Thursday Thirteen

Things Not Allowed in My House

1. Coconut anything. If it smells like sunscreen or tastes like disappointment, it stays outside. Coconut odor is enough to make me hurl. Why? I blame some medication I took when I was a child that smelled like coconut, but I could be misremembering.

2. Dogs. I’m allergic, they shed, and they always want to “just say hi” by humping my leg. I love dogs, I grew up having dogs, and I owned a dog for the first 17 years of our marriage, but she stayed outside. The house is for people; the barn is for animals. No dogs allowed.

3. Barbed wire. I don’t care if it’s “decorative rustic.” It’s a tetanus shot waiting to happen.

4. Poison ivy or poison oak. Check your shoes, check your pants, and if you are oozing in places from being around it yourself, please stay home, or go to urgent care for a steroid pack.

5. Ticks. If you show up with one, I’m burning your clothes and maybe the porch. These things now carry so many diseases that they're like a mini-monster just hiding in the grass waiting to get us all. Talk about the walking dead. Crikey.

6. Snakes. Live, dead, rubber, or on a T‑shirt. Absolutely not. Those things slither, slide, and flick out their tiny little tongues in ways that give me the heebie-jeebies. No way no how.

7. High wind. If you open a door and the house tries to leave the foundation, close it.

8. Anything that smells like "ocean breeze." That’s not a scent. That’s a chemical lie.

9. Tech that insists on “helping.” If it auto‑corrects, auto‑plays, auto‑syncs, or auto‑anything, it can auto‑stay outside. I don't need my microwave, stove, refrigerator, or washing machine connected to the Internet so it can talk to me. I have Alexa for that.

10. Anyone smoking or smelling like smoke. If you walk in trailing a nicotine weather system, you’re turning right back around. Sorry, but my asthma can't take it and honestly, you shouldn't be smoking it anyway.

11 Plants. If it needs feeding and watering and has dirt that routinely requires changing so that it doesn't smell like compost, it’s not compatible with my lifestyle.

12. Food described as “fusion.” First, I don't even know what that means. It sounds like you're making a nuclear reactor. Pick a cuisine and commit. My kitchen is not a laboratory.

13. Anything that sheds glitter. I don’t need to sparkle. I need to not vacuum for the rest of my life. And if you're the person who thinks putting things in birthday cards so that the stuff spills everywhere when the envelope is open, you're not particularly welcome, either.

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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 974th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I’m Ready to Leave Behind This Summer

1. Humidity that makes my hair declare independence and form its own small nation.

2. Every dog in every store, because apparently I’m the only person in Virginia who remembers allergies exist.

3. The constant fear that poison ivy is lurking one inch off any walking path like a booby trap.

4. Ticks acting like they’ve been personally invited to the backyard.

5. High wind warnings that make me mentally rehearse my obituary.

6. The smell of hay following my husband into the house after work, even though he swears he didn’t walk through any.

7. The annual “Am I stuck in barbed wire?” panic whenever I’m near a fence.

8. My electric bill behaving like it’s auditioning for a horror movie.

9. Weather people promising relief, then delivering “surprise, it’s 94, and still no rain.”

10. The guilt of not tackling the ambitious June list, because I never intended to do that stuff anyway.

11. Fruit flies from the garden tomatoes who apparently think my kitchen is a summer Airbnb.

12. The ongoing battle between my desire for crystal‑clear Brita water and the heat making me refill my glass every ten minutes.

13. The belief that August will ever be anything but a sweaty, dramatic diva. Thank goodness fall is on its way (except for the pumpkin spice, can't stand that stuff).

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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 973rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen

Thursday 13: Holidays I’d Declare If Anyone Put Me in Charge

1. National Frog‑Catching Day. For people who enjoy nature but not enough to actually keep the frog. Nor do they want to eat the frog's legs. Just catch and release. For the fun of it.

2. National Throw a Hissy‑Fit Day. One sanctioned meltdown per person. No rollover credits. Hissy-Fit may involve verbal frustrations but no physical abuse, please, although jumping up and down in utter exasperation is completely allowed.

3. National No‑Cussing Day. A challenge for some, a vacation for others. Give the four-letter words a break and see if you can recall those usages from childhood, like "Son of a Sea Biscuit" or "Oh fudge!"

4. National Eat Chocolate All Day Day. Self-explanatory and what's not to like? Doctors may file objections; they will be ignored.

5. National Don’t Call Me Unless You’re on Fire Day. A holiday with clear boundaries. Informally called "Leave Me Alone Day." Same sentiment, just less forceful.

6. National Pants Quality Control Day. Manufacturers must explain themselves and tell us why pants legs are not always the same length, ladies pants come without pockets, and why inseams never actually are what the measurements say they are.

7. National Stop Using My Email for Your Spam Accounts Day. Justice at last. Maybe the folks who use my email for their spam would get theirs?

8. National Root Beer Appreciation Day. A&W gets a parade. Stewart's root beer comes in second. Mug root beer brings up the rear. Maybe it doesn't even get in the parade.

9. National Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading Day. Mandatory quiet hours. Violators face stern looks. Everyone turns into a librarian going "shhhh" while reading a book. Imagine the absolute quiet. 

10. National No Bossy Robot Voices Day. Pharmacies must use humans or silence. They absolutely would not tell me to move picking up a prescription to the top of my "to do" list. Additionally, all customer service calls would be answered by real people for once without going through a menu of 17 different items.

11. National Drought‑Be‑Gone Day. Rain encouraged to behave and come again, like every day for at least a week or more.

12. National Rainbow Spotting Day. Morning or evening, whichever your house allows. Nothing like brilliant colors in the sky to remind one that the heart is full and overflowing even on rainy days.

13. National Mind Your Own Business Day. A holiday with immediate national benefit. No one would be on social media. Opinions would be quashed, voices silenced. Congress might actually pass a bill.

What holiday would you invent?

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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 972nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

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.

Thursday Thirteen #970

 

Thirteen Things I Noticed This Week

1. A rainbow came out Tuesday evening when we were on our way home. It was low on the horizon. Because of the way our house is positioned, I cannot usually see evening rainbows, only morning ones, and those are rather rare.

2. My physical therapist gives the best hugs. Some people just have that grounding energy.

3. Trying to get custom orthotics made right apparently is the equivalent of running a space program without any funding.

4. The drought continues even though we've had a little rain. The rain has made the grass grow a bit, but the pastures are thin and the hayfields sparse.

5. I love the taste of an A&W Root Beer. I hadn't had one for several years but recently broke down and drank one. Ah, the joy of the first taste! It was like memory washed up in a soda.

6. When people show you who they really are, believe them, and make decisions from there. Wishes are for beggars, suckers, and dreamers. And while I'm a dreamer, most days my feet are firmly on the ground.

7. Speaking of dreams, a Florida person won $800 million in the Mega Millions drawing Tuesday night. Can you imagine suddenly having that kind of money?

8. My husband planted yellow zucchini in the garden this year. I don't quite know what to do with it. It is like a yellow summer squash but not, and it's not zucchini, either. So far it's found its way into a squash casserole and been sauteed in butter, but I would rather have the regular ol' green zucchini.

9. Someone used my email to sign up for various things such as Warner Brothers Games and Sportsman Warehouse. They aren't accessing my account, just using my email. I guess they didn't want the spam. Interestingly, this means I can access their account by changing the password and sometimes that even means I could order something because they've left their charge card in there. But I am honest and don't do that.

10. My pharmacist calls to tell me my prescription is ready. They have a new automated message now that says, "Please move this to the top of your to-do list." I resent being told what "To do" by some company, and I will be out to pick up my medicine when it is convenient for me. They called 8 times before I picked it up.

11. The last pair of pants I bought has one leg shorter than the other. I didn't realize this until I brought them home and washed them in vinegar and then in baking soda to try to get the perfume stench off of them. They will have to be wear-around-the-house pants.

12. When I play Wordle, a majority of times when I see what the "Wordlebot" thinks of my play, it tells me, "No one in our system of 1,587,000 players had this scenario." I am apparently an outlier in the Wordle world.

13. I bought a cheaply made copy of a Rubrik's Cube, I immediately remembered how to get one side completed, but I've forgotten how to go from there. It has instructions but I've not read them. I want to see if I can remember. If I can remember, maybe I'll get a real Rubrik's Cube, because this thing is really poorly made.

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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 970th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen

Thursday 13: Songs I Loved (But Now Maybe Not So Much)

1. Muskrat Love, by Captain & Tennille. I once thought it was charming. Now I wonder what was in the water. Rats in love? Who sings about that? Besides Captain & Tennille, I mean.

2. You Light Up My Life, by Debby Boone. This was mandatory listening in the 70s. Like jury duty, but with strings. And it was also the first song I ever sang in public while accompanying myself on guitar. I was a freshman in high school.

3. Afternoon Delight, by Starland Vocal Band. In the 1970s, I sang along cheerfully. Then I learned what it meant. Then I discovered Sunday afternoons. ::: wink wink :::

4. Escape (The Piña Colada Song), by Rupert Holmes. A catchy tune about two people cheating on each other … with each other. It was kind of fun, but I do wonder if that couple would have made it.

5. Seasons in the Sun, by Terry Jacks. All the young girls cried over this song when I was in . . . I think elementary school?  We thought it was profound. When I listen to it now, it's terribly depressing.

6. Honey, by Bobby Goldsboro. I remember my father singing this song. I once found it touching. Now I find it emotionally manipulative.

7. Feelings, by Morris Albert. Feelings… nothing more than . . .  melodrama. My husband hates this song.

8. Sometimes When We Touch, by Dan Hill. The honesty was too much. And also somehow not enough. I loved the line about being "just another writer, still trapped within my truth," though.

9. You’re Having My Baby, by Paul Anka. I didn’t realize how cringe this was until I heard Howard Wolowitz sing it on The Big Bang Theory, aimed at Bernadette's tummy. Then it was like, oh yuck. I will never be able to hear this song again without seeing Howard's face.

10. The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, by Vicki Lawrence. I loved the drama. I loved the story. Now I hear it as a soap opera, but I confess I still like the song. I just don't love it like I once did.

11. Delta Dawn, by Helen Reddy. Still catchy, but the storyline feels different when you’re old enough to read between the lines. I mean, 40 years old and her daddy still called her Baby? What's up with that? However, this song hasn't anything on Reddy's Angie Baby for total weirdness. That's some freaky stuff right there.

12. Billy, Don’t Be a Hero, by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods. I thought it was sad. I still think it's a sad song, but I also think it should be an anti-war song. Nobody should come home in a coffin.

13. Brand New Key, by Melanie. Cute, yes. But also . . . what exactly was happening here? I remember singing this song with my mother, who apparently did not make a connection between roller skates and keys and, well, sex. Because surely that's what they're talking about right? Right?

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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 969th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen

13 Movie or TV Characters I’d Actually Want to Have Tea With

1. Christine Cagney (Cagney & Lacey). I loved her tough‑girl style and her matter‑of‑fact way of taking charge of her life, even when it went down the toilet in an alcoholic frenzy.

2. Xena: Warrior Princess. Another tough girl who could knock a man across the room with the back of her hand and then grab him by the hoo‑haas and kiss him until his eyes crossed. Who wouldn’t want to have coffee with someone who was once very bad but then set aright by Hercules?

3. Captain Kathryn Janeway (Star Trek: Voyager). The female captain of the Star Trek franchise was always noble, always on top of things, and always right. She would let me know what flying through the Delta Quadrant was all about.

4. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie (JAG). She could beat up a bad guy and then prosecute another one all in the same day, and then later that night she’d get Harm all hot and bothered just by fluttering her eyelashes, and you know she never meant to do that. I would love to hear the stories of some of her most famous cases.

5. Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings). I mean, he’s a wizard. He’s lived a couple thousand years. He fought a Balrog and died and came back to tell about it. He can whistle up the king of horses. Imagine the tales this man could tell you.

6. Sandy (Grease). Let’s face it, I’d really be having tea with Olivia Newton‑John, who has unfortunately passed away, but maybe I’d find out what it was she wanted Danny to “tell me about it” when she said that line near the end of the movie.

7. Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings). The king of the new era in Middle Earth would have lots of tales to tell, I’m sure, but honestly, the way Viggo Mortensen portrayed him means I’d mostly just sit and drink him in instead of the cuppa I had in front of me.

8. Jamie Sommers (The Bionic Woman).  Let’s face it, she had a tough time with being bionic and all, and I know Lindsay Wagner actually sometimes does those 2‑minute face‑to‑face things with people online because I follow her on Facebook. I thought about doing one of those but then I thought, what would I tell her for 2 minutes? That I loved the character but the writing was awful in season 3 and I’m sorry, but I didn’t like the bionic dog Max?

9. Captain Jean‑Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation). If I'm going to have tea with a Starfleet captain, I may as well pick the one who can quote Shakespeare, negotiate peace between warring planets, and still make time for Earl Grey. He’d talk about diplomacy, leadership, and that time he got turned into Locutus. He'd do all in that calm, steady voice that makes you feel like everything’s going to be fine.

10. Diana Prince (Wonder Woman, film version). Compassionate, fierce, and heartbreakingly earnest. She’d talk about the burden of knowing humanity’s flaws and loving us anyway. Plus, she’d absolutely insist on paying for the tea because “it is my honor.”

11. Amy Farrah Fowler (The Big Bang Theory).  Imagine sitting across from a woman who can explain neurobiology, medieval harp music, and the mating habits of fruit flies without ever losing her deadpan delivery. She’d ask me three extremely personal questions before the coffee even cooled, then apologize for her “enthusiasm for data collection.” And she’d have stories about Sheldon that would make me laugh so hard I'd snort.

12. Sabrina Duncan (Charlie's Angels). She’d sit down, smile that serene smile, and suddenly I'd feel like the world wasn’t such a mess. She could talk about truth, justice, invisible bosses, and how she managed to fight crime in heels with her head and her heart, all without ever breaking a sweat.

13. Mr. Spock (Star Trek: original series). Imagine the calm. Imagine the logic. Imagine the eyebrow. He’d sip his tea, explain the universe, and gently point out the flaws in my reasoning without making me feel stupid. And if I asked him whether he ever secretly enjoyed McCoy’s sass, he’d give me that tiny almost‑smile that means “yes, but I’ll never admit 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 968th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen

 

A friend and I were chatting on the phone and we were talking about things we were afraid of. And I immediately thought: Thursday 13 topic!

So here are 13 things I'm afraid of:

1. Dogs in Lowes, or any other store, for that matter. They don't belong there. I'm allergic to them, for one thing, and they all shed. Big dogs are scary. I have left carts sitting in stores and left because there have been dogs in grocery stores. Like I want to put my tomatoes in a cart where some dog has had its butt sitting. Eww. I wouldn't even want to put my light bulbs there.

2. Barbed wire fences. If you've ever climbed over one of those and snagged your pants, you'd know why I'm afraid of them. You can get caught and then suddenly you've flipped and turned upside down until your britches tear so you can get free. Most of them are rusted, so you'd better have a current tetanus shot or you could end really sick if the barbed wire pierces your skin.

3. The current administration. We are living in a crazy scary time, when up is down and things are topsy-turvy. When January 6 was a "tourist walk" and Neo-Nazis can march through Washington, DC without anyone in power even blinking, we are living in very perilous times.

4. Poison ivy or poison oak. It really doesn't matter to me which one I run into, they both make me break out in a horrible rash that requires a steroid to relieve.

5. Forest fires. There's nothing scarier than watching the mountainside burn. I've seen several of these up close and personal - I was sent to cover them occasionally when I wrote for the paper. Hot, burning, embers crackling, brush falling all around you, men yelling. The fear of being trapped behind the fire line and no one realizing the silly news reporter was up there. My husband, who was a firefighter, also fought several mountain fires when he was younger. I remember going to the grocery store and buying cases of water to take to the command station for the firemen, a very long time ago.

6. Ticks. When I was a kid, these didn't scare me so much, but apparently now they carry loads of disease and I want to stay far, far away from these tiny little villains. I know many people who've gotten ill from them. 

7. Snakes. I have always been afraid of snakes. When I was about 4 years old, I was playing outside with my doll near a tree. I was also using the tree as a being, and for some reason it had been a bad being and needed whipping. When I went to whip it, I looked down and there was a snake wrapped around the tree. I ran inside to my mother, and I was so frightened all I could do was stand there and point. I remember her saying, "What is it?" and then rattling off things until she finally said "snake" and I nodded. She called my father, who came home from wherever he was - I think he may have been a police officer then - and dispatched the snake.

8. High wind. I was in a tornado once, when I was in the high school band. We didn't realize there was a tornado, just that we all needed to move away from the window of the restaurant we were eating at because the winds were terribly strong and there was hail. After the winds washed over us, the sun burst out, and then the winds returned. After we all piled back into the bus, we saw that just down the road, there was the path of the tornado. It went down the mountainside, through an outdoor movie theater, and it was quite the mess. I was young then and didn't realize the danger. The 2012 derecho that came through and left a lot of folks without power was also incredibly scary and very dangerous. We were watching TV and didn't know there was a forecast for high winds. Suddenly whoosh - it was like a wall of wind hit the house. Strong winds make me very nervous.

9. Public speaking. One of the reasons I liked being a news reporter was I didn't have to do the talking. Even in a one-on-one interview, all I had to do was ask questions. People like to talk and once you get them to open up, then it's just a matter of saying "uh huh" or "and then what happened" in the right spots. I have had to speak before groups on occasion and I found it terrifying.

10. Sudden loud noises. I don’t mean fireworks you’re expecting. A noise that goes off when you’re not prepared. A transformer blowing, a truck backfiring, a gunshot somewhere in the distance. That jolt of adrenaline that shoots straight through your spine and makes your heart race. I’ve never liked that feeling and doubt I ever will.

11. Phone calls after 9 p.m. or before 8 a.m. Texts are fine. Scheduled calls are fine. But when the phone rings out of nowhere, especially after hours or before the day begins, my stomach drops. It’s never someone calling to say something simple like “I found your missing sock.” It’s always something that requires emotional bandwidth, money, or both.

12. Being misunderstood. I spend a lot of time trying to be clear, thoughtful, and precise. When someone twists my meaning, or hears something I didn’t say, or assumes something I didn’t intend, it rattles me. It’s not the disagreement that scares me. It’s the idea that my words didn’t land the way I meant them to.

13. High bridges. Not the scenic ones you drive over without thinking. I mean the tall ones with narrow lanes, fast traffic, and no shoulder. The kind where you grip the steering wheel a little tighter and breathe a little shallower. Like the one in Charleston. Or the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. Long bridges with no escape.

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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 967th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen

 

When I was young, I used to be an avid comic book reader. My uncle who was four years older than I was read comic books and once I could read, I began to read them too. This would have been the late 1960s, early 1970s - what I would consider my "golden age" of comic books.

I haven't picked up a comic book in many years, but from what I've read, they've changed dramatically since then. The comics I read were bright, self‑contained, and easy to pick up off the newsstand.

Today’s comics are more serialized, more cinematic, and far more complex. They have deeper character development, modern art styles, and a wider range of heroes than I ever saw back then.

It’s a different landscape but still built on the same colorful foundations I grew up with.

If you need a hero, the comics are one place to look.

1. Wonder Woman (DC). The iconic Amazon warrior and symbol of truth and justice. When I was reading her, she'd basically been turned into the secretary for the Justice League.

2. Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) (Marvel). Master spy turned Avenger with unmatched tactical skill. In my era, she roamed around with Spider Man sometimes.

3. Storm (Ororo Munroe) (Marvel). Weather‑controlling mutant and longtime X‑Men leader.

4. Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) (Marvel). Cosmic powerhouse known for strength, flight, and energy blasts.

5. Jean Grey (Marvel). Founding X‑Man whose telepathy and telekinesis make her one of Marvel’s strongest heroes.

6. Rogue (Marvel). Southern mutant who absorbs powers and memories with a touch.

7. Thor (Jane Foster) (Marvel). When she lifts Mjolnir, she becomes the Mighty Thor, worthy of godlike power.

8. She‑Hulk (Jennifer Walters) (Marvel). Gamma‑powered attorney balancing super strength with sharp humor.

9. Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) (Marvel). Shape‑shifting teen hero inspired by her idol, Captain Marvel.

10. Supergirl (Kara Zor‑El) (DC). Superman’s cousin, bringing Kryptonian strength and compassion to Earth.

11. Power Girl (Kara Zor‑L) (DC). Earth‑2’s Kryptonian hero, known for her confidence and raw power.

12. Spider‑Woman (Jessica Drew) (Marvel). Super‑powered investigator with venom blasts and wall‑crawling abilities.

13. Sue Storm / Invisible Woman (Marvel). Fantastic Four co‑founder who uses invisibility and force fields with precision. I always thought she was really cool and she was one of my favorites.

When I was reading comics, there was basically only Wonder Woman, Sue Storm, the Black Widow, She-Hulk, and Supergirl. Oh, and I left out Batgirl. How could I forget Batgirl? She was on the TV show.

I have a vague idea how the others came to be - but some of these characters used to be male, like Thor and Captain Marvel. I know there are now different earths and universes and such, but I'm rather clueless as to how that all came about. Some of that I know from reading about comics. Some of it I know from The Big Bang Theory.

There's a new Supergirl movie out. I don't know if I will make it to the theater to see it, but I will at least watch it when it hits the TV. I really liked the first Wonder Woman movie. Supergirl isn't getting very good reviews, but you never know.

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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 966th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen #965

Tick‑Borne Diseases (With the Creepy Details)

I recently talked to a friend I hadn't spoken with for some time and learned she'd been in the hospital with a tick-borne illness. I had no idea that ticks could make you sick enough to nearly die. I knew about Lyme Disease and Alpha Gal, but a little research indicates that there are a lot of tick-borne diseases out there.

The weird thing is that these diseases didn't seem to be a problem when I was a child. I had ticks on me frequently. My family lived on a farm. It wasn't unusual to have to get my mother to pull a tick out of my head. It was a common childhood thing. You played outside, ticks found you.

By the time I was an adult, though, things had changed. This makes me wonder if some environmental issue has caused ticks to become toxic sources of illnesses.

Here are some of the diseases ticks can give you.

1. Lyme Disease is spread by black‑legged ticks. It starts with fatigue, fever, and sometimes the famous bull’s‑eye rash (though plenty of people never get one). Untreated, it can move into joints, nerves, and the heart. Virginia is a hotspot.

2. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) is carried by the American dog tick and the brown dog tick. Begins with high fever and a headache that feels like someone is tightening a belt around your skull. The rash often shows up late, which is why early treatment matters.

3. Ehrlichiosis is delivered courtesy of the lone star tick. It causes fever, chills, muscle aches, and sometimes confusion. Blood tests often show low white cells and platelets. Responds well to doxycycline if caught early.

4. Anaplasmosis is similar to ehrlichiosis but transmitted by black‑legged ticks. Symptoms include fever, chills, and a general “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck” sensation. Can cause organ issues if untreated.

5. Babesiosis is a parasite spread by the black-legged tick that infects red blood cells. It's basically malaria’s American cousin. Causes fever, dark urine, and anemia. More dangerous for people over 50 or those without a spleen.

6. Tularemia is rare but serious. Ticks can transmit it, but so can handling infected rabbits. Symptoms depend on how it enters the body, but fever and swollen lymph nodes are common. It's sometimes called “rabbit fever.”

7. Powassan Virus is a fast‑acting virus spread by black‑legged ticks. Transmission can happen in as little as 15 minutes. Can cause brain swelling, seizures, and long‑term neurological problems. Thankfully rare.

8. Heartland Virus was first identified in Missouri; it is now found in the Midwest and South. It spreads by the lone star tick. The virus causes fever, fatigue, low white blood cells, and low platelets. There is no specific treatment except supportive care.

9. Bourbon Virus is another newly discovered tick‑borne virus, also linked to the lone star tick. Symptoms include fever, rash, and low blood counts. Extremely rare but severe when it occurs.

10. Alpha‑gal Syndrome is not an infection. It’s an allergy triggered by lone star tick bites. Causes delayed allergic reactions to red meat, gelatin, and sometimes dairy. People often discover it after a steak dinner goes sideways at 2 a.m. I know several people who have this. Some have found relief with acupuncture. Some have just waited it out, and some may never eat certain meats again.

11. STARI (Southern Tick–Associated Rash Illness) looks like Lyme, acts like Lyme, but isn’t Lyme. Lone star ticks again are the cause. This disease causes a rash and flu‑like symptoms, but the exact cause remains unknown. Responds to antibiotics even though no bacterium has been identified.

12. Colorado Tick Fever is a viral illness carried by ticks in the Rocky Mountains. Causes fever that comes and goes in waves, plus muscle aches and fatigue. The virus hides inside red blood cells, which makes blood donation unsafe for months afterward.

13. Tick‑borne Relapsing Fever is caused by Borrelia species transmitted by soft ticks. True to its name, symptoms come in cycles: high fever for a few days, then a break, then another fever spike. Can cause nausea, dizziness, and night sweats.

Here in Virginia, we get the full cast of characters: black‑legged ticks, lone star ticks, and American dog ticks, each with its own bad habits. Lyme disease is the most common statewide, especially in the Blue Ridge and northern counties, but ehrlichiosis and alpha‑gal syndrome are rising fast thanks to the ever‑pushy lone star tick. Rocky Mountain spotted fever shows up regularly, too, and Powassan virus has been detected in the region even though cases remain rare. In short, Virginia has more than its share of tick‑borne trouble, and most of it is sitting right in the tall grass waiting for someone to walk by.

Black-legged tick and lone star tick (AI drawing)

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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 965th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Thursday Thirteen

Wednesday, 06-17-2026, the county held a forum for the data center that is being built in the industrial center. Since the proposed data center project directly affects our area and may ultimately affect our farm, I wanted to see the information for myself.

The forum was a total zoo. There were many people running around with "No Data Center" signs. Folks stood at tables and argued with the experts. 

The experts looked, well, a bit overwhelmed.

There were smells all over the place, perfumes and cologne. All the things to which I am allergic.

The best part for me was this: I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while, including some journalists and the Democrat candidate for the Virginia 6th District House of Representatives seat. I went to college with her.

This thing was held in the lower gymnasium of the high school. The elevators weren't working as promised, and I had to walk down two flights of steps. My friend had to go get her car and come around and pick me up when we left because there was no way I could climb two flights of stairs. I could barely get down them. A lot of older people were clinging to the handrails. So that was a SNAFU that could have been better handled for sure. 

There was some guy in orange there with a big mustache. I think he was supposed to be the Lorax. There was a huge crowd of people around the county administrator. Every time I glanced over at him, I noticed his face kept getting redder and redder. I never got close enough to speak to him although I did talk to two county supervisors.

So here are some photos of this event:

The large crowd at the entrance before they opened the doors should have warned me.

They wanted everyone to sign in. Some people did not like that.

The project.

The Lorax (?)

More about the project.

A rendition of one of the data centers.

I am not sure about the timeline. As far as I know, the US Army Corps of Engineers
hasn't issued a permit.

More stuff about the project.

The "no data center" signs popped up occasionally.

More about the project. Corporate stuff.

More corporate stuff.

More corporate stuff.

Beth Macy, who is running for election in the Virginia 6th District,
House of Representatives

The county communications director

Two friends of mine who I didn't think would care if I put up their picture.

An overview of the crowd

People protesting outside. Bye Bye.

In the end, I came away with more questions than answers. The county and Google certainly succeeded in drawing a crowd, but whether anyone changed their mind about the project is another matter. At least I got to see some old friends and collect a few photographs.

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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 964th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.