Birds, Humor, Life, Nonsense, Things I Want to Remember, Writing

things i want to remember | part seventeen

Kari

if you’re here for the first time, welcome! you’ll be able to find the other parts of this series here.

i wrote this back in november. i felt like it was time to shake the dust off a bit…

1- why don’t train stations have the same safety precautions as airports?

2- speaking of safety precautions, why do uber and lyft exist?

3- i just learned about book lice, and now you will as well. oh, and i learned about bed bugs from library books*, too. (please do not shoot the messenger)

*no paywall

Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com

4- why do so many people call it “red” onion when it is clearly purple?

5- how old do you feel? do you feel your age? i feel 40. cup of jo recently published a post referring to this as your spiritual age.

6- i hate roundabouts, also known as traffic circles or rotarys. they are very popular in this area and in southern wisconsin. i refer to them as “lazy human traffic signals.” nobody seems to know what they’re doing, but to be fair, i don’t remember anyone telling us the rules.

Photo by Altaf Shah on Pexels.com

7- why aren’t bidets as popular in the united states as they are in other countries?

my friend donna visited italy, and she mentioned the toilet situation there, which got me thinking about it. (please read more than her toilet post. she has beautiful pictures of florence, italy, and here i’m talking about the toilets).

8- since installing window feeders several years ago, we have yard birds (mostly wrens, chickadees, and a few mourning doves) that live in our yard all year. they recognize our voices and respond to them. they’ve become our outdoor pets.

i took this picture of some of the birds while doing morning yoga

this roundabout doesn’t bother me:

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60 thoughts on “things i want to remember | part seventeen”

  1. As always, love your post. Thanks for the shout out, too.❤️ I have a stomach bug and haven’t been able to eat much so not much energy and not much time on WP. This post made me laugh as I love your humor and your observations and it made me tear up because I get more emotional when I’m not feeling well and your kindness touched me. Thank you dear friend.❤️😘

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Roundabouts terrify me! I’m definitely a small-town driver, and wasn’t trained in how to use a roundabout. Whenever I encounter one, I panic! I get honked at! I panic some more! Aaaak!
    Uhhhh, book lice? OMG. More reasons to love ebooks and audiobooks!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I forgot that I’ve been sent to comment purgatory, so I didn’t copy my comment before hitting reply and now I’ve lost it. (Boo) Short version:

    I think “book” lice is an unfair name, as it seems to be more about damp than books. Bedbugs in library books = Big Sad Face. What’s the deal with bedbugs proliferating?

    Also hate roundabouts and wonder why/how they can be safer (because they are) when none of us really know how to drive in them. Also wonder about onion names/colors.

    Do you have problems with squirrels getting into your bird feeders? (We have SO MANY squirrels, but I love having birds in the yard.)

    Crossing my fingers while clicking “reply”… :-)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You can always message me your comment on Instagram, and I will write it for you. Althought, it will seem like I am creating people to comment. (We could have fun with that, too)

      Bugs are everywhere, so it makes sense. I read somewhere that putting books in the freezer will make them go away.

      They are probably safer than traffic lights because they slow people down. But what a clusterfuck. THAT is what we should call them instead! Oh, that’s another name for something. Never mind. 🤣

      We have a squirrel who lives in our backyard maple and only visits the video camera feeder for some reason. What a narcissist.

      Like

  5. Roundabouts are evil. They’re popping up so that more people end up in traffic accidents and have to buy new cars. That’s my theory about them, they’re sponsored by car manufacturers. I knew about book lice, too. Another awful thing. On a cheerier note, I like the idea of being a spiritual age. I’ll try to decide what that number is for me.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I’d say my spiritual age is 45, that’s the last time I remember feeling like me… before menopause and emergency abdominal surgery and a car accident slowed my roll. I like who I am now, but in spirit I’m that younger version of me.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. We have lots of traffic circles/ roundabouts too and weirdly I know that the rules in Rhode Island and Mass for them are NOT the same as the ones in New Hampshire!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’ve heard that the East Coast has some unusual traffic stuff! New Jersey has this strange exit system. I do like visiting new places and learning about different traffic laws, though. (I’m a nerd)

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      1. Yes, we do. There’s a couple right by our busy Costco which makes me nervous. I first encountered them in Santa Barbara on vacation, then in Ireland. In Ireland we were so confused, driving on the wrong side of the road and finding ourselves in roundabouts!

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Sorry Kari, but as a weekly library patron, I’m not clicking those links. I have a friend who refuses to use the library because one time she found a bugger in a book 🤣🤣🤣

    I hate roundabouts, but fortunately, they are not popular here. I’ve read a lot recently that many people hate them. My issue is that the cars are coming around so fast, I’m too nervous to jump in. And if I’ve never been there before, I have no clue which road to exit onto.

    Bidets also make me nervous. I’m paranoid about UTI’s, but I won’t gross you out with my concerns. XO

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I do not blame you. I wished I hadn’t clicked. I’ll tell you this: you can always put your books in the freezer for 15 minutes when you return home from the library. (Don’t forget they’re in there)

      They are so awful. Especially during peak times of day. It’s like square dancing for cars.

      Oh man, I never considered the possibility of a UTI…

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  10. “speaking of safety precautions, why do uber and lyft exist?”

    Great question, Kari! I live in a city and have never used uber or lyft. However, the average city person uses them constantly. They have made taxi’s non existent. I walk everywhere. And if I need to travel outside the city limits, I take the Regiona Rail System (trains) here in Philly. And because I’m now a senior, I get a FREE pass to take it whereever I want to go. Yahooooo!

    I’m 68, but feel like I’m still in my late 20s or 30s.

    And speaking of bidets, I was utterly fascinated with the first one I ever saw. I think of bidets as a cross between a shower, and a pretty fountain. LOL!

    Love that Roundabout song!!

    Thanks for sharing things you want to remember, my friend! Enjoyed!
    X

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I am with you! I’d choose Metra (Chicago’s rail system) over Uber or Lyft in a heartbeat. Yay for a free pass!

      Friend, I never would have guessed you were 68. Your spirit is incredibly young. You absolutely nailed that one. I don’t like Earth labels and believe our true age is our “spirit” age. 🖤.

      A pretty fountain! (For our behinds..)

      I love it, too!

      Have a great weekend, my friend! 😘❤️

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  12. My boss just got back from a business trip to Arizona and was telling us about his Uber…in a driverless car. Geez Louise, I don’t know if I could climb inside one of those. ESPECIALLY if it had to navigate roundabouts!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. As a female, I think I would feel safer in a driverless Uber. 🤣🤣

      I would like you to count how many roundabouts you have within a five-mile radius of your home. I have three, and each of them makes me miserable.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. I’m fine with roundabouts, so long as the rules are clear and consistent. They put a square-a-bout in to a village near me, with the intention that they be treated the same as a roundabout (give way to traffic coming from the right), but no-one knows who has priority, so they either all sit there or all attempt to go at the same time. I was thrown the first time I went to Spain and discovered the rules were different, but you can adjust once you know.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I am NOT clicking on that book lice link, I am NOT. I have a friend who will never get anything from the library due to dust mites, etc., and I think I’ll continue to risk the whole lice thing. I mean, how much of a risk is it really? (not clicking, will never learn for myself). Remember in early pandemic days, they had to quarantine the books at the library, and then wrap them in plastic, and it was a whole thing?
    My husband was just out with a friend and the subject of bidets came up!

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Interesting question about train security – it never crossed my mind! I guess because I never travel by train. So I googled it and there’s many articles discussing this question, but I didn’t find a truly good answer. Though I didn’t read in-depth, just skimmed.

    Not sure what you mean about Uber and Lyft. Do you mean why did they take over taxis?

    Book lice and bed bugs in library books…eww. I’ve never encountered either of these and nope, it won’t stop me from getting books from the library! ;-) I think I’ve worried more about the germs on library books from so many hands, but not bugs.

    I hate roundabouts, too. They’re putting three of them on Darrell Rd! The first one was completed last Oct. I know how to use them but I’ve discovered many people don’t.

    I have some other news to share with you, so I will send you a private email!
    xoxo

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This is how I’ve felt about trains since September 11. I don’t understand why we don’t protect Amtrak in the same way we do planes. It’s even scarier that you can’t find a good answer. 😶

      Yes. Why do we get into strangers’ cars? I suppose one could argue that taxi drivers possess the same level of safety, but it feels that they work every day doing this, whereas Uber and Lyft allow any human to become a driver instantly.

      I believe that libraries are now cleaning books since Covid, but yeah. After reading about it, I felt obligated to share it with all of you. 🤣

      OMG NO!!

      xoxo

      Like

  18. Hmm – never thought about train security. When my brother and I travelled around Europe while studying abroad, we tied one of my boots to the door of our cabin so that if anyone opened the door, the boot would fall off the armrest and wake us up. Fortunately the only person who opened the door was the ticket guy. We would occasionally awake on an overnight train to shouts of THIEF THEIF! Weren’t we cautious?

    The bed bug thing . . . eek.

    Why are those onions called red? They ARE purple.

    Roundabouts remind me of Europe. I’m always surprised to see them here, but they are here.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Quite a collection of insightful and thought-provoking stuff, here… thank you. Will revisit.

    Canadian municipalities don’t seem to educate drivers here either about traffic circles or roundabouts (which here are more complicated than the circles) here either.

    Book bugs. Ew.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. There are definitely more roundabouts here in Wisconsin than anywhere else I live. They’re safer than stoplights because people who get into accidents usually don’t get into head-on collisions at fast rates of speed. There are far fewer fatalities when traditional intersections are replaced with roundabouts. Also, people who “mess up” can generally just go around the roundabout again instead of doing a u-turn. That being said, the signage is often confusing and they frequently make it impossible for pedestrians and bicycles to travel safely across. Pros and cons. I’ve done an odd amount of research on this topic. (I did this research because I don’t like roundabouts, especially if they are super complicated. That being said, the safety numbers can’t be disputed.)

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Roundabouts are really common in the UK, but they are also a huge part of our driving lessons. For busy roundabouts here we might have underpasses or pedestrian crossings. Or, if it’s a major roundabout like a motorway (freeway) one, it might just not be a walking route. There will be other ways to get where you want to go on foot or by bike.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Wow! My driving lessons never included one because they didn’t exist when I started driving. I think I might benefit from a refresher course. 🤣

        I can’t believe there are roundabouts on freeways! That would terrify me!

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      2. Ah no they are to get onto and off freeways, (so you’ll go off onto a slip road then the motorway) not actually on them. But those roundabouts tend to be really big and busy so often pedestrians can’t go near them. There are also some roundabouts in the middle of big A roads (so 2 lane roads that are 70mph speed limit but aren’t as big as motorways), but there’s always warning when a roundabout is coming up and they don’t cause issues.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. My friend Mark wrote about this and shared an article saying that Wisconsin has the most roundabouts of any state in the United States! I don’t mind the one-lane roundabouts as much as the two-lane ones, which are very confusing. Maybe I’ll create an app that helps people avoid roundabouts…

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      1. It is weird that it’s not in driving lessons if they’re pretty common. I think I did my first roundabout on my second lesson here. I might scare you if I tell you we sometimes have 4 or even 5 lane roundabouts, although those come with traffic lights and signs. And don’t even look up the Swindon magic roundabout if you want to preserve your sanity.

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