It’s the weekend, folks. Stay cool. Grab a beer (or several). Hop in the pool. Go to the movies. Whatever.

On this day in the year 1314, Robert the Bruce and his Scottish rebels met the English army led by King Edward II at Bannockburn, just south of Stirling.  It ended up being a decisive victory for Scotland and marked a major turning point in the war, which ended 14 years later with the restoration of Scottish independence under the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton. For this reason, the Battle of Bannockburn is widely considered a landmark moment in Scottish history. It’s also the final scene in Braveheart, which is a terribly inaccurate yet kickass movie.

New music alert! TERRA FIRMA, the sophomore album by Nick Perri & The Underground Thieves, is more than just another blues-rock record. It’s an ever-evolving soundscape with shades of Led Zeppelin, the Who, the Allman Brothers, and latter-day Beatles. It’s prog meets roots rock meets psychedelia, but with an epic, almost theatrical feel. Like… it’s really f***in’ good. Go check it out.

Apparently today in National West Virginia Day, which reminds me of the following joke:

“The state slogan of West Virginia is ‘Almost Heaven, West Virginia,’ which sounds cool, but that’s not, like, the best promotion for heaven. Because based on that, if I’m a good guy all my life, when I die I’m going to a place… a little bit better than West Virginia? I mean, it’s beautiful, but it kinda makes me wanna take another look at hell.” – Jim Gaffigan

Howdy, folks! Today is Juneteenth, which celebrates the anniversary of the order by Major General Gordon Granger proclaiming freedom for slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Originating in Galveston, Juneteenth has since been observed annually in various parts of the United States and has been recognized as a federal holiday since 2021.

Sorry for posting this late, folks. Happy Father’s Day to all the other dads out there!

Well folks, today is National Fudge Day. We had some really good fudge in Fredericksburg this week (Rocky Road for me and Butterfinger for her), which we enjoyed along with all the leftover wine from the wedding reception. Today is also National Richard Day, probably because it would be kinda off-color to call it “National Dick Day.” Lastly, today The Flash comes out in theaters, and I’m pretty excited about it.

Howdy, mofos! It’s been a great few days. I looked back on the earlier threads and saw all the “congrats!” messages, so thanks for all that. The wedding went great and we had a lot of fun, and then yesterday we got back home from our relaxing honeymoon out in the Texas hill country, which involved a lot of drinking, eating, antique shopping, sitting around in a hot tub watching the sunset, sleeping late with no noisy kids to wake us up, and… other stuff too. Our photographer already sent us a couple of wedding photos, which I’ve posted on Twitter right HERE.