It’s a colorful time of year.

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They’re baaaaack!

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And the minute I spotted my first Baltimore Oriole of the season I ran outside with oranges and all natural grape jelly.

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In no time flat …

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The feeder was busy.

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They’re such beautiful bright creatures.

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Only here for a short time to take nourishment for their annual migration to Canada….

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They’re always a welcome sight.

❤️

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News you can’t use.

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And maybe one you can.

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Zombie cells?

Does this mean we’re going to get a sudden craving for brains…

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I admit I couldn’t think of any practical reasons for a living room butter dish. And after reading what they’re referencing?

(Hiding the remote control)

I still can’t.

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And you thought archeology wasn’t a glamorous profession .

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Seems a little extreme to me.

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Dirt.

I bet it still tastes better than McDonalds.

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It’s August 5.

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https://youtu.be/PxZg4SfIURg?si=jJwq-O0M63oFKlbD

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And I love Ted Lasso so this was news I could use.

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Antiquing, part two. Where I said, please don’t buy that! more than I thought humanly possible.

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I talked him out of buying old wooden hangers.

I talked him out of buying old advertising yard sticks.

I talked him out of buying old light bulbs.

And yes, I even talked him out of buying this …

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But only because we already have two 12 foot vintage tree trimmers.

Sigh.

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Bad taxidermy aside, this antique store did have a sense of humor.

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And you know my husband didn’t come home empty handed.

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We’re now the proud (or not, depending on who you talk to) owners of a vintage table top pinball game.

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I can feel your jealousy from here.

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Did we need this?

No.

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But when did that ever stop my spouse?

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He paid $25 and was a happy camper.

Me?

I added a few classics to my vinyl collection.

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The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Jackson Browne, Neil Young and James Taylor.

😊

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Antique store horrors.

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I think I’ve mentioned my dislike of dolls a time or two (hundred) in previous blogs.

I find them disturbing , unsettling and more than a little creepy.

So imagine my horror when my husband dragged me to an antique store where I saw this….

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Yikes!

As if the naked zombie baby with the dead eyed stare isn’t bad enough, it was flanked by two jars of disembodied heads and body parts.

And further on?

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A bald, one eyed, broken necked abomination. With teeth!

Needless to say I was not enjoying this little shop of horrors and just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse? My husband went upstairs…

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And found what had to be Rosemary Woodhouse’s black bassinet.

Yes, black.

That has the devil written all over it.

Stumbling backward out of the room, I came face to face with this monstrosity…

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Tell me that face isn’t waiting for you to fall asleep so it can steal your soul.

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Holy crap!

This one is so happy she stole your soul she’s about to start chewing on your liver as an after dinner snack.

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Oh sweet Jesus…

What fresh hell is this?

No eyes, no brains.

I’ll be seeing these freakish zombie horrors in my dreams for weeks.

😱

Let’s play.

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Today I want you to date yourself.

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The first cell phone pictured is a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X brick released in 1983. It weighed 2.5 lbs, had about 30 minutes of talk time, and took 10 hours to fully charge. Cost? $3,995.

The last cell phone pictured is the first generation iPhone released in 2007. Revolutionary then… with its 2megapixel camera, internet communicator and accelerometer… but considered a relic today.

My first cell phone was #7. A Nokia something or other that I think I bought in 1998 or 1999. It didn’t do much of anything except (gasp!) act as a phone… back in the day when we used to have actual auditory conversations… but I thought it was pretty damn slick all the same.

Ironically I just stumbled across my second ever cell phone the other day.

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It was buried in a drawer under some sweaters and for the life of me I have no idea why I kept it.

Flip phones!

Geesh… texting was an absolute nightmare with those things.

Now you.

What was your first piece of mobile technology?

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Really bad maps.

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How bad are these maps?

Well it’s like this…

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They show Maine’s favorite fast food as Long John Silvers. Now, the husband and I travel our state pretty regularly and I don’t remember ever seeing that chain. Turns out there’s a reason…

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Bad map.

Baaaaad.

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Who knew Kansas was so popular in Germany?

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I was born in New Jersey.

I say waw- (as in saw) -der.

Wawder.

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This one they got right.

We have the world’s largest globe and her name is Eartha.

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Eartha is the world’s largest rotating globe, located in the former DeLorme headquarters (now Garmin) in Yarmouth, Maine, and is a free, public attraction open on weekdays. This massive, 41-foot-diameter globe rotates weighs 5,600 pounds and revolves on a 23.5-degree tilt, mimicking Earth’s movements, It offers detailed views of the planet from multiple levels in a three-story glass atrium.

We’ve visited, and it is pretty cool. In a geography nerd sort of way.

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Father jamas for me.

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I’d add a few more to the extremely tricky list. Nebraska and Kansas for sure.

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It should be illegal to tease skunks everywhere.

That’s just wrong.

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What I’m not watching.

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Since I recently posted about the good shows I’ve been watching, I thought I’d be fair and blog about the shows I tried watching but didn’t like well enough to continue.

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I liked Breaking Bad years ago so I figured this series would be right up my alley. Prequel/sequel, whatever… I was here for it. Maybe there was too much time between viewings but I just couldn’t catch the vibe of this show. To be honest I found it more than a little annoying.

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I loved Yellowstone, 1883, 1923 and The Madison – so clearly I’m team Taylor Sheridan. And when I heard he was spinning off a show for Kayce Dutton? I was totally on board … until I saw the first two episodes and realized Marshals had none of the gravitas of its predecessors. Too much bang bang machismo action, not enough character development. I lamented the fact Taylor had let me down, until I read he didn’t write this show after problems with the new management of the Paramount/CBS merger. All I can say is… it shows. Hard pass.

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A friend recommended this comedy to me a while back and after the three stupid episodes I forced myself to watch? I might have to reexamine our friendship. It was that bad.

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I know a lot of people love Ozark but I’m afraid I’m not one of them. We sat through five episodes hoping it would click but all I can say is… meh. It just didn’t hold my interest.

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This is a show I was dying to watch when it debuted. So much hype. So much great press. But we had slow internet then and couldn’t stream. Now that I can? My disappointment was palpable. Yes, the retro vibe was fun but I found it rather boring and honestly… post Me Too movement? The treatment of women was hard to swallow. I stuck it out for 7 episodes but just couldn’t.

Watch Jon Hamm in AppleTV’s Your Friends and Neighbors. That’s so much better.

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Cats, goats and appliances that never die.

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Sometimes I can’t help but share funny cat things.

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And while that made me smile, this next one might actually help Mark whose cats have taken a sudden dislike of each other.

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Odd, but I figure it’s worth a try.

The next photo belongs to a friend who has horses. She got a few goats as stablemates and then a few mini trampolines because goats like to jump.

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Seems they also like to lay in the sun on individual bouncy beds.

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I do remember that. And curse myself for getting rid of the almond Montgomery Ward refrigerator that dominated our kitchen when we moved in. There was nothing wrong with that vintage fridge, I just wanted something newer and prettier.

It’s been over twenty years now and we’ve had to buy an expensive new replacement every 5 years.

Somewhere in Maine… that ugly Montgomery Ward is laughing. And probably still running like a fine Swiss watch.

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Another one for Mark because summer is right around the corner.

😈

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News you can’t use.

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You can’t use it, but it’s Monday… so here we are.

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I’m sorry, is there a global sperm shortage of which I’m unaware?

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That’s a lot of Swedish meatballs.

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I won’t list them, but here are a few highlights…

Yes, It Can Actually Break.

What goes in must come out.

You’re welcome.

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Good grief. As if fake news and fake boobs aren’t artificial enough these days, now I have to wonder if my grocery store sourdough is real.

(True sourdough should only have three ingredients…. flour, water, and salt. Check the ingredients)

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I don’t know about your gut,, but if you’re substituting a cactus for toilet paper? Your tuchus isn’t going to be very pleased.

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A bit odd, but it can’t be any worse than what our gutless Congress will be pushing.

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Our President teamed up with a member of the adult industry a while back as well, though with slightly different results.

😈

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