You just ride along, the days go by as you endlessly ride up and down through a maze of strange distorted faces of people you don’t want to know, but must interact with. The ride operator’s grizzled beard and his whiskey breath, permeating your micro atmosphere even here, where you are, mentioning an unease to your mind that there might be something amiss with the ride itself, a loose bolt here, a rusted nut there. All is not as it looks on the outside/Toadman, Synaptic Disunion. More here.

• It’s May/Slight Detour
• Fires: Ducks, people should mind their own business/Marmitetoasty
• Prayer/Live, Love, Laugh, Hope
• Funeral planners/Kellogg Bloggin’
• Madrigals for Moms/Get Out! North Idaho
• Protesting before protesting was cool/Simple Mind
• Joe the Social Arbiter/Dogwalk Musings
• Duckcam (and other tales)
• 10 reasons I’m getting a new microwave/A Butterfly Moment

HBO Numbers (for Wednesday, May 6): 6739/3914

It was many years ago, we only had one child then. That’s when he asked me “do you ever think about being single again?” “What?” I replied. “You know, being a bachelor. What it would have been like had you decided NOT to get married and have children.” he clarified. This was a loaded question, I thought. What he’s really asking is “how are you two getting along.” At least, that’s what I thought was the subtext. Back then, my answer was simple. “Of course. Who doesn’t think about that? I think that I’d be a lonely alcoholic if I weren’t married. She keeps from going over the edge. Remember, I was a bachelor for a while before I was married.” Eight years after this conversation now, and I still remember it … still contemplate it from time to time. I always come up with the same conclusion as well. I can’t imagine life now, with out them/Toadman, Synaptic Disunion. More here.

Question: Well?

We’ve been handed a deck of cards that is, for all intents and purposes, stacked against us. We’ve been short-sheeted in the atmospheric department so far this winter. In short, it’s been hard times of late. Also, lately around these parts, there’s been a lot of what I call “bitching and moaning” about the former stacked weather cards and shorted atmospheric sheets. But you know what? We live here. We dance here. This is what we’ve been dealt and we must either deal with it, or lose our minds. Complaining does no good. The almighty has dealt us this stacked deck, and we must use the abilities we’ve been endowed with to meet it head on. Therefore, I propose the people of the Inland Northwest start dancing with the one who brought them, as it were/Toadman, Synaptic Disunion. More here.

Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being an absolute meltdown), how have you dealt with the winter this year?