Um... okay

 Did I get unnaturally popular for some reason? The last entry has been well-visited. InZoi fans? People who like cats? It was not a major post. Just summat related to my life and stuff. Meanwhile, Thanksgiving was great. My brother-in-law's family welcomed me for great food and great conversation.

 Hmm. Maybe I just looked at the entry in a desperate ploy to boost my stats. So I started reading about Hildergard of Bingen. She was a renowned saint and mystic from the 11th century. I'll let you know how it goes. I read a self-help book that showed great promise but very quickly got on my nerves.

 So, if it was due to many visitors, I bid you all welcome and hope you are all doing well. That's all for now.

BYE. 

A lot to share

 Perhaps I don't have all that much to share. I could complain about Google not playing nice with Firefox but the gods of the Interwebz would strike me dead. The weather has been damp and cloudy of late. At least the rain held off yesterday until their Terry Fox Run was done. I haven't taken part in the run for a long while. Good thing I didn't take part in it yesterday. Eŵw.

 The reading contjnues. Book 11 Novel 18 is a gristly bone rife with tedium. Back it goes to the library today. Meanwhile, life is pretty good. Has anyone played an InZoi game right to the death of their Zoi? I am going to try it. Now I have two Zois in the house. She loves him but he sèes her as just a friend.

 That is all for now.

BYE.

And the productivity continues!

 Went back to InZoi this weekend. Trying to make more progress on the works of George Eliot but I think I've burned out a bit. Yes, I continue to be productive in my personal life. I cleaned up Fountain Tire's mess (damn that flathead in the flat cap) and my will is complete and written out. Yes, that's money stuff but it's done.

 The kids started back on Friday. They'll start taking out books this Wednesday. Feeling pretty good... although I'm still doing lunch supervision (an excess of money would help that). Lovely cool days. Did we get a visit from frost overnight? My neighbour brought her plants in; just in case.

 Anyway, that's what's going on with me. I hope ye my followers are doing well.

BYE.

Approach of the morrow

 Yup. It is nearly that time again. By this time tomorrow, I will have had my first day back to work. How did I spend this, my last day of vacation? Library trip and a bit of shopping. Pretty much the same way I've spent most of these summer days. I spent part of the day reading 'Heartstopper 6' and 'The scarlet letter'. These books have nowt in common, by the by.

 Reading the former because I want to make sure it's appropriate for the library. Reading the latter because the last time I read it, I was just starting into my double-digits. Guaranteed, I was far too young to understand it; let alone appreciate it. Our family has a gorgeously-illustrated edition. At least, I hope my sister decided to keep it. Unfortunately, I do not have room for it on my shelves.

 Anyway, it's been a pretty quick read (The scarlet letter). I should be ready to bring it back later this week. Making progress in other things as well. Finally had a meeting with a lawyer to get my will done. One day, certain charities will be pleased with me. Anyway, I hope my few followers are pleased with their lives thus far.

BYE.

Comme Terry Fox

 I had plans to go to the library this morning. Forgot that today is Terry Fox Day - a civic holiday so the library is closed. That's okay. Here we are in the month of August. Great month for two reasons. The weather begins to cool off - total godsend after the millions of heat warnings - and some pretty amazing people have birthday this month.

 Woke up feeling ravenous. Savoured a three-cheese snackwich from Subway. Probably my favourite of the four options. The BLT is pretty good too, but the 3-cheese is the best. This summer has been composed of ups and downs. Stuff that one has no control over. I've long repeated the phrase "tech is great WHEN IT WORKS." When it does not, gnashing of teeth ensues.

  Started reading 'On Hobbes' by Alan Ryan today. Love Hobbes... from 'Calvin & Hobbes', but I don't know all that much about the philosopher. He made to 91 in a world where making it to 45 is summat of a miracle. Was it genetics? His diet? That would be an interest skit to float on TikTok; the Thomas Hobbes diet!

 Anyway, I hope ye fab folk are doing well.

BYE.

Foster the People? Paul Revere and the Raiders?

 Was introduced to a sub-SUV deal. Now I have Kicks jokes running through my head. Another day, another heat warning. At least it's not at orange level. Been doing some reading and playing Valheim. Bears are in the Black Forest biome; what the heck are they doing in the Meadows? Oh, and the game crashed this morning while my dude Edgar was cooking boar meat.

 I have a couple of torches on hand just in case Edgar encounters bears. Torch in hand and zig-zagging - that's how one evades bears. Greydwarves and their pack mentality are annoying. But the game is beautiful. On the literary front, I finished reading 'Sir John A' by Drew Hayden Taylor. Canada's most legendary drunk whining about Indigenous people while two dudes travel to Kingston to dig up ancient bones.

 Darkly funny, like most of Taylor's works. A two-act play - easily blasted through. Now I have a much darker book ahead of me. I hope ye my followers are doing well and keeping cool.

BYE.

Yuck

 Orange heat warning. The weekend was hideous and today is no better. The warning has to end soon. I hope we have all found cool shelter. Meanwhile, the test driving continues. I've tried out a Sentra, a Venue, and a Niro. Soon I'll be revisiting the Civic. The last time I settled behind the driver's seat of a Civic was 2008. I'm hovering between the Venue and the Niro.

 Been doing a lot of reading. Have any of you read 'Notes from underground'? The protagonist must be having a midlife crisis and everyone else in the story is a jerk. The protagonist whinges a lot too. Russians. Brushed some nasty matting out of the beast's fur yesterday. She purred the whole time. I hope I didn't hurt her any.

 Ugh. This perkele humidity. That's for the Finns in the audience. I love knowing bits and pieces of other languages. Pretty weak polymath, no? Okay. Hope my few crew is keeping cool.

BYE. 

91 year difference

 July 1, 1867. July 4, 1776. A difference of 91 years. The last province joined Confederation in 1949. The last states joined the Union in 1959. Canada was born later but fully formed earlier. Just a few factoids on this July 4th. Reading a grotesque romp called "Quackery". All kinds of fun stuff like Radithor, bloodletting, and of course; the labotomy. Among other things.

 Did you know that Spanish fly, besides being a legendary aid for sexytime, was also used to raise blisters on the skin? Blisters supposedly drew out the infection. All kinds of lovely stomach-twisting shenanigans. I had to take a break from reading about antimony because the emetophobe in me started shrieking.

 Halfway through this fantastic account of some very dangerous stuff that we thought could help. Oh, and heroin was once used to stop morphine addiction. Ya learn summat new every day, don't you? Relaxing and test-driving vehicles. Buy or lease? So much to consider. So that's what's going on with me. Hope my few but fabulous are having a good day.

BYE.

Actually 9 days left

 For the students, at any rate. Meanwhile, the weather has been incredible of late. Wet, yes; but cool - 20 and under for the most part. This has been the best summer for a while. Plenty of rain so no sign of wildfires in Nopiming. A blessed dream indeed. I have plans for the summer. Just a question for my multitudes...

 Nissan or Hyundai? One of my plans involves new wheels. Ford doesn't do cars so they're off my list until they get at least a hatchback or something. Honda is another possibility but so is Kia. All of these options are in my price range. What would you go for, my few and fabulous?

 On the literary front, I have a book by David Weber. I have a few things to say but I'll hold off for now. I hope ye my followers are doing well.

BYE.

Three weeks

 Sighhhh. Summer vacation cannot come fast enough. June is the most surreal month of the school year. You slog through - that feeling starts in January - then suddenly it's June. The kids have reached the "Je ne care pas" phase in their mindsets. I guess the teachers have reached that phase too; only they are supposed to be too mature to indulge in stuff like that.

 I tried to make progress in a treatment of Plato's Republic. I could not finish it... there's making a text more accessible; then there's dumbing it down to the point of lobotomizing it. Yard sale at mi hermana's place. Getting into some serious labour there this weekend. It was a pretty good week after it finally cooled off. Heating up this weekend but it should cool off next week.

 I guess that's all. I hope ye my fantastic readers are doing well.

BYE.

Happy thoughts

 Death cults, horrific human experimentation, and the transorbital lobotomy. This is what I dwell o'er when I watch too much Joe Scott. Yeah, another doomy-doomy Youtuber. This dude's from Texas and he's great. Anyway, there are now 4ish weeks to go before the end of the school year.

 Scorching temps over here. I'm reading a prequel to the Godfather book. Pretty good thus far. Oh, and now I want to read about cults. I hope my viewers are doing well and keeping cool.

 BYE.

Escape

 All is well on the tax front. Felt pretty good about the good news. Meanwhile, I'm making progress on "Hunchback of Notre-Dame". 1400s Paris was full of horrible people, wasn't it? A heartbreaking character and a heartbreaking ending. Nothing like Disney's take on things, right? No, I haven't watched the movie. I haven't seen any media relating to the book.

 The vet wants Neko to come in for a visit, so we're going there next week. Five minutes of screaming bloody murder, half hour to an hour of being good as gold, and five minutes of screaming bloody murder. I already brought out the carrier. She's pretty nervous about the carrier being out. I keep promising her that she's not going anywhere... yet.

 There was talk of snow but nothing has happened. Nothing will happen, I expect. Come on, the winter needs to end. That's all for now.

BYE.

Ahhhhh

 Spring Break at long last. Oh... and tax season. Now I need to grab slips... assuming I can get in. It snowed a little the other day. I've been feeling brittle lately. Probably summat to do with work and such. So... what am I doing next week? Nuttin' much. A number of my co-workers are going to the Mayan Riviera. The danger appears to have passed.

 I finished reading a fascinating book about King Tut. I tried to get into "Guy Mannering" and found it too slow. Page 17 for days. Sigh... so back it goes to the library tomorrow.  I have a book by Nevil Shute to read now. Perhaps I'll let you know how it went later.

 Not sure if this post is going to get posted as I might be having saving issues. So that's all for now.

BYE.

Hey...

 I figured I should post something. My birthday approaches. Already booked the day off. Mi hermana and I are supposed to meet for lunch. The awesome brother-in-law might be with us too. Hard to say. Anyway, the freezing rain came down thick last week; which has made things iffy and frustrating. Now I'm moving cautiously because of this messed-up situation.

 I'm reading 'Tsarina' by Ellen Alpsten. I remember reading a Russian folk tale where the ruler was called Czar. Must be the Americanized version of the term. Visceral stuff thus far. Pretty good. So Spring Break approaches. Not sure what my plans are. Also not sure where we're meeting for lunch on the big day. Nothing expensive, honestly.

 Been thinking about Dylan's 'The times they are a-changin'. Because of my advanced age? Anyway, that's all for now.

BYE.

This went on for too long

 For such a short month... AUGH! This past week passed horrendously slowly. I kept waking up in the morning going "...oh, it's not Friday." At least it's the 28th today. A short month shouldn't be so freaking full. My school had a fun assembly yesterday to celebrate ILTR. During the 10 drop everything and read segment, I busied myself with Virgil.

 The temperature bounced up and down during the month. It's -28 with a windchill count of -38 this morning. Climate change is mercurial. I don't really want to go anywhere today. Hey... here comes March! Spring Break is on the horizon. Cannot wait for that.

 I hope my viewers are doing well and keeping warm. Spring Break is coming. Just have to be patient.

BYE.

Louis Riel

 In honour of a three-day weekend, I'm posting. I'm not going to talk about the school shooting as so many other people have said plenty and have said it better. School shootings hit close to work. It could happen to any school. I wonder if/when it will happen at my workplace. I've been thinking about the shooting in Taber, Alberta. 

 It happened not long after Columbine, so only Canadians would remember it. If the recent situation that happened at work is any indication, we might not be ready for the real thing. I don't want to tempt fate but... I cannot help but wonder. Anyway, I just wrapped up reading "The Antiquary". A fun romp. Worth rereading in a few years.

 The temperature continues to go up and down. Aurgh, climate change. But that's all for now.

BYE.

Love, reading, Black history, and Les Voyageurs

 So much packed into the shortest month. The temperature keeps tiptoeing into the little numbers. I am doing well. Apologies that I really don't have much to say. Been doing a lot of reading. I like this month. I hope to do lots of reading to kids this month. "Duck! Rabbit!" is one of my selections. It's a great trompe d'oeil story. Personally, I see the rabbit first.

  I also plan to read some Curious George. Maybe I'll shake it up with something from Munsch. Always a kid pleaser. That or some Mo Willems. That darn pigeon! The kids were asking me what my favourite book is. I have a top 10 list, actually. Life's too short to have one favourite title.

  My favourite part of this month is probably La Festival du Voyageur. Fantastic music, burned tongues, and gorgeous ice sculptures. A shame the festival itself is extortion exemplified. Probably costs more than the furs the Voyageurs dragged to the outpost. Anyway, I hope you, my awesome followers, are doing well.

BYE.

The end of January

 Cold snap, eh? Worst time for the fire alarm to go off at work. Horrible time for the kids until the fire truck arrived to save the afternoon. Meanwhile, the smoke alarms at the complex have been checked. All is well... sorta. On the literary front, I've been getting into Rilke. Good, introspective stuff. Now I've moved on to summat absurdist.

  Been thinking about a dude I went to school with. He died when I was in 11th grade. Every now and then, I think about the dude and wonder what he might have done had the Crab not moved in. Now I'm 45 and he would have been 47 had Grimmie not had other plans. He was a fantastic artist. Would he have continued down that creative path? Maybe settled down and started a family.

  Or maybe he would have joined the group Springsteen sang of in 'Glory Days'. What might have been, amirite? Anyway, I hope my viewers are doing well and keeping warm.

BYE.

Climate change, amirite?

 The temperature's been up and down all this month. Blowing snow started this afternoon. All that snow will cover the intensely slippery stuff beneath. I caught up on my reading recently. Helps to read lighter fare. I updated my Goodreads today. I update it often.

 Anyway, I'm reading a murder mystery right now. Read some Rilke just before that. I'd heard of Rilke before but I don't recall reading any of his works. Ergh, it looks pretty messy outside. At least I plugged my vehicle in when I got home. It's supposed to go down to 20ish tonight. Ergh. At least the kids have been going out for recess.

 Nobody needs that kind of pent-up situation. That's really all I have to say. Hope my several viewers are doing well thus far. You guys are great. Here comes the weekend.

BYE.

Salutations 2026!

 Going back to work this week. Nice weather these days. I've been doing a fair bit of reading these past two weeks. No doorstops, however. I just finished reading a book that was more talk than action. I love detail and world-building but climactic action is welcome as well. No climax in this book. Yawn. However, the next book on my horizon looks promising.

 Short stories set in Cornwall. I have great respect for the British southwest. Especially for some of the folk out there. That's all for now.

BYE.