Din Din

Hey, I only ate one chip!

Ok, maybe two

*******

@ Cafe LuLu, splitting an entree and zucchini soup with my old lady

The 39th Grandpa's Day

Today is the 39th anniversary of Grandpa's Day, a day long road trip I took with my Grandpa shortly before he died. So after work I stopped at the cemetery to pay my respects. 

It's a shame I look so solemn in the picture.  It isn't a day of mourning, it's a celebration of my Grandpa and my time with him.  That said, you can't really take a jolly selfie while standing over your Grandparent's grave - what would people think? Lol

Afterwards I made a slightly bastardized version of the chili I grew up on, another homage to the day. 

I love you Grandpa. 

45 years. Wow.

Of Doggie Doo and Birdies Two

 Of note, today Huckleberry accompanied Lu and Lisa to work, as dogs are allowed in the office on Saturdays. 

The Goodest Boi promptly pooped on the office floor and wouldn't sit still, and I was called to come and bring my troublemaker home. LOL

But that was ok, because in the process I made a wrong turn and came upon these fine geese, which I added to my bird watching app's list!

Then, later in the evening this cooper hawk was just chilling on my back fence. By the time I got my phone, he'd moved over to a neighbor's garage. By the time I *focused* the camera, the was gone. But still. Wow!

The Grasshopper (free) (not so outdoorsy) Picnic

Should you search through this site, you'll find that many - not all, but many - State Fair weeks I would take some combination of the kids on a Grasshopper Picnic; so named because we would usually share a Little Caesar's pizza in Whitnall Park, and finish by catching a jar or two of grasshoppers that we released in our yard. 

Alas, this year, three considerations have affected this outing;

1. I maintain a glorious array of bird feeders, and bringing the grasshoppers home would be ensuring their quick demise at the hands, er, beaks, of my pretties. 

2. I'm planning on going to the Fair tomorrow, and the kids work. 

and 

3. When I drove by a field this week and suggested it as a location, LuLu called it "more like a tick picnic."

Hrmph. 

So, improvisation. Today all the kids who live at home were working, but Junie and Smiley had a few hours free around noon. Alas, Smiley made plans for coffee with a friend, so Junie and I went to a small, local Italian grocery store that has a hot food counter, and bought some vittles. 

A cup of chili and a dark rye roll for me, chicken tenders and potato wedges for her. Oh, and she bought me an oatmeal raisin cookie and apple juice. 

We ate in the car and talked about the Aubreys (band of the great Finn Wolfhard) and the upcoming school year, and the siblings. What I remember best is her shock when I told her I sometimes stopped at that store for lunch when I had a morning class at Marquette. The idea of me having a life independent of their memories remains largely theoretical for all of them, I think. 

Afterwards we bought some school supplies and visited YaYa for a bit. 

Anyway, *maybe* we'll pull off a catch-and-release genu-wine Grasshopper Picnic. But if not, this was mighty nice too.

Serena, just stop

So her argument is that she's been treated unfairly by her uterus and her conscious decision to use it.  

Damn that pesky mamallian evolution that resulted in live birth!!!!

Listen, if labor and delivery is the issue, and you still wish to expand your family, adopt. You'll make a difference to a child that could use a break in life.   Don't make this into some beef with biology. 

Let us also not pretend she doesn't have paid staff to attend to many of the chores that come with parenting.  So spare me the tale of your woes.

Be grateful for your millions. 

Two lost dogs visit Smiley

Smiley had the house to himself when Sawyer started barking at the front window. Two dogs had gotten away from their home and just randomly  . . . decided to visit our front porch. 

Smiley got the lost dogs in the backyard, where they enjoyed his hospitality by exploring, drinking the water he offered them, and just chilling on the stairs.  (All the while, mind you, with my doggo going nutty inside lol.

The number on one of the tags was no longer in service, and he got no response to a Facebook post on the neighborhood page.

 So after an hour Smiley was gearing up to take the dogs to MAADC.  Fortunately a check of a second tag revealed a different number, and the grateful owner soon came by to end the visit.

Bye doggos! 

LOL

having control of the speaker at work is going to my head. - Lulu

Just a pic of a lovely cat

We still miss you Angelcakes

Monkeypox

If you get monkeypox the cdc is recommending an isolation period of 2 - 4 weeks.  I could imagine this situation getting worse because plenty of people are simply not able to leave work that long!! Workplace accommodations should really be happening - YaYa

Olivia Newton-John

This one hurts.  Olivia Newton-John, singer and star of Grease,  has passed away at 73. 

David McCullough

David McCullough, historian and author, died yesterday surrounded by his loved ones.  RIP

Roger E Mosley

Best known for his role as helicopter pilotTC on Magnum PI, Mosley passed away today at the age of 83. Rest in peace. 

Happy Birthday!

Happy 15th birthday [Junie] !!!!! I hope you have the most amazing day to finish off a great birthday weekend. I love watching you grow up and enjoy your spitfire Leo personality. Roar baby, roar! Excited this is the year I get to teach the last member of Team Slap to drive. So much time behind the wheel to look forward to together baby!  - Lisa

Art by Smiley

Terrible News

I pray for her recovery.  

Bullet Train

Lisa and I saw this movie at a theater in Beloit, an hour SW of Milwaukee. It was a non-Marcus theater, with brown leather recliners that had a built in seat warmer, a huge screen, and incredible sound. Far superior to the local Marcus product, in our opinion. 

As for the movie, Lisa was the one who wanted to see it, based largely on a recommendation from YaYa, but she didn't dig it and spent a good portion of the film surreptitiously checking her phone. That wasn't exactly a shock to me - she isn't one for violent movies, or even action movies in general. She'd been under the impression it was more of a comedy-action movie, rather than vice versa.

The movie had plenty of laughs (kudos to the comedy chops of Brad Pitt, by the way) but it had plenty of violence and action and gore too. It had a Guy Ritchie vibe to it, both in tone and dialogue. 

I loved it. I thought it was grand, even if it was so implausible as to make no sense, and I tip my hat to the entire cast, especially the before mentioned Pitt and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, aka Tangerine. 

If you don't mind a wee bit of blood squirting from eyeballs in a playful manner, go see this flick. 

It was grand. 

Grade: A

Vin Scully

Goodbye sir. You were the epitome of class and the national pastime will feel your loss. 

RIP.

Birdsighting

I am pleased as punch to have seen a downy woodpecker and a morning dove in my backyard in the last hour - both a first here!

Bill Russell

11 time NBA Champion Bill Russell has died at age 88. RIP

Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols, the trailblazing Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, died yesterday at 89. RIP

Anne Eisenhower

Anne Eisenhower, granddaughter of the former President, died today at 73. RIP

Not the Ideal Setting But . . .

He shouldn't be on the table, much less resting comfortably on it.   But he was awfully cute.

Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh

I will not deny that Otessa Moshfegh is a talented stylist capable of keen insight into a character's motivation.  But Lapvona is proof that alone is not enough to sustain a novel. 

In a fictional Medevial village Marek is the deformed son of incestuous rape, raised by an abusive stepfather to believe his mother has died.  The teenager commits a crime that, incredibly, elevates him to royal status, and in the aftermath the difficult life of the village begins to sour all the more. 

It sounds almost like a story when I summarize it. It is not.  It is a meandering, pointless snippet from the life of a thinly developed protagonist who, in turn, is surrounded by equally ill developed characters. These people exist in print only to allow the author to showcase rape, cannibalism, sexual abuse, and degradation.

It's not literary horror. What it WAS is a waste of my time. 

Pass.

Stuart Woods

Bestselling author Stuart Woods has passed away.  RIP