I've been thinking about this situation today. This may not be the case for your dh, but I know one person who would be very upset at a strange dog in their yard because of the risk of diseases. They'd worry that a stray dog might give their dog parvo or something. I think they had a childhood stressor about it. I hope the dog has been returned to his family by now!

I'm sorry. I hope you can get good rest and feel better very soon!

Interesting. Thank you for your response.

Do it!! Buying books is my vice. Do you have a friends of the library or something like that with inexpensive books?

Oh, not cool. I'm so glad nobody got hurt.

Yep. Precisely so.

Quill, or anybody, is this talking point happening somewhere? The idea that Americans should quit being concerned about terrorism because fear holds us back from living freely? I'm flailing to phrase it reasonably. But is this on some cable news channel? It reminds me of how some folks feel we need to get over the covid pandemic. I don't watch enough talking heads, perhaps.

Yes. I'm thinking about that for DS11. Respect isn't the moral standard in a dangerous situation. I'm going to discuss that nuance with him.

The shelter called this sweet girl a "shepherd mix." Haha! I don't particularly what she is, and I think now I wouldn't waste money on testing.

I was between my kid sitting near the suitcase and one in the bathroom, so I couldn't walk away. The bag was between two armchairs and almost concealed. There were no staff in the room. It was a fairly small gallery, so I asked the room, twice, "Whose suitcase is this?" On my second call, a woman about 15 feet down the gallery answered, "It's mine." I smiled and said, "Oh, good! I was worried it might be an unattended bag." And then she told me, loudly and repeatedly, that it "irritates" her when people "react like that." She told me that the world isn't "like that," that "they" want me to be afraid, and I should stop being afraid. I said, "Well, that's one way to look at it." She came toward me, repeated herself several times, told me I needed to learn this, and spoke loudly. She was slightly older than me, but not my mother's age. She was dressed as a tourist, and was wearing a political ball cap. There were metal detectors, but the guards weren't putting everyone through them, just profiling. And I don't think there were lockers available. Thrre were 6 or 8 other people in the room, mostly middle aged and mostly women. They looked up briefly, then averted their eyes from her reaction. I'm a military veteran with training in trying to prevent bad things from happening. I deployed after 2001. It was in a museum gallery about native American military service. My brain did indeed go right to "Oh crap." I was mentally preparing to help evacuate that building very, very quickly. I was experiencing adrenaline. I don't look like anyone important, though...I'm just a middle aged mom with kids and a little bit of extra body mass. 🙃 I smiled and worked on disengaging. I asked my thoughtful 11yo ds what he thought afterward, and he said I did fine and was respectful. (That's his standard of right behavior, apparently.) I was surprised that she took offense at my concern. I didn't ask whom she meant by "they." All ended well enough; my kid came out of the bathroom and we left. I'm still thinking about the gap between my perception of the world and hers, though.

I'd let him sleep through, but I'd be watching for trouble and possibly checking with his Dr. I have a niece who couldn't maintain her blood sugar, and would "crash" as an infant and not rouse herself. So that would be on my personal list of concerns. But if he's waking up happy and hungry after six hours, I'd run with it!

Wow. I wonder if a human looks at those results before they go out. I mean, are the huge errors the result of computers doing their best assuming? It reminds me of the way chatgpt was making things up when it didn't have the information available. It seems a tad fraudulent to rate your program's accuracy so highly when you are only testing for a hundred or so breeds.

It was one of the Smithsonian buildings, yes.

I had a weird experience yesterday, and I'm happy with how I handled it, but the reaction I got was surprising to me. So I thought I'd poll my internet acquaintances! If you were in a big museum in a big city, with plenty of people in it, and you saw a small suitcase tucked, mostly hidden, between chairs with no owner near it, how would you respond? Would you find a security guard? Would you leave it alone and not worry? Would you grab your kids and leave the area immediately? Would you call out to the people in the room, "Whose bag is this?" Would your mind go to danger, or not really, these days?

I'm here for ideas. Last year was rough. If you want better crock pot recipes, this cookbook has some really good ones! They're not all open-and-eat; some need a finishing step or two, but they've been really tasty. The Complete Slow Cooker: From Appetizers to Desserts - 400 Must-Have Recipes That Cook While You Play (or Work) (The Complete ATK Cookbook Series) https://a.co/d/9yvYqhT

Sorry about your cookies. You're a superhero.

Hurray! I'm glad for him!

I think Crime and Punishment is pretty creepy. Oh, and Rebecca by du Maurier.

Out, baby, out! Your mama wants to see your cute little face!

I'm sure the cat will have an excellent day! I sure hope what ever he sits on today is washable. Blah!

So, a woman made a choice about her own reproduction, made the best choice she could under whatever circumstances life handed her, and we're deciding whether to "out" her, posthumously, for her choice. I say no. I'm inclined to trust that she made the best choice she could. Violating her privacy would be inappropriate. If her child finds out their information, it belongs to them. But it's certainly not our business. It seems like such entitled judgement to tell someone's life story without her consent!

Oh, man. Is someone checking on your house who could take a photo for you, at least?

I made my own for the middle grade world history, and am starting my second pass through it (my kids are exactly 4 years apart 😅). I use a big Smithsonian world history as a spine, and get tons from the library. We use every level of book from picture books to Bob Woodward's bestseller on Nixon (dd got a lot out of that one at 13-14, and is a big fan of Woodward now). Picture books can be extremely well done, and can sometimes crack the doors open on a big idea better than a chunky text. I try to find a few picture books, a middle grade non-fiction summary text, and a documentary or biography pertaining to each subject. Sometimes I throw in a movie (Thirteen Days for the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example). The kids mature a lot from 10 to 13, and can handle more mature content as we move toward the modern era. Our library has been quite good to us, and I only buy a quarter of what we use (and almost all used, cheap). We do projects that appeal to me, based on what we're reading. We just finished our mummified Cornish game hen (SO COOL), but I'm not doing blue jello anything. And, we're very lucky to live where we can take amazing history field trips. We studied ancient humans and then went to the Smithsonian natural history to look at the fossilized hominid skeletons, for example. If I bought a plan it might take less time, but I'd still have to adapt it when I couldn't find the recommended book or something. I'm having a lot of fun doing middle grades history this way!

My SIL and brother put one up at their HOA playground, in memory of a child, and it has been a hit! However, she does check it frequently to make sure the contributed books are kid-level and to add more. She buys really inexpensive books from the friends of the library to keep it full.

I'm so sorry. May you feel peace in the grief.