Strangness 
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Item #1: A cat story
July 8 in Ashland, Ore.,
Why you shouldn’t build your rooms around huge plants and real tree branches . . .
Pussycat takes a nap behind the sofa
. . ., or leave your doors open.
Now, this is the part that makes me go “Hmmmm?”
. . . said she “again connected in a loving gaze and communicated trust through blinking”.
Item #2: Ohio is a strange place
Consider Judge Michael Cicconetti – Painesville, Ohio
You don’t have to consider the judge, but sister Peggy thinks we should. She writes: “He made kids clean crap out of animal pens at the fair because they tipped over a porta-potty among other things. He does all kinds of creative sentencing. ”
This seems like “nasty news” to me. Anyway, here is a link to a report done a few years ago (several minutes long):
Judge Michael
Item #3: If you have $50
. . . would you buy a used violin
Cheap at half the price
A Massachusetts pawn shop took in a violin, and gave the seller $50. Then the police came calling. Turns out the item was stolen and worth about $250,000. A “30 day holding” period did its job, as did the police. Good news.
Item #3: Taylor Swift
This one starts with the death of a police officer and ends with a nice action by the entertainer Taylor Swift.
She donated “a significant number of tickets” to the town for her shows this weekend — there were enough to send “every police officer, firefighter and extended family to the concert, and then some.” The extras were passed on to other nearby police departments.
She can afford it. In recent years she has been in the top earners of the entertainment business, bringing home more each day than many folks make in a lifetime. Whether you listen to her music, or not, respect the ability as both performer and business pro. Not yet 30 years old.
Oh, she was born in my home state of Pennsylvania.
Item #4: Spot the difference 
One of these is the official flag of Australia and the other of New Zealand.
NZ’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is on maternity leave.
The temporary replacement, Winston Peters, apparently couldn’t think of anything useful to do, so he is making an issue of flags.
The NZ flag (left) was adopted in 1902, with the OZ flag becoming official in 1954.
Item #5: Winter in Australia
One of the driest winters in the land of OZ has brought bright colors to the harsh landscape.
Needed: a tuber root system that grows deep
This area is about the same distance south of the Equator as Los Angeles is north.
Use this, [ orchids “great southern region” australia ], as a search string with images tab, to see a colorful selection.
Item #6: And finally 
Both good and bad news about Mars the planet, not the candy.
Folks on Earth will get a “close” look at Mars this weekend. The bad news is the dust that covers that planet.
Every once in awhile (years) something stirs on the Red Planet and dust lifts above its surface. One might read of a raging dust storm or something to suggest a big storm – like Earth’s hurricanes – but that is false. There is a very minor wind across most of the surface.
Regardless, with the dust in the Martian atmosphere, seeing the surface clearly is not possible even though Earth and Mars will be about as close as they ever get.
Thus, good news and bad news. . More here
And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John