But Fuentes don't taste good. At least IMO. Too watery. Not enough fat. This variety lacks what makes avocados so delicious and culinarily useful. Are you sure? Bill

I horde a few mercury thermometers. Bill

At the risk of sounding like a shill for Affinity Photo, the amount of value one gets in this image editing program for $50 ($40 on sale) is mind-blowing! Scanned photos rarely (never?) look their best straight off the scanner and almost always need a little love, whether it is adjusting levels, colors, fixing imperfections, cropping and straightening, or other "fixes." Affinity Photo is a professional-grade image editing software program that competes with Photoshop. AP now runs on both Mac and Windows. Being professional-grade does mean some time investment to learn the program, but there are excellent tutorial videos produce by Affinity (with more by the fan base), the interface is well-designed, the code is clean, and the power is world-class. I used Photoshop for decades. AP has replaced it entirely (along with the suite of other Affinity products). I give it the highest possible rating for anyone who is interested in learning about image editing. Top notch! Bill

Vanquisher 2s are on sale at Amazon right now for $13.99 with free prime delivery. Bill

In general? Vanquisher 2 goggles from Speedo. Excellent. Often on sale at Amazon for about $15. They come with a variety of nose bridges. The only downside is everyone uses them and they can mistakenly get swept up when left on deck . Bill

What fun! I had a similar little daysailer (a Coronado 15) in my 20s and loved it. Small sailboats like this make for very "active" sails, which I loved, although not so popular with those who thought it was going to be about lying about topside and getting a tan. He he. My Coronado 15 fell into a well established racing class, and--if this sailboat does--racing is a good way to sharpen ones skills. No matter what, great fun. On small boats like this one really learns to "sail." I wish I had access to a daysailer like this today. Congratulations! Bill

I've always thought of Jews in Minnesota as the "frozen chosen." Bill

Let's just say, I survived the experience. All I could hope for, really. The coastline is beautiful from the air. As is likely news to no one. Bill

Many years ago I flew as a passenger in a beautiful French-made jet helicopter with a very famous actor at the controls. Instead of completely enjoying the beautiful scenery of the California coast line between Carmel and Big Sur and back, I spent much of the time imagining the head line: "C**** E******* killed in helicopter crash! 3 others also perish." I did want my life to end as a footnote (at best) in such a tragedy. This story brought back those feelings. Bill

Also, when you are grinding a dog's nails that have overgrown realize that shortening them needs to be a "process." It can take many sessions to do it gradually. Bill

Add me to the pro-Dremel camp. Best to start as pups, but (almost) any dog can be "conditioned" to accept grinding. And it is much less scary for owners than using clippers. Dogs nails should be kept quite short. Much shorter than most people realize. Long nails throw off the muscular-skeletal alignment which can led to serious joint issues. There are many good "conditioning" videos on YouTube. Be aware not to grind too long in one spot (as you want to avoid friction-heat). Otherwise it is almost fool-proof one a dog is conditioned to accept it. Bill

Just remember if you find yourself scratching your head while you read Absalom, Absalom, wondering if you've somehow missed a plot point or two, that's normal. All will be revealed in time. It is a challenging--but very rewarding--read IMO. One of the truly great novels. Bill

He certainly tried adopting that phrase. LOL. I shut that down, right quick. It may be time to revisit Absalom, Absalom. What a novel. Bill

First, Bartleby the Scrivener is a classic. So funny. I subjected my kid to it as a read aloud and he enjoyed it. As to Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury is, in my estimation, a far easier read. But Absalom, Absalom is the masterpiece between them. *If* one is in the mood to take on a more challenging read. Here is a sample of a small part of the first paragraph as a taste of Absalom, Absalom: From a little after two o'clock until almost sundown of the long still hot weary dead September afternoon they sat in what Miss Coldfield still called the office because her father had called it that-a dim hot airless room with the blinds all closed and fastened for forty-three summers because when she was a girl someone had believed that light and moving air carried heat and that dark was always cooler, and which (as the sun shone fuller and fuller on that side of the house) became latticed with yellow slashes full of dust motes which Quentin thought of as being flecks of the dead old dried paint itself blown inward from the scaling blinds as wind might have blown them. There was a wistaria vine blooming for the second time that summer on a wooden trellis before one window, into which sparrows came now and then in random gusts, making a dry vivid dusty sound before going away: and opposite Quentin , Miss Coldfield in the eternal black which she had worn for forty- three years now, whether for sister, father, or nothusband none knew, sitting so bolt upright in the straight hard chair that was so tall for her that her legs hung straight and rigid as if she had iron shinbones and ankles, clear of the floor with that air of impotent and static rage like children's feet, and talking in that grim haggard amazed voice until at last listening would renege and hearing-sense self-confound and the long-dead object of her impotent yet indomitable frustration would appear, as though by outraged recapitulation evoked, quiet inattentive and harmless, out of the biding and dreamy and victorious dust. Her voice would not cease, it would just vanish. There would be the dim coffin-smelling gloom sweet and oversweet with the twice-bloomed wistaria against the outer wall by the savage quiet September sun impacted distilled and hyperdistilled, into which came now and then the loud cloudy flutter of the sparrows like a flat limber stick whipped by an idle boy, and the rank smell of female old flesh long embattled in virginity while the wan haggard face watched him above the faint triangle of lace at wrists and throat from the too tall chair in which she resembled a crucified child; and the voice not ceasing but vanishing into and then out of the long intervals like a stream, a trickle running from patch to patch of dried sand, and the ghost mused with shadowy docility as if it were the voice which he haunted where a more fortunate one would have had a house. Out of quiet thunderclap he would abrupt (man-horse-demon) upon a scene peaceful and decorous as a school prize watercolor, faint sulphur-reek still in hair clothes and beard, with grouped behind him his band of wild niggers like beasts half tamed to walk upright like men, in attitudes wild and reposed, and manacled among them the French architect with his air grim, haggard, and tatter- ran. Immobile, bearded and hand palm-lifted the horseman sat; behind him the wild blacks and the captive architect huddled quietly, carrying in bloodless paradox the shovels and picks and axes of peaceful conquest.

Regret to tell me nothing. You make me feel completely inadequate. Nice going! LOL. And Happy New Year! Bill