We need some pets. This little fellow was sent in recently, and the owner thinks he sees a little Lily in him. I agree:
And this lucky lady was just recently adopted, and according to the owner, he had resisted getting a dog for years until the Lily stories made him change his mind:
I’ll gladly take credit for that.
BTW, not sure how many of you read Cleek, but he has had some great photography lately. Just scroll.
*** Update **
New Monk tonight.
General Winfield Stuck
They are both cuties. Credit earned Senor Cole.
Punchy
Haley Joel Osment owns a white dog? Had NO idea.
RedKitten
Yay! Happy, happy doggies! Thanks John — we desperately needed to be hauled back from the abyss after reading about all of the stupidity and evil going on lately.
MikeJ
I dunno, that looks more like a little boy than a lady. Either way, it’s good the dog decide to adopt.
wobblybits
Long time lurker but I had to surface to thank you for the pet pics. This has been one bullshit day.
Tattoosydney
Thanks, Dad.
Crashman06
Just finished bottling my first batch of home brew. Made a huge mess but it smelled pretty good. With any luck, I’ll have a nice Belgian stlye dubbel in two to four weeks.
beltane
We just added 10 chickens and a kitten to our trio of two cats and a black lab. The chickens are not terribly photogenic, though, not like those two sweeties up there.
gbear
Hillary has the best quote ever about Obama while talking about John Bolton (via crooks & liars):
ha.
NotMax
Worst case scenario: Crist appoints anyone surnamed Bush to the Senate.
Next-to-worst case: Katherine Harris.
Incertus
We’ll be down to three cats on Sunday, when we adopt out the kittens we rescued from our back yard. We’re keeping the momma–we’ve named her Romana, in true Doctor Who geekout fashion.
By the way, remember when Hitler references were beyond the pale? Seems so long ago.
JK
@gbear: That’s great.
With all of the non-stop over the top wingnut craziness, this felt like the longest fucking week ever.
Where are all of the blowhards who blasted Moveon.org over the Bush Hitler comparison now that Limbaugh has compared Obama to Hitler?
General Winfield Stuck
Yes. It’s been awhile since I’ve viewed Cleek’s stunning photography, It has gotten better. Inspired me to get a DSLR last year.
demkat620
@RedKitten: Hey RK, how goes it in these latter days?
demkat620
@beltane: Do you plan to eat these chickens?
beltane
@demkat620: They’re for eggs and fertilizer. My husband thought it would be cool to eat a couple, but they’re very friendly (for chickens) and my kids have taken a liking to them.
JK
Anyone know of any websites besides YouTube where I can find last week’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher? YouTube only had a few segments of the broadcast available.
shelley matheis
That first pic made me laugh out loud! With delight.
demkat620
@beltane: Cool. I have never been near a live chicken. Or cows. Touched a horse once and a goat at the zoo.
But the delicious ones, not so much.
And yes, I am aware I would not survive a global pandemic like in The Stand.
MikeJ
If you only need audio:
http://www.hbo.com/video/podcasts/billmaher/749389_dl.mp3
direct and legal from HBO.
I prefer the audio only for hiking, but ymmv. If you need/want video I’d check the usual sites like tpb.
Isik
That “little fellow” could be the twin of a little mutt we adopted about a month ago. Since we know nothing about our one year old’s background, I’d love to find out what kind of a mix that one is.
Just Some Fuckhead
@beltane:
Speaking of eggs, slightly OT but WTF?
Olliander
Wow. Lou Dobbs needs to retire. Fast. Just finished watching his segment on the townhall protests with two journalists.
Steve Kornacki was dumbfounded at the obvious onset of dementia by Dobbs.
That was hard to watch.
gypsy howell
Is that a golden doodle puppy?
geg6
Doggies! Adorable doggies! Gawd, I needed that. Politics has me really down. And though I love my job, it’s been a tough week. I’m a student aid officer and the craziness of this time of year for me has been x10 what with the complete overhaul of the GI Bill, the complete paralysis on the state budget in Harrisburg, and most depressing, the poor souls who have been flattened by the economic chaos. I have been doing dozens of professional judgment reviews this week and every story is one of a formerly prosperous middle class family circling the drain but doing whatever it takes to send their kids to college. It’s hard to hear and document and then analyze all that tragedy. I had one review this week for a dependency status review due to the fact that the parents could not be involved in his financial process because the father was murdered in November and his mother was currently on trial for the murder. This poor suburban kid with no previous sense of the tragedy in the world. As I said, tough week. So, thanks John, for the doggies.
Trinity
I so needed this. Yay doggies!
JK
@MikeJ:
Thanks very much for the info
General Winfield Stuck
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Chickenshit.
Linkmeister
Cute pups.
Hey, remember Politifact from the election? That link goes to the page that has their health care truth-squadding. It’s highly useful.
RedKitten
Doing all right. I’m at the point, though, where if I even have a fart stuck sideways I start wondering if I’m in labour. Had a “membrane sweep” yesterday, which is why every little twitch makes me think, “Is this it? No? Okay, is THIS it, then?”
RedKitten
beltane: how are you adjusting to the…erm…rather distinctive aroma of chickenshit? The summer I got my pilot’s license, the flight school was downwind from a chicken farm, and man, oh man…it was memorable.
Crusty Dem
@gypsy howell:
I was going to guess labradoodle, ~10 wks old..
Jean
Both of those pups are absolutely adorable. They take the Palin right out of the night! Glad to hear that Cole’s adoption story has inspired others to give other dogs/cats a home.
jacy
John – we adopted our Wilson last week thanks to your experience with Lily, and then my clostest friend — who had resisted getting another dog after her beloved last one died — adopted a shelter dog after my repeated anecdotes. Both Wilson and Woody have happily adjusted to winning the doggie lottery, and life is good.
At this rate, you’re going to be responsible for a whole army of happy puppies.
pika
Yay–pet pictures! I’m in Rachacha near (I guess) DougJ and am just depressed enough by all this crap to determine to attend Massa’s townhall at the end of the month. I only got to this by walking the dogs on this gorgeous day in Ellison Park. I’m still not feeling the earlier rage about the journalists crossing into NK, though, John.
John Cole
@jacy: Pictures!
beltane
@Redkitten: The smell isn’t too bad with only ten of them. It helps that it doesn’t get too hot here, and I plan to force the kids to clean out the coop and deposit the yuck on the compost pile. All this work for the promise of super-high omega 3 eggs.
Violet
@RedKitten:
Was it a commercial chicken farm, like for Tyson’s or something? Go watch “Food, Inc.” and that’ll explain the stench. A full on free range, organic chicken farm isn’t so bad. And a couple chickens don’t smell much at all. A good friend of mine has two chickens. They get one or two eggs a day and the chickens are like pets. One of them follows her everywhere and jumps in her lap when she sits down. I’ve never noticed any kind of distinctive aroma in their yard.
Thanks for the doggie pictures. The first one does look a bit like Lily and the second one looks so happy to have a new home. Both are adorable. Makes me happy after such a dreary week of political news.
jacy
Just fired off a picture of Woody – poor Wilson’s still waiting for me to get my shit together….Hell, my kids are lucky I have pictures of them.
steve s
I was just in Wal-Mart a minute ago and saw a $3 shiraz. What the hell I thought. Going to try it later with an appropriately paired entree.
(a Red Baron singles pizza.)
Chuck Butcher
The other day I visited the last guy I employed and let go as the housing market crashed. He is circling the drain at age 54 with 40 years in construction. Taking him back on is out of the question since I’m wondering if the business will make enough to cover the cost of liability insurance and bonding this year. I have just enough cushion to keep me from collapse for awhile longer. I have personally taken not a cent from the business for over 6 months.
General Winfield Stuck
@beltane:
I grew up on a farm surrounding by hordes of chickens, pigs, cows, and your odd goat. That’s smell was like country fresh perfume to me/ Though I doubt it would be these days.
General Winfield Stuck
And speaking of wild life, here in the desert SW, we have a lot of strange creepy crawlies around. They aren’t usually a bother, but there is a tiny ant that travels like the soldier ants in South America. They form trains from the outside to inside looking for some takeout.
Lately, they are everywhere, and though tiny have very big bites. It’s been a battle keeping the little shits out of the house like never before, and since I won’t use any kind of pesticide, I made a bleach solution to spray on them that works for a short time, but they come right back..
The Horror!
amorphous
Mark Levin, on Hannity, just now said “The President is at war with the American people,” and that if there is any violence at the town halls or if anyone gets hurt, the White House bears responsibility for that.
Uh huh.
Peter J
The dog also looks a bit like the dog with the fork in the head. Luckily the fork is missing.
Just Some Fuckhead
I could forgive the concern trolling, steve s, but the walmart shopping is one bridge too far. Asshole.
Incertus
@amorphous: Yeah, saw that coming.
General Winfield Stuck
@amorphous:
It must be blithe existence to go thru life breaking shit and never taking responsibility for it. We thought we were done with that after enduring 8 years of Bush and GOP fealty. Not so Gracey. The beat goes on with “we get to kick you lieberals in the nuts and you can’t do nothin’ about it or we’ll cry”
burnspbesq
I got the Apolitical Blues. No politics this weekend. Just work and chores and seeing my kid perform at South Coast Repertory.
And maybe some “Mad Men.” One of the partners I work with says I sound exactly like Don Draper. I’m not hearing it.
If your taste in music is stuck in the early 80s, and you haven’t heard this yet, check it out. I think you likee.
http://www.holsapplestamey.com/
gwangung
South Coast? Da-yum……
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: I find the $3 Shiraz redemptive, don’t you?
steve s: May we know who is the producer of said value wine? I think it may be of interest to BOB as well.
parksideq
If you missed Maddow’s first segment, watch the repeat at 11. Her show this whole week should be required viewing for all Americans.
parksideq
I miss the edit function. Le sigh.
To continue, reformed fundie Frank Schaffer was a guest on Maddow, and basically called out the right-wing syndicate for all its dog-whistling, racist fearmongering paranoia. He doesn’t think the healthcare smear campaign will end well (read: non-violently). Sadly, neither do I.
Some fringe idiot is bound to “exercise” his Second Amendment rights at this rate. Jesus wept.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W:
I only make allowances for walmart shopping when one is gifted with a walmart gift card. I’m sure this was the case with steve s and I overreacted.
Linkmeister
PZ Myers of Pharyngula went to the Creation Museum with ~250 fellow atheists today. Hilarity ensued.
steve s
Stop concern trolling Red Baron, you concern troll. Haven’t popped the cork yet. It’s by Oak Leaf vineyards. Vintage, uh, probably “springish”.
Fulcanelli
Rachel just had Frank Schaeffer on and he doled out the final word on the health care birther mobs and their corporate paymasters. Awesome on many levels and long overdue.
Demo Woman
Good evening all, I am drinking Talus Lodi Chardonnay which sounds down right evil, if you ask me. It was free and really isn’t to bad.
Today I went to see “Julie & Julia” which is a delightful film filled with a few slams at McCarthy and repubs in general.
Thank you Julia Child and Nora Ephron.
The madness on the air waves finally convinced me to unhook the direct tv and switch to antenna. John of course had to mention that “Monk” is on tonight. Thanks John, let’s hope that USA shows it online tomorrow.
Sarah Palin is downright evil.
Montysano
Sweet FSM, what an ugly, toxic week it’s been.
Here is a lovely video of the Omo people of Ethiopa, who obviously have no time for watching videos of old white people screaming at each other, and no interest in discussing it. I’ll never go Galt, but going Omo doesn’t sound so bad.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Did you notice that BOB and I commented at exactly same time, 1:46, in an earlier thread? That proves conclusively that we are two different entities or that one of us (I still haven’t ruled out BOB as being behind the my persona) is trying to throw everyone off the trail.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: OMIGOD.
You mean to tell me I missed a simultaneous BOB-gasm?
I’m sick.
Indylib
@RedKitten: I’ve been in labor 3 times, believe me when I tell you that you will know when the time has really come.
steve s
Actually i was at wal-mart because the dressings I buy don’t have good squeezy bottle nozzles. Dressing makers who do use nozzles make the nozzle too big so you use it faster. Having the right size aperture, that makes salad preparation so much easier. Only place in town with them is wal-mart, for 97c. While I was there I got a few things because I’m broke. I’m a professional math tutor and right now not only are we in a hideous recession that cut my income by over half, but we’re also in the period between summer school and the end of the first fall grading period, which means my monthly income has dropped another 50% to approximately $400 a month.
Wal-mart was actually above my price range right now. 90% of what I buy at the moment is from within the buy-one-get-one selection at Food Lion.
steve s
Shouldn’t there be tastings for dressings? How am I supposed to know which of the 75 variations to buy?
TJD
@gypsy howell: That is indeed a Golden Doodle (foreground) and a birthday boy (background).
I am – for a day – the Greatest Parent Ever.
Montysano
Here’s the fantasy that just spun through my herb-ed brain: Obama announces that, through private donations, 90 minutes of prime time airtime has been purchased for a health care debate. But this will be a true, reality based, fact-checked debate; if someone spouts bullshit, maybe a buzzer goes off. And, as President, he would like to insist that Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, McConnell …… who ever the fuck they want to bring ….. be present.
It’ll never happen, and maybe it shouldn’t happen.
burnspbesq
@gwangung:
“South Coast? Da-yum……”
I’m hoping some admissions officers will have the same reaction in a couple of years.
burnspbesq
I’m in a 60s music mood tonight. Just finished listening to “Revolver.” What should be next? Hmmm … maybe “The Who Sell Out.”
Tattoosydney
On the basis that more pictures of doggies and flowers are probably always welcome on a shitty week, when the wingnuts went even more insane…
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@Linkmeister: McArdle was on Marketplace today saying the exact same things about health care that Ezra Klein destroyed her on. It was interesting to actually hear her soulless monotone. It was the identical sound of her written word makes in my brain…
Tattoosydney
@Tattoosydney:
Bugger.
Doggie
Red and Green
Before the storm
demkat620
@Indylib: Oh agreed. You’ll know. You’ll definitely know.
But the drugs are good.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@RedKitten: If you had that done, you are getting down to a matter of hours not days. Good luck!
Just Some Fuckhead
@steve s: steve s, I think there are really only about a half dozen basic dressings and the other 70 are variations on the standard themes. If I buy dressing, it’s usually something in the vinaigrette family. Usually I divide the fluid ounces by the price and go that way but sometimes I just gotta try that really big heavy $6 bottle of greek with the feta cheese in it.
Lately I’ve been making my own dressing using red wine vinegar, olive oil and some spices like garlic, celery seed and pepper.
Whenever I order a salad out, I try to get raspberry vinaigrette. Chik-Fil-a has a nice little side salad and a good berry vinaigrette.
Tattoosydney
@Tattoosydney:
Agh. First my links vanish. Then the post with the correct links is moderated.
Can someone save me?
Pedro haz a tongue.
Fulcanelli
@Chuck Butcher: Damn Chuck, that really sucks.
A few years back before I became self employed I was in management at a car dealership – Parts Department.
The last guy I hired, which was a year before I quit the business I started out paying him about 26K/yr. with a good benefits package, 401k, etc. You would think I handed him the keys to god’s whorehouse, he was so grateful. He was never out sick and was the best worker I ever had. We became great friends and I still miss joking around with him.
He got layed off at 57 years old after working at the same company for 27 years. And I started him out making more money than he was making when he got pink slipped from his last gig. After 27 Years. Do you think it was because he was a black man? I do.
His company pulled up stakes and moved somewhere over on the pacific rim. After 27 years this guy wasn’t making 26 grand a year and the company (a manufacturing outfit) pulled out to move over seas to increase profits. I don’t know how people make it week to week these days.
Michelle
“I’ll gladly take credit for that.”
You are a better person than I am.
Demo Woman
@TJD: That’s a neat story. How old is the pup and has he chewed any priced positions yet?
madmommy
Yay puppies! The birthday boy has got a best friend for years to come. The hard part is getting the lad to feed, water and walk the dog. In our house that has always fallen to me, no matter the heartfelt promises to the contrary.
steve s
thanks for the tips. My exp. is limited. I always hated salad, but in my late 20s I finally had a great Caesar Salad and I Understood. Since then I’ve been a caesar nut, sometimes going multiple days at a time on just chicken caesar salads. In the store I tried some Kraft and didn’t care for it, found Ken’s to be better. Haven’t much explored the Newman’s Own and other more expensive brands yet, but I will. I’m going to try making my own in a few days, mainly so i can use olive oil. the stuff in the store seems to almost always have soybean oil. I just have stuck with the store-bought stuff so far because emulsions can be a PITA. But I’m looking forward to making my own. And to trying the expensiver store kinds and comparing them. But I really would like a taste-test of 30 or so types. Being a former coffee maven, I know that you can only detect the subtleties when you can compare back and forth in quick succession.
BTW the Oak Leaf stuff is the kind of overpowerfully fruity stuff my gf likes but I find too intense.
Sentient Puddle
@burnspbesq: I’ve been on a general Beatles kick myself. So me, I’d say Abbey Road.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Hey! Fuckhead! BTW… How did it go, moving your office from your work office to your home office this week?
Were any salad dressings harmed in the relocation efforts?
steve s
I used to be supercapitalist, and so did my friend Mike. When we were naive arrogant 20 yro idiots like McMegan. You know the drill. Now we look around and see corporations throwing employees out in the cold in order to keep the Hermes scarf pillows in the corporate jet and think, “how come nobody’s dead yet? How come people are just putting up with this stuff?”
(not, of course, that I advocate violence, Mr. Law Enforcement Officials)
Lewis Black has a good bit about this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAsmDG9SXYA
burnspbesq
@Sentient Puddle:
An excellent choice. I imagine I’ll get there some time this weekend.
Seebach
Jesus. Keith Olbermann going over Erik Prince’s biography is terrifying.
Anne Laurie
THANK you, John, for a break from the ugliness!
TattooSydney, Pedro is adorable. And I don’t say that just because he’s got a face like our beloved Zevon… if you can imagine a 15-lb. version of Pedro with a longer coat, that is. (I have *got* to figure out how to embed photos, dammit.)
Seebach
Just a hint: Blackwater thought of itself as the descendants of the Knights Templar, and wanted to kill as many Muslims as possible in a replay of the fucking Crusades.
Paid for with your tax dollars, no less.
asiangrrlMN
Happy sigh. Thanks, Cole. I needed a good dose of cute and happy puppies.
fake hubby, I love your pics. You need to post more.
Chuck B. and Fulcanelli, my sympathies to both of you. I can’t imagine how hard it is have to lay off people in a time like this.
Cole, Tunchinator, please?????
asiangrrlMN
@steve s: I forgive you your concern trolling because you posted a link of one of my political crushes, Lewis Black. I’ve seen it before, but I can watch Lew alllll day long.
mcd410x
Arsenal has to play Celtic. Let’s count the ways that could end badly.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Thanks for asking. What a week it has been. I had a ton of stuff to move, three computers, two big UPS units, a desk, chair, about 20 books, a fan, assorted “dad” stuff, boxes and boxes of paperwork..
Anyway, when I got ready to move the desk, I made a startling discovery. I don’t have any moving friends left. Ya know, the kinda folks ya can just call up and say, hey, can ya give me a hand moving this desk this afternoon? I guess I’d settled into the work-as-friends deal combined with the fake online friends which equals exactly ZERO moving friends when everyone gets laid off at yer company.
Anyway, I moved everything myself except the desk – with my still-healing broken hand.
I’m wondering if there is anyone on Balloon-Juice in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia that wants to be my new RL buddy. You will occasionally be required to buy me beer and stroke my massive ego. And we have a desk to move tomorrow morning around 10am.
TJD
@madmommy: Yup, we have two little beings to train. The little guy (and his brother) are off to a good start with the puppy though, very conscientious.
@Demo Woman: Daisy is 13 weeks old and hasn’t chewed anything more valuable than a flip-flop yet. Funny, we just finished a grueling 3-year home renovation… we are determined to take any more damaging chewing in stride.
Tattoosydney
@Anne Laurie:
Thanks, Anne Laurie. He is an adorable bundle of trouble with a waggy tail (and a few screws loose in his brain). I don’t know how people get through their day without a cat or a dog or something feathered or scaly to share it with.
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Thanks. I suspect I blog whore my photos on here more than enough though. Particularly with so many other people amongst the BJ minions who create amazing art.
steve s
The Lewis Black bit is especially funny to me because I had a friend who worked for Adelphia (and WorldCom, what karma) and who said, over long smoke breaks at a coffeeshop in Chapel Hill, what unbelievable pricks those guys were, “Rightsizing resources” aka Firing him and his friends, while stealing everything they could get their hands on. My gradual transformation from libertarian idiot to democrat has been largely through examples of the rich boning everyone else ten ways to sunday, and realizing that historically, the only good societies occur when those guys are taxed and the money spent on society.
burnspbesq
@mcd410x:
I don’t think I can count that high. Bummer, dude.
I really don’t like the new qualifying setup for the Champions League, with the champions of the crappy leagues only having to play each other. There are going to be at least five really bad teams in the group stage.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: the fake online friendsI, for one, am damn proud to be counted as one among this group of very elite e-pretenders.
If you ever need me, I’m fake here for you, Fuckhead.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I, for one, am damn proud to be counted as one among this group of very elite e-pretenders.
If you ever need me, I’m fake here for you, Fuckhead.
(I’m just doin’ the whole post over with no apologies since this site SUCKS and John is responsible for all of it, and all the other stuff that is bad and wrong in my life, and on this planet, as a whole, for that matter. And probably in the entire universe, if we really thought about it.)
Demo Woman
@TJD: True story, I had a golden that I knew originated from a back yard breeder but he was so cute.. Anyway he had chewing teeth but alone, he was fine. When he was 6, I introduced a Shar Pei, that did not have the chewing teeth but was more than happy to jump up on the sofas and throw down cushions for the golden to chew on. Any way pillows can be replaced but one day I walked in with a neighbor to find a few chunks of the oriental gone.
The neighbor was shocked and being the resilient sort, I said help me move it around so the chewed portion is under the sofa. My ex let me have that special rug which I still have with the chunks hidden and the dogs long gone into that special doggy heaven.
Some days you might say “what was I thinking” but those days will be few and far between.
gypsy howell
@TJD:
I have one too — “Cosmo”. A wonderful, sweet and loyal dog. Mr Howell says we should have named him Velcro – he’s a walking burr-ball in the fall when he comes in from the woods..
Of Bugs and Books
@ General Winfield Stuck,
For ants scouting the kitchen, etc., a five per cent dilution of Lysol All Purpose Cleaner, kills on contact at least a couple kinds of the ‘little brown ants’ here in the PNW. Seems to also eliminate the communication trails. A stream pattern can also knock house flies out of the air; long enough in a puddle and it also kills them. And thanks to all for the health care links in various posts – will end up in e-mails to (maybe) counter chain e-mails that for some reason never include any hyperlink citations.
Chuck Butcher
@Fulcanelli:
It sucks really big ones, he isn’t just a former employee – he’s also a friend. I’ve known him quite awhile and picked him up when an HVAC outfit misused and then laid him off. Not as good money since he knew little about my type of work other than the basic ideas any construction worker will get. He got to be my lead man. No fireball at production but clear thinking and very few mistakes and no complaining (damn it’s hot/cold – sure).
He doesn’t blame me and knows the second I can make a payroll I’ll put him to work but I still feel f****ng guilty when I see him. Irrational since I kept him on after it made no business sense, but hope springs eternal – ya know. Not one damn benefit other than the questionable ones of my company and staying in shape w/o a gym.
Very few realize how hard we work and for what little reward – other than each other and the work itself.
Michael D.
That’s some impressive photography on Cleek’s page! Thanks for sharing!
I have a nice macro lens. Just need to get good at it!
cleek
JC, thanks for the plug :)