When Netflix is pushing something, I tend to shy away from it, but I had two crochet projects due within a week, and Missouri is one of my favorite parts of America. So….

Portlandia meets Escobar, this show. Quirky, really great writing and acting, really funny moments with really human moments with some serious “mess-with-your-head” moments. The writing is so well done it encourages you to examine your own preconceptions of who is bad and who is good.

Yeah, this show is like a morality tale in Wonderland. The premise is a guy who winds up laundering money in a nice respectable illegal way in Chicago has to run for it to the Ozarks and do the same for his crime boss, or he’s gonna get it like his partner did – him and his family.

But when they get there, the place is lousy with people already either running drugs or laundering money, sometimes both. As one of the characters says, “People who weren’t born here only come here if they’re running from something scarier than living here.”

The ten-season show has a lot of violence, and the fact that one of the laundering schemes is in a strip dance club certainly won’t have hurt the ratings with certain demographics. But the interaction between urban and rural (two families wind up being the focus, the Chicago transplants and the local petty crime trailer dwellers) and the family dynamics (these people are more dysfunctional than the Munsters) invite lovely comparisons.

In short, the whole thing is one big morality play, along the lines of Breaking Bad but not so sure-footed. The scene where the nice husband and wife first discuss whether to launder money, and how it might affect their lives, is wonderful. The scene where the husband realizes what kind of mistake that might have been is brutal.

My only regret in investing time to binge-watch these ten episodes is that I was making a marriage afghan and a baby swaddler. Hopefully the vibes won’t scar the recipients for life. (Hi, Olivia and Alex!)

With determination, bittersweet sadness, and love, we are seeking a new home for our little Hadley Marie Hemingway.

After two years of being staff cat in a foster family, she is not thriving in this environment. She does fine when it’s “just us” but each time newcomers arrive, she exhibits angry behavior. Hadley is also fine with dogs and cats who remain in her life, just not good at the railway station traffic.

Nike, her friend and companion here, is optional to rehome with her. If you have wanted to have SPECIAL cats in your life, these two are da bomb. Nike is supersmart, kind as cats go, and beautiful in long silky fur that almost looks like feathers. She grooms Hadley and coaches her in “new situations.” Hadley knows three constants in life: this is where I eat, this is where I poop, and Nike. We worry a little bit about rehoming her without her cat mom, because Hadley doesn’t learn new things quickly.

Born with literal brain damage (her birth sac didn’t get ripped open in time to prevent her losing a few cells to oxygen deprivation, is our vet’s assesesment) Hadley can use the box (unless she’s angry) and is cuddlesome when it’s her idea. She has an unhealthy interest in matches and we suggest you keep her far from them, and blowtorches and dragons. There’s no telling what kind of plans her strange little mind would make.

We have loved Hadley dearly since the Halloween afternoon our friend Tabitha rescued her from the side of a mountain. Rehoming her is what’s best for her, not us. Accustomed to her idiosyncrasies, we’ve come to realize they are caused by stress. Which is not good for her. She needs a quieter place than this, a bookstore with heavy foot and paw traffic.

So if you have been a Hadley fan, or seek an adult cat (preferably two) to brighten your life, send us any questions you may have about Hadley and Nike. You are welcome to use the bookstore email at jbeck69087@aol.com or FB message Jack or Wendy. The home will be vetted. We want what’s best for our special fur baby.

And here’s a link to the blog Hadley wrote for the Jungle Red Writers (crime fiction) about her life in the bookstore.