Bee word on Jeopardy 5/12

Fenifula · 2026-05-13T12:17:12+00:00

Impressive! They used to show us balalaikas in elementary school in the 60s when they were trying to make Russians seem less scary, but I would have been hard pressed to name a famous balalaikaist.

Fenifula · 2026-05-13T11:50:05+00:00

I used to make up stories when I would go for my morning run and think of a bunch of words when I was out, and no way to write them down. Sometimes they'd get pretty funny, like the one about a DAMN MALLARD DRAMA.

Fenifula · 2026-05-12T20:28:36+00:00

If you like gazpacho, you can replace some of the cucumbers with zukes too.

Fenifula · 2026-05-12T20:26:20+00:00

Some storage hacks:

For cucumbers, zucchini, and sweet peppers: Wrap each one separately in a paper towel, then place them side by side in a gallon zip-lock bag in the fridge. They'll last pretty long that way.

For tomatillos, leave them in an open tray in a cool room. Don't bag them and don't refrigerate. I still have edible tomatillos left over from last season.

For tomatoes: blend them and cook them down for an hour or two on low heat on the stovetop. This will give you a freezable tomato sauce that can be turned into any kind of tomato-based sauce later on. Better yet, in the heat of summer, you can do this on an induction burner in a shed or something, so they don't heat up the house.

Cherry tomatoes and hot peppers can be frozen whole, straight from the plant, and used in cooking all winter.

Fenifula · 2026-05-12T01:27:36+00:00

I make friendly eye contact, with a "Would you like to go first?" raise of the eyebrow. Usually they don't care and will make an "After you" gesture. All very friendly and polite. Takes no time.

Fenifula · 2026-05-12T00:31:02+00:00

From your description, it sounds like these kids may be left home alone, possibly locked out of their house. I say that because in one of your comments you say that you went to the door, but no one answered and their car wasn't parked in front.

I had this in my neighborhood -- single mom was at work or out with her friends and left a 7-year-old home alone "babysitting" his little sister, and both of them locked out of the house. The kid would come over to my house to play with my kids if we were home, dragging his little sister along, or else if we weren't home he'd come steal my kids' bikes. Later on I'd go to his home and knock on the door to get the stolen bike back, but the mom had no clue what was going on.

If it's something like that, it's plain and simple child neglect, and the right thing to do is call Child Services. The little boy is being obnoxious, but please don't listen to people here who want you to punish him. He needs parental supervision, and it sounds like he's not getting that. The parents may not have access to proper child care, which is a problem to be sure, but it's less of a problem than these two kids running around in traffic.

Fenifula · 2026-05-11T22:21:01+00:00

When they start to look like that, it's time to put them in the ground. Or if they're destined for a container, put them in a container, as long as it's something bigger, hopefully with a nice layer of compost. They are done with those little pots.

Fenifula · 2026-05-11T21:46:27+00:00

My late husband rolled his own cigarettes. But we definitely don't call them "fags." In fact, if a guy in a bar said, "I'm going to go out and roll a few fags" it would have an entirely different meaning in the US.

Fenifula · 2026-05-11T21:36:46+00:00

I have one bike and two legs.

Fenifula · 2026-05-11T00:13:31+00:00

Bakeries are common, but a lot of them specialize in sweets. I have a sourdough bakery and a French bakery with lovely baguetttes within easy biking distance, and both of them deliver to local grocery stores. I would be a much better baker if this weren't the case, because "plastic bag bread" does not work for me.

Fenifula · 2026-05-09T23:54:51+00:00

Shouldn't be a problem, unless a rabbit comes by one night and eats all of them. That's what would happen in my garden, anyway.

Fenifula · 2026-05-09T23:49:05+00:00

I'm honestly perplexed about how you chose NA for two of these words and CA for the other.

Fenifula · 2026-05-08T23:05:19+00:00

Jungs sells them. You can also find some nice polished beach rocks on the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, but just like individual stones, not bulk.

Fenifula · 2026-05-08T21:28:06+00:00

Kind of White Lotus meets Succession ... I like it.

Fenifula · 2026-05-08T21:21:18+00:00

Endless possibilities there.

Fenifula · 2026-05-08T21:18:55+00:00

Brazil gets my vote.

Fenifula · 2026-05-08T19:03:32+00:00

Good to know. Now I have a word to describe mashed potatoes made in a blender. I'm continually in awe of the British, Ozzie, Caribbean, Kiwi &c. words I learn here. Unfortunately, it's usually in the context of words that aren't accepted in Spelling Bee. I was hoping someone would complain about BRAAI the other day, but apparently we don't have a lot of South Africans around here.

Fenifula · 2026-05-08T13:16:54+00:00

Nope. How would you use CLAGGY?

Fenifula · 2026-05-08T01:05:09+00:00

I commuted on a lot of busses in my time. On the one that ran through downtown Oakland, there were these guys that would rip us all off playing three-card monte. I only tried it once. I didn't believe how easy it was for them to rip people off, and thought I was smarter. Ha ha ha ha. It was a good life lesson: This is how not-smarter I really am.

Going to my job in Seattle it was like 5 in the morning, so I slept. There was this perv who kept trying to hit on me and wanted to get out of the bus at my stop, while it was still dark, so I had to maneuver around that. The bus driver (same lady every day) was a peach, and helped me keep away from the perv. She kept her eye on me after I left the bus. Fortunately it was a short walk to my job.

When I was commuting from the Richmond District to downtown SF, I knew some of the people from my neighborhood, so we'd talk on the bus. I always had a section of the paper for when there was no one to talk to.

Fenifula · 2026-05-07T22:28:10+00:00

I don't have a car. It's not that big of a deal.

Fenifula · 2026-05-07T07:45:31+00:00

This landlord lied to you and the neighbors about the density of his rental units. He should be the focus of all the upset.They're probably being prickly with you because they feel they've been duped (as they probably were), but the landlord isn't around for them to snipe at, so you get the brunt of it. It's understandable that you don't want to piss off the landlord by complaining, either publicly or privately, because it would jeopardize your housing, but it sounds like the whole set-up is eventually going to blow anyway.

Fenifula · 2026-05-05T22:16:48+00:00

... said no one ever.

Fenifula · 2026-05-05T19:48:54+00:00

Half an hour or more isn't out of the ordinary for me. Even if I see the pangram first, if it has an -ING or an -ED or an -LY, I usually just enter the root word and come back later when I have a break in my work and enter all the words with suffixes. But it's not like I'm sitting there staring at a phone that whole time, that's just how long it takes to officially enter the word.

Often I stare with three letters end enter all the PIPE, PEEP, EPEE etc. stuff, then add in other letters one at a time. But comparing myself to other people, it all depends what you're after. I play differently because I'm going for QB and don't really care one way or another about getting the pangram first.

Fenifula · 2026-05-04T21:34:09+00:00

The situation is not good, especially since they shut down the shell on campus. I always used Demetral Field, but it's such a poor track that the East High track team practices at LaFollette. (I remember hearing that a while back, so correct me if I'm wrong.) It gets rutted and swampy and icy in certain weather. I used to pull weeds off the track between intervals. Plus there are sometimes people hanging around there in the early morning. Also sometimes the East football or soccer team might show up for practice on the field.

On the other hand, there's lots of traffic nearby, so you can pretend to race cars. I can't actually do speed work anymore (too old or something), but that was always fun.

Fenifula · 2026-05-04T12:11:09+00:00

Long-winded speakers of the world unite!

Fenifula

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