Unsurprising Turn of Events

Just a little post today to link to an article: Opinion | Executive Order on Vaccines Bypasses Evidence-Based Process That Has Kept Kids Safe.

If I had more time, I'd spend it writing a longer post bemoaning the anti-vaxxers. I might even have pondered the anti-science people and how the regime is pandering to them (although, I think many of them believe some of this stuff). There are studies that show right-wingers are more likely to react to things from a position of fear, and the whole anti-vaccination push feeds into those fears. 

I have such high hopes for myself when it comes to writing Tuesday blog posts, and then when it's time to write the post, I chicken out. Maybe next week? 

I might be a bit scarce this week as school started, and, well, I have a feeling this week is going to be kind of busy for me. Explanations should be forthcoming next week.

The Next Step

Step 1: Complete oval to desired width of sweater. 

✅ Complete.

Step 2: For back of sweater, continue working the top half of the oval until the color of yarn is the same color as the outer round of the front oval. 

While working the top half, flatten the side of the oval. 

And... That's my next little puzzle. I know the basic formula. As I get to the edge, I work shorter stitches. Each row I'll start further back as the edge becomes flat rather than curvy. But I have to eyeball it, and this is not quite right. 

I have some wiggle room as this part will be in the seam. 

Anyway, the back needs a bit more length while the front is going to have a deeper neckline. I kind of have it worked out in my head, but we'll have to see if the actual physical piece works out the way I planned. 

At least I have now completed the ovals. Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to assemble them. Progress. 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering
• Summer Crochet
• Slow Going
• Doing the Math

The Color Quizzes: What's White?

I bet you thought we were done. Nope, not quite. There is another color we have not hit yet (via Quizly). White. 

What's White?

I got 19 out of 21. A few of these weren't as obvious as you'd think. How did you do? Let me know in the comments.

Teacher Reels 13

School starts back up next week. Now that I've had the summer to kind of cleanse my palate (so to speak), it's time to remember what I'm in for. (Not that I'll necessarily have work next week, but...) This is a Thursday 13.

1. Mr. Jahn @JahnifestDestiny

Can confirm, sometimes it's just fun to listen to them talk. 

2. Amanda & Zach Smith @amandasindallas

How was your day? Nice he gets to give a snapshot. I could totally see a kid doing this.

3. Educator Andrea @educatorandrea

"Wandering around asking people for Cheetos and Takis while we're reading about the Holocaust..." Been there.

4. MyTeacherFace @MyTeacherFace

Sometimes we can say the weirdest things. Teenagers...

5. Mr. Firth @Mister_Firth

Sometimes we really are in tune with the kiddos.

6. Gabe Dannenbring @gabedannenbring24

"Stop touching each other." Yup. And "It's on the board." Said frequently. 

7. Sam Salem @samuelsleeves

He's a sub and a comedian. And I absolutely want to do this. (The thing in the video, not being a comedian. I'm no comedian.) 

8. Mr. Moore Taught Me @MrMooreTaughtMe

Yup, everyone absolutely chimes in. Well, the ones that we're not talking to.

9. Levi Hawk @levihawk_teaching 

They absolutely think they're hiding their phones. They're not. They're obvious.

10. Coach Russo @MrRussoHealth

I mean, I haven't seen a dab in a while, but the rest of this...

11. Talana @Talanagram

Can confirm. Asking a class to quiet down does not work. 

12. Gregisms @Gregisms

The elementary kids say the darndest things.

13. Philip Lindsay @Mr_lindsay

I have yet to meet a student who says they're locking in actually lock in.

Why do I do this job again? 

Feed Reader Accessible

Whenever I get a comment from a blogger I have not met before, the first thing I do is to add them to my Feedly. (I talked about this last year.) Whether or not we end up regularly interacting, it's easier to have access to the latest posts without my having to search for them every time. (I especially do this in April, because otherwise I would not be able to keep up.) 

But this doesn't always work. 

I already wrote about how I can't do this if I can't find a link to the blogger's blog. But I ran into another issue not that long ago. I easily found the blogger's blog, but Feedly could not add the blog to my roll. 

Uh oh... 

When I'm visiting other blogs, I use my feed reader. They're all collected in one place for me. I don't have to go searching. I don't have to keep track of anyone's schedule. If a blogger who's been dormant suddenly reappears, I see the post. If a blogger took some time off, I'm not hitting up their blog daily only to find no new post. 

The system isn't foolproof. Sometimes the feed reader won't update in a timely fashion. I generally have my posts publish at 6 AM Pacific Time. I've had my posts show up hours later. But generally, to keep up with dozens of blogs, the system works well enough. 

Unless I can't add the blog to my feed reader. 

I went looking for an alternative. Did the blogger have an email subscription? No? 

So, how am I supposed to remember to check this blog? I'm going to have to hope that they comment on my blog when they have a new post?

This is why today I'm asking you: is your blog is available to add to a feed reader? 

It is generally a good idea to have ways for a reader to keep up with your blog. If you look at my sidebar, you'll see several options for mine. 

"Subscribe To" is one of the options when setting up things for the sidebar. "Follow By Email" is via Follow It. I created an account, and they provided this graphic for the sidebar. (I did a post about adding gadgets to the sidebar a while ago.) 

The "Followers" is also a selection in the sidebar tools. "Follow on feedly" and "Follow me on bloglovin'" I got from both of those readers. If you click either of them, it'll help you add my blog to your account there (or you could set up an account there to follow my blog and all the other blogs you follow). 

Since everyone blogs differently, I've tried to have as many options as I know about so other bloggers can keep track of me easily. (If there's another option I don't have, please let me know in the comments so I can add it there.) 

And so, it might be time to check to see if your blog can be accessed by the feed readers. 

Is your RSS enabled? Blogger help has an article for your reference. 

Go into "Settings" and scroll down to "Site Feed". 

As you can see, I have "Full" enabled. You have a choice:

"Full" means that if someone goes to the feed reader, they can see my full post. "Until Jump Break" and "Short" mean that the feed reader only shows a short portion of the post. I generally click through and go to the actual post on the blog, because you can't leave comments on the feed reader. But, some might just read the post and not interact, so I can see why some might not want to enable "Full". 

And that should do it. It's easy enough to check that it works by uploading your blog to the feed reader of your choice. (It's a good idea to do this as it's a good check for you. I've caught issues with my blog a few times.) 

Do you use a feed reader? How do you keep track of the blogs you follow? 

Women Losing Jobs

Why were July's jobs numbers so terrible? Because women are losing jobs. Women lost 32,000 jobs in July while men gained 9,000. 

I guess making America great again means relegating women back to housework. 

Remind me why feminists are the problem. 

Doing the Math

I did not do a whole lot of crocheting last week, but I did do a bit of math. Decisions were made. I've decided that side one is the back...

...and it's about an inch away from the oval being complete. That's one more round (maybe two). 

Which means that side two is the front. 

It's not quite as far along as the back, so it's going to need at least two, maybe three or four, more rounds. (Working both sides at the same time was definitely the right call.) 

Yes, both sides are a bit wavy, but not nearly as bad as they could be, and I think they'll flatten out as the sweater is worn. That is, I'm no longer worrying about it. 

So, how am I going to turn both of those ovals into a sweater? I'd attempt to explain, but I doubt it'll make any sense. That's what pictures are for. 

I'd love to say that the ovals will be finished by next week, but I can't say that for sure. Considering the heat and my general slothishness lately, it might not happen. (Then again, it's not really that much more, so it is possible.) 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering
• Summer Crochet
• Slow Going

The Color Quizzes: What's Yellow?

We've just about finished off all the colors (via Quizly quizzes). So, this week's color should be no surprise. We're at yellow. 

What's Yellow?

I got 18 out of 20. I did know quite a few of these (and not as many did I get via process of elimination). 

How well did you do? Let me know in the comments.

Difficulties or Excuses?

Wednesday. The continuation high school. Computer aided drafting.

Wait. A subbing day...?

Yes, it is still technically summer. The first day of school is in about a week and a half. But the continuation high school starts early (mid-July), so this time of year there's always a chance that I might get to work. If something pops up, I grab it. 

I've covered this teacher's class many, many times, so I knew the drill. They had projects. (They work on Solidworks, completing various drafting activities.) They get their credit upon completion of the assignments, so if they goof around, it's only hurting their own graduation. 

Third period. Joey's task was to program a robot to "dance" to a song of his choice. 

Joey? He explained that he needed Mr. G's help. 

This happens all the time. I asked Joey if there was some way we could figure it out. He booted up the computer (which ran an old Windows because that's what the robot was connected to), and connected to the necessary software. The robot moved. But, as Joey attempted to add to the program, he could get nothing to "stick". Every movement he input disappeared as soon as he tried to get it to work. 

I am sure that we're missing something obvious. But as I'm unfamiliar with the software, I don't know what that obvious thing is. Sigh. 

I'm used to these students making excuses, so I try to push a bit. 

Sixth period. Two girls were "concerned" that I was "standing too close". I was just making sure they could log in. Then Elian had all sorts of excuses as to why Instagram was on his computer rather than the CAD software. 

I gave them time to get their music set up. But Elian was still not working. Why? He said he was done. 

On a Wednesday? 

Generally, the teacher gives an assignment for the week. Most of them slow walk it, finishing by Friday, maybe. The rest of the classes, it didn't look like the kiddos were doing much, but it was the kind of fiddly work that doesn't look like much. They were enlarging their screens to the point that they were looking very closely at detail. And making minute changes. 

I've watched kiddos work in this class before. That is the sort of thing I expect. 

Elian? Done? 

I mean, he could be. It's possible. But unlikely. 

But, if he doesn't complete the project, he doesn't get credit. It's his grade. 

I left a note that Elian said he was done. And I left it at that. 

If he's scrambling in May to get credits done, he can remember the goofing off he did in July. 

And now back to my summer vacation.

For a Commenting Profile That Won't Stick

Have you ever tried to comment on a blog post only to have your profile not load? No matter what you do, you can't get the site to recognize you, so you're stuck commenting as "anonymous" (if the blog actually allows anonymous comments, otherwise you're just out of luck). 

No, sorry, I don't have a fix for you. A few weeks back, I attempted to tackle the issue by asking if you had your cookies enabled. Alas, I don't think this solved the problem (but if you haven't tried that, try it first). But I was reminded of something a school IT guy told me. They search and research and ask various people in the hopes of finding someone who has fixed an issue. 

While visiting my brother last month, I asked him the question. He did not have an answer for me, but he was able to articulate a question and input it into Google's Gemini. (Yes, I hate AI, but it gave an answer. It has to be useful for something.) 

So, if you're stuck and have tried everything, there's one more thing to try. 

But first I'll post the answer just in case some of you find it useful. 

The question: Mac user reporting that their profile won’t stick. When they try to log in with user and pass, it doesn’t log them in. It vanishes. Is this more of a browser issue?

Because we were wondering if it was a browser thing (as some of you have reported that one browser works just fine while you have issues with another), we included that information. And Gemini replied that yes, it most likely is. This is good news as if you're having commenting issues, it might be a great time to download a different browser and use it instead. The answer Gemini gave: 

Yes, this is almost certainly a browser issue, specifically tied to how Mac browsers (most notably Safari) handle cross-site tracking and cookie authentication.

Blogger frequently drops users into a "login loop" or vanishes the session immediately after authentication because it negotiates between two separate domains: [www.blogger.com](https://www.blogger.com) (the dashboard) and blogspot.com (the published content). If the browser blocks the communication between these domains, the session data won't stick.

So, basically, when you go to log in (so Blogger recognizes you), your info vanishes because of how the browser communicates with the website. Gemini gave some suggestions on how to fix it. 

1. The Safari Culprit: Cross-Site Tracking

Safari has an aggressive native privacy feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP). If they are using Safari, it routinely blocks the cross-domain authentication tokens required by Blogger.

The Fix: Have them go to Safari > Settings (or Preferences) > Privacy and temporarily uncheck "Prevent cross-site tracking".

After unchecking it, they should clear their history, restart Safari, and try logging in again.

This is for the specific Mac issue. If you're not on Mac, skip this and move on to #2. 

2. Third-Party Cookie Restrictions (Chrome / Arc / Brave)

If they are using Chrome or a Chromium-based Mac browser, strict settings or extensions might be blocking third-party cookies, which prevents the Google authentication state from transferring to Blogger.

The Fix: Have them check chrome://settings/cookies and ensure third-party cookies aren't completely blocked, or add [*.]blogger.com and [*.]google.com to the allowed sites list.

This is for Mac, but it is probably similar for Windows-based systems. Then...

3. State/Onboarding Profile Corruption

Sometimes the login "vanishes" because the Google account is successfully authenticating, but the Blogger backend is bouncing them because the profile lacks a required Display Name or is stuck in an onboarding state.

The Fix: Have them open a new tab and go directly to [https://www.blogger.com/onboarding](https://www.blogger.com/onboarding) or [https://www.blogger.com/profile.g](https://www.blogger.com/profile.g). If it forces them to enter a display name, completing that step will instantly fix the dashboard drop-out.

I wonder if the above is anyone's issue. I'm sure someone is having that issue. And finally, the "quickest triage step": 

Have them try to log in via a completely different browser (like Firefox) or an Incognito/Private window with all extensions disabled. If that works seamlessly, you've confirmed it's a localized cookie/privacy setting on their primary browser.

I hope this helps. If you're having this issue and this helps, or if you're having this issue and this doesn't help, please let me know. I'll keep my eyes and ears open and if I come across another way this could be solved, I'll let you know. 

Withholding Help

It's three times harder to get disaster relief funding under the current regime if you're living in a blue state as opposed to a red state. It's not supposed to work like that. It doesn't matter who your reps are or who your governor is, you should get help if a disaster befalls you. I would not wish such a thing on my worst enemy, and yet, here we are, dealing with the fallout of a manbaby throwing a tantrum about helping fellow Americans in need. 

FEMA said yes, but the manbaby said no, so it became no. And now, with the wildfires in Oregon, the senators are demanding why FEMA won't help them out. Why are we paying into a system that denies helping us when we need it? 

(Although, the same could be said of our healthcare system...)

Since we can't rely on the government, it's time to look into mutual aid organizations. Donate if you can. When you hear about disasters in blue states, make sure to amplify any group that's helping, as that might be the only help that's coming. 

And make your displeasure known to your representatives. They know this is wrong. Remind them that they work for us, not the other way around. It's their job to stand up against the executive branch. They're supposed to be a check, not a rubber stamp. 

Slow Going

Sorry, no new pictures this week. Just side 1:

and side 2: 

from last week. 

The big problem with doing something like this is that the early rounds make it look like it's building quickly, as each round is short. Now, the rounds take a while, so it doesn't look like much is happening each round. Or rather, each oval. 

But I made some important decisions with regards to how I'm going to make this sweater-shaped. I'd explain, but it won't make much sense in writing, and I don't have visuals yet. 

First it needs to be the width I want. Each round adds about an inch. I'm over halfway done, but it still feels like I'm crawling. 

And, at this time of year my palms and the soles of my feet sweat, so that makes for uncomfortable yarn work. (Although, crochet is way easier than knitting.)

I feel a bit lighter with a plan in place. Now, if the weather would just cool off a bit, I might feel like working on it more.

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering
• Summer Crochet

The Color Quizzes: What's Orange?

This year my birthday falls on a Friday. Today. Once I knew I was doing color quizzes this summer, I knew which color I was going to post for my birthday. Orange. 

What's Orange?

Whew. I got an 18 out of 18. Of all the colors, this is the one I should know. Alas, some of these I did get via process of elimination. 

(While I don't have an ultimate favorite color, I am quite partial to orange.)

How did you do? Let me know in the comments. 

13 Shows to Stream

Ah, the joys of mid-summer, when TV is a vast wasteland. Are you struggling to find something interesting to watch? I am. So, I've listed (for Thursday 13) thirteen shows that I enjoyed recently (across varying streaming platforms). 

(I did this last year for Apple TV Plus and Netflix. I won't repeat any of the shows already on those lists.) 

In the comments feel free to suggest anything you think we also might enjoy. (Please. Seriously. I need something to watch.) 

1. The Way Home (Netflix)

I wrote about this show back in 2023 after seeing season 1. I recently saw that Netflix had added it. (It had aired on the Hallmark Channel.) And season 4 (containing the show's finale) just finished a couple months ago. Only the first three seasons are on Netflix at the moment, but I expect that they'll add the fourth and final season soon. 

The concept: they have a time travelling pond. That is, when members of the Landry family jump into this pond, they can surface at any point in history. The show begins with Alice finding herself in 1999 when her mother was her age. But by the end of the series, they've seen the early 1800s, the 1920s, the 1970s, and then they came home. 

Link to trailer.

2. Death by Lightning (Netflix)

I wrote about this show already in December, but it bears repeating (and I needed enough shows to make 13). 

This show is all about the election of (and death of) President James Garfield. The history is way weirder than I ever knew.

Link to trailer.

3. Dept. Q (Netflix)

Crime drama in Scotland. Very well done. (Also violent. Sorry.) I don't want to give too much away as it would spoil the first couple episodes, and you really don't want me to do that. 

Link to trailer.

4. This Is a Gardening Show (Netflix)

My brother turned this on a couple weeks back (while I was visiting). Zach Galifianakis talks about gardening. The episodes are short. Lots of kids are involved. And while it is informative, it is also comedy, so if you aren't into gardening, you might still enjoy the show.

Link to trailer.

5. Lioness (Paramount +)

An elite team recruits a female soldier to insinuate herself next to a target that they need to "take out". Politics and drama ensue. Lots of famous faces. Murky moral ground. And a great show. I saw recently that season 3 is coming, and I can't wait. 

Link to trailer.

6. School Spirits (Paramount +) 

I avoided season 2 for way too long. Silly me. 

One day Maddie wakes up to discover that she's dead. How did she die? She has no idea. The other ghosts at her high school (because she died at school) want to help, kind of. And her best friend Simon can see her, for some weird reason. 

Link to trailer.

7. Sky Med (Paramount +)

I wrote about this show two years ago, but I'm repeating it here as there've been two whole new seasons since then (and I needed enough shows to make 13). 

Canadian show about an airline that transports people to hospitals. Kind of an air ambulance. The various pilots and nurses have romantic dramas in between them saving people from accidents and such. I like rescue shows, so this is right up my alley. 

Link to trailer.

8. Pluribus (Apple +)

One day an alien virus turns the whole world into one hive mind. Except for Carol (and 11 other individuals across the globe). Carol wants to turn them all back, but she doesn't know how. Oh, and the rest of the world? Very nice. Seemingly happy. And all they want is for Carol to be happy (while they figure out why the virus didn't work on her). 

Getting through the first episode or two was hard. But once the plot settles, it gets interesting.

Link to trailer.

9. Shining Girls (Apple +)

Okay, so I lied. I did mention this one last year on that list, but I hadn't seen it yet. (I rounded out the list with shows that were recommended but I hadn't seen yet.) Now I've seen it, and woo-boy... It's a doozy. 

A woman's reality keeps changing, and she has no idea why. She'll come home from work to find she now has a cat instead of a dog. She'll go into work and find her desk has moved. No one around her notices the differences. (Imagine coming home to a husband you did not have when you left for work. Yeah, that happened.) 

At the same time, there's a series of murders that don't make sense. They take place over a time frame that doesn't make sense. But somehow they seem to be connected. 

It all connects. Eventually. And I don't want to give out how, because the reveal is so good if you don't know what you're walking into.

Link to trailer.

10. Reacher (Prime)

Large man helps people. He's a drifter (retired from the military) who shows up in a town and ends up helping someone who needs help. Not by choice, really. He just gets pulled into these things. Based on the books by Lee Child. They're doing the seasons out of book order, so if you've read the books, it'll seem jumbled. But great entertainment. 

Link to trailer.

11. Leverage: Redemption (Prime) 

Back several years ago, there was a broadcast show about a group of thieves who used their skills to take down criminals with power. They rebooted it with kind of the same cast, and it's now streaming. I have not quite finished the current season (which reminds me I do have something to watch), but the previous one (or two? hard to recall) were well worth it. 

Link to trailer.

12. Ride or Die (Prime)

I'm only halfway through this new show about an assassin and her best friend. Best friend did not know the woman was an assassin (for 20-something years), but found out because now people are after her. I'm enjoying it so far, and definitely recommend it.

Link to trailer.

13. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney +)

One of my twin nephews was watching this show while I was visiting. I watched some of the show with him, but our timing didn't sync, so I saw an episode here or there, and then he was on to the second season. 

So, when I got home, I pulled up my rarely watched Disney + (which I bundle with Hulu, so it's not costing me extra) and watched it. And now I see season 3 is due in November. 

This show is based on the series of books. Percy finds out that he's a demigod, son of one of the Greek gods, and monsters are after him. He ends up going on quests that bring out various characters out of Greek mythology (and The Odyssey, for those of you who have seen the movie--like Medusa and Circe and Cerberus and...)

Link to trailer.

Historic Roscoe Village

One more Ohio story...

Priscilla (blog name) wanted to see historical things, so sister-in-law took us to Historic Roscoe Village. It's in Coshocton located on Whitewoman Street. Of course, Priscilla questioned that name ("an interesting choice"), but it turns out that the name is there for a good reason. There was a QR code at the end of the street which led to this website. 

The "white woman" was named Mary Harris, who at ten was taken by the local Mohawk tribe, and she eventually became a tribe member, married, and had two sons. Now, if you recall Priscilla from the castle post, you'll understand that we read into that history a bit and wondered at what sort of life Mary had. 

Anyway, onto the tour... 

The tour started at the visitor center, where we were directed to the path we'd be taking and where we checked out keys for the buildings that were locked. (The tour did cost money, but I can't recall how much.)

Our first stop was to the blacksmith. 

There was a real working blacksmith in the small, hot building. He talked about how the job was back in the day, informing us that the first skilled worker in a village would be the blacksmith, and he would have likely been the only one in town who could read. 

Then we moved on to Hay Activity Center where we learned how they printed stuff and how they made brooms. 

It was a hot and humid day. Everything after the blacksmith was air conditioned. Whew. Not period appropriate, but we really appreciated seeing the sights in nice and cool. 

The activity center also contained a little gift shop. It had been a slow day for the guy behind the counter. We enjoyed the a/c. He thought it was a bit cool. 

For the rest of the tour we needed the key (which was a fob that electronically opened the doors). 

The next building was Dr. Johnson's office. It was set up the way it would have been back in the day. I took no pictures. It was set up with the tools he would have used. We went up the (very steep) stairs to find more 19th Century medical stuff. 

Next to his office was his home. That I did take pictures of.

And upstairs.

Then came the home of Daniel Boyd, a weaver. They call it the craftsman house, and they moved it from its original location. 

And his looms, which were in a back room. There were video monitors in each place which gave background. Apparently the looms could be disassembled and reassembled in barns in various locations, as the weaver would travel around to make cloth for communities that did not have a weaver.

Our tour ended at the schoolhouse. 

There was a woman sitting at the teacher's desk, there to answer any questions we had. There were back rooms with displays of the materials the kiddos would have had. Those desks do not look comfortable.

We finished up right about 4 o'clock, which was technically closing time for the tour, although the other buildings had no people, and we had a key to the locks. But as we were leaving, the guy from the gift shop was at the schoolhouse to pick up the woman at the teacher's desk, and rather than us returning the key to the drop box, he said he'd take it up for us (as he was heading that way anyway). That was helpful. 

It's a cute little tour. We did it in about an hour, but a bigger group could totally take their time. (There were a bunch of cute shops along the way, too, but they were all closed the day we were there.) 

It was interesting to see what life was like on the Erie Canal back in the day. This village was right on the highway, but it was then too, just a different sort of highway. 

After leaving, we headed towards dinner, but I already talked about that in a post last week. 

Only Marmots

Did you know it's illegal to wager on an election you're casting a vote in (in Wisconsin)? 

(I would hope that this wasn't isolated to Wisconsin. Time to call your state reps to get this law on the books. *looks up phone number for my California state rep*)

It turns out that those prediction market betting apps don't like this law, so they're pushing back. (Because those prediction market betting apps are horrible. If you want to gamble--please gamble responsibly--use a bookie like an adult.) 

It turns out the road to fascism is paved by idiots pursuing riches. Deep sigh. 

Speaking of scams, let's talk about all the research funding that was cut to provide tax cuts for billionaires. Or rather, let's talk about Daniel Blumstein, whose funding for studying marmots had been cut, so in an effort to raise money (and awareness), he started an OnlyFans for marmots called OnlyMarms. 

It's a great idea. It's too bad that science funding has had to resort to this sort of thing. 

Summer Crochet

I'm wilting. 

I have not been dealing with the summer heat all that well. Terribly, in fact. The thing is, it's not truly that hot. So, I don't have much sympathy for myself here. 

(We've been in the upper 80s and lower 90s. Fahrenheit, of course. Mostly 80s. I mean, if we were spending a lot of time in the 90s and getting into the 100s, then I could understand. But this is pretty standard summer here, so why it's bothering me so much is also annoying me.) 

Which is to say that I'm not making loads of progress on the crochet front. Although, considering the time of year and what I'm normally getting accomplished right about now, I'm positively industrious. 

I added a couple rounds to the first side: 

and a few more rounds to the second: 

Right now they're practically the same size (which is why the first side got some more rounds). They're both wavy, but I think a couple rounds of no increases will tame that out of them a bit. I've decided that they're not wavy enough for me to rip them out again. 

I've gotten to the point where I'm just adjusting every round. I lay it flat. Look at it. And decide if it's feeling ruffly. Then it gets an "even round" (no increases). If it feels flat and the round I just did is curling up, then it gets an "increase round" (I increase every X number of stitches--X is one more than the last "increase round" I did). 

I've decided that since this is going to be for a woman, and women have curves, the bit of ruffle is just so that it'll conform to her curves. 

So, that's where I'm at now. It's going to be slow going for a bit. But then I'll hit the point where it's as big as it needs to get, and then things will get interesting. I hope.

I hope things aren't blazing hot where you are. Ah, the joys of summer. 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering

The Color Quizzes: What's Purple?

I could have done these color quizzes (from Quizly) in rainbow order. I could have done them in the order I took them myself. But no. There's no true logic to the order I'm doing these in. If you haven't seen your favorite color, it's coming. Today, we're going with purple. 

What's Purple?

Apparently I don't know my purples. I only got 13 out of 20 on this one. If I knew it, I knew it. But if I didn't know it, I wasn't able to eliminate as many choices as in the other quizzes. 

Good luck. Let me know how you did in the comments.

13 Days in Ohio

For the last two weeks, I was in Ohio visiting my brother and his family. Here's what I got up to. (This is a Thursday 13.) 

DAY ONE

Flight day. 

The TSA line was non-existent. The agent checked my ID and then sent me back because somehow my birthdate was wrong in the system. (I must have entered it wrong. Oops.) 

Onboard the plane, the pilot introduced himself as Abe Frohman and his copilot as Ed Rooney. I laughed. No one else got the joke. Not my neighbor, who was on his way to Texas for the World Cup game with Egypt. 

We arrived at Dallas 15 minutes early, but we had to circle for 15 minutes due to weather. I had a two hour layover, so I had time to eat something and I had plenty of time to make my flight. 

We arrived on time. My brother picked me up from the airport, and it wasn't terribly late when we got back to his place. 

DAY TWO

The plan was to go to Berlin to explore the Amish shops and such. But I woke with a terrible migraine (with nausea), so I cancelled. (My sister-in-law had other visitors in town, so they all make the trek.) I slept until about 4 PM. 

DAY THREE

The 4th of July. 

Middle nephew is in the high school marching band, so we headed out to the town's 4th of July parade. After the band passed, we headed out, but hit crazy traffic. 

A couple hours later, my niece, her boyfriend, SIL's friend's twin 13-year-old daughters, and I all headed out to the town's street fair. 

There was grilled meat. There were party guests. And there were fireworks. A great time was had by all. 

DAY FOUR

...was a very chill day. One of SIL's friends headed home. The other (Priscilla) took her daughter to skate camp and was gone all day. I watched TV with SIL, did some crochet, and wrote a blog post for Monday. 

DAY FIVE

I got invited along with SIL and her friend Priscilla (blog alias). We started off at Historic Roscoe Village (which should become its own blog post, maybe next week). Then SIL wanted cinnamon rolls from an Amish bakery, so we headed out that way, but when we arrived, it turned out the bakery was closed. Sigh. 

We had dinner at Olde Jaol in Wooster. The fun part was that the restaurant was in the brick basement which used to be the jail. The food was good. 

DAY SIX

Priscilla, Liv (my niece), and I started off in German Village in Columbus. There was a visitor's center where we learned of the history of the area. There was a bookstore with 32 rooms of books. We visited a couple shops, and then we had lunch. 

And then we headed to Loveland Castle which I already wrote a whole post about. 

We drove right by the place first as Priscilla had entered her daughter's skate camp into her GPS, but she figured it out before we went too far beyond where we were supposed to go. And then, on the way back, we met SIL in Columbus at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. (Definitely a different vibe than Mexican restaurants in SoCal.) 

DAY SEVEN

I woke to find a text from my niece. She'd taken the day off work, and would I like to go to Yellow Springs? Yes please. 

Once we finally departed, we had much of the family in tow. Only my brother, who had to work, and middle nephew, who just didn't want to go, stayed home. 

We looked in some shops. We had lunch at the restaurant that has live music in the evenings. 

And then we headed back. We went in search of a rock garden, but didn't make it as the neighborhood it was in was kind of sketchy. 

DAY EIGHT

It was time for a day of rest. I baked chocolate chip cookies with eldest and middle nephews. (I instructed. They did the work.) And that was about it. 

DAY NINE

This was another quiet day. Sitting and watching TV (and crocheting) with the family and getting to just talk to them was nice. Since they don't live close, I don't really get to talk to them that much. And we made plans for Saturday. (This was a Friday.) 

DAY TEN

While looking at a map of the US, I noticed that Ohio borders West Virginia. And I thought it would be cool to drive to West Virginia. 

Point Pleasant, West Virginia, is famous for Mothman sightings prior to a bridge collapse in 1967. They made a movie about this. The family wanted to see the museum. I was happy to tag along. 

Niece and eldest nephew decided to go somewhere else. SIL was feeling terrible, so she stayed home to rest. So, it was just my brother, middle nephew, and the twins with me. 

The drive was very wet. The rain came down pretty hard at times. But it wasn't raining when we arrived. 

It's a cute town. The local shops all cater to the cryptid crowd. And the museum has all sorts of stuff about the Mothman sightings. Maybe not worth the long drive if you don't like the drive, but I had a great time. 

And I got to see the Ohio River. 

DAY ELEVEN

It was a lazy Sunday. This time I baked chocolate chip cookies with Liv. The TV was on. I wrote the blog post about Loveland Castle (see day six). I caught up on some blog visiting. And we didn't do a whole lot of anything else. 

DAY TWELVE

Liv stayed home sick from work, but by the afternoon she was feeling a bit better. She found a yarn shop in Columbus for me to visit. We saw a couple more shops in German Village, but then we headed back as she was tired. And I took a nap as well. 

DAY THIRTEEN

As I prepared for my departure the nephews all wished me well. One of the twins: "I hope your plane doesn't crash." Yeah, he can be a bit blunt. Spoiler: my plane did not crash. 

My layover in Nashville did not go so well, but I already wrote about that yesterday. I got home after 9 PM, and I slept well in my own bed. 

I Blame Nashville (Airport)

I've been home from Ohio for a week now. I had mostly scheduled my posts for when I'd be out of town, but now that I'm back, I have some stories to tell. (I did start a bit last week with the tale of Loveland Castle.) 

Last year, when I went to visit my brother, weather was an issue during my return flight. Waiting for an opening to land in Denver lasted so long, I missed my connecting flight home. Sigh. Yet, at no point did I blame Denver for this. I'm not sure why. 

(I did not want a repeat, so when booking my flight, I made sure not to use Denver as my layover this year.) 

I do, however, blame Nashville. 

When booking my flight this year, I noted that the layover in Nashville would be almost four hours. (We were due to land at about 1:15 PM. The flight was close to on time. We were due to take off at 5:55 PM.)  Considering last year, I was fine with that. 

After deplaning, I went in search of a monitor so I could locate my next flight. The destination cities were in alphabetical order. Los Angeles... Las Vegas... some M city... Um. Wait. You're missing something. I was flying into Long Beach. I checked again. No Long Beach. 

Did I get on the wrong plane? They scanned my ticket before getting on board in Columbus. They would have said something. (I had seen them say something to passengers before, so they do confirm you are where you should be.) 

I checked my phone and the airline app. It gave me a gate number. D6. I was somewhere in the upper Cs. 

Okay, so here's a diagram of the airport: 

The red arrow is where I deplaned. The blue arrow is the gate my phone told me was the gate I'd be leaving out of. The distance between the two was roughly a half a mile. (This will become important in a bit.) 

I hiked to my departure gate. I checked the screen, but it didn't show my destination yet. I didn't expect it to. I was way early. But I double checked with the lady at the counter, and she confirmed that this was where my flight would be. I found a seat and relaxed. 

An hour or so later, I got hungry. I headed back up the way I'd come to find a Burger King. (About halfway up the concourse.) I double checked the monitors. Now it said I'd be departing from gate D7. Okay, then. 

I didn't want to walk all the way back, so I sat at the gate nearest where the restaurant was, and I overheard a flight going to Milwaukee getting ready to board. It was going to be the pilot's last flight, as he turned 65 the next day (and the FAA mandates pilots retire on their 65th birthday). His son, daughter-in-law, and grandson were all joining him on the flight. 

I headed back to gate D7. Double checked the screen. The flight after the current flight was not Long Beach. It wasn't even close to Long Beach. We'd been moved again? 

The departure screen still read D7. My phone? C22. All the way back. 

That seemed like a monumental hike. Deep sigh. No help for it. 

I struggled. And clearly I looked like I was struggling because an airport worker pushing a wheelchair asked if I needed assistance. Sigh. (I declined. Yes, it was a hard slog, but I could do it.) 

By the time I got to the Cs (all the way through the whole C concourse, basically back to the red arrow in the image), the monitors had finally caught up. Long Beach: C22. Only, now my phone said C23. 

I sat down and texted my brother. Whining. (I still had plenty of time before my flight. I'd get home that day. But now I was wiped out.) And that's when he noticed my gate had been changed. Again. To... 

D4. 

I couldn't face it. I sat for a bit. I had to make that hike. Again. 

But I'd have to do it sooner or later. I gathered my tatters of energy, and I set out again. This time I started my walking app so I could measure the distance. And at least no wheelchair pushing staff were around to point out how terrible I looked. 

D4 showed Sacramento as the destination, but a good hour before my supposed departure. My phone continued to show D4. And the monitors had finally caught up. 

Throughout this, I was getting texts about my flight being delayed. 5:55 was a distant memory. It became 6:08. Then 7:15... 

My brother did some sleuthing. The airplane scheduled for our flight was coming from Washington, D.C. And it hadn't left yet. 

I watched the Sacramento peeps line up and board. Those of us who remained looked around. Was this the Long Beach gate? Would we get moved again? Yes, there were others who knew my pain as it was their pain. And we noted the changes in our departure time... 

And suddenly departure time was 6:08 again. Huh? Via my brother, I knew the flight hadn't left DC yet. They were stuck on the runway. 

The pilots showed up. The flight attendants showed up. No airplane, but the staff was there. That we would be boarding soon was announced. Um... 

I don't know which plane it was, but they had given up on our expected plane and found us a different one. Good enough. 

An airplane arrived. Passengers deplaned. Our pilots and flight attendants boarded to prep. And then we could board. 

6:08? Nah. It was more like 6:45 by the time we left. But I did not care. I was on a plane headed for home on the same day that I left. I was good with this. 

We were supposed to arrive at 8:15. The flight was supposed to be 3 hours 50 minutes. We landed at roughly 8:40. (Time zones are so much fun while flying. We were on the edge of sunset for a good hour at least.) 

Whew. Home. 

And now I have another airport to maybe avoid. (Will I avoid Denver in the future? Will I avoid Nashville? Meh.)

And that was a good reminder that I need to continue my daily walks. Which I will do once I've recovered from this trip.