Between the Two

WARNING:  in today's post you might have a cat sighting. No, it's not ours. We're not there yet, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be. I think that came out right. 

Before I forget:  my annual BlobbysBlog Reader Pet Pic Post is coming in a few weeks. Should your pet like to be part of it - and even if they don't - send them my way.  Let me know who is who. Don't make me start chasing you down individually.  As always, there will be an 'in memorium' section.  Let's celebrate their lives, not mourn their passing.  Start emailing them to me!

Now, on with the show................

On Saturday or Sunday, Shep will put all his weight on my knees to get me to take him somewhere. He is quite the master manipulator. He always wins. 

We have a new sofa downstairs - not that you'd know it. 

We must keep it covered for Sleeping Beauty. It's new - we'd like to keep it that way for a while. 

Scoonie 

Or, the Scoonmonster, as I like to call him. 

He talks to us daily. I do the same back. We've never been close physically, but I love him. 

He has a great bark. 

BTW, the upstairs sofa is covered for the same reason. 

I find it hard to believe he's comfortable this way. And like Petey, I love he uses a pillow!

This is Allie. 

Yes. Allie Cat.  Go ahead, say it aloud and then roll your eyes. I did. 

Allis is Otis' successor. They are the house cats at a local independent bookstore. She let me pet her and love her.  Otis is still around, but he's officially retired.  And she's pretty. 

Sleepy boy. 

The man is a pack animal for sure. He's super attached to us, which is nice. But he slept like that after last week's outing to a park. Precious. 

And no, similarly coloured brisk weather outerwear was not planned. We're not THAT gay.  Honest. 

Song by: the Bangles

Rocket

So, the Artemis rocket went into space - finally. 

As I mentioned, my friend Kristen lives south of Cape Canaveral - and on the beach. She sees many a launch without leaving her back patio or the shore. 

This launch was no different, except that it happened at 01:00. 

While I'd love have seen that launch, I'd have been asleep hours before. Perhaps the rumble would have awoken me. 

....oh that's a lie.

Even yesterday I overslept, which is almost never the case. And not by a little, but by about two hours. I mean, luckily I was on day two of jury duty, so my day started later than if I were going to work. 

....and I got texted at 'the duty' because apparently I set up my blog to post at the wrong time. 

Still, to see the most powerful rocket launch ever must have been something to hear, feel, see. 

Honestly, I haven't read a lot about it, but I'm assuming since I've seen no headlines otherwise, that it didn't blow up (ooooh, they found Challenger debris in the Atlantic - like decades later) and I haven't heard of any snafus........so maybe all is good 

This seems to be all NASA and no MUSK.  That makes me happy. I'd say it doesn't take a lot, but we all know that. is a big fat lie. 

Song by: Def Leppard 

the Judge

Honestly, I'm torn about what to write. 

Jury duty is clearly the easy route.  The much delayed Artemis launch is good - though I only know it went up in the middle of the morning  I saw a friend's post from her house in Florida of said launch and the images she took.  We could discuss the debacle that is Ticketmaster, Stub Hub and Taylor Swift.  Oddly enough - in that order.  Oh, and today is our 12th wedding anniversary. 

There is one thing missing, of which I'm not willing to discuss. At least not at this point. Hopefully not ever. So I'm not saying it here. 

Of course, being so vague, future historians will scratch their heads when pouring over this here blog-thing trying to figure out when, how and why civilization collapsed  - as there is no reference. They'll just have to dig out the microfiche and start to cross-reference. They'll figure it out.  Eventually. 

I'm going the easy route: jury duty. 

O.M.F.G. As an operational "expert",  wanted nothing more than to fix the debacle that is the Cuyahoga County Court System. It's doubtful that other municipalities have that much better or different processes. Prove me wrong.............please. 

Maybe the jury duty system isn't. but I'm not sure the judicial system which is supports is doing anyone any favours. 

Yesterday, there were a known 15 cases that might need juries.  Might. 

There are roughly 400 potential jurors in this room for those trials. Civil trials don't even get 12 jurors, so if you do the math, most people won't be picked even with the weeding out folks during the voir dire process. 

It took seven hours before "they" decided there would be one - ONE - of the 15 would need a jury. 

I don't know if the others took plea deals, or opted for bench trials. We just sat for seven hours, including a 75 minute lunch. 

To be honest, it wasn't even great people-watching time. I thought it would be. I was wrong. 

Yes, I COULD have worked remotely there the entire day. but I'm so burned out at work, I opted not to log in, even though I brought my laptop.  I was smart enough to bring a book. An actual physical one. 

You've read over the last year that my core group is back to a very unofficial book club. We all read one book at the start of the year. And some of us have participated in other tomes. I think with this new book, we are all reading it or on the docket too.  See what I did there? 

It's a 191 page book, so I read it all during jury duty, and oddly not one word during the 75 minute lunch. I went out into the cold and walked. But I did so enjoy the book, Swimming in the Dark.  I'm still processing parts, but overall it was well done. 

So today I go back, sans book, and expect more of the same. 

Song by: twenty one pilots

Wrecking Ball

Two and one-half years later it came down. 

Our old house, that is. 

We moved about two and one-half years, ago, selling our own home shortly thereafter to a physician and his wife. 

From the negotiations, we knew their plan:  tear down the residence to build a new / modern one in its place.

I totally get it. 

That was one of our options as well. Spend a ton renovating what we had, and live in reno mode for 18 months; buy a new house; or tear down this and build something new. I won't lie - C. was a good option - save having to live somewhere else for a year and a half. 

Clearly we didn't and we were happy to move one. 

I've said before, I had no true affection for the house. It was a home, because we made it one, but it was a lot of work.  A lot!

We told no one of their plans. Other places had been replaced by new construction and the neighbors weren't thrilled with that. So when one of them told us, we could have gotten Independent Spirit Awards for our acting ability. 

But that knowledge bomb was dropped a year and a half ago. And no movement anywhere. 

Now and then we have to drive past the old hood and each time we'd say, "well, she's still standing".  Yet I can say that no longer. 

A doc at work told me it was happening, as he lives a few houses down.  I called 710 and he went over to look. It is quick work with a bulldozer. What took months, if not longer, to construct probably came down in 90 minutes. 

You can't tell, but our bedroom is still partially intact. It sits right before the remaining chimney. 

The chimney that was peeling cement. Repatching that there?  $11,000 !!!!!    So you could see the thought process on tearing it down to build something new. 

As I had no affection for the house, I had always assumed I'd have no thoughts about it coming down. After being told about it, and seeing the pic, it felt weird.  I can't tell you what kind of weird, because I don't have that figured out and probably never will. 

The era is gone. The house was 112 years old. Or 102, depending if you go by the census or the county records. One of them is off by 10. Between us and the previous owners, we had it for 41 of those years. 

It's true: you can't go home again. Especially if it's not there. 

Song by: Emmylou Harris. 

Guilt

I should have something about which to write, but I don't. Not really. 

This week, I have the potential for jury duty, though we are now two days in without the need for me. 

They have needed me on a jury, I mean, I haven't even been called. I call the night before to see if they need me the next day. So far, it's a big fat goose egg. 

Honestly, I'm torn. I feel so many times juries get it wrong. So do lawyers and judges. I'm sure if I were there, I could correct injustices and make the world a better place. 

But on the other hand.........I don't wanna. 

I have been beckoned thrice for this.  Once in 2009, where I was never needed to come down to not get selected for a trial.  The second time was in the height of Covid. They weren't even having trials, yet they were still sending out summons to be a juror.  I got excused for that one too. 

You know what they say - third time is a charm.  If that were true, JLow (not a typo) would still be with her third husband.  But Friday, I did not get on the list for Monday. Nor Monday for Tuesday. 

That said, they're creeping closer to my number. I fear - yes fear! - I'll be headed to the justice center for Wednesday - Friday. 

I don't mind being on a trial. I just don't think a lawyer on either side wants someone even halfway educated. The justice system preys on the uninformed and railroads far far too many people.  So while I don't think I'll be selected, I do think I'll have to sit there for days to not get selected. 

And worse, if I do, you just know I'll have to poop in the middle of some great testimony and have to sit there and clench before I finally have to throw up my hands and yell at the judge, "I'm out of order?  YOU'RE out of order! The whole system is out of order", just so I can go pooh. 

Dis! Missed!! 

Actually, I know a way no one would pick me. I have some covid masks that say "Black Lives Matter".  Most defense attorneys would want me. Zero prosecutors would. 

That said, it would be absolutely horrible to wear that mask and co-opt and entire community just for self-gain. So I shan't wear it.  I could put it on after I get seated and watch people crap their pants.

More pooh references. 

For Monday, my 'draw' number was nowhere near close to who they requested show up. For Tuesday it was a lot closer.  Perhaps. will be there later this week. 

Just to be out of the office for 2-3 days, this seems worth it.  I'll probably get excused when / if they ask if you have family member who are in law enforcement. 

If nothing else, it could make for an interesting post or two, no? 

Song by: Marianne Faithful

My Music Monday

A bit ago I wrote about Peter Bjorn & John and mentioned the two had produced Chrissie Hynde's solo disk, Stockholm almost a decade a go now. 

The album is underrated for sure. So much so that there seems to only be one video from it and not every song is available on YouTube......and according to my friend Jon, the disk isn't on Apple Music. 

That's sad. Especially with the crap that exists out there forever. 

But I thought I'd sample one song, "You're the One". I like it though, if you truly listen, it's fraught with cliches. But it certainly beats the Pretenders crap of "I'll Stand by You".   And Hynde pulls this off. At least I think she does. 

There are a number of songs I could have picked and maybe should have picked.  But you get what you get. 

12 of 12

 So I'm doing my 151st 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore. Erik is back and I think he's picking up 12 of 12 again. 

06:33.  Still in bed. I know, right?  But even at 03:00, I start with Spelling Bee. 

I'd say about 91% of the time I get the pangram (or one of them) first word out.  I made 'Genius' seven minutes later. 

06:59.  Boosted. 

I got my Covid booster on Friday. Until then, I'd been Moderna brand loyal, but I was having a hard time finding it. I had an opportunity for Pfizer and took it. 

My Moderna shots had me achey at best and feverish at worst. Pfizer?  Not even achey. Almost like I got a placebo....which was a pangram the other day. 

08:39. Gym time. 

Today (well, yesterday) it was cardio (Peloton) and shoulders. 

11:53.  Getting ready for a weekend outing with Shep and 710. 

12:59.  I picked the park. We'd never been. 

There were ducks and herons there. And a lot of low lying water and swamps. But it was nice, if not cold. 

13:47.   The battery in my key died. Which made it very difficult to get into the car 

It turns it out it made if much harder to get the car to start. 

Turns out, there are places in some newer cars you can place the key to do an emergency start. Thanks YouTube!

....and yes, I know my storage area needs cleaning. Well.....I know it now. 

14:09.  Buying new batteries for one key fob. 

14:25.  Ahhhhh.....Flexeril. 

My back is a little jacked up, so why not? 

16:03.  'Hood leftovers. 

I love how they leave them on the curb thinking the garbage folk are just expected to clean up after their mess. 

16:27.  Loganberry Books. 

My possible all time favourite bookstore. 

I need no more books, but.........I was meeting Rebecca and her husband there. It was their 22nd anniversary, and I was in their wedding, so......   And I might have more books. 

16:40.  the Academy. 

Lord. I've been coming here since 7th grade. Do the math on your own time. 

We made our way down the street to the Academy for two drinks. Because, what bad could possibly come from two beers and a Flexeril? 

Our waiter looked just like Chris Eliot as Roland Schitt. Kind of acted like him too. We loved it. 

17:59.  Snow. 

The first snow of the season. It didn't stick, but......yuck. 

Sunny

Saturday.   You know the drill. 

We've had an actual Fall this year. Decent dry weather, cool and warm. 

Lots browns. Shep blends right in on a hike.  Hounds. It's all about the nose. 

This is Sonny. Or maybe Sunny.

He / She / They were very cute.

....and he made the IG feed.  Yay.  Acceptance. 

We always bring water for the Dude. 

Hiking makes him thirsty. 

Tony.  He is SO handsome 

Song by: Bobby Hebb

That's All

It was my friend Sal's birthday two days ago.  Time got a way from me and I missed reaching out to him, but I called him a day later - or yesterday, as it were. 

I don't usually call many people on their birthday. My friend David gets one every year, but that is just to annoy him that I remember his birthday and he doesn't remember mine. It's tradition. Doug and myself are separated by only three days, so one of us initiates the call on his or my day. 

Oddly, the close gang, we just don't. I mean, we talk weekly and text daily. 

Still, Sal and I had not texted in weeks and hadn't talked for months - or more. He stumped me when he said "what's new?", because I didn't know when we last talked. I didn't want to bore him with shit I might have already told him - that is what Sunday Zoom Happy Hour is for with my besties. 

We managed to update each other on our lives. 

Part of it was our exercise routines - well, mine. Admittedly, he said he was doing nothing and should. I can't judge. I was that guy until this last March.  I showed him an image of my progress. 

Oh - nothing salacious, though I suppose it is all relative. I had shorts on. But that is all I had on - plus underwear under the wear. 

Did I get a: "hey looking good?"  or  "hey, you've lost weight" response?  

No.  No I didn't. 

I got this. 

....and he typed, "That's All". 

I. Was. Dying. 

In the original image, I can't believe anyone could even see my toe nails, let alone they're still sporting Halloween colours.  He claims it was the first thing he noticed. Actually, if he noticed anything else - the weight loss or toning - it was never mentioned. 

Fetishes go all ways, I suppose. Feet are never going to be mine. And until yesterday, I didn't know they were Sal's.  I mean, I still don't know that.....for sure, but I'm now making assumptions. 

Sometimes it doesn't take much to make my day, and this certainly helped. 

Song by: Genesis

Hold On

I successfully avoided any news feed or social media platforms until about 14:00. And even then, barely got notice of who won and who didn't.  

Maybe I prepped myself enough and desensitized myself, or maybe it really wasn't as bad as I thought - and I kind of did the apocalyptical thing, so anything short of annihilation is kind of a win, no? 

Ohio is disappointing, for sure. We actually found and elected someone worse than Rob Portman. When you send someone into office who helped raise money for seditionists, well, you're kind of fucked. 

And make no mistake, we're fucked. 

....and not in that good way. 

As for places like Georgia.......JFC. You have morons and bigger morons running and they still win. They all get what they deserve. Yes, I get - at least of this writing - the one race is run-off......or something. But if you're tied or possibly losing to lying, stupid, SOB, you probably don't deserve to win in the first place. 

That's as far as I've gotten on the info scale - and maybe as far as I'll get. 

It is currently 20:39 and I can barely keep my eyes open.  So I will skip tv today and just got to bed early. 

Song: Sarah McLachlan

Bad Moon Rising

We opted not to turn on the television last night. I decided I would wait till the morning to see if the U.S. has ended the idea of democracy and being a republic. 

I voted. I did what I could do, legally. But even the Ohio Attorney General (republicunt, of course), changed voting sites at 24 (!) historically blue locations two days before (!!!!!) the election. 

Nope. Nothing fishy there!

When you can't win: cheat.   That is the moral. I expect the worse upon waking. 

Sad? yes.  Disappointed? yes.  Surprised? not even in the slightest.  ....unless the dems truly win and take the senate. 

Anyways, I did go out and see that Blood Moon yesterday morning. 

The beginning of the lunar eclipse was to start a little after 03:00. And why, yes, I would be up, I'm not out. I have my morning routine and I had to get all my "games" in first - and I did. But even at 04:40, the moon was bright and no visible sign of it being blocked by a shadow. 

Mind you - 15 minutes later, when arriving at the gym there was a noticeable change. The partial part was in gear and the 'blood' part was starting to take affect.  I took a few iffy / mundane pics and went into the gym.  It was leg day. 

Leg day isn't exciting for me, though it is where I move the most weight - up to 26,000 pounds per workout when you take into account each machine, each rep and the number of sets you do. And yes, I calculate it all in my head as I'm working out. 

As I was doing leg extensions, I noticed it was 05:16. The peak of the eclipse was to be 05:17.  I grabbed my phone and walked out of the gym.........in shorts and a t-shirt in 46 degree temps. I had to walk across the street to a parking lot to get a good view.  And it was. 

I get the moon is 238,600 miles away - or some such nonsense - and I'm carrying a phone for pics. I am only as good as Tim Cook & Co. I know there are setting in said phone to make your camera better, but it also takes up a lot of space with your pics too. I didn't change a thing, as I was in a parking lot in shorts, in November at 05:17. 

Oddly, the nekkid eye was better than a camera. But I can't share my memories in picture form, so I had to snap away. 

You can kind of see the eclipse here.  You can clearly see the change in colour. 

It was cool to watch. And then, well, it was just cool - so I went back in and finished my workout. 

I want yesterday's moon not to be ominous regarding election day, but it is hard to separate the two. Maybe I'll be wrong. 

Maybe. 

Song by: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Fly Me to the Moon

Well, it's mid-term day.  And I am scared as fuck.  ....and it ain't because of the moon. 

This is a first real test since BLOTUS has gone and an insurrection has taken place.  And there are a lot of fucking whack-a-doodle candidates out there running. 

The ones out front?  All - and I do mean all - 2020 election deniers. 

Sigh. 

Not once - though I rarely watch news or political shows like Face the Nation - has one "reporter" asked these deniers if they think only BLOTUS lost, or if the people who won (i.e. other Republicans) shouldn't have if the votes were tampered with, 

I mean, stop these turds in their tracks.  Does anyone think that a bunch of Democratic voters submitted multiple ballots and votes only top of the ticket as a Dem and the rest as a Republicunt?  I want to see them talk their way out of that. 

It would nice to hold either the House or Senate, but I'm not holding my breath on both. I'm not even holding my breath on either.  Hence me be scared as fuck. 

Word on the street is BLOTUS is waiting until this election to announce his 2024 candidacy.  Fuck. Me. Hard. 

Here's the other timing device:  Musk: Twitter: BLOTUS. 

Mark my words, BLOTUS' reinstatement will come with the mid-terms and his announcement to run again.  You know what he's like on Twitter. 

None of this is coincidental.  And I'm not even a conspiracy theorist.  Well, maybe a little. 

I'd tell you all to vote, but I'd like to think my readership are responsible adults who do the right thing. 

Let's see how things wrap up tomorrow - though I expect a lot of lawsuits claiming election fraud with no clear winners for weeks.  I blame Bush and Gore on that one, and called it 22 years ago and most elections won't be decided by the voters, but the courts. 

I haven't really been proven wrong yet. 

Song by: Frank Sinatra & Count Basie 

My Music Monday

I didn't even think of a theme for November. And I'm too eff'ing lazy to consider possibilities 

It'll just be either random stuff, or if I can't find anything good, it'll be the shuffle method. 

Sometimes you find a song and you cannot remember why, how or where. That is usually not me. I remember a LOT of shit, but for today's selection, "Can't Run Forever" by a band called Hembree, that is not the case. I have zero recollection on how I stumbled upon it. 

Ironically, I don't run forever while listening to it. And I can't run forever. But I can make it through the the 3 minutes and 35 seconds.  I'm not the best at running, but I can manage that amount of time. 

This song came out in 2015, but the band's first full album didn't arrive until four years later.  Even their only EP came out in 2017. 

They have that not original but still pleasing sound that so many mid to late 2010 bands have. Walk the Moon, Tame Impala and others come to mind. 

App of the Month

This ",...of the month' thing is a big fat lie.  It has been quite a while since I've downloaded an app, let alone reviewed one. 

But as you know, hounds in general are flight risks. Shep is no exception.  I've written a few times how he's gotten out. Luckily, he hasn't gone far, but.......you just don't know. 

Yeah, we got him an Apple Airtag, but it's limiting at best. 710 went on line, did a lot of research, as he is wont to do, and came up with Whistle. 

It is a gizmo that clicks on to his collar and basically tracks him in multiple ways. It's part homing device and doggie fitbit. And it has a corresponding app. 

With the app comes push notifications. For dogs who like to escape and run, this is a fairly important part of the gizmo. That only takes you so far, if you can't see stuff. 

The images below are from different periods of time - like, when I remembered to take screen shots. There is little to no order in any of this 

While the walk / map function is nice to track activity, it's also fairly vital if the dog is on the run. You can see the points where the 'beep' is tracked by the device.  It's every few minutes.  However, if he truly is on his own, you can set it to every 15 seconds.  Yeah, it wears the battery down, but you hopefully fnd them faster. 

A blue light will also blink on the attachment to the collar. Better for night time finds. 

It tracks his activity level. And if he meets his goals. 

It also tells you when he hits those goals and always sends me / us a reminder when he leaves home or gets back. 

The one flaw is, it is attached to one human, per se.  It will say, "Shep left home with 710".  Which is great. It doesn't say that when I take him out.  It will say, "Shep is 600 ft from home", which can make one panic, if they didn't know I was walking him. 

I'm on the account. It has my iPhone, so it should be able to say "....with Blobby", but it doesn't. 

There are a lot of other features.  It will tell you if he is licking himself, resting, scratching - and if they are in "normal limits". 

We haven't had to use it in an emergency, and we hope to never have to.  It has provided us piece of mind though. We are good about putting on that tracking device even when he goes out in the backyard just to pee.  

You never know when someone might leave the gate open or some such nonsense. 

Poses

Shep Shep Shep.  It's still weird that it's almost all Shep all the time. But we adapt. 

Shep watching me hand out candy to strangers. 

I stood outside, so he wouldn't park at a ringing doorbell time and again. 

.....and I could drink outside in peace. 

Shep takes on Hector. 

Poor Hector just wanted to play. Shep showed him who was boss. 

Poor Hector. 

Brown on brown. 

This is Captain Lou. 
He's a therapy dog at work. He was sweet. 

Sizing up our dentist's dogs. 

She lives near us and now and again we run into them. 

Song by:  Rufus Wainright

Revolution 9

The hottish ex-Capitol policeman is not wrong.  At all. 

The histrionics of the last half decade have sped up the end to the U.S. democracy.  The dolts who voted and still support BLOTUS whilst still ignoring the blatant lies and dictator-like behaviour are only half the issue. The other being the demorcrats who truly don't care enough to truly make a change, partially because they feel they can't and that nothing will actually change. 

I totally get that last part. 

I'm still voting, of course, but you've seen those posts. Our dem senator candidate, who can possibly barely beat a red hot flaming turd on the republican side, is weak as fuck. The dem governor candidate is practically invisible. 

After this, or the 2024 election, I can honestly say I am not sure they'll actually be elections. We are no longer a generation or two of having no democracy. That timeframe is shorter.  Much shorter. 

Yeah, I get it:  I'm a downer. 

The ambivalence of course does come from the 'nothing will change' thought process. I'd say there has been a of change, but not for the better.  Restrictions and voting laws are now going to make it harder to initiate change. They took it away right before our very eyes and we did nothing.  

Getting these alleged freedoms back aren't going to be easy.  They might not even be possible. Not in my lifetime. And even that, not without a revolution. 

It really is time to fight. 

Song by: the Beatles

On the Run

Two plus months and I'm starting to get back to running. 

My foot is healed, or seemingly so.  I had an MRI a week and a half ago and still no results. It's annoying, and I work for the health system. I had to wait so long to get said MRI that by the time the time came, I was in very little pain. 

So, I took myself out for a test run. Several. 

I started at 6 minutes. Then 8.  Then 12.  Then 15.  Each time slightly upping my speed, which started at 3.7 mph. 

With my visits to the ortho guy, he questioned me on where I got my shoes fitted and where I run. While not appalled, he did sadly shake his head when I told him I purchased them at DSW, and them mouthed, "no". 

He told me, and Morty confirmed, that I needed to hit a store that would truly fit me, and that there was a life to running shoes. A fairly short one.  Just a note: my gym shoes are like 8 years old.  

After a few runs, I felt it was time to get the correct shoes and get back at it. 

Honestly, I cannot even tell you someone in a store has put shoes on my own feet. The self-service stores are the norm anymore - or is that just me? 

We went over my running "history" and there was some thorough measurement of my feet.  I had a pressure point scan - nothing really of not there.  Then I did the scan you see above, which captured a lot of information. 

It never occurred to me my feet were not the same size. But they're not. And they suggest going up at least a half size in terms of shoe. 

I'm just sayin', no guy wants to have small or narrow ball width and girth.  NO guy!

We tried on a LOT of shoes. Some successfully, some I knew wouldn't work. It came down to two pairs. One I thought would be the victor. I was wrong. 

I wore one of each shoe and walked around and it turns out the one I liked second best became best best. I said it felt lighter and more in tune with my foot, when asked which felt better and why. It turns out, the shoe I selected, while feeling lighter, is heavier than the one I ended up rejecting. 

That was Saturday. I ran Sunday, Monday and Wednesday......remembering to take two days off per week. The shoes worked well on three 30 minute runs - getting up to 5.4 mph. 

I am still taking it easy. I feel like I'm babying this, but that's ok. This is the long haul. I'm not at the 10 minute mark, or anywhere near it yet. But that's ok. More importantly, I didn't lose focus when I ran. If anything I was more in tune with it all. I really assumed I might lose the interest or ability after two and a half months. 

The good news is: no issues with the ankle or foot. I'd like to keep this up, but really trying to - pun intended - pace myself. 

Song by: Pink Floyd

I'm Gone

None of what you're about to read will shock you. 

I deleted my Twitter account.  

*Shock*    *Gasp*     *Smelling Salts*

I do not believe they were indeed sorry to see me go, and fuck if they didn't get in one last hashtag. 

From the beginning I was annoyed. I couldn't get the handle @Blobby.  I had to settle for @Blobby1. It was a disaster from the start. 

Becky and her husband got me to join so many years ago, but truthfully, I never did much with it. I never know what to do with it. Or what I was supposed to do with it. 

Yeah, I get 'trolling' and while I'm not proud of it, I did my share, especially if a person was the Senate Majority Leader,  a Beverly Leslie homo-not homo Senator from South Carolina, or anyone who shared BLOTUS' last name. 

Oh - and Mitt Romney.  I got banned to 'reading status only'' due to my "inflammatory" words for him after he said they should wait to vote on RBG's replacement, then turned around and voted not to. Yes, I wished him and his family harm - and I stand by that - but I didn't threaten him. I mean, I also wish for $100,000,000, but they didn't ban me for that. 

Twitter was just soul crushing anyways. The vitriol was making me seriously consider doubling my antidepressant, and the joke was, I never came to Twitter, it came to me. I'd get emails to check out someone's tweet - and like a moron / addict, I did. 

I should have deleted it years ago, or at least after the 2020 election. But I didn't. 

My friend Farook asked what I found "soul crushing" from Twitter, and I told him. He just goes, "oh, I'm only there for the porn".   And that is there, but there I have no desire to follow "only fans" or porn "stars". 

Musk made me do it.  He was my final straw. 

Honestly, he did.  I hate to thank him for anything (so I won't), but the idea of that megalomaniac heading that (or any) platform was enough to make me find my settings and delete. 

I am sorry I have a Space X t-shirt, though going to a launch was cool. His polluting the sky with hundreds of satellites is horrid.  Whenever I get an EV, it shan't be from his company.  

Should I not be mistaken, I think I scrolled past a headline today (yesterday) that said he had dissolved the board and he and only he was in charge. 

Lord. 

It's a matter of days before BLOTUS get reinstated, which will be fun to watch - except that I can't.  That means, BLOTUS' platform won't even be his go-to.  Yet another failed venture for the world's most failing "billionaire".   Shock. Gasp. Smelling Salts. 

Granted, Twitter never took a lot of my time, but now it will take none of it, and I think that will do wonders for my mental health. 

Song by: Alison Krauss + Union Station

Halloween

I'm kind of bummed. 

Trick or Treat was kind of a bust. 

Last year we had about 90 kids. This year it was a fraction. I had more parents with "go cups" than I had kids with plastic pumpkin candy carrying containers. 

The costume were lame. Are Power Rangers still a thing? But a few Spidermen and one Spiderwoman.  I did ooh and aah over that costume, as it broke with tradition and stereotypes. 

One of our gaybor's kids was George of the Jungle.  Mike was supposed to come as the Man with the Yellow Hat, and he did. Kind of.  He didn't fully commit and I let him know it. 

Theo was adorable as George, but I only called by his primate name, which I think he liked.  The kids is maybe 19 months old. 

I sat outside in the 60s temps, beer(s) in hand. I honestly couldn't even offer one to any of the adults, as they all had them anyways. 

What was supposed to be 120 minutes long, I called it after 80. It had been a good 15 minutes since we'd seen a kid. And I wanted dinner. 

That all said, it was fun to talk to all our straight neighbors. I like them. And I got a new factoid:  Chris, who lives two doors down, his grandparents owned the house right behind ours and lived there for 70 (!!!) years. 

Now we're stuck with a LOT of mini Reeses's cups.  ....and a few Kit Kats. 

Song by: Kirsty MacColl