I used to know a guy called Mantis.

Joyeux anniversaire!

Caroline sits by the fireplace with her noble German shepherd, Stevie Nicks, and the weird new dog, Ziggy Stardust.

Look at that! Now I got me a fleet!

Well that's good, because sometimes I forget it.

You didn't ask for my address.

EASY PEASY!

Yes but I have 15k words about it. 😰

A newspaper clipping shows 11 residents of Doniphan, Missouri, posing proudly with Chuck Norris. The headline reads "Karate King Chuck Norris Tests For Black Belts." That wording gives me the giggles.

Ope! And apparently he returned. One of my friends unearthed this treasure from her father's keepsakes.

A newspaper photo shows a young Chuck Norris during a Feb. 3, 1975 visit to Doniphan, Missouri

Chuck Norris made a two-day stop in my hometown more than 50 years ago and his visit is still discussed often and with great reverence.

"Let's get dressed up and go to the bookshop" totally needs to be a thing.

Oh, to water ski in jeans that never get wet.

Today someone I'd spoken to only once several months ago recognized the sound of my laugh from across a coffee shop, which is a little embarrassing but I suppose there are worse things to be recognized for.

She's watching, and she sees that you took her favorite sweater and if you so much as snag a single thread ...

Going through some notes and ephemera — by which I mean old social media posts — and am reminded that the women's college where I used to teach liked to refer to its security cameras as Big Sister.

May we all the the terrier with the carrion trophy.

... with some help from Jungle Law Firm.

Nobody enjoys his AI music, but he is SO proud of himself. For 40 years, he's been but a mere listener. Now, he's a rock god. Or something like that. So, yannow, there's a market for people who have devoted zero time to craft mastery and are looking for an easy way to bring their ideas to life.

There is this stay-at-home dad I sometimes encounter who spends his days making "AI music." I don't think he can even read music, but he sure can layer a bunch of sounds. He likes to broadcast his creations over tinny iPhone speakers to any mom unfortunate enough to be near him at afternoon pickup.

a tentacle rises ominously to announce an author panel titled Woo Woo Cthulhu at Unbound 2026

a portrait of journalist Leah Sottile and the cover to her latest book, "Blazing Eye Sees All"

a portrait of novelist Olivia Muenter and her latest book, "Little One"

a portrait of novelist Joshua Wheeler and his novel, "The High Heaven"

I am moderating this panel at Unbound Book Festival next month. It's gonna be a good one.

"Have the squirrels returned to Ripley County after Rackley and his mountain curs ate so many in the '80s?" is the topic du jour in the Dohack sisters + mom group chat.

The Office Siren by Katharine Tyndall The office siren: fills a plastic cup from the water cooler, sprinkles in salt from a shaker on her desk. With one webbed pinky she stirs in the granules. It still doesn't taste like the sea. ...

"The office siren: is definitely the one who brought fish for lunch, left it open in the shared fridge, though she will not admit it. Fish is far from her first choice. Her colleagues should be happy they’re not in the fridge, chopped into pieces, in a Tupperware with her name on it."

Relatable.

Yeah! And there's a lot less stop-and-go if your municipality has a nice trail system or you use side streets.

Pretty little six speeds like my city bike aren't so swift in terms of mph, but when you account for parking it takes me about as much time to pedal somewhere as it does to drive.

the price of oil surging means you can burn your shein clothes, extract the oil, and make more money than you paid

I preserve so much of my peace by not having to chase down refunds for counterfeit products.

She could not understand why she wasn’t allowed to bring it into the house.

A tiny terrier proudly holds a disembodied deer's leg in her mouth. She is not letting go of that thing ever.

My mom's little dog, Abby, found herself a TREASURE.

The dog age math is a valid point, but taking a bird dog into a chicken yard right after a pheasant hunt is spectacularly dumb.

A screenshot from a Feb. 25, 2014 Facebook post reading, "Today's reporting adventure resulted in some minor bloodshed. Just my own, though, so that's OK.

One thing I miss about working for the ol' word factory is being invited to do things I might not have thought to try ... like Krav Maga.

A leashed German shepherd ponders a hopscotch court drawn in colorful chalk on the sidewalk

Oh, of course we did.