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The first useless news of the new year!
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And I thought my bunions made shoe shopping difficult.
Damn.
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Spiritual funghi.
Who knew?
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I, Robot.
We’re almost there.
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I’m guessing through a haze of marijuana smoke, but I could be wrong.
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It may be a new year, but my useless news is right on track.
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What?
You didn’t think I’d include the list…
🤣
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Ouch!
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They say the third time’s a charm, but after two different rammings by passing vehicles that damaged our mailbox and forced my husband to make repairs to the box and the post…. the town snow plow finished the job by completely obliterating our mailbox and sending it sailing into the void on Christmas Eve.
Here’s a picture of the husband valiantly searching for it next to the empty post…
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We had no idea where it was, or how far away it travelled. Which meant another replacement.
This isn’t a fun project even in nice weather, but in deep snow, 7 degree temperatures and a brisk wind?
It’s hellish.
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Especially when you didn’t realize the mounting hardware and post adapter required weren’t included until you started the job.
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Temporary solution?
Bungee cords.
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The day after Christmas my DIY husband decided he could mount the box without the post adapter it needed.
I disagreed vehemently but was ignored…. and out came the sawzall. After removing the offending rear part? He came inside when he realized he’d broken the door off.
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This stupid mailbox cost $100… but the door was only held on by a tiny bit of glue on the little hinge strip seen above.
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We tried every glue we had in the house but nothing held… and since my husband cut a piece of the metal off the back, it’s not like we could return the box to the store.
Solution?
Screw it.
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Literally and figuratively.
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Then file down the pointy screws so the mailman doesn’t slash his wrist open when he delivers mail.
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It’s not pretty, but it works.
Until the next big snow storm.
🥴
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As you know Casa River recently entered the modern world of high speed internet and can now stream at will.
All hail technology!
So the minute after we were hooked up?
I installed Netflix, because I felt deprived for years and that’s where a lot of good shows live.
First on my list to binge?
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Peaky fockin’ Blinders .
That was a wild Irish ride and I loved every (admittedly violent) minute of it.
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Then I watched season one of Wednesday, which I was really looking forward to. Charles Addams was a client of my father’s back in his Wall Street days so that darkly twisted family has always been a personal favorite. (Did you know it was originally a cartoon?)
Jenna Ortega is good in the title role, and I did enjoy Thing, but I have to say I found it to be a bit too teenage-y /young adult for my taste. Parts of it are wonderfully quirky but as I’m watching season two… I feel my interest waning.
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This was a decent did he do it or did he not mystery. Well acted and cast. Where good people can be bad and bad people can be good.
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I had to try Stranger Things. There’s been so much hype about the show over the years I knew I was missing something amazing.
Then I watched season one and thought, really? Okay, sure….the kids are cute. But again, it was too young adult /teenage-y to seriously hold my interest. If you tell me future seasons are better I might continue, but only if I trust you.
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I started this… and though it feels like you’re back in the Peaky Blinders universe… I don’t find the characters nearly as compelling as the Shelby clan and may not continue watching.
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The husband and I had an epic two season binge of this marvelously disturbing peek behind the curtain of our nations capitol on New Years Eve. Machinations and manipulations abound in this tight political thriller whose motto should be trust no one!
But now to the point of my post…
I already put Better Call Saul, and Orange is the New Black on my list.
So my question is…
Do you have any other recommendations for this late to the show but now newbie Netflix subscriber?
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Because it’s Friday and I’m a creature of habit.
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I’ll start…
“Four peanuts Karen.
I only asked for four peanuts!”
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Now you.
Caption this photo.
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As we say goodbye to 2025 and turn the corner on another crazy 12 months, let me wish all my WordPress friends and loyal readers a very…
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I don’t make new year’s resolutions as I’m tired of disappointing myself by not eating healthier, losing weight or being nicer to idiots, but I will drop this slightly motivational picture …
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Because hope springs eternal.
😉
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Christmas was quiet here at Casa River…
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But it was also gloriously white.
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And may I just give a shout out to whoever invented snow blowers…
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Best winter device, ever.
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Yardstick deployment #2.
🤣
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And while the husband was out blowing snow?
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I was enjoying a good book, a cup of tea and the annual homemade rosemary shortbread gift from our neighbor. Delicious!
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After clearing the driveway, the husband ran out of creamer so we drove to the grocery store.
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It was a beautiful ride…
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Until we cruised around a corner and clipped a hanging power line.
Smack! Right on my side of the windshield of the husband’s new car.
Thankfully, it… and we … and the car…were okay. But I called the power company to report the danger.
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They got right on it, as we saw on our way home.
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Winter driving is beautiful, but it can be hazardous too.
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I sent a small box of Christmas gifts to North Carolina through the US postal service to our granddaughter of the heart on Tuesday the 16th of December.
I paid extra for 3 day delivery to make sure it was delivered on Friday the 19th so the presents would be under her tree before Xmas.
Let’s follow said package’s tortuous journey through tracking, shall we?
*Please read from the bottom of the pictures to the top*
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16th – Package left my town.
18th – Arrived and departed Boston.
So far, so good.
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19th – Package is back in Maine.
Why? I have no idea.
20th – Package leaves Maine and arrives in New Hampshire…
Okay, at least it’s headed south again.
But later in the day it’s back in Maine again. What the…
What!
21rst – Package leaves Maine, for the third time.
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21rst – Package arrives in New Hampshire.
22nd – Package is in transit to next facility.
But in actuality it didn’t go anywhere.
23rd – Package leaves New Hampshire and arrives in Massachusetts.
Let’s recap.
Maine to Massachusetts to Maine to NH to Maine to NH …for 3 days where it apparently bounced in and out of the warehouse…to Massachusetts.
7 days and it never managed to leave New England. WTH?
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On Christmas Eve it finally arrived in the South. Probably this way…
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Though I don’t understand how it arrived in Fayetteville, left Fayetteville and arrived back in Fayetteville in the course of 28 minutes.
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Ten days after it left Maine, my (3 day delivery) box of gifts arrived at its destination.
Better late than never should be the new postal service’s motto.
🥴
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Another year, another trove of utterly useless headlines.
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I admit I’m not up to date on trending fetishes, so I had to look this one up.
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Gooning” primarily refers to a prolonged, trance-like masturbation practice involving intense edging (bringing oneself to the edge of orgasm without climaxing) for extended periods, creating a “high” or hypnotic state, often linked to online subcultures.
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Talk about delayed gratification.
Geesh.
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And you thought the loaves and fishes thing was something.
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Religion.
It never fails to surprise me.
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Whaaaat?
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Wow.
There really is one born every minute.
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Apparently not.
🤣
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This seems perfectly appropriate to me.
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“Why ‘slop’?
“The flood of slop in 2025 included absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, ‘workslop’ reports that waste coworkers’ time… and lots of talking cats,” according to the dictionary.
“People found it annoying, and people ate it up.”
Like it or loathe it, they argue, the digital sludge is hard to ignore.
“Slop oozes into everything,” Merriam-Webster said.”
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That sums it up nicely. Digital sludge.
Though I’m sure the talking cats disagree.
And now for my last useless snippet of the year.
I’m going to flip useless on its head and drop something that’s not only useful… but almost mandatory for the state of the world right now.
Something we can all use.
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Am I right?
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We woke up Christmas Eve morning to a winter wonderland.
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A deep snow had fallen overnight and I couldn’t have been happier.
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It was the beautiful kind that coats the trees…
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And frosts everything in white.
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It continued for most of the morning.
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Giving us the feeling we live in a snow globe.
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Now this is winter!
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And while my husband went out to shovel a path so he could feed the birds…
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I filled the house with the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg by baking an apple pie.
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We may have scaled back our holiday celebration this year, but it turned out perfectly anyway.
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A front porch picture frame.
😊
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And look! My husband finally put one of those stupid wooden yardsticks he’s always buying to use.
13 inches.
👍
And as soon as I posted our glorious snow photos on Facebook?
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A memory of a previous Christmas trip popped up.
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Florida holidays are fun…
But they never really feel like Christmas to this Yankee girl.
😉
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I love winter.
I love the snow and the quiet beauty of a white frosted landscape.
And thanks to menopausal internal heating, I don’t even mind the cold anymore.
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Though things got a bit extreme earlier this month.
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His Lordship?
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He thinks he likes winter, until his feet hit the snow after our first storm…
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And he makes a beeline back to the kitchen door.
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(Not His Lordship, but it could be)
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Winter makes for some interesting parking mishaps as well, though I have no idea what happened here.
😳
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I think we’ve had more snow this month than we had all last winter.
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Note to readers – this post was scheduled before our recent winter storm. It looks a lot whiter here now, as you’ll see tomorrow.
😊
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River's world..... 