• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Ficlet about glowing.
• A little something from Neil Gaiman for Halloween.
• Knit some socks inspired by Where the Wild Things Are.
• Updated relative speeds of objects in our solar system video.
• 31 butternut squash recipes.
• The woman behind the “Waite” tarot deck.
• Watch a beaver in a rehab facility build a “dam”. (The last five seconds! I had no idea beavers moved like that.)
• Drone art in the sky.
• Black kitty!
• Plant drama.
• “It was all downhill after the Cuecat“.
• “The world’s fastest shoes“.
• “For decades, no one knew about Congress’ secret apocalypse bunker in the mountains of West Virginia“.
• Dragon jewelry dish.
• Dragon trinket boxes.
• Decorated for Halloween.
• Fairy tale house (with crazy stairs).
• Inspired by Star Wars.
• Cozy and charming.
• I like some of the decor a lot.
• The columns don’t seem to fit.
• A “barndominium”.
• Nope.
• This looks AI-generated, but apparently it’s real.
• Too many tarps.
• A weird one.
• I don’t think you should need a topographic map of your home’s interior.
• My favorite decorating style is the opposite of whatever this is.
• What the heck is up with the tile in this place?
• Ignoring the race car, I want to know why it doesn’t look like people can fit their legs under that table with those chairs.
• But why???
• Huh.
• Confusing.

Harry watching leaves blowing around outside.

Polly getting comfortable.

Siblings keeping an eyes on goings on in the neighborhood.

• Happy October!
• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Good LotR meta.
• A lovely short comic about a summer visit to Ireland.
• You will not guess where this entertaining story ends up.
• Learn a cursed fact about lemurs.
• The 52-hertz whale has a friend!
• Learn about Richard Hunt, Muppets puppeteer.
• Learn about the home that was part of the Houston Astrodome.
• The Socktober post from Smart Bitches has links to patterns, yarns, and more.
• A $59 million penthouse at the top of the NYC Woolworth building.
• The house is lovely, but I got stuck on the pool table on the landing, picturing balls hurtling over the edge.
• Not boring inside.
• Just blends right into the landscape.
• Is that a decagon-shaped house?
• Castlish house right here in Minnesota.
• Actually has some castlish features inside.
• Not a castle.
• Corrugated metal mansion.
• Gothic on the outside, kind of bland on the inside.
• Converted school that was really too big to be converted into a single-family home.
• “I feel like I’ve been catfished by Zillow.“
• House shaped like a guitar.
• Trailer compound.
• I guess no one carries groceries in from the garage through THAT door.
• DIY stair failure.
• Are we sure that’s not a ladder?
• Why would you do this?
• YIKES.
• Experience what it would be like to be flushed down a toilet.

Lights on, nobody home in Harryland!

Polly’s hunkered down under the blanket, staying cozy.

• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Very cool book box with mini books on little bookshelves.
• Photos taken during the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
• Learn about Pigeonniers.
• Learn about the 1950s Flying Saucer Conventions.
• Learn about The Lost Sea in Tennessee.
• There’s going to be a documentary about the Mars Opportunity rover called Good Night Oppy.
• “A Day in the Life of Anubis”.
• Knit some “dragon-inspired” legwarmers.
• One-bowl chocolate-chip pumpkin bread.
• Disney horse designs, rated.
• A story about eating “Confetti Glitter Fruity Cereal Flavored Fruit Spread”.
• A story about making wine from marshmallow Peeps.
• A very New Mexico dome home.
• A converted historic bank.
• A castle house in Minnesota!
• Very modern.
• An Italian villa in… Arkansas?
• “A study in ostentation“.
• An excess of antlers.
• Definitely peculiar.
• “A contemporary hobbit house“.
• Lots of blue.
• The purple kitchen is more subtle than I expected.
• A house with 118 rooms.
• A rental for $150,000/month?!
• Whoa. The renovated interior is definitely a surprise.
• Converted barn and silos.
• If you really like killer whales.
• Comes with a giant chess board.
• WTH.
• Absolutely “no” to these light fixtures!
• How do you keep from getting scraped up getting in and out of those?!
• Doors should never exit onto stairs.
• YIKES.
• :facepalm:
• Seems more dangerous than texting.
• Eggo Nog Sippin’ Cream liqueur.
• From a “worst possible volume sliders” competition.

Another photo of Harry and Polly on my lap.

Polly cannot believe!

One of the most unflattering photos of Harry I’ve ever taken! 😀

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), AAR (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more!
• Linkity from BookWyrmKnits.
• Some great bookish quotes compiled by BookWyrmKnits.
• Learn about “the exocentric verb-noun compound agent noun”, which makes for far more interesting reading than you’d suspect.
• Some more good literary analysis of LotR.
• A good ficlet that I can’t easily describe.
• “Our town’s libraries“.
• A book of official knitting patterns from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood comes out in a month.
• A squirrel that has multicolored fur, and one of the colors is blue?!
• Hoarding insanity: Collyers’ Mansion.
• Giant ‘Cheetos’ statue.
• NASA’s “Galaxy of Horrors” posters.
• “Every song in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, ranked“.
• The strange fame of a store mannequin in the 1930s.
• “A famous Cornell University marketing professor’s fake-research empire crumbl[ed] as soon as anyone actually looked at his methods“.
• Cute “Halloween” dragon.
• Doesn’t really give me a castle house vibe.
• This one doesn’t, either – it’s more of a British summer estate sort of thing.
• Castle bedroom.
• Lovely cottage.
• Vintage round house.
• The outside is more over-the-top than the inside.
• Absolutely one-of-a-kind.
• Does it come with the pipe organ?
• For LEGO-lovers only.
• “Flintstones'” house.
• A “converted” doctor’s office. Conversion FAIL.
• Definitely looks like a bordello.
• Decisions were made.
• Interesting way to market the house, but the added people make it look small.
• Yikes.
• Ankle breaker.
• So dangerous.
• Stairs should not be made out of drywall.
• Must have good balance to live there.
• You’d need perfect balance and strong nerves to use that bike ramp.
• A very good question.
• Is a one-vertical-blind-wide window really worth it?
• That’s quite a commitment to Halloween decorating.
• So’s this.

Harry’s usual look of skepticism.

Polly on the spiffy new kitty mixtape scratcher, with bonus Harry’s tail.

Harry and Polly drowsing on my lap.

• New releases: Tor.com (horror & genre-benders)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Book bans banned.
• Some cute new bookish stickers.
• Some very odd old promo pictures for Firefly.
• Learn a little bit about waxwings.
• “15 of NASA’s coolest inventions that regular people use“.
• It looks magical.
• “Home Depot is selling a giant dragon that breathes fog” for your Halloween (and beyond!) lawn decorating needs.
• Knit yourself some antibodies.
• A very worthwhile xkcd.
• The ultra rich seriously exist on another plane… of ridiculousness.
• Yay, Minneapolis! One I quite like.
• Just say no to having dead trees in your house.
• Decisions were made.
• Comes with a surprise in the attic.
• Has a special bathroom for your muddy dog.
• NOT a hobbit house.
• Ridiculous.
• RIDICULOUS.
• Ridiculous in a completely different direction.
• I…actually like the pink bathroom tile.
• Purple house!
• Ugh, that’s too much money for something that needs so much work.
• More reasonable for a castle that needs work.
• That is an awful lot of money for 290 square feet.
• They really don’t look very sturdy.
• It’s going to be hard to get groceries up that ladder.
• YIKES.
• No one can possibly fit down those.
• Creepy, and for the eyes, they didn’t even try.
• “Fiesta Strength” toilet paper.

Polly looking on whilst Harry tries to remove his IV bandage from his overnight stay at the emergency vet. Turns out he’d decided to supplement his diet with cardboard. Fortunately, the vet was able to resolve the issue without surgery. WHEW.

Harry’s leg after the bandage was removed (by me).

Harry, having sat on Polly. Love the expression on Polly’s face!

Polly grooming!

• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• “Who was Ursula K Le Guin?“
• “Travel Middle-Earth” posters.
• Discworld embroidered jacket.
• You’re a [not-so-super] hero contemplating turning into a villain…
• An epic!
• “The Geico STD story is the new McDonald’s hot coffee story“.
• “The White House Press Room is on top of an old indoor pool“.
• Gaze at a snow leopard’s tongue.
• “Transatlantic car rental” from the xkcd guy.
• “Photographs from routine zoo escape drills“.
• La Machine Company.
• Tabletop fire pit.
• Cargo pants made from Chipotle napkins.
• Sleeve knitting gothic.
• Funky.
• Kitschy.
• Gigantic.
• Interesting.
• Cool, until you look at the floor plan and realize how much of the space isn’t usable in winter.
• Former train depot, plus caboose.
• If you’ve created a tiny home complex to serve as your home, is it still a tiny home?
• Definitely needs work – get that carpet out of there.
• Complete with sliding fireplace!
• You could own a haunted hotel and bar.
• If you need your own personal bowling alley…
• Has potential, but I’d be scared of what they might do to the kitchen.
• Colorful yet deadly stairs.
• Yikes.
• NO.
• FAIL.
• Bates Motel gingerbread house…
• “Inflatable vampire teeth bed“.
• “The career of a real life garden gnome“.
• Important information from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

Polly’s Flehmen Response in action.

Harry scent marking the window frame.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Scented throw pillows from Dairy Queen.
• Ketchup-stained clothes from Heinz.
• Pumpkin spice graham Goldfish.
• “10 recipes that defined the 1960s“.
• “World’s littlest skyscraper“.
• “Hole in the Rock”. Yup. Sure is.
• Town under a rock.
• A very nice “cabin”.
• Just a nice one.
• Another castle house.
• Flashback!
• It’s not often you see a fully shingled spaceship.
• Purpose unclear.
• Not sure what the heck the railing is for.
• I want it to be level, darn it.
• Ok, I’m not seeing the rooftop decks. I see two back yards.
• “Phone Home“.
• The round windows are cool, yet disconcerting from outside.
• WHY?!
• I hope this is just a temporary situation.
• YIKES.
• Extreme YIKES.
• It’s a mystery!
• Confusing.
• Definitely don’t leave the seat up.
• NO.
• O.O

Sibling standoff!

Harry glamour shot! (He is just ridiculously shiny.)

Polly trying to take a selfie. 😉

• New releases: AAR (romance), Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more!
• A ficlet about the Bone Beach.
• On dragons in modern times.
• Lovely bookshop in the UK.
• The history behind “exit, pursued by a bear”.
• “If George RR Martin and Tolkien fought with sword and shield, who would win?“
• “What would Emily Dickinson do?“
• What if aliens kidnapped some humans for a zoo?
• Green is an inauspicious sky color.
• “Glass is actually a liquid”.
• TRUTH.
• On streets in Europe.
• On movies released in 1997.
• NASA retro concept art.
• I have walked by this property numerous times on my way to and from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and have always wondered about it.
• Those spiky clocks sent me on a 70s flashback.
• It has rocks and trees.
• Round boat house.
• Bridge house.
• “Sleeve House”.
• Dome home.
• “Spite castle”.
• The interior of this “castle house” is very disappointing.
• Huh.
• Not the place to live if you require darkness to sleep.
• It has a slide.
• Comes with a butler [statue].
• Pool in the living room.
• Buy your own frontier town.
• Buy a home business in Alaska.
• Odd property in Alaska.
• Huh.
• Cabin of death.
• Too much taxidermy.
• So. Many. Questions.
• What a strange choice.
• Rent a spaceship home.
• A “Dead and Breakfast”.
• Can’t be unseen.
• I hate it.
• Compliantly confusing.
• “Shtairs”.
• The first one does look very sharp.
• Plain old confusing.
• Hmm.
• I guess it sort of has a little bit of railing.
• Yikes.
• I can definitely picture falling down those stairs and then going through the glass door at the bottom. 🙁

Mayhem, annoyed by Harry’s existence.

Polly with a sparkleball!

Polly and Harry on a kitty hammock.

No linkity next week! I won’t be available during my linkity making time.

• New releases: Tor.com (YA SFF, horror & genre benders, scifi, fantasy)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• Great photo of Martha Wells.
• Untitled Goose Game in Ankh-Morpork.
• Is LotR really just one of THOSE recipe blogs?
• Embroidered LotR map.
• You could buy the Bennett house from the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.
• This visualization from NASA really makes climate change apparent.
• New map from the US Drought Monitor.
• Truly shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone about the US teacher shortage.
• On snapping turtles.
• What one million mosquitoes look like.
• A fascinating discussion of mountains.
• A tale of scientific hubris.
• Repurposed Pizza Hut as a metaphor for being trans.
• How do you even make a live-action Pac-Man movie?!?
• “How to befriend crows and turn them against your enemies“.
• Apparently I missed S’More flavored Ritz Bits in the 1990s. Unless they make ’em gluten-free, I’ll just never know.
• That’s very clever, but it looks like it has to stay with the place, doesn’t it?
• Not my style, but very nice.
• And another.
• Another nice one.
• That’s no cottage!
• I’d always be wondering if I left one of the zillion doors unlocked.
• Definitely don’t like the random stones jutting out of the walls.
• It doesn’t have a kitchen.
• Why is there a bathtub in the living room?
• I would absolutely faceplant into that tree on the regular.
• What lucky kitties!
• Interesting with quirks.
• They kept the confessionals.
• Surprise!
• Well.
• That kitchen nook seems out of place.
• Boring bank conversion.
• “Mansion” implies things that this place doesn’t have.
• CAN’T BE UNSEEN.
• Yikes.
• Not the secret I expect from a kitchen table.
• Hmm.
• HMM.
• Needs to be a LITTLE more space between the front door and the stairs.
• NO.
• …Well, at least there’s a railing?!
• Initially funny, but I would hate seeing it every day.
• Creepy ceramics.
• “Why is this street so chaotic???“
• “Animal crackers for zoologists“.

“WHAT NOW?!” -Harry and Polly

Probably wondering if I’m taking an unflattering photo of them…

Harry watching a BIRD.

Polly chittering at a bird.