New Jersey, Wet and Emptying

We awake with a twinge in our right foot. Sup with that? We have acted accordingly. 

Lots of rain last night and some flooding locally, but the power never went out. Damn it, there's a new drip spot on the kitchen ceiling. Schools have a two hour delay this morning. Update, school is cancelled for today.  

The Center Square (new to me)reports, 'New Jersey topped the nation for outmigration in 2023, with more people moving out than into the state, according to a new independent study.' But why? New Jersey's cost of living is expensive. So are the taxes. Reader(s) would be horrified if we told them what we pay in property taxes. The infrastructure is old and bumpy. This is not a very nice state, we commented to Mrs. Stroock last night. She agreed. We fantasize about bugging out to our ancestral homeland in Western Kentucky. She doesn't. 

Seque...NJ.com informs us that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the premier of the Sopranos. Time flies, does it not? While we've seen various clips of the show, we've never watched an episode. When we move to the bucolic horse country of Peapack, New Jersey, we used to joke, 'Don't worry, we're not in the Sopranos part of the state.' We're only five minutes from Route-22, an ugly looking state highway lined with strip malls, gas stations, and car dealerships. Here's Tony Soprano coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel and getting on the New Jersey Turnpike South, past a lot of power plants and docks, through the Meadowlands to Exit 13, which will take him home to Caldwell. We're at least 25 minutes away. Not far enough. 

The single mom War Night story is really about the dynamics of a family. Dad's run out, mom's bitter, teenager twins unsure. Cathy, the mom, is a cigarette smoking, wine drinking, take charge kind of gal though. She's the assistant manager at the local grocery store. The kind of woman who keeps things running. We all know the type. We're quite pleased with this story. Now it needs to sit. In a few weeks we'll see exactly what we must needs to do to finish it.

Which one of you people wrote this about World War 1990: The Final Storm on Amazon? 'Great Read - Hard to put down. This was a great book that ties together the World War 1990 series. The author has done a great job with the storylines in the book. I will also say that all of the authors books in this series are very good and the last additions to series have been excellent. Look forward to the World War 1990 Norway book.' Thanks. We're up to 23 ratings, 4.3 stars now. And that's the book we were worried about. We are among the best there is at what we do. 

You know, we could simply spend all of 2024 writing World War 1990 novels. Thatcher's War wouldn't be all that complex. It'd mostly be Maggie bombing stuff in Ireland followed by a quick invasion and Ignham blowing up IRA bars in Boston. Our point is Thatcher's War wouldn't be all that hard to do. Esercito Italiano would be the summer sneak in. We really need to make up our mind about this.