Tag Archives: Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives

Sunday 9-20-2026

Pamela Schifano – @pammypoo on Substack

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The “good was there” at the gym this morning because Ugly American wasn’t there to distract me. I was able to walk without holding on to the handlebars on the treadmill for the entire 30 minutes. Yea. I’m trying not to hope that he was visiting and has now gone home; because Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives indicates that he will show up again tomorrow and I will discover soon that he is, in fact living here and will just become the bane of my existence.

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I’m going to start writing a new article for Substack – this one about the Thai peoples’ reverence for trees; the reason behind it, how they show it, how they protect the trees, including some of my tree sketches.

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This is my latest painted sketch –

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Brian and I had a really interesting, tasty dinner last night. I asked him what it was called and he said the name, showed me the name on his phone, and I still don’t know. I’m hoping that it will be put in our regular round of dinners, though. It was a really dark brown rice, nutty in flavor, with chunks of pumpkin and chicken. Absolutely delicious comfort food type meal.

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I’m starting to feel better since Brian and I went ahead with my new morning regimen plus the change in dosage on my thyroid medication.

  • I’m alternating between a dosage of 100 mcg and 50 mcg of my levothyroxine, resulting in an average of 75 mcgs daily. According to our research, “perfect” would be 78 – so we’ll see how this goes. I take this first thing when I get up in the morning.
  • I let the thyroid med ‘settle’ while I’m getting ready for the gym. Then I drink electrolytes with a full glass of water. (They are more effective on an empty stomach according to the directions.) I mix chia seeds in a full glass of water just before we leave for the gym, leaving them soaking all the time we are gone. I take my shower, dress again, and then take my spoonful of olive oil and drink my glass of chia seeds before I go up for breakfast.
  • I take the rest of my meds when I come home from breakfast. And that’s it.

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Today I have a quiet day, so I’ll make sure to make time to practice my guitar, work on my jigsaw puzzle, and read more of the “Fury In Death” book I started a couple of days ago. I’ll also base paint my sketch of “Bob” the ugly frog this morning. I’ll take this to the cafe this afternoon to add the details. I’ll also continue trying to draw an old movie theater.

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Leah – Trendy Koncepts

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Law of the Rain

Jae Margal on Twitter

My husband said he was taking the dog and they were going to get the mail. I reminded him that this was Labor Day, so no mail. I told him I was going to mix up some KillzALL and was going to weed the rocks in the back bed. He decided to go with me – an unusual, but welcome thing.

I mixed up the spray container of KillzALL and brought my knee pad and gloves. I started weeding the rock bed and he started to spray the weed killer around the deck.

The skies opened up and POURED on us with no warning whatsoever. We dashed – as fast as old people can – into the garage and laughed as we dripped. We closed the garage door and came in. I’m still dripping a bit as I type this. We both have a cup of coffee and will probably try to work again after lunch.

Murphy’s Law – Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives – whichever or both – says that particularly when the TWO of us agree to work in the yard, we will get summarily drowned.

Mother Nature has a keen sense of humor.

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Happy Veggies!

Science | How Stuff Works

Spinach

 

Sweet Red Onions

 

Head Lettuce

 

 

 

My veggies were smiling when I went out to take these pictures this morning.  Everything seems to be doing very well now.

I told you how hard I was trying to get the irrigation system going for my garden a couple of days ago. If my husband and I couldn’t get it going, I was going to have to fill my watering can over and over to give them a drink. We FINALLY figured out why we weren’t getting water in the outside agricultural water faucet we have – a faucet control in the well house was turned off instead of on.

Now that it is running perfectly, and the timer is set for daily watering, we are getting rain every day from yesterday through Thursday of next week. A beautiful illustration of Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives.  (Finagle’s law of dynamic negatives (also known as Melody’s law, Sod’s Law or Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s law) is usually rendered as “Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.”)  We also have it to mean “the more you need it, the harder it is to fix” or “you will get it fixed when you no longer need it.” 

My garden is such a joy. The boxes we built allow me to continue gardening with pleasure, not having to bend over double or get down on my hands and knees over and over. The fence keeps large critters out. The chicken wire around the bottom keeps small critters out. The Mel’s Mix in the boxes (peat moss, vermiculite, and as many different kinds of compost as you can find or make) allows plants to grow well and happily, not having to depend on the quality or quantity of our soil.

The cool weather crops, spinach and head lettuce, will hopefully do really well before it gets too hot here. The red onions will stay where they are until harvest, probably in October.  When it gets a bit warmer, I’ll add yellow squash and radishes, if not some other things, to the garden.

I have two large brick planters on the other side of the house that we converted to be square foot planters. We devote both of them to tomato plants.

So far, I have smiling, happy veggies. Fingers crossed that this will continue.

Have a happy Saturday!

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