I’m not saying it’s always the right idea to stay with someone in this sort of situation. But the fact that you did was probably a major reason she could be successful. She knew she had support and that is so, so important.

There is so much that can go wrong with human-built bird houses. When I was a very young adult, I worked for a retail bird seed store and learned all sorts of things about backyard birds in order to be able to help customers. One of the things I learned was how specific houses needed to be for each type of bird. One of the major risks was that building it incorrectly would make it easier for predators to get at the nest, for instance. It also mattered where you installed it.

Now that I’m in my 40s, jaded and skeptical, I kind of wonder if some of that was all marketing (oh the wren house is different from the bluebird house so maybe you need both?) but the franchise did really seem to have good intentions. We didn’t make most of our money on that stuff anyway. The real money was in the ongoing fancy birdseed purchases.

Anyway, I can totally see why the material of a birdhouse would matter. I wonder how much good man-made birdhouses are in general?

(I have not seen them but) I feel Pierce Brosnan was born at the wrong time. So much of the cinema in the 90s was so campy. Just comparing 90s Bond to modern Bond, there’s a big difference in tone. Then again, maybe it’s actually his preference; he did do Mamma Mia after all. I can just imagine him as a more serious actor and would love to see it. How does the Thomas Crowne Affair rank in that way?

My gen alpha kids got it in 3rd grade. Or rather one did and one is about to.

I have an iPhone and whenever my Android-owning friend sends me something, it’s a tiny thumbnail of a photo. So yeah, goes both ways.

To be fair, most English words aren’t even really English

Does it count when the photographer is taking a picture of the sign and the cheese just happens to be in the frame?

As someone who always spells it wrong, I must tell you how much I appreciate “fuhshchias”

Also hummingbirds love my fuchsias.

We have 8 and 10 and we have just been thinking that maybe the 10 year old could handle it. Sadly the 8 year old is really sensitive so no time soon.

The guitar one made me physically cringe because it felt the most damaging. The camera and eyeglasses can be cleaned; the orange juice could be thrown out and replaced. I suppose you could restring the guitar but it just feels like there’s a potential for further damage somewhere on the bridge or the other parts I forget the names of.