I read a post on Facebook that we should all ignore it for a week so I’m going to do that, just because. I don’t like Zuckerberg, Musk or Bezos, so here’s a very small, likely meaningless attempt by a peon to lodge my protest. Obviously, we shouldn’t be using Facebook at all, nor shopping at Amazon, which thank God I rarely do, and I will never buy a Tesla so I’m safe there.

We’re down to a very thin, free local newspaper called The Capital News which I’ve read since moving here nearly 35 years ago. They always have a section either by the SPCA or the Okanagan Humane Society whereby they showcase various animals needing homes. The other day there was a cat which was elderly and had been obese but was now normal size but suffered from ‘mega colon.’ I think it’d be better to say nothing and just let a new owner be surprised as that doesn’t sound like a selling point for the cat.

Marie was here for lunch last week and noticed the stink bug. Every winter there seems to be one or two that like to stay in the house, and I just ignore them. Marie said she’d just kill it if it was her place, but I said God no and told her about the two different golden orb spiders I had living with me for several months before they perished. One of old age and the other was murdered by one of the cats.

Remember how I said Calvin was good at things I’m bad at and vice versa? The other day, seeing how he seems to do this easily, I replied to a Facebook Marketplace ad for Barbie dolls. I drove over and bought one of them and then brought it home to find one leg was shorter than the other. It’s also not vintage in any way, and I was hosed for $25. I said to Calvin, why I try to buy stuff on Marketplace is a mystery because I’m so bad at it.

He continues to be ace at it as he’d pointed out my receiver was pooched, and I needed a new one. Browsing Marketplace day by day he landed on a nice Yamaha for $50, picked it up, brought it home, hooked it to my Bose speakers, handed me the remote and said, there you should be good to go. Genius, right?

He also cleverly placed the speakers to each side of the new smart TV he picked up for me, and so I had room in the glass-fronted cabinet where I had stored them. I decided what would look very adorable would be my old record albums stacked up in there, spines showing so you can read the titles. I can only play them on a special turntable I bought, but when I do, they bring incredible memories flooding back.

The collection starts with old Beatles LP’s and then moves to Elvis Costello My Aim is True, The Pointer Sisters Steppin’, Bruce Spring The River, Cyndi Lauper She’s so Unusual. If you were around in the 1960s to 1980’s, you’ll be crying because you probably made the mistake of ‘cleaning out’ your closets of stuff you no longer needed. Tsk!

Elsa’s back from several months in Mexico, and last week we returned to the thrift stores for some treasure hunting, so there’s no danger of me ever running out of items I may or may not need in the future. I still like the idea of turning the house into a store and putting price tags on everything and letting people browse to their heart’s content. That’d give all my buying a purpose.