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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

I love grapefruit and was cutting one in half yesterday when I remembered to check. Yes, Plavix is on the list of medications that grapefruit interacts with. So no grapefruit for 21 days. I’m glad I remembered!

So why didn’t I think of it earlier? Because there were a couple of higher priority things demanding my attention that morning. It was nothing like what Sandra (Mad Snapper) is going through, but the fact is our brains can handle only so much at one time.

I keep thinking of when Kaitlin was little and Andy’s mother told her something and told her to remember it. Kaitlin looked panicked and said,

My brain already has too much to remember!

Good for her for recognizing that so early in life.

September 5, 2026

I’m home and slept in my own bed last night — and we had a gentle, cooling rain. If that isn’t the height of luxury I don’t know what is.

My heart looks fine — I have to take one baby aspirin every day and Plavix for 21 days. If it gets more complicated later, we we will deal with it then. It’s so good to be back home.

And I love being able to blog on my desktop again. It’s so much easier. But bless the iPad for being there for me when I needed it.

December 4, 2026

Argh! I’m writing this on my iPad in the hospital and accidentally deleted what I just wrote. Note to self: keep saving as I write! So this will be shorter, not that I have anything else to do. 🙂

First, sorry about the glitch in yesterday’s comic. I have now corrected the post and here is the picture again:

Bliss

I’m writing this about 10:30 PM September 2, and here is a picture of the ER cubicle where I spent most of the day. (Click on the picture for higher resolution.)

Nothing serious, my left arm felt funny in the morning. It worked fine, but I checked with Perplexity and it said I should have it checked at the ER. So Andy drove me and they checked that everything seemed to be working, did an MRI, and connected me to a neurologist via video. He said it was a stroke, and apparently told the doctor here to monitor me overnight just in case.

I brought my iPad with me, of course, and Andy brought me my charger. More later!

September 3, 2026

Bliss

September 2, 2026

Or first day of September if you don’t go by meteorological seasons.

AccuWeather predictions aren’t always correct, but it is still satisfying that the highs are no longer in the 90s.

AccuWeather

Fingers crossed for us all!

Septemr 1, 2026