TPBM 110 - In binary, that's a six, but really, who's counting?

From 401 in TPBM 109: TPBM has seen bees knees.

I have, under a microscope. I also found beauty. I gazed into the eyes MrsHouseLibrary, who had the (dead) bee in her hand, thus giving credence to that adage that beauty is in the eye of the bee holder.
Truth be told, she didn't need the bee at all.

TPBM is content.

I'm in!

>1 WholeHouseLibrary: I am not. I am just not in my happy place. I mean I've been locked up for 2 years, recently released and I've had the same reaction that parolees have upon leaving jail- I really don't know how to act anymore. We have that stubby-fingered psycho in Moscow threatening to nuke the world, eggs cost $0.30 each and I live in farm country, and the only way I can afford Amazon prime TV is by ordering expensive things, signing up for a free trial, and then immediately canceling that order. Plus, the stock market has crashed so now my retirement plan has shifted from dying in Las Vegas to working as a Walmart greeter until I'm 90. So no, I'm not in my happy place and I'm not content and thank you very much for asking! And now I'd like to see your manager please!

//>1 WholeHouseLibrary: Oi. You! I just learned to watch The Dodo videos on YouTube without sobbing, and then you happen. Mike, You have a compelling and unusually moving way of telling us about your love for your wife. Dante also had it, Chaucer didn't, Shakespeare recognized and recorded it. Mazel tov my friend, and God bless and keep you. You have a love that belongs to the ages. May each of us who wants that also have it and God help all of us who do. And should you ever feel that God does not love you know that we do.//

TPBM has recently been to Ukraine.

>3 SomeGuyInVirginia: Ukraine is a small country. Very poor but a beautiful place for a vacation. I look at the beatiful sunset and watch the sun go down. A cool breeze comes my way and I feel calm and relaxed. I feel bad for the things going on. Ukraine has beauty and deserves more.

TPBM: running for president

>4 _luh_Baddie_bae: Thank you. What can we call you? My friends call me a lot of things, but mostly it's SomeGuy or SG.

I am not going to run for president because I think you have to be crazy to want the job. I know, seems like a natural fit, right?

TPBM is searching for the light.

>5 SomeGuyInVirginia: You can call me Bo! and Its nice to meet you SG!

No, but I misplaced the battery.

TPBM has tinkered with solar lighting.

I have; I strung a string of Ikea solar lights around our balcony and forgot about them. Eventually they expired and then broke so they've had to have been removed but they were pretty while they lasted.

But we have just had solar panels installed on our roof (or, rather, because of the several different levels, rooves) and even on overcast days have managed to save about four tress - or so the app we can use to monitor the system tells us.

TPBM has made a significant move towards saving the planet.

Er, maybe our little bit of it. We've been removing as many invasive trees and shrubs and vines and weeds as possible, and replacing them with ones native to our area. Well, maybe not the weeds. :) We're planning on solar panels soon.

TPBM doesn't know what to make for their evening meal.

It’s a quarter to seven here and that is actually my immediate problem. There were a few things missing from this week’s grocery delivery but I did get some early English asparagus. Maybe that and eggs or possibly a risotto….

TPBM always plans several days in advance.

>10 abbottthomas: In 4 days it will be my birthday. The theme is a Fiesta. Im hoping to plan my party in 2-3 days. We are planning a trip to go to Hawaii, and we always plan trips for 4-5 days.

TPBM getting a new job

Nope. Retired, but still do copy editing.
A new gig, though -- I sure do miss doing Open Mic Nights.

TPBM is getting by.

I am, thank you, and I'm getting by by mostly inducing epiphanies. I live in a house with no shared walls, so sometimes I will put on boogie dance music and set the volume to... Well very loud. I'm not going to disturb my neighbors, and I'm going to be able to dance, and, right now, that's how I fight off the darkness.

TPBM recently fought off a bad person.

Indeed, I did. I voted early.

TPBM has been watching the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter over the past several mornings.

(For those who haven't, whereas they're currently fairly close, they're going their separate ways, kind of like Rosario and Corey.)

Nah, but I never did like to watch.

TPBM regularly attends religious services.

My only reason for wanting to visit a church is to scrutinize the pipe organs.
I worked for a pipe organ builder back in the 1970s, and still consider it the best (and worst-paying) job I ever had.
Beyond that, only for weddings and funerals -- and one christening, of which, despite my avowed non-belief, I was asked and okayed to be the godfather.

TPBM gets 8 hours of sleep at night.

Ugh, I wish. I have a Halo health tracker and typically I get between 3 and 5 hours a night and that's broken up over a few sleep cycles.

I adore churches and the unseemly display of a state's wealth, and the more pompish the better. I might not be comfortable with the way that Western institutions accumulated wealth and power, but I am absolutely enthralled with the beauty they created.

TPBM works as an art restorer in a museum.

Considering all that I can draw is conclusions, I would be an exercise in futility for me to even apply for such a position.

TPBM's most interesting/unusual/fulfilling (take your pick) occupation/hobby (again, take your pick) is/was _____________.

Basketball. I love basketball. Its my comfort sport. Its interesting how im the shortest being 5'4 an the others 6ft. Its a normal hight. But compared to 6ft, thats a different story.

TPBM has been in the US army

They wouldn't have me. My knees are too bad. And I'm not a US citizen.

TPBM is happy with their knees.

I am. The gravel-filled bicycle slide scar is hardly noticeable anymore. Oddly, the only place I have arthritis is the bottoms of my feet.

TPBM will tell us an age-related ailment they suffer from.

A free floating sense of being generally pissed off that I can contribute to no source. Like a baby in the cabbage patch or afternoon clouds in summer, it just kind of showed up.

TPBM Is mostly unscathed.

Quite the opposite. And I've got the scars, inside and out, to prove it.
But, I believe the philosophers Art and Paul said it best in their added verse:

Now the years are rolling by me,
They are rocking evenly,
And I am older than I once was,
And younger than I'll be -- that's not unusual.
No, it isn't strange,
After changes upon changes,
We are more or less, the same,
After changes we are more or less, the same.

- The Boxer Simon & Garfunkel, The Concert in Central Park, September 19, 1981

TPBM was there, or has a good reason for not being there.

I would really have liked to be there, but I was only in the fourth grade.
I have watched the concert video though, and I've seen Paul Simon in concert more recently.

TPBM actually was there.

I was not and I have an ironclad alibi, so all further questions should be put to my attorney.

TPBM has been to the Vatican library.

Nearly. I went to the Sistine Chapel half a century ago, queued for a long time and when the guards started jingling their keys to make us leave it was time to start drinking so the library had to wait. It's still waiting so I'd better get a move on if I want to catch it.

TPBM has a more abstemious attitude towards tourism and always makes sure that all the boxes are ticked before a refreshment break.

Well, that kind of works backward for me. I'm quite fussy about what foodstuff I consume. Pretty sure you all know why by now.

But tourism is a whole different matter.

For example, I had absolutely no trouble adjusting to the stay-home order declared by the governor at the outbreak of the pandemic. I don't at all mind a staycation. MrsHouseLibrary, on the other hand, loved to travel, and as soon as she got halfway through completing the scrapbook(s) of our previous trip, she'd be planning our next one. They almost always involved some city and all the museums, libraries, bookstores, and other points of interest. I certainly gave a lot of input, but my primary task was to figure out transportation, lodging, and itinerary.

For the record, there are 23 large scrapbooks, and 19 smaller ones.

Our two weeks in New York City was preceded by a week driving around northern New Jersey (where I grew up), a drive up to the Hudson Valley area (where we met up with two of my siblings and toured Olana -- the home of Hudson River School painter, Fredrick Church), then up to the Adirondacks (where I went to college), and a meandering drive through the Catskills, out to the Delaware River, and back to New Jersey.

Turned in the rental car and took a train into NYC. We stayed at four different hotels and saw everything we could in the vicinity of each hotel. Two days in the Museum of Natural History, three in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (and still didn't see all of it.) Tons of other stuff, which I managed by entering everything (name, address, hours of operation, admission, approximately how long to spend there, etc.) into a spreadsheet, and organized it by proximity to whichever hotel we'd be staying at.

Best place we stayed: the Library Hotel on East 41st St.
Most fun: Spamalot
Best food: a Porterhouse Steak ($46) at Delmonico's (on Beaver Street in lower Manhattan; open since 1837) It looks like the entrance to Gringotts Wizarding Bank on the north side of Diagon Alley, except for the color; it's a brownstone.
The one thing we missed: Lincoln Center
Best sight: The look on the face of MrsHouseLibrary every time I glanced at her. Radiant smile!

TPBM most memorable getaway was ____________.

Well, there was the time we went down the Florida Keys and went to the Dry Tortugas ... or the time we went to San Francisco in summer and I was so cold I bought a very colourful, thick jacket (which I still have) ... or in my teens when we went to Lombok when my cousins were living there and saw it from a more local point of view; and we stopped in Jakarta on the way back and my dad dragged us to the Maritime Museum early one morning but we got there before it opened and (because it was near the harbour) it smelled of fish and was hot and humid - though it was interesting once we did get in ... or, when my sister was barely more than a toddler, the time we went around Kenya on safari and there was a stampede through the lodge so we had to stay in our cabin ... or the times my kids were born for which we went to my parents in Australia (more of working holidays, really) ... or when we went back to England and visited their football clubs (in London and in Manchester) ...

All of them, really. If only my memory could keep up.

TPBM is reading a really interesting book and will tell us about it.

>27 WholeHouseLibrary: My husband's office was on 40th and 5th, when we lived in NYC, but I always used to go by way of Bryant Park library (actually, that was probably the reason I was at the office as often as I was).

actually, yes - I'm midway through The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd.

Here is the book description:
centers around an audacious storyline: a young woman named Ana who becomes the wife of Jesus. Though a work of fiction, this novel is grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus’s life. Sue Monk Kidd asks us to imagine if such a woman could have been written out of history, and focuses her novel on giving voice to a woman set during a time when women were often silenced.

It is a setting, both time and place, that I don't know a lot about, and this author does a great job of envisioning the lifestyle and politics of the time.

TPBM is harmonizing.

>29 Darth-Heather: I once saw a documentary that made a case for Mary Magdalene being an apostle who had also written a gospel but the church (Rome) phased her out of history. Makes you wonder what life was really like then.

Newp. I've been singing in the shower and, as much as I would like to imagine that I had company, I was always solo. Actually, that's sort of an interesting question. Would I rather have company in the shower or sing like Placido Domingo? If I had a life love like WholeHouse I'd say company slightly more than half the time. Given present circumstances I'd choose vox angelicus. (Vox not pox. Sounds like something you'd read on a placard.)

TPBM will tell us at what point they would choose an ability to perform and make the gods weep over everything else, what that superpower is, and the last thing they'd pass over to gain it. (Sorry, I know that's three things and a bit like being tasked to read Ulysses during your vacation.)

oh, that's easy - if I could choose a superpower it would be to communicate with animals a'la Dr. Dolittle, except maybe not insects; lets just leave the flies to the wanton boys.

I'm not sure about the third bit - Passover usually just means we have to give up leavened bread for fifty days; will that do?

TPBM would rather rule the world.

Not at all. And anyone who should want to ought to be found out and not allowed to.

I'd love to change the world, but they won't let me have the source code.

TPBM can explain the platypus to me. It's such a weird critter.

Perhaps this poem by Patrick Barrington would help:

The Diplomatic Platypus

I had a duck-billed platypus when I was up at Trinity,
With whom I soon discovered a remarkable affinity.
He used to live in lodgings with myself and Arthur Purvis,
And we all went up together for the Diplomatic Service.
I had a certain confidence, I own, in his ability,
He mastered all the subjects with remarkable facility;
And Purvis, though more dubious, agreed that he was clever,
But no one else imagined he had any chance whatever.
I failed to pass the interview, the board with wry grimaces
Took exception to my boots and then objected to my braces,
And Purvis too was failed by an intolerant examiner
Who said he had his doubts as to his sock-suspender's stamina.
Our summary rejection, though we took it with urbanity
Was naturally wounding in some measure to our vanity;
The bitterness of failure was considerably mollified,
However, by the ease with which our platypus had qualified.
The wisdom of the choice, it soon appeared, was undeniable;
There never was a diplomat more thoroughly reliable.
He never made rash statements his enemies might hold him to,
He never stated anything, for no one ever told him to,
And soon he was appointed, so correct was his behaviour,
Our Minister (without Portfolio) to Trans-Moravia.
My friend was loved and honoured from the Andes to Esthonia,
He soon achieved a pact between Peru and Patagonia,
He never vexed the Russians nor offended the Rumanians,
He pacified the Letts and yet appeased the Lithuanians,
Won approval from his masters down in Downing Street so wholly, O,
He was soon to be rewarded with the grant of a Portfolio.
When on the Anniversary of Greek Emancipation,
Alas! He laid an egg in the Bulgarian Legation.
This untoward occurrence caused unheard-of repercussions,
Giving rise to epidemics of sword-clanking in the Prussians.
The Poles began to threaten, and the Finns began to flap at him,
Directing all the blame for this unfortunate mishap at him;
While the Swedes withdrew entirely from the Anglo-Saxon dailies
The right of photographing the Aurora Borealis,
And, all efforts at rapprochement in the meantime proving barren,
The Japanese in self-defence annexed the Isle of Arran.
My platypus, once thought to be more cautious and more tentative
Than any other living diplomatic representative,
Was now a sort of warning to all diplomatic students
Of the risks attached to negligence, the perils of imprudence,
And, branded in the Honours List as 'Platypus, Dame Vera',
Retired, a lonely figure, to lay eggs in Bordighera.

I should add a reminder that the creature has a venomous spur on its heel which, I understand, it deploys only in the mating season. Give it a wide berth, WHL.

TPBM observes wild life through binoculars.

I do, on occasion. There’s a sliver of jungle behind the houses opposite us but my eyesight isn’t strong enough anymore to identify wildlife. I have a pair of binoculars that my mum bought me for birdwatching when I was 5 which I still have, despite all the countries I’ve moved to/from. I managed to identify bee catchers which love to sit on the opposite neighbours’ aerials before swooping off to catch dinner. I’ve seen branches bending in a way that indicates monkeys jumping from tree to tree but haven’t discerned more than a shape. And I’ve seen birds of prey around a lot, so I suspect they tend to nest nearby but I haven’t spotted it yet.

(I just hope the neighbours appreciate that I’m watching the wildlife and I have no interest in spying on them.)

TPBM has revived a childhood hobby.

I haven't had to revive it, all of my childhood hobbies have followed me into adulthood. Comics, stamps, pretty books, and coins. In truth I see myself as being Peter Pan but with a mortgage and a hit list.

TPBM is assured of their place in the afterlife.

>31 SomeGuyInVirginia: I would have Doctor Strange's power. Its so cool

>36 SomeGuyInVirginia: I'm a good person. I think I'll end up in heaven. even though I go through tough times and have to deal with hard desicions, I still try my best. I'm not a people-person, but I act like I care and do my best to help that person, even though I hate people. I would love to meet my grandma that I've never met. and my dogs..

TPBM: gets an IPhone 13

Hell to the no. No Apple products in this household. Not even pies; we are devoted to blueberry, thank you very much.

TPBM, like me, is procrastinating.

>38 _luh_Baddie_bae: Bo, well of course you're a good person! Everyone else on this thread has been playing this game for 20 years. A lot of witty people have broken themselves on the TPBM thread and their desiccated corpses litter the internet highway! If we didn't think you were a good person you wouldn't be here now. Thanks for playing, Bo.

Also, you may want to reach out to your parents, school counselors, and others in your school who might be able to direct you to the gifted and talented resources that you will enjoy, and be able to speak with you about what interests you. And if they tell you the gifted/talented material may be challenging to you, take it on anyway and trust me you will have fun.

>39 Marissa_Doyle: I tried to respond earlier but I just couldn't get around to it.

TPBM was recently interviewed on air.

no, nobody asks me about air anymore, it's always just rocks, rocks, rocks.

TPBM has tripped the light fantastic.

The light fandango, once upon a time. Even. in my imaginings, turned cartwheels 'cross the floor.

TPBM was sorry to see Gary Brooker go.

Absolutely! I've added that song to my repertoire. Not quite the same without his baroque Hammond organ, but it'll have to do.

TPBM is thrilled to see this sudden uptick in participation on this thread.

The very first TPBM was created on 06-Sep-2007 by perodicticus (no longer on LT.) We've kept to generally 400 posts thread, although there was one that was superseded at the 327th comment. You do the math.

Yup, pretty cool.

63 comments early?

TPBM had a pretty good day, whether everyone else around them did or not.

Well, it's still morning here but so far so good. Tinykin Skywalker has been a little needy, but sometimes all he wants is for is for me to tell him that he's a very good boy while he's sitting on his perch in the bay window and doing that weird juddering cat meow at birds in the lawn.

>42 Darth-Heather: Nice! I am totally going to steal that!

TPBM has taken an animal to be blessed.

If seeking out an exorcist to deal with ThiMs (my ex, Thorn in My side) counts, then yes. Otherwise, considering that I am not a Pet Person (plenty of documentation around here as to why,) then no.

The priest, by the way, refused, saying he'd been trained to deal with the devil, not with the likes of her. Yeah, she was on a whole other level.

TPBM ideal vacation setting is __________________.

I really only unwind when I am near the ocean. Preferably with very few humans nearby.

Although, contrarily, I've always wanted to visit the most significant spiritual sites in the world - Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Ankor Wat, St. Peters Basilica, Jerusalem, Cairo, Delphi and so on. I would like to understand and honor people's devotion to these places.

I know, there are probably going to be humans there...

TPBM is contrary also.

I am not! No wait, yes I am. Well maybe; it kind of depends.
I tend to not accept what someone tells me as being true. I research damn near everything. This often gets me in trouble.
For example, the idiom "begs/begging the question" does not mean "makes us ask." But that is very often how people use it. In fact, it means to assume a statement as true without proof. Go ahead, look it up.

TPBM doesn't want what they haven't got.

Oh puleez! I sometimes dream about being rich enough that I can afford to keep a 24-hour staff. I'll know that I've made it when I can order a grilled cheese sammich at 2:00 in the morning and have it bought to me.

TPBM yearns for the simple life.

I do not. I have never yearned for the simple life at any point in my short and happy life so far. When people talk about the simple life I think of farming and canning and making dandelion wine on the kitchen counter because you would simply die if anyone saw you actually buying a bottle of wine from the Piggly Wiggly. God bless HMS The Simple Life and all who sail in her! And keep her far from me!

For TPBM, it's complicated.

I am guilty of overthinking things. I get bogged down in the minute details of process when the task is simply "put this nail into that starter hole and hammer it flat." My first consideration would be: is the nail long enough? And that would be followed by: Which of my (over a dozen) hammers would be the optimum one to use? Then, once decided, where the hell is it? I have a hammer that Thor secretly covets.

TPBM is calm and clear-headed during emergencies.

depends on the emergency. If someone (pet or human) is sick or hurt, I can deal with it. Other things, like fire, car accident, extreme weather, etc, make me panic and flail about like a muppet.

TPBM answers the hard questions.

That's a tough one! One thing I learned from working in DC for so many years is to reply to a question while being completely evasive and not answering it at all.

TPBM has all the answers.

There's only one answer that explains it all -- 42.

TPBM has beaten the odds.

yes, now that I've taken a course in statistics and understand how odds are calculated.

My conclusion: I'd rather have the dollar than buy a scratch ticket.

TPBM knows where the money is.

In the pockets of the hyper-rich, for the most part. ‘Twas always thus. As the song goes “It’s the same the whole world over, It’s the poor what gets the blame. It’ the rich what gets the gravy, Ain’t it all a bleedin’ shame?

TPBM has just had an apocalyptic warning from the head of their national central bank.

No recently; why might I be expecting one?

TPBM surely would want to know.

Ignorance is beautiful! No wait, that's not it. Ignorance is bodacious! No, not that. Bliss! Ignorance is bliss! I knew ignorance was one of those good things.

TPBM feels the Book of Revelation is already playing out in TikTok videos.

Most assuredly. And I applaud you for not mistaking the title as Book of Revelations. That’s something entirely different and more practical.

TPBM has been uncharacteristically checking their newsfeed every ten minutes.

Apparently not. Had to look up what a newsfeed is.
I get all my news from vetted, reliable news sources. I've got no tolerance for mis/dis-information.

TPBM gets all the news they need from the weather report.

absolutely. other kinds of news are all about humans, and therefore less interesting than pressure gradients and orographic lifting.

TPBM rolls with the changes.

well, if I eat a lot of rolls, and other bread foods, my pants size changes. So, I guess I change with the rolls, at least.

TPBM lives on the edge.

I am into my 81st year so I suppose it goes without saying. I think I would use the word ‘brink’ rather than ‘edge’ though.

TPBM has discovered the Worldle site - the spelling is correct. Something for the geographers amongst us.

I have - or, rather, it was brought to my notice when everyone was discovering Wordle look-alikes (dordle, quordle, octordle, phoodle, even anti-Wordle). I wouldn't call myself a geographer, though; but it does widen my knowledge for a few minutes. It's very rare that I don't have to resort to maps though I do give myself 3 guesses first. Oh - I haven't had my daily dose yet ...

TPBM has a whole list of daily games they play before getting on with the ephemera of life.

I do! Every morning while I'm having my coffee I play the game, "What I'd do differently if I had it to do all over again". Followed by, "After the breakup, 'the one who got away' or 'really dodged a bullet' "? And I wrap things up by reviewing my list of people I'd like to see spontaneously combust.

TPBM doesn't play games.

>64 abbottthomas: // Dost engage in brinkmanship then, Sir Abbot?//

au contraire, mon fidèle ami*

I've got 12 game apps on my phone that I'll scroll through several times every day: four are card games, four are board-style games, one is an array of 5 to 8 rows/columns of numbers that I have to eliminate certain ones to reach a target sum, and one is set up like a printed circuit board where the object is to light up a display by toggling any of 8 switches and shunting the resulting "live" paths through logic gates within an unspecified number of moves. In theory, they're all winnable, but I've found that sometimes it sets up some mutually exclusive paths. Not sure if that's done on purpose or by design. I'm also quite fond of the "locked door" type of games. Some are a series of rooms, others have elaborate story lines. Regardless, lots of puzzles to solve. But they take up so much room on my phone that I will load only one at a time.

My current and most time-consuming "game" is Find the Hidden Lien. I paid off my mortgage three years ago, and now I need to get a home equity loan to replace all my windows and replace the siding on my house. I've got the certified Release of Lien, but the bank says there is a yet another lien on the house. Sure, I've refinanced a few times in the past 33 years, and yes, the debt has been passed around to different banks like a game of Hot Potato, but all the public records sync up. So far, the bank isn't providing any information as to who applied the mystery lien, nor when they did so.

I'm also playing the "Book the Long-distance, Overnight Amtrak Trip," where I get to the details of the last leg of the destination and the website won't acknowledge it. Haven't been able to touch the return trip yet. They've got this virtual assistant thing that doesn't begin to understand the nature of the problem I'm having (which is: I need to speak to a human being) and directs me to begin the booking anew. I don't mind that the trip will take several days longer, and cost maybe five times what I would pay to fly. It'd be an adventure. But I've been actively trying to get this booked for three weeks already. I'm giving it one last chance today.

TPBM knows where I can find a Mongolian-style oriental buffet. There used to be five of them in the Austin area; now they're all gone.

* credit (or blame) goes to Google Translate. I am familiar with only American English and maybe a dozen dead programming languages.

yep, near my dad's house in Minneapolis.
Khan's Mongolian BBQ

They have recently resumed dine-in service. It's a bit of a long trip for you, but if you visit my dad he will take you there as his treat.

TPBM has a better idea.

Nope. That sounds good to me. Is that an all-inclusive invite? Does Saturday sound good to everyone?

TPBM will call Darth-Heather’s dad and confirm.

I would, but I’ll be on a plane on Saturday.

Would Sunday suit TPBM better?

Yes, anything to break Sunday's melancholy.

TPBM rises on Monday as the wheat that springeth green.

That's a joke, right? I'm not laughing.
A coworker of mine had a coffee mug which read, "Monday is a hell of a way to spend one seventh of your life."

But, once one hits retirement, and generally disinclined to attend religious services, every day is pretty much the same as all the others. It's like Ground Hog Day, if it falls on a Monday.

TPBM breaks up the routine by ____________.

Hiya

Beer with lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, singing in a choir on Fridays, grocery delivery on Tuesdays. What more can I offer? Of course, that's all elaborating the routine rather than breaking it up. OK, next week is beer on Thursday. Adventurous, no?

TPBM is enjoying seasonal asparagus.

//>74 Ali4funig: Greetings!//

Can't say that I am, even when it's out of season.
That condition that prevents me from consuming most everyday vegetables developed a "super-taster" effect in me. I'm hypersensitive to how things taste and asparagus is overpoweringly repulsive to me. The same is true for the combination of chocolate and mint. Either one on its own is fine; put them together and not even an Airbus A380plus (933 passengers) would have enough barf bags onboard to handle my (gut) reaction.

TPBM has successfully finished off a menu item called "the kitchen sink," solo.

Note: Different establishments have wide variations of what that may be, so you're going to have to tell us what you ate/drank/gorged yourself upon.

Well, there was the time when we were students that my sister, our cousins and I went to a dessert restaurant in Sydney called 'Death by Chocolate'. They offered their signature dish, called 'Death by Chocolate' for free - if you could finish it all, but it could only be for one person and not shared. My sister, who had read about the offer, ordered it while the rest of us opted to go with smaller dishes. She did quite well with it - I forget the exact composition (this was about 3 decades ago) but I remember scoops of ice cream on the side and dollops of whipped cream - and made it, but we did help her by sneaking bites and she sort of spread the cream around the plate.

We remember it fondly looking back now, but we didn't talk about chocolate for a few days after that.

TPBM is about to do something exciting and will tell us what.

//My kids seem to try for that reaction to vegetables.//

//I haven't tried enormous food challenges myself but I was at the Ben & Jerry's facility in Stowe VT once and watched a pair of friends taking on the VERMONSTER sundae - it contains 20 scoops of ice cream, four bananas, three cookies, one brownie, four cups of hot fudge and/or caramel, one cup of chopped nuts, plus your choice of four candy toppings and then whipped cream and cherries. It's meant for a family.... those dudes made a valiant attempt but didn't make it.//

I am excited to start preparing a whole beef brisket to cook on the smoker this weekend. It takes 12-14 hours to cook 'low and slow', so is the sort of project I don't get to take on very often.

TPBM has served jury duty.

I was once called for jury duty, and would have liked to see the whole process from the inside. But I was cut after the preliminary questions. I knew one of the attorneys; and she told me they don’t like to have very intelligent people on the jury.

TPBM thinks she was yanking my chain.

I have once answered the call but only made it a single time into the courtroom before being rejected by counsel for the defence. I spent the rest of my stint in the cafeteria catching up with my reading. I am male, white and was in late middle-age with a conservative haircut and a sports jacket. I clearly looked like someone who had no time for any of this ‘Presumption of Innocence’ nonsense!

TPBM owns a gun

//The last few posts give a terrifying insight into US dietary habits ;-) //

Absolutely not! I am terrified of guns because I've seen what they can do. And yet, I live in Texas, where you can carry around any type of firearm you can get your hands on, the only qualifier is that you must be at least 18 years old, but often even that is ignored -- even in court. It's insane.
Despite all that, I'm an excellent marksman (at a shooting range.)

//>79 Darth-Heather: I've been called for jury duty three times; the first two, my ex was also in the same jury pool. She got excused during the selection process, apparently because of something she said while pointing at me when speaking to the judge about why she wanted to be released. We wouldn't have been on the same jury anyway. So, I got to serve on a jury for a stupid kid over a traffic case. Guilty.
The next time (with my ex in the jury pool again) I asked the judge to excuse me. As a side note, I related the previous excusal of my ex, but the main reason was that I knew the person on trial - another Boy Scout adult leader - and I didn't want to have any taint of bias by voting to convict or acquit him of whatever he was on trial for. Also, if I were to vote to convict him, I'd still have to work with him with the Scouts. So, I got to leave. My ex's eyes threw daggers at me as I left.
The last time I was called for jury duty, it was apparently something much more serious than a mere traffic violation. I was Prospective Juror #58 out of 60. During the selection process, most of the questions were directed to random people, but they also wanted everyone to answer several of them.
We were asked to rate (in a scale of 1 to 4) the court system for its fairness in their judicial process. One after the other, most people said "four;" some said "one;" (they all had friends or relatives who had been convicted of something, don't you know). When it came to me, I said "Pi." Had to say it twice, actually, and then enumerate it: 3.142592654 (for a start). They looked bewildered. My explanation was that I had lived in my house for over 25 year and read the newspaper(s) every day. In the twice-weekly very-local newspaper, they had an account of virtually every criminal case that was tried by the city and by the county, and I read them all. I didn't keep a tally, but my anecdotal reckoning of what I thought they got right and what they got wrong fell somewhere between three and three-and-a-quarter, so, Pi was close enough. I don't understand why, but I wasn't selected.

TPBM has an eye for color schemes and can advise me as to what colors would go well on the siding and trim of my house. Said house's exterior is mostly white and orange limestone.

>80 2wonderY: Ya.

>82 WholeHouseLibrary: Need photo.

Green, WHL, some kind of green. You’ll look like the Irish tricolour flag and that can’t be bad.

TPBM wouldn’t mind being Irish, or maybe is.

Mom's side of the family is from the Shenandoah valley, so I have some Irish blood. No, I wouldn't mind being Irish. They seem to have a good outlook and enjoy life.

//>81 abbottthomas: when I lived in DC I was called every two years. I always wore a suit and tie and never made it past getting called to the bench and saying hello to the judge and counsel. Everyone was always very friendly!//

TPBM grew up in Dublin.

No, but I spent a couple of days there back in 2014. My mother didn't want to celebrate her 90th birthday with yet another party in the rec room of her retirement village. Both she and my father did that for their 80ths. So we did a 10-day bus tour of (mostly southern) Ireland, beginning and ending in Dublin. Karrell and I (and my oldest son) made arrangements to arrive a day early, because we wanted to be there on what would have been my father's 100th birthday, and we could have a day to ourselves. My son, of course, had his mind set on taking a tour of the Guinness Brewery. Karrell and I had mapped out all the museums, libraries, bookstore, and antique shops within walking distance of the hotel. We omitted Trinity College (and the Book of Kells) because that was part of the tour. When word got out why we had opted to fly over early, the rest of the family followed suit. Didn't get to see even one tenth of what we had planned. Regardless, we spent a total of four days in Dublin -- two days each on the bookends of the tour -- and would highly recommend going there if you can. Nineteen of us celebrated MEL's (as we called her) 90th birthday, 5 months after the fact. A great celebration.

From that trip, my favorite picture that didn't have the radiantly happy (and equally lovely) MrsHouseLibrary in it was one that I took in the Trinity College Library. There's a copy of it in the gallery of my profile page if you care to view it.

I have a geocaching friend, almost my age, who has never lived more than eight miles from where he was born. TPBM can honestly say that they have had a smaller radius of domiciles.

//>82 WholeHouseLibrary: if you are feeling conservative, go with a muted slate blue-grey. if you are feeling more contemporary, consider yellow.//

//>82 WholeHouseLibrary: WholeHouseLibrary: And also consider material of the door and sun orientation. My door is deep brick red, and it gets direct afternoon summer sun. Since it’s wood, it swells and is difficult to open in the hot months. Of course, my storm door lacks a screen, so the glass exacerbates the problem. Bothe color and storm door are on my to-do list.//

8 miles sounds very confined and parochial I thought. Then I drew an 8-mile radius circle from my birthplace and, surprise, surprise, both my home as a child and teenager and the four homes I have had since finishing education lie (just) within it. I moved well away for boarding school and university terms and had a six-month residential post outside the circle but otherwise just a home town boy.

However, as the two locations are diametrically opposite and Greater London lies in between it doesn't feel quite like that.

TPBM really is still around their birthplace

Except for time out of state while in college, and a little over a year when I was little, everywhere I've lived is within 20-25 miles of where I was born.

TPBM has big plans for the weekend.

Power pleasure reading. I'd like to finish at least two books, both cheesy mysteries, and if I'm feeling really ready I've got two others on my TBR pile.

TPBM Will tell us what they think is the real last hour of the morning.

Cats get up with the sun. At this time of year, they are ready for breakfast at 5:10am. After getting up that early I'm ready for lunch by 10:30.

TPBM lives by the moon.

Only on a galactic scale. I mean really -- it averages a distance of 240,000 miles from us over the course of its cycle. But when look at it from, say Andromeda, you'd be hard-pressed to even pick out our sun, never mind any gap between the earth and the moon.

TPBM knows where the pivot point is located for the moon's orbit around the earth.

Somewhere around West 54th and Broadway?

//Like every Southerner of a certain age, God save Queen Elizabeth!//

TPBM has no law but Caesar's.

Ape not kill ape? Doesn't apply to me in most applications situations.* The only law I'm adherent to is Gravity.

TPBM keeps an impeccably maintained lawn.

* edited due to a serious under-ingestment of caffeine at the time of I originally posted.

You jest! No impeccability here. Coming to the end of ‘No-mow-May’ I do confess to having weakened last week and run the mower over the lawn at a high setting to take out the bents but there are dandelions, lots of daisies, cyclamen corms, dog violets, tree roots and nasty dry brown patches. Sometimes there are fruiting bodies of honey fungus……but not today.

Get the picture?

TPBM tries hard to support pollinators.

yep, it's the best excuse to avoid weeding the garden.

TPBM is on a strict schedule.

Yep. I get up every day. And I go to bed every evening. No matter what. No exceptions.

TPBM makes an exception.

The exception happens despite me. My circadian rhythm averages about one third of a Plutonian day.

TPBM is disturbed that Pluto no longer has planetary status.

Horrified, actually. It means that the solar system model I made in second grade is no longer as scientifically accurate as I had thought. I'm sure my mom still has it somewhere in storage, but I should find it and destroy it as it is now outdated.

TPBM is planning a surprise.

// >94 SomeGuyInVirginia: God save the Queen. We’re coincidentally in London in time for the jubilee.
‘If you get lost between the Moon and New York City ... the best that you can do is fall in love’

>99 WholeHouseLibrary: I’m very upset about Pluto’s loss of planetary status. That’s just sizeist.//

Kind of. I'm planning on doing something that when my co-workers see me afterwards, they're going to be surprised.

TPBM is looking forward to going to a show.

Does being in one count?
My left hand has sufficiently recovered from that mishap with my chainsaw from back in November that I'm now searching about for where Open Mic Nights are scheduled near me. I used to play at one in a town about 45 miles from here. With the current price of gas, conservatively, I'd spend 4 times more for gas than I've ever gotten in tips from that place.
I didn't play for the money, but can't afford to not be compensated just a little bit.

TPBM gives it away.

yep, I have absolutely no poker face at all.

TPBM is thinking out loud.

The trouble is that nobody’s listening.

TPBM keeps their own counsel

//The previous link prompts me to recommend ‘Thinking allowed’, a podcast on BBC Sounds introduced by Laurie Taylor, a Liverpudlian sociologist. He discusses a wide variety of subjects with fellow academics. Almost always entertaining and informative.//

What? You take me for some kind of fool?
(Please feel to be under no obligation to answer that.)

TPBM questions damn near everything.

No. Why would you think that?

TPBM is enjoying the sunshine.

Well, I will when it returns this morning. We’re getting a short relief from high temperatures, with sunny days in the 70s before returning to the high 90s tomorrow. I’m getting as much yard work done as possible during this break. But boy, we sure could use some rain!

TPBM has danced naked in the rain or skinnydipped.

Yes, but I've never danced. And I wasn't alone.

TPBM dances like nobody's looking.

I only dance if nobody’s looking. There is too much shared unhappiness in the world.

TPBM has noticed things getting hotter.

Of the past approximately 60 days, over 50 of them have been in triple digits (in Fahrenheit.) If I were writing this in August or September, I'd say, "No, not really," but it's been unusually hot for June in central Texas, and extremely hot for May. That, plus the complete lack of rain -- until last night -- requires me to take shower even after just going out to get the mail.
Having said that, it's currently 77° outside. Sweet relief, but it's so humid, I'm not even going to open the windows. I did, however, set my downstairs thermostat to cool to 78 -- first time all year -- just to lower the indoor temperature and humidity. Shouldn't be too much of a strain on the Texas power grid.

TPBM is preparing for ______________.

…….a bathroom refit. And wishing I had done it when I was younger.

TPBM will kick the can along the road.

I'm supposed to be getting my kitchen renovated but I've stalled at the planning process. (Too many decisions.)

It seems my kicking powers are depleted.

TPBM will advise me on workflows in a kitchen.

I'm actually trying to figure that out myself.
I'm currently in my fourth month of waiting for the bank to approve an equity mortgage so I can take care of some long-neglected exterior maintenance on my house. They claim to have found a lien on my house. I paid off the mortgage three years ago, and have a certified copy of the lien release, but the bank says there is another lien. County records don't agree, and I think they're holding off approving the loan until interest rates peak.
In the meantime, because of the ridiculous rise in property values in the Austin area, if I sell my house, I couldn't afford to buy one here with even half the square footage. So, I decided to remain in the house (but still get rid of 90% of everything in it.)
And since my legs have not recovered significantly from last October's BMW Tour, I'm well aware that soon enough, I'll not be able to climb the stairs anymore. All the bedrooms are on the second floor; and there's only a half bath in the first floor (ground floor to all you on the east side of the pond.)
And that's all the background you need for this:
I can have a walk-in bathtub installed in the half bath if I (pay someone to) move one wall a couple of feet toward the kitchen. The other side of the wall has a cabinet (the junk drawer) and the refrigerator. I could relocate the refrigerator to where the over currently is, but I really need that oven.
Plus, the house was built in '76. Butcher block was the popular look back then. So, I'm looking at ripping the entire kitchen out and redoing it. Add an island to reclaim at least part of the cabinet space I'm going to lose.
Doing the research, so I'll keep you advised, humouress.

TPBM likes to do the planning phase of projects.

I've posted a reply twice but it's not taking. I give up

ETA: last time of trying:

>114 WholeHouseLibrary: // Will await advice.

Can you talk to another bank, meanwhile letting current bank know so they get their backsides in gear just so as to not lose your (potential) custom? //

As humouress was, for what ever reason, unable to successfully reply - except for comments - the challenge "TPBM likes to do the planning phase of projects" is still in play.

>116 humouress: I have; my bank happens to have the most flexible options for me - more of a line of credit than an equity mortgage; can take whatever amounts of money I need whenever I need it and pay at least a minimum back each month, lock in a rate if I wish. I've got a lot of work that needs to be done, and the plan is to have it all paid off within five to ten years.
And as far as workflows in a kitchen is concerned, it depends on a number of factors -- the dimensions of the room, the location of pipes and outlets, and where doors and windows (and AC ducts) exist.

I love the planning phase! Its the logistics parts that come next that lose me.
Kind of like humouress' post which clearly liked being planned out but refused to cooperate with actually being posted.

TPBM likes to blow stuff up.

Sure! Bicycle tires, volleyballs ... that kind of stuff. Sometimes, I'll inflate a downtrodden ego, but just enough, you know? Not too much.
Anything else, no way. Do you hear me FBI guys?

TPBM roots for the underdog.

Always.

TPBM is aware that Women’s Euro 2022 (football) has just started and is already watching.

Over here you couldn’t fail to be aware of it. Coverage is behind our current Prime Ministerial debacle but it runs a close second.

In passing, Boris Johnson has, in the last half-hour, at last agreed to stand down although he seems to be angling to stay in office until October.

TPBM has noticed that women soccer players tend to make less fuss than their male counterparts when tackled.

I don't know about soccer, but my niece played rugby in college and those ladies are pretty fierce! Victoria is small of stature, so it was kind of hilarious to see her tackle opposing players.

TPBM won't miss seeing Boris Johnson and his wayward hairdo on tv.
(I mean, I don't really have much opinion on the man except that his hair really really bothers me... there are plenty of styling products and haircuts that would solve that mess)

>119 WholeHouseLibrary: If one roots for the Philadelphia Phillies you are ALWAYS rooting for the underdog. This is especially the case if one remembers the dive of 1964. All they needed was a win to take the NL pinnet and they couldn't get one.

>122 Darth-Heather: I won't miss seeing him, simply because he's the background image on my work computer :-)
I will however consider changing it to one with a look of despair.

TPBM will share what's on their computer screen background image.

In 2014, my family celebrated my mother's 90th birthday by doing a 10-day bus tour through Ireland. (She lived in Florida at the time.) The picture itself is one that I took of a wrought iron spiral staircase backlit by a semi-opaque window in the Trinity College Library in Dublin.
It's in my gallery if you care to view it - last of three pictures.

TPBM will also share what's on their computer screen background image.

It’s a double page spread from a gardening book showing a beautifully developed downslope, with raised beds and fruit trees. It was an inspiration for my downslope. It’s now just a dream. My downslope is all weedy volunteer trees and brambles.
The blackberries are still prolific.

TPBM will give us a paragraph describing their current weather.

It's 2 o'clock in the avo in Singapore and it's hot 'n 'umid which really tells you everything. But you asked for a paragraph, so here goes.

The sun is on the other side of the house but it's reflecting off a bright, white cloud which I can see from the balcony; it's the sort that towers up and eventually (presumably - I'm no cloud expert) builds into a thunderhead. In fact, there are a couple of clouds in front of it which are quite grey looking but the sky behind it is a nice blue with just a few wispy clouds away over there. There's a slight breeze, mainly created by the ceiling fan (generally, I find, ceiling fans are only really effective if you stand directly under them); before I turned it on it was a bit stuffy. My floor fan, which I use to blow mossies away from me (they love my blood - high chocolate content) tells me it's 32ºC in my study. Meanwhile, floating in on the breeze comes the ever-present background noise of construction drills. There aren't many houses on our T-shaped cul-de-sac - ten on our branch and a few more than that on the other one - but ever since we moved in about 15 years ago it seems that one house or another has been bought and undergoing some renovation (all Singaporeans, no matter how small or large their new place is, automatically do some kind of reno; when my parents moved house when we were growing up it was a big deal if they changed a carpet in one room). During the lockdown we actually had some silence on that front, which was a relief because the neighbours two doors down demolished the semi-detached they had bought and excavated down to create a basement and it felt like they were extending it under our house, too. Now they've finished the outside, which goes four storeys up and blocks our sunlight. Having grown up in England, sunlight is precious to me. It feels pleasantly balmy - but it took me my first ten years of living here to get used to the heat. The humidity I'm still working on, but almost there. So, yeah; typical day weather-wise unless there's a tropical downpour dumping down with thunder crashing overhead and the dog pacing uneasily.

TPBM will tell us of a spontaneous decision soon regretted.

Back in the late '70s, in northern New Jersey, I commuted by bicycle to and from work (11 miles each way) all year long. Even made my own snow tires.
Part of the route included a steep downhill drop of about 80' followed by an equally steep uphill climb of approximately the same change in elevation. The speed limit was 35mph. Nobody paid much attention to it, and there were never any speed traps.
Mind you, in 1977, I had done a bicycle tour (with ThiMs) from this are to Pensacola, Fla., and I was probably in the second-best shape of my life. (Long story for another time.) And my bike was a 15-gear touring bike, so I could handle very steep climbs and also get great speed on level ground. My habit was to get up to 50 mph heading down that hill in the middle of the lane - just like a motor vehicle would. I had lights (sometimes), a helmet, a yellow jersey. and a fanny flag for visibility. That 50 mph gave me enough momentum that I could often get almost to the top of the next hill without having to gear down. The determining factor was headwinds. And having done this for two years, people were used to seeing me.
One August evening, I left work and headed home. As I approached the beginning of the downhill portion, I geared appropriately, and started cranking to get my speed up. There was a side street on my side of the road, and sometimes there's a car coming from the opposite direction that wants to turn left onto it. In this particular case, there were no cars in front of me, but at least one car behind me -- the receptionist from the engineering firm I worked at and her police officer husband. And there was a car that had come to a full stop, turn signal flashing, indicating the intention to make that left turn. I'm cranking away as fast as I can. We made eye contact. He nodded to me. And as I approach that area, he turned in front of me.
I applied the brakes, pulled my feet out of the pedal cages, steered toward the tires, and just before impact, let go of the brakes and kissed my ass goodbye. As expected, the bike went under the car while I sailed over the hood, missing the windshield. My right shin hit the handlebar (parameds thought it might be broken based on the bruise and swelling.) My first contact with the ground was about 30 feet past the car, and it was my helmetted forehead that took the impact, and I rolled heels over head, and smacked my spine on the pavement, then skidded for some distance on my right side. Road rash all down my right leg.
I can only imagine that the driver of that car quickly regretted his spontaneous decision.

I was out of work for over two months, and when I went back (had to take a bus), I was out of shape, so surveying became a physical challenge for me. And after two weeks of that, there was an incident on a job site where I almost drowned. I quit. Enough was enough. Fortunately, I knew a guy, and he arranged for me to have an interview for a computer operator trainee position where he worked (Wall Street area.) And that's how I became a geek.

TPBM has had a positive life-altering experience, and maybe, just maybe, will tell us about it.

I have. I won't. It involves the first real kiss I ever had, and baby that is all mine.

TPBM Will tell us something interesting that happened to them while they were in a bodega.

Nothing interesting ever happened in any small store I've been in with this one exception, perhaps -- according to the Fire Marshall, the maximum occupancy of the store was two. I got a coffee to go.

TPBM favorite bookstore found while traveling is _______________.

I haven't actually found too many bookstores while traveling, much to my dismay.
I did find a wonderful rock shop in South Dakota - the whole state is a rock hound's dream.
I did buy books there.... rock collecting books. And some rocks. My luggage weighed a lot more leaving than it did when I arrived!

TPBM is sweating it out.

Sure is. Today was record hot here in Denmark. But tomorrow should be more normal, so I'll go find a second hand bookshop or two a couple of hours in car from here.

TPBM is also on a quest for more books.

Quite the opposite, sadly. I have 24 bookcases varying from 3 to 7 shelves varying between 21 to 36.5 inches wide - almost 500 linear feet of shelf space, with perhaps two feet of that being use by bookends. So, not a whole lot of room to add more books.
When MrsHouseLibrary died, my plan was to get rid of 90% of everything in the house within a year. Didn't go so well. But the new plan is to take one of the larger bookshelves and fill it with books I haven't read yet plus certain books I can't imagine being without. All the rest is going to go. Somehow. Someday. I just hate the idea of taking $400 worth of books and selling them to Half-Price Books and getting maybe seven bucks for them.

TPBM will relate to use about the day they serendipitously found a book they had been searching for, for years.

I hadn't been searching for it, but I went into a rare bookstore in a Southern bywater, and the dealer all but confessed to being a Nazi who had spent the past several decades in South America. I did buy an extremely rare book from this person, then I called the Israeli embassy in DC as soon as I was home and related my experience. The first person I spoke with was named something like Heather and could not have been more put out by my calling. I then spoke with a woman in the security branch and she was polite, interested, and inquisitive. I did not give them my contact information, this was before IT would have automatically delivered it, and do not know what happened. But this clown rare book dealer wanted me to believe that he fled Germany at the close of world war II and settled in South America for reasons of his own, and was stupid enough to think that I would just accept that, and maybe find it interesting. If he was a fugitive Nazi I hope he's dead now, and if he was just a lonely old man I hope he's come up with a better origin story. Actually, since this happened in the mid '80s battle man is almost certainly dead now. Mazel tov, b****.

I think I've related this story in the past. TPBM will give us something new.

>40 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thanks so much! I enjoy singing and playing piano also dancing!

>134 SomeGuyInVirginia: I have a new and awful joke:

Mountains aren’t funny; they’re hill-areas.

TPBM didn't laugh at that.

I didn't, but it's more because I have a raging headache at the moment, not because it wasn't cringe-worthy. You should add it to the Bad Jokes thread; hasn't had an update in almost two weeks.

My headache is the result of a combination of weeks of 3-digit temperatures, Saharan dust, and not enough sleep, none of which I can do much about. I'm trying, but haven't had much success.

TPBM knows of a non-medicative method of initiating the sleep process. Meditation (which I've been doing on-and-off for almost 50 years, doesn't help at all.

You may or may not class melatonin as medication - it is a naturally produced compound after all - but, regardless, there is a short article from Johns Hopkins which puts its use into reasonable perspective, i.e. not much evidence in favour except possibly for jet-lag. The article sums up useful ideas about light exposure (which you probably know about already).

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/melatonin-for-sle...

I would have thought that the Texas night-time temperatures may be key. Is there anything you can do to keep the sun out of your house?

Not helping, am I?

TPBM knows how to keep cool

It took me a while to acclimatise from sub-Saharan Africa to the English climate and then ten years to adapt to the heat and humidity in Singapore after I moved from the UK during which time I thought people were mad when they'd tell me 'So cold lah' at a 2ºC drop in temperature, given that daytime temps here are a pretty standard 32ºC year round and nighttime is 27ºC. My main problem was switching from outdoors to indoors where it's freezing because the air-conditioning inside buildings keeps the temperature ridiculously low. Even now I can't sit under an air-conditioning vent or even a fan without sneezing uncontrollably.

My preferred method of keeping cool at home is to open the doors and windows for a through breeze and run fans. Unfortunately this comes into conflict with my sons who would rather shut the doors and run the air-conditioning in their bedroom (most homes here have individual room units rather than whole house or apartment systems), which rather interferes with my cross ventilation. I have discovered that running a floor fan in my study (which I actually got to discourage mosquitoes from feasting on me) works quite well to keep me cool.

I've also cut my hair even shorter in recent years, which seems to surprise people who haven't seen me for a while for some reason. But these are all basic methods of cooling down which you've probably already tried.

TPBM got to wear something recently that they've been saving for a special occasion.

//>133 WholeHouseLibrary: I have come across books in the past that I had been searching for for a while but these days, with the internet and international delivery to your door, it's much easier to find and buy that special book (and also easier to discover that it's out of print so you're never going to find it (brand new)). However, I'm still addicted to the hunt and my family will distract me if we walk past a bookshop so they don't have to cool their heels for an hour or so. Sadly, just today I failed to find a book I went looking for (the only decent bookshop had a members' discount this week) but I'm not too disappointed because I'm sure I can find it online.//

"Wear" isn't the word I'd use. Last week, two days after I had all picked up all my prescriptions (renewed by the endocrinologist,) I had my annual appointment with my urologist. The following day, I got a call from the pharmacy saying I had a prescription ready. Color me confused. It was a "gift" from the urologist; ordered it without telling me. So, I'm looking forward to maybe, possibly, someday having a special occasion, but that would require me having a special someone. Aye, there's the rub!

TPBM can explain what rain is. We're supposed to get some, I'm told, later this week. Hasn't been any since late March.

I looked it up, and as far as I can tell it is something that the god Zeus grants us when we have been honoring him sufficiently.
Apparently sacrifices of bulls and swans are acceptable but they don't sound like they will be very tasty.
Could maybe try eating a medium-rare steak and a roaster chicken, with some kind of appropriate consecration.
Let us know if it works!

TPBM has a better idea.

In 1976, Britain’s last really dry summer, Dennis Howell was appointed Minister for Drought at the end of August. Within days torrential rains were causing widespread flooding. His only publicised action to save water was to share baths with his wife, Brenda. I doubt that Zeus noticed.

TPBM has taken industrial action.

//>137 Darth-Heather: I didn't, but I did laugh on the inside. The second time I read it though, I did laugh out loud.//

No trade union members here, then?

OK, TPBM strikes while the iron is hot.

I've always found that that's the best time to strike, but anytime is appropriate, really.

TPBM uses a bread machine.

I have several times, but it doesn't do a good job at kneading the dough. At best, it rolls the ingredients into a big ball and bounces it around the basket, so, not a great redistribution of the content. But it looks too much like R2-D2 for me to ever want to get rid of it.

TPBM whittles.

I like to carve wood into my favorite things and I put it in my room. The sound of the Knife digging in the wood is satisfying. Its very fun to do.

TPBM writes a new horror book

I could, but I'm very sure my ex (ThiMs) would drag my butt into court if I did. Suffice to say that Stephen King would cower in fear if he read it.

TPBM got it right the first time.

I guess so, but my theme tune is 'Stuck with you' by Huey Lewis and The News.

TPBM has another theme song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08ZwySCoJ8 - the words, NOT the pictures!

I have a few theme songs. For my husband it's Shania Twain's 'From This Moment On' https://youtu.be/a-Lp2uC_1lg which came out at around the time we got married.

For my older son it's Boyzone's (cover of) 'Somebody Else' but I don't seem to have one for my younger son.

TPBM has overseas visitors.

Sure - Saharan dust. On the wane now, but when it's around, it gets all up in my sinuses. Cleared enough out of my nose to fill a small sandbox.

TPBM is anxiously awaiting ____________.

The remodeling of the store I work in. (Only mild anxiousness right now as it's months away.) Not only will we be getting all new dairy/frozen cases and other new equipment, but where the frozen aisles are will be getting changed. Also, how and where the regular aisles are set up will be getting changed. The store won't close while any of this is going on with the "major" work being done at night. This is going to make it loads of fun for us at night as various sections get moved to a temporary location while new shelving is installed.

It's going to be a couple months of sheer hell one it starts.

TPBM just got a pleasant surprise.

>154 rastaphrog: //Our preferred grocery store just did that. So much fun when they were in the middle of the transition; not only were items not in the aisles that I was used to finding them in, the staff didn't know where to find them, they were often in two different locations at the same time AND the layout of the aisles had changed. Best of luck.//

You mean like my first Social Security check? Yeah, Buddy! I waited an additional five years before filing for it. (That's right, I'm 70.) But because I checked a particular box on the application, I got a call from them to clarify some options I needed to consider. (Nice of them.) So, suddenly I can afford to buy extra-large eggs instead of merely large eggs at the grocery store.

The downside is that because I make quarterly estimated payments to the IRS, and the check had to be written just 3 days later, a sizeable chunk of what I just got had to go back to the government. Easy come, easy go. I'll be doing fine.

It's almost harvest time, so TPBM knows I'm looking forward to ________ appearing on the shelves. (Note: the length of that underscore is NOT indicative of the size of the answer I'm expecting. Just sayin')

>156 WholeHouseLibrary: Probably Christmas decorations. Although "looking forward" may be a misnomer. But it is, after all, past Labor Day, so we must put away our white shoes and begin to prepare for Hallowanksmas.

TPBM is expecting houseguests.

Just the usual disembodied astral entities. Sure, Halloween is fun and all but after a while you kind of look upon that 5 months you spend on your in-laws houseboat as ad idealic time.

TPBM will recommend a really scary book that agent or reader may not have heard of.

The Vanishment, by Jonathan Aycliffe. Without resorting to gore, shock, or schlock, Aycliffe still manages to serve up a story that grows more horrifying with each quiet paragraph.

TPBM will have a wonderful suggestion for tonight's dinner menu. (Please! If I'd known being a grown-up was going to mean figuring this out *every* !@*$#~ night, I wouldn't have been in such a hurry.)

Hah! - wait till you have to provide a balanced diet and feed, with the same menu, a high energy meal for growing kids (who are awfully picky), low carb/ fat/ sugar for their parents and assorted dietary requirements for house guests.

Jacket potatoes with various fillings, done in the microwave, are easy last-minute meals for one or two. Pasta is versatile as is mince meat (if only one of my kids would eat it) - lasagna/ spag bol/ chili con carne etc etc. My current go-to is a variety of soups and I have plans (emphasis on 'plans') for a risotto and am also contemplating basic quiches with the addition of different fillings.

TPBM is far more organised when it comes to planning menus and will give us some helpful tips.

Well, yes I am, and no, I won't. It's pretty well documented in probably two dozen threads or more that I have a very limited list of foods/spices that I can eat without a high likelihood of a painful death. And, they're all pretty bland.
But, you'd be surprised at how certain combinations of otherwise unrelated meal-type foods can give provide nuances of flavor. Sometimes, I have meals I call breakner, or lunchner. Dinfast, anyone? Brunch seems so passe.

TPBM really DOES NOT want the details.

Got it in one, WHL! Everyone should keep their microbiome and such things to themselves. Mind you, I have genuine sympathy for your dietary predicament. Just imagine how tedious it would be to be able to eat nothing but cauliflower or whatever.

TPBM would be reasonably content if they could only eat ………what?

Oatmeal, I think.

TPBM would prefer ………

well, I would RATHER have cheese. Or macadamia nuts. I never get tired of either.
However, neither of those would actually work out very well as a sole source of sustenance.
Oatmeal is definitely the right answer.

TPBM is giving it their all.

Always, forever and a day. Okay, no. I'm way too slouchy to be giving it my all all the time. Foremost of the time, or a lot of the time or... well you get the idea. If you want the nitty gritty, all you have to do is channel the spirit of my mother and I'm sure she will fill you in.

//Oatmeal is never the answer. And I'll tell you how I know this. In any zombie movie ever, when people are talking about what they have hoarded and have available to trade, has anyone ever mentioned oatmeal at any time? Even ironically? Anyone? Bueller?//

TPBM, like me, adores oatmeal. It's just not the answer.

If I were hoarding oatmeal (which I’m not, to be clear), why would I let anyone know I had it by offering it in trade? Besides, if you’re hoarding oatmeal, you also have to hoard brown sugar.
*note to self - time to go grocery shopping. No, not to stock up on oatmeal or brown sugar!
We did an extended family survey once - cousins and second and third cousins - everyone ate oatmeal for breakfast and drank lots of strong black tea.

//SomeGuy, I looove the term ‘slouchy’. Can I borrow it?//

TPBM would give it up if _________ we’re not available.

//>166 2wonderY: Ruth, you know I adore you, and would I deny you anything?! It's yours as a gift. If I were a better friend I would have a better gift.//

//>167 SomeGuyInVirginia: You forget last year’s surprise in the mail. Couldn’t get any better than that.//

>164 Darth-Heather:, >166 2wonderY:,
I have oatmeal twice a week, with brown sugar and bacon -- that store-bought, 4-rashers-in-a-package, microwave-for-2-minutes kind. After it's cooked, slice it up into several smaller pieces and add it when the oatmeal is ready. To really finish it off right, have coffee at the ready.

>166 2wonderY: Coffee.
Mostly sleepless night for an extended period of time, so I cut the amount of morning (actually, whenever my first meal of the day occurred,) coffee from 40 oz. (5 cups, or 2.5 mugs) to half that - 20 oz. (2.5 cups, or a mug and a swig.) Took about a week for the migraines to start up again. No caffeine withdrawal symptoms, but full-blown migraines.
It seems the sweet spot is somewhere between 3 and 3.5 cups (feel free to extrapolate.)
But if the caffeine apocalypse were to occur, I'd be a gonner.

TPBM can't live without __________.

Edited to add: The reduction in caffeine intake has done absolutely nothing to affect my sleep pattern, although, I'm not at all sure there's a pattern to it at all.

Air (at least not for long). I suspect >169 WholeHouseLibrary:'s sweet spot is precisely 4 * atan2(1,1).

TPBM can't live without __________.

Colours and Birds.
(I don't need oatmeal, even stronger: I hate oatmeal)

TPBM can't live without __________.

I'm pretty sure it's mitosis? Biology class was a long time ago.

TPBM has a good recipe for goulash. (this isn't a joke - i actually need a recipe)

Ok, I guess you all don't have one either. It's a tricky recipe to come up with - I know there's a lot of paprika....

TPBM is battening down the hatches.

No hurricanes around here, thank goodness. It’s been a bad one in Florida, for sure. Hope everyone on here is safe.

TPBM is not convinced that the pandemic is over.

definitely not - after avoiding it for all this time I was finally struck by the Covid bolt this week. I have been keeping up with the vaccine boosters so I fortunately have mild symptoms but seeing that positive line on the tester for the first time was a shock.

TPBM can suggest a home remedy. (my boss pointed out that "alcohol kills germs" but a beer doesn't sound appetizing right now)

I can only advise that you NOT try the home remedies advocated by our just-previous president nor anything else not approved by official agencies that have actually investigated COVID. It is nothing to be trifled with.

For over a year now, I've been participating in a study of the retention of COVID antibodies over time. Two results: a number and an indication as to whether any of the antibodies were created as a result of exposure to the virus itself. I apparently have NEVER been exposed. Four months after the first pair of shots (Moderna), I had a low count - 290; others had much higher (at least 5x), but apparently 290 was considered good. On last year's BMW Tour, I used an at-home test (on different days) and got two false positives. At a clinic, I was given a quick test and a PCR test, and they both were negative.
Home again, I got a booster shot (J&J) and coincidentally, ten days later, I was asked to do another blood draw. The count was 2,700 - well above the top of their expected range. And back in July, another test - same results! That booster really held up well! And in 3 weeks, I'm headed back to NJ for the third attempt at celebrating my high school class's 50th anniversary, so earlier this week, I got my second booster shot - the new version (Pfiser) that was designed to handle all the known variants - in my left arm. In my right arm, I got the new pneumonia vaccination. My left arm felt fine; no side effects. The one the got the pneumonia vaccine - still aches, but it's getting better. Having had pneumonia six times already, and hospitalized for three; oxygen tent twice), I don't take chances. I already had the two previous vaccinations, but still got pneumonia back in 2020; discovered it early, though.

Back in 2009, I was diagnosed as being a Type 2 diabetic. They put me on 2 meds - a pill (Metformin) and an injectable (Byetta). I'm still taking the pill. I lost my sense of taste entirely - which is a dangerous problem for me. But, I also lost ten pound (or 5/7ths of a stone) every month I was on it. Turns out that the loss of taste was an indicator that I shouldn't be on that particular med! It almost killed me. Chocolate was the first thing I was able to taste again. I thought it'd be salt maybe, but it was chocolate. Byetta was the Dementor of the medical world - took all the joy out of eating.

TPBM thinks I shouldn't ramble on so damn much.

>176 WholeHouseLibrary:// ha ha no! I am first and foremost a scientist and know better than to drink bleach or inject myself with Lysol or snake venom or whatever else the tabloid-readers suggest. I'm just treating my symptoms, which seem to be different than that of colds or the flu. So far, Tylenol is doing a good job on my pounding headache but not getting relief from the sore throat.//

>177 Darth-Heather: //Then I suggest either (or both) warm water with a mixture of baking soda and salt; or carrot juice.
The latter may not actually help, but it did wonders for me two years ago when I consumed a broth that turned out to be mostly onion juice which, because of my congenital digestive issue, cause my alimentary canal (stem to stern) to erupt with hundreds of ulcers, rendering me speechless for about two months. The carrot juice helped quite a bit. Unsure of it's therapeutic value in treating virus-induced sore throats, but it can't hurt.//

Ramble away, WHL! It’s too quiet without you.

>178 WholeHouseLibrary: ….it can’t hurt.
Reminds me of the old story of the voice from the gallery in a New York Yiddish theatre, but maybe enough rambling from me for the present.

TPBM is out and about.

No, but I should be.

TPBM is enjoying the thunderstorm.

Lord, I wish! This has been an extremely dry year in WV and KY, despite the flooding in eastern KY. The clay ground is so dry, the moles can’t extend their tunnels in my yard.

TPBM has sympathy for the moles.

Only if their numbers are modest: https://what-if.xkcd.com/4/

TPBM has sympathy for the mole.

yeah, poor thing. Chemistry professors go over it and over it but still nobody remembers the SI unit for it.

TPBM is a person of substance.

Carbon, mostly. And a lot of it! Would love to lose a good 25 or 30 lbs, but sadly I've become a gravitational object, amassing more as time goes by.

TPBM knows where I can get some Cavorite.

I'm afraid my bottle of it has taken off. But Derek has something that might help. Chemical formula is very aptly FOOF.

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-dioxygen-difluorid...

TPBM has an Uncle Tungsten in the family.

That would be a good brand name for a competitor to Marmite or Vegemite - "Gives you that fly-away feeling!".

As to your carbon load, you may well be a carbon-based life-form, but don't forget how much water you are lugging around.

TPBM supplements their trace elements.

//Whoops! Overtaken! Sorry. Fascinating link >185 bnielsen:, FOOF would certainly solve any weight problems. I don't have an Uncle Tungsten but maybe TPBM does.//

I do! I don't care what the science says, I know for a fact that B vitamins and dopamacuna supplements will make you feel better. I take a handful of vitamins and supplements everyday and have for decades. Although I wouldn't base anyone's evaluation of vitamins and supplements on my actual life, but rather on the jam-packed and fun-filled life I have going on in my head.

TPBM sells online.

No, and I don't buy online either. That doesn't mean I haven't, but it's been several, certainly over ten, years ago. Conversely, MrsHouseLibrary milked her Amazon Prime membership fee for all that it was worth. Within a week or so after she died, I had made a list of accounts and utilities that were in her name so I could make sure they were all dealt with eventually. Since I never used Amazon, I removed her credit card information from the auto-renewal scheme, deciding that I might watch a movie or three before it's next billing.
Yeah, I cancelled it three days before it was up for renewal. Surprise!

TPBM is attracted to garage sales the way vultures are to a carcass.

Vultures at least need the meat to survive. I need nothing from any yard sale. Does that stop me? Just glance around my house.
I understand that the current saying is something about the goal being to have the most interesting estate sale.

TPBM is a contender in that realm.

oh, it will be interesting for whoever is stuck dealing with my belongings after me, but fortunately I won't be here to listen to the complaining.

TPBM has an unusual collection.

I see nothing unusual about owning a crapton* of yarn, several hundred knitting needles, and 10 shelf-feet of knitting books!

*That's a technical term for "more damn yarn than 10 people could knit up in their collective lifetime."

TPBM secretly hopes I will knit them a set of angora knickers.

Well, not now! I hadn't even considered it until you put that idea in my head, and by writing this admission, it's not a secret. Size 42 waist, supposedly 30" legs, but the right one is an inch and a half shorter than the left. Good luck!

TPBM is going to ____________.

>192 WholeHouseLibrary: change two tires on my car. The fall is setting in here and I'd like to be able to stay on the road.

TPBM is taking to the road.

That was last year, with the Bodacious Meandering Wanderlust Tour.
On Thursday through Monday, I'm going to be back in New Jersey for my high school class's third attempt to celebrate it's 50th anniversary. I'm taking to the air, though. Wish I could say that my legs have recovered from that long drive. No stamina for distance walking now.

TPBM takes the high road.

I must have. I forget what I did last week, but my thighs remember.

TPBM is gonna rake those leaves once… just once this year.

Not. Even. First, that's DH's job. Second, he is out there every day during Leaf Season, raking them up as fast as they hit the ground. When it's not Leaf Season, it's Dandelion Season, and he patrols daily, digging them up the minute they pop their little heads above the level of the grass. (Anyone who questions the theory of evolution is invited to check out our lawn to view the amazing dwarf dandelions, which sprout, bloom, and seed without ever exceeding a height of 1".)

TPBM is having trouble staying awake today.

yeah. I'm finally over Covid but can't seem to shake the fatigue.

TPBM can recommend a pick-me-up

"Come here often?"

Nah, didn't work for me either. But I used it Friday night at the ice breaker for my high school class ('70) 50th reunion (Take 3) Friday night. Both women were still married (I knew that) and didn't know that MrsHouseLibrary had died. Really, I was just goofing around. Pretty sure that all through high school, I hadn't spoken to either one of them. Had a fun time anyway.

TPBM is doing okay.

I don't see 'okay' as a particularly high bar so, yes, I am. Today the sun is shining and, thank goodness, the prime minister before last - the one forced to resign by most of his party expressing their lack of confidence in him - has just removed himself from the contest to replace his successor - the one forced to resign by most of her party expressing their lack of confidence in her.

TPBM keeps his/her head down.

// Does >200 EMS_24: count as keeping the head down?

Popping my head up to say 'pretty much'. But I'm not that tall anyway, so I don't have to work at it.

TPBM is watching the T20 World Cup and has something to say about it.

Not watching but keeping an ear open for the results. Looks like the rain is winning - rain?! In Australia!?

TPBM understands the Duckworth-Lewis algorithm.

Never heard of it until now, but having read up on it, it's merely a variation of calculating the foot pound setting of a torque wrench when one uses an offset wrench (spanner to those east of the pond) and a handle extension. Pretty simple, really.

TPBM revels in puzzles.

I try to complete the Times (of London) cryptic crossword but succeed about once in ten tries. Success depends on the compiler - I click with some and fail utterly with others.

I also enjoy the ‘A Round on the Links’ puzzle by James Walton in the weekend Financial Times.

OK, there are Wordle and Worldle as well but that really is all.

TPBM is more of a reveller.

When I can, yes. But not this week. It was four years (and two days) ago that I lost MrsHouseLibrary, so generally it's my annual Week in Hell. Add to that the death of a cousin (four days ago) that I failed to meet up with on last year's BMW Tour. So, no reveling for me in the foreseeable future.

I knew a writer who was the voice of the countdown for all of the Apollo missions. Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ... six ... five ... four ... three ... two ... and the other one.
Kind of makes me wonder what qualification he had over all the other candidates that made him the one to get that cushy job.

TPBM has some insight.

Thirteen days without a response -- that's a record for us! Le sigh.

>206 WholeHouseLibrary:. Nope. I'm fresh out. But I'm hoping my grief counselor does.

TPBM has a strong preference for S gauge toy trains.

Well, you see, you asked for insight.

I am sorry for your losses, WholeHouse.

No S gauge trains here but we do have a heap of wooden Thomas the Tank Engine tracks; and I mean a heap. My younger son used to lay out convoluted systems around the whole attic in his preschool days, but no longer. I miss those days. Now it’s all attention for small electronic screens and the kids don’t merely not listen to me but can’t actually hear me for the pods stuck in their ears.

TPBM can cite some some instance of nostalgia that they do actually get to relive.

I have never thought of my nightmares as nostalgic.

TPBM is already tired of holiday music.

That depends. If you are talking about Deck the halls/Mommy kissing Santa/Red-nosed Reindeer sort of stuff sprayed around supermarkets and bus stations then yes. My tolerance lasts little more than one day. However the choral society with which I sing is still rehearsing for a performance of carols or two before Christmas Day - that's fine by me.

TPBM sings for their supper .... or for free

no, most people will gladly pay me to stop singing...

TPBM knows a little of the ol' soft shoe.

Know some?! Hell, I'm wearing a pair of moccasins right now. Pretty much whenever I'm in the house, the shoes come off and I put these on. Much more comfortable, even with one leg being an inch and a half shorter than the other.

TPBM knows of a store where they can still get your feet measured before trying on something new. ETA: That something would be shoes, by the way.

It doesn't apply now they've grown into adult sized shoes but while my kids' feet were still growing I used to get them measured. There's a specialist children's shoe shop at the mall near my parents place in the Sydney suburbs that I was especially fond of.

TPBM has a team that they're following that has got through to the Round of 16 in the World Cup.

Ing-er-land! Three lions on my shirt!

Don't expect to win though ;-(

TPBM doesn't give a monkeys' where soccer is concerned

>214 abbottthomas: Of course we expect to win! Don't be such a pussycat.

True. I am not at all tribal.
I used to play (American soccer) football (everywhere else in the world) in high school -- that is until Leadfoot relocated my right kneecap four or six inches up my thigh.
So, I have an interest in the sport, but not as a participant anymore.

Regardless, I have never developed an interest in any specific team - for anything. Politically, I'm an independent. When my kids ages were still in single digits, they all played football (see above), but I couldn't care less whether they won or lost. I was more into how well each kid played and how they worked together (or didn't.) That's all.

TPBM paints their face in the colors of their favorite team and hosts tailgate parties at every home game.

hello?

Hi there madhatta21,
I noticed you've been spamming (reaching out on) several other threads, trying to make connections with people.
That's kind of, sort of what this thread helps with.

TPBM is an FLA meaning: The Person Below Me.
You'll notice that at the end of each response is some statement. The idea is that you address that first and then leave a new challenge (so to speak) for someone else to respond to.

We swap the current thread for a new thread when we've reached 400 posts. This is the 110th thread, so feel free to do the math. You're welcome to participate; just don't expect quick responses. There was a time when 30 to 40 new on-topics responses were logged each day, but if you look back to post #207, you'll see participation has diminished a bit.

Repeating my challenge (tic) from #216 here:

TPBM paints their face in the colors of their favorite team and hosts tailgate parties at every home game.

no. I did that once, and it seemed exotic to hang around a parking lot, drinking beer and eating hotdogs at NINE AM!! Woohoo! Livin' it up!
But then, I dozed off during the game and missed the good parts.
Oh well, lesson learned!

TPBM learns the hard way.

Tried going through the Bayfront road to get somewhere faster but got stuck even longer in traffic.

TPBM knows the roads better than I do.

Only in a few very tightly defined areas: I can get lost less than a mile away from home if I stray into one of the more labyrinthine neighbourhoods.

(Hi, by the way. I haven't posted on this "topic" for about 15 years and I'm slightly bemused to find it still going.)

TPBM is slightly bemused.

Bemused is not the word I'd use. Tickled is a more apt term to use -- that you've posted here again. And seriously, I've been wondering (for over a decade, now) where you disappeared to.

We're almost twins, you know. Of the two of use, you are the more senior member of LibraryThing by one day.

TPBM will give a rousing hoo-ha to our prodigal friend MyopicBookworm.

(I googled it; no idea what it's about, but there you go)

TPBM loves to part-ay.

My sister's boyfriend was flirting with me. I don't know what to do.

TPBM knows what to do in these types of situations.

Well, it kind of depends on the specific circumstances, and you provided no details, so it's difficult to suggest a course of action.

For example, I recently attended a 2-year-delayed 50th high school reunion. The first night was at a bar. Two women, both of whom I had gone to school with starting in 4th grade, were sitting at a table. Mind you, I'm high-functioning autistic, and as such, spoke to almost no one unless I knew them well. So, another classmate and I decided to join them at the table. As we sat down, I opened with, "So, come here often?"
There were both married, and I knew that, and there was no thought of me trying score (so to speak) with either one of them, but I got two entirely different reactions.
One responded with, "I charge by the hour, but I guess I'd have to pro rated it for you."
The other, clearly not happy about the trite pickup line, rolled her eyes at me and said nothing. Well, me being the gentleman I am, I picked up those eyes and rolled them right back to her.
Beyond that, the conversation among the four of us was quite friendly, and continued on and off throughout the weekend.

So, depending on where and when and how, the why part becomes important. You could have responded with, "Get lost, creep." And then later have a serious talk with your sister about it, but you better be sure you understood her boyfriend's intent. Or you could have laughed it off. But definitely, do everything you can to avoid an assault charge.

And that advice is worth every penny you paid me for it.

TPBM imagines a world with no hypothetical situations.

Actually, I am the creator of my world and I make it all up as I go along.

TPBM is reading a book of essays and drinking Earl Gray tea.

Not tonight (Josephine). I do occasionally read essays, and drink Earl Gray tea (or, as we call it in my neck of the woods, Earl Grey tea), but I have to be in a very laid-back mood for either. The book on my desk is actually Doctor Doolittle's Post Office, and I am just about to go looking for another small glass of a very passable Cotes du Rhone Villages...

(Hi, WHL: I may try to drop you a PM.)

TPBM never touches red wine.

I’m open to the idea, but I know whites just a teensy bit better. And is it a matter of spending more money to get a good red?

Question from the 1970s - Does Strawberry Hill qualify as a red? Asking for a friend.

TPBM has a body that produces its own alcohol and doesn’t need to take supplements.

If it did, I'd be dead! Alcohol gives me ulcers.
And considering I take five different prescription meds daily, you better believe I have to use supplements.
I'm not nearly as bad as I was twenty years ago. Blood test came back with nothing in the normal range. Low in all the good stuff and very high in all the bad stuff. My doctor had me taking all kinds of things, and it all worked, so kudos to him, but for those few years, I had the most expensive urine in Texas.

TPBM is the epitome of what a good diet, plenty of sleep, and vigorous exercise can do to a person.

Yup. This is what happens when you don't do all of that.

TPBM has their holiday season sorted out.

I at least have them on the calendar. Hanukah starts on Sunday. Then Yule, then Festivus, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and finally New Years.
I think the Arrogant Worms put it best when they state: "aaaaaugh!:

Christmas Is Almost Here by The Arrogant Worms

TPBM is planning a lovely quiet holiday.

My sons planned it for me. With a few exceptions (for obvious reasons,) I've made a traditional (for me) holiday (Festivus) meal for my family. It's a sandwich consisting of a fried egg, Taylor Ham (pork roll), and aged Swiss cheese on an English muffin. Been doing it long before that place with the yellow arches introduced something both similar and quite inferior to the general public.
For this year, since Festivus is on the 23rd, I texted the three of them to hash it out among themselves as to the day and the date. Four days later, the reply was: the 17th (the day after Beethoven's birthday) at noon.
So, a bit earlier than I anticipated, but I'm good with it. Didn't pack away my Festivus pole (a pencil in a clean soup can) from last year, so all I have to do is dust it off. Not participating in the Feats of Strength this year (don't ask,) but have been practicing (and amending) my part in the Airing of Grievances. Got some aged Emmental for the occasion--surprisingly sharp and expensive stuff!
So yes, the 23rd should be quite quiet, and lovely too. If it's not raining, perhaps I'll go geocaching.

TPBM expects havoc to reign on whatever holiday the happen to celebrate.

Yup. We do Christmas here: four of us in the choir for a midnight service, then full trad lunch for six, as my increasingly antique parents will be staying. Juggling times for turkey, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and Xmas pudding...always a panic! But then I get to crash out on a sofa with a glass of something and just vegetate.

TPBM enjoys just vegetating.

Vegetating or even vegging out is something I'm really good at. Couch potato might be a valid description of my body type.

Even so, TPBM is contemplating some form of holiday dessert (steamed pudding, Christmas cookies, petit fours, etc.)

Indeed, I am contemplating them all, but I will probably settle for cranberry brownies (try them -- the tartness of cranberries balances the chocolate overload).
This is how I make the brownies:

a whole package (4 oz) of Baker's Unsweetened chocolate
two sticks of good butter
2 cups brown sugar
four large eggs
one and a half or 2 cups all purpose flour (depending on whether you want them a bit chewy or more cake-like)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 (or much more) heaping tablespoons of Dutch cocoa
a packet (or less) of fresh cranberries

You can fuss with beating eggs and sugar, etc., or do this "one big bowl" way, which is what I tend to do:

Melt butter and Baker's chocolate in a big bowl over a pot of boiling water, let cool a bit, add the sugar, add the eggs (slightly beaten). You can add vanilla flavor or whatever you like.
Mix your flour, salt, baking powder, dry cocoa. Add to the wet ingredients and stir it all together until just combined.
Add the cranberries and stir the whole thing slightly.
Spread it all in a greased baking pan and bake at about 350 F (you know your stove, I assume) for about half an hour. It's done when the center is still a bit jiggly.

TPBM is looking up fruitcake and profiterole recipes.

*** edited to correct flour quantities ***

>235 Selliers: //Just confirming measurements: 1/2 or 2 cups all purpose flour is quite a difference. Is it 1/2 or 1 1/2?

Sounds yummy and seasonal.//

I watched a tv episode last night with local celebrity cook Mary Ann Esposito where she was demonstrating the making of profiteroles, it looks like something I will leave to the experts...
Ciao Italia Holiday Recipes

Fruitcake OTOH is something I would love to learn to make. I've had really good ones and really bad ones and need to identify what made them different.

TPBM has ideas.

My idea is to avoid fruitcake. My first experience was with the bad variety and I’ve never been curious to try again.

TPBM is Ho Ho Ho-ing.

yes, against my will. I've been tasked with organizing the office holiday party, and am working on selecting party music. It seemed like a good idea until I got stuck with Feliz Navidad in my head over and over for the past three days.

TPBM loves holiday tunes.

Can’t generalise. Some Christmas music leaves me cold - the ‘I saw Mummy / Rudolph / Chestnuts roasting / It’s beginning to look..’ sort of thing leaves me cold but I confess a sentimental weakness for ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’. Not so keen on the bucolic sort of carol but there is some great church music.

TPBM sings out loud.

I was tempted to in line at the post office today. It was a grumpy place. And I found they had sold out of Christmas stamps just an hour ago. My choices were
1 American flag
2 cartoon elephants
3 spring flowers

TPBM will consider and tell us which one they’d rather put on their holiday mailings.

Well, absolutely not #2. Living in America (at least for now -- you never know what the idiot governor will do next, except it'll never be for the benefit of the people who live here in Texas,) I would be proud to use your #1 option. And, although I've no objection to the subject matter of #3, it's not necessarily what I would choose for myself. Mind you, espying my first bluebonnet each year, followed by finding a huge field of them in bloom fills me with a sense of calm, it doesn't translate to mass produced tiny pictures of them.
So, the flag, I guess.

My kids have decided that noon tomorrow (the 17th) is the optimum time to get the holiday festivities over and done with. Mind you, they live no more than five miles from me, but all being in one place at the same time seems to be a logistical conundrum for them. It's okay; I'm flexible. But, living alone for the past four years, and the COVID factor further promoting isolationism, and procrastination being a major factor in my life, they're supposed to be here (with at least two girlfriends) in about 15 hours. I have to clean the kitchen. There's not a single square foot of horizontal plane that is clear. Papers (some very important, some to be recycled, some to be shredded -- hope I don't mix them up!, dozens of miscellaneous items, plus four years of dust in a lot of places ... pretty sure I'm not going to be getting a whole lot of sleep tonight.

TPBM has a place for everything, and everything in its place.

Oh, I do. But I'm not a happy bunny because we're due to leave for the airport in four hours (!!!) and though I'm pretty much all packed - for once - I haven't been able to find my favourite (and newest) pair of holiday sunglasses. It is not in any of the places that it should be in. Every time I pack, I discover more places that I've earmarked for specifically putting traveling stuff. I'm always too frazzled to consolidate them, I always promise myself I'll do it when I get back from holiday but I always ... well, I'm sure you get the picture.

TPBM is far more organised about getting ready for holidays/ traveling.

>235 Selliers: // Thanks for the edit. I bought fresh cranberries - they have to be imported into Singapore - and they are really tart. I should have gone with dried, I suppose. Let's see how they come out, if I have time.//

yes. I am ALWAYS very organized, with many lists and plans and overthinking everything to the point where all the fun goes out of it. By the time the event occurs, I'm too exhausted from trying too hard to actually enjoy it.

I don't recommend that approach.

TPBM has a better way.

I really don't. I use the old stand-by, the To-Do List, when I'm trying to capture the full roster of things to complete. Studying it, I will mentally set priorities. (I do this when packing for travel, as well.) Some stuff gets checked off. A lot doesn't anymore.

Side Note: When the boys were still living at home, I made an effort to have the holidays last for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Now I may not even have the seasonal requirements up for the full 10-14 days. (Even after a decade, I'm still negotiating the transition between Christmas celebrations that work for children and a Christmas that works for grown working adults. I am my own worst enemy in this regard.)

TPBM looks forward to a blanket, a cup of hot chocolate and a great book on December 25th.

Hey, not waiting till then. Sounds like a plan for now.

I keep rummaging in the holiday closet and pulling bits of this and that out for Christmas display. No tree, but greenery and glow and glitter. And the crèche, of course.

TPBM continues the old traditions.

Oddly, the old tradition - that tradition I mentioned in #s 232 and 242 - is continuing on for another week. My youngest son and his girlfriend arrived at the appointed hour (noon) and left 10 hours later.
My oldest son texted me at almost 4 pm and apologized profusely. Despite having confirmed that it was on for today, both he and the middle son got it in their heads that they were supposed to be here on the 23rd.
I dare say, I've got a lot more to add to the topics in the Airing of Grievances list!

TPBM has an ongoing battle with dust, and the dust seems to be winning.

Around here the dust losses out big time to cat hair. But I'll be going to a funeral on friday, so yeah, the dust wins and the rest is silence.

TPBM looks forward to a rainy Christmas.

Not exactly looking forward to one, but expecting one. We have had a lot of rain and wind over the past few days, and not much sign of change. We did, however, have snow last week, for the first time in a long while. Snowballs were made (not by me), and chillblains were acquired (by me).

TPBM enjoys throwing snowballs.

Sorry to learn about your chilblains, MB. That's not something I'd even wish on ThiMs!

Not sure "throwing" is the correct gerund to use. If it's not at least as large as my head, I can't get a decent grip on anything. Hardhats are required whenever I use a hammer.
I can underhand toss okay, but if you want distance, I can hurl a projectile like a trebuchet (more or less), but the distance is all in the arc and often lands less than twenty feet from where I'm standing.
For that matter, either way, I look pretty foolish, so "enjoy" probably doesn't work there either.
On the other hand, I've kicked a soccer ball more than the length of the pitch in a single shot. Snowballs don't have that kind of cohesion, or I'd be kicking them instead.

TPBM would rather play with buckyballs.

They don’t bounce, do they? So, no.

TPBM will tell us folk from milder climes just what is going on with US weather. Hope you are all OK.

Current weather patterns are best described as 'cold streaming chaos'. It is supposed to settle down and warm up in a few days though. Some folks are still waiting for electricity to be restored; I hope it happens for them soon.

TPBM is joyous today.

Absolutely! Daughter and her family were on the road yesterday and she describes a very near miss, with no damage, no foul.

TPBM has a special Christmas breakfast.

See >232 WholeHouseLibrary: for details. It's not really a "Christmas" breakfast; being an atheist, it's just something I've done from time to time, but as I get older, I find I need to limit my intake of it, so always at this time of year but maybe once again several months later. The problem is, the meat product in it is only available in one-pound packages, and you might use a whole ounce of it per sandwich. You can't freeze it, and once it's been exposed to air, you've got a week at most to finish it off or toss it. There are certain aspects about the aging process I really don't like, and the discovery of things that now give me trouble is most unpleasant.

TPBM has had a busy day returning gifts they don't need/want.

I don't have to do that anymore - I instituted a sort of a white-elephant swap at work where we bring our unneeded items in and trade them with each other. It has worked out well for the past couple years so we are doing it again. So far I have traded a coffee mug (it has a design for a fandom I don't share) for a wreath made of birdseed that my backyard visitors will love.

TPBM is celebrating Boxing Day.

In a manner of speaking! I celebrated Boxing Day in the best way, by sleeping in until very late (for me), and taking a leisurely breakfast. I then had to drive for nearly three hours, but there was a good programme on the car radio (episode 1 of an adaptation of 'The Dark is Rising').

TPBM thinks that audiobooks and dramatic adaptations are, just sometimes, better than the book.

Yes and no. While driving, it's much safer to be listening rather than reading -- if you're the driver (or one of their passengers, come to think of it.)
Unless I'm actively listening to a recording, it's just background noise, so I get only small bits of the actual story, no better than speed reading.
Woody Allen claimed to have sped read War and Peace in 20 minutes. His review of the tome was: "It involves Russia."

As slow a reader as I am, I still much prefer to read rather than listen, unless perhaps, it were a work of erotica. Pretty sure; I've only edited that kind of literature; never read it for ... ummm ... pleasure.

TPBM has got all next year's reading already planned.

Yep. It will consist of books, for the most part.

TPBM will share what they are reading this week.

At the moment I am reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (on my Kindle). I have read the two sequels after hearing this story dramatised on the radio; the book is better! Next - a paperback - will be Grey Bees by Andrew Kourkov.

TPBM will continue in this vein.

I finished White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi, and Flights by Olga Tokarczuk.
I'm also chipping away at The Red and the Green by Iris Murdoch, a chapter at a time.

TPBM will also continue in this vein.

Finishing the very entertaining Crone Wars trilogy, but am disappointed to find out that there will be a fourth book but it is not released until summer. So far each book has left on a cliffhanger and I expect this one will be the same.

Next up: Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - the fourth and final book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, which is a favorite so I am eagerly anticipating spending time with this one.

TPBM will keep it going.

Keeping it going into the new year! Best Wishes to all for 2023 - may we get some of what we want and most of what we need.

TPBM knows what they want.

Hmm ... well, I'd like to see mankind's negative impact on the environment reduced.

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2023!



TPBM has made their New Year's resolutions.

Not resolutions, exactly; more a kind of vague acknowledgement of what I need to be doing differently or better this year. Reading more books figures in there somewhere, but also getting rid of more surplus books to whoever will have them!

TPBM doesn't quite grasp the concept of "surplus books".

Sadly, at this stage of my life, I can.
Even if I got rid of all of the books related to the sole interests of the late MrsHouseLibrary, I'd still have many more books than I could possibly read before I join her in the urn -- which, barring sudden catastrophe, will be no time soon.

I recently had to replace my phone. Unfortunately, other than pictures and Contact information, no other files could transfer to the new phone. It seems they have DRMed "smart" phones. So, I had been carrying two phones around. The old phone crashed about three weeks ago.
Last week, the hard drive on my laptop died. Took it to my tech guy, and he replaced the hard drive and loaded Windows 10 and Chrome on it. When MHL bought the laptop, it had Windows 11 preinstalled, so I'm struggling with how to use it. Meanwhile, I brought the hard drive to a data recovery shop, and for a mere $750, they copied all the files to an external hard drive I gave them. Can't pick it up until Monday afternoon, though.
Then, I'm going to have install Windows 11, all of my preferred software packages, then all of my data files -- includes over 100 stories I've written, over 2,000 songs I've figured out, tens of thousands of pictures that MHL and I have taken ...
I don't do clouds, but I used to do weekly backups to any of three external hard drives. But I haven't in several years now. Curiously, I was planning to do one on 01-Jan, but the hard drive crashed on 30-Dec. Lesson learned.

TPBM doesn't really understand how much of their lives is dependent on their personal computer.

I don’t understand how Microsoft can now hold you hostage to a yearly subscription payment to use the tools that come already loaded on the computer. I call it armed robbery.

TPBM can suggest an alternative Word program.

I use spreadsheets more than documents; I'm on Apple devices so I use Pages (and Numbers). Or there's the Google suite?

I have a feeling that may not be what 2WY is looking for. TPBM can be more helpful.

I use FreeOffice from SoftMaker. It's supposed to be just like the Microsoft products, but I'm only using the PlanMaker (the Excel analog) to keep track of my books, so I'm no judge.
You can get FreeOffice here: https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

Notice that SoftMaker also has SoftMaker Office, for a relatively modest price, here:
https://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office
I have no idea what the difference is between the two applications. The free one is more than enough for my very simple needs.

TPBM is listening to free audiobooks from archive.org

Generally speaking, I'm not big on anyone's audio books. I have upon occasion listened to a machine-generated audio track while reading the text on screen and I know that does (in some ways) improve the retention of material. But by-and-large, I'm a print person when it comes to reading.

The person below me reads more books in e-format than they read in print-format.

There was a time that I could answer yes to that statement - around 20 or more years ago. I've still got two pre-eink readers, but neither of them work anymore. They're just sitting in the back corner of a closet I haven't gotten around to clearing out yet.
I bought a Nook, but things changed, and I didn't use it all that much. I sold it to someone here on LT.
I am still in possession of the late MrsHouseLibrary's two Kindle devices. Did the proverbial factory reset on both of them, and keep them charged up, but haven't gotten around to selling them.
And, as far as print books go, I haven't bought a new (or used) book in several years now. My current-read - I'm about half-way through it, but haven't touched it in two months. Too much else to do at this point.

TPBM revels in annual reading challenges.

There are obviously lots of folk on LT who do so revel but not, apparently, here right now. I can't say I do. I am challenged enough by the books waiting, unread, on my shelves not to mention the several new ideas every week from recommendations here or interesting reviews in the press. I am happy just chugging along knowing, as I have said in my profile, that time will run out before the books do.

TPBM will suggest how best I can fit in some 'slow' books* among the 'quick' ones.

* in particular A la recherche du Temps Perdu and Ulysses (which are challenges in themselves)

There was a time when I read three or even four books at the same time.
One would be a real tome -- 700+ pages -- that I would read while MrsHouseLibrary was nearby lost in another book of paleontology. (Really.)
Another was usually a paperback of short stories I kept in the car for when we'd be waiting in line at the drive-thru slots for the bank on Saturday mornings, or for a show at the Cactus Cafe (small music venue on the UT campus,) and such. A third was often, but not always, a book of poetry I read in bed aside MrsHouseLibrary, who, at that point was often reading some trashy YAPR*.

TPBM sometimes writes using a fountain pen.

* YAPR = Young Adult Paranormal Romance

I have my grandmother's fountain pen on my desk, and use it almost daily. It's a chunky deep red Parker filled with blue ink, and I am very fond of it. There are a couple of other fountain pens knocking about (and various calligraphy pens which require dipping into bottles of ink), but if I'm not in the study I usually reach for a pencil or a fine felt-tip. Ball-point pens are a regrettable necessity which erode the quality of one's handwriting, and I use them only when there is nothing else to hand.

TPBM finds that books and television compete for one's leisure time as much as they ever did.

You presume too much. I don't have leisure time, despite the fact I'm retired. Too much house to try to maintain.

TPBM is looking for a fixer-upper.

Sure, if you can give me the money for it.

TPBM is looking forward to a holiday.

yep, I have people coming over for National Cheese Fondue Day in a couple of weeks. Fun!

TPBM is ready for a change in weather.

Sure, but all I have to do is wait a day or two. The temperature has been wavering around the freezing mark for the past day and a half here in central Texas, and we're expecting rain/sleet/snow overnight and fir a good portion of tomorrow, and possibly Wednesday as well. But it'll be back in the mid-sixties on Thursday, so I'm not concerned.
That being said, true winter weather usually hits us in the latter part of February and through most of March. Stay tuned!

TPBM owns a pair of snowshoes.

Only if a pair of mismatched tennis rackets count!

(Randomly, I once watched a guy from the Huron Wendat nation making a pair of snowshoes from traditional materials.)

TPBM would rather be in bed than gazing at a screen.

At 11 in the morning, I'm on my first mug of coffee, so it's best I'm finally up for the day. And whereas I'd prefer to wait until the Aleve kicks in, I've got too much to get done between now and the time I'm supposed to log in to virtual musical song swap Zoom meeting this evening. I've used Zoom exactly once before, about three years ago when I was interviewed by an author/blogger about the joys of copy editing. So, my afternoon will be spent figuring out how to get things set up for a nominal audio experience, and they'll just have to ignore the layers of dust on my furniture. I won't be staring at this screen for much longer today.

TPBM has a busy schedule today.

Let me see... I've done my grocery shopping, dropped off some dry cleaning, thought about spring cleaning, paid the bills... now I'm going to listen to an audiobook of "Under the Greenwood Tree" by Thomas Hardy while doing a couple of jigsaw puzzles online... later I will read a few chapters of Powers and Thrones in bed while cuddling with the cats...

TPBM is dusting their bookshelves.

I do need to dust my bookshelves and properly shelve the books I've bought since the last time I organised them; I did leave gaps for new books but, obviously, not in the right places. However, my husband proposed reorganising the study just yesterday so now I'm planning to move the shelves ... I think I'll leave the dusting for now.

TPBM is an expert at planning kitchen layouts and can help me plan my kitchen renovation.

Experience has taught me exactly how much space I need in the kitchen. But I've only renovated one and that had more than enough space, so it wasn't that hard. I do my dishes by hand, so I like to have a window facing some of the garden near the kitchen sink. And the sink must be easy to clean (i.e. not black stone with sharp corners etc). And the table top should be a comfortable height, 90 cms or so. And the hotplates should be black ceramic glass (and not induction) and the exhaust hood as efficient and silent as possible. Lots of table space and preferably room for a table and two or three chairs, so I can sit and do a sudoku or two while the food is cooking. A built-in oven and a micro oven somewhere and the fridge either in the kitchen or in a room next door. Some shelves for storing flour and other common ingredients. And pots and pans and dishes and glasses and serving dishes etc inside kitchen cabinets so you don't have to clean them before use :-)

TPBM would like to hire Nathan Myhrvold as consultant for the project.

I'm pretty sure I can't afford a kitchen designed by a man with a doctorate in theoretical physics, a masters in economics, a masters in geophysics, and a culinary degree from a prestigious French school. (I had to look him up: About Nathan Myhrvold.

I'm sure it would be wonderful though.

TPBM lives a simple life.

One might think that, but one would be mistaken.
Now, if two might think that, it could be just coincidence, but they'd both be mistaken, nonetheless.
And could you imagine three people thinking that --- can you imagine that - three people all thinking I live a simple life? Why'd it'd be a movement!

I wake up, go to the Jim (see Bad Joke of the Day thread, #92, I think) have breakfast and an intravenous of coffee while reading the paper and working out the various puzzles within. Check my email, two websites (one being here), play some guitar, check my mailbox, find at least a dozen things that I can put into either the recycling bin or into a bag to take a get shredded, work on the income taxes or manage the bill paying, watch afternoon news for an hour, maybe read (not all that often), prepare dinner, eat while watching the evening new. And because around 21:30 every night my brain gets VERY active, I lose myself in whatever I can occupy my mind with until such time as I might actually feel the least bit tired, and then I go to bed, and typically sleep for maybe three and a half hours. Then I get up, take a small pill that must be had at least a half hour prior to anything else, and go back to bed. Usually, I don't fall back to sleep, and out of frustration, I start my day. Yesterday was odd in that I was actually up twenty-five hours before I finally was able to lay down, and I slept a whole seven hours without interruption. Not a whole lot going on, but I wouldn't say I live a simple life, even with being retired and pretty much a hermit. Tomorrow, I begin process of raking my entire lawn (1/3rd of an acre) to collect the smaller branches and ton of leaves that have been dumped on my property in that ice storm at the beginning of the month.

TPBM thought right.

I've been thinking a lot about this. Does it mean I thought right (correctly) that post #284 would be answered by WHL? Maybe I should read it as I thought right.... with something like 'I am going to answer this' to complete the sentence. More metaphysical perhaps, maybe it is a reflection on the morality or rationality of my thought processes.

TPBM would like to know what WHL did with the huge pile of leaves and branches from his lawn

Not did as much as it's-on-my-to-do-list. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for the Boston area where I'll spend the better part of three days in mostly sub-freezing temperatures and precipitation trying to keep it together at the funeral of a cousin who died much too early for someone who exuded so much kindness and joy to virtually everyone. Of all my relatives, she was the most poised, charming, and happy.

The branches and leaves will be going to the recycling center, by the way, in a few weeks from now.

TPBM has better plans for the week.

Not this week, but next I will be climbing a 2 story 14/12 roof. Tree branch damage to the peak. Now I built the dang thing, but that was 30 years ago. Enlisted my granddaughter to come and help. She’s interested in architecture and building and will be a reliable assistant.

TPBM has a left-handed hammer.

I do. The grip is molded for my thumb to be in the correct position when held in the left hand, unlike a lot of tools. The world is made for right-handed people. I also have lefty scissors.

TPBM feels like dancing.

Excuse me, I believe you've mistaken me for Leo Sayer.

I wasn't a good dancer prior to my motorcycle accident (in '73), and now there aren't enough neurons left it my right leg to provide a successful shot at that sort of effort. I still have to think about how to walk.

TPBM is a dancing fool. Bonus points if you have a the album that tune is on.

// >287 WholeHouseLibrary: Condolences WHL.

>290 WholeHouseLibrary: The lack of neurons could arguably make you a better dancer. //

yep, I can certainly demonstrate how to Sheik Yerbouti.

TPBM has a big heart.

That would be a weird thing to acknowledge! No, I have a small, shrivelled heart, which is mostly happy to turn away from direct engagement with my fellow humans in preference for books and other non-challenging inanimate objects. As Lucy said in 'Peanuts': "I love humanity: it's people I can't stand!"

TPBM is a fan of 'Peanuts'.

What’s not to love? It’s where I learned I could “whah-whah” ignore what some people said.

TPBM identifies with which Peanut character?

From the looks of my house, I'd have to say Pigpen. It's in serious need of large-scale cleaning. Way too much house for me to maintain. Regardless, I have resolved to work on it. Except for last week, when I was in Boston (ref #287), and up to today (recovery from exhaustion), I've made it a habit of dealing with at least five items at any surface area I touch (organizing papers - or tossing them into the pile to put into recycling, bits of litter, dusting -or sanitize-scrubbing - these areas once they get cleared, etc.) But, it's been a week, so tomorrow, I begin again.

TPBM relates more to _____________.

Ah, there you are! I couldn't see you for all those crushed bugs. TPTB have been working their socks off.

So, what are we talking about? I haven't seen a Peanuts cartoon in an age. There was a good quote from Schulz - I don't recall who voiced it - "Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed." Seems about right.

TPBM is into four-day working.

Yes, at, I am! And fair wages, comprehensive healthcare, and a whole lot of other leftist stuff that I never saw myself championing when I was in my twenties. I'm ashamed of the years I spent champiioning corporations and ignoring the people.

TPBM has a favorite '80s movie.

After I read the above, I did some research and found out that in the 1980s, there were over 1,500 movies released not including porn or indies. And I went through the entire list. I came to the conclusion that I probably didn't go to the movie theater at all back then because that was the Decade of Procreation for ThiMs and me. Didn't see a single one of them.

Yet, I do have two favorites from that decade, neither of which I saw until the change of the millennium. I know this because I have them on DVDs now. One is "84 Charing Cross Road" (Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins). The other is "This is Spinal Tap", and I can't wait for the sequel to come out.

TPBM has a different favorite '80s movie.

Pretty much everything I've got is different. I tend not to have favorites, but I really liked 'Crimes of the Heart'. I love Southern Gothic. I can't imagine why! (Ack-shully, 'Time Bandits' is my favorite 80s movie. Watching it is immersive and transformative, like going to church for me, so I don't indulge one or the other too often.

TPBM never says never. Or Priabonian. Either.

I’ve never said Priabonian. It’s before my time.
And I live by “Never say never.” Except for skydiving. And canned mushrooms.

TPBM took a job they thought they never would.

**Hi Larry!**

True. The vast majority of jobs I had, I had never given a previous thought to. I worked in a foundry for a year. That ended when I got on the losing end of proof of physics between me (on a motorcycle) and someone backing out of a parking space. Never thought I'd spend the better part of a year learning how to walk again. Also never thought I'd be working for an organ (the musical, pipey kind) builder on the days I wasn't doing PT. Never imagined I'd work with/on computers for a living, but that's what I spent over 30 years doing.

TPBM's favorite employment is/was ______________________.

** Also hi to Larry. **

>300 2wonderY: Root!!!

I rather enjoyed my first job, as an assistant in a synthetic chemistry laboratory, finding out how the interesting stuff I learned at school really worked in the real world amidst a collection of exciting bottles with coloured things in them, and solvents that made you feel slightly light-headed, and equipment that emitted steam or irritating fumes. It took me eight months to make the substance we wanted, but after that length of time there could have been nothing so satisfactory as those little purple crystals at the bottom of a tube. It was the peak of my scientific career: I then headed off to university, broke some more equipment while scraping through the practical part of the course, and retreated with relief into theoretical and historical studies.

TPBM likes tinkering with things.

yep! I have lots of tools and can take just about anything apart.
On a related note, I also have a lot of different kinds of tape and glue...

TPBM has a way with words.

Seeing as how my job for the past almost twenty years has been editing and proofreading manuscripts, I should hope so.

TPBM is disturbed by magically appearing props.

Nah; I'm used to it now.

TPBM has spotted unusual wildlife recently.

Nyctereutes procyonoides. (Invasive species here in Denmark. Spreads very rapidly. So I've started to see them as road kill quite often.)

TPBM thought of "escaped leopard believed spotted" when seeing the previous TPBM line :-)

No, but I think there's a higher likelihood of such a sighting near paintball ranges; species vary according to habitat.

TPBM is a risk-taker, either in book selection or other things.

I guess I am, because I'm risking being considered a bit crazy for responding to my own challenge. But hey, it's been two weeks.

I've been busy; having resigned myself to avoiding the stairs, I've set part of my living room as a music studio. Part of that involved moving a long, narrow bookcase from the master bedroom (upstairs) to the living room. It had been housing several volumes of MrsHouseLibrary's YAPR (Young Adult Paranormal Romance) collection.
I vacuumed off said tomes -- had at least seven years dust on them -- brought them all downstairs to the kitchen table, and typed up a list of titles, authors, and notes about edition, if they're signed (3 were, with two that were inscribed), and the fact that I had covered the dust jackets with Mylar. Over 50 books, filled 3 boxes designed for hauling books, and took them to Half-Price Books. What I didn't include in the form I gave the buyer was the list price of each book. The total cost of the books was a bit under $1,000. I got a whopping $27 and change for them.
On the one hand, I'm angry because I could have likely sold each of the signed ones for almost double that if I wanted to put in the effort. The flip side is that it's a step in the right direction that I got them out of the house at all.

TPBM has been busy doing _______________.

.......nothing, working the whole day through, trying to find lots of things not to do. Busy going nowhere, isn't it just a crime? We'd like to be unhappy but - we never do have the time.

Thanks for the ear-worm, WHL. Several hours worth if I'm not mistaken!

Nevertheless, congratulations on your de-accessioning. I have been hoovering the 600 odd books in the shelves immediately behind me and decided that I shall never read any Angela Carter so TWO books can go to the charity store. It's going to take a long, long time to make any impression.

TPBM manages a more easy come, easy go relationship with the printed word.

I’ve got the easy come part down pat. Still working on the easy go.
I’m being very deliberate about it too, recording all incoming and disposals. Neck and neck this year.

BTW, Half-Price Books offers are so insulting, I’d rather just give the books away to anyone who will appreciate them.

TPBM has enormous empty spaces on their shelves and floors.

Not yet, but I'm working in it. My goal (4 years ago) was to rid myself of at least 90% of everything I owned to see if I could get by in a house a third to a quarter of the size I'm living in now. That would mean a single (tall) bookcase filled with books I have not yet read, plus certain ones I'm quite attached to. It's not going so well. Other than the books I recently sold (average 40¢ per book), I've also rid myself of over 50 lbs of paper to the recycling bin, plus another almost 30 pounds of paper that will need to be shredded. On the other hand, I've got two new guitars, and they take up more room than all that paper, so one step forward; two steps back.

I've got 10 very full bookcases in the house, most of which are not more than three feet tall. It's going to take a while.

TPBM is considering a Tiny House.

A Tiny House is exactly what I want. All I will have in my Tiny House is a comfortable bed, good for both sleeping and reclining, with a little table next to it. On the table there will be a reading light and a SINGLE book. When I have finished, or given up on, the single book, it will be returned to the big house and a new one brought back.

I have also found a Little Free Library a few streets over from me, and I think I will start stealth-donating those of my books that I don't think I will have time/enthusiasm to re-read, what with all the new books being published every day.

TPBM considers setting up a Giant Little Free Library.

I have sometimes thought it would be a worthwhile public service. How much bigger do you think the little free library house would need to be to properly qualify as Giant?

The person below me (TPBM) is careful to dust all of the books on a regular schedule.

// Hi Jill -- haven't seen you here in quite some time! //

I used to do that about every three months, but that was before I met MrsHouseLibrary. I had maybe 300 books, mostly paperbacks, back then. So, dusting them was a not too time consuming. Fast forward several years, and Karrell and I ended up with over 2,500 books. So, dusting became an annual event, which I did solo. And since she died, not at all -- until I went to sell those books I mentioned in #312.
I have a backpack-style vacuum cleaner, and special ordered a soft-bristled attachment that's sole purpose (as designated by me) is to remove dust from books. It only lacks the motivation required for me to actually use it now.

Unlike me, TPBM has no trouble falling asleep and getting at least the minimum hours of slumber.

I have no trouble falling asleep (which can be a problem if I'm trying to finish a chapter) and I sleep like the proverbial log.

However, getting to bed is an ongoing issue; it's 3am in Sydney where I am currently and I continue to potter. Part of the issue is that it's turning chilly and, while I really want to dive under the duvet, I don't want to move from my warmed-up spot to get ready for bed.

TPBM is far more sensible.

How is it we've been friends on this site for almost 15 years now, and you think that of me!
Thoughtful, perhaps. Well reasoned ... occasionally, at best. But sensible? Surely, you jest!

TPBM will brag about their more creative side.

>318 SomeGuyInVirginia: apparently Larry started to brag, then got humble and deleted it...

My creative side is fairly burnt out right now, which I assume is true of the rest of youse since none of us had any response to this...

TPBM is ready for a change.

>317 WholeHouseLibrary: //I’m always hopeful//

I'm not exactly ready, but change happens, so I'm trying to go with it. My creative side is very slow: I am trying to finish a couple of piano pieces that I started writing in 1986. I need to get them out of my system, and then I'll be ready to tackle new things. Including the tallest pile of books "To Be Read" which is threatening to fall over.

TPBM also has more than one To Be Read pile.

Not a pile, but several bookcase's worth of unread books that MrsHouseLibrary and I bought with the intention to read. At this point, I'm attempting to get rid of all but maybe 200 of them.

TPBM has never bounced a check, not even accidentally.

Now you’re insisting on confessions? I calculate 30 to 40% of the books I own are aspirational. There. Happy?

I’ve never bounced a check. And when husband did, I suggested separate accounts.

TPBM is happy and has a special reason.

Not sure. My grief counselor says I am, so there's that, but in my opinion, it's a very thin veneer. He also says I'm ADD, and neurotic, but not to the point of being obsessive-compulsive. Add to that a mild case of Turrets, relationships are hyper-important to me, and I'm the most empathetic person he's ever known. And, I'm a polymath. It's amazing what you can learn when you're paying huge sums by the hour!

TPBM knows themself too well.

I don't. I mean, we've met and I am fun at parties, but we have so little in common and its not like we were kids when that didn't matter.

>319 Darth-Heather: I bragged about how I used ChatGPT to write slogans for t-shirts, and a couple of songs about a boy and his dog in the style of Green Day, but didn't give a kicker and was too lazy to re-write.

TPBM has a side hustle.

Is it even possible to have a side hustle when one is retired? There would have to be preexisting main (or front) hustle, would there not?
I'm playing at an Open Mic Night tonight; played there last week and they actually asked me to return.

TPBM is thinking about _____________.

.....singing. Friday night is music night here and I'll be off to practice with the local choral society after supper. I am always asked back but only because we have a severe scarcity of male voices. We are singing a selection of operatic choruses which I find unexpectedly challenging.

TPBM sings with others (or even alone)

Yes, yes I do! I played at two Open Mic Nights this week, and got a standing ovation for one tune I did at the Monday venue. At Thursday's OMN, the last entertainer was done with her set and there was a half hour left, so they asked me to close it out. I played seven more songs.

The odd thing is that, and you may recall, back n the latter months of 2020, I had consumed something that caused a lot of damage to my mouth, esophagus, etc, rendering me unable to speak for several months. The last ulcer to go away was on my vocal cords. My singing voice is completely different -- I have one now. Yet due to contractual obligations, I still am billed as Mike, the Song Butcher.

Today would have been Karrell's and my 22nd wedding anniversary. Tomorrow is the 23rd anniversary of our first date. I'm focusing only on the happy memories, of which there are too many to ever forget.

TPBM remembers _____________.

>328 WholeHouseLibrary: //Happy anniversary, Song Butcher!//

…… an inn, Miranda

TPBM knows what we were dancing.

Umm.... Was it a tarantella?... flamenco?... fandango?...
I do seem to remember that the wine tasted of the tar...
And DID we jump into the waterfall? I'm really hazy on that...

TPBM makes videos of their holidays.

Oh hell NO! I rarely take still photos, either. For the record, my profile pic is still the most recent picture taken of me -- and that was back in 2010. Wait! There was one other about two years ago, but it's not all that good.
And all that being said, I wish I had taken more pictures of MrsHouseLibrary. She was a truly beautiful woman who felt awkward posing for pictures, and it showed in all of the yearbooks of the schools she taught in for 31 years. Catch her candid, though ...
My advice is to take lots of candid and mundane pictures of your loved ones, just doing normal things.
There's only one holiday I acknowledge is Festivus. For legal reasons, it's agreed that the Feats of Strength and Airing of Grievances are not documented in any manner whatsoever.

TPBM has figured out how to ___________________.

........whistle. You do know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?

Wake up at the back there!

TPBM will remind us

I can whistle but I can't wolf whistle and I'd really like to be able to. So, I'm sorry, but I can't remind you.



TPBM will teach us a sure-fire way to wolf whistle.

Step 1: Grab a wolf from behind.
Step 2: Squeeze it real hard.
Step 3: Run like hell and hope it doesn't recover too quickly.

Personally, I don't recommend that method, but I can't whistle at all.
I suppose another way might to go back in time to the 1950s and hang around a construction site. Watch and learn.

TPBM thinks that the multiverse, as depicted in way too many movies lately, actually exists.

Only if I stop my medication.

TPBM clings resolutely to reality.

Except for when I write stories, absolutely. Once when providing critique for a part of a story based on some video game, I provided a synopsis of hours of research on the pumping capacity of various fire trucks. The author let me go on for ten minutes before she said something to the effect of: "You know, the only control on the thing is a big red button. They're in a @#$% game!"
Despite that, later, I was the editor of five of her (published) books.

TPBM also clings resolutely to reality.

The thought of clinging to reality seems to have killed the thread stone dead.
Maybe it is time to call it a day? We've been going along for a good while.

TPBM - if such there be - thinks there may be life in the old dog yet. Otherwise. nice knowing y'all!

If, like me, you are all devout readers in order to find escapism, you don't really want to think too much about reality either :)

TPBM misses some of the folks who don't post here often anymore.

Yup. Wonder where they all went?

TPBM is celebrating this weekend.

Anything in particular? Regardless, probably not -- for the past couple of weeks, and for the foreseeable future, temperatures will remain in triple digits. Don't need that sort of a challenge.

I also wonder why we don't have more participation. My grief counselor says that, more than anyone he's ever known, relationships are very important to me. So, I'm not likely to abandon this 16-year (in September) streak. But, I'm also not wanting to respond to my own challenges.

I do Open Mic Night(s) on Mondays and Thursdays. At Monday's OMN, I added my name to the performer's list (#13 of 16), and because my hand got damaged as a kid, my penmanship is deplorable. I wrote "Mike, the Song Butcher" but the emcee read it as: Mikey, the Sexy Butcher. So, of course, I did my best Fat Bastard imitation.

TPBM has been mis-introduced in a similar way.

not exactly, but my last name before I got married was 'Forrence'. I often had to spell it to people as they tend to write "Florence'. One phone representative spelled it with the L, and when I told her "no L" she entered my first name as Noel.

We agreed that I would hang up and call back and start over.

TPBM is an excellent speller.

Simrtomes, yed.

TPBM is a stickler for GPS (grammar, spelling, and punctuation), and has something to say about the use of the Oxford comma.

Since Abbott Thomas mentioned the Oxford ',' , I looked it up and use that sentence structure from time to time. I don't need to smuggle, i naturally make gsp-mistakes in English.

(I still follow and read this thread, now visible for you too)

TPBM thinks we need a punctuation mark for irony; A Dutch writer had proposed an upside-down question mark ( ¿ ) decades ago.

No need. There already is one -- the interrobang: ‽
It looks more impressive in other fonts.
It was created by an advertising firm in Las Vegas in 1961.

Curiously, one of the members of the writing group I ran for a good eight years wrote a short story about her uncle who was involved with a lot of the shadier dealings of building up Las Vegas back in the early 1960s. In her writing, she'd use constructs like !?!? and ?!?! often. Talk about irony ... sheesh! She absolutely refused to use the interrobang; became belligerent whenever the topic came up, which was every time she submitted the next ten-page installment of her story for critique. We never did get to read the whole thing. I had to remove her from the group entirely. It wasn't just about the interrobang.

TPBM embraces the new and odd.

You always make me think, WHL While I am open to new ideas, even odd ones, my default position is usually hovering around what has worked for me for the last seven decades or so.

Today my favoured wine merchant’s list described a rosė as limpid, with a greedy nose and a dapper attack. How can I not buy a bottle? ‘Dapper’? Really? A case for the interrobang?

TPBM just gets on and drinks the stuff.

Yes, and I finally admitted that I like the cheap sweet stuff. Too old for pretentions.
Daughter admitted yesterday that she buys wine based on the label graphics.

TPBM thinks that’s an adequate criteria.

>347 2wonderY: Hey, why not? Otherwise you not only have to know which vineyards are good but also what years. I have a hard enough time just keeping track of what types of wines I like. And I'll happily go for ones with fruit juice added over a dry champers. But if that's not pretentious enough, I'll go with Moscato (which is sweet but not as sweet as dessert wines).

TPBM has a Thingaversary coming up ... sometime in the next 356 days or so.

I hope so - I need an excuse to justify a recent book-buying binge...

TPBM has a better excuse.

I came across a second hand bookshop that was running out of room for more books, so I had to help them.

https://www.lavenantikvariat.dk/

TPBM is even more helpful.

If I got any more helpful to second-hand bookshops in that way, then my house would implode. Having helpfully made some space on their shelves, I am now going to have to help them by providing new stock.

TPBM has trouble getting rid of books.

Don''t you know it! After to the death of the beloved MrsHouseLibrary, I planned on ridding myself of 90% of everything I owned, selling the house, and moving into a much smaller space I could maintain. It's going on five years, and I haven't made a dent in that project. Of the books, I needed to appropriate a tall, narrow bookcase from the bedroom to house song sheets I need for when I play at Open Mic Nights.

Surprise! I have this other life. I did three of them last week, always, and appropriately introduced as: Mike, the Song Butcher, except for once. The emcee couldn't read my handwriting on the signup sheet, and she introduced me as Mikey the Sexy Butcher. Damned skinny pen! I had a rater nasty accident when I was four, and my right hand can't grip things like straws, footballs, baseballs, Bic pens, etc. I do have a fountain pen (a Lamy Safari) that works quite well for me.

So, you didn't need to know any of that, but it just kind of jumped itself out and wrote itself out, so enjoy. As for the books that were in that bookcase, I created and printed a list of the titles, authors and notes as to which were FEs, which were signed, and what I paid for them (which I left off the printed copy.) I took them to the local Half-Price Books store, and bided my time while they wen through all 50 books, completely ignoring the list I had made. The books cost us over nine hundred dollars.HPB offered me less than eight for the lot of them. Most of them were recent and popular books of the Young Adult Paranormal Romance genre.

And that's why I haven't gotten rid of any more books. I was recently (like, Monday evening) talking with a respected friend of mine in Arkansas, and this topic came up. My perspective was that I sold the books for less than 1% of what I paid for them. From her POV, I've now got eight dollars more than when I went into the store.

TPBM has their own opinion on that.

The owner of the shop mentioned in >350 bnielsen: told me, that they buy books but that people frequently just give them to the shop for free, just to get rid of them. The local re-use center has a container for books. So maybe it is just delaying the books trip to the container? Getting eight dollars for that is maybe not so bad?

TPBM will elaborate on that (or on something else).

I refused to sell my stack of books to Half Price for the insulting offer. I’d rather give them away. We’ve done that somewhat successfully over in the Tattered group. At least you know they’ll be appreciated.

My local used book store offers store credit for books. Their offer amount is fair, and you can use the credit for 50% of your purchase. My problem with that is I too am downsizing. But I use the credit to buy books as gifts.

TPBM has no books on the floor at the moment.

I was going, rather smugly, to say ‘yes’ to that. There are quite a few newspapers and rather more magazines lying around but, I thought, no books. Then I tripped over a small pile by my desk. Seven rather charming children’s picture books by Molly Brett, the three Down with Skool books, three of Clive James’ narrative verse books from the Seventies and two Jules Feiffer cartoon works. The picture books are headed for a box in the garage before going to a charity bookshop (Oxfam) and the rest will go back on the shelves when I can create some space.

If the Oxfam shop can sell the books then UK Gift Aid lets me claim a small percentage of the proceeds as a tax credit - rather more than Ziffit would offer as a rule.

I think one has to see book buying as a sunk cost. You have already got your value from reading them.

TPBM has other suggestions for monetising their book stack.

Sadly, I do not. Maybe it's because I consider literature to be priceless.

TPBM will occasionally re-read a book.

Well, the idea behind me buying books that I had already borrowed from the library was to be able to re-read them (back in my innocent, low-on-funds student days) - and so I started to build my library. I do actually re-read books; I've just finished a shared re-read of both series of the Belgariad (which I originally read in those self-same long-ago student days) and am currently re-reading The Dragon Reborn, which is book 3 of The Wheel of Time which I never did finish reading and lost track of the characters. Apparently, Robert Jordan knew what the last line would be before he started writing the series and I want to find out what it was (without cheating and just going straight there).

TPBM is re-reading a favourite series.

I am re-reading most of Agatha Christie's books this summer. It turns out that I own some of them both in the British and the American editions, so that will cut down on the number.

After that I think I will re-read The Wheel of Time, again. It is, indeed, difficult to keep track of characters in that series, especially in the later volumes. Also, I was not impressed by the work Brandon Sanderson did on the last three books.

TPBM will ask a random stranger in a bookstore to pick a random book for them with their eyes closed.

Nope. I'm perfectly qualified to do that myself.

TPBM is even better at doing random things.

All the time! It helps to be ADD.
And yet, I consider myself to be of a processed-driven mindset.
I eventually get a task done, but there are at least a dozen other things that I do before I'm finished.
While writing this, I made some coffee, ate breakfast (yeah, it's after noon, and I'm just starting my day,) got the mail, and checked the news.

TPBM, on the other and, is well organized.

yes, my checklists have checklists.
it works for me.

TPBM prefers to be spontaneous.

Surely if I aim to be spontaneous I have already said goodbye to spontaneity?

TPBM just can’t abide a smartarse.

Being a smartarse is okay with me until it gets to the point when smartarse festers into paininthearse, then my abiding turns into foreboding.

TPBM often has trouble telling people no.

Yes. I do try telling the kids and the dog 'no' but the kids argue back and the dog pretends he never heard me.

TPBM will be playing a sport (or other reasonably strenuous activity) tomorrow/ later today (depending on your timezone).

Not in the triple-digit heat we've been having almost every day for the past two months! Not at my age!
That being said, this morning's temperature (8 a.m.) was 72° F; now a half-hour later, it's 78. And the humidity is 38% (normally above 50 lately -- the water in the soil being boiled away, I suspect.) It'll be back up to 105° by noon. But, I sure enjoyed sitting outside having a morning cup of coffee. I haven't had the opportunity to do that in years!

Of course, I had to immerse myself in a cloud of mosquito repellent first. There are confirmed cases of West Nile virus in my area.

TPBM's most memorable setting over coffee (or tea) is _________________.

I forget! It’s an age thing, you know.

TPBM has a strategy to diminish brain shrinkage.

I play word games. Sometimes I write music, or return to that novel that I was planning in my head late last night. Occasionally I resort to doing some work. I try to remember that time spent reading a book is not wasted time.

TPBM does not read as much as the number of books in the house would appear to suggest.

Perhaps. I haven’t read all of them; I’m saving some for later.

TPBM is reading a book from the library just now.

Truth be told, I'm having breakfast at the moment. The last books I've gotten from the library were two manuals related to Windows 11, back in January.
I grow increasingly weary with technical tomes that don't actually tell me anything I didn't already know. Theses two reinforced that feeling.

My current read is a 250+/- page book about the art of conversation. I started it back in February to have something to read while flying round trip to attend the memorial for a young (relatively speaking) cousin. I haven't touched it again until Sunday, when I had to fly to Scranton to attend the funeral of a niece. Got back last last night. I'm not quite half-way through it.

On the upside, the one major thing I've noticed is that with one exception (not worth detailing,) everyone was exceptionally polite and kind to everyone else, everywhere. It kind of gets my hopes up, you know?

TPBM does.

Yes, I'm reading a Bradbury story collection in Danish. Triggered by joeb1934 who I helped with some tag mirror wizardry. Which made me look at my own tag mirror and explore some of the Gutenberg tags.
So I found this one in Project Gutenberg and reached out for a Danish translation on the shelve just behind my chair :-)

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64673

TPBM also looks behind the mirror.

Well, I had to when ants came crawling out of the space behind the bathroom mirror. Just like in the kitchen, I suppose they were seeking water. But this wasn’t an outside wall! There used to be a recessed medicine cabinet though, and the renovator had left the hole open and just hung a mirror over it. It is adjacent to the chimney, which is, I think, their pathway inside.
Rather than track down the entry point, I just spread boric acid and cinnamon in the hollow and re-hung the mirror. Seems to have worked.

TPBM doesn’t appreciate creepy crawlies first thing in the morning either.

This year has been weird. We have always had ants in the house during the summer, and have various ways of dealing with them.
This year, not one single ant. Not one. There aren't even any walking around the yard. It's unsettling.

I feel like they are plotting something.

TPBM knows what they are up to.

Ants in the pants?

TPBM has a Myrmecophaga tridactyla or similar to deal with such situations.

Can't say that I do, although it'd be big and fat working around my house. I had the place treated for critter infestations when I bought the house 34 years ago. It had been vacant for the two years prior, so an ounce of prevention, you know. Some time after I married MrsHouseLibrary, (whose encyclopedic knowledge of taxonomy bested every challenge in mere nano-moments,) we had several nights of acrobat ants dropping on us while we slept. There was a sick elm tree that had limbs over our house, and it contained (I learned) several nests of acrobat ants. Said ants dropped onto the roof, and enough of them found a way to get in through an attic vent to form a new and large colony in the attic space above the bedroom. Eventually, they found us, and I called an exterminator in. Years later, I see evidence that they've migrated to an entirely different area of the house, but their activity is mostly climbing up and down the stone fascia near the back door. I will definitely warn the contractor when they come to replace all my windows and siding. But yeah, an anteater would be a great asset to me right now.

Also should note that with the vast majority of days over the past three months having temperatures in the triple-degree (F) range and no rain worth mentioning, the creek that supported the deer population has completely dried up and the deer have moved on. Hardly any birds at all, except for a hawk or two who are (thankfully) reducing the overpopulation of now-gaunt squirrels. One Texas reservoir has reached a level so low, the water is no longer safe to drink, so they're not accessing it anymore. More of my trees are dying from lack of water. On the plus side, I'll have plenty of firewood for the next glacier this winter.

TPBM has a plan.

Yes; a plan to get an anteater.

>371 2wonderY: Cinnamon! Does that work on termites? We keep getting them coming through the dividing wall with next door, though we have termite stations in our garden to stop them coming through that way. And now we have dry wood termites (or some such thing) attacking our teak wood - which I had been told termites don’t eat. Aaaargh!!!

TPBM is watching the Wheel of Time TV adaptation or reading the books.

((>375 humouress: who knows for sure? The ants come and go at will in my kitchen. For now they’re gone.))

>375 humouress:. Nope, but I've been reading about miss Blanche Hillgood who apparently can help WholeHouseLibrary with the lack of rain.

TPBM has another medicine for melancholy.

Music. Sing, loudly and lustily. It doesn't have to be in tune.

TPBM has crafted glass.

Yeah, I have. For a while MrsHouseLibrary and I were making "decorative" glass beads. In college, she majored in Education, and Art, and minored in music and science. Having been a teacher, and later a librarian, she also made jewelry. Many of our weekend excursions were to bead shops, where she'd choose which stones or beads or pendants she wanted, tell me how many she needed, and I'd go through them and select the best (or most interesting - sometimes, it's the flaws that make them desirable) of the offerings. Other weekends, she be at some craft fair selling them.

She thought it might be fun to actually make her own beads, so we both took a class for making glass beads. Ultimately, she became frustrated by the process - very hard to get consistency. And although I had more success at bead making, I couldn't embellish them; I have no acumen for art. Can't even draw stick figures. So, I returned the tank of gas to the dealer, and we never thought about it again.

TPBM is crafty in/at ________________.

I learned how to press and mount plant specimens last year. Some of them are nice enough to frame, I think. Next I want to learn how to use plant material to print and dye fabric.

TPBM has a particular fashion passion.

Kind of. I have worn kilts for decades, but getting bored with only being allowed knee-length pleated tartan, I have been touching base with the growing (but still minuscule) Men in Skirts movement. It still irks me how men are restrained by social norms from wearing a wide range of fabrics and patterns. And loud neckties do not count.

TPBM has some brightly coloured clothing that they would like to get out more often.

No, but I have some underwear that's changed its color over time, and they're definitely going to be getting out of the underwear drawer permanently -- just as soon as the new stuff I just bought has been through the laundry.

Over the past five years, I've had to fly to various places, mostly to attend funerals, but other reason as well, so I don't recall the particular event that caused me to be in a non-local airport. I travel light and tight; almost never need to check a bag through to my destination. And almost always, I'll end up being in the last group to board a plane, and often one of the last ones aboard -- blame that on the fact that I don't move quite as fast as I used to, and it's difficult for me to stand in one place for more than a minute or two. The right leg tends to forget to remain weight-supporting if I don't send it constant reminders. Regardless, my being near the end of the boarding line often means that others have already filled the overhead bins with their excess, and I have to then surrender my bag to be stowed in the cargo area, which means I have to then wait at the baggage claim carousel to retrieve it - the very thing I was trying to avoid.
So, before they put a tag on it, they are required to ask if I have any lithium batteries, flammable liquids, or other hazardous materials in my bag. I'm always puzzled by this because I'd already been through TSA screening with no problem. I think they were expecting a "no" for response, but I answered them in my most sincere and candid way by saying, " Just four day's worth of dirty underwear and socks." They let me on anyway.

TPBM occasionally (or perhaps, more often than not) responds with the unexpected, and will provide us with an example.

I am, I'm afraid, more often than not pretty predictable. For instance, the itch to reply in this thread grows exponentially after a week and becomes irresistible after 10 days.

TPBM is generally relaxed about such things.

One of our live wires has disappeared - where oh where is SGiV? We miss your take on life!

TPBM can tell us how long they’ve participated on this thread. Clue - it began September of 2007:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/19715

Hmm, that was a fun quest. librarything.com/topic/70150 aug 18, 2009, methinks.

TPBM was also a late starter.

True -- it was a whole two days before I first responded to that thread. It's #128 in the link provided in 2wonderY's #384 (above).

TPBM is celebrating National Coffee Day by _____________________.

politely leaving all the coffee for others.
I don't understand what people like about it; it smells like a tire fire to me.

TPBM is eagerly anticipating tonights Harvest Moon.

Darn! Missed it!

TPBM is excited about the discovery of JuMBOs (Jupiter Mass Binary Objects) in the Orion Nebula.

Well, I am now! I used to do a LOT of astronomy, even some astrophotography. But it's been years. (Long story.)
Other than eclipses (I'm in the central path of Sunday's annular eclipse!), I haven't been following much of that sort of news lately.
Most of my time has been focused on playing at three Open Mic Nights every week, and figuring out which songs I'm going to butcher.
The rest of my time is focused on getting the house cleaned up. I'm having a house guest for two days in about three weeks. At this point, the first phase of dusting requires a snow shovel.
But, I'm definitely going to read up on JuMBOs.

TPBM pays more attention to the skies.

I would love to but (as I'm sure I've complained before) Singapore's night skies are obscured by light pollution.

TPBM is enjoying the Rugby World Cup.

There have certainly been some good games - Ireland v. South Africa stands out. It is great to see the huge enjoyment from players and fans of the 'lesser' nations when they score against the top flight teams, even when massively behind.

I have no Irish blood but my father was born in Ireland so I'm rooting for them.

TBPM can't understand why rugby players make it more difficult for themselves with that odd shaped ball.

I actually do understand. Rugby balls and (American) footballs are prolated spheroids. They won't travel far when they get loose. (American) soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs, etc. will continue to roll for a long time (and distance) when they become errant.

TPBM can explain why dice (and not just the standard 6-sided gaming variety) always have an even number of faces.

Huh, do they? I didn't know that.

TPBM will satisfy WHL's query.

They don't. So it is hard to explain why they should :-)

https://www.mathartfun.com/d357.html

TPBM will explain why you should never buy dice from a wombat.

I mean, you could... just don't kiss them for luck before you roll them.

TPBM prefers card games.

I don't think I have a preference, actually. As a young autistic kid, I learned 150 different ways to play Solitaire. With (at then) five (going on six and eventually ten) siblings, I don't know how my mother had time to teach me, but there are tons of things I still can't explain about her. Regardless, I also played a lot of board games, and became quite good at chess - something I've not had a chance to play in decades now. Being a Type B personality, I still don't care for games like Risk or Stratego (although I often won at the latter) because they were too aggressive. I'm more of a pacifist and not at all tribal. Luck of the draw, a roll of the dice - sure, the play is random. Just like a good shuffle of the deck.

TPBM leaves no prisoners.

I don't have the necessary facilities.

TPBM plays Wordle regularly.

yep, just about every day.
Twice I have gotten the answer on the first lucky try; it's weird when that happens.

TPBM prefers card games.

Well, I like card games, but I rarely play them (except Solitaire on my phone!). At the moment I am a regular with the Wordle spin-offs Quordle and Octordle, the similar but challenging Susie, and the brain-bending anagram game Blossom. When I'm not online playing Forge of Empires...

>384 2wonderY:

I checked: I posted on the first thread of this topic, 11 September 2007, five days after it started.

TPBM occasionally wastes time on the computer.

See the response in the ensuing thread.