I just now learned that today is International Compliment Day, and you know I’m here for that-I love giving compliments! Stay As Wonderful As You Are! (Also enjoy this toon, which is funny, but unfortunately on topic. YOU Are Still AWESOME!)
As some viewers know as my health has been failing over the last couple of years and Ron is starting to show his age also, so we have been spending a lot more time together doing things. Also I have been not able to spend as much time on the blog as I used to and love doing. So this morning as a treat to Ron I made a good sized breakfast for us. Normally breakfast in our home is a catch as catch can. I normally have leftovers from the supper meal as normally I am unable to eat at night, and Ron cooks grand supper. Ron normally has a breakfast he cooks / makes for himself.
I asked him if he would like an egg scramble with bacon and sausage, with a side of toast. He said he would love it. So I took a bunch of thick sliced bacon out of the meat drawer of the refrigerator and also some small link sausage from both that place and the freezer below. Then I prepared two trays that have grill racks over them and on one I placed 8 or 9 long strips of bacon, and on the other I put 10 small sausage links. I had preheated our very large Black and Decker counter oven. It is similar to a toaster oven only much larger. I put the bacon in first at 450.
While the bacon cooked I got the eggs cracked and put into bowls. 3 eggs in each bowl. I use a heavy knife on the sharp edge to crack the eggshell then they easily open the shell with no eggshells into the bowls. I find it works best if the eggs and shells are very cold. Into the bowls of eggs I add a heavy splash of water. Enough to make the eggs cook up fluffy but not leave water in the cooked eggs. Then I set them aside to put the sausage in the oven with the bacon. The thing about cooking sausage in the oven instead of on the stove in a pan is the sausage come out fully cooked but still juicy and soft.
Once the meat was cook Ron chopped what we both wanted in our scrambles, and I combined the meat and eggs in a small sauce pot. Ron had me put chopped opinion and peppers in his. I use a hard spatula like the kind you would frost a cake with not the kind that flip burgers, to stir the eggs and meats together and make scramble eggs. I started the toast as the stuff on the stove cooked up. Just before the eggs finished cooking the toast popped up so I buttered them and called Ron to come get his food. Even though I was happy to make the food I again was unable to my egg scramble, I ate my one piece of toast with grape jam on it. I put the scramble in the fridge for another time. I ate it the next morning and it was great.
During the afternoon I took another nap. This is now being written on Friday. So for supper that Wednesday I had the idea of taking the red sauce I had made the day before to make supper in a different way. I told Ron my idea and he agreed it sounded great. So we took an 8 X 11 baking pan and spread a layer of red sauce on the bottom of the pan. The idea was to use the chicken patties we normally fry to make chicken Parmesan, just with a different cheese. I took six patties and place them in the pan sort of pushing them a third of their height into the sauce. Then set in the oven to bake. When nearly done we took provolone and layered in on the chicken and put them back in the oven. Serve with spaghetti and sauce. Great.
Thursday morning we got up to a rainy cold day … again. But we needed groceries and I had decided it was better now to go with Ron to help him. He is 70 and not walking well. Plus while he is still smart, he does have periods of confusion and gets slow to think or respond. He complains of becoming very forgetful. To be honest I am the same way. I will 62 very soon. But he likes me to drive when possible and he likes the comfort of me being there for him.
So we went and spent all morning filling a grocery cart at Walmart. Some people say that you don’t save any money there and some say you do. Ron has the patience to stand there and compare price and size, unit price, and get the best deal. I can not do this. But I walk with him, talk to him, keep him company, watch our cart when he needs to go get something or his back is too it. I have seen people take stuff from other peoples carts or drop stuff in them. Ron had one of my dragon canes stolen when he had his back to the cart comparing prices. Turned back and the cane was gone. We have a game to guess the cost after it is wrung up on the register. I guessed 260 but he felt it would be well over 325. It came to 257 and change.
We were to go to another store but by the time we got everything put away both of use were tired so decided to go this morning. Temps are better so far than yesterday which had feel like temps in the 30s. This morning we have feel like temps of 41 degrees. The high is to be in the 50s. We plan to hit three small stores and then going to the big flooring store in Fort Myers to pick out the new flooring for the Florida room that I will soon be moving into to. I am leaning toward a light floor. The walls are a soft cream, the molding / trim a light tan / brown. Just enough of a difference to show up but not startling. The north long wall of almost 30 feet is entirely windows except for three feet at the bottom of the windows, even the turn to the east facing wall which has another large window and French doors made of mostly insulated glass panes in a wooden heavy frame. The room is very bright and cheery. Because the door going outside is to the carport and on the same level we were thinking a brown. But once I saw the shocking difference between the light and dark … I think I want a light floor. I am thinking a white marble with gray whirls. Ron thinks it will always look dirty even when not. So maybe we will go with a tan or light gray? That is why I have not done much on the blog or computer since Tuesday. Hugs.
By MARI YAMAGUCHI Updated 8:27 AM CST, January 22, 2025
TOKYO (AP) — A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fishtank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank.
The next morning, the sunfish ate for the first time in about a week and has been steadily recovering, said Moe Miyazawa, an aquarist at the Kaikyokan aquarium in Shimonoseki.
The large sunfish arrived at the aquarium in February 2024 from the southern coast of Kochi in the Pacific Ocean. The sunfish, a member of the blowfish family known for its unique shape and big eyes, became one of the most popular attractions at the facility.
When the sunfish began looking unwell days after the aquarium closed on Dec. 1 for a six-month renovation, its keepers suspected digestive problems, gave it less food and visited the fish tank to comfort the sunfish when there was construction noise, but to no avail.
Then at a staff meeting, one person suggested that the sunfish might have been affected by the sudden absence of an audience.
“We were skeptical but decided to do anything we could,” Miyazawa said. They hung their uniforms and placed human-shaped cutouts with photos of smiling faces outside the tank to cheer on the fish, Miyazawa said.
“I knew (the sunfish) was looking at us when we were placing them, but I never thought it would start eating the next day,” Miyazawa said, beaming. The staff now visit more often and wave at the sunfish.
The aquarium keepers say they hope many fans will return to see the sunfish when the aquarium reopens in the summer.
Either way, I thought I’d paste it in here, and whoever needs it, wants it, or knows something about it can do their thing. The title leans in one particular direction, but there is more info within, and I pasted it all here.
If you are actively hiring for positions in a company that is friendly to transgender people, in a country that is safe for transgender people, and you are willing to sponsor visas for people seeking to emigrate for these positions, I would like to hear from you.
If you’re unsure which countries are considered to be safe for transgender people, and if your country is one, Rainbow Relocation has a reasonable list, and others are available.
To be clear: I want trans people to feel safe here in the United States, and I want them to be here. But I also understand peoples’ need to feel safe in the current moment. I am not urging people to move, but I would like to make life easier for people who want to. I’m making this request in the spirit of assistance, because I’ve already been asked.
I am also probably not the right person to put this together! But I didn’t see anyone else doing it. If you are from a reputable organization that supports transgender safety in a professional way, and you would like to take ownership of this list or collaborate, or if you are already doing something like this and I missed it, please email me at ben@benwerd.com.
I’m writing about the intersection of the internet, media, and society. Sign up to my newsletter to receive every post and a weekly digest of the most important stories from around the web.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday night that repeals a provision allowing transgender troops to serve in the military, part of a wide-ranging effort to end Biden-era policies his first day in office.
Trump issued a ban during his first administration that prevented transgender troops from serving, which former President Joe Biden eliminated. While Trump did not institute a new ban, the repeal of the Biden-era executive order clears the way for one.
The Department of Defense, in 2019, estimated that up to 8,000 transgender people served in the military, just before Trump’s first ban took effect.
Read the full article. You may recall that the Log Cabin Quislings appeared here in August 2024 when they claimed that Trump never banned trans troops during his first term. After Trump’s 2017 decree, the decision to allow already serving trans military personnel to remain only came after Trump lost four successive court cases.
This study is grand. If you read it you will see it debunks the trans haters talking points of lower bone minerals and the complete shown to be false Cass report.
The guidelines also directly push back against claims in the U.K. Cass Review that puberty blockers affect cognition, revealing that they have “no negative effect” on any measures of intelligence or academic success.
The guidelines even provide a definitive rebuke to the claim that puberty blockers cause lower bone mineral density (BMD) by saying, “Trans youth have an average BMD before the onset of puberty that is lower than that of the general population, regardless of treatment. This is probably related to the consequences of dysphoria: less physical activity, eating disorders, and/or poor dietary balance.” After taking the hormones that align with their gender identity, the guidelines’ authors note that trans patients’ BMD is “comparable to that of the experienced gender.”
The guidelines strongly oppose a beloved tactic among anti-trans activists, dubbed the “wait-and-see” approach, wherein medical providers render no care to see if the patient still desires transitional care — the approach has been likened to conversion therapy. The approach, also known as “gender exploratory therapy,” is swiftly criticized by the guideline’s authors who state that it “does not reduce psychological distress.” Instead, it “increases the risk of committing suicide and can affect psycho-affective and cognitive development.”
Medical professionals in France just came out in strong support of gender-affirming care for transgender minors, according to independent trans journalist Erin Reed.
The French Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology released a set of guidelines that can be considered the first consensus to come out of France for gender-affirming care. The guidelines were thoroughly conducted: Each section of the review is broken up up into separate categories evaluated by smaller groups of study authors who incorporated input from external experts. The final guidelines were also refined by the broader group of authors.
Trans youth in states that enacted anti-trans laws had up to a 72% increase in suicide attempts.
The authors and studies in the report unequivocally support gender-affirming care, backing puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for trans minors. The approach to care they suggest is individualized and evidence-based, promoting the right of trans youth to explore their gender identity and find where they fit in on their own time. By allowing youth to transition early, some elect to skip future surgeries entirely, the study said.
The guidelines strongly oppose a beloved tactic among anti-trans activists, dubbed the “wait-and-see” approach, wherein medical providers render no care to see if the patient still desires transitional care — the approach has been likened to conversion therapy. The approach, also known as “gender exploratory therapy,” is swiftly criticized by the guideline’s authors who state that it “does not reduce psychological distress.” Instead, it “increases the risk of committing suicide and can affect psycho-affective and cognitive development.”
A study published in September shows that anti-trans laws increase the likelihood of suicide by upwards of 72%, suggesting that attempts at implementing these bans on care and advocacy for the “wait-and-see” approach are only harming transgender individuals.
The guidelines even provide a definitive rebuke to the claim that puberty blockers cause lower bone mineral density (BMD) by saying, “Trans youth have an average BMD before the onset of puberty that is lower than that of the general population, regardless of treatment. This is probably related to the consequences of dysphoria: less physical activity, eating disorders, and/or poor dietary balance.” After taking the hormones that align with their gender identity, the guidelines’ authors note that trans patients’ BMD is “comparable to that of the experienced gender.”
The guidelines also directly push back against claims in the U.K. Cass Review that puberty blockers affect cognition, revealing that they have “no negative effect” on any measures of intelligence or academic success.
The French guidelines are especially detailed in that they contain information on how trans youth can alleviate dysphoria as well. They discuss binding techniques, how transfeminine people can tuck, and how to best treat youth in varying stages of their transition.
Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. The Trans Lifeline (1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth via chat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.
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I suspect many of you are also feeling too much of the darkness of the world, which can be especially dangerous for those who already stand too close to the edge of the abyss. It can be easy to burn with anger at hypocrisy and hate and chaos, but here is what I have learned…and what I keep telling myself:
You can use that heat as fuel to create change, to promote kindness, to protect yourself and those who are most vulnerable…to keep you warm when the world seems too cold. But, that burning anger can also be dangerous. It can exhaust you. It can pull the oxygen from the room. It can cause you to lash out in fear at those who want to help. The smoke obscures how much good and joy is out there. And those who thrive on turmoil and hate are so happy to see you lost in it…to see your precious energy drained putting out the fires they scatter about just to keep you too busy to live.
Don’t let the world burn you to ashes.
Protecting your fragile heart can be an act of rebellion. Don’t be afraid to love and laugh and find joy and silliness even in the hard times.
Especially in the hard times.
Don’t underestimate the beautiful works of love and kindness and help that you put out into the world. You may do them loudly or you may do them quietly, but they are invaluable in ways you may never see.
Today’s doodle is inspired by one of my favorite Czech artists, Alphonse Mucha, who came from the same land that my father’s family immigrated from.
“NOT. GIVING. UP.”
Most people know Mucha from his flowy art-nouveau posters and cigarette ads but my favorites of his came at the end of his life, when he used his art to explore both the pain and the beauty of life. This one, Woman With a Burning Candle, stays with me:
It was painted during the rise of Nazism…a slavic woman tending to a candle…keeping the light in the dark going, but watching as it slowly burns down…unsure as to what would come next but still focused on the glowing illumination. He painted about enlightenment, love and knowledge in a time when all that seemed to be threatened and was an act of revolution. The day after Prague was stormed by Nazi’s, Mucha was arrested and while in custody he contracted the pneumonia that would kill him. He never lived to see the victory over the darkness, but even in that darkness and uncertainty he created light that we can still see today. He still found beauty and joy. He found a way to celebrate life and enlightenment and humanity in his own way.
He didn’t give up.
I’m not going to either.
I super-crazy love you.
~ Jenny
PS. If you ever want to feel bad about your doodles you should follow one up with a painting by an actual master because…wow. Lesson learned. (snip)
It’s Ollie! (I’m sorry, Pete, if you’re reading this; he came with the name. I hope he’s a good namesake, and so far, he is.)
Ollie is around 5. He was rescued from a kill shelter by another family, who’s since had a baby, and Ollie and babies don’t get along. I’m sorry they had to give up their doggy, but I’m happy to have a new buddy to play and run with. He’d been here about 3.5 hours, and considering he’s likely confused and worried about what’s happened to him, he’s a very good boy, and we’re getting along really well.
Ollie is half dachsie, half Corgi. He’s about 25 pounds, and very healthy. In the outdoor pic, he was surveying the boundaries of his domain, and receiving a welcome from the neighbor across the street. In the photo above, he was playing with his favorite ball, with me. He’s pretty cute, kinda funny, and again, a good good boy. He’s here for good, too, which is nice, that I don’t have to worry about him going to a rescue for some medical condition. He’ll likely become part of my conversation now and then, and photos will be shared as he allows. I set this up before bed, so I’ll know more tomorrow.
I like what he says about the idea that you have to earn god’s love, you have to earn salvation. This is in relation to the maga in congress not wanting to give aid to California for the fire assistance. He points out that if you have to earn your salvation then you did it not Jesus. And if you can do it on your own why need god? He points out that the Jesus never required people to prove they were worth before he helped them. Hugs
This post asks a great question. Why when Canada is a poorer nation relative to the US can their people have so many government services like universal healthcare and why is their happiness level so much higher than experience by people in the US? The answer is Canada values its people, the public. The US values its greedy million and billionaires. Sucks to be us in the US. We need a total revolution to overthrow the oligarchy. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 