Thursday Thirteen

1. We had a little rain, but still not enough to break the drought. We'll take what we can get, though.

2. We also had high winds, and that means broken trees over fences, and in one case, across a neighbor's driveway. My husband was out late Tuesday night helping to clear the tree from the driveway so the neighbor could get out.

3. I have not remembered how to do a Rubrik's cube. I also haven't cheated and looked up how to do it. At least not yet.

4. We have a squirrel that is addicted to some mineral that we put out for the animals. We placed it on a stump in the backyard, and while it was a solid cube, all the animals ignored it. Now that it's melted down and the minerals have seeped into the stump, one squirrel just can't get enough of licking the stump. I wonder what it is after?

5. Last night someone in Illinois won a $1 billion lottery. That's a tremendous amount of money to suddenly obtain. What will they do with it? Will they quit their job today? Will they buy a new house, a new car? Move to some remote island? Buy a castle in England? What would you do with that kind of money?

6. Facebook keeps showing me ads for something called a Qwerty Machine, which looks a bit like an old timey typewriter except it's a computer keyboard. I already use an ergonomic keyboard, which is not at all like a regular keyboard.

7. National Geographic has a story about squashing spotted lantern flies. I'm sure we have them, but I haven't seen any near the house. I don't know if I actually am supposed to be squashing them, though, because I had to sign up to read the article and I didn't feel like doing that.

8. There's another article about redacted names in the Epstein files. Not victims' names, as required by law, and which the DOJ has infamously failed to do, but the names of "Hollywood royalty" and real royalty, and apparently other big hot shots who appear to need to be protected by the government while victims get harassed by the proletariat that follows a certain cult of personality.

9. Sometimes you just can't make stuff up: From ABC-13: UPDATE: The fire marshal's office determined that a fire at Forest Middle School was accidental and caused by an escaped classroom snake knocking over a heat lamp. 

10. My Facebook feed has several tributes to Jackie, the eagle who died over the weekend. I'd been watching Jackie and her fellow Shadow for several years and I learned a lot about eagles. I wonder what will happen to Shadow now? I assume he will find another mate. I also wonder if the nest will be abandoned, or if Shadow will continue to use it, or perhaps some other eagle pair will take it over.

11. Today, the delegates assembled at the 58th International Association of Fire Fighters convention in Arlington, Texas voted unanimously to censure the Governor of Virginia, Abigail D. Spanberger. Apparently, they were unhappy for this reason: "During Governor Spanberger’s campaign for office, she repeatedly committed to signing statewide collective bargaining legislation for Virginia’s public safety professionals. This commitment was made publicly and privately to firefighters who steadfastly supported and endorsed her candidacy. Collective bargaining legislation (Senate Bill 378 and House Bill 1263) passed both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly in 2026. The legislation was vetoed by the Governor signaling a clear disregard for the will of Virginia’s elected representatives and a violation of the promises made to those who protect the citizens of Virginia." I seem to remember muttering from my retired firefighter husband about Spanberger's veto at the time.

12. It has taken me longer to find 13 things to write today than it took me to do the dishes, fold the laundry, and make the bed. Some days the words don't come easy.

13. And this is 13, and thankful am I for that!

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 971st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.