needs a smoothie before his next home game. He goes back, they are attracted, and eventually he asks Kip to his penthouse apartment. They have a secret affair. Eventually Kip wants more but Scott is reluctant to go public. Kip becomes deeply dissatisfied with the secrecy even while understanding it and knowing that it was part of what Scott needs. Scott figures out that Kip is more important than hockey and they get their HEA when he comes out in a very public way. There is more to the book, of course, with Kip’s friends being kept in the dark except for friend Elena, Scott and Kip texting and sexting while Scott is on the road, and Kip trying to decide what to do with his life because being a barista doesn’t use his History Degree. Funny, sweet, sexy. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.90* Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 1/16/26 1/17/26 342 pages Mine.

Second in the 7-book series and phenomenally popular series on HBO Max called Heated Rivalry .Shane, a Canadian, and Ilya, a Russian, have been on-ice enemies ever since they both signed with their second-tier Canadian league teams. So, ten years. Behind the scenes, they started hooking up whenever they were in the same town and staying at the same hotel. Ilya is openly bisexual, Shane is deeply closeted. Their hookups become trysts, and as they start learning about each other’s lives, they eventually fall in love. They have a Plan for eventually having an open relationship, but it’s not even remotely feasible until they see Scott come out with Kip, see Game Changer above. Their plan is not obvious, yet it is believable. Sexy times, steamy times, tear-jerking times. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.00* Tough Guy by Rachel Reid 1/17/26 1/18/26 288 pages Mine.

Third in the 7-book series and phenomenally popular series on HBO Max called Heated Rivalry. Ryan is an NHL enforcer whose job it is to disrupt the other team’s plays and even hurt them if necessary. Privately, he’s gentle, kind, and closeted. Ryan never stays long with a team, always traded. Ryan’s traded to Toronto and buys an upscale apartment in the LGBTQ+ Village. Fabian is flamboyantly out. Ryan runs into Fabian, a boy he almost had a kiss with in high school, and they eventually start up a relationship. This one is rather sweet and sexy. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.40* Heartbreak Hockey by S Legend 1/18/26 1/19/26 438 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Switching series, this first in the Heartbreak Hockey series has Jack and Rhett in love and planning on a life together with marriage and kids. However, Rhett dangles an engagement ring in front of Jack with the condition that he leave hockey and become a house husband and dad to all the little future hockey players. Jack chooses hockey instead although it breaks his heart. One night he is in a bar and hooks up with Mercy, and it’s the best night of their lives. Jack leaves a note and is gone before Mercy gets up. Imagine their surprise when they meetup at practice, Jack a player and Mercy the coach. They try oh so hard to keep things professional, but it doesn’t work out. They fall into bed and each others lives. There’s nothing against them being in a relationship, and Jack is happy to adopt and be adopted by Mercy’s extended and unconventional family, up to and including Mercy adopting his dad’s newest baby after the mother leaves. Everybody knows Mercy’s dad loves making babies but not keeping them or caring for them. Jack falls in love with … Stanley – get it … and although Rhett tries to win Jack back, Jack is in love with Mercy. Lots of alpha male posturing from both Mercy and Rhett. Great extended family details and future tie in to the second book, with Logan the ice dancer being brought back into the clan. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.00* Common Goal by Rachel Reid 1/19/26 1/20/26 320 pages Mine.

Fourth in the 7-book series and phenomenally popular series on HBO Max called Heated Rivalry. Eric is a silver fox NHL hockey player gearing up emotionally to retire. He’s also recently divorced from a woman and wants to test out his bisexuality. Kyle is a graduate student and NOT interested in a long-term relationship after a breakup. Eric hangs out at the bar where Kyle works and they hook up. Kyle is perfectly happy to teach Eric some things, Eric is perfectly happy to learn those things, but pesky feelings get in the way. Both deny them, both are miserable. Lots of fun sexy times and a sweet and non-hockey ending. Caveat emptor re sex.

4.20* Ice Dance Hockey by S Legend 1/21/26 1/23/26 463 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Second in the Heartbreak Hockey series. Rhett is still deeply in love with Jack, who is with Mercy. Logan, Mercy’s half-brother, flees his unhappy home and starts living with Mercy and family. He’s very young and acts out his fear of abandonment. Mercy completely understands this, since their mother abandoned Mercy and two of his siblings. In the meantime, Logan gets ice time at the same practice rink as Rhett, and they immediately clash over ice time and then their enemies-to-lovers behaviors. Rhett eventually figures out that what he feels for Logan is so much more than what he felt for Jack. Rhett is also dealing with his father trying to control his life by manipulating Jack’s team into preventing him from moving up to the NHL and cutting Logan out of his life. Gay soap opera! It’s fun and serious and sexy. Logan/Mercy/Jack’s family bring Rhett into the fold eventually, and Rhett and Logan get their HEA. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned A Cowboy Holiday by Lane Hayes ** 87 pages

Sickeningly sweet. Young ranch owner Tanner hires the vet who was taking care of the herd of cows he bought. Axel the vet lives in a trailer with his daughter, Phoebe, and plans on moving back to Texas in the spring. Emergency vet services are needed, Axel comes in the middle of the night. Tanner and Axel get together, there are fun times at a carnival, Phoebe, “Phee”, is cuter than a button, and just … No. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned The Curse Before Christmas by Eli Easton ** 97 pages

Office worker Patrick is given a Krampus doll in the Christmas gift exchange at the company he just started working for. After 3 accidents in the same night has Patrick in the same ER with the same doctor with Patrick lusting after the ER doctor and the ER doctor, Gray, lusting after Patrick . Gray drives him home instead at the end of his shift of trusting him to any more Ubers. They then go on a while ride of trying to figure out what’s going on. I knew Krampus was involved, I shouldn’t have borrowed a book with Krampus involved. Krampus is Ugh. Caveat emptor re sex?

4.00* Breakneck Hockey by S Legend 1/23/26 1/25/26 427 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Third in the Heartbreak Hockey series. Top Dog (Sutter) and Kitten (Casey) are sworn enemies on the ice but meet on a hookup app, not realizing who the other is, and start sexting. Once they meet up and realize who the other is, Sutter wants Casey, Casey’s not sure but gives in to Sutter’s demand that they finish what they started with sexting. It goes from there, with it becoming more than hookups. Each starts understanding the other, and they eventually fall in love. Serious alpha male and submissive behaviors, and lots of rough sex. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I really liked it. A lot. And as I came to understand their backgrounds as they did, I could see the more-than-sex attraction. Caveat emptor re sex.

3.70* Hidden Scars by Andi Jaxon 1/26/26 1/26/26 456 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Jeremy plays hockey for Darby U. Preston comes in to the semester late, but also plays hockey and is standoffish and rude to everybody. They are assigned as roommates, and as Preston is so mysterious and eccentric, Jeremy is intrigued. However, it’s not until Preston’s personal life starts falling apart around him that Jeremy, warm and sweet off the ice, starts taking care of Preston. Preston comes from money, his father has strange control over him, and he tries to keep his sister Lily protected. There are several chapters where Preston’s dad is abusive and tortures him. I read one of them, then was happy to skip those chapters and return to where Jeremy starts caring for him and getting involved with him sexually. It’s more convoluted than many MM romances. Suffice to say that Preston and Jeremy get their hard-won HEA. Caveat emptor re rough sex.

3.40* Textual Confusion by Fifer Rose 1/26/26 1/27/26 Kindle Unlimited.

A re-read, originally read in December of 2024, given 4*. This is what I wrote then:

A fun trope – Asher gets a new phone number to escape his ex-boyfriend/stalker. This phone number is one that Markus uses with his hookup/contract. Asher texts back, they text back and forth. Asher eventually has to admit that he’s a guy, not a woman, and it turns out that Markus already knew that for some reason. Markus is an alpha male billionaire. Asher is going to school and working as a baker in a café. Ex-boyfriend makes more appearances, Asher and Markus have a contract, Markus takes care of Asher, Asher feels bad about being dependent on Markus, emotional make up scene. HEA. Caveat emptor re sex. Oh, there’s a Daddy kink in there, too… I didn’t particularly like that bit, but I substituted Sir for every Daddy and the dom/sub thing worked fine for me.

Nothing new to add except that the Daddy kink squicked me out more this time, hence the drop in rating.

**abandoned Iced Out by CE Ricci ** 142 pages

On ice hockey enemies to secret lovers. Honestly, I shouldn’t have tried it after Heated Rivalry. In fact, I may never be able to read another On ice hockey enemies to secret lovers again. Sigh. I think there was sex by page 142, but honestly don’t remember. Memorable, right?

4.70* Bean by Nora Phoenix and EM Lindsey 1/27/26 1/27/26 322 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Bean has been honorably discharged from the Army with a TBI – traumatic brain injury. He has no short-term memory. None at all. He lives with other friends/discharged soldiers with various issues themselves, and they help take care of him while he helps take care of them. One night he hooks up with Jarek, who’s finally put himself out there after a horrible breakup. They go their separate ways but then Jarek sees Bean again and Bean doesn’t recognize him but they hook up again. Bean explains his memory issues, and takes Jarek home to meet his ’brothers’. Jarek learns how to support Bean and starts to have a romantic relationship with him. Bean gets into a drug trial, and by the end of the book he can remember Jarek’s name and a few things about their life together. Absolutely stunning descriptions of frustrations, coping mechanisms, and blossoming love. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Omega for Rent by Liam Kingsley ** 108 pages

Riley is an omega for hire, and Chase needs him for a fake boyfriend relationship to keep his father off his back. The fake part of the relationship goes down the tubes when their chemistry is off the charts and Riley turns up pregnant. Chase will have to figure out that Riley is more important than business or his father. Ho hum. Caveat emptor re sex.

3.20* The Quirky Vet by Casey Cox 1/27/26 1/28/26 214 pages Kindle Unlimited.

Muir and Fitz are both vets, both in the same clinic. They are best friends and platonic soul mates until they aren’t. They drunken get married in a pop-up wedding chapel and are shocked to find out that annulments aren’t as easy to get as they want. They try to keep the marriage secret but can’t. And, Muir needs to stay married so that when his Gramps dies, which will be sooner than later, he inherits his property. He’s not mercenary – he loves his Gramps. Everybody in the small town they live in is thrilled that they’ve finally figured out that they’re in love and have been in love forever. So sweet, so sexy. Caveat emptor re sex.

**Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope ** 10 pages

Ugh. One chapter that could have been two paragraphs. Stilted and verbose. I do not mind books from this time period, but this one is just ridiculous and I can’t figure out why Trollope is so popular. It’s definitely a me problem.

4.90* Heart by Jesse H Reign 1/29/26 1/30/26 344 pages Kindle Unlimited.

The book starts out with Lennon stalking Connor. He knows where Connor will be when, knows where he lives. Knows what he orders at the coffee shop. He admits to being obsessed, but we don’t know why he’s obsessed. Yet. Connor lives in a 2-bedroom apartment and wants a roommate. Lennon takes one of the phone number tabs from the sign and when he interviews with Connor, Connor accepts him as a roommate. He’s absolutely shocked. Connor is presented as dreamy, full of life and care for his friends, appreciative of every single thing in his life. Lennon is nonplussed by this but terribly attracted to Connor’s light and true spirit. Lennon is sad and depressed and Connor senses this. They get to know one another. I won’t give much more of the plot except to say that it’s sweet and sexy and full of life. Me giving a book a 4.9* rating means a lot since I’m so stingy with stars. This one is beautiful and lyrical and sexy. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned His Pretty Omega by Raven Matthews ** 189 pages

Alex attends a weekend getaway hotel New Year’s Weekend. Seth is there to ring in the New Year with a hookup. He leaves before speaking with Alex the next morning because his best friend has gone into labor. Two months later, he turns up pregnant but has no idea how to get in touch with the alpha he spent the night with. Ah, coincidence! His best friend, Bennett, recognizes the Alpha. Seth just so happened to take a selfie with him that night. Seth has a chip on his block and storms into the Alpha’s office. He doesn’t want to get rid of the child yet isn’t certain he wants Alex in his life. However, Alex embraces potential fatherhood and Seth unconditionally. The emotions are too strong too early. I wasn’t interested enough to continue. Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned The Billionaire Bear's Feisty Fox by Asher Wylde ** 132 pages

Fox shifter has to come groveling to the bear shifter who can and does buy him out, but with a condition. They have to pretend to be boyfriends in order to keep the business in the bear’s hands. Things start changing, with romantic and sexual feelings showing up. This one bothered me. *shrug* Caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Hawk by Jacki James ** 51 pages

Mika has run from an abusive ex and hidden away in Vesper, Texas. When his ex discovers him, pretty much accidentally, Mika turns to Duncan. The writing wasn’t compelling and it was really hard to get over the descriptive abuse Mika took. I’m sure there will eventually be sex, so future caveat emptor re sex.

**abandoned Too Hot to Handle by JD Light ** 27 pages

Omega shifter has secret feelings for his brother’s ex. Way too much complication in way too few pages. I’m sure it sorts itself out, but I didn’t care enough to continue.

>246 karenmarie: I predict Storrie in particular will be a star for a long time. I see the goofy queer kid in interviews, think "I wish I had a grandson to fix him up with" as he clowns and mugs, then I see Ilya and immediately want to fuck him. Not Storrie, Ilya. That says it all about his skills.

Don't bother with that other farrago. *smooch*

>243 karenmarie: I am SO happy to hear about Hwan's Green Card. And amazed that they didn't have any hurdles to deal with.

I sure hope the plumbers can get to you quickly and resolve that problem. I was worried about pipes last night and left a couple of faucets dripping. I hate that you are actually having to deal with that.

>248 karenmarie: You have gone to a finer grained rating system than I recall, but I may have missed when you started.

I’m glad about Hwan’s Green Card, and cranky about the need to be concerned.

Morning, Karen. Believe it or not, our area has had less than 14" of snow this year, which of course I am happy with. I am sure those numbers are down from previous years. Of course, there is a lot more winter left.

Kids and then heading to see Jackson. I miss the little guy.

Great news about Hwan's green card! I'm shocked it happened so quickly, not because of anything to do with her or her situation, I just always imagine such government things taking forever, even with no issues :)

>249 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear! Happy Tuesday to you. His face is sooooo expressive. He has to be an extrovert, too, given all the shorts and interviews I’ve seen of him, too. Hmmm. No grandson, and not quite what you want to do to him, but what he could do to me, 100% agree. Do you mean Arnaud, GK, and Williams? Farrago, I mean? Williams and Storrie were perfectly cast, IMO. Quiet vs. loud, but they play of each other beautifully. Williams is surprisingly lewd in some of the interviews I've seen.

>250 atozgrl: Hi Irene, and yes, it is major happiness. All the hurdles have been leading up to the Green Card approval. Documents, notes, interviews, forms. She and Jenna had a huge pile of documents that had to be presented. Hwan scanned and mailed ALL of them to an old professor of hers and a fellow UNC student as well as made at least one flash drive.

So far the plumbers are supposed to be here around 10. Leaving a drip is very smart. We thought we were smart enough, but somehow, one of the pipes, most likely in the crawl space, burst in the 3.9F Sunday night temps.

>251 quondame: Ah. Yes, Susan, you noticed. On my spreadsheet it’s broken down to tenths, but what’s posted here is between that and the original .5-1.0 star increments.

Since we do not in any way, shape, or form, trust the bloviating, demented, and narcissistic idiot in chief OR any of his minions, they’re both still maintaining a low political profile. They have no plans on going to Korea any time soon, either.

>252 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and happy Tuesday to you. I hope the snow totals remain below average for you. The town that Trevor was staying in (ex and one of his kids), got 10”.

Aye kids, then a Jackson Day. Enjoy your time with him.

>253 katiekrug: Hi Katie, and thank you. We’re happily shocked, too. They were worrying about not getting approved before the end of the current semester at UNC Chapel Hill, where Hwan is still a student and on a student visa. She doesn't need the student visa any more.

The plumbers are here.

Wordle 1,690 4/6* trope, bagel, feign, weigh. Weigh has not been used before today.

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Dealing with the water being off most of the day, cranky about not getting to bake or cook. Reading, spreadsheets and Lightning Round. Two episodes of Shetland. Chatted with Jenna, read, doomscrolled, and watched the first episode of Heated Rivalry again.

...
Plumbers. I might go out this afternoon to get cash for the house cleaners, who are coming tomorrow instead of today.

Read, bake?, cook?, etc.

>254 karenmarie: Nononono, sweetiedarling, the farrago of Stranger Things! I might not care much about Arnaud and his bit of stuff, but their story is endearingly honest about toxic masculinity and celebrification = fornication of a person's life. Plus it's the catalyst for Hollanov. We forgive it all things for bringing our lads together.

Jacob Tierney best have another project in his vest pocket because there will be greater openness than he's likely to have ever again to his take on things. *smooch*

I'm happy to read more about Hwan's GREEN CARD! I'm thrilled that she doesn't have to rely on that student visa any longer.
I'm also relieved that the plumbers are with you so quickly. I just commented on the major water leak under the intersection in front of our house. So far our house and Mama's are fine. (I gingerly knock my head against wood for even mentioning it.)

Oh that lightening round! And your viewing!!! You remind me that I need to move on to the next book of *Shetland*. I won't spend the $ to watch them although I'm sure I'd be as happy with them as Laura is. I have looked at the Perez actor, and he doesn't look like my imagined person. That's OK.
(My current 45 minutes or so of video at night is the Gillian Anderson *Bleak House*. I'm reserving judgment except to say that Anderson looks a lot like Diana Rigg...those cheekbones! I admire Charles Dance, and I do love Pauline Collins as Miss Flyte. Suzanne Burden is easier for me to see as her mother's daughter than Anna M. Martin. The earlier BBC series was appropriately dark and dirty. More than you want to know!)

I hope you get your house back before the day is over. Enjoy!

Morning, Karen. 10" of snow? That has got to be a record for that area. Of course, I had a fine time with Jack yesterday. Such a good boy. PB and then the books. Sounds good to me.

>255 richardderus: I’ve never watched Stranger Things. Heh. I hadn’t seen the ship Hollanov and like it a lot. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, but I’d like to know how Tierney got chosen to be the Creator of Heated Rivalry.

>256 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! I’m grateful that my daughters can stop worrying quite so much, and can settle into being a happily married couple, making new friends, teaching, and being an ESW (Jenna). My daughter has a full-time job, but she considers Hwan her full-time ‘job’.
I’ve ordered the Hwan 2026 version of this card, due Feb 10-12.



Gotta love Amazon. I find the best cards there.

I hope the water leak has been repaired and didn’t affect your or your mother’s houses.

I guess Bill’s hearing is off, because when Greg and Larry came, they couldn’t find any shifted or burst pipe. Anywhere, inside, or outside. Greg is the best kind of plumber – been in business for decades. His wife Donna runs the administrative side of their business, and we’ll get a mailed invoice sometime in the next week or two.

If I didn’t mostly keep up with my Lightning Round, I couldn’t do it at all. Even waiting 2-3 days to write mini-reviews is sometimes difficult, especially with abandoned books.

Ah. Henshall doesn’t look like Jimmy Perez to you. That reminds me that after attempting both a series version and several movie versions of Hercule Poirot, I’ve decided to never watch any ever again. I’ve been reading Agatha Christie for a very long time, and have a very clear picture of him in my mind. Miss Marple, Superintendent Battle, Ariadne Oliver, Parker Pine, and Mr. Satterthwaite and etc. are also clear in my mind and I don’t want to bleed descriptions with visuals.

It's the only one I've ever watched, but I loved that version of Bleak House. I read the book first for a group read here on LT, and didn’t have any disconnect between book characters and video characters. Of course, I’m not as serious a devotee of Dickens as you.

Except for my current obsession with Heated Rivalry and soccer, the most I watch video is with Bill, whatever series or movie interests us. It is occasionally as much as 2 or so hours. I get twitchy after that.

>257 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and happy Wednesday to you. Yes, Trevor reported 10” in Liberty. The record at our house, 1998-now, is 18”. I forget which year, but Jenna was little and I remember her coming in soaking wet, me changing her into dry clothes, putting the wet ones in the dryer, and her going out again. Sometimes with me, but I mostly let her be out in our yard by herself.

Yay for Jack, PB, and books.

Wordle 1,691 4/6*trope, anime, elide, chide

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I was busy yesterday. I did a lot upstairs, moving bags of trash and stuff, and putting things I'm saving for Jenna to make decisions about into one or more boxes to put in the dormers.

Read, worried about the pipes, helped with the plumbers, made air fryer bone in/skin on chicken thighs and baked potatoes for dinner. I also made blondies. I decided I wanted them instead of brownies. I put chocolate chips in them, as recommended by the recipe, and frankly, they tasted as much like brownies as blondies.

Bill and I watched two episodes of Shetland. I re-watched episodes 2-5 of Heated Rivalry upstairs on my cell phone, read, doomscrolled, and got some good sleep.

...
I need to spend about another hour this a.m. to get my current/Jenna's former bedroom in good enough shape to let the cleaning ladies work on it. I also need to go to the bank to get cash. I'm not too worried about it, because I don't think it got below freezing last night and the concrete looks pretty good. It will look better in about 2 hours when I head out.

Reading, puttering, refilling bird feeders, possibly the bird bath, too.

Edited to add: I rescheduled my Friday chiropractic appointment to next week. I spoke with a chiropractor I've never heard of nor met. We discussed scheduling an appointment when the other vet, with her huge and slobbering Great Dane, isn't there, but she apparently is there all the time. I also just found out that she does chiropractic for dogs, but they mostly bring them in through a back door. Any dog lovers use chiropractic for their dogs?

>258 karenmarie: Tierney initiated the project. It was 2023, the YA version of this, Heartstopper, was blowing up, and he read Reid's books. The journey from there was quick by TV standards because Reid *got* him, his approach, and his determination not to let The Suits℠ neuter the love or the luuuvin' from the stories, force famous people onto his project with the image teams and suchlike who would then Have Notes, etc etc. Crave, the Canadian channel that made it, only brought in HBOMax *after* filming began solely to distribute the show internationally. You can bet that if the Puritanical homophobic US men had had the chance to mess with it, they'd be happily married to women by the end. Or one would be dead.

Glad the pipes are good...money well-spent for that kind of negative result.

>238 karenmarie: Lovely pictures! We did not get much snow at all. The ice is finally melting so I may venture out with the dog today and visit the bird feeders. I have just been throwing seed on the porch for the birds as the backyard looked like a skating rink and I already have one fake hip.

>258 karenmarie: Gotta say, I knew of a chiropractor who'd occasionally do adjustments on horses. I seem to recall reading in the newspaper that he'd use a hammer and wood block to force the horse's vertebrae into proper alignment. I believe he'd go to the stable, rather than have a horse transported to his office.

Dr. John Cavallo. Had a spectacular home overlooking the Delaware River just south of Easton. I never met him, but I featured his wife Shirley's kitchen in a book. Long time ago...late 70s.

Play the lottery quick! Green card AND no burst pipe shows you're on a karmic role.

I'm participating in the 75 book challenge with no reasonable expectation on my part of breaking 50, but I didn't see that challenge. O tempora, indeed.

Much love. Trash just got collected so I need to bundle up and bring the cans in. Funnily enough, that also describes my dating life.

>248 karenmarie: I also loved How the Word Is Passed, Karen, so I am glad to see that you could appreciate it as well.

>258 karenmarie: I am very happy to learn that things are easier for your girls now too, Karen. I am sure that it is a great relief to everyone!

I hope that the plumbing woes are behind you at this point. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Sweetiedarling, I know you've read some N.R. Walker stories but not, that I recall, Tic-Tac-Mistletoe...the Hartbridge Christmas Series Book 1 set in Montana and comes with deafening warbles of joy from two gay booktubers who live in Missoula (I think). It's KU; I got it gifted æons ago and read it at last in about two hours...really liked. It's a queer Hallmark movie.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. The usual today- kids & PB. Also spending large chunks of time with The Wayfinder. Not only for the enjoyment factor but I want to finish it before my FL trip. I would not like to lug this chunkster around. I leave on Tuesday.

>259 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear! Yay for Tierney. Yay for keeping it true to the books, right? April ’27 til season 2, most likely. *sob*

Darned rabbit hole… I just splurged and bought books #5 and #6 and made a note in my calendar for September 26th, when book #7 comes out.

Pipes good, roads good.

😊 and *smooch*

>260 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! Thank you re the pics. Yes, those of us with artificial knees or hips need to be extra careful. That’s why I haven’t gone out to replenish the feeders yet. Most likely I’ll do it today.

>261 weird_O: Hiya, Bill. Huh. Horse chiropractic. That’s new to me. And … I featured his wife Shirley's kitchen in a book. Long time ago...late 70s. ?

>262 SomeGuyInVirginia: Larry! Dearest! Excellent news re the 75 group challenge. I've just found you and starred you and posted. All your besties are in this group, right?

Green Card, no burst pipes, AND books. I’m definitely on a karmic roll.

LOL re the strangeness of your dating life.

>263 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. Plumbing woes definitely gone. Total relief re Hwan’s safety here in the U.S. of A. We weren’t exactly worried, but we were background worried that the fascist paramilitary ICE agents would take her away at the green card interview. Background only, but Jenna did mention it several times in the lead-up to the interview.

How the Word Is Passed adjacent, I’m listening to The Great Courses CDs of The American Civil War by Dr. Gary W Gallagher. It’s fantastic. I hope you had a wonderful Wednesday.

>265 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark, and a very sweet Thursday to you, too. I’ve never heard of the Tu’i Tonga Empire. Learn something new every day, right? Enjoy PB.

Right now, even with seriously depleted feeders, I’ve still got 3 or 4 Cardinals, finches, sparrows, a Carolina Wren, a White Breasted Nuthatch, and Mourning Dove.

Wordle 1,692 5/6*Grumble. Darned alphabet soup. trope, scoop, sloop, snoop, swoop.

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With some trepidation, I went into town to get cash for the ladies. However, my fears were unfounded. No problems, even with some snow on our gravel drive and even in patches on the road leading to Hwy 64. I got trash and donations under control, and put things to be saved willy-nilly in the closet.

The ladies came, saw, cleaned, and left. Bill watched the second Carabao Cup semi-final, with Man City vs. Newcastle. Man City walked away with it, aggregate 5-1. Arsenal play them for the Cup on March 22nd.

Bill and I watched Shetland. I watched the last episode of Heated Rivalry, finishing off my second watching of the entire season. It required a tissue or two. I doomscrolled. I also spent a small chunk of time finding new MM romance books on Kindle Unlimited.

...
I have no errands outside of the house. Nobody is coming to the house. So far my only plans are to update my spreadsheets and Lightning round for February reads, read, and fill the bird feeders and clean/fill the bird bath.

Reading, of course. Shetland, too.

>266 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible. I'm pretty sure by April 2027 we'll be so distracted by Stuff we'll have forgotten the show existed. These long long waits for new seasons are going to bite creators in the butt.

Well, s1 will keep on existing. Like Heartstopper still exists while they play around with a film to tie it all up. *smooch*

>266 karenmarie: Three cheers for those of us brave enough to leave the house. I haven't been out for a week. Went to the bigish city to pick up new glasses, then bought craft supplies and groceries. Home for the foreseeable future.

Horrible dear...you should've told me your c-a-t Wash went on a modeling job with Connor Storrie:
https://www.tumblr.com/littlegirlinvisible/804419742678040576?source=share

>267 richardderus: ‘Morning, RDear! I think by winter they’ll be promoting season 2. They actually have to wait ‘til book 7 comes out, which is supposed to be September of this year. Can’t be a preliminary draft because We The HudCon lovers would pick the series to shreds if there wasn’t at least some consistency between books and series, so at least the final draft. How long after a book is finalized does a paperback copy come out? And, things will get quiet then ramp back up. I hope Heated Rivalry distracts us from Stuff, not the other way around. I’ve already watched S1 twice. *smooch*

L268 ‘Morning, Karen! Your patch of woods must have really gotten slammed, so one errand for everything then safely back home makes sense. It’s too bad you don’t have any books to read…

>269 richardderus: Oooh, thanks, RDear! However, either I haven’t looked down far enough or need to join tumblr. If the former, help, if the latter, it will have to be after book sort and Virlie’s. I am going to cancel lunch with friend Jan, I think, and just go grocery shopping on the way home. *smooch*

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Hmmm. What did I do yesterday? Read, updated spreadsheets and Lightning Round, spent a bit of time finding more MM romances that I either haven't read or am willing to re-read. Leftover chicken with half a baked potato for Bill, leftover chicken with leftover rice for me. Chatted with Jenna. Shetland.

...
Book sort, Virlie's. I'm going to cancel on Jan and just go to the grocery store after. Oh, and our antique book case guy sent us pics of one he thinks I'll like. I'm going to go over there after 3 today. He sent pics and it's quite handsome. I need dimensions and to find out how much he wants for it.

Reading, and etc., otherwise.

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. I was not familiar with the Tu’i Tonga Empire either. It dissolved by 1500. Of course, this is fictional but I would not be surprised that Johnson did some heavy duty research beforehand.

Heading out to play PB. Upper 30s today. We deserve it after this brutal stretch.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/378417

'Morning, Mark! Happy Friday to you, too. I've got all the usual suspects on the feeders. With such an obscure period in history, I really do hope that Johnson put in some research time.

Enjoy PB while I enjoy book sort and Virlie's. Just got confirmation that Jan's seen my cancellation text.

>270 karenmarie: I'll try posting the one image here:


Okay that worked. You might be interested in the interview in Interview:
https://www.interviewmagazine.com/television/connor-storrie-didnt-think-this-was...
Harlequin releases first in paperback, usually the same day an ebook; the 29th will be that day.

Have good belated sort, sweetiedarling. *smooch*

>266 karenmarie:

>261 weird_O: weird_O: I featured his wife Shirley's kitchen in a book. Long time ago...late 70s. ?

 

BIG flop. Expectations high, so a big investment, lots of time and manpower.

>258 karenmarie: I am glad to hear that you didn't have busted pipes. It sounds like it's going to get really cold again this weekend, but then finally warm up some next week. I am looking forward to that!

>257 msf59: I don't know about Liberty, but we got 20" in Raleigh in 2000. No one predicted anything ahead of time either, so we got caught off guard. It took a good week before we were able to do much of anything. I enjoyed my reading time that week. A big snow like that is an extreme rarity here, but not impossible.

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. I had planned to get out and do a little birding and owling this AM but it looks like it will be stuck in the mid-teens here until nearly noon. I may stay indoors. Just checked the feeders when I went to get a coffee refill- nothing happening.

>276 atozgrl: Wow! 20"? Thankfully it took 25 years to get another major snowfall.

>272 SilverWolf28: Hi Silver, and thank you.

>274 richardderus: Wowza. Thanks, RD! Connor Storrie is devastatingly good looking. The ginger looks like a skinny Wash or Zoe without white socks. Be still my 72-year-old currently Very Healthy Heart!

The sort was good. The whole day was good.

I got 9 ½ hours of sleep last night. Woke up about 9:20 and Arsenal play in 12 minutes. I’ll be back to reply to all the lovely messages.

Wordle 1,694 3/6* trope, steal, bleat

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>274 richardderus: Wowza. new stuff on this reply: The ginger looks like a skinny Wash or Zoe without white socks. Thanks for the link. Love this: Heated Rivalry, adapted from a smutty, seven-year-old romance novel by Rachel Reid, was shot in under 40 days for a Canadian streaming service most Americans had never heard of. They hadn’t heard of Storrie and his co-star Hudson Williams either, though both emit the kind of raw charisma and easy confidence one finds less and less frequently in an age of TikTok stardom and algorithmic sludge. Wonderful interview. Storrie’s intelligent, savvy, self-aware, and just plain fun.

The sort was good. The whole day was good. *smooch*

>275 weird_O: Bill, I had no idea about any of your books. I’m impressed. Definitely labors of love AND talent. I Love Bill the Cat!

>276 atozgrl: Hi Irene. Me, too, re busted pipes. It will be below freezing for three nights, starting tonight. We’ve gotten a few wind gusts of 6.9 mph, but none of the potential 40 mph gusts that were predicted. Of course, that could change. We might get a dusting of snow tomorrow.

That 2000 snow event gave us 18” here.

>277 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Saturday to you. Indoors during mid-teens is not a bad idea. Yay for books?
…
And, I'm back. I think I made sense in the edits above. Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-0. Made both of us happy, of course.

I need to work on some emails and a spreadsheet for the next book sale. I just confirmed that Jenna's old laptop (which I now own) can get to the online bookstore website. We want people to be able to buy books through the store during the sale to segregate them from regular revenue. Having the laptop available in the room where we're going to have the books is critical. This will be the first time we attempt to have the Online Bookstore Books available at the sale.

Read and update my own spreadsheets and update the February Lightning Round. And etc.

>278 karenmarie: He ain't hard on the eyes no sirree bob. Forza Arsenal, or whatever the English holler at their teams. (When being polite and supportive.)

'Afternoon, RDear! He's photogenic for sure. "Go Arsenal!" works. Or, just "Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal." *smooch*

>278 karenmarie: 9 1/2 hours of sleep?! Are you sure you are still you? Lol

Have a wonderful weekend, Karen!

I know, Stasia! Amazing. I didn't move a muscle, and when I woke up I thought it was 7 instead of 9:20.

Thanks, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend, too.

>277 msf59: Well, we didn't get a major snowfall here. Only 3". Maybe less in Raleigh. Folks to the west of us (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte) were the ones who had the big snows this time, and the eastern part of the state also had a big snowfall. Charlotte at least has gotten hit with several really big snowfalls during my time in NC, when the Raleigh area didn't get much. We've had a few storms where we got 5" or more, but the 20" storm was the only monster storm we had here.

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. We spent the last 2 evenings with friends catching up and watching slide shows of their Africa trip. Of course, they had a fantastic time. A wildlife paradise and the birdies...swoons.

A bit more comfortable this AM so I will venture out for some solo owling/birding. We are going to Bree's later for the SB. Enjoy your day.

>283 atozgrl: May your lack amount of snow in your area, continue. 🤞

>283 atozgrl: It all had to do with where the snow bands actually went, didn't it, Irene? We got 5”, the antiques barn where I went Friday afternoon got 6”.

>284 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Sunday to you. Yay watching friends’ trips to Africa. Was there one particularly swoon-worthy bird or were they all equally swoon-worthy?

I’ve got Cardinals, a sparrow, a Mourning Dove, a Blue Jay, and a Blue Jay on the other side of the concrete on the top of the shed.

I hope the owls cooperate. If not, I hope that you get many of your favorites. Ah yes, the Super Bowl. I had to look up to see who is playing. Ah, the Patriots and the Seahawks. My Aunt and Uncle will be rooting for the Seahawks. Although Jenna lives near Seattle, I'd be surprised if they know who's playing and that it's today. Unless the hype helped them to figure it out.

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I forgot to mention that I saw the bookcase on Friday, fell in love with it, and will be buying it. Here's a good photo of one similar to it:



and here are a few pics of the one I’m going to buy.


...
Bill and I had the same idea for the new book case, hereby dubbed Thing Three. Here are Thing One and Thing Two, left to right:



Thing One will be going in the Breakfast Room in the corner near the bay windows, which will push the table/chairs back to where we originally had them centered under the lighting fixture. Thing Three will go where Thing One was.

I worked on a spreadsheet for the Online Book Store At the Spring 2026 Friends Book Sale project and also added some comments to a document started by our fearless leader.

Reading and Shetland and chatting with Karen. I got 7 1/2 hours of sleep. Odd.

...
My RL Book Club meets at 3:30 p.m. to discuss Barchester Towers, which I gave up on after the first chapter. It will be fun to meet up and eat and drink and listen to the discussion. Or, I may be a brat and bail. The jury's out.

Reading, Shetland.

>285 karenmarie: Was Trollope just too slow for your taste? He can be a bit on the stodgy side...the fate of Mrs. Proudie is still lodged in my literary craw...but he could deal out the character traits with Dickens at the most Dickensian.

Enjoy Shetland!

>285 karenmarie:



^The grey-crowned crane would have easily been a favorite of mine, IF, I would have been on that trip. They were very common in many of the preserves and National Bird of Uganda.

Morning, Karen. 40F today. Yah! PB. House chores and packing. I am also finishing up my birding target list for Florida. It looks like it will be in the 70s all week there. 😎

>286 richardderus: I loved Cranford, have read five by Dickens. For other ‘classical’ historical fiction, I love Jane Austen… you get the idea. For some reason, reading an entire chapter on how church and state politics influenced who got the living, made me hurry back to Rachel Reid. 😊

Shetland continues to please us.

>287 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark. Oh my, what a gorgeous bird.

>288 msf59: 40F! A veritable heat wave. We’re at 27.9F right now, but will get to 48F later today. Yay for PB, and enjoy packing for your trip.

Some of the usual suspects, but it's rather quiet on the feeders.

Wordle 1,696 3/6* trope, envoy, cello

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There were 7 of 10 for the discussion of Barchester Towers. It was lively and informative, but not enticing enough for me to say 'I'll go back and read it.' Several said that it took about the first third of the book to get fully engaged. One other woman abandoned it. One other woman has yet to finish it. So 4 finished it and they all loved it.

Getting into Blanche's house was ... interesting... At the very last minute, she warned us via email that there was ice at their house but to just text or call her husband when we got there. This implied that coming all the way down to the house was okay. Well, it wasn't, and it took 30 minutes and 4 of us to make sure my vehicle was safely on gravel instead of stuck on ice. Charlie kept apologizing. And, although I didn't fall, I slid once. I didn't think about it, but about 8 last night my foot started hurting. It still hurts but not quite as painfully as last night. Grrrr.

Chatted with Karen, who kept wanting to know what the Super Bowl score was. It was easy to look up as we were chatting, and I was happy that Seattle won. Second time ever, first time since 2013, I believe.

I texted Jenna to see if they were going to watch the Super Bowl, expecting a resounding no. However, 'Wife wanted to experience (it) so we used the Peacock login and are watching. (The Peacock log in is ours) Probably not the whole game but I might tune into the halftime show because that's the only form of protesting I can do'

Read, doomscrolled, got 8 hours of sleep. What's the deal? 3 nights in a row of significant sleep? I'll take it.

...
I'd never heard of BadBunny.

... 15 minutes later... Wow. I just watched it and it was fantastic.

I was supposed to have an in-person followup to the lower back shots I got 2 months ago, but I cancelled because walking isn't the best thing right now. Based on past experience there might be ice in their upward-sloping parking area.

So, home. I'll ice my foot/ankle in a while.

The HVAC guys are coming out because we had a problem Saturday night, which seems to have corrected itself, but because it's been 3 months since our fall HVAC heating maintenance, we figure they should check it out.

Reading, puttering, etc. Shetland tonight.

>289 karenmarie: Funny how ice caused the pain, kept you out of the appointment, yet icing helps the pain...it's always about the circumstances, ain't it.

*smooch*

Hi Karen! Was the house down a gravel road, I take it? I work down a gravel road, so I get it. Ours is kept well-gravelled, though, so there's that.

>290 richardderus: Oh yes it is, RD. I usually hate icing body parts, but it felt really good last night. *smooch*

>291 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel, and yes. It was perhaps .3 mile. Mostly not gravel, just dirt, but ... almost ... gravel as you came closer to the house. Our drive is about 400 feet or so, nominally graveled but hasn't been for quite a while. There hasn't been enough ice in recent years to pay for a new layer of crush and run. The gravel ends in a concrete pad. Bill and I park our SUVs in the garage, which gives us access to the house without having to go outside.

We should probably put a new layer of crush and run down, but would rather spend the money elsewhere. It's not critical.

I have been so remiss, and you have so much going on, (((((Karen)))))!!!!!!!

GOOD: You're sleeping like a normal person for three nights in a row!!! I hope you can keep it up - if only you knew why!
BAD: Your foot and ICE. I had no idea that you got winter precip. over the weekend. We have been cold but nothing has fallen but the temperature. We're looking for mid to high 60s on Wednesday. I'll welcome it.

Superbowl. I'd have to work at it to care less than I do now. I had heard of BadBunny but not actually heard him, and I still haven't. I do understand that he's hot at the moment. When I think of Puerto Rico, I think first of my former students and siblings, Robert and Cynthia. Then I hear Rita Moreno singing in my head, "Puerto Rico, my heart's devotion/Let it sink back in the ocean." That's it for me!

I'm not in charge of SS next week, so maybe I can rejoin the world, read other stuff, and catch up here. Congrats on your Wordle in 3. I should have gotten that word sooner!!!
Congrats on your new bookcase. It is totally handsome.
Hugs to you, best regards to Bill, chin smoothies to Zoe and Wash!

Morning, Karen. My taxi will be here in a few minutes. Have a good week and I will be back on Sunday.

>285 karenmarie: That's a fine bookcase, Karen. It will look great in that spot. What a find!

>293 LizzieD: Superbowl. I'd have to work at it to care less than I do now.
This made me smile, Peggy. It describes my feelings exactly and I hope I have a chance to say this sometime.

Morning, Horrible! I woke up to warmer temps than the high was yesterday, so I am both gruntled and kempt.

I'm in the weird moment where I have to do something but I can't do anything more. It feels so frustrating! It's got to unfold at its own pace but ye gawds I'm not good at waiting. *smooch*

>293 LizzieD: Thank you for the hugs, Peggy! Last night was about 8 hours, too. Yup – I do not know what’s different than the last 4 years to get so many good nights sleep in a row. I'm not complaining, though.

We did not get precip over the weekend. Blanche and Charlie’s house is in the woods and apparently has just the right incline to capture runoff and refreeze it.

I lost the desire to watch the Super Bowl when I lost the desire to watch American Football. I hadn’t even heard of BadBunny, but I watched the halftime show yesterday morning and loved it. I caught about every 20th word of the Spanish. Everything about it was thoughtful, patriotic, and inclusive. Not particularly a fan of Gaga, but even her appearance was perfect.

I went on a business trip to Puerto Rico in 1984. I think it was 1984. It was to install some software for a company in Guaynabo. I was there for 5 days. Had a rental car and everything, visited with the family of the man I was working with there. He took me out and about.

Okay, I’ll just say it. I do not like West Side Story. I never have liked it, never will. I don’t remember when or how I first saw it, but it makes me grit my teeth. It's irrational, so do not ask why.

Yay for not being in charge of SS! Thanks re my Wordle in 3 and the book case. Bob will bring it by on Wednesday, when Trevor is here to help bring it in and place it. I need to get the books out of Thing One in order to make it easy to move.

Thanks re Bill and Zoe and Wash.

>294 msf59: Oh, Mark! Have a wonderful time. Relax, soak up the warmth, and see many birds – old friends, FoYs, and Lifers!!!

>295 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. Bob has been keeping an eye out for oak book cases for me, ~1890s, since about a year before I got the first one, so 3 years now.

The last time I cared about the Super Bowl was when the Chiefs had their 3-year run at it.

Wordle 1,697 4/6* trope, mange, niece, scene

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
🟨⬜🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

...
I cancelled a follow-up apointment with the Spine & Pain Clinic, who didn't hear the message before they were calling me asking me where I was. It's rescheduled for next Monday. Other than that, I sat a lot, read a lot, stayed out of the way when the HVAC guys came to check the upstairs system. Didn't make dinner, watched Shetland. Chatted with Karen in the a.m., Jenna in the p.m. As mentioned above, I got about 8 hours of sleep again.

...
I decided to not push my luck with my foot, so am not at book sort/Virlie's. I have an appointment at 1 p.m. for a massage. I need to get gas and pick up a prescription before or after - haven't decided yet. I might make panko salmon and multigrain rice (in my handy dandy rice cooker!) for dinner.

Shetland, doomscrolling, reading.

>285 karenmarie: Oh those are wonderful bookcases! Always great to have something unique, sturdy and aesthetically pleasing to house books in!

Hi Anita! Thank you. We love antiques and I love book cases, so it's win-win!

Off to create my second thread...