The game of the name

...and z's, we love z's, I'm surprised we just have one.

Ah, but you don't; there are two forms of 'Z' in the Czech alphabet, one of them has a little mark on it; I don't know what the mark is called but the two versions of Z are pronounced differently, I guess.  The people of the Czech Republic don't use a Z when referring to their own country; they have a 'C' with that little mark on it: Česká republika.

The spelling of a nation's name depends a lot on what alphabet is being used and sometimes the names are completely different than what we use in English.  Consider these  examples: Deutschland, Norge, Suomi, Sverige, Nihon, and Österreich.  In English they are Germany, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Japan, and Austria (translations courtesy of Google Translate).  It seems odd that we give different names than the nations give themselves.  This little foray into names and alphabets led me to a new word, endonym, and a cool map.  Just what I need, another rabbit hole to dive into.

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That's an admirable tractor, Mr. Beagles.  I went to the dealer site you mentioned a few months back and checked out your model; not a toy by any means.  Since it's a diesel I am curious about how you handle the fuel situation; do you have a big tank onsite for the diesel fuel or do you just use smaller containers to be filled as needed at the local filling station?  A six gallon tank sounds small to me but it's probably enough for a full day's work.

Once you are done mowing do you just leave it there to decompose naturally or do you rake it up and mulch it at another location?   It must be fascinating to see how different critters show up depending on the length of the wild grasses.  You haven't mentioned snakes yet which leads me to think that you don't have many moles, mice or other small rodents hanging around.  Maybe the owls and eagles snap them up before the snakes can get to them.

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That Omarosa is quite a character.  I remember watching the first season of The Apprentice and I don't know if it was the editing but she came across as an opportunistic diva with a touch of viper.  She hasn't changed much but it's curious how Trump kept hiring her after he fired her so many times.  The oddest thing to me is that she is an ordained Baptist minister; you would think that she would be better behaved but I don't know much about Baptists.

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I think you can become a card carrying member of any political party if you show up at their headquarters and say you want to join  but it won't be easy or cheap, I suspect.  There will be volunteer work involved, probably some fund raising, and a lot of time out hustling the locals for their vote.  I think our local precinct captains were card carrying members, always showing up near election time asking if we needed anything like garbage cans or tree trimming.  But that was in my childhood neighborhood when Richard J. was ruling the roost, and he ran a tight ship.  Shit got done, streets got cleaned, and pals got hired, if you were living in the right neighborhood.