Category — Friday Blog Roundup

According to Forbes, 49.53% of US households have dogs (65.1 million out of 131.43 total US households). So, almost half of US households. Every dog I know (and apparently about 50% of dogs, total) is terrified of fireworks. So why do towns and individuals insist on setting off multiple nights of fireworks, terrorizing animals and humans with the noise? It is a bizarre equation: We have X + we know Y terrifies X = we do Y. And we don’t do Y once. We do Y every night for four or five nights in a row.

I do not have a dog, but I have a Facebook feed full of people writing posts about how their dog had to live in a thundershirt all week. Do dog owners set off fireworks? Or are all firework setter-offers part of that 50.47% of non-dog owners who seemingly have no clue how the noise impacts the animals and humans around them? This is a mystery I’d like to solve.

Beorn was fine early on. He was awake but laying down beside me. But at the end when they set off the grand finale a few blocks away? He jumped up and started shaking so I gave him his hiding house. He turned it so he could watch me while inside it. And he stayed in there for about two hours.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Middle Girl has a tiny, quote-y post. In a world that seems keen to distract you both from sitting and thinking, this Lorraine Hansberry quote and her accompanying beautiful image will make you… sit and think.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path has a good reminder that when the world gives you a break, take it. Don’t fill it as if you’re not on a break. Instead, use the time to recharge and order an awesome photo cover planner.

The roundup to the Roundup: Who sets off fireworks? Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 28 – July 5) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

A few weeks ago, we went to see the Pixies. Josh loves the Pixies. I like the Pixies. But Josh has been accompanying me to the symphony (more on that another day). I love the symphony. Josh likes the symphony. So these are the things you do for the people you love, and we love each other, so at least we match up there.

It was a great show — they played “Wave of Mutilation” twice, once fast and once slow. We danced through most of the set, though there was a moment when they played “Here Comes Your Man” when I closed my eyes, and for about three seconds, I honestly believed that I was 19 again and getting ready to go out for the night. And when I opened them and saw that I was at a concert with a bunch of other grey-haired people, I was so profoundly sad that you can’t go backwards and revisit favourite moments in time.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ writes about how to participate in interviews or essay collections when you have an anonymous blog. In other words, how do you come out as a blogger when you’ve kept that side of your life from other people in your day-to-day world? She makes an excellent point: “I don’t find it necessary that all my family and friends should know everything about me. We all share different parts of each others’ lives, so it is fine that other parts of my life are relatively separate.”

Lastly, The Barreness writes about being the responsible one. This moment captures so much: “When my dear friend was hospitalized and told she needed a new kidney and a heart, I immediately thought, can I donate mine? I mentally volunteered mine, before researching if it was even possible with my chronic illnesses.” And, of course, what do you do when life throws a curve ball, as she reveals by the end of the post? Sending a lot of good thoughts.

The roundup to the Roundup: Time only moves forward. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 21 – 28) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

And now this blog is really 18 years old. The space has become an old friend as much as the people who read it. I am glad that I started it, glad I continued it, and I can’t really imagine ending it, even though sometimes it feels like there should be a day that I stop typing.

But that’s a decision for another day.

Today, I’m just marking 18 years.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Birth Mom Wants to Be Called Mommy & That’s Not OK with Me” (Lavender Luz)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Road Less Travelled has good news: She is about to become a great-aunt again. It is super happy news (or, as she says, full of “gleeful anticipation“), but it also comes with a little pregnancy anxiety. I don’t think you can go through what we went through and fully relax with anyone’s pregnancy. Send her a big congratulations.

Lastly, sometimes it feels more commonplace to find complaint posts on the internet, so I especially loved A Separate Life musing about how lucky she is to live where she lives. And, of course, the pictures are beautiful.

The roundup to the Roundup: 18 years of writing this blog. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 14 – 21) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

At some point, my Facebook header disappeared, though I don’t know when because you don’t often go onto your own page (vs. read your feed). That picture was from the Harry Potter set; it had been up there since the kids were eight. It’s still on my phone, but as I scrolled to get it, I passed a picture of myself talking to a raven named Branwen, and I decided to use it instead.

I was surprised by people’s reactions to the picture, and the only explanation I have is that we secretly all love birds.

The picture is part of a set of seven or so photos in which I am animatedly conversing with Branwen, inviting her to return to the US with us, where I promised her many Corvidae friends. She did not take us up on our offer. When we returned to the Tower of London a year later, she would not leave her sunny patch of grass on the other side of a barrier and say hello despite my best efforts to coax her into a second conversation.

A sad tale of unrequited bird love.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Plans Change, So Let Us Thrive” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

I loved this story from Finding a Different Path about what she found while clearing out her yard. “Where did these lovelies come from? And how did they end up in a very bizarre, hidden, out-of-the-way area? It was a moment where I was dumping detritus, and BOOM! Gorgeous hidden treasure.” Click over to see the gorgeous pictures.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ looks back on the early years, and muses on how remembering it is different from living it. She writes: “I can and do remember that without pain – which is, if you might recall, how I define ‘getting over it’.” Those moments never leave you, even if the pain itself changes from sensory to a memory.

The roundup to the Roundup: We are all secret bird lovers. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 7 – 14) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

The birthday celebration continues this weekend. It felt like too much pressure to put all my big feelings on a single day, so we spread the celebration over multiple days. Actually, if I’m being honest, it’s multiple months. But it’s a big birthday. It has been so nice to have it spread out, I think I’ll do this every year.

This weekend, we’ll do the cake (a nutella cake!) and dinner.

*******

Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Scientist on the Roof asks a question within her update: “What do you miss the most from your childhood home?” Most of the things I love my parents still have and use, but I miss my grandmother’s thimbles. We used them as fancy metal drinking cups for Barbie and Andy Gibb. Tell her what you miss.

The Road Less Travelled also made me nostalgic with her post about her happy place. It reminded me of the first time I went into Borders. It was the largest bookstore I had ever entered, and it didn’t matter that other bookstores contained all of the books I wanted. More books equaled more exciting.

Lastly, Dear John updates her late husband on home improvement projects, but it’s the ending about the trip that stuck with me. She writes, “I wish you were here to do the driving – you were always more confident, even if you had no idea where you were going. I’ll have to manage. But it would be easier if you were here to do it for me.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Birthday celebration continues. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 31 – June 7) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.