When descaling the kettle, be clear that its contents are not for consumption. No matter how many times you tell someone, they're going to forget and dump a bunch of calcium-carbonate-saturated white vinegar into whatever they're cooking.

Mood

That's the good stuff right there.

My earlier post contained an incredibly embarrassing math error, so I've deleted it to avoid shame and ridicule :-)

That said, the price of this imported item has increased 16.7% between May 9, when I took the first picture, and today.

Costco already has Christmas stuff in stock. On August 31.

Blech.

"[Roark Capital Group] was named after Howard Roark, the protagonist in Ayn Rand's book The Fountainhead," the firm's website says.

Used to race to Freddie's Market as soon as school was out to get these. Root beer, always.

Using a domain blocker extension to help break the habit. The Washington Post and Facebook are on the list too...

This ceramic jack-o-lantern has been in our family as long as I have. It used to sit on the hall table, and I managed to carry it back to California once my parents moved to independent living. I try not to be attached to things any more, but this is an exception. I love it.

Pt. 2:

A story in two parts. Pt. 1:

The last two days have peaked at 105.3° and 105.4°; forecast says 102° today, so it'll be another day of staying in and watching kdramas. Twenty-Five Twenty-One hurt us, but we plow forward. Up next: Hot Stove League.

There are students(?) lying out on the quad on March 3. Insane.

Sheena is 100% committed to making Ri Jeong-hyeok and Yoon Se-ri's relationship work. We're late to _Crash Landing on You_, but fully on board.

Today's agenda: Coffee, weather maps, music, and maybe some work.

Sheena noticed a neighbor poaching coneflower seed heads in our front yard, so she's harvested what she can, and is separating seeds for storage until spring. Fruit, flower and seed poaching is an ongoing issue here -- we've caught neighbors, plastic bags in hand, picking our trees clean.

This has been a bumper harvest of Chinese dates (aka jujubes). Last year we dried them in a food dehydrator, but this year we're going more eco friendly. Sheena brought the bamboo trays home from China this spring, and the California sun does the rest.