• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

When we show up, we win.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Petty moves from a petty man.

People are complicated. Love is not.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

This blog will pay for itself.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Sunday Afternoon Open Thread

Sunday Afternoon Open Thread

by John Cole|  June 21, 20092:15 pm| 69 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Dog Blogging, Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

Gardening, dog park, house cleaning, etc.:

Lily on the log at the dog park:

Tunch guarding the tomato plants:

I’m going Galt.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « CBS Sunday Morning
Next Post: Fringe ideologies »

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  1. 1.

    sarah in brooklyn

    June 21, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    wow, tunch does not play when it comes to guarding!

  2. 2.

    robertdsc

    June 21, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    ZOMG! Tunch! Outside!
    /retires to Obama-logo fainting couch

  3. 3.

    geg6

    June 21, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    Yay! John’s going Galt again! That means 6 posts that will, hopefully, break me of this evil spell the Real Housewives of New Jersey have cursed me with. John, that will make you my hero.

  4. 4.

    Quackers

    June 21, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    The Log Dog and The Tomato Sphinx. What a pair.

  5. 5.

    joes527

    June 21, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    OK. I haven’t seen that many pictures of Lily, and that isn’t a great picture but … Is she starting to look a bit tunch-esque?

  6. 6.

    JL

    June 21, 2009 at 2:28 pm

    @geg6: A friend from Boston was hooked on the Housewives of Atlanta. Just tell yourself that this too will pass. I live just north of Atlanta and have never seen the real housewives show.
    It feels like it’s 98 out and I’m watching the Sox/Braves play on TV. They are playing in Boston and the fans have on coats.

  7. 7.

    Library Grape

    June 21, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    You guys watching Zakaria? Did you catch this bit from Zbig?
    “In Iran, we have two different forces at work. You have those who are for more democracy but who are also nationalistic and you have those who are supporting the regime who in many respects are … very similar to our Neocons. They are Manichean, they look at the world as divided into Good and Evil and many of them see America as the personification of Evil…
    [Obama] has struck exactly the right note. He’s offering moral sympathy, he’s identifying himself morally and historically with what is happening in Iran but he’s not engaging himself politically, he’s not interfering, because that would turn out badly and it could be exploited by the Neocons in Iran to crush the revolution, to wipe it out. I don’t know if the revolution will prevail, it may take time, but the longer it lasts the better are its chances. But we don’t want it escalate into a total showdown because if there’s a total showdown now, the chances are that the worst elements, the Iranian Neocons, will prevail.”

  8. 8.

    geg6

    June 21, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    Let me first say happy Father’s Day to all the dads here. My dad departed the world suddenly back in 1999 and I miss him every single day. This is one daddy’s girl who will never stop mourning. A bright spot of what is usually a sad day for me, though, are those pics up top. I’ve fallen completely for Lily, but the shocking thing to me is how much affection I feel for Tunch. Never been one for cats (and that is actually putting it mildly to spare the feelings of all the cat lovers here), but Tunch has some sort of je ne sais quoi that is irresistable.

  9. 9.

    demkat620

    June 21, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    @Library Grape: I think Zbig is reading that exactly right. The longer they can keep this going, the better its chances are. If it dissipates now, I think the neocons will get their wish.

  10. 10.

    Martin

    June 21, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    Ooh, Cole is going Galt. So 12 blog posts from him today then?

  11. 11.

    jean

    June 21, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    ‘OK. I haven’t seen that many pictures of Lily, and that isn’t a great picture but … Is she starting to look a bit tunch-esque?’

    I think I remember Dad saying she was on prednisone. An automatic pound packer (and mostly water weight). Hopefully, it will be a short course. Although, she HAS got a waist.

  12. 12.

    geg6

    June 21, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    JL: I am completely ashamed of this whole NJ Housewives thing. I seriously NEVER watch this sort of thing and usually mock others who do so. But this is such a trainwreck! It’s every bad stereotype of certain Garden Staters. And you know how awful it is when you find yourself liking best and sympathizing with the only singleton (well, divorcee) who is slutty and self-centered and who has an arrest for kidnapping and collaborating with Columbian drug cartels in her past. And who also seems to have the best mothering skills of the bunch. It’s freaking me out.

  13. 13.

    shelley matheis

    June 21, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    Tunch looks like he’s modeling for a sculptor.

    Does Lily interact much with the dogs at the park?

  14. 14.

    demkat620

    June 21, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    BTW, Happy Father’s Day to all you dads.
    Took my son to his first MLB game last night.

    Watching the Phils-O’s game now to see how the Phils will blow another one. Have to say though, Citizens Bank Park is beautiful and when Howard came out of the dugout the place exploded. It was great!

    I love baseball!

  15. 15.

    Anton Sirius

    June 21, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    (My sincerest, most profound apologies to Diana Ross for the following)

    I’m goin’ Galt
    I want the world to know
    I got to let it show

    There’s a new me coming out
    I just have to live
    And I wanna quit
    I’m completely down with it
    I think this time around
    I am gonna do it
    Like you never knew it
    Oooh, I’ll make it through

    I’m goin’ Galt
    I want the world to know
    I’m headin’ out the do’

    I’ve got to deny the world
    All that I can be
    And all my abilities
    There’s so much more to me
    Somehow, I have to
    Make them just understand
    Make them read the Fountainhead
    And oooh, how I’ve planned

    I’m checking out
    There’s no need to fear
    And I just feel so good
    Everytime I hear

    I’m goin’ Galt
    I want the world to know
    I just can’t take no mo’

    I’m goin’ Galt
    I want the world to know
    I’m headin’ out that do’

    I’m goin’ Galt
    I want the world to know
    My time card’s punched, fo’ sho’…

  16. 16.

    Dave C

    June 21, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    I don’t know about anybody else, but watching and reading about all the goings on in Iran has put me in a mood for some Rage Against the Machine. I haven’t felt like this since the big Iraq War protest in Chicago that shut down Lake Shore Drive. Of course, all the protests turned out to be completely ineffective, but, damn, they were cathartic, if fleetingly so. Here’s hoping for better results for the Iranian people!

  17. 17.

    D-Chance.

    June 21, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    Just spent the better part of 7 hours burning. Anything. Everything. My lots never looked so orderly and clean.

    Screw the lawn mowing… it’s now 90 degrees. Maybe Tuesday. Then, creep a few more feet into the next-door neighbor’s lot with the pruning and underbrush clearing and burning. She pays her POA dues, but hasn’t seen the place in a decade, so I’m clearing it and using it myself. Doing so makes MY property look bigger and better.

  18. 18.

    Library Grape

    June 21, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    @Dave C: Speaking of Rage Against the Machine, did you see the video Nico Pitney put up that was created by an Iranian for his cousin in Iran? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_cj9MEk16M&feature=player_embedded

  19. 19.

    smiley

    June 21, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    Has anyone played around with bing? How is it supposed to be any better than google?

    Added: Tiger Woods has lost his mojo.

  20. 20.

    moe99

    June 21, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    Well it’s going to hit a high of 59 in Seattle, so I’m heading for the fleece. Then taking the dogs out for their run/retrieve duties.

  21. 21.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 21, 2009 at 3:10 pm

    @shelley matheis:

    Does Lily interact much with the dogs at the park?

    Sometimes Dogs and Cats form gangs. At some point, don’t be surprised if Cole renames them Bonnie and Clyde.:–)

    I’m going Galt too, and this is one reason. Wizbangs analysis on the NYT”s keeping secret it’s hostage reporter for 7 months

    There exists not a clearer example of the double standard by which this newspaper operates. They will decide what is best for their own and what is best for the rest of us. In that respect, the next time national security secrets are exposed by the New York Times perhaps someone will pursue the charge of treason.

    They are so like the same thing.

    They never ever give it a rest.

  22. 22.

    Dave C

    June 21, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    @Library Grape:

    Yeah I did. It was great, though I was somewhat disappointed that the last minute or so–which I think is the best part of the song–got cut out. Oh well. Still really great work by whoever made it.

  23. 23.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    June 21, 2009 at 3:13 pm

    @geg6:

    Sorry to hear about your dad :(

    Cats are funny; they seem standoffish at first, but they grow on you.

  24. 24.

    Elie

    June 21, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Library Grape @ # 7 —

    Yes I heard Bryzynsky’s viewpoint which I thought was a great insight. In fact, Fareed’s show, as usual was very very informative — the only show I really watch on Sundays anymore. Also liked his guests (can’t remember names) one from Columbia and the other an expert on the internet and various media for networking — very useful and helpful to me in understanding the potential of what is happening in Iran for shaping a lot of what will happen in the Islamic as well as the western events and interpretations that will follow.

    Too little of this kind of discussion on teevee anymore…

  25. 25.

    Betsy

    June 21, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    My kitty Chompers goes Galt.

  26. 26.

    Elie

    June 21, 2009 at 3:16 pm

    Oh and John — Lily’s whole body language is different from a week ago just seeing that photo of her laying there. Just amazing!

  27. 27.

    Betsy

    June 21, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    Also, LOVE the outdoor Tunch pic! So great to see he’s not confined by an electric field to that couch.

  28. 28.

    robertdsc

    June 21, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    Haha, Betsy. Chompers is just like my KC. They love the box.

    On a literary note, I finished The Da Vinci Code this weekend. Up until the end, I found it a very nice read. The ending was garbage, but the story and historical tidbits were nice.

  29. 29.

    Betsy

    June 21, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    @robertdsc:
    Yeah, I don’t know what it is with cats and boxes. I can’t get a package without her exploring the box as if it might possibly be EVEN MORE SPECIAL! than any previous box she’s ever experienced.

  30. 30.

    demkat620

    June 21, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    @Betsy: Chompers is beautiful. I love cats with those noses. I think it makes them look very silly when they are trying to look down on you.

  31. 31.

    JenJen

    June 21, 2009 at 3:36 pm

    It’s Log, Log, it’s big, it’s heavy, it’s wood.
    It’s Log, Log, it’s better than bad, it’s good!
    Everyone wants a log!
    You’re gonna love it, Log!

    Nice to see the peaceable kingdom over at Chez Cole.

  32. 32.

    The Saff

    June 21, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    @ Betsy:

    Yeah, I don’t know what it is with cats and boxes. I can’t get a package without her exploring the box as if it might possibly be EVEN MORE SPECIAL! than any previous box she’s ever experienced.

    Isn’t that the truth? In the living room, there’s a box that doubles as a cat playpen. Several toys ended up in it, too.

  33. 33.

    demkat620

    June 21, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    @JenJen: Tunch doesn’t look very peaceable.

  34. 34.

    Martin

    June 21, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    In the face of a 13% pay cut, we’re being creative with our yard improvements this weekend and recycling as much stuff as we can. We’ll be putting in a larger veggie garden than planned. We were going to build a wee 2×10 one, but now we’ll put in an 8×10 one in addition to that.

    I have a feeling we won’t see that pay cut reversed, either. After 15 years, I’m not thrilled about having to look for a new job.

  35. 35.

    Montysano

    June 21, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    Sarah Watkins of Nickel Creek on Prairie Home Companion, singing Norman Blake and John Hartford songs. Wonderful. Without Prairie Home, Car Talk, and This American Life, life wouldn’t be nearly as sweet.

  36. 36.

    freelancer

    June 21, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    I just learned via Mark Gisleson’s blog, that Wichita’s Minor League ball club is called the Wingnuts. I so want this hat.

  37. 37.

    Lesley

    June 21, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    Tunch has his FIERCE! on. (It’s not easy looking that way with fluffy white fur.)

    Lily looks adorable as usual.

  38. 38.

    JenJen

    June 21, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    @demkat620: On second glance, you’re right. He looks like a statue; a statue that’s about to pop a cap in your ass.

  39. 39.

    Linkmeister

    June 21, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    @freelancer: Only $20 at the team store!

  40. 40.

    burnspbesq

    June 21, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    @freelancer:

    Buy two, and give one to that girl you were talking about last week.

  41. 41.

    burnspbesq

    June 21, 2009 at 4:45 pm

    There are so many great hats in minor league baseball.

    I’m kinda partial to the Carolina Mudcats.

    http://mudcats.milbstore.com/store_contents.cfm?cart_id=0443587767971141111081051407420092106&store_id=49&dept_id=-1&product_id=1498

  42. 42.

    freelancer

    June 21, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    Buy two, and give one to that girl you were talking about last week.

    Yeah, about that…

    We were at her friend’s apt Friday hanging out, and after most of the people there had left, she threw down the gauntlet again, about how crazy she was about me, but if I liked her, and wanted to give things a shot, I’d need to go back to Christianity. It felt like quite a sucker-punch, but like someone remarked earlier, at least I wasn’t hip deep in a 2 year old relationship before this happened.

  43. 43.

    terry chay

    June 21, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Bill Maher on the Democrats

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/21/bill-maher-democrats-have_n_218593.html

  44. 44.

    AhabTRuler

    June 21, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    @Linkmeister: Oh, I am so buying a jacket as soon as I have the money!

  45. 45.

    gex

    June 21, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    @Notorious P.A.T.: I’ve often opined that it is very difficult to get to know and like any cat that isn’t your own. They are just so different around their owners than they are around strangers and acquaintances. Not so with dogs. Those extroverts make friends everywhere.

  46. 46.

    dianeb

    June 21, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    That is a great picture of Tunch! He looks so regal, like a king surveying his kingdom. Have you thought about selling posters?

  47. 47.

    AhabTRuler

    June 21, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    That is a great picture of Tunch sitting on an earthworm!

    Fixeteth!

  48. 48.

    burnspbesq

    June 21, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    @ Freelancer:

    Ouch. Quite the screwed up situation.

    I am probably not telling you anything you haven’t already figured out, but at the end of the day you gotta be true to yourself.

  49. 49.

    freelancer

    June 21, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    No worries, we click enough where we can remain friends.

  50. 50.

    JenJen

    June 21, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    Oh, dear. Apparently Big Hollywood is very upset that Tony Hawk desecrated the Holy White House Shrine during the Iranian Worst Crisis Revolution Wolverines ever. Or something.

  51. 51.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 21, 2009 at 6:00 pm

    @JenJen:

    From your link.

    Someone please dig up Reagan. I’d take a dead leader with balls over a living camp counselor who wants all the cool kids to like him.

    They get creepier every day.

  52. 52.

    LD50

    June 21, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    @dianeb:

    It’s Tunch’s world. John and Lily just live in it.

  53. 53.

    AhabTRuler

    June 21, 2009 at 6:03 pm

    @JenJen: They are offended by a skateboard? Apparently they’ve never listened to the Nixon tapes.

  54. 54.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 21, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    An interesting article by Robin Wright of Time on the rhythms of revolution Iranian style.

  55. 55.

    LD50

    June 21, 2009 at 6:26 pm

    @Comrade Stuck:

    And here I thought snark about ‘Zombie Reagan’ was an exaggeration.

  56. 56.

    Comrade Darkness

    June 21, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    @Library Grape, I have to throw out a well placed: “well, duh” here. Thanks for setting up the target.

  57. 57.

    harlana pepper

    June 21, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    I pity the fool rabbit that tries to eat yer tamaters!!

  58. 58.

    burnspbesq

    June 21, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    @Comrade Stuck:

    Wow. Greg Gutfeld is really a putz.

  59. 59.

    freelancer

    June 21, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Wow. Greg Gutfeld is really a putz.

    Also, I hear from credible sources that water is really wet.

  60. 60.

    freelancer

    June 21, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    Could you imagine your dad or anyone who lived during World War II treating a man douch-nozzle who skateboards hosts a late night wankfest on Fox News with intellectually heavy hitting guests and talents like Pammy Geller and the Notorius P. A. B. with anything less than scorn and ridicule?

    Fixed.

  61. 61.

    You Don't Say

    June 21, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    I don’t believe that’s Tunch. Where’s his blue-striped background?!?

  62. 62.

    HyperIon

    June 21, 2009 at 8:22 pm

    @robertdsc:

    ZOMG! Tunch! Outside

    That was my reaction.
    So Tunch goes outside on his own?
    I thought he was an indoor cat.

  63. 63.

    LD50

    June 21, 2009 at 8:24 pm

    @HyperIon:

    Tunch goes wherever the fuck Tunch wants, pal.

  64. 64.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 21, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    @AhabTRuler:

    That is a great picture of Tunch sitting on an suffocating earthworm

    Fixed again! I love that picture of Tunch. He looks fierce, contemplative, and regal all at the same time.

    @gex: Agreed. My sister-in-law has never seen my cats because she brings the kids over, and my boys don’t like noise. Raven will love up anyone within a few minutes, but Shadow is much more wary around strangers. However, the three of us passed the last few hours cuddled up on the papasan in the basement–them snoozing and me reading.

    Lily’s looking great. That’s one huge-ass log, though.

    @freelancer: The Wingnuts are a local team, and they were playing my St. Paul Saints last night. I immediately thought of BJ when I heard “Wichita Wingnuts”, and I laughed my ass off.

    @Betsy: Chompers is goooorgeous! I love cats with sploodges on their noses.

  65. 65.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 21, 2009 at 10:41 pm

    I had to shave Nelson, the one-eyed wonder cat today due to excessive dreadlocks, his winter coat is shedding and in an attempt to remove it Nelson keeps licking it turning it into the nastiest dreads you have ever seen, he looks like the worst kind of back alley homeless pet you can imagine. The new coat that is growing is glorious, but in the meantime he looks like guy who sleeps in a cardboard box and who pees on himself on a regular basis. So it was time for the cat trimmer today. After an initial mauling (blood was drawn) Nelson realized that it also involved a good firm cuddle and nestled down with his head in my arm while I rid him of the “locks” I am now hoping that he looks respectable enough that folks walking the neighbourhood don’t think he is being neglected.

  66. 66.

    Betsy

    June 21, 2009 at 10:53 pm

    @demkat620:
    @asiangrrlMN:

    Thanks, guys! :D I hope you see this – I was gone all afternoon and evening so couldn’t respond till now.

  67. 67.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 21, 2009 at 11:39 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Did you get pics of the rastafarian cat before you cut off the dreads?

    @Betsy: She looks really small. Is she?

    John, I can’t stop staring at Tunch. That is such a fabulous pic of him. It’s hypnotizing.

  68. 68.

    Betsy

    June 22, 2009 at 9:25 am

    @asiangrrlMN:
    Hmm – I’m not really sure, actually! I think she weighs about 8 lbs? She’s just over a year. When we got her she was 5 months old and weighed 4 lbs. So I think she’s got a little bit more growing to do, but not much. She smaller than Tunch, but so is a Shetland pony.

  69. 69.

    Ellid

    June 22, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    How did you get the King of the Futon outside to tour his demesne?

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Image by GB in the HC (5/23)

Recent Comments

  • Spanky on Late Night Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 6:35am)
  • Spanky on Late Night Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 6:31am)
  • lowtechcyclist on Late Night Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 6:19am)
  • JoyceH on Late Night Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 5:57am)
  • Jeffg166 on Late Night Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 5:55am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!