Marita Barth

Was starting to search online for ways to file a complaint about Collective Health's management of PEBB Providence insurance, when a "Yikes, we're working on it" mass email arrived from PEBB.

Seriously, this transition has been an absolute omnishambles.

A flyer that reads "Polk County 4-H Association Presents the 2025 Holiday Fair. Friday and Saturday November 7th and 8th 9 AM to 5 PM. Located at the Polk County Fairgrounds. Door prize raffle every 15 minutes. Come spend the day shopping with friends for all your Holiday needs. No entry fee! Donations support the Polk County 4-H Youth"

Any of you in the mid-Valley should come see us at our annual Holiday Fair on Friday and Saturday (9 AM to 5 PM at the Polk County Fairgrounds in Rickreall), and help us raise funds to support 4-H in Polk County! Spread the word!

Sometimes I tell Frodo the Cat that she's a good kitty, and I immediately have to tell Lincoln that he's also a good kitty or he gets terribly upset.

Conversely, when I tell Lincoln he's a good pupper, Frodo is completely unbothered by not being included.

We found their owner, and they've been retrieved. Their names are Henry, Missy, and Fancy (the critters, not the owners).

A sunny green pasture with two mules and a horse grazing.

Two mules stand in a pasture.

Looked out the front window into the post-storm sunshine and saw these horse (and horse-adjacent) critters in the pasture by our garden.

We do not currently own horses (or mules).

Aren’t most Texas-style BBQ places south of Boston?

An extreme close-up of a black Labrador retriever

POV: you have asked your Labrador retriever to give you ‘just a little bit of space.’

I will be able to calm down enough to get some sleep in approximately three weeks.

It has been zero days since the furry jerkwad that lives in my house got in a tussle with several large mammals in the backyard.

[He's fine, and all the deer escaped. My throat is so hoarse from screaming at him that I can't talk. He’s not even the tiniest bit sorry.]

Things my child said to me that I decided not to ask follow-up questions about to preserve my sanity (an ongoing series):

"I'm actually running pretty low on googly eyes because of... the incident."

A small gopher snake on cement next to a plastic chair leg. Its brown and yellow pattern resembles a boot lace.

Just me, drowsily wondering who left a boot lace on the ground outside, and almost ending up with a handful of not-bootlace.

Have I mentioned my vision isn’t great without my glasses in?

15 is 16 today! Anyone who wants to pass along birthday wishes, please feel free!

Invested in an automatic tennis ball thrower for Lincoln and he hasn’t yet worked out the part where he puts it back in the machine, but in general this is the Best Day Ever.

Bought 15 a Trapper Keeper for the first day of school because I am a very cool, hip parent who knows exactly what Kids These Days™ are into.

Watching Airport ‘77 and feeling like 70s disaster movies are the right genre for right now. What are everyone’s favorites?

I don’t know why that posted without a link: doi.org/10.1080/1057...

Check out this fantastic work from my friend Brendan and his team!

Full article: Late Medieval Shipboard Artillery on a Northern European Carvel: Gribshunden (1495)

A black Labrador retriever whose face is captured with a goofy expression. His mouth is half open, his tongue is twisted, and he’s giving a side eye.

Current mood:

A black Labrador retriever sits on a white photographic sweep looking at the camera expectantly. A lighting soft box is very close to him and aimed at his head.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!?

(Did I mention that 15 has added a strobe to his lighting setup?)

A tall young man with a black Labrador retriever on a leash stands in bright green grass near a lake between mountains.

A selfie with a smiling woman in a green shirt and blue ball cap with red glasses and a black Labrador retriever whose mouth is wide open and panting. The dog is too close to the camera to see much besides his open mouth. There are trees in the background.

It was the Best Day Ever for Lincoln though, even if it did end with a bath.

We have a new term for when Lincoln thinks he’s having the Best Day Ever but it all ends with him getting hosed down in the yard: Shampoozled.

A very happy black Labrador retriever looks over the back seat of a vehicle.

Someone is ready for his day…

a woman in a cowboy outfit holds a lasso Alt: A gif of Dolly Parton as Doralee in Nine to Five dressed in a golden cowgirl outfit and gleefully throwing a lasso in an office.

Right?

UGH.

Have been watching 80s comedies with 15 and cringing about how badly some of them have aged. You know what did age well though? 9 to 5.

Yes - that's important! We don't put poison out. We have lots of awesome rodent-eating critters (kestrels are my favorite, but I love our various owls and hawks as well) around here, and do not want to endanger them.

It is! Well, a gopher snake, and yes. We're happy to host.

Update: 15 has named the snake David Boa-ie.

Is it wrong that my approach to the snake is just assuming that it will make its way out once it has had its fill of mice and I should just leave the door closed and not deal with it for a while? 2/2

We have a utility room that is not well sealed off from outside (it is well sealed off from the rest of the house), and I've been battling with a mouse issue in there. 15 opened the door a couple of nights ago and discovered a snake in there. 1/2