I put this on my Insta stories earlier today, but what the heck, let’s put it here, too. Same person, same bar, different sign. 1974:
Friday:
Yes, it’s the dreaded vacation photo dump! If you haven’t figured it out, we were in the Upper Peninsula, nothing fancy, just a cabin at an old-fashioned waterfront resort. I have friends there, and a friend from Detroit was at the same resort the same week, so it was a very chill week of doing nothing much, drinking beer at lunch without guilt, napping after lunch ditto, sitting by the water in a chair thinking about nothing in particular, discussing current affairs with like-minded people, wondering if Dollar Island, which sits about a hundred yards offshore from where we were staying, would be a good place to wait out the zombie apocalypse. (It was for sale for $850K in 2019, the last listing I could find. Today, a faded For Sale by Owner is tacked to one of its buildings, and having learned they sustained a fire recently, I’d say that price is…ambitious.) The answer: Only until the ice comes in, at which point you better hope zombies can’t operate snowmobiles.
Funny to see this no-doubt-contemporary-but-looking-retro poster in a local bar, since this was our m.o. up here for many years:
Proof. One of the visiting tramps, in one of those years:
Here’s Alan in two of his happy places:
This garrulous pair of sandhill cranes could be heard every day. They hung out in the yard next door. The house was flying a Trump flag, so I hope their excrement was smelly and copious.
Much has changed since our last visit, even more since my first one. My friends sold their cottage (and that boat). But Mark, the surviving family member still lives there, in a different place, on the mainland. And he has a different boat, this lovely, triple-cockpit 1930 Dodge Watercar:
We went for a boat ride. Alan and I sat in the middle cockpit, along with Mark’s dog. Solo is an Anatolian shepherd / Great Pyrenees cross, which makes him both ideal for up-north living and very very big. One hundred forty pounds of big, in fact:
I couldn’t fit him in one photo while sitting next to him. He took up a lot of space:
After I left, Mark sent me a bunch of pictures of the old days. Here’s the last shot of a fall party, back in the day:
It was fun while it lasted. It still is. It’s just a different kind of fun.
A whirl of a week ahead. Expect light posting.
A different Connie said on August 24, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Anywhere in the UP is a good place to wait out the zombie apocalypse.
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Dexter Friend said on August 24, 2025 at 1:52 pm
I first heard about Sandhills from Norris Alfred of Polk, Nebraska, about 45 years ago, who went bird-watching every Sunday morning around the Platte River. Alfred owned and managed The Polk Progress until he had to retire years ago. He loved writing columns about tracking the Sandhill Cranes.
Lately, after all these decades, I find hunting them with guns is a growing sport, as hunters call them “ribeyes in the sky”, for the way the strong strip of meat looks. I was aghast…Mr. Alfred would be apoplectic indeed.
I discovered The Polk Progress in a Trib feature, subscribed for my Dad and myself. Dad enjoyed it immensely, writing letters back and forth to Mr. Norris. Of course…all gone, all of it.
https://www.loc.gov/item/sn95069341/
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Icarus said on August 24, 2025 at 3:05 pm
fu-king Mississippi
Unfortunately, Bluesky is unavailable in Mississippi right now.
A new Mississippi law requires us to implement age verification for all users before they can access Bluesky. We think this law creates challenges that go beyond its child safety goals, and creates significant barriers that limit free speech and disproportionately harm smaller platforms and emerging technologies.
As a small team, we cannot justify building the expensive infrastructure this requirement demands while legal challenges to this law are pending.
For now, we have made the difficult decision to block access to Bluesky in the state of Mississippi.
To learn more, read our blog post.
https://bsky.social/about/blog/08-22-2025-mississippi-hb1126
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Icarus said on August 24, 2025 at 3:06 pm
The house was flying a Trump flag My neighbor, who has a side gig being Santa Claus around the holidays because he looks the part, has flown a Trump Flag since before the last election. On our subdivision FB page, he always found a way to attack President Biden on any post, no matter how vanilla the topic.
he’s trying to sell his home, By Owner of course, and he’s having no luck. I’d bet someone told him to take down the flag just to cast a wider net and he’s likely refused. If and when he does sell, I’m not only gonna help him pack but I’ll probably drive the moving van.
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Dave said on August 24, 2025 at 5:04 pm
There is a home I drive by frequently that had a T**** flag up for about as long as we’ve lived here but it has disappeared in the last few months. I often wonder why.
We’ve only been in the UP a couple of times, one year we drove up to Wisconsin, did Wisconsin Dells, and then headed on up the Marquette, MI, drove across the UP, went to the locks in Sault Ste. Marie, and then Mackinac Island, a very enjoyable vacation.
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Dorothy said on August 24, 2025 at 6:37 pm
What a fun looking vacation! I’m living vicariously through everyone’s vacay pictures and stories on social media. Really hoping we can do our Phoenix/Grand Canyon/Sedona trip next month. But first priority is getting the next surgery scheduled. So much unknown, and I’m an impatient little cuss when it comes to this kind of stuff. At least next weekend we have some adventures at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and my high school reunion in the ‘burgh.
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Deborah said on August 24, 2025 at 6:52 pm
Only been to the UP once when my sister graduated from college my dad drove up to Nebraska where my sister and I both went to college, then we went to the Upper Peninsula, before heading back to Miami for the summer, should have stayed in the UP for the summer of course, would have been much better. It was in early June, we only had shorts and whatnot with us, it got down to freezing at night, we were astounded. We drove to Sault Ste. Marie and went into Canada, which was the first time for me to ever be out out the US. I didn’t get back to Canada until many years later when I went to Banff, loved that place, hope to go back some day.
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Dexter Friend said on August 24, 2025 at 7:32 pm
Swimming at Au Train Bay in late July is a memory I shan’t forget. I stayed in Superior for maybe 20 minutes. Was it cold? Whattcha t’ink?
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Ann said on August 24, 2025 at 8:30 pm
Those are some great photos and a gorgeous boat.
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Mark P said on August 24, 2025 at 10:27 pm
That boat! Shall I compare thee to a pontoon boat? Thou are more lovely …
Oh, my, they knew how to make a boat back then. At least they knew how a classy boat should look.
Vacations and youth … thy eternal summer shall not fade.
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Jeff Gill said on August 25, 2025 at 7:37 am
Well, well. A rumble in the debris pile of local media, which could herald a landslide or might just be the shattered remnants settling into place: local news in Columbus covered the Maxwell tapes asides about Les Wexner. Channel 10 & the Dispatch both have acknowledged the tight connection, even the control Epstein had over Wexner, and his role in the creation & early management of New Albany, today’s 500 lb. gorilla:
https://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/local/2025/08/24/ghislaine-maxwell-doj-interview-jeffrey-epstein-ran-new-albany/85806692007/
At the end of the year, though, Nexstar will own both 4 & 10 (NBC & CBS); Sinclair already owns 6 & 28 (ABC & Fox). Gannett owns all the local papers which are becoming mastheads for the Dispatch, one reporter apiece plus two sports writers plus a few local contributors dumb enough to write for free.
Anyhow, when the evening news last night* led with Wexner being a lead player in Lady Ghislane’s maunderings with Blanche on tape, I sat bolt upright on the sofa. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. Still expect it to be old news by Wednesday, and so it goes.
*Clear sign an old person wrote this.
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JodiP said on August 25, 2025 at 9:56 am
Dorothy, I hope all goes well with the prognosis. I would be struggling with the not knowing if that trip is going to happen. I hope it does!
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Sherri said on August 25, 2025 at 5:47 pm
Garrett Graff lays it all out clearly: America has become a fascist state.
https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-tips-into-fascism-f51000e08e03254d
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Colleen said on August 25, 2025 at 6:15 pm
Dorothy, I’ll join the others offering good wishes. The James is an excellent facility, and I’m sure your husband will receive excellent care.
Cancer sucks. I read cancer patients’ charts all day long, and it just sucks. However, treatment has come a long way.
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Dexter Friend said on August 26, 2025 at 1:20 pm
MS NOW. Comcast spun off MSNBC, so now…
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/msnbc-change-name-ms-now-spinoff-nbcuniversal-rcna225563
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Deborah said on August 26, 2025 at 6:27 pm
For those of you who subscribe to the New York Times, it seems like you have to subscribe extra to Games to get to play the Mini now. I had the basic subscription, I added Recipes, but I am able to play the games I want to play on basic, which are Wordle, Connections and Strands. But now it seems as of today that I no longer am able to play the Mini on basic. I guess I’ll find out if I can still play any of them tomorrow on basic. I won’t add games to my subscription if it’s only the Mini, but if I can’t get the others without it I’ll probably cave so I’m able to play all of the Games.
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Dave said on August 26, 2025 at 8:21 pm
I was just wondering the other day if anyone else here is still playing Wordle. I had a 348 day streak going earlier this year and lost it one day, oh no, and then, about 13 days later, I lost again. Now I’ve got an entire month in, we’ll see if it continues.
Today, the comic strip, Pearls Before Swine, had a strip about Wordle that I found funny. https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine
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ROGirl said on August 27, 2025 at 6:05 am
Spellbee.org has a lot of the NYT games, and it’s free.
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jim said on August 27, 2025 at 12:36 pm
Dave: I not only play Wordle and Connections every day, I have also become long term addicted to Quordle and especially multiple versions of Octordle. I am ashamed to say how many games of Octordle I’ve played.
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Julie Robinson said on August 27, 2025 at 12:38 pm
Deborah, I started wondering about the Times and looked up my subscription, which is All Access and includes all the games. The Mini Crossword link comes in the morning email I get daily. My renewal offer was $25/month, but when I said I was cancelling they offered to continue the current rate of $4/month for another year. If you’re paying more than that, do a chat with them and keep saying cancel until they offer a better price.
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Dexter Friend said on August 27, 2025 at 3:22 pm
A sick feeling as I watched a surgeon report on the 17 shooting victims in Minneapolis. He was strong but visibly shaken. 2 children dead, and many suffering horrible wounds.
Today, the onslaught continues about the gym teacher engaged to the English teacher, some riddle, eh? The 2 media hogs are tying the knot and there are a lot of us who just DGAF.
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Dorothy said on August 27, 2025 at 4:56 pm
Julie last year I telephoned the NYTimes and hated the back and forth conversation, practically begging to stay at $4/every 4 weeks. This time I just logged into my account; when I indicated I was there to cancel my subscription, one of the boxes to check was to stay at $4/every 4 weeks. So I clicked that and was done in less than 5 minutes. I’m never calling them again. You have to be careful and put it on your calendar to contact them, though, in time to do this. Otherwise they shoot you right up to the next rate.
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Julie Robinson said on August 27, 2025 at 5:32 pm
That’s what I did too, I might not have been clear on it. But they did send me a reminder email in advance of the increase.
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Sherri said on August 27, 2025 at 8:54 pm
I’ve finally figured out Bobby Brainworm’s cunning plan. He wants to get rid of chronic diseases. He’s going to do it by bringing back infectious diseases, so nobody lives long enough to get chronic diseases!
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Suzanne said on August 28, 2025 at 7:36 am
Sherri, that’s funny and yet, the more I think about it, you might be right. The Trump administration terrifies me because they are so horribly sinister but RFK jr is in a class by himself. He’s completely divorced from reality. I want, need, the newest COVID vaccine but don’t even know if it’s out yet or if it will ever be out. So many have been fired or quit the CDC, will any guidelines they put out even be credible and will any vaccine be safe going forward or will the current people in charge decide that a shot of essential oil and ivermectin works great for anything that ails you?
I knew this administration would be bad, but this far exceeds my expectations.
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Julie Robinson said on August 28, 2025 at 9:00 am
Suzanne, the new Covid vaccine was announced yesterday and will be “available within days”. Good news for us olds, but they’re excluding approval for kids and young healthy folks. My cardiac patient husband is going on a long trip soon, and now we should be able to get him protected in time.
But yes, they’re awful.
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Jeff Gill said on August 28, 2025 at 9:04 am
No vaccine for me this year, but magically next year I’ll get it! (Today I turn Paul McCartney years old…)
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alex said on August 28, 2025 at 9:20 am
Still playing wordle, but my streaks seem to be broken not by me losing but because the damned thing re-sets itself sometimes without any apparent cause. Does this happen to anyone else? I wonder if software updates might be the culprit.
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Mark P said on August 28, 2025 at 10:21 am
I remember, back in the old days, when we might wonder hyperbolically if we would survive something like the Bush 2 administration. Now we wonder literally if we will survive the Trump regime. For the first time in our history, the people who lead the government are actively trying to kill most Americans. And RFK Jr? Oh brave new world that has such people in it.
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ROGirl said on August 28, 2025 at 12:17 pm
The more people they kill off, the more the gazillionaires will be able to keep for themselves.
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