Coffee DOES count!

 

OK, I take it back: I apologize to anyone I've ever told, that "Coffee and tea don't count toward our liquid intake, because they're diuretics."

I learned something new this week, while researching things to do about a medical condition I've been fighting for the past month, and was advised to drink plenty of fluids to flush my kidneys and gallbladder. Firstly, yes it's true that caffeine is a diuretic, so that part was never wrong. But in the course of all my searching, I've learned something new to me: Modern medical research has concluded that the fluid in your coffee or tea easily balances out the mild diuretic effect of the caffeine. It absolutely counts toward keeping you hydrated and flushing your system. Which is great news for me!

 

So drink up, enjoy your morning latte (which DOES count toward those eight glasses of water we're supposed to be drinking), and forgive me for my years of spreading old information!

Of course, as my cousin mentioned when I posted this on Facebook, fluid intake is one thing, and the effects of caffeine itself are another thing entirely. It's important to know that the FDA recommends limiting your daily caffeine to 400mg -- unless you're a fan of irregular heartbeat, chest pain, and stroke. And, of course, for those that are sensitive to it, caffeine can have adverse effects on sleep, especially when drinking it late in the day.

 

Here's a good reference from the Mayo Clinic for the curious.

Memorial Day 2026

My mom, dad, and uncle all served and survived, but many of their comrades did not. Today, I am honoring the fallen heroes who served right alongside my family and gave everything.

 

Pretty sunset

 We enjoyed a beautiful sunset this evening!

 

Humorous Redefinition of TDS

I ran across this humorous "revised TDS definition" online and couldn't resist sharing:

 

Revised Clinical Definition: Trump Dependency Syndrome (TDS)

 

Diagnostic Overview:

A cognitive condition characterized by the total suspension of personal ethics, logic, and long-held civic principles in favor of an unwavering allegiance to a single individual. Unlike traditional political support, TDS involves a "reality-decoupling" where the subject views a leader’s erratic behavior and factual errors as evidence of superior genius.

 

Primary Symptoms:

• Fact-Refractory Logic: An immediate, involuntary rejection of peer-reviewed science, documented history, or video evidence if it contradicts the leader’s current statement.

• The "4D Chess" Delusion: A persistent belief that tantrums, policy reversals, or obvious mistakes are actually part of a brilliant, invisible master plan.

• Ethical Elasticity: The ability to excuse personal conduct (infidelity, crude language, or financial opacity) that the subject previously spent decades condemning in others.

• Hyper-Defensive Deflection: When presented with a specific policy failure, the subject reflexively shouts "What about...?" to protect the ego from acknowledging reality.

 

Behavioral Indicators:

1. Science Aversion: A deep-seated suspicion of experts and data-driven institutions, replaced by a reliance on "vibes" or unverified social media posts.

2. Tantrum Normalization: Viewing childish outbursts and professional bridge-burning as "strength" or "authenticity" rather than a lack of emotional intelligence.

3. Institutional Erosion: A willingness to dismantle the guardrails of democracy (free press, independent judiciary) to satisfy the whims of one individual.

 

Conclusion:

True derangement isn't found in those who notice the emperor has no clothes; it’s found in those who describe the fine silk of the emperor’s invisible suit while shaming everyone else for being "blind."

Mother's Day 2026

Wishing a wonderful Mother’s day to all my mom friends! 

Spring Snow, power outage, breakfast!

Well, the heavy, wet spring snow that's been in the weather forecasts has finally arrived, and we have a decent accumulation of over half a foot and counting. ☃️ The birdies are here partaking of our bird seed, which is much easier to find than their regular food under the snow right now. 

We woke up to no electrical power, which was a little bit of a surprise, considering that the power company was out trimming trees along Ridge Road this week. That is supposed to prevent this kind of snow-induced outage, where the heavy snow weighs down the tree branches, which then touch the power lines, and cause a short circuit. Oh, well… 🤷‍♂️

Our gas fireplaces are providing heat to the bedroom and living room, so it’s not likely the house temp will fall down anywhere near freezing. Not worried about the water pipes because of that. Avoiding the refrigerator so it can hold onto whatever cold it’s got. Falling back on our cell phone connections for Internet, with our several backup batteries to power them… And beginning to cast an info net, in search of a place to find breakfast!

Noon update: Yum! We met my sis for a delicious breakfast at Le Peep! Considered a walk around the nearby Clement Park lake, and opted to return home. That was a lucky decision, as I just got a notification that I’ve got a dermatology appointment soon. Yikes! I forgot! 

 

Here are some photos from today's adventure:  

 

 

Pretty view of the snow-laden bird feeder, with the nearby horse corrals in the background. 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Snow covered bunny, weather station, deck railing, furniture. My best guess from this photo, is that the snow on the railing, which is somewhat representative, was about 4 inches deep at the time. 

  

 

 

  

 

This is the stereotypical Denver "my backyard furniture under snow" photo. It's nice to have a lattice over this half of the deck, to filter out some of the snow. 

 

 

 

 

 One of many hungry birdies that visited our feeders today. 

 

  

  

 

 

 

Our pretty bedroom view of the snow. The kitties spent some time up in between the plants, gazing out at the snow for awhile this morning. 

 

  

 

Our grid-powered bedroom clock was not at all helpful about telling us what time we woke up! 

  

 

 

 

Here's the Denver metro power outage map — for me, the blank areas indicate where to head for breakfast!  

 

 

 

 

 

More Than One Kind of Introvert

Everybody’s different. Even Introverts have their varieties. Over my lifetime, I’ve heard introverts describing introversion differently, but it wasn’t until recent years that I started using the label Extroverted Introvert on myself. Based on this Upworthy article, which identifies four types of introverts (Social, Thinking, Anxious, and Restrained), I suppose that along with the Social Introvert label, I might lay claim to one or more of the others, but I’ve always felt myself start squirming, when I tried to pigeon-hole myself like that. The Myers-Briggs indicator always felt a little entrapping as well. 

License plate MISREADERS

Here's yet another disturbing example of bad data entry causing huge problems downstream. The title of this article is a misnomer, but the actual subject is even more concerning. Becoming the subject of police scrutiny and automatically and wrongly being assumed to be guilty of something, should be a huge concern to all of us. The fact that they don't have a straightforward way to feed back corrections into the database is perhaps the worst part of this disaster. As always, what sounds like a useful approach to law enforcement can be surprisingly bad, when human error isn't factored into the design. 

 

I was looking into this issue a little more, and I found something even more frustrating: This isn't always just a computer being "dumb." It’s a human policy. Some police departments intentionally list a suspect's plate both ways, for example as "BOB123" and "B0B123" in their warrants, to ensure they don't miss the suspect. In doing so, they effectively "criminalize" the innocent owner of the second plate, turning their commute into a gauntlet of potential police confrontations. 

 

As always, y'all be careful out there! Here are some suggestions, for those who are more likely to have this issue:

• Check your plate: If you have an "O" or a "0," be aware that you might be a victim of "Plate Alias" errors.

• Demand transparency: Ask local councils about the "misread rates" of the ALPR cameras they are buying with taxpayer money.

• Be Prepared: If pulled over, understand that the officer might be acting on "hot list" data that they believe is 100% accurate, even if it's a data entry error.

 

Littleton Fire Muster 6/13/2026

 

They'll be hosting a Fire Muster in Littleton on June 13. I stopped into a fire muster years ago, during Littleton's annual Western Welcome Week, when walking Mandy with Ken, and it was a lot of fun to see the old and new fire engines and other apparatus. The kids absolutely loved running around under the high water sprays in their bathing suits. Some of those old fire engines are being kept in gorgeous condition. 

Fun fact: The first recorded fire muster occurred in 1849 in Bath, Maine, involving five hand-powered pumps, or "hand tubs". While that historic town of Bath holds a very chaotic, bittersweet memory in my own life, it eventually became a favorite travel spot for Jennefer and me. But if you want to experience a piece of that 1849 tradition closer to home, head down to ACC this weekend!