Clancy59

@Demiurge, I am from Wisconsin and grew up attending the State Fair every year since we lived right across the street. I was going to tell @weinerdog about the fried butter, too, but you beat me to it. Yes, @weinerdog, there is such a thing as deep fried butter. It’s basically pats of butter dipped in batter and deep fried so that you wind up with crunchy coating. They also deep fry cheese curds, battered bacon and candy bars of various kinds. Almost anything you can think of, they have tried, I think. Some more successful than others. I think my favorite, though, is bacon wrapped water chestnuts. Those are baked. Yum! However, THE most popular item at the Wisconsin State Fair is the Cream Puffs. You won’t believe the size. They even had to start a program where you can order them overnight and pick them up between 6-8 am. https://wistatefair.com/fair/original-cream-puffs/ (Once again, sorry for the rabbit chase, as someone would say.)

I think you need to go back for some remedial math. BN has 94 and JL is now up to 66. That’s a difference of 30 (actually, 29, if you want to get picky), not 20! But it got that many in just a few hours. We’re gonna get those extra chapters! I wondered the same thing, but discovered if you do a search at the top for the term you want, it will pop up.

Thanks. It took me a minute, but I found it and I think I left some choices for recommendations (I hope). First time I did that, obviously!

OK. Color me dumb. How do you mark this story as ‘Recommended’? I found the page and gave it a ❤️, but I don’t think that was the right thing.

I guess I ain’t so dumb, after all. That’s exactly where my thoughts went, too! I miss the @Grumpy Bear stories, and he still has to finish the last one! @Geemeedee, I agree with you. Vincent needs the down time to assimilate the information. He can’t really do that if he’s constantly running back and forth. He also needs to make himself accessible to people who would otherwise be afraid to come forward. He can only do that if he’s there.

Nothing to add since everyone said everything already, but I do have a question. Grumpy?

Thank you, @WolfM! I am currently rereading this series and just discovered this happy epilogue. I was always unhappy with the previous ending and Dorian having to die. This is much better because the McKinneys’ lose in multiple ways! Thank you!

I checked it out. There are 7 kinds of sea turtles, all endangered except for the flatback which lives around Australia. They take 50-60 days to hatch. Interestingly, temperature controls their sex! Warmer temps makes them female and cooler temps makes them male! (Sorry. It’s a professional hazard as a Librarian! 🤓)

And the problem for the poor lady is that the turtles are protected, so she can’t do anything until they hatch. Unless a local rescue group can help. How long does it take for baby turtles to hatch?

I’m just a few miles south of you! We have our own beaches, but I haven’t heard of any turtles laying eggs around here, although the plovers now have their own beach.

“Next year will be even better. Two more babies. Maybe more. Lord knows the water in Seattle has drifted to Denver. I’m convinced it’s following me like a riptide. I’m not worried, though. I’m fast and strong. It won’t pull me under.” Sure, it won’t. You are going down fast, my friend! I wish Jay had mentioned something about his thoughts earlier, but Loren’s response was hysterical! On to the wedding! Quickly!

@scrubber6620stated the situation quite succinctly. Both of them think that compromise means they have to give up major parts of their lives. It doesn’t, especially in this case. Finn has physical limits for moving his business and close family ties to the area which he, in no case, should be forced to give up. Alec’s business is completely portable, by his own admission and demonstration while in town. He has enough money to ensure that his home/office, wherever he decides to work, has enough bandwidth to support his needs. Just because he doesn’t want to have contact with his mother is no reason to avoid the town. He is an adult. He can avoid her. She will likely not be there anyway with the way her medical condition is progressing. His father has declared his desire to know his son, and regrets not having done so by allowing his wife to control the situation with her hatred. (River’s business is also quite portable, although he might have to consider the population. How many tattoos would people want in that town? Once his reputation starts spreading, people would likely start coming to him. However, River may be a moot point, considering Kenji. That is an entire different discussion.) Its not an ‘all-or-nothing’ situation. They need to meet in the middle. Grow up, guys! Relationships with other people are always about compromise, whether you realize it or not. Get your heads out of the sand and think about what will really make you happy. Is it the status quo, or having each other.

He’s finally figured it out. You don’t live for yourself, You don’t live for your partner. You live to share your lives together through everything—the good and the bad. You celebrate the good and support in the bad, and love always. This has been an excellent story, Mrs. G. Thank you. I know it is coming to a close, but it is satisfying in the extreme.

I just had to tell you. My pup has a stuffie toy that looks like a panda with a big red heart on its chest. When you squeeze it’s tummy, it squeaks. It’s one of her favorite toys. It’s half her size (she’s half Bichon, so she weighs all of 12 lbs.). She chews this thing, shakes it, carries it around with her and has even slept with it! I’ve decided to call it Cyrus, in honor of our favorite panda shifter. 🫢

As I was rereading this (because someone reacted to my previous comment and I had to remind myself of the story), I couldn’t help but compare this to a local community. The school board there, in their infinite wisdom (sic 🙄), decided to eliminate all AP classes because it wasn’t considered fair or equitable to all the students. Mind you, this is in the top performing district in the state! They were concerned that students who couldn’t/didn’t take those courses would feel inferior! The uproar from, not only the parents, but the students was earthshaking! I’m surprised there haven’t been calls yet for a recall election. The board has capitulated and reinstated at least some of the classes.

Well, Parker did violate the hour lunch policy, but it didn’t call for suspension. Loss of the privilege, at least, or maybe detention, but I don’t even see that as it’s his first offense. Nettleman was definitely looking for a reason to get back at Parker and his father. What an idiot. And then his comments about Charley’s! I said last time that as soon as the people found out Parker was the one who took the video, he would be considered a hero, and he was! Poor Parker. He is so dense. Darius was hitting him with broad hints and they weren’t sticking. At least, not until they were leaving. He was wondering why it could be a secret? Um, Southern town, Southern Baptist (and don’t complain to me as I was raised Baptist), highly racist neighbors. Yeah, I would probably keep it secret, too. BTW, congratulations, Darius, on being accepted to Harvard! You must be an incredible student!

I’m sorry. That’s ridiculous. You go out for an evening, you don’t expect to have to work a bathroom like you’re in a sardine can! Seriously! Yes, I have flown and I hate how tight those onboard bathrooms are so much that I avoid them as much as possible. Even trains have larger spaces! They are trying to be a high-end establishment. They are spending big bucks on the interior design to give it look a beautiful ambience, as if you are actually in Italy. Armand is building a special patio on the roof. And then you give the customers postage stamp bathrooms?! I can tell you right now that if this were a real -world restaurant, they would likely fail inspection. And if some dimwit inspector would pass it, the customers, especially the women, would reject it with their feet and not come in. I’m sorry, but those bathrooms have to change. I think your other readers were just as much confused and in shock at the ridiculous concept as I was.

Wait a minute. There will be how many bathrooms? And how big will they be? I’m confused about that.

Thank you. We have been in crisis mode for the last couple of days, but things are getting under control. It will be a while, but it will work out eventually.

I said the ‘window’ seemed to reflect John’s emotional state. Here’s further proof. That ‘secretary’ obviously doesn’t know how to deal with actual people or children. She was very condescending. Well, look who’s going to be the underdog now! John is a quick study. He remembered the movie and the effect that the power stoppage had on the world. He is fully aware of his value and that he can write his own ticket for whatever he wants, and he wants his friends. Ethan and Mr. Kitchens had better be flown to the Compound pronto! They had better be given a lifetime contract to be with John, also! Well, I certainly hope you will be continuing this story more quickly than you have in the past. You have now gotten to a very interesting point and we would like to see what happens next.

It’s interesting that the ‘window’ (I don’t really don’t know what to call it) seems to reflect John’s emotional state.

Well, I found this in the lineup today and decided to give it a try. So far, so good, but I just discovered the time lag. I hope this won’t continue. 🫰 Now, back to the story… Its..its.. its the Holodeck from the Enterprise! What a great way to be entertained! Of course Ethan’s parents allowed him to do this. They may be sworn to secrecy right now, but that won’t last forever, I’m sure. They are hoping he will benefit greatly from this. John sounds like he could almost be on the autism spectrum. These kids can have many idiosyncrasies, like social difficulties, but many of these kids are brilliant in a variety of ways. I know, most of his problems stem from his lack of a proper childhood, but I have to wonder if there isn’t, at least, some additional element for his difficulties.

I’m with you on that one!

I hate to say this, but I think Jay is right here. He has bent over backwards for Loren every step of the way, but Loren really hasn’t given up much in return. Hopefully, this will open Loren’s eyes at how lopsided their relationship is. (Thankfully, for our blood pressure, we know things work out, but now we’re finding out why Loren turned the table on their little inside joke.) Its a good thing that Loren and Lars are making up for lost time. And it is funny that they obviously have a ‘type!’ It was good that Lars was able to reconnect with his childhood friends, also. All of this will help him recover from the abuse he sustained from those ‘parental units’ for over 20 years. And they still won’t say why! They really need to be cut off 100%. It’s interesting that the abuse left both guys with the same reaction of refusing to have their own children. It’s taking loving partners, and reconnection with their twin, to do this, even if they haven’t admitted to getting that far yet. Well, I can’t wait to see Loren’s reaction now. (Hmmm. I started out being the first to comment, but I took so long thinking out exactly what I wanted to say and how to say it, that I know others will have beaten me to the punch!)

I can sympathize with your dilemma, but speaking from the car side, it can also be difficult. I’ve never used a liquor drive through. I am amazed there are such things! And you are correct in 80% of drive throughs like McDonals, Burger King, etc. However, we do utilize drive throughs at the local coffee/doughnut shops. The drinks are the easy part. The dilemma comes when you try ordering muffins or anything using bagels. You often have to ask what they have left on the shelves and change your order accordingly. One of our favorite places here often runs out of a popular bagel quickly (they really need to double up on their supply of those!), so I ask quickly, but plan otherwise. I always try to get our order straight before we even get into the parking lot of the place, but that doesn’t always help. I am aware of the timing clocks inside the various establishments. I’ve seen them and how they count things up and start flashing at various points. As a result, I have tried to help the workers with their timers. But from the customer side, it can also be difficult.