I think I'm going to cook up a bag of chickpeas today. I use a lot of chickpeas in different things so it's always good to have some around. Even if I just make a batch of roasted ones, I can freeze the rest for when I make my next loaf of chickwheat. Also, I discovered that chickwheat freezes really well, itself. It tastes the same, the texture didn't suffer, and it still pulls apart like it did fresh. I've had some seitan recipes that do freeze, but not that well. The thawed seitan can come out mushier.

Nana-cat gave us an awful scare yesterday. She's due for a vet appointment anyway but she was acting lethargic, didn't come see Fox when he got home, and even growled when you picked her up. We honestly thought she was dying - and it was very surprising because around lunchtime she'd been running around playing and doing normal stuff, then a few hours later she was barely moving. Later in the evening, she suddenly got up and went to Fox making her "prrrrt" noise and has been acting more or less normal since. Even this morning she's been wandering around, quacking at the squirrels outside, and getting under our feet while we make breakfast.

That "prrrt" noise is referred to around here as a "cat activation tone." Since they always seem to make it when they wake up.

As an aspiring ultra-marathoner I was sad to hear that Barry Barkley of Barkley Marathons fame has passed away. While I'm never going to qualify to run it, I like to see it come around each year and follow the mayhem. It actually looks like fun, if your idea of fun involves merciless self-torture.

And I got to watch a POV vid of the new Rise of the Resistance ride at Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, and it looks like I could handle it okay. There's definitely a lot to consider as far as anxiety triggers, but mostly the only thing that would get me is this drop at the end. But it's very immersive, so if you're considering going, I'd certainly recommend watching a video of the whole experience. The ride portion is only perhaps five minutes, but there's a long lead-up where you interact with cast members and go through "procedures" before even getting into a ride car - think of the pre-ride bit you go through before Avatar: Flight of Passage but longer. But anyway it brings me to another sci-fi peeve - why do the smaller ships "fall" out of the star destroyers. There's NO GRAVITY. Maybe there's a propulsion system that pushes them down, but it looks like they drop - the claw arm lets go of the pod, it "drops" out of the hatch. Just ... WHY. Anyway, overthinking.

 Angry Mom Thinks Childless Millenials Should Be Banned From Disney

Hi! Friendly local childfree Gen Xer here with today's load of WTF. As someone who goes to Disney World pretty much on the regular, there are a few things I'd like to share. These are just personal observations, so YMMV. Anyway, I never exactly liked theme parks as a kid. Going as an adult, I've found they're actually a lot of fun and I enjoy them way more than I did when I was small and at the mercy of my parents and/or school group. Especially going with Fox who's an Orlando Native and Disneyphile. I have my own money to spend on whatever stupid souvenir things I want (hello, Figment plush army) and I can get whatever food and snacks I like without someone telling me, "You've had enough sugar today and I'm not paying for that." I can and will eat cupcakes all fuckin day. Plus, I know it's very unlikely - not impossible, just unlikely - that I will actually literally die on a ride.

While we go chiefly on race weekends, we have been on "normal" trips as well. Race weekends are not usually as kid-heavy, and the kids that are there are often actually running themselves. But I've had the opportunity to watch parents deal with toddler meltdowns and it just makes me glad, honestly, that I don't have kids. So what I don't get is why you are even taking a child that little to a place like Disney. It's expensive as hell, they aren't going to remember it at all, and they seem to get tired easily and often so ... why bother. Maybe wait until your kid is older and not only has the physical stamina to do a park, and hopefully has the patience to understand waiting in lines and delayed gratification. 

And this shouldn't be as amusing to me as it is. I understand that some people regard child rearing as their big calling in life, but don't take it out on those of us who decided not to. It isn't my fault your kid can't wait in line for a pretzel. It's not my fault you had a kid and, from the tone of your shouting about how precious he is to you, you now regret it deeply and envy those who haven't. I'll just be here eating your kid's pretzels in my slutty cat leggings and taking up space in line.

Last time I checked there was no age limit on enjoying things. And bitter people can try to shame others for being into "kid stuff" all they want, but doing that doesn't make you a superior adult, it just makes you look like a bitter old harpy. Either get over yourself, or stay home and let everyone else, regardless of age, enjoy themselves. 

 Down the road from here there is (was) a house I passed every day on my daily walks or runs. It was no different from any other house out here and at the time there was a family living there comprised of a man and woman, a little girl, and a white cat. Usually I'd see them leaving in the morning during school months, the mother taking the girl to - most likely - McRay Elementary which is nearby. Then one morning I saw them packing up and leaving.

I've been a landlord, I know when someone is ditching their digs in a hurry and these people were getting out of this house like it was on fire. Weird, but what the hell, right? Maybe the rent got too high. Maybe they got a better offer closer in to town, or the father got transferred, who knows. I didn't think much of it until a few days later when I saw a sheriff's deputy parked there, but he didn't flag me down to ask questions and I didn't go out of my way to talk to him, then we had a hurricane. For a while I wondered if they were hurricane noobs. My first husband had actually lived in New Orleans and still, whenever there was a counterclockwise swirl on the weather map, his brain fell out.

So the house sat empty. The people across the road showed up once or twice, apparently to depressurize the well pump and disconnect the gas. A white dresser or wardrobe thing sat on the porch. A broom was on the roof. What the fuck. The curtains fell down. The door swung open. Was it stained inside? Was there someone squatting in it? I was incredibly curious about the place, but I could not ever quite work up the courage to go exploring. The least troublesome thing I might find would be rotten floorboards, and even that was something I didn't want to deal with, so I left it alone. It became known between Fox and I as The Spooky House. 

Finally, a few weeks ago someone cut the lawn, the tore the house down. Fox got curious and looked up the property records and found something ... interesting.

The house was owned, and rented out, by some people from Jacksonville. In particular a woman who has been indicted for ... alien smuggling and sex trafficking. The article I've linked too has details about the case which, I guess it should go without needing to be said, carries a major trigger warning. Here's a link to the public property records, where it looks like the family moved out ahead of Clay County taking possession of the land.  Anyway, we were surprised to discover that about the woman who owned it previously - that's a pretty huge quantity of Horrible. Ugh, what the fuck is wrong with people?

I don't know about Pantone's Color of the Year for 2019. It's not really to my taste and I don't like the way warm colors look on me so I'm skipping out. Here's my personal pick for MY color of the year - and a nice complementary color!

This woman stopped coloring her hair and allowed it to naturally go gray. Or silver, whatever word you prefer for it. Fun story - when my first husband discovered I was starting to get more silver hairs in the back of my head he said, "You're going to want to start coloring your hair." I laughed and said something to the effect that I'd earned that silver hair thank-you-very-much, and he responded, "That wasn't a question." Currently part of my hair is actually purple but I've taken zero steps to cover the silver, which seems to be coming in gradually, all over, rather than in streaks or all at once.

I don't know about y'all but I love Brussels sprouts. So tonight I'm trying this recipe for Crispy Miso-Roasted Brussels Sprouts. Fox sometimes refers to sprouts as "little green globes of happiness," especially the way I make them which is typically roasted with a little bacon, dijon mustard, maple syrup, and red wine vinegar. Try to make sure your sprouts are as dry as possible so they roast, rather than braise.

YouTube's Rewind is the worst video ever. The article addresses some of the reasons, and "authenticity" is a major one. As I saw it, a big problem was that Rewind this year wasn't about the content creators, but about YouTube patting itself on the back for being inclusive and diverse. Personally, I like inclusiveness and diversity, but this was like the Pride Month bullshit where companies drape themselves in rainbow colors but it's all a disingenuous attempt to make more money by appealing to a "larger consummer base." And then as soon as that's over it's business as usual. Substitute blacks, women, or any other group for LGBTQA and it's the same story. It's all exploitation for profit and it's all crap.