cheerfulmonk.com

This poor old world has way too many of them.

Off the Mark

September 15, 2026

AccuWeather is predicting that yesterday’s high of 86°F is the end of our hot weather — presumably for the year.

Fingers crossed!

September 14, 2026

The Other Coast

September 13, 2026

Andy and i were tickled the other day reading the National Weather Service forecast — we were going to have a slight warming trend. No, we weren’t happy about the added warmth, but we loved what the fellow wrote in parentheses:

Come on! It’s September! It’s supposed to be going in the other direction.

It did get up to 88°F yesterday, but maybe now it will go in the “right” direction?

We have air conditioning in the living room, but not in the bedrooms. It was still 77° at 9 o’clock last night, but I’m still sleeping just fine with a fan blowing on me, so no complaints.

September 12, 2026

Pexels

Andy and I usually get our Covid shot in September, our flu shot the first couple of weeks in October. So I had been checking with our pharmacy about the Covid shot, and they had them yesterday. We went down and had them in the morning.

Andy didn’t notice any effect at all. My arm was slightly sore if I noticed, but mostly I wasn’t aware of it. Needless to say, we’re happy we have that off our list. 🙂

September 11, 2026

Pickles

I thought of this the past couple of days when it was time to deal with Verizon’s monthly overcharge. The chat agents are friendly, and they keep saying it has been resolved and will never happen again, but there it is.

Anyway, I don’t take pictures, except for screen shots of their promises, but one of my first reactions is “blog fodder!” How will I describe this in a post? That alone makes me step back and broaden my perspective. I also figure it’s good practice in not wasting energy on what “should” or “shouldn’t” be happening but instead focus on what’s the best way for me to get the result I want.

The big change this time is I have a case number, so presumably when it happens again I don’t have to repeat myself. I figure it’s a long-term project — I will let you know if I ever succeed.

September 10, 2026

The Other Coast

Speed Bump

September 9, 2026

What happened to the last 200 days?? I remember when I reached 1000 days, now it’s 1200.

Garfield en Español

Garfield

Garfield en Español

Garfield

Calvin and Hobbes en Español

Calvin and Hobbes

Peanuts en Español

Peanuts

Peanuts en Español

Peanuts

What’s the point of sulking if no one cares?

September 8, 2026

Truth Social

Trump’s proposed name change yesterday for New Mexico — to New America — will no doubt not happen, but it would solve the old problem of some people not knowing New Mexico is part of the United States. There is an on-going column in New Mexico Magazine called One of Our 50 Is Missing.

In 2014 one example was,

DON’T ASK
At press time, the popular website ask.com offered this helpful information: “New Mexico is one of the Mexican States found in western Mexico. The state is a part of the Mountain States, and one of the most sparsely populated states. The state is called the land of enchantment because of its magnificent and attractive scenery, rich art, music, and richness of culture that are not [like] any other state in Mexico.”

It also happened to Kaitlin years ago. We were visiting my mother in California and someone noticed Kaitlin’s T-shirt and asked where she was from. She told him New Mexico, and he said,

You speak English very well.

I had expected that people would know by now, but how wrong I was. The column is still going strong.

September 7, 2026

Yesterday’s post reminded me of when we visited Kaitlin when she was in graduate school years ago. She was carrying a thick day planner and said,

This is my brain!

Fortunately my life isn’t nearly as hectic as hers was, but when it starts to feel too full it does help to consciously slow down and make a list of things I don’t want to forget. That way I can focus on one thing at a time and not clutter up my brain with the other things.

September 6, 2026