Gosh, diplomat, itinerant fencing master and mercenary. What’s not to like about Fiori dei Liberi?

I’ll have to research those. I fenced in high school but never heard of either gentleman. It appears my education was sorely lacking.

Me too! I saw a GG1 in action one time. Absolutely amazing.

What are your thoughts on Pennsylvania Railroad’s GG1 locomotives as compared to Norfolk & Western’s J-Class 4-8-4?

It’s National Autism Acceptance Month, which IMO has a resigned tone to it, as if grudgingly admitting that autistic people exist and oh, well, we’ll just have to put up with them.
I find that amusing, because here we are, deal with it.
Now let’s discuss our favorite dinosaurs and medieval weapons.

Voiceover: “But in reality, it was exactly what he was doing.”

My favorite bubble tea place sells a a beverage called Jasmine Rose Milk Tea with salted cheese.
That seems like an odd combination of flavors.

Did you know that Dr. Ole Ivar Lovaas, who pioneered Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for autism, also developed therapies to “cure” gender nonconformity in children?
ABA forces children to suppress their autistic traits to make them seem more “normal.”
I’m autistic. IMO Lovaas was a monster.

Me, to my son, as he’s cutting up a dead tree with a chainsaw: “Don’t cut your leg off!”
Him: “I was going to, but since you said I shouldn’t I won’t.”

Pockets has the same weary, annoyed expression that I used to see in desk sergeants when I’d visit cop shops, digging for news.

Absolutely! I hear it from my Georgia in-laws all the time.

I’m sorry. Hope it doesn’t get infected.

If you kids don’t settle down and stop that racket, I’m going to follow Grandma’s recipe and make an Easter lamb cake for dessert tomorrow.

Pockets is in the slammer again. Send lawyers, guns and money.

You may find yourself teleported to a Waffle House.
And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
That’s what puzzles Gregg Allen Phillips, below, head of the Office of Response and Recovery in the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He claimed it happened to him twice.

Just finished reading The Pursued, by Corey Mead.
What a ride! It’s a true account of a years-long campaign of threats and violence against a quiet, churchgoing Kansas woman that left law enforcement stymied.
The ending is a shocker.

Tree met fence. Neither was happy about it. Usually there are deer back there, but they made themselves scare in the recent snowstorm.

Pockets and her lookalike Valentine card

H.P. Lovecraft’s cats, Mittens, Mr. Whiskers, Snookums, and Garnaxx Devourer of Souls.

An unexpected daylight appearance by Pockets. She dragged her play mat out to show us that the battery needed recharging. Clever kitty!

Happy Caturday from Pockets, who dislikes being Photographed.

What if Amazon MGM Studios’ film, Melania, was INTENDED to be a massive flop? What if it was a scam, like the play at the center of Mel Brooks’ The Producers? Although in that case, “Springtime for Hitler,” the intentionally terrible musical-within-a-musical, turned out to be a hit? Just wondering.

To paraphrase what Hippocrates wrote in his Aphorisms: Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Reader, due to today’s snowstorm, and my dislike of going outside when it’s below 30 degrees Fahrenheit, I had crab Rangoon and jelly beans for breakfast.
Below: The Vent. It must remain unblocked.

I’m filling out the worksheet provided by our accountant, so he can do our 2025 taxes.
I find it satisfying to be able to account for every penny. My mother was a CPA and she trained me well.
Pockets has no interest in taxes, as far as I can tell.

I do love me some Aickman.

My offer of fingertip towels for my son’s powder room didn’t go well.
He said I sounded like I was from the 19th century. What was a powder room? And nobody ever heard of fingertip towels.
I assured him they exist, and he needs some for his guests.
“They can dry their hands on their pants,” he said.

Hello, are you there? Do you wish to communicate with me?

Some person I never heard of sent me that message on here. I’m not a ghost and this isn’t a Ouija board, so I ignored them.

All the plants left behind by the former owners of our son’s new house are toxic to cats. These are just three of them. There are several more.
They’re shut away in the sunroom, where his cat can’t get them and poison herself.
I call this room the SHU.
IYKYK

Pockets is getting larger, and her coat has more stripes. If she were to morph into a tiger I wouldn’t be surprised.

Striped tail!