I was forced by a serious leak from the tub drain to do a bunch of work in our master bathroom. I wrote on the back of one of the pieces of drywall for the next unfortunate soul something like, “2020 - The Year of the Pandemic - God I hope I never have to replace this again.”

It’s sometimes unintuitive how things like work. I remember when I lived in Dallas, there was a side street I usually took to work, but there was a place where traffic would nearly always back up for a couple of long blocks. At some point, they put in a stop sign at a cross street about a mile before that area, and it…

So you do have questions, then?

There aren’t any Jewel-Osco stores in the lower 2/3 of the state. Very suspiciously missing from this list is Walmart! It’s by far the most popular grocery store around here, and I suspect in large swaths of the Midwest.

Possibly. I think generally that’s used for flooring with a plywood or other engineered wood core. What I used is kind of a hybrid: the top layer is a sealed real wood veneer, but the core is waterproof thermoplastic. Real happy with it, and it’s still looks great 2-1/2 years later.

There are a surprising number of such words. Does this article have your sanction, or would you sanction it? Do you cleave to these words, or would you cleave them from the language? Look up Janus words.

I disagree. I think the conversation between the orcs Gorbag and Shagrat in LotR supports the whole idea of orcs having wills of their own and some measure of independence. They talk about the Nazgul and Sauron himself making mistakes. Gorbag even suggests they “set up somewhere on our own with a few trusty lads,…

How about, “From whence came this?” :D

How about Amber Ruffin to take over The Daily Show? I’ve liked her on Late Night. I should watch some of her current show, but I just haven’t made time to do it.

In truth, even if you take the same coffee from a K-Cup and make it in a french press or pour-over filter instead of the machine, it will taste twice as good.

Eh, my local one can’t get much slower. Potato cakes with their 3 pepper sauce was great.

Cheers to this idea! I was one who only ate oatmeal with a lot of butter and sugar. It took me a bit, but I finally trained my taste buds to actually like plain oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit in it. The fruit provides just enough sweetness. I usually save the (fresh or frozen if I can’t get fresh) blueberries and…

And also Saturday is International Coffee Day!

Me? I have a lot of trees on about 3 acres. For 10 years or so I’ve let the back 1/3 grow up, and scattered some native wildflower and plant seeds there. Much of the rest of my lawn is a combination of fescue, white clover, and an increasing amount of native sweet-scented flat-sedge, which is considered a weed by…

While we’re talking about alliums, I want to make an argument for eating more field garlic, commonly called “wild onion.” A couple of years ago I tried cooking with some I pulled up in the yard, and it has a really nice flavor. It would go great in a dip. It’s probably only the bulbs you want, as the greens are a bit…

While I love good kettle chips, for eating with onion dip is the only time I go with Lays, either Wavy or Ruffles. “Regular” Lays chips have no flavor, IMO, but I really like the texture of Wavy ones with onion dip.

Me, and I do also subscribe to Netflix DVDs. Until fairly recently, there really were a lot of things that weren’t available to stream anywhere at any price. There are still a few things, and not all obscure, either. Once I clear out my queue, though, I am planning on dropping the disc plan.

Clearly you don’t know me, where I live, or what my yard is like. Enjoy your assumptions!

As BouvOnTheMove mentioned, I tried that in my front yard one year, and it took multiple years for grass to completely grow back in. :(

Better yet, if you have a good mulching mower, don’t rake your leaves at all. A couple of passes over them with the mower, and they essentially disappear and contribute their nutrients back into your yard.