Thank You
Love wins in the end.
Hello Substack Readers and Subscribers!
This was an exciting week. We took in a foster dog for a couple of weeks which meant that for a couple of days, Stack the Week Daily was produced in near Monk-like conditions. Our houseguest did not like me at all. This was not conjecture. When I met her she bit me.1 A builder friend of ours was bit by a cat and his hand swelled like a volleyball from the infection so I checked the internet and the internet said I should get to urgent care2. I’m on antibiotics now.
However, after a few days of patient work (she greeted me with inflamed hounds of hell barking and teeth flaring) Cujo and I are in fine shape3:
As for the journalism, I made some tweaks to Stack the Week. A little shorter. More rigorous about individual story length. I tuned my systems that help me search for stories and confirm facts (since I’m flying solo). One thing I’m thinking of doing is adding notes for subscribers inside Stack the Week Daily to explain my process. I don’t know if that will be interesting to anyone.
I continue to think about what I’m going to do with Stack the Week. It is rewarding but takes up a lot of time. I’m finishing the first few episodes of Navel Gazing Season Two so I’m pretty much writing all day, which is heaven, but there will come a time when I need to start working for longer stretches on the book. I assume Anne will want to see me at some time too.4
Anyway, as I was driving back from the farm market this morning I was overcome with a great sense of gratitude for this work and you in the audience. So, as the headline says: thank you.
John
For my entire life I have allowed massively barking dogs to just smell my hand and the many many times this has been successful led me to conclude that this risk-taking on my part (non-threateningly allowing the dog to smell my hand but also possibly bit it) was received by the dog as a goodwill gesture and proof I was not a menace. I am reevaluating this theory, but only mildly, because in this case, while that did not work, I think the circumstances were unique.
The bite was in the vein on my hand and this made things more dire according to the internet. The doctor seemed to agree.
Evidence of the bite on the left hand there.
Let’s not go overboard.
Thank you for taking the time to do this reporting. This is the time we need someone that reports the truth instead of propaganda. Which is all we basically get from the media on tv now. So thank you for standing up!
I am grateful for the time you give us. I miss hearing your calming voice as you told us about a wide range of issues. Please be sure to take care of yourself and your family though. If you are centered and balanced, it will create ripple effects when you share your perspective. 💗💗💗