Encounters: During a recent trip to my eye doctor, we were visiting and the subject of dreams came up after she confessed she thought she was neurotic. As an example she told about a reoccurring dream that mixed her job with her family life. The dream unfolds at a baby shower and she is showing two dresses for the recipient to choose from, as she does with lenses at her job. “Do you prefer dress number one,” she asks with a smile, “or dress number two.” “One,” she repeats, or two?” It turns into a nightmare as she continues to repeat the question and the guest of honor can not decide. We both laughed, and I conceded she might be a little neurotic.

Read: Because of a year-long project I have been involved in I have not been doing much reading, other than news on the internet and some magazines here and there. However, being a lifelong fan of comics and graphic novels I reread Blankets, By Craig Thompson. The final lines in the book read, as the main character (Craig) walks through the snow by himself: “How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface. To make a map of my movement, no matter how temporary.”

Observed: Very few migrating birds this fall. Where are they, or have I missed all those flyovers?

Website: Leftovers and Food Safety

Recipe: Baked Potato Soup

Encounters: A few weeks ago during a mini road trip we stopped for drinks at a small town gas station. While I was standing and stretching a middle age man walked out of the station toward me and we both realized I was blocking his driver side car door with my passenger door. We chatted for a bit as I moved out of his way and he got in his car. Turns out he is the bass player for a local band called Burnin’ Sensations. To wind up our conversation he stated they were “STD free since 2003.”

Read: Words I Wish I Wrote By Robert Fulghum

Observed: My first experience with an online auction. This was for my Aunt Judy’s estate, and I was able to purchase several family heirlooms and some just plain interesting items (and at least 100 books for pennies on the dollar or less) My observation is to follow the auction through to the very end if there are items you really want. I followed the items I really wanted for over a week, and got most of it.

Website: Burnin’ Sensations or Facebook site

Recipe: Creamy White Bean Soup Tip from the recipe: If you’re not following a strict vegetarian diet, you can opt for chicken broth instead of vegetable, add shredded rotisserie chicken or set out a bowl of crumbled bacon as an additional garnish.

Encounters: My wife and I were walking across a parking lot recently when an old man approached us from the opposite direction. We both slowed down as he turned to the nearest car and began to get in it. He moved so slow and wobbly that I wondered if he needed help and I moved closer in case he did. He finally made it into the car and shut the door. “You know why Smokey the Bear never had kids,” he asked us through his open car window. We smiled and shook our heads no. “Because every time Mrs. Bear got hot, Smokey would throw sand on her.”

Read: This Man Kept a Meticulous List of All 3,599 Books He’d Read Since 1962. I started a list around five years ago of movies and shows I have watched, as well as a list of books I have read. My dad did the same.

Observed: For years there was a dusty, untouched booth in a flea market mall we used to frequent that sold nothing, as best we could tell. The owner was just paying rent to store her junk.

Website: What Dan Read

Recipe: If you have some extra cucumbers from your garden you could try this recipe for homemade pickles.

Encounters: Overheard at a convenience store in a small town recently a man telling two other people about a baby that died and was buried by mistake in a pet cemetery. All three men men looked intent and serious, as if the story was true and not some morbid joke.

Read: My nephew loaned me The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, By Michael Finkel. An interesting read that includes some pondering about what living alone does to humans.

Observed: A recent night storm passing over our acreage that produced some rain and little thunder. The lightning show was incredible, however, and lasted over an hour. Some of the lightning seemed to crawl in half loops under the dark clouds (sort of like this: uuuuuu).

Website: Hermitary

Recipe: Once again it it summer and that means tuna salad time in our house. If desired you can try our recipe here.

The Prairie Homestead is “an online space with over one million monthly visits dedicated to helping people learn how to grow their own food and opt-out of the rat race, regardless of where they live.”

“The website broadbandchoices conducted a study to determine the scariest films of all time, measuring their results based on the elevated heartbeats of participants. They’ve dubbed the experiment the Science of Scare Project. This is their Top 25.” That is the 2020 list. Click here for the updated 2021 list.

Dusty Old Thing is a very addictive site. “From tales about treasures found to reliving moments in our collective past, our aim is to share with people the items, stories, and memories we hold so dear. History is a part of us all and it’s important we remember and celebrate it.”

Savings.com says “Our team of expert bargain hunters meticulously forage and navigate through the sea of online deals and discounts so that you can easily find, compare, and apply the latest offers during checkout. If you’re shopping for virtually anything, you can bet that our digital savings platform will help you save money in just a few clicks.”

Nature “is a weekly international journal publishing the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature also provides rapid, authoritative, insightful and arresting news and interpretation of topical and coming trends affecting science, scientists and the wider public.”

Lambiek “has a global reputation for its impressive collection of comics and art from around the world, with many genres and from many different eras. It is famous for being a hotspot for comic artists, collectors and fans. Festive openings of artist expositions in the gallery have become legendary, and we host many special events such as book presentations, workshops and the annual 24 Hour Comics Day.”

HistoryExtra “strives to be the best and most trusted place for history content. We’re home to more than 5,000 features and over 500 podcasts by world-renowned historians including Dan Jones, Michael Wood, Suzannah Lipscomb, Tom Holland and Tracy Borman. All our content has been expertly-written and rigorously fact-checked, and because we follow BBC guidelines you can be sure everything you read here is accurate and trustworthy.”

The Ways To Wealth “is an independent personal finance website that publishes reviews, “how to” guides, best-of lists, product comparisons and more. Since our inception in 2016, over 10 million readers have turned to us for insights and recommendation.”

If you have little ones make sure to share NORAD Tracks Santa with them beginning December 24^th to track Santa’s flight around the world.

Austin City Limits “is the longest running music series in television history, the name behind exciting and successful music festivals in Austin (US), Sydney (AUS) and Auckland (NZ) and an award-winning concert venue. Broadcast on PBS for 43 years, Austin City Limits TV has become an institution, as well as the recipient of a rare institutional Peabody Award, an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark and the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts.:

iBiology’s “mission is to convey, in the form of open-access free videos, the excitement of modern biology and the process by which scientific discoveries are made. Our aim is to let you meet the leading scientists in biology, so that you can find out how they think about scientific questions and conduct their research, and can get a sense of their personalities, opinions, and perspectives.”

FAIR Health’s “mission is to help you understand your healthcare costs and health coverage and to bring transparency to healthcare costs and insurance. We are an independent, national nonprofit organization known for providing fair and neutral information to all those we serve, including consumers like you. We are able to provide reliable information about healthcare costs because each year health insurers around the country send us over a billion healthcare bills, which are added to FAIR Health’s database of more than 35 billion claims. We use information from those claims to estimate what providers charge, and what insurers pay, for providing healthcare to patients all across the country. We make this information available to consumers, researchers, businesses and many other users.”

Hillbilly Housewife features “frugal home-cooked meals, many made from scratch…debt reduction tips, household organization tips, and other articles and resources.”

WIMP “was launched in 2008 to share amazing videos, incredible stories and funny clips with the world. Every day our team of writers creates original articles, memes, original content, and we also highlight our favorite videos from around the web. Our mission is to help people laugh, find entertainment from our content. We want to make the world a better place.”

PIMsPlus “is a set of evidence-based guidelines onpotentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) for older adults, if there is evidence that the risks of a medication sometimes outweigh the benefits in this population.”

Shopkick “is the app that rewards you for the shopping you already do, no matter how you do it. Get reward points (we call them “kicks”) that you can claim for free gift cards!” My wife has been using this app since 2018 and has earned over 129,000 kicks and has claimed $510 in gift cards to date.

Farming My Backyard offers many useful links and book recommendations about all sorts of homesteading and simple living topics. A good resource to bookmark.

One of my favorite poets is Stanley Kunitz (1905 – 2006). Click here to sample some of his poetry.

The 60 Worst Inventions of All Time ranges from funny to stupid to dangerous.

Here is a pretty comprehensive list on 101 Practical and Realistic Ways to Save Money.

Herb News is a “blog about herbs, botanicals, natural health care, alternative, complementary and integrative medicines, the politics, business, science and even gossip, about herbs.”

“You can tell a lot about a person from what he reads. The surviving—and largely ignored—remnants of Adolf Hitler’s personal library reveal a deep but erratic interest in religion and theology.”

“Producers today are merely focused on making money. That’s why so many things you consume are absolutely destructive to your health. Chemicals, carcinogens, artificial ingredients, you name it – chances are you are putting these things into your body without even knowing it.” Search Is It Bad For You to help you find out.

StorageTreasures.com “is the world’s largest, most trusted online self-storage auction platform. The website hosts over 15,000 online auctions per month, and advertises live in-person auction schedules as well. The most comprehensive database of storage auctions is found here, and the site continues to grow as more and more storage operators make the transition online.”