Why are cats' favorite things to play with so dangerous?

I got a grill off Facebook marketplace place, and I'm using it for the first time ever. Much to the chagrin of Fran the backyard rabbit who has claimed the grill as her backyard oasis.

I built a whole entire (very short) retaining wall! Now to dig up all the grass behind it and put down mulch. And I guess acquire mulch.

Dreamed last night that my next assigned storytime theme was Denmark. Where was I going to find Spanish materials about Denmark for 2-5 year olds? I was sort of relieved to pick up my books and find that my real theme is Things That Go.

New obnoxious diabetes AI trend: Researchers in [European or Asian country] are about to cure diabetes using [real, but not anywhere close to ready yet vague technique]. No details about the humans or institutions performing this research will be provided. But here's an AI produced image of a lab.

UPDATE: Denver’s Office of Emergency Management tells me that the city’s tornado sirens were sounded inadvertently. This is the latest in a long string of emergency notification errors by the City of Denver.

IGNORE tornado sirens in Denver right now- they are errant. NO immediate tornado threat

Colorado tour guide: Take a break if you need to. It's so hot out there... Sure, hot is subjective. Tour guide: ...it's like 100 out there! Ma'am, it's 86 and very dry. It's nowhere near 100. It's hot, and the sun is intense here. But numbers still have meaning.

Shout out to Fax Zero for the free fax and my phone for being an extremely adequate scanner. And HIPAA for making this all possible.

Using my cell to send a fax to my previous doctor asking them to please electronically send me my medical records so I can print them out for my new doctor who won't accept them electronically because it's too cumbersome of a process.

The dread of seeing "improved recipe" when you have allergies or a special diet.

My father has been planting a native garden for a Montessori school. Today he ate lunch with the kids and brought an anchovy sandwich. This is all very on brand for him. It just needs him reading interesting tidbits from the newspaper out loud to the kiddos to be perfect.

Me today: I'm going to rest before the big family visit. Also me today: Shoveling 500 pounds of rocks

A neighbor just told me I inspired him to tear out part of his lawn and plant native perennials. I'll be living on this for days! #nativeplants

"What do you want for dinner?" "Can I have two dinners?" I think we're easing into the Eat Everything in Sight part of adolescence.

Texas has made huge strides in batteries since the terrible 2021 freeze that froze gas pipes. (They've long been doing well with wind and solar.)

Tonight's dinner: roast potatoes, roasted corn, nugs. Otherwise known as I Don't Feel Like Cooking.

Improved quality of life, too. Many disabled people can do things like take care of themselves and their homes and pursue work and hobbies with air conditioning vs. just surviving without it.

That phone call to request medical records broke my brain. I could only hear/process every third word. I'm hoping I agreed to accept an email so I can send a fax so I can receive hardcopies of my medical records. And not that they could have my kidney or the rights to any future inventions.

How do I live walking distance to two grocery stores and neither sells soba?

How today is going: squirrel in the house

Everywhere copy editors itch to rewrite this head. But look how cute the fish is! We've been sharing the world with her without even knowing it.

Colorado’s race to cut water use off to a slow start

Sometimes I wish there were a Merlin app for bug sounds. I know the number of bugs probably makes this impossible. But I really want to know what I'm hearing.

The next time you need half a chopped onion, chop the whole thing and freeze half. Same thing works for celery. The texture changes in the freezer, but it doesn't matter if you're sauteing it.

The kid and I were comparing middle school experiences today. He is shocked that my middle school had vending machines. I am shocked that his middle school doesn't have frequent fights.* *I still think it's possible that there are fights and he just doesn't notice them.

For the first time, I remembered to convert a recipe to high altitude amounts before I started baking. My brain hurts.

I try not to post negativity, but… I was collecting signatures for the graduated income tax ballot measure protectcoloradosfuture.com today, & the responses from some people when I explain it is infuriating & makes me worry about our future (I’ll share some bad stories & some good ones). 1/x

Things Sam cat has assisted with this weekend: Ikea assembly, plumbing, looking for something under the couch, gardening. What would we do without her?

It took about a decade before we hung the family photos in our living room at the last house. We're approaching a year at the new house, and I'm doing it now. #SelfImprovement #FancyPants

Yes! Playing is for everyone. It's how we learn and how we absorb the world around us.

In Norway and Sweden, they have Taco Friday (tacofredag). Families make taco kit tacos and watch movies. It started with an Old El Paso advertising campaign in the '90s. But the thing that always gets me is that they put cucumbers on their tacos. Ground meat, salsa, sour cream, and cucumbers.

Does anyone happen to know if any stores in Denver have loose, not in bags, chamomile? I used to get it at Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage, but they don't seem to have it in the bulk spice section anymore.

I did fine all winter in Colorado (which, fine, mostly skipped winter). But 40s and wet in May is killing me. I want to be outside in the sun eating a mango paleta.

I introduced a human to peanut butter on a spoon today. My good deed for the day is sorted.

Good news: the rain is stopping in about an hour. Bad news: it's turning into snow.

I'm grateful for the rain, what with the drought and all. But I'm stuck with a toddler who won't nap except in his stroller. I could really use a fifteen minute break in the rain.

Also FYI, the majority of Colorado River water used for “farms” in the below graphic is actually for cattle feed (alfalfa and hay). The minority of the agricultural water use is for food people eat directly, like wheat. science.nasa.gov/missions/lan...

Native plant group post: What is this tiny plant? 20 people: It's too wee to identify. You need to wait for another set of leaves. The 21st person: It's edible

🚨🚨 soup weather watch for monday for denver 🚨🚨

Fleabane and firecracker penstemon look happy. I think we're still a few weeks ahead of schedule. #nativeplants #colorado

I just put whole cumin in my pepper grinder by accident. At least I noticed before I ground any.

I finished pulling all the grass and dandelions from the garden bed I'm rescuing from years of neglect. Next up, attacking the volunteer tree in the corner.

I was told I could do anything I want on Mother's Day. Apparently I wanted to spend hours rescuing the 50 year old hard scaping from the clutches of dirt and lawn. In the process of digging up the garden bed border I discovered a flagstone path.

Well crap. I got my endo to write a script for Dexcom g7 because I won't see him again before they discontinue g6. Turns out I can't use g7 with my tslim pump because it's out of warranty and needs a softwate update to run g7. (Apologies to anyone who doesn't speak diabetic.)

In case you could use a tasty little bean recipe, this was my dinner last night and it was GOOD. plantbasedrdblog.com/2026/01/dan-...

Peduncle is a really unfortunate name.

Snow day tomorrow!

Part of getting kids to love reading is not trying to force them to read the books you loved as a child. Nostalgia is the enemy here. We adults already got to discover what we loved as children. Today's kids deserve the same opportunity.

Tonight I reconfirmed that I would rather spend several hours mending old jeans than spend 45 minutes buying new ones.