Category Archives: Fantasy

2026, animals, Fantasy, home, Mysteries, pets

Detente?

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When YA and I started our search for a dog, the #1 trait that I was worried about was “does this dog have a strong chase instinct”?  For eleven years, Guinevere chased Nimue.  It was just her instinct to chase, especially when startled.  Any time the cat surprised her (like jumping off the bed when Guinevere was snoozing nearby), the dog would lunge out of her sleep.  As soon as she lunged, the cat would run.  The minute the cat ran, Guinevere would chase; she couldn’t help herself.  Unfortunately this ended with the cat getting injured a couple of times early on.  After that YA and I set up a couple of serious gates that allowed escape routes for the cat in the two places where the trouble was happening.  That solved their problem – it was a pain for YA and me.  We did not want to have this problem repeated with a new dog.

While Freya does chase squirrels and rabbits in the yard, she’s not shown any interest in chasing the cat.  In fact, she is afraid of the cat. If Nimue is on the back porch when I open the door to let the dog in, Freya freezes on the back steps until I shoo the kitty back into the kitchen.  If the cat is on the steps to go upstairs, Freya will stay at the bottom of the steps until Nimue has gone all the way up.  And the only way I’ve been able to get Freya on the bed when Nimue is already in residence is with a bunch of treats; as soon as the treats are gone, the dog is gone.

Nimue is loving this.  After all those years, she is definitely enjoying having the upper paw.  She will turn and give the dog the stink eye.  There has been some hissing and I’ve even caught her chasing Freya a couple of times.

It’s been three months and I’m starting to see the very first signs of an eventual détente.  Freya is a little braver about coming in or up when she sees the cat.  The cat is ignoring more.  And a few times it seems clear that Freya would like to play with Nimue.  She follows behind, doing some sniffing and then plopping into that classic “Wanna play?” pose with the butt in the air.  Then yesterday morning, when Freya came into the kitchen, Nimue was sitting on top of the kennel.  Fraya approached slowly, nose stretched out.  Nimue didn’t exactly stretch to meet, but she didn’t back off and for a few moments they were nose to nose.  Then Nimue moved back a bit to lay on the blanket, out of Freya’s reach. 

I didn’t realize how much I was longing for this until I saw it.  All my other dogs and cats have gotten along well until Guinevere came along to rock the boat.  I do miss her but I don’t miss the chaos.  Now I’m eager to see how long it takes for Nimue and Freya to settle into, if not friendship, or even companionship, but détente.

Tell me about someone you’ve had to learn to deal with.

2026, Computers, Fantasy, home, Kids, work

The New Office

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During Covid, once I got un-furloughed, YA and I were both working from home – she was fulltime and I was half-time.  She had a desk in her room with the big monitor and I had my big monitor in my studio.  Most days I moved the big monitor onto the floor in the corner so I could use my desk for crafts.  YA left her big monitor up on her desk all the time.

When I retired (and permanently excised the big monitor from my studio), YA began to do her work-from-home Mondays and Fridays from the dining room.  The big monitor in her room didn’t get turned on for MONTHS.  It was occasionally problematic with her in the dining room.  She is very sensitive to background noise when she is on calls so if I doing anything downstairs (like cooking), it bugged her.  And me. 

About two months ago she casually mentioned that we should probably get rid of the old day bed in what we call the sunroom.  It’s a small room, windows on three sides – no closet.  Since I’ve been slowly but steadily de-cluttering the house, I probably said “uh huh” and nodded my head.  Then about a week later, she said that she’d like to make the sunroom into a home office.  The light bulb about the day bed flashed on at that point. 

We had to take the day bed apart to get it to the boulevard.  The city took it off our hands in three different trucks over three different days and then YA went to work.  Cleaned, vacuumed, moved her desk into the new office and positioned the big monitor front and center.  Then of course, she had to fill the empty space in her room – more cleaning and vacuuming.  The little vanity that she moved looked swamped so off she went to IKEA and came home with a new vanity.  It looks good. 

The little old vanity sat on the boulevard for about 45 minutes before somebody stopped and scooped it up.

The curtain fiasco took about a week since first the curtain rods she ordered didn’t work and then the first set of curtains was too short.  I think, as of this writing, she’s all set.  Friday will be the inauguration of the office so we’ll see how it goes.  Hopefully I won’t make too much noise in the bathroom if I keep the bathroom door shut!!

Have you ever worked from home?  What would be a necessity for you in a home office?

2026, Art, books, dreams, Fantasy, Stories

Library Art

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My local library might as well be my second home; I’m there on average twice a week.  I was hoping they’d have some adjunct program this summer to the Library Passport but alas, they’re just running it the same as last summer.

Two weeks ago, they broke out the chalk for one of the Reading Hour programs and the pavement all around the entrance was decorated with colorful artwork.  The photo above that says “Pippa was here” is my favorite.  Yesterday I noticed that it’s still there, albeit a little faded after two weeks.  I love the idea that some kid planted a metaphorical discovery stake at the library.  Or maybe creating their version of a Hollywood Walk of Fame star?

Whatever the reason, I adore that my library is used and treasured!

OK, fantasy day.  I’ve giving you each a box of chalk.  What artwork will YOU leave in front of the library?   Will you use all the colors, or do you have favorites?

2026, Art, books, Fantasy, Mysteries

Fire Drill

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Last week when I stopped at the library to pick up a couple of things, there was signage at the entrance that at 2 p.m., there was a schedule fire drill.  I asked one of the librarians what was involved and she said “the drill rings, everybody goes outside and stands around until the bell rings to indicate they can come back in.”  She said that they are usually very low-key.

But it made me think about what would happen if it were a real drill and the library was on fire.  It reminded me of the ending scene of Legal Eagles, a wildly improbable film from the mid 80s.  The bad guy sets a fire in a swanky art gallery in New York (where they just happen to be having a memorial service for one of the owners).  As the funeral goers are rushing to get out, there is a quick shot of some folks trying to take some of the art with them:

So, here’s the drill.  You’re in the library when the bells go off, somebody yells “smoke, smoke”.  You have just enough time to save five books.  What books will they be?  I’ll get us started.

  • Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  • Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Us by Heather McGee.

Go.  (elaborate if desired)

2026, Business, Fantasy, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Cereal Ploy

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I saw a funny meme on Facebook last week:

It made me laugh at the time but now I’m thinking that this has to be on purpose.  Cereals have been in non-resealable bags for decades now.  I can’t think of one single good reason except that not being able to re-seal the bags means the cereal gets stale faster and then we toss the stale stuff and buy new.   YA and I have quite a collection of clips that we use for cereal, veggie sausages, pasta, marshmallows – all items that aren’t re-sealable.  YA likes to sort these clips by colors on the hood of our oven.

Thinking about this of course led me to thinking about shampoo bottles.  According to the internet, shampoo companies began to use the phrase “lather, rinse and repeat” in the direction sections of their bottles.  I can’t find anything that specifies which company’s marketing department came up with it first but I’m guessing all the other companies jumped on that bandwagon as fast as their little feet would carry them.  I don’t know when consumers caught on and probably caused an uproar, but in checking the shampoo in our bathroom currently, one kind (baby shampoo) doesn’t say anything about repeating.  The Prell and the Head & Shoulders both now say “repeat if desired”.

So what will it take to get re-sealable cereal bags?  Another consumer revolution?

Anything you wish came in different packaging?

2026, Family, Fantasy, Mysteries

The Box

35 Comments

Prologue.  Before YA and I went to St. Louis for my mom’s service and to clean out her condo, my middle sister mentioned that we should keep an eye out for Nonny’s wedding ring. She had stopped wearing it a few years back (due to her arthritis) and apparently it was now missing.  When we arrived and stopped at my sister’s house, she talked about it again.  Over the course of the next 24 hours, it was clear that she has also told everyone else in the family about the ring being missing. 

Everybody looked all over the “normal” places and one of the funnier parts of the week was all of us, one by one, discovering the plastic bag in the closet labeled “Wedding Ring”.  Unfortunately we all had our hopes dashed one at a time as it was discovered over and over again that it was an old quilt in the wedding ring pattern.  Shoot.

On Tuesday, in the back corner of a closet, we found “the box”.  It was a security box – a little surprising since it probably cost more than we figured Nonny would spend.  We were pretty sure we had all of Nonny’s important papers so were a little perplexed as to why she had a high-level security box.  It took us quite a while to find the keys as we had made quite a mess of her condo, emptying out drawers and closets to start sorting into piles of “toss, keep, donate”, and in that time, we had a whole lot of wild speculation going.  Were we all adopted and the papers were in there?  Witness protection proof?  Secret bank accounts?  All most all of us (there were ten of us in the condo at that point) were thinking we would find her wedding ring.

This is what we found when we opened the box:

As a non-believer, I was a little hesitant to unseal this envelope so my nephew pulled it out of the box.  He was a little wary as well.  There was one piece of paper in the envelope:

What?  Wars, Vaccumn (sic), David Surgery, Dorothy, Sunday School.  What?  Two hours of discussion.  The list was obviously made two and a half years ago.  That’s when David’s first surgery happened and was when Dorothy, her neighbor across the hall passed away; we think that wars, David and Dorothy were ideal candidates for God to keep an eye on.  But vacuum and the Sunday School class?  And why this single sheet in this single envelope labeled God and locked by itself in a very secure box?  I mean, Nonny was an inveterate list-maker.  We found several of them while we were cleaning but none of the others made the box.

During our talks, we came up with more wild ideas about why, why, why.  I won’t go into all of them here but I’ll tell you mine, simply because it got the most laughs.

Sometime in the future, 10 people (all strangers) will be staying at a fancy spa on a little island in the Caribbean.  Beginning the first night of their stay, two of these folks have envelopes delivered to their room.  In each envelope is a notecard with the word “wars”.  At breakfast, they all scratch their heads about it, but then later in the day, both folks are found murdered.  And of course, the only boat has been disabled and no one’s phones can get a connection off the island.  Too far to swim to the nearest island.  One the second night, two more folks get an envelope with a card waying “vacuum”.  You guessed it… both those folks are found dead during the next day.  The remaining six folks have one day to figure out the clues before the next deaths….

Any better thoughts?  Do you have a lock-box?  Will it be a mystery to your heirs?

2026, Family, Fantasy, Food, home, Mysteries

A World Gone Mad

28 Comments

Gravity, the 5-second rule, Murphys Law, chocolate is a food group, the toast will always land buttered-side down, oatmeal raisin cookies masquerading as chocolate chip cookies are sent by evil entities to usurp happiness.  These are givens.  In addition YA doesn’t like farm eggs and YA doesn’t like my recipe for deviled eggs.

Farm eggs.  I adore Ben’s farm eggs.  Rich, full flavor and then there are those deep golden yolks.  Bring them on!  Unfortunately YA isn’t always sure about “new” things and the farm eggs fall into this category.  She hasn’t said exactly but I think it’s the color of the yolks.

Deviled eggs.  While in theory YA likes deviled eggs, she doesn’t like my preferred recipe.  I’ve mentioned before that I am a Miracle Whip gal.  YA has grown up into a mayonnaise gal.  It I make the eggs with some Miracle Whip and some mayonnaise and give it a good dose of mustard, she will sometimes have one, but not always.

So after Ben delivered eggs on Sunday, I immediately boiled up a few and made deviled eggs.  When I asked YA if she was interested, she said no, so I made them my favorite way – Miracle Whip, mustard, pickle relish, salt, pepper.  And because they were farm eggs, they were stunning looking – more golden and orangish even than the header photo.  I ate some immediately, had some for breakfast on Monday (they were marvelous on toast with strawberry jam) and was looking forward to the last of the batch of breakfast yesterday.

Lo and behold – when I came downstairs, the container that had held the remaining four halves was empty and sitting in the sink.  SHE ATE MY DEVILED EGGS!  Even though I had made her least favorite version. 

So now what?  I feel like I need to re-write all my life expectations.  What’s next… will the toast fall butter side up?

Any universal truths that have let you down?

2026, Fantasy, Health, Technology, Uncategorized

AI Ears

26 Comments

Husband’s hearing aids are the sort that are battery operated. At least once a week he has to replace the batteries, those tiny round ones that come in a round plastic case and that are impossible to remove from their packaging. Husband has very poor fine motor skills at this point, and it has become increasingly difficult to change the batteries. I am always worried he will drop one and a dog will swallow it.

We decided it was time to move up to rechargeable hearing aids. We visited an audiologist last week and ordered these high tech, state of the art hearing aids. They come in a nice red color that are easy to see when not in his ears. They are somehow hooked up to an AI program that causes them to mainly pick up sound from the dominant environmental sound source. They sound so wonderful I almost want to give them names and have a welcome home party. They also cost a bundle, so Husband better not lose them.

I find the emerging AI presence in our world disturbing, but I can see the benefit if used for things like hearing aids. We pick them up next week in Sioux Falls. I hope they live up to their hype.

Thoughts, fears, hopes about AI?

2026, Fantasy, Health, home, News, Uncategorized

Rumours

38 Comments

I am giggling. On Monday afternoon, Husband was in the driveway seasoning his new automatic charcoal smoker/grill, when the neighbor across the street came over to talk. She is a couple of years older than I am, and I was a high school classmate of her younger sister. Our mothers were in the same sewing club. Her family owned the Old Norwegian Boarding House in Luverne in the early years of the 20th century. Her son recently fixed our tires.

Mary asked Husband anxiously how I was doing, as another neighbor, someone we only met once, told her he heard that I had been diagnosed with dementia.

Well, this was quite a surprise! Husband had me come out to reassure Mary that I was fine, and in possession of all my faculties. She gave me an enormous hug, and said she would go have a little talk with the neighbor to let him know he was wrong, and that he had probably mixed me up with another close neighbor who actually has been diagnosed with Alzheimers. We walk our dogs with that woman, whose name is Jeanette. Her husband is a Vietnam Vet with MS and Agent Orange issues.

This is a small town. I am curious if any other residents have heard I have dementia, and how I should address it. Start reciting facts and figures? Wear a sign that says “I am cognitively intact”? Maybe I can act outrageously in public and everyone will forgive me!

How would you manage a situation like this? Ever been the subject of a rumour?

2026, Fantasy, Food, Gatherings, Music, Uncategorized

Lucky Eggs?

36 Comments

Last Saturday I re-created a dish that I had seen on the internet (love Webspoon – if that’s not the definition of food porn, I don’t know what is).  The first step is to whisk 3 eggs with salt and pepper.  When I cracked the second egg into the bowl – double yolks!  I’m not sure but I think the last time I came up with a double yolk was before YA was born.  The internet says the odds are 1 in a 1000.  I don’t understand statistics that well, because we go through eggs at a pretty good rate; I would think I would come across them more often.

Of course, when I’m writing this, I’m not feeling particularly lucky but last Saturday it felt like a good thing.  It was a pretty day.  I made a nice dish using up the last of the tortillas and a jar of my homemade tomato sauce from the freezer – you all know how much I like using up stuff.  And I had a concert on Saturday night (Cantus at Westminster downtown) that was spectacular.

Wish the good luck from those yolks could have lasted longer, but I’ll take any good day I can get!

Tortilla Omelette
3 eggs, whisked together with salt & pepper
Add 4 tortillas, rolled up and cut into strips
Add 2 vegetarian brats, chopped up (Webspoon used ham, rolled up and cut into strips)
Add a cup or so of shredded cheese (I used some mozzarella & some Mexican shred)
Pat is all down in a springform pan
Add a cup or so of tomato sauce and spread evenly over top
Add a bit more cheese if you so desire
25 minutes in a 350° oven.
Let it sit for at least 15 minutes to firm up before cutting.
Yum-O

What makes a lucky day for you?  Any double yolks recently?