And it’s still bloody hot. Slightly less humid, which is a blessing, and maybe a couple of degrees cooler. That might be due to the intermittent cloud cover though. Still no real rain here or at the BOL. Today is more of the same, and will be until finally Summer on the Gulf Coast ends.
Did some stuff yesterday, primarily selling one piece of specialized hobby equipment that I probably was never going to use. The guy who bought it seemed genuinely happy to have it and had plans to put it to use in his new hobby. That actually felt pretty good. Then I stayed at the shop and did some stuff that should pay dividends later. It was supposed to be a short term solution, but it’s somehow been over a year and I’m no where near getting out of there. I just have to work harder at making it pay.
Today I’ve got some stuff to do. I’ve got scrap and trash in the pickup truck, but might hold off on that and head to my client’s house. I need to start troubleshooting the latest issues, and putting that off isn’t a great idea. Plus it will give me some time to buy stuff if needed. Gear fails. Video gear tends to run very hot, and the equipment closet isn’t as cool as it should be. Plus, cheaper gear fails earlier because of the design choices made to make it cheaper. I’m looking at intermittent failures which is typical of failing gear.
Intermittent failures are the hardest to diagnose though.
If got some stack related things I’ve been putting off for too long that need attention too. Shouldn’t take long to do them, but they will be unpleasant. Failed cans of food, and the rotting that has happened because of that will be a mess to clean up and not the way I want to spend a hot day in the sun. Gotta be done though. Putting out new rat poison can’t be delayed any longer either.
Busy day ahead, hopefully I’ve recovered enough to do a good push.
Stack what you can, then keep and eye on it.
nick
Monday. Good morning.
Last free day before returning to
durance vilework tomorrow. Today will be a lot of domestic bliss: grocery shopping, laundry, putting away holiday equipment and holiday purchases, restocking meds and other consumables, putting the home office space into working order again, trying to inculcate a work mindset again, etc., etc.Paul, I spoke at length to my late father about living alone after my late mother went into residential care and subsequently died, leaving him living on his own in the family home. He was adamant that there is a difference between living alone and being lonely, and that he had lived alone at other times in his life.
He did mention that, being in his late eighties, he had outlived most of his friends and contemporaries. He enjoyed walking to the local shop every day and chatting with people on the way and at the shop, and at church, and he was good about using and answering the phone, so he maintained human contacts.
He knew he was welcome to live with me or either of my siblings, but chose not to, preferring his independence (which he was, fortunately, able to maintain well with just a daily care visit, until his death).
An odd thing happened. My father grew up on a farm, and was a dog lover all his life. My late mother was not keen on dogs, and he renounced keeping a dog for her sake.
When my mother died and as my father’s mobility declined, a golden retriever from somewhere in the neighborhood started visiting my father every day. When the golden’s owner eventually moved away, a rather tame fox started visiting him, and kept it up until his death. Coincidence? Angels? My mother reincarnated? Who knows…
And probably also require pants… dealbreaker?
Thanks! I learned a new word.
Disasterville.
My main PC, an Asus VM40B (300 bucks in 2013) was off when I got to my desk in the basement. Network lights blinking, USB ports powered, but otherwise dead. Rescussication attempts not fruitful. Meh. Welcome home, indeed.
I bit the bullet and ordered its younger relative, an Asus PB63. 16 Gig RAM and ½ TB SSD for not quite 1400 bucks at Big River. Good grief; when did computers get so expensive?
Now to prepare a USB bootdisk with Linux Mint… the new box should arrive on Thursday.
when did computers get so expensive?
— when the AI bubble began to inflate.
———-
Up and moving but probably not for long. Despite my best effort, it was almost 3 am before I fell asleep, and it was fitful at best.
Kid’s snack is packed. I try for variety. There is a juice box, soda, cookies, something chocolate, small bag of chips, and a piece of fruit (usually apple slices, sometimes packaged fruit like a fruit cup.) The soda is always Dr Pepper, the juice box is always apple, but the rest changes.
———-
Got an email from Goodwill announcing that their (failed) discount store will close again (used to be an outlet store with bins) and become a furniture focused store. The discount store was normal Goodwill clothes that were still on hangers and racks but marked down even further than normal Goodwill prices. I did find a couple of shirts the first time I visited, but the concept wasn’t popular I guess. I’d never gone back.
Our “Greater Houston Area” Goodwill is trying different things and has made an effort to change up the store layouts and keep up standards. That comes at the cost of slightly higher prices and more individual pricing.
——–
It was 83F at midnight last night. And there was a breeze.
———
Time to get the brats moving toward school.
n
You got a problem with Jade East, that misaligned cologne of my youth? Snagging a bottle of that stuff was critical to my teenage years. The stuff being sold on Amazon today is just not the same.
Old Spice is timeless, the same today as it was yesterday.
Polo was big when I was in high school. I can still smell the combination of that and chlorine after swim practice.
Except the bottles got a lot smaller for the same price. I was taken aback the last time I bought some.
Patchouli.
Hai Karate.
My generation’s version of Axe.
Glad that’s all in the past.
FLASHLIGHT arrives today. It was sent to Chattanooga, then Nashville, then Knoxville, then Andersonville, then back to Knoxville, and finally to my home post office. Strange route indeed.
I remember the ads for Hai Karate. Trying to unseat Jade East from the youth throne.
Lots of things get smaller with age. 🙁
I think I paid about $4.00 for a bottle of Jade East in 1968 or so. Now it is $42.00 on Amazon. Back then $4.00 was a tank of gas. Now $42.00 is half a tank of gas. Perspective.
Nearby Goodwill decided to move to a closed Rite-aid nearby. I went with a bunch of stuff from my daughter’s house to the old location which had closed. Quite a bit of carp being left at the dropoff door. Went over to the new location but lots of cars and workers but not yet open. Well that allowed me to wait until Sat morning and include a few boxes of my own. Since it was on the wat drove by the new one and it was still not open but didn’t look like anyone working so continued on about 3 miles to the next one. Long dropoff line but I waited. about 10 min to get it done and wait for the care ahead to finally move. Beats a trip to the dump or the limited hour trash drop. Life’s too exciting.
Lot of minor stuff to do. Leaving Thur for the coast but large fire below Big Sur smoking up every thing over there. Evacuation warning for north coast of SLO county about 20 miles from where we are going.
Actually, I hear Old Spice is a reformulated version of lesser scent than days of yore. Supposedly, the Indian import version is the old formula. According to Amazon reviews, anyhow.
I switched to a cologne stick years ago. It is easier to throw in my Dopp kit for travel. I use it once in a Blue Moon by rubbing it over my head and massaging it in. Like when I go to the dentist so I stink pretty. Bay Rum is my fav.
Fauxahontas gets Buckleyed by Bessent
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/30/sciolistic-and-treadless-the-democrats-rough-2026/
Former DIE hire ”She Who Shines NotSo Brightly”
“Microsoft Finally Lets You Dismiss the OneDrive Prompts for Good”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-finally-lets-you-dismiss-the-onedrive-prompts-for-good
“If you don’t use OneDrive, you can finally dismiss prompts for Microsoft’s cloud backup service in Windows 11 25H2. The next time a OneDrive pop-up appears asking you to protect your files, you can simply opt out of further suggestions, Windows Latest reports.”
“With Windows 11, Microsoft integrated several of its first-party services more deeply than before. OneDrive was a big part of that, and every time you installed Windows 11, you’d be prompted to install it. Often, the only way to avoid it was to select “skip for now” or “remind me in 3 days,” so a pop-up was always looming.”
I will only believe this when I see this. I have deleted onedrive many times from my home and office pcs, only to see it resurrected with every Tuesday patch.
Just another thing you don’t really own.
n
SteveF chicken coop rebuilder
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVQzj57S17VFeN3tyIcX0giLhu5FBwrNNBoLoRzpPumWyHEMB46OgsmHeGjtbrwNylk3hxGRABMIcG0o3unHpfufVV-Oqx9eRn8XOdSKtv1gl1ZE2Oi3aDsiQZpNMUX_UcKScCh90JTiHy5uyMSKaIXB5zwRV-NbwsrWK42cJSTAaf3KS0Xtb7OCl9Rs/s550/Meme%20-%20measure%20once,%20cut%20once.png
drkeck’s picture of a tape measure shows neither hogsheads nor furlongs.
Though it would be ironic if it did.
Courtesy of Peter…
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/08/memes-that-made-me-laugh-326.html
And John
https://wilderwealthywise.com/memes-yes-here-they-are/
@Nick
“Did some stuff yesterday, primarily selling one piece of specialized hobby equipment that I probably was never going to use. The guy who bought it seemed genuinely happy to have it and had plans to put it to use in his new hobby. That actually felt pretty good. Then I stayed at the shop and did some stuff that should pay dividends later. It was supposed to be a short term solution, but it’s somehow been over a year and I’m no where near getting out of there. I just have to work harder at making it pay.”
I am increasingly asking myself: “Do you really need that or do you want it sold in your estate?” Boomers worked hard and indulged themselves by buying a lot of stuff, and also had smaller families: numerator is bigger and denominator is smaller.
Didn’t you recently leverage the shop by using the space to get out of a storage unit? Put that in the “win” column. Don’t know what the economics are, but there is also something to be said for having your own space that is not carved out of the family communal.
Didn’t you recently leverage the shop by using the space to get out of a storage unit? Put that in the “win” column. Don’t know what the economics are, but there is also something to be said for having your own space that is not carved out of the family communal.
– yep. Got rid of all the other storages which nets a small savings and a lot more space. Of course that filled this place as I wasn’t efficient about putting stuff in it. I am slowly working on that too. And my first auction with the new company ran which got rid of about 10 bins worth of stuff. I just asked them when I could drop of some more.
n
I got through to the IRS today and resolved our business tax issue. I set up all the information I needed in Apple Notes, with a section to handwrite as I talked on the phone. A pleasant lady, Ms. Williams, helped me, and we should receive a confirmation letter in 10-14 days.
I just received an invitation to my oldest son’s wedding. Via text. Did not see this coming. He’s 43 and the last person I’d ever think of getting married.
It’s on Halloween afternoon, at my exe’s house on what used to be my farm. I’ll suck it up and go, like we did to my youngest son’s wedding. BTDT and survived. Middle son eloped.
The invitation was in black and white, with bats and spiders and a skull and a thorny rose wreath, and ends with “til death do us part”. The context gives an odd flavor to that.
My GF asked me how we’re expected to dress. Will this be a costume party?
My life is weird.
Didn’t go to my client’s today.
Did go to the scrap yard. One large window A/C unit and some ballasts from changing out the troffers to LED was $42. Only 6$ of that was the copper ballasts. No wonder there was a pile of window units there. It was worth the hour it took to break up the unit.
Guys in front of me had 535 pounds of lead in the form of plumbing stuff, mainly the seals around vent stacks in the roof.
Hit HEB for my stuff and stuff for D2’s snacks. They had very little choice for apples, when they usually have a huge selection. Onions have been hit or miss, and they changed suppliers for a couple of things, including bagged brusselsprouts.
Not much on sale.
n
Suggestion: Give D2 an onion rather than an apple for a snack. Leave it to her to figure out it’s for supporting W’s comments in the family drama. #FollowMeForMoreParentingTips
AI Company Faces Massive Lawsuit Over Pirated Content
https://townhall.com/news/jeff-charles/2026/08/31/sony-and-warner-sue-anthropic-over-stolen-content-n2682192
“The current valuation of Anthropic is approximately $965 billion following its latest funding round.”
$1,050 billion on the books alone. That would leave a mark.
NB: $150,000 is the top end if “willfulness” is determined by the court.
DMCA is almost 30 years old–1998. It obviously did not anticipate the use of copyrighted print and audio works (or video) to “train” AI.
Earlier U.S court cases and law had established that home recording of video
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., aka the “Betamax case“
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_Studios,_Inc.
and audio
Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (AHRA)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act
Both of these are considered to be part of “Fair Use” in U.S. Copyright Law:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
which applies four tests:
I suspect that the defense is going to be based in part on fair use, although it is commercial without a doubt, the works are used in total, and the AI will probably, absent restrictive programming, be able to make slight alterations upon demand and regurgitate a thinly “different” work.
In this last respect the concept of derivative work will probably get a much-needed revision.
I further suspect that the defense is going to allege a definition of “copy” parsed finely through digital technology that can read and write gigabytes in nanoseconds.
Like a lot of other litigation, this will probably come down to who has the money and is willing to risk it. Content owners have seen a lot of questionable calls chipping away at their rights, including this recent German court decision:
https://petapixel.com/2026/07/22/dog-photographer-loses-copyright-case-over-ai-generated-comic-version-of-her-image/
I think that case in particular points to the creation of a useful test: Take the command sequence used to generate the potentially infringing work, remove as input the copyrighted work and any associated works, and create a new command sequence to duplicate the potentially infringing work.
In the specific example litigated, I would contend that it is unlikely that the potentially infringing work could be duplicated “from scratch” without showing that the original work is the essential foundation.
Yeah, I know: Dogs playing poker aka “A Friend in Need”. Most case law questionably decided.
We, meaning me now, have a friend named Sarah. I’ve known her since 1982. Maybe 1981. No sex, she was married. But lots of fun to talk to about almost anything.
Cory was born in 1986. We happily babysat. Heck, I got the boy walking one night. After he had some forbidden pizza. Boy had teeth, he can chew, worse case is he pukes. His mother was very much not happy to see him walking across the living room. To me. Not her. I hope that movie y’all had to go see was worth it.
I didn’t baby talk to him. Terrible Twos? Lack of vocabulary. I’d sit on the floor and talk to him. In English, not baby talk. Yeah Cory, I know you want to say something, the idea is in your head. But you don’t have the words yet. I remember being two. Let’s work on it.
Cory didn’t mess with stuff. Much. None of that pulling pots and pans out of the cupboard nonsense.
I had a couple of snap-set pools on the patio. Connected with a couple of 1 and ½ inch PVC arches as a siphon. Pool pump drew from one pool and fed the other pool. All x-10 module timers. I taught the boy how to swim. I guess he was pushing three. I forget.
Anyway. I had a cheap particle board K-Mart bookcase in the laundry room. A junk collector. I kept the pool chems there. One day Cory was looking and I said leave that stuff alone, it’s bad for you to mess with. Then we sat down and it was Ok, this is the chlorine that keeps the pool water clean. You know how the pool water smells? This is the stuff. Take a whiff. I opened the jug and waved the fumes at his face.. That’s all it took. I gave a whiff of a couple of other things too. He never messed with any of it. As far as I know, he never even looked again.
I did the same thing when he was 10 or 12 with the booze in the china cabinet. Sit on the floor and smell. Have a tiny taste. Like a bit in a shot glass and stick your finger in. Freaking moonshine was the worst. But yeah, he got finger samples of almost everything. Vodka, gin, tequila, Jack Daniels, peach and peppermint schnapps. Tia Maria. All of it. A finger tip taste of each. We both got a little buzzed.
Sarah adopted Edwin. Nice enough kid but a bit off. I’m not into auras and that stuff but the month old baby just felt “off”. I learned while working at HEB that Caitlin (my work wife)(folks thought we were married) (even though her father is my age) knew his mother from high school and she was drunk and stoned almost the entire time she was carrying the boy.
Well, Sarah came to visit one weekend. So Cory and Edwin can play together. She started gathering up everything from the coffee table and the fireplace hearth and I was like “what are you doing?” Oh, this stuff is not safe for little boys to mess with. I said Cory doesn’t mess with any of it, leave it be, it’s safe.
The boys had a good time. Played in the pool and and then we cooked hamburgers. On the hibachi with Fido waiting for her piece. Edwin messed with some of the stuff his mom was going to put out of reach. Just looking. That’s why I had a bowl of shells and pretty rocks on the coffee table.
Where was I going when I started typing and went off the rails?
Back to Sarah. I call her once in a while just to check in. One day she called me twice. No message. She has a brother named Paul so I guess she pushed the wrong button in her car. I called her back. Right to VM. Then she sent a text saying to call only after 8:30pm on Sundays.
Because that’s her night off. She’s a usherette at the Zach theater in Austin. A rather pretentious place for being such a dump. But they pay $20 an hour. She’s 73. Inherited 1.5 mil when her Dad died and she has to work to pay rent. Huh?
I thought about that for a few days. And ya know? I can think of maybe five times ever she has called. So in the interest of not offending by calling at the wrong time of day, I deleted the contact from my phone.
Heaven forfend I offend her.
And now it’s time for Buddy and Penny’s bedtime potty walk. Then a shower for me.
I actually saw my dad eat an onion like it was an apple several times.
You haven’t been ‘white trash poor’ unless you’ve had onion sandwiches.
n
The school district relisted the 20ft sea container storage that I lost out on at $120. I think I could get it this time for 100$ but I decided not to bid. That first guy lost his $500 deposit when he couldn’t move it in time. And there are a lot of unknowns. It’s locked and no one knows what might be inside. Could be nothing, could be pallets of bricks. Can’t move a full, heavy container. Maybe it’s in a spot the truck can’t get to. And IDK if one of the local moving companies wants to take it to the BOL and deadhead back. I would probably end up paying round trip mileage, which might get me into the “buy it locally” price range.
There are no good ways to move one by yourself.
If I wanted to use it locally, I’d be bidding. At $150 it’s practically free. They usually go for around $1000 adjusted for condition, so this one would be $800, maybe. The district did ease the requirements to bid, but the ‘hold harmless’ and $500 cash deposit are still in place.
FWIW, they also failed to sell the 40ft with the same conditions and requirements. Another lost deposit.
Something is fishy. I’m staying away.
n
Wow. Time does pass, and justice can be served.
Now do Suge Knight again.
n
I ate an onion like an apple in front of someone when I was a mid-teen. It was part of a head game to psych out an opponent. I won. But it’s debatable whether the victory was worth it because … I ate an onion like an apple.
That said, I’d guess that D2 hasn’t had to eat an onion, with or without bread.
Many years later I had some rhubarb but not enough for a pie. (Side note: I had to take it away from the mother-in-law because she was going to throw away the stalks and cook the leaves as if they were cabbage.) I cut the stalks into 3/4″ lengths and sliced some strawberries to go with them, then had the dish at lunch the next day. Coworkers were horrified once they realized what I was eating, especially once they realized that I hadn’t put any sugar on it.
Wetbacks who have been decomposing for 18 years.
I have done this many times with Vidalia onions. Grown in one place in Georgia. A guy I used to do his school fund raising computer stuff (generating packing labels, money labels, reports with my custom software) would sell about 500,000 of the onions. He had a contract with one farm for the entire crop.
Anyway, those onions are really good. I would always get a couple of boxes and eat them all over about a month. Peel the outer layer and chomp away. Not strong and slightly sweet. Good stuff.
Vidalia sweet onions are the best. Texas grows “sweet” onions, and they are fine, but they are not vidalia…
I used to keep white, yellow, sweet, and red onions as they all cook slightly differently. I decided sweet were good for almost anything, with red for color or that really sharp flavor cutting through.
Simplify.
n
I’m not saying you’re wrong about Sarah, but I’ll play devil’s advocate for a minute.
Remember that there is an entire industry built on telling older people that no matter how much money you have saved up, it’s not enough, you can’t retire, you’ll run out of money and end up poor and decrepit in a rat infested poverty nursing home. $1 million isn’t enough, maybe even $2 M isn’t enough. It’s all crap, but it’s out there. You know better.
Another idea is that she works because that’s her way of dealing with loneliness. Having a job is a reason to get out of bed and into the world. Some people volunteer, some work, but it gets you out of the house.
Another idea is that just because she inherited money doesn’t mean she still has it. People make bad decisions and get ripped off all the time.
Based on how frequently she calls you, it’s not your problem. But she may have her reasons for continuing to work.
Maybe the math and history books they no longer use.
I actually saw my dad eat an onion like it was an apple several times.
My mother-in-law would eat onions like apples. White onions at that. Or she would slice them up, put butter on them, and eat as a sandwich on bread. She was born in the back woods of Arkansas at an enclave and then raised on a farm in Noodle, Texas.
And it’s still bloody hot. Slightly less humid, which is a blessing, and maybe a couple of degrees cooler. That might be due to the intermittent cloud cover though. Still no real rain here or at the BOL. Today is more of the same, and will be until finally Summer on the Gulf Coast ends.
It was bloody hot in north Dallas all weekend. Saw 108 F at one point in my truck. No rain. Lots of burn areas on grass next to roads where people threw out cigarettes. Some football field sized.
They are praying for rain. There is a 5,000 square mile burn area west of Fort Worth, 5 counties. The wife’s cousin from outside Ranger came in to the funeral and said they were ok, just dry. No cows lost, yet.
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/article317030808.html
Briefly rained on me and the son coming through College Station tonight. Wife and daughter stayed in The Colony to be with her sister for the week. It is going to be tough for her sister after 37 years of marriage but the last nine years were tough for them with his Lewy Body Dementia.
https://www.alzheimers.gov/alzheimers-dementias/lewy-body-dementia
The socialists and lefties that took over education once the .gov thought we had enough industrial might and very smart people to coast along for a while got rid of civics and history classes and introduced “social studies”. Like the changes in the way US Senators are elected, this small change ended up being a turning point that led to where we are now. They thought they were building an empire that would last, and that we needed serfs and servants and sycophants instead of big brains and capable men. They didn’t realize or care that the empire wouldn’t last even long enough for their kids to really benefit.
Our navy was the equivalent of the Roman roads. It let us project power and influence the world. The Romans let the barbarians in and lost their empire. Ted Kennedy let the unwashed and unqualified in when he changed immigration policy in 1965? changing the emphasis from educated or capable westerners to serfs meant to provide a permanent underclass.
I see the ‘elites’ of today buying huge tracts of land, and I think they hope to ride out the collapse of the West as Patrons on their haciendas, feudal lords in the Western model. They’ll have internet/holodecks/immersive worlds and jet aircraft and all the riches of the world, while most people will be the serfs on the land making it possible.
We already see wealth being concentrated at one end of the population and poverty at the other, while the middle hollows out. The gap between the haves and have nots is big and getting bigger.
Of course, the black plague took its toll on both ends and made the middle class a thing. Add caffeine, nicotine, alcohol to make water less deadly, and food, and you get the Renaissance/Awakening/rise of the Western world. Unfortunately for us, that broad distribution of smarts and wealth is very unusual on a civilizational scale. Civilizations built on the wide disparity between the top and the bottom are the norm, but collapse because it takes A LOT of effort to keep the lights on and the food coming in. Effort the elites can’t be bothered with, and the serfs don’t have time or energy for.
Short of a new plague that equalizes things again, while massively reducing population that needs to be supported, I think we’re in for another decline followed by a long period of not much changing, and eventually a new civilization rises. The biggest problem for the next one is that most of the easily accessible resources have been used.
Without those resources, it will be very difficult to climb back up to a technological civilization.
That’s why we HAVE to make the leap to space exploitation. There are LOTS of resources off planet that can fuel another expansion but if we don’t do it this time, it’ll be exponentially harder the next time, if it’s possible at all. This trap might be why we don’t see a thriving interstellar culture– it’s hard to get to the point of making the leap, without it all falling apart before you do.
I don’t think most of us here will see the bottom of the decline, just slightly more stable steps on the curve downward.
Of course, local efforts might delay or even reverse the trend, and my outlook doesn’t take into account any black swans like affordable new power sources, or aliens changing the pattern of history.
I don’t think incremental change can reverse the massive trends.
We should still try.
nick
Or she would slice them up, put butter on them, and eat as a sandwich on bread.
– and I like the taste of an onion sandwich, especially if the bread is toasted, but I haven’t had one in 40 years.
I also like the taste of fried bologna on white bread with mustard, but again, not something I’ve eaten in a long time.
n
Time for bed. I actually had my tiny little fire early tonight, hoping to get to bed early, but it’s already after midnight and I still need a shower.
It was hot, 86F when I went out, and there was a LOT of aviation tonight. Four or five jet helos flew over in a short period of time, all headed the same way, east, slightly south, like toward Ellington Field or Hobby. They weren’t the occasional lifeflight helos I see fairly often as I’m near a major hospital and in between several major freeways.
Odd.
Still bedtime though.
n
It was hot, 86F when I went out, and there was a LOT of aviation tonight.
We are forecast for the low 90s / upper 80s each day for the next week with rain each day.
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/sugar%20land/77469
>>I don’t think I’m crazy. I’ve pretty much always been able to be alone. As in go sit in the library reading books. As in no roommate. Me and some cats and a couple of dogs, I’m ok. I have what? Critters that love me? No… that’s way too shallow.
@paul, if you’re up for the excitement (“challenge?:) adopt a puppy from your local animal control or rescue organization. We’re partial to pitties, but plenty of other great breeds just waiting for a ‘forever home.’