January 2026 - Page 6 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

The games my wife and I play

TULIP

The games my wife and I play are all on the New York Times platform. Spelling Bee is my wife’s game, and she has gotten two Queen Bees in the last month or so. This has nothing to do with Beyonce, BTW. It’s that she found every word in the puzzle.

But she has been so single-minded about the game that she has forgotten to finish her Wordle, which takes far less time. If she asks, I will help her with the Spelling Bee. But I’m not great at finding the pangram, using all seven words. One recent one we both missed was FACTOTUM, a word I used to know but have since faded from my brain.

Connections

My wife and I play together, and we’re pretty good at sussing out the purple, the most difficult. For instance, on New Year’s Eve, the purple was:

Starting with bodies of water: BAY LEAF, CHANNEL SURF, SEA BASS, SOUND BARRIER

It often is words that rhyme in a category. Perrier was really terrier. On December 29, it was the Car brand homophones: INFINITY, MINNIE, OPAL, OUTIE. But figuring the rest of the order was dodgy.

Happy New Year!: BALL DROP, CHAMPAGNE FLUTE, FIREWORKS, NOISEMAKER
Places where things disappear: BERMUDA TRIANGLE, BLACK HOLE, COUCH CUSHIONS, DRYER
Associated with Philadelphia: BROTHERLY LOVE, CHEESESTEAK, LIBERTY BELL, ROCKY

I figured that the disappearing stuff was Blue, the next hardest, and Philadelphia was easier. Nope. Philly was BLUE. At least the NYE clue was yellow, the easiest.

Wordle

First, best wishes to Nola, who had a 938-game streak but has not been able to play regularly due to medical issues. She’s been a big supporter of my streak.

My daughter was watching a YouTube review of a book titled A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James. The video, and at least a couple of the GoodReads print reviews, indicate that, despite having a 300-game win streak, the main character has NO idea how to play the game.

I usually play Wordle just after midnight. But if I’m tired, I play when I inevitably wake up in the middle of the night. Then I play Quordle, which I’m not nearly as successful at.

The great thing about Wordle is that I send my results to my Wordle buddy Matthew. I always start with AROSE. If I get a void, or just one yellow letter, I play TULIP….

Wordle 1,652 4/6

AROSE 200

TULIP 12

NATTY 6

BATCH

Even though TULIP was used in the last 50 turns

Wordle 1,629 2/6

AROSE 238

TULIP

If I have a green letter or more than one yellow letter, I use the letters in TULIP. If I have an S in the wrong place, I’ll almost always start with an S. There are a lot more S words than others, I believe. Also, I try to account for seasonal influences.

Wordle 1,651 3/6

AROSE 58

SLEET 4

SPEED

Sometimes, I go with my gut. GRASS is green, and I’m Green.

Wordle 1,642 2/6

AROSE 7

GRASS

I was thinking Scrooge

Wordle 1,638 2/6

AROSE 30

MISER

This felt most Christmasy, whatever THAT means.

Wordle 1,650 2/6

AROSE 13

PRISM

Sometimes, I screw up!

Wordle 1,654 4/6

AROSE 45

TRILL 1

DRUID muff!

FRUIT

Occasionally, it isn’t easy.

Wordle 1,643 5/6

AROSE 43

TULIP 9

RUNNY 3

RUMMY 2

RUGBY

Other times, it’s a gimme.

Wordle 1,635 2/6

AROSE 1

ERASE

One time, I decided to look for a word with an R and two Ys. But then I remembered the season.

Wordle 1,644 3/6

AROSE 43

TULIP 1

MYRRH

Wordle 1400

In the last 100 games, I’ve had 0 1s, 16(!) 2s, 38 3s, 37 4s, 9 5s, and 0 6s. That’s an average of 3.39. Overall, my average is 3.784. I’ve said before that if I got four every day, I’d be fine.

The random 2025 post

different insurance

This is the random 2025 post. I think I stole the idea from my near twin, Gordon. Some less lazy folks, such as Kelly, will highlight particular posts from the previous year. “If you have a blog or other online writing forum, share some of your favorite work from this year.” That sounds like an intriguing idea, but it’s too much work when I can just punt.

January: “I saw a junior high school production, and I suspect there’s another.” My Lion King credentials, and why the movie Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel, was only so-so.

February: “I sang this to a person I was seeing, and she thought it was too clingy.” This was a Valentine’s Day song list, a reference to Someone To Watch Over Me by Linda Ronstadt. Damn, that STILL stings a little, and it was over 30 years ago.

March: “But don’t leave it on my Twitter page, which I deleted.” This was my periodic request to Ask Roger Anything. In truth, you can ARA at any time. I mean, you COULD wonder which Secretaries of State went on to become President: Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J.Q. Adams, Van Buren, and Buchanan. But it’d be more interesting if you ask me something I can’t find on Wikipedia. (BTW, I always forget Buchanan, as one does.)

April: “Thus, the charts show 77 weeks of #1 hits.” The 1935 music charts had two versions that didn’t always match.

May: “We’re also trying to keep in contact with our daughter, who is only 7,845 miles away.” This was our 26th wedding anniversary. Our daughter was in Cape Town, South Africa, at the time.

June: “What does coming out mean?” This was my church’s adult education class, led by a member of the Pride Center of the Capital Region

Also

July: “Eve Of Destruction – Barry McGuire (Dunhill)” One of the #1 hits of 1965, a nice uplifting song.

August: “He would nip at me, but my parents, specifically my father, seemed unconcerned.” This was about the only dog I ever had, an Alaskan Husky named Lucky Stubbs. The post was for Sunday Stealing.

September: “But my wife and I do not have the same insurance, so I need my wife’s information, and she needs mine.” This was about going to an Urgent Care and then an Emergency Department after my wife’s fall while walking in the neighborhood. Specifically, a couple was nearby, and she was unable to speak.

October: “But one of our neighbors was dissatisfied with one element, complicated to explain.” We contracted with a company to build a fence. This is the joy of homeownership.

November: “Don’t Take It Personal (just one of dem days) – Monica, two weeks at #1 RB, #2 for three weeks pop, platinum.” I hit three music charts this iteration, this one from the Hot R&B #1 Singles for 1995.

December: “At least 31 languages have a word very similar to ‘huh?’” A linkage page. I try to put things other than music and politics in those posts.

Sunday Stealing Feels Frustrated

Loving You Has Made Me Bannans

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week’s meme is inspired by Christina at Call Me Patsy, who turned to answering these questions when she felt frustrated by a project she was working on.

Frustration – Joan Armatrading

Questions to Answer when You Need a Break because Sunday Stealing Feels Frustrated

1. What would you rather be doing right now?

Sleeping, actually. I had oral surgery on Wednesday, and the residual pain, while not severe, is exhausting.

I’m Only Sleeping – The Beatles and I Go To Sleep -Pretenders

2. What is always on your grocery list?

Bananas. My wife and I usually have them with oatmeal for breakfast. She likes them browner than I. And my daughter would eat them when they are practically green. So you can’t purchase too many at a time.

Loving You Has Made Me Bananas – Guy Marks

3. Have you ever used a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?

I have a vague recollection of doing so, not in this century, in a kitchen. But I did, for a very brief time, in the late 1980s or early 1990s, SELL fire extinguishers. I wasn’t very good at it, although I believed in the product, because I hated door-to-door retail sales. Even more, I despised strong-arming my friends.

Fire – Ohio Players

Text

4. How many times did you text yesterday?

Once. I attended a party, and my daughter drove me because the bus runs infrequently on weekends and holidays. My daughter texted me a couple of hours later to see if I wanted a ride home. Since the next bus was in 47 minutes, and the party was starting to break up, I said yes. But my wife ended up picking me up because she had just come home from a different party.

I hate texting. I’m not particularly good at it. The idea of always being available is appalling to me. If I’m home, I don’t even carry my phone unless I’m playing NYT Connections or contacting a doctor. This is why we still have a landline—that and to call my cellphone when I inevitably misplace it.

Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me – “Weird Al” Yankovic

5. Would you prefer a slow-paced, relaxing vacation or one filled with new sights and experiences?

I think I need to alternate. One day of busyness, followed by a day of relaxation.

Vacation – Connie Francis and Vacation – the Go-Go’s

Number one hits for 1906

A song Johnny Cash covered

victrola According to the book, Joel Whitburn presents A Century of Pop Music: year-by-year Top 40 rankings of the songs and artists that shaped a Century, these are the number one hits for 1906.

As previously noted, these rankings were derived from various sources, including the Talking Machine World periodical, which published monthly lists of nearly all popular record releases from 1905 onward. Jim Walsh was a universally respected authority on the pioneer recording age in his forty years of columns for Hobbies magazine. Record labels’ publications, particularly those of Victor and Edison, contained valuable information about their own top sheet music sellers. David Ewan’s book All the Years of American Popular Music. Author Roger Kindle Kinko in his Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz 1900 to 1950. Joseph Murrell’s book Million-selling Records from the 1900s to the 1980s.

“Victor’s position was solidified in 1906 by the introduction of the Victrola, the first record player to remove the increasingly intrusive tin horn from atop the phonograph and fold it into the wooden cabinet beneath. It would take a few years – Concealed horn phonographs went from 3 percent of total sales in 1907 to 75 percent in 1911 – but the word “Victrola” would become synonymous in many households with the word “phonograph.” By 1908, the phonograph had firmly established its place in the typical American home.”

The songs

The Grand Old Rag (a/k/a You’re a Grand Old Flag) – Billy Murray (Victor), 10 weeks at #1, from George Washington Jr. A very familiar piece.

Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie – Byron Harlan (Columbia), 9 weeks at #1. I know this one too.

Nobody – Bert Williams (Columbia), 9 weeks at #1, music by Bert Williams and lyrics by Alex Rogers. “THE DOYEN OF AFRO-AMERICAN ENTERTAINERS.” Ha! Johnny Cash covered this song on his 2000 American III: Solitary Man album!

Love Me and the World is Mine – Henry Burr (Columbia), 7 weeks at #1.

The Good Old U.S.A.The Good Old U.S.A. – Byron Harlan(Columbia), 4 weeks at #1

Love Me And The World Is Mine — Albert Campbell (Victor), 3 weeks at #1. Words by David Ball Jr. Music by Ernest R. Ball.

Everybody Works But Father – Billy Murray (Victor), a comedy record, 3 weeks at #1

So Long, Mary – Corinne Morgan (Victor), 3 weeks at #1, from Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway. A George M. Cohan song

How Would You Like To Spoon With Me – Corrine Morgan, and the Haydn Quartet (Victor) 2 weeks at #1.

Call me little tootsy wootsy baby. How’d you like to hug and squeeze?

Indeed, I would. Dangle me upon your knees.

Oh, if I could. How’d you like to be my lovey dovey? How’d you like to spoon with me?

Let It Alone – Bert Williams (Columbia), 2 weeks at #1, a comedy record

Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie – Harry Talley (Victor), 1 week at #1

Movie review: Zootopia 2

Hopps and Wilde

I went to my favorite movie emporium, the Spectrum 8, to catch a late Thursday matinee of the film Zootopia 2. I had enjoyed the first film back in 2016.

Was the success of the partnership of rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) the start of great things? Or was their previous case a one-off fluke? The police hierarchy, beginning with Chief Bogo (Idris Elba), begins to believe it is the latter and sends them to therapy.

On their own, they pursue the mysterious Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan). Even in the utopia that is Zootopia, reptiles are relegated to the edges of town. Was the city’s history manipulated? Will the new mayor, a horse named Winddancer (Patrick Warburton), do the right thing? I ended up being totally sucked into the narrative, trying to figure out the good guys – other than our heroes – from the villains.

At the same time, I caught clever references to other movies, especially animal films like Ratatouille and Babe.

The film received 92% positive reviews from critics. My favorite line was from Rua Fay: “a film sure to impress your five-year-old sibling as well as your annoying socialist teenage cousin.” This is almost certainly true.

Big box office

And the film is incredibly successful. Variety notes, “Zootopia 2 is only the third movie this year to join the $1 billion club after Disney’s Lilo & Stitch ($1.03 billion), and China’s animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 (the highest-grossing release of 2025 with $1.9 billion). Only 13 animated films (10 of which are Disney titles) have ever surpassed $1 billion.” And it did well in China.

So I think it’s mildly funny that I saw the film all by myself, which isn’t ideal for me, but c’est la vie.

Reviewer Shalini Langer: “The ‘lessons’ at the heart of this film are perhaps too on the nose. But that is not necessarily bad for a film that is meant for children, whose central message is embracing difference,…and at a time when adults need to relearn that too.” On the nose? Maybe a bit, though it didn’t bother me. Need to be relearned? Absolutely.