Stuff

The treadmill continues to behave, thankfully. But this morning I got tricked by a book. I remember back in the days when I read by turning pages, I'd be getting to the end but could feel with my hands that I still had a lot more good story to go. Until STOP! I'd turn the page and THE END. Those other pages were some dumb 'preview' of the next book or something. Always pissed me off. I got so I'd always check before I even started a book to see if the last page was really the last page or not. Today I got 'had' by an audio book. I purposefully stopped listening last night when I had 25 minutes left. This morning, that turned into 5 because there was 20 minutes of some stupid interview with the author. phuckme.

Oh well.

Yesterday, while I thought about it, I never did actually leave the house. I sat right here on the couch the whole day. I enjoy this but also know it's better if I don't do it. So today I am going out. I still have way more food than I need so I'll do the Goodwill trip. For sure. No excuses.

I just got a birthday question that I don't know how to answer. It's from anonymous "Happy birthday. Why did you disappear from my life? What'd I do?" I suspect anonymous posted a stupid comment that did not give me enough info to reply. But, that's just a guess.

My phone/text situation is really a hilarious mess. I use Google Voice. I have one phone number that rings on my cellphone/backup phone and any Chrome browser I'm logged into. I can also answer any calls that come in on any of those devices. So if my phone is in the other room or out of juice, no problem, I just use my laptop, etc.

Except because Google has yet to figure out how it wants to do texts, when someone sends me one, it might come in on Google Hangouts, Google Messaging or Google Voice - all of which are entirely different. If I'm on my laptop and I hear the 'you have a text' tone, it's a hunt to check them all and see where the bugger is.

This is also exacerbated by the fact that my Google Voice number is the number that was my landline for a quarter century. And some places have some kind of check they make and then tell me that I cannot use that number for texts. So I have to use my MintMobile number which used to just forward everything to Google Voice but this month, Google Voice shut that service down. It's all a mess that will one day sort itself all out but probably not in my lifetime.

My family* uses hangouts - mostly as a group text situation - and it's going away soon to be replaced by something that does not work that way. We've looked at other options and not found one that we all like so we just hang in hangouts until they pull the plug. *My brother, his sons and a daughter-in-law and me.

My first baseball game is a week away. I spent considerable time picking my seat so that it would not be in the sun and not get too hot. I forgot to factor in that it isn't August. And now the forecast is calling for rain. The stadium has a roof so the game will happen and I won't get wet BUT it's going to be pretty darned chilly and I'm going to wish I ha seats in the sun! Oh well. The out of doors is just too iffy for me. Gimme weather controlled inside any day.

But, now I'm going to get dressed and venture out into that WhoKnowsWhatYouAreGoingToGet mess that is outside.

Birthday Answers

(For my birthday, I asked for Ask Me Anything Questions. I got so many wonderful ones. I'm answering them in entries from here until I get to the end. If you think of something you want to ask, just leave a comment or a note. Deadline is totally not a thing.)

And sherlock999's final question (thanks so much for all the great question/presents!):


6. How many cats have you had in your life? Care to share details? I love cat stories.

My first cat was a kitten I got for Christmas. So I named her Christmas. She was a great cat. Every night she would crawl under the covers and sleep on my feet. Every night!

Then, for a variety of reasons, I was catless. In the late 80’s I was living in Minnesota and I got a kitten named Bubba. He was a bruiser of a cat - a big old sweet lug. Then when he and I moved to California, we got Jake. I still had them both when I moved to Seattle and they were great cats. Bubba finally died of old age. Then I had Betty who was the most beautiful cat. Long and long haired and lovely. Then, when she or Jake (I forget the sequence) died, I was in the market and I called their vet asking for cat adoption recommendations.

Well, they said… as it happens, we have a cat here who needs adopting. She was hit by a car and was basically road pizza but we have put her back together and she needs a real home. Pizza turned out to be the sweetest cat I ever ever met. She was pitch black and tiny and so soft. She would sleep on my neck and when the radio alarm went off in the morning, she brush her whiskers across my face softly at first and then she just made sure I was up. She was wonderful. Sadly, however, because of her medical history, she didn’t last too long.

I had Zoey who was, honestly not a very memorable cat. She was full of hijinks but we really never bonded. It was Zoey who died just before I got Biggie and The Smalls.

(disclaimer: I may well have mixed up when I had which cat. If any of them complain, take their word for it, not mine.)

Biggie 2021

The Flickr album of all the days.

Biggie hijinks

Years ago, I bought an adorable cat bed on Etsy. It was a hollowed out, painted computer monitor with pillows stuffed in it. Zoey was very fond of this bed. Here she is proving it.



Biggie sniffed it once the first time he got up on the cabinet and then ignored it.

Until today. Today, he was poking around the house looking for trouble. The next thing I know, he's up there, he's taken out the back pillow and just made himself at home.



The pillows, as it turns out, were a little foosty with cat hair and dust so when he lost interest, I grabbed them and they are now in the washing machine.

Along with two very nice pieces of fabric I got at Goodwill. Really nice, big pieces that are actually having me thinking about sewing up a couple of new things for summer. The walk around the Goodwill store was lovely and productive.

And now, in addition to laundry, I'm knitting and watching some TV while enjoying a cup of coffee and a wonderful chocolate chip birthday cookie.

Birthday Answers

(For my birthday, I asked for Ask Me Anything Questions. I got so many wonderful ones. I'm answering them in entries from here until I get to the end. If you think of something you want to ask, just leave a comment or a note. Deadline is totally not a thing.)


meowmensteen asks:

If you could go back in time and give a young, college aged Susan some advice, what would it be? .... other than the pitfalls of experimenting with marriage.

Honestly, I wouldn’t do it. Waste of breath. Young college aged Susan would have blown me off without a lick of gratitude for my efforts. But I think I would have at least tried to encouraged her to be kinder to people. Or, at a minimum, to keep them in the dark about any negative feelings towards them.