42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator.

It is physically very large. Larger than basically all cats and a lot of dogs. My daughter was 3 1/2 when I got it and it wasn’t much smaller than she was then.

I’ve assembled and disassembled it several times. I think it takes 8-10 hours to get it together and not much less to take it apart. You really have to follow the instructions in reverse to get it broken down, and the pins make my fingers quite sore if I don’t take it in stages.

The linked review is correct that the mechanics somewhat overtax the single motor, but I find the design so impressive that it doesn’t matter.

This was the last “flagship” Technic set I ever bought. We don’t have space in the house for more plastic toys this size, and I don’t love the fact that the huge ones tend to be app controlled now. But I think this was a pretty high note to go out on.

If the head needs to be empty, I find that droney Japanese noise is the best way to get that. Example: Aube - Flare

Lots of great sf/fantasy authors mentioned already, including some I’d argue for as great writers regardless of genre (Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, N. K. Jemisin).

I have three more to suggest in this genre and from this period:

• C. J. Cherryh (Cyteen, Foreigner series, lots more) uses the lens of alien societies – just different enough from ours – to make us look critically at the structure of our own;

• Sheri S. Tepper (Grass, Raising the Stones, The Gate to Women’s Country) carries one or another of the dark currents underlying our culture to its horrifying conclusion, and shows us what we get;

• Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan saga) gives us a hilarious and improbable hero who utterly transcends his disabilities, in the end perfectly embodying what it seems he could never hope to be.

Are you older? My parents moved near Traverse City to retire, since my family has done summer vacations up there for 70+ years. The year-round population in Leelanau and Grand Traverse counties now skews heavily older due to all the retirees, and also due to gentrification pricing a lot of families out.

This has mixed effects on health care in particular. On one side, a higher proportion of medical professionals work every day with the specific problems of an older population, and there are lots of relevant specialists. On the other side, availability of primary care can be difficult.