1. Some years, January 1 shows up warm enough to open a window, the kind of day that tricks you into thinking winter might be gentler this time.
2. Other years it arrives with frozen pipes and that first “we made it through the night” cup of coffee, the one that feels like a small victory.
3. It’s usually the quietest morning of the year. There is little traffic, no deliveries, just birds reclaiming the soundscape.
4. Out here, the calendar doesn’t impress the animals. January 1 still means feed buckets, hay bales, and the same routines as yesterday.
5. The empty mailbox is its own kind of holiday. No bills, no flyers, no demands. Just a metal box taking the day off.
6. It’s the day when people either take down the Christmas tree or decide they don’t have the emotional bandwidth for that yet.
7. Leftovers become the whole menu, and sometimes they’re better than the original meal — the flavors settling into themselves overnight.
8. A lot of households do a deep clean, not because of resolutions but because clearing a surface feels like clearing a mind.
9. Even laundry feels different on January 1. It can be more like a ritual of renewal than a chore.
10. There’s something about writing the first date in a new calendar that makes the year feel both wide open and slightly intimidating.
11. TV marathons take over the day, the familiar comfort of parades and old shows filling the background like a soft landing.
12. Gyms unleash their loudest ads, but most people stay home, at least for this day.
13. Newspapers run their “Year in Review.” I always enjoyed writing these - it was fun to look back at the stories I had written and see what was important to the community throughout the year.
Merry Christmas to you and yours! May your day be filled with love, comfort, and joy.
It's Christmas Day! I thought I'd go back to 1973, when I would have been 10 years old, and see what I might have found under the tree. (Confession: I really don't remember what I received that particular year, but it could have been some of these.)
1. Barbie with one new outfit - or maybe just an outfit.
2. A small set of plastic farm animals (because the real ones were outside)
3. Jacks or pick‑up sticks - I had both. I was very good at Jacks back in the day.
How about you? Any idea what you might have received when you were 10 years old?
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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 939th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
Now I'm going into podcasting! My podcast will be called Freezing and Wining. I will need to find a wine lover as a partner, though. Here are some of the proposed episodes. What do you think?
Freezing and Wining
A podcast pairing weather complaints with wine language, frozen desserts, and mild absurdity.
1. Crisis Coco - Emergency weather whining, paired with Chardonnay and a frozen hot chocolate situation that defeats the point. Includes existential angst stirred in with a whisk.
2. Storm Cellar Stories - Exaggerated storm memories, paired with Syrah and rocky road ice cream. Optional side note: includes dramatic reenactments using a hair dryer.
3. Almanac Apocalypse - The end of traditional weather forecasting after the collapse of the Farmer’s Almanac, paired with Cabernet Sauvignon and Neapolitan ice cream. Listener discretion: may include unsolicited conspiracy theories.
4. This Wind Has Notes of Hostility - Burgundy with dark chocolate gelato. With undertones of passive-aggressive sidewalk commentary.
5. Sunny but Structurally Cold - Sauvignon Blanc and lemon sorbet. Served with brief but intense eye-rolling at neighbors’ optimism.
7. This Is a Full-Body Chill - Cabernet Sauvignon and espresso ice cream. Garnished with minor resentment toward your own coat.
8. The Sun Is Decorative Only - Riesling with mango sorbet. Pairs well with sighing at the audacity of a sunny day that offers no warmth.
9. Cold Enough to Make You Rethink Your Life Choices - Bordeaux and salted caramel ice cream. Also includes one regrettable decision made while shivering.
10. Snow That Refuses to Melt - Barolo with hazelnut gelato. Perfect for muttering poetic curses at the recalcitrant white stuff.
11. Wind Chill as a Personality - Syrah and dark chocolate ice cream. With subtle undertones of judging the entire street for leaving their trash bins out.
12. Why Is February So Long? - Zinfandel with cookies-and-cream ice cream. Served with a side of deep sighs and vague muttering about time dilation.
13. Spring Is Theoretical - Late Harvest Riesling and frozen chocolate cream pie. Pairs excellently with whispering sweet nothings to a calendar.
*An AI tool helped me with this list because, well, I know absolutely nothing about wine because I don't drink.*
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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 938th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
I have decided to start a new business! It's insurance for mythological creatures. Here are some of the coverage plans:
1. Dragon Fire Liability Insurance - For when a sneeze, hiccup, or minor disagreement results in the total loss of a village.
2. Phoenix Rebirth Coverage - Handles nest destruction, wardrobe loss, and scorch‑related inconveniences during the fiery renewal cycle.
3. Unicorn Horn Repair & Replacement Plan - Covers chips, cracks, magical overuse, and unauthorized wizard borrowing.
4. Leprechaun Pot‑of‑Gold Loss Protection - For theft, misplacement, rainbow‑misalignment errors, and human meddling.
5. Mermaid Tail Injury & Scale‑Shedding Insurance - Protects against fin sprains, scale loss, coral abrasions, and unfortunate encounters with boat propellers.
6. Werewolf Transformation Liability Policy - Covers property damage, shredded clothing, and neighbor complaints during full‑moon episodes.
7. Fairy Wing Tear & Glitter Overuse Coverage - For wing rips, dust shortages, and accidental glitter contamination of human dwellings.
8. Giant Structural Damage Umbrella Policy - Handles unintentional stomping, leaning, sitting, or “just resting my elbow” incidents.
9. Vampire Sunlight Exposure & Coffin Replacement Plan - Covers coffin fires, smoke damage, and emergency blackout‑curtain installation.
10. Centaur Orthopedic & Horseshoe Plan - For back strain, hoof cracks, and long‑distance galloping injuries.
11. Troll Bridge‑Collapse Liability Insurance - Protects against structural failures caused by toll‑collecting, stomping, or goats with excessive determination.
12. Kraken Ship‑Entanglement Coverage - For tentacle‑related misunderstandings with maritime traffic.
And just for the holidays, we have a special running on the SANTA PLAN to cover airplane near misses, lost toys, reindeer hiccups, loose reins, bad GPS, cloud cover, and stains on red suits.
Happy Holidays!
*An AI tool helped me with this post.*
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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 937th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
1. A spider built an entire town inside my sneakers that I use for my "outside shoes." When I went to put them on, there was spider web everywhere, inside and out. The spider was still in the shoe. I handed it to my husband. "Eww," I said. He cleaned it out with a paper towel.
2. The spider in my shoe reminded me of that nursery rhyme about the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do. I think she whipped them all soundly and put them to bed, but it's been a long time since I looked at nursery rhymes.
3. I used to have a book of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. It was large with a black and white checked pattern on it, and goose in a bonnet on the front. At one point, I knew all the nursery rhymes, but that was a very long time ago.
4. Was there a nursery rhyme about a spider? I don't recall one, but I remember the song, "Itsy Bitsy Spider." That spider had a Sisyphus complex, always climbing up the water drain only to be washed out and having to start all over again.
5. Once, I opened a game camera in the kitchen and tiny little yellow spiders went everywhere. It looked like there were hundreds of them in the innards of the game camera. The next fall, we had big spiders - we call them wolf spiders although I don't think that's the right name - were all over the house. I was constantly hauling out the vacuum to suck them up off the floor. They appeared every fall for years after, and I even saw one this year. But hopefully they've about done their due in the house.
6. Now I only open game cameras outside when I want to get the cards out to see what the pictures are. Yes, I buy only cheap game cameras, not the ones with apps that allow you to see in real time that there's a raccoon in the backyard.
7. Speaking of raccoons, I saw a story Wednesday about a raccoon in Hanover County, VA, that invaded an ABC store. It destroyed bottles on the lower shelves, got very drunk, and passed out in the bathroom. The animal was fine after it sobered up.
8. I once had a squirrel find its way into the garage. Its ending was not as good as the raccoon's. This was when my husband had ankle surgery in 2019, and I was caring for him and not going out much. I don't know how the squirrel got in the garage. I heard something once when I was in the laundry room but I thought it was the dryer bumping against the wall. After several days, I had to make a grocery store run. While I was gone, the mail carrier brought something up to the house, and my husband, on his little knee scooter, asked the woman if she could just put the delivery inside the garage door for me to get when I returned. "Do you know there's a dead squirrel in your garage?" the woman asked him after she put the parcel inside. He did not. Being the hero that he is, he wheeled himself outside in the cold, down the patio sidewalk, and into the garage, found a shovel, picked up the dead squirrel, and flung it as far as he could out into the yard so I wouldn't drive home to find a dead squirrel in my path. "I didn't want to freak you out," he said. He later had a friend remove the carcass away from the house. He was probably right that a dead squirrel would have had me in tears. It upset me anyway because I knew the poor thing died of dehydration and lack of food.
9. Completely changing the subject now, I gave ChatGPT all of my health issues, food allergies, food preferences, and what I normally eat, and said, "fix me." We are working on a few things, and I have lost three pounds, even over Thanksgiving. I'll let you know if this continues to prove helpful. So far it seems to be working. I don't know why I thought to do that, but I guess dietitian could be another job that AI takes over.
10. My friend told me she read that the owner of Open AI thinks that one day an AI will be president. I'm not sure I want to live in that world. That's just too weird even for me. Although I think AI is better than believing that all the powerful folks at the top are secretly lizard people.
11. We had a lizard called a skink in the back and it kept trying to get in the house. I didn't want to kill it, I just wanted it to move along, so I sprinkled black pepper all over the patio door and the patio area where I kept seeing it. Black pepper is supposed to be something skinks don't like. The skink moved to the front porch, which is Ok because I don't go out that door as much and there aren't little door guides for it to hide under.
12. I tried using cayenne pepper to keep the deer away from my roses when I grew them, but it didn't stop them. Nothing keeps those things from eating the flowers, although they don't like marigolds much. I even had them eat my mums this year, which was a first.
13. And now we have come to the end of this wayward little wandering Thursday Thirteen. I don't often do these like this but sometimes it's good to just see what comes out of the air when I simply want to write.
Thank you for reading!
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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 936th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is having a fine holiday. I could do a "what I'm thankful for" post but I opted instead for a more introspective post today. So here are thirteen things I’ve learned about myself.
1. I am quite self-aware. Usually, I notice my reactions before I act (but not always, of course). Sometimes that saves me from saying things I’ll regret, and sometimes it delays the regret until I’m alone with a piece of chocolate.
2. I think deeply about the world, even when it’s exhausting. I spend hours pondering patterns, history, and human behavior. It’s tiring, yes, but it also means I notice the things people miss.
3. I carry my experiences with clarity and honesty. I face both the good and the bad parts of life without pretending they didn’t happen. No rewrites. No glossing over. Just the truth, messy as it is.
4. I show up for people, even when it’s inconvenient. I maintain connections and offer kindness long after others have moved on. Some days it’s exhausting, some days it’s rewarding. Sometimes it's both.
5. I have a strong sense of responsibility, sometimes too strong for my own good. I manage tasks, projects, and commitments, sometimes taking on more than I should. I’m learning to notice when it’s time to stop (or at least take a deep breath).
6. I still try to do the right thing, even when no one is watching. Maybe one day, some silent angel will give me a gold star for integrity. Mostly, though, I do it for the quiet satisfaction of knowing I did.
7. I’m more resilient than I give myself credit for. Setbacks, long days, or exhausting challenges don’t keep me down. Somehow, I eventually find a way forward, even if I grumble.
8. I balance intelligence with practical, lived experience. I think things through, plan carefully, and then figure out how to make them work in real life. There’s satisfaction in getting it right on the first try . . . . or in learning fast when I don’t.
9. I notice the details that make life vivid. Light on a field, the smell of fresh earth, small movements in the world around me - these are things I pay attention to and try to remember. They are small joys.
10. I’m loyal to a fault. I hold onto relationships and commitments, even when it’s inconvenient or difficult. Exhausting? Yes. Worth it? Usually.
11. I look for meaning rather than distraction. I try to understand why things happen, rather than just filling my time. Sometimes I fail spectacularly, but at least I’m thinking about it.
12. I don’t shy away from hard truths, even about myself. I face my limitations, mistakes, and emotional reactions head-on. It’s uncomfortable but avoiding it feels worse.
13. I value steady relationships and do the work to maintain them. I invest time and care into the connections that matter. It’s not always easy, and yes, sometimes I slip up, and sometimes I sigh, but it’s worth it.
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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 935th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
Since I recently celebrated a wedding anniversary, I thought I'd share a little marriage advice. Actually, this advice might work for most relationships.
1. Marriage takes work, and you have to be willing to change with life as it comes. Nobody coasts for forty years. You adjust, or you don’t make it.
2. Respect and honesty are the bedrock. Even when you’re mad, you still owe each other basic dignity, and you can’t build much without the truth.
3. Laugh when you can. The hard days show up on their own, but couples who still find a reason to laugh together seem to carry the years a little easier.
4. Don’t keep score. Long marriages survive because someone lets things go instead of counting every slight.
5. Small kindnesses matter more than the grand gestures. A cup of coffee, a thank you, a hand on the shoulder. Those things add up over time.
6. Patience becomes a skill. You learn to give each other space, to wait out the moods, and to trust that the storm will pass if you don’t feed it.
7. Stay curious. Share values. Act like you’re on the same team. After decades, you can still find things you didn’t know about each other, which is half the fun.
8. Arguments happen. What matters is how you put things back together afterward.
9. Keep a little romance alive, and mark the milestones, big or small. It reminds you why you started all this in the first place.
10. Let the small stuff go. After forty years, you know which battles are worth it and which ones you’ll forget by next week.
11. Support each other’s growth. People keep changing, even later in life, and a marriage does better when both partners feel free to grow.
12. Love is a choice. Some days the feeling is bright, and some days it’s dim, but you still show up for the life you built.
13. Gratitude carries you through. A little appreciation every day keeps resentments from settling in and gives the whole journey a steadier footing. And never be afraid to say, "I'm sorry."
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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 934th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
1. We saw the Northern Lights Tuesday night. The sky above us looked like velvet, and over the top of the mountain ridge we could see green, white, and orange lights. I'm not sure the orange wasn't from the Bald Mountain fire, as that is the direction we were looking. Unfortunately, my iPhone doesn't have a night mode on it, and I didn't take out my good camera.
2. The lights were supposed to be visible Wednesday night as well, but the smoke from the fire was so heavy we couldn't open the door to go outside to look. The fire sparked up again today, along with some back-fires the firefighters were setting to try to control the burn. I think it's over 3000 acres now.
3. When I was writing for the newspaper, I covered a fire. That meant getting up close and personal with the orange flames. I hitched a ride with a Forest Service Ranger that I knew, and he let me out as close as he dared, which was pretty close. I could feel the heat, see the flames, and watch the men with their shovels and rakes.
4. One other time, I was close to a forest fire because my new husband was fighting it. I went to the grocery store and loaded the car up with bottled water to take the firefighters, and they let me drive the car close to the fire. That fire was in the Catawba area, a very long time ago. The firefighters appreciated the water.
5. Being a news reporter afforded me many opportunities for activities I might otherwise not have attempted. I seldom thought twice about going after a story when I was young. If it called for me to ride in a hot air balloon, up I went.
6. Once I went up in a small twin engine plane. I was gone for hours, and my husband had a fit when I told him where I'd been. But I'd been all over the county.
7. I also went into a burning house once that firefighters were training on. No mask, no gear, just my camera in hand, trying to get that great shot in black and white, because that was 1987 and that's what the paper printed in then. Somewhere I have this really great shot in black and white of an entire wall of flames, with a firefighter off to the side. I have no idea where that picture is, but it was a good one.
8. Other silly things I did while I was writing for the paper included taking long hikes just to talk to people, jumping in a ditch for a picture and nearly breaking my ankle, and driving down roads that I thought would surely lead to the ends of the earth before they came out somewhere.
9. I also stalked the sidelines at football games and prayed some linebacker didn't crash into me. Same for basketball games. Please don't let the point guard hit me, I would think as I clicked away, trying to get a shot for the paper.
10. I also once climbed up a ladder and onto a roof to interview a roofer while he worked. He kept roofing nails in his mouth, so it was hard for him to talk and work at the same time. I finally convinced him to take a break so he could tell me about his job. The nails, by the way, were in his mouth from habit, something he developed when he was a youngster learning the trade from his uncle.
11. Those days are behind me now. But that doesn't mean something like seeing the Northern Lights doesn't get me excited. It's a rare phenomenon for it to be so far south.
12. I also can be excited by the vast plumes of smoke that rose today from the forest fire. Mostly now, though, my concern is for my asthma and the health of others who have breathing problems.
13. There are plenty of other things to be excited about: read up on Comet Atlas, for one. It's been hard to find good information on that with NASA shut down as part of the government, but I'm hoping that will be rectified soon.
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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 933rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
1. The other day I was thinking about all of the things around my home that are old, and I don't mean just me and my husband.
2. I am still using the Club cookware that I received as a wedding gift, almost 42 years ago. The pots have a few dings and scratches now, but they still heat evenly.
3. My camera sits on a Slik Stick tripod that someone gave me around 1986. I have tried a few other tripods, but I always go back to this one, even if I do have a bit of Duct Tape around one of its feet.
4. I have stoneware plates I never use that were a wedding present. They sit in the cabinet, and I probably should use them. Instead, I use Corelle ware, and I have no real idea why. Maybe habit. Maybe because it’s what I reach for without thinking.
5. The kitchen clock was also a wedding present. It has ticked away through many meals and lots of cooking. It's the last thing I glance at as I head into the garage for the car, to see what time it is, because it's still accurate.
6. I have a globe atop my bookshelf that my in-laws gave me so long ago that it's out of date, because the Soviet Union no longer exists, and neither do some of the other countries listed on it.
7. My bedroom suite is about 30 years old. It's well-made by a company called Virginia House, which no longer exists. It's not glued together; it's put together like well-made furniture should be. It will outlast me.
8. The cover on my checkbook is over 20 years old. It is made of leather, and I bought it at a craft show. The edges are smooth from years of being opened and closed.
9. I have a couple of books here that I've had since 2002, when my husband's grandmother passed away. They are history books about my county. Kegley'sVirginia Frontier is one of them. It smells a bit musty and a little like Grandma.
10. The tassel from where I graduated with my master's degree in 2012 is now 13 years old. It hangs on my bookshelf. It reminds me of goals completed.
11. Another checkbook cover dates back to the 1980s. It still says Sovran Bank, which was a regional bank that existed from 1983 to 1990. The bank eventually became Bank of America, and the branch we used is now called Hometrust Bank, another regional bank, after Bank of America bailed on this area. This checkbook has outlived at least three banks.
12. I have a couple of hard plastic cups that I brought with me when we married, part of my "dowry" that I started when I was about 12. I had a little box where I kept things I thought I might need if I moved out or married, and the cups were among them.
13. And of course there's our house, which we built ourselves, nail by nail, in 1987. We moved in about this time of year - I know it was sometime in November. It's full of our DNA, and it is uniquely ours.
All of which is to say that things can last if one takes care of them and goes for quality. We have, of course, gone through many items - dishes, glasses, things that break when you drop them. As we enter our dotage, our things will come along for the ride.
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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 932nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
Spooky Short Stories for the Threshold of Halloween
1. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
A sunlit village gathers for its annual ritual, one that is cheerful, ordinary, and horrifying. Jackson’s masterpiece of social horror exposes the violence lurking beneath tradition. Read online (XpressEnglish)
2. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A woman confined for “rest” begins to see movement in the wallpaper. A descent into madness—or a haunting critique of domestic repression and medical gaslighting. Read online (Project Gutenberg)
3. “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
A murderer insists on his sanity, but the sound of a beating heart beneath the floorboards betrays him. Guilt becomes a rhythmic torment in Poe’s classic. Read online (PoeStories.com)
4. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
A cursed talisman grants three wishes, but with cruel irony. A meditation on grief, fate, and the danger of tampering with the unknown. Read online (Project Gutenberg)
5. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
In the catacombs beneath carnival revelry, a man exacts revenge brick by brick. Poe’s tale of betrayal and buried secrets chills with its calm cruelty. Read online (PoeStories.com)
6. “The Summer People” by Shirley Jackson
A couple decides to extend their stay past Labor Day only to find that the locals grow strange. A quiet dread builds as the landscape turns hostile. Read online (PDF)
7. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin
A utopian city thrives, but at a terrible cost. Le Guin’s philosophical fable asks what we’re willing to sacrifice for comfort, and who bears the burden. Read online (PDF)
8. “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner
A Southern woman clings to the past and to something more disturbing. Gothic decay and denial culminate in a macabre revelation. Read online (PDF)
9. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
A woman receives news of her husband’s death and tastes freedom, albeit briefly. A haunting twist turns liberation into tragedy. Read online (Owl Eyes)
10. “Charles” by Shirley Jackson
A mother worries about her son’s unruly classmate, until the truth emerges. Domestic absurdity masks a darker reflection of childhood and denial. Read online (PDF)
11. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
In a dystopia of enforced equality, beauty and brilliance are punished. A rebel rises—and is swiftly crushed. Satirical, eerie, and disturbingly relevant. Read online (PDF)
12. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates
A teenage girl meets a stranger who knows too much. Inspired by true crime, this story simmers with psychological menace and seductive dread. Read online (PDF)
13. “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl
A young man checks into a cozy bed-and-breakfast. The tea is warm, the pets are still, and the guestbook never changes. Dahl’s tale is quietly terrifying. Read online (PDF)
*An AI tool helped put this list together*
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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 931st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
3. Nixon and his aides attempted to obstruct justice, including paying hush money and misleading investigators.
4. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post investigated the story with help from “Deep Throat,” later revealed to be FBI Associate Director Mark Felt.
5. The Senate Watergate Committee was formed in 1973, and its hearings were broadcast live, drawing national attention.
6. The “Saturday Night Massacre” occurred on October 20, 1973, when Nixon fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox, prompting resignations of top Justice Department officials.
7. On October 23, 1973, Nixon agreed to release some tapes, which had been secretly recorded in the Oval Office without most staff knowing.
8. The tapes revealed Nixon’s involvement in the cover-up, especially the “smoking gun” tape from June 23, 1972.
9. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in United States v. Nixon (1974) that Nixon had to release the tapes.
10. Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so.
11. Gerald Ford became president and controversially pardoned Nixon on September 8, 1974.
12. The scandal led to over 40 government officials being indicted or jailed, including top aides like H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman.
13. The term “Watergate” became a metonym for political scandal and abuse of power.
Sources:
FBI records, court documents, early reporting from The Washington Post, History.com, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, PBS Frontline, NPR, Constitution Center, National Archives, CNN, Watergate.info. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Brookings Institution and Politico.
*I used the little magic wand on blogger for the first time to insert links. Not impressed.*
*An AI tool helped put this list together*
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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 930th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
1. The other morning, my husband asked Alexa the temperature. She said it was 13 degrees. He argued with her that she was wrong, but she insisted that the temperature was right for this time of year. I asked her if she was using Celsius or Fahrenheit; she said Celsius. I told her to use Fahrenheit from now on. This morning, at 6 a.m., when we asked her the temperature, she said it was 56 degrees and sunny. The sun had not yet risen, and it was quite dark outside with a bit of a breeze. We are blaming the government shutdown, but I don't know.
2. In the late 1970s, I think about 1979, actually, we had snow on October 10. I remember it vividly because that's the earliest snow in my lifetime. It was actually thunder snow. A great big rumble of thunder shook my parents' house, and then it poured snow. Pretty amazing, actually.
3. Another big weather event in my lifetime was the Flood of 1985. This will be the 40th anniversary of that flood, which wiped out not only parts of Roanoke but also communities here in my county, Eagle Rock and Buchanan, both of which lie along the mighty James River. It also flooded anything along Tinker Creek, including an area of the county known as Cloverdale. Here's a video about it:
4. We have had other floods that I remember because they wiped out my grandparents' house. It was located along the Roanoke River. It flooded in 1969, 1972, and 1985, I know, and there were probably minor floods that I don't recall. It was always a stinking, soppy mess. The water never got up into the living area, but it sure wrecked the basement.
5. In 1993 (I think), we had a "dusting" of snow that dumped about 2 feet on us in March of that year. We were without power for 10 days. When the roads finally cleared, about 6 days into this snow dump, I drove to my grandmother's house in Salem to take a shower. That was such a relief after days of heating water on the woodstove.
6. Virginia has all four seasons, distinctly so. I woke up Monday morning to find that Autumn had arrived for sure. But one can tell as spring approaches by the greening of grass, the wisps of green on the willows, and the movement of the animals. Spring seems to be the season that we are getting shortchanged on in recent years; it comes and goes rather more quickly than I recall as a child. Maybe it's just my perception.
7. We have a freeze and frost advisory out for tomorrow morning. That means the persimmons should be ripe this weekend. Persimmons need a frost in order to ripen properly. An unripe persimmon will turn your mouth inside out, but a ripe persimmon doesn't taste too bad.
8.The folktales about weather around here include: the devil is beating his wife (when the sun shines and its raining), snow before 7, stop after 11 (or maybe I have that backwards), and the usual "red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning."
9. We also predict the weather around here by looking at wooly buggers. They are worms that are brown and black, and the amount of brown and black indicates how bad the winter is going to be.
10. My husband predicts the winter based on the number of acorns, hickory nuts, and persimmons on the trees. "Mother Nature takes care of her own," is his comment about that.
11. I say the weather will be bad when there is a ring around the moon.
12. There is also a tale that the number of fogs in August forecast the number of snows we will have. If that's the case, we will be inundated with snow because I remember a lot of fogs this past August. However, the weather service has us in drought conditions now and through the end of the year.
13. As a farmer, my husband stays very interested in the weather. We watch the news at lunch and at dinner so he can see the weather forecast, and I do not ask questions or talk while the weather is on, even if it's a repeat forecast.
How about you? How's your weather these days?
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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 929th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
My county in Virginia is large. It has three small incorporated towns - Fincastle, Troutville, and Buchanan. Other areas, though, are unincorporated communities that have sprung up over the 250-plus years of settlement of the area by Europeans and other nationalities.
Here are just a few:
1. Cloverdale is located at the southern edge of Botetourt County. It marks the transition into Roanoke County. It’s a key junction for railroads and highways, including US 11 and US 220. The railroad hums through its bones, and the wind carries stories from both sides of the ridge. It once was the site of the Traveltown Motel, a facility that kept loads of children cool in the summer with its swimming pool and fed thousands at its restaurant. The motel was badly damaged in the Flood of '85 and no longer exists.
2. Blue Ridge is a community nestled at the base of the mountains. The area was once home to Blue Ridge Springs, a resort renowned in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for its mineral-rich healing waters. Guests came seeking rest and remedy, drawn by the promise of rejuvenation. The mountains rise like myth behind the schoolyard, and every sunrise feels like a beginning.
3. Nace is a rural crossroad near the Norfolk Southern rail line. The area once had a depot and post office. It’s now marked by silos, farmland, and echoes of rail-town life. The tracks still whisper, and the grain silos stand like sentinels of a slower time.
4. Lithia is named for its mineral springs and was once a resort destination in the late 1800s. The springs were believed to have healing properties and were bottled for sale. Once bottled and sold as tonic, now it lingers in the soil like a memory of cure.
5. Haymakertown is a farming community with deep roots. The area once was defined mostly by Asbury School and a general store, both now gone. It lies between Daleville and Catawba and is near Titan Cement, where industrial presence meets pastoral quiet. The land rolls gently, and every barn seems to hold a secret or a song.
6. Springwood is located along the James River and is known for its fertile bottomlands and historic schoolhouse. It’s a site of frequent flooding and rich agricultural history. The James bends here like a question mark, and the fields remember every flood.
7. Gala is a small community near Eagle Rock. It was once a stop on the railroad and is surrounded by orchards and river bends. It’s quiet now, but its name still carries sweetness. Peach trees once bloomed in rows, and the trains carried sweetness into the world.
8. Spec refers to the Spec Mines area in Jefferson National Forest, once home to iron mining operations in the late 1800s. It’s now a biologically rich forest with trails and cold-water streams. A forgotten forge, where iron was pulled from the earth and memory still clings to the ridgeline.
9. Daleville is a growing residential and commercial hub. It sits along US 220 and Interstate 81 and pretends to host the Greenfield industrial park (which is really in the community called Amsterdam). It was once farmland and is now a commuter’s anchor. Suburban now, it still echoes with farmland ghosts and the ache of displacement.
10. Glen Wilton is a riverside hamlet near the James River. It was once known for its lime kilns and ironworks. It still has a post office and active rail line. The kilns are quiet now, but the rail still sings, and the James keeps its rhythm.
11. Santillane is not really a place, but instead a historic estate near Fincastle. It was the home of Julia Hancock, wife of William Clark. The house still stands, a testament to Federal architecture and layered legacy. Its columns rise like memory, and every stone holds the echo of a woman’s name.
12. Oriskany is nestled near Craig Creek and still has a functioning post office and church. It was once home to a school and is surrounded by forested hollows. A place of quiet continuity and sacred pause, where the creek runs like a hymn.
13. Eagle Rock is located along the James River and US 220. It is named for a cliff formation said to resemble an eagle. The rock watches like an old god, and the river below carries both freight and prayer. It has deep industrial roots as evidenced by the lime kilns that still stand there.
*An AI tool helped me compile this list.*
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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 928th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
1. Peanuts premiered on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers. Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz had wanted to call it Good Ol’ Charlie Brown, but the syndicate chose Peanuts. He disliked the name, considering it trivial.
2. Schulz wrote, drew, and inked every strip himself for 50 years, producing 17,897 strips.
3. The Little Red-Haired Girl was based on Schulz’s real-life lost love, Donna Johnson.
4. Inspired by Schulz’s childhood dog Spike, Snoopy debuted on October 4, 1950, and evolved into a master of fantasy. He was a flying ace, lawyer, novelist, and more. Schulz used him to explore escape and imagination. Spike later appeared as Snoopy's brother.
5. Charlie Brown’s father, like Schulz’s own father, was a barber.
6. Schulz introduced Franklin in 1968 after MLK Jr.’s assassination, making him the first Black character in a mainstream comic strip. Woodstock was named after the 1969 music festival, and Peppermint Patty was inspired by a candy Schulz saw in a store.
7. Schulz popularized the term "security blanket" through Linus, though he didn’t coin it.
8. Schulz excluded adults from the strip, believing they’d be “uncomfortable” in the children’s world. In animated specials, the teacher’s “wah-wah” voice was created using a trombone, thanks to composer Vince Guaraldi.
9. By 1999, over 20,000 Peanuts products were being marketed annually.
10. At its peak, Peanuts was published in 2,600 newspapers, in 75 countries, and 21 languages.
11. Lucy’s Psychiatric Booth was inspired by real-life therapy and Schulz’s interest in psychology.
12. Shulz once said, “Charlie Brown must be the one who suffers,” making him a vessel for quiet endurance and emotional truth.
13. Schulz’s last strip ran on February 13, 2000, the day after he died. Scholar Robert Thompson called Peanuts “arguably the longest story ever told by one human being.”
*An AI tool helped me compile this list.*
_________________
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 927th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
