Ward Manor Happenings

Kilt Happenings – I recently found some relatively inexpensive kilts in my size, so I ordered a few. These buckle up like the kilt I wore for the wedding last year, which makes them much more comfortable than the snap ones I normally get (e.g., 5.11 kilts). The only downside is that these have no pockets, unlike many of the utility-style kilts I have. So, I found a sporran. At this point, I’m going to be wearing kilts as daily work wear until they send me back to the office. And I’ve already told work that I can’t find where I’m not allowed to wear them – so jeans days will become kilt days.

Civilization Happenings – As most readers know, I play a lot of Civ. Mostly Civ 6, as I just can’t get my head around Civ 7’s major changes. Anywhoo, I had an unusual loss. In turn 2. When my initial settler was killed by a flood.

Tech Upgrades Happenings – The Wife and I looked at our budget and our future needs, and decided to do some tech upgrades. Mainly the big ones were our phones. We went to the Apple Store and upgraded our phones to 16’s. I really needed more space and we both wanted the satellite connectivity. Plus getting more of our stuff on USB-C. Plus wantsies. While we were there, we also upgraded The Wife’s watch. While researching which phone to get, we saw that there was a sale on newer Galaxy Tab 11 inch tablets. These would replace the ancient ones we use while doing the treadmills.

3D Printer Happenings – We are most likely going to rehome the 3D printer. Before that happens, the printer is going BRRR. For me, we found a print for the island from the USS Flagg. That sounds too cool if I’m going to turn a table into a carrier for my various mecha.

Easter Happenings – Ward Manor again hosted the family Easter dinner. In addition to all the setup such a dinner requires, we also hosted our grandniece for a sleepover. The little girl loves running around Ward Manor, exploring all the rooms, playing with the cats, and turning the lightsabers on and off. She’s been asking for another sleepover – the first one being when she and her mother stayed at our place during Milton.

The real fun part was on Easter morning, she looked out the window and said, “There’s a bunny!” At first, I thought she was seeing someone’s decorations, but lo and behold, there was a rabbit going between the houses. So, with some prompting from The Wife and MIL, the Grandniece proceeded to tell everyone she saw “The Easter Bunny’s Helper” all day.

Promise to the Magic Heart – Chapter 2

Among the prominent nations of our world, the Mareians are particularly noteworthy for their commercial acumen. It is indeed a peculiar historical phenomenon that, despite the First Families of Marei eschewing trade as an ignoble pursuit, numerous “Second Families” ascended to prominence by constructing extensive and resilient trade networks. These networks exhibited remarkable fortitude, enduring the calamities of the daemon invasion and the subsequent War of Reclamation, thereby illustrating the enduring nature of commerce. The Mareians imposed their most prolonged trade embargo following the pogroms during the Night of Fire and Blood. This decisive action can be attributed to the systematic extermination of their traders by elven perpetrators. The Mareians collectively resolved to impart a lesson on the consequences of being deprived of legitimate commerce. However, in true Mareian fashion, the official embargo did not entirely deter them from engaging in trade with those possessing the requisite capital. Thus, the Mareians navigated the complex domain of commerce with a pragmatic approach, ensuring the continuity of trade even amidst adversity. This tale underscores the principles of economic resilience and adaptability, traits that have long characterized the Mareian people. – Excerpt from “Wealth and Trade” by Scholar Imini Loc

RIN

Fools Port was notorious in the Mareian Republic for good reasons. With Juniper Bay a mere thirty kilometers to the north, legitimate shippers avoided Fools Port’s unreliable harbor. The tides fluctuated too fast, sandbars appeared out of nowhere, and the strange winds seemed to delight in slamming ships into the shoals. No respectable captain would risk his ship, his sailors, and most importantly, his cargo, to those conditions. Not even the Republican Navy risked its ships in Fools Port. As a result, Fools Port evolved into a haven for those whose cargoes were somewhat less than legal, or those bound for less than legal destinations. As that particular business boomed, the town absorbed smugglers’ culture. Lawmen weren’t welcome, and that went double for any ranger.

As he rode through the town, Rin wore a ranch hand’s green cotton shirt and denim trousers. His uniform was at the bottom of one of his saddlebags. There were enough veterans around that Rin’s worn cavalry boots, wide brimmed hat, and long brown duster wouldn’t draw much notice. Rin didn’t want to wear the duster in the humid heat of Fools Port. It was bad enough in the dry heat of the Badlands, but at least there it had the advantage of keeping the grit from getting everywhere. He needed the long jacket to cover his ranger-issued scimitar and revolver. Those would definitely draw unwanted notice, but Rin wasn’t about to walk those streets without proper weapons.

Rin didn’t have a lot of information on the sorcerer. Demons weren’t very good at distinguishing one human from another. The description Rin managed to pry out of the demon was the sorcerer was taller than Rin, blond hair, and wore a dark cloak over light colored clothing. That was about as good as Rin was ever going to get from a demon. Rin knew where to get more. Rin dismounted in front of one of many identical warehouses clustered around the wharfs. A bell chimed as Rin walked into the warehouse’s front office. The man at the counter looked up and froze as he saw Rin.

“Hello Bruno,” Rin said, casually, “Nice to see you again. How’s business?”

“Who knows you’re here?” Bruno hissed. He quickly drew the drapes on the few windows.

“The rangers know I’m in Fools Port, but not who I was going to see. I didn’t see anyone I recognized coming in, or anyone who looked like they recognized me,” Rin answered.

“Do you know what would happen if she knew you were here, cousin?” Bruno asked.

“Our grandmother hasn’t sent anyone after me since I killed her last thug a couple of years ago,” Rin answered. “I half-hoped she dropped the matter. I’m guessing she hasn’t.” Only his grandmother could make demons seem reasonable. “Sorry, cousin. She’s lashing out at everyone lately. More so than usual, and no one knows why,” Bruno said, finally hugging his cousin. “So, what are you doing in this place? Last I heard, you were out in the Badlands.” Bruno motioned Rin over to the counter and shoved a mug of bitter wine into his cousin’s hands.

“I’m hunting someone. According to my information, my quarry came here to catch a ship,” Rin explained. Bruno arched his eyebrow. He knew better than to get between a ranger and his quarry.

“Why would he catch a ship here if he’s coming from the Badlands? Why didn’t he just go up to Blackstack and grab the railroad? He could have gone anywhere from there,” Bruno said.

“Because he’s heading to the Jeweled Empire,” Rin answered.

“Well, it makes sense to send you,” Bruno said, after a few moments, “You did grow up down there. You even have that nifty necklace they gave you.” At its mention, the medallion pulsed.

“Let’s not discuss that,” Rin answered flatly. Rin didn’t like to think of his years growing up in the Jeweled Lands. He didn’t want to deal with the cold anger down in his gut. He couldn’t let that cloud his judgement. Especially not when he was hunting someone as dangerous as the sorcerer.

“Sorry cousin, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories,” Bruno said, seeing the dark expression on Rin’s face. “I know. I apologize.” He took a sip of his own wine and smiled at his cousin. Bruno was one of the few members in his father’s family willing to talk with Rin.

“So, what can I do to help you?”

“First, I need to find out what ship my quarry fled on. Then, I’ll need to get passage to follow him down to the Empire,” Rin answered.

“He must be pretty bad for you to hunt him that far,” Bruno mused, “So what’s this guy’s name? I can ask around.” Rin gave his cousin a weak smile.

“I don’t know,” Rin said, “All I know is that he’s taller than me, blond, and was wearing a dark cloak when he left the Badlands.”

“How do you expect me to find someone in this town with just a vague description?” Bruno asked incredulously.

“Granted, there aren’t many blondes who come through here, but there are enough to make it hard to nail down just one.”

“People will remember this man,” Rin answered. The magic released in that kind of ritual stayed with a person, like an almost imperceptible odor. The people in Fools Port tended to be more sensitive than most. They would remember an odd blond man. Maybe Rin would get lucky and find out the sorcerer’s name.

“So, what if he’s already on his way down to the elves?”

“I’ll need you to find me a ship.”

Ward Manor Happenings

It’s hard to believe that The Wife and I have lived here for four years. For me, I get this familiar dichotomy of feeling like it’s only been a short time, and at the same time, that I’ve always lived here.

So, back when Ian came through a couple of years ago, we pulled a bench we had in the garage up to our bedroom to make room for other things. We placed it under the big windows, and when the storm screens came down, the cats were very happy to have a place to sit and watch the backyard. We recently put in the third iteration of cat perch for the windows.

It turned out to be a bit higher, but it will be easier to maintain than the last two perches.

Last weekend, MIL put a new over the toilet cabinet up in her bathroom. This meant relocating this to our master bathroom.

I’ve had this shelving unit for more than twenty years now. Mom bought it and a dry sink for me when I moved into my old Tampa house. And since we had the “hanging kit” out, we decided to hang up a couple of things in the master bedroom.

The wedding picture and the “Love You” was there previously, but The Wife picked up the cow pic a few weeks ago, and I got my starship comparison a few months ago. The plan is to get something below mine to even things out. Probably a little sign or something that I can attach some of my patches to.

We are also still in the process of turning the upstairs living room (aka “the loft”) into a craft/hobby room. It will mostly be so we can pull a lot of The Wife’s crafting machines/printers out of her room and get some more space for supplies. We put in a new desk/table a couple of weeks ago so she could set up her new heat press.

Last weekend, The Wife and her SIL used it to make some t-shirts for SIL’s workplace. They were both very impressed by the speed and efficiency over The Wife’s older press. While they were doing that, I was putting together a new bookcase that will most likely hold very few books.

It went together pretty decently, but I’m not going to say it was easy. I will say that picking up the set of allen wrench drill bits and allen wrench screwdrivers made it a hell of a lot easier. So much easier than the desk/table in the lower right where I didn’t have those tools and had to use that crappy little one that came with the kit.

Next will be setting up a workstation for The Wife to plug in her laptop on the desk so she can better control all of her printers/machines. Then drag out and find places for her Cricuts and printers. Then she should have plenty of space for her various crafting endeavors. I’ll post when we finally get everything set up.

But what about my hobbies? My biggest hobby right now is writing. For that I just need a chair and a power source. Which I will have. I’ve also decided to repurpose my old laptop into a writing laptop. As in, no games, and minimal other apps than what I need for writing.

April Anime Recommendations

This is a cute romance, but one where I was hoping the main character would fall for the other girl instead of his main interest.

A second one where I preferred the secondary love interest instead of the primary.

In this one, the main character is very annoying. Another where the secondary love interest is a far more compelling character. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t finish it, but it has a strong following.

This one’s kind of good, kind of meh, but has some interesting concepts.

Monday Links

Reason links first.

SCOTUS tells POTUS to bring back man deported to the one country he wasn’t supposed to be deported to.

Trump is busily extorting law firms that represented people he didn’t like or he blamed for other wrongs. It was wrong when Rainbow/PUSH extorted companies back in the day over “racial injustice”, and it’s wrong when the president does it to people he considers his enemies. But sycophants must sycophant.

Mississippi is doing away with its state income tax. I despise income taxes as it requires a level of state intrusion that I find intolerable. I much prefer sales taxes or even a VAT over an income tax.

Florida lawmakers are trying to shield LEO identities when they shoot someone. Do I get the same protection if I have to shoot someone in self-defense? No. Then neither should the police.

Mel Gibson got his gun rights back. Great, but can we work on restoring rights to the millions of others?

Milei’s drastic economic and government reforms in Argentina are starting to show results – excellent results. Milei is doing for Argentina what Trump could have done for the American federal government – smart, targeted, reforms with the end goal of making the Argentine government smaller and more efficient. As opposed to the hack and slash method of the Trump administration.

On to other news.

John Richardson reports that a bunch of the NRA 2.0 folks got themselves elected to the board – including John. First, congrats to John! He’s a stand-up fellow, and I’m glad to see him join the board. Second, this is another step on the healing journey for the NRA. I need to see how my finances will turn out, but if things keep going this way, I will most likely return to the NRA fold as a dues paying member.

From the local newstation, a Bradenton man was murdered using a gun that was stolen out of a vehicle a couple of years ago. Why am I highlighting this story? Because YOUR CAR IS NOT A FUCKING HOLSTER! Unless you have a safe that is mounted/secured in your car DO NOT LEAVE YOUR GUN IN YOUR CAR.

From Literary Hub, NaNoRiMo is shutting down.

From the Verge, via The Brother, is an article on how much battery power do you need to run your home. Do I need more? Yes. Although, I would probably say that even if I had enough to run my whole house for a week. Which is my goal at the moment.

A Lot of Season Two’s

The back half of 2025 looks like we’re going to get second seasons of a few of my previous faves. Needless to say, I’m excited and a bit cautious. Second seasons can be a bit of a crapshoot. Some are awesome, and some are let downs. Some completely ruin a series. Still, I’m hopeful.