• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. Plus some cover snark.
• Read more about voter suppression. (I highly recommend the ones by Carol Anderson.)
• On the importance of earnestness in the LoTR films.
• “Neil Gaiman’s 11 geekiest cameo appearances“.
• Book stands! Love them.
• Learn about pelicans.
• “Subreddit that collects COVID-19 deniers who then suffer the worst“.
• :FACEPALM:
• Make mug omelets.
• Loaded veggie taco salad (vegetarian).
• Wait for the very last frame. :ROFL:
• Crop art will never not be weird to me.
• Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew.
• A cursed image: jite.

Polly sitting like a people, as she does.

Long Harry is long (and rounded, d’oh!).

Polly blep.

Harry looking out the window with intensity.

We don’t really need to break the drought with one or two epic storm events here…

• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Learn more about the Brontës.
• BOOM.
• “The most translated books from every country in the world“.
• “30 years later, suspect confesses to murder of Lois Duncan’s daughter“.
• “What if social media existed on the Discworld?“
• Sequel to “Welcome to Evil Mart”.
• An exhibit about book art and the climate crisis.
• Learn about the colugo.
• Take a panoramic video tour of Mars.
• “The difference between the twitter and tumblr experience is…“
• “The black plague disappeared without a vaccine, just saying…” :facepalm:
• Taco lasagna.
• Triple chocolate pancakes.
• Cool dragons guarding a bank.
• The glass cover makes it. (Although, to be fair, this was designed for dealing with computer cords, not cats, but hey.)
• “Working with textiles is a trap…“
• :snortlaugh:

Cute Polly is cute!

Snuggling siblings.

Mayhem plus some slightly mismatched bookends.

• New releases:  Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “This video has a brilliant summary of the ‘Terry Pratchett vs Transphobic Twitter Randoms” debacle“.
• “Terry Pratchett was never here for your transphobic nonsense“.
• The Last Human (in a Crowded Galaxy).
• “July 2021 was hottest month in recorded history“.
• “How to fight climate despair”.
• “Self care tips from tumblr“.
• I had never even heard of Doggerland.
• “Why are there so many salmonella recalls?“
• Linkity from kmkat.
• What if Geordi and Data were hanging out…
• Gotta confess that I thought the same thing the artist did until I watched the video.
• I mean, I know what they were trying to do with the headline and all…
• Funny COVID vaccine ads.
• :snortlaugh:

Mayhem making sure we remember she’s still very cute. And that her superpower is looking tragic.

Harry and Polly about to have an epic play fight in the kitty hammock.

Harry’s blep completely ruins an otherwise majestic pose.

Polly sitting up on my lap like a people.

• New releases: Tor.com (horror/genre-benders)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from the Pen Addict.
• “10 life lessons from science fiction and fantasy“.
• Another amusing LotR post from tumblr.
• A brief insight into “humans as space orcs”.
• The SparkNotes twitter account is a delight.
• Ursula K Le Guin from Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?
• “Fictional homes reimagined as Polly Pockets.“
• Additional cursed waters.
• “The lackluster writing of Star Trek: Voyager helped pave the way for the Obama presidency.“
• Some trivia from Labyrinth.
• Playmobil has a new Star Trek playset.
• This is what realizing you’re agender later in life feels like.
• Birthday cake sprinkle crinkle cookies.
• Claymation scenes from The Matrix, Alien, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• Animated knitted sheep!
• “Knitting the fandom“.
• Happy duckling.
• Teacup dragons.

Classy Polly is classy!

Harry wants me to do something and taking his picture is NOT IT.

Mayhem giving me the kitty eyes o’ love.

• New releases: Tor.com (YA SFF, SF, fantasy), Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkty from BookWyrm Knits.
• Terry Pratchett would not have been a transphobe.
• “10 common English idioms and their weird historical origins“.
• “Why it’s good to be bad at things you enjoy, according to Kurt Vonnegut“.
• A librarian joke.
• “The Three Lanterns”, a New Fairy Tale.
• Just say no to supporting Hobby Lobby.
• Definitely “visually discomfiting”.
• Some cursed facts about Brassica oleracea and the cultivars thereof.
• A cursed fact about hummingbirds.
• Learn a little about bandicoots.
• Happy belated 60th birthday, President Obama!
• GF no bake peanut butter bars.
• Big tumblr mood.
• A meatball-scented candle from IKEA?!
• Star Wars Tamagotchi.

Happy first birthday, Polly and Harry!

First Harry stomped across Mayhem to get to his perch. Now his tail is Infringing On Her Space and She Is Displeased.

It’s hard to believe, but Polly is even sweeter than she looks! If you are a people, she will love you!

It’s really amazing how far smoke can travel, isn’t it?! 🙁

• New releases: AAR (romance), Tor.com (YA SFF)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “16 Jane Eyre retellings“.
• “Hobbits [are] basically step-down voltage converters for magic.“
• What if our planet isn’t as unmagical as we think it is?
• After the Robot Apocalypse…
• The intersection of Minnesota and California.
• Bison frolicking under a double rainbow. That’s it.
• Cursed facts about spiders.
• Advanced Mobiusing in progress.
• Cinnamon roll pancakes.
• Sheet pan chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches.
• “Whoever runs Steak-Umm’s social media knows what’s at steak and deserves a beefy raise“.
• Dragaroons.
• Cat alphabet.
• The truth about tumblr. 😀
• Too true!
• “10 wind energy stock photos that make me extremely uncomfortable“.

I wish I had a better picture of this! All three of them exhausted from snoopervising the neighborhood.

Polly is such a pretty, loving sweetheart!

Harry reaching out to touch someone…

• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “Real and fictional librarians leading resistance“.
• “Critical race theory books to help you make sense of all the hubbub“.
• “A bookish cross-country US road trip: I-90“.
• Some cursed facts about toucans.
• Some tectonic differences between Venus and Earth.
• Swiss roll ice cream cake.
• Definitely the best way to explore Zillow home listings.
• “Keanus abound in this excellent art piece“.
• Cat ears that “move based on your brain waves”.
• :facepalm:

Bonded siblings!

Mayhem seems to blame me for Polly having joined her in the kitty hammock…

Mayhem once again thrilled that Harry’s hanging out by her. LOL! Very much a “you kids get off my lawn!” expression.

It wasn’t a vacation – I had a surprise recurrence of the bursitis in my right hip after seven years and wasn’t very coherent until the steroid shot started to work. D’oh! Back today for a shot to help deal with the bursitis in my left hip, which I hadn’t had before. Apparently not terribly uncommon – my gait changed to accommodate my bunions over decades and then abruptly changed back again after surgery. My hips were not ok with that, lol! But physical therapy will help them adjust…

Oh! And I have now been with my employer (under the usual array of names that’s typical of telecom) for 25 years. 😮

• New releases: Tor.com (horror/genre-benders, YA SFF, fantasy, SF), Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more!
• Linkity from Book Wyrm Knits.
• Cover snark from Smart Bitches.
• About the Ursula K Le Guin stamp.
• Maurice Sendak awwww.
• Fantasy as escapism.
• “Summer reading for conspiracy theorists“.
• “Fandom saves“.
• Faster than a speeding bullet… and then some.
• The spouse of a NASA flight controller weighs in on the feasibility of billionaires escaping earth.
• Cursed facts about the necks of seals.
• “How 4000 physicists gave a Vegas casino its worst week ever“.
• Crochet a winged snake.
• Strawberry pound cake. (via The Kitchn)
• Red velvet waffles with cream cheese glaze.
• The adventures of the caterpillar known as “chicken nugget”.
• “Antarctic” research stations, but on fantasy worlds.
• BOOM.
• The Tragic 8-Ball.
• “Tiny TVs with working remotes that play clips from popular shows“.
• Little washing machine for glasses.
• :blink blink:
• WHA…….?! And EWWWWWW.
• “Terrifying magnetic mouth clamp“.
• “A spherical cat of uniform happiness“…
• Very curious about how much that dumbbell weighs!
• “What if Cerberus from Hades was a goose?“
• “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done while your brain was on autopilot?” Please make sure you’re someone where you can laugh yourself silly before following this link!

Reading Update
Many, many things from Kindle Unlimited. Moving right along…

Harry and Polly keeping an eye on Mayhem.

Polly and Harry looking out the window. (Definitely working on their weight – such a challenge with Mayhem, who’s mostly fur at this point…)

A (chonky) boy and his sparkle ball.