Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Democrats are back in array!

T R E 4 5 O N

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

When we show up, we win.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

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Reader Interactions

59Comments

  1. 1.

    Jerzy Russian

    It took me an entire weekend to install a replacement sink once. The dishwasher was much easier, although there was one critical step that I left out which made it necessary to pull it out again after I had it in place. Read the instructions twice before you start.

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    Good advice, Jerzy. I’m afraid our operation will be complicated by the fact that I selected a big, double-bowl ceramic farmhouse sink that weighs approximately 600 pounds. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now? Not so much…

  3. 3.

    MrSnrub

    My son has a swim meet and then it’s off to get pumpkins! Maybe we’ll even take a stroll thru the corn maze while we’re at it.

  4. 4.

    Jerzy Russian

    I am starting to have flashbacks. It took a long time to get the new sink in because one of the shut-off valves broke when I tried to remove the hose. I made several trips to Home Depot to sort things out. Even without that, it was a real pain in the ass reaching various parts, especially with a wrench. Looking back, $80 per hour for a plumber seems like a good deal.

  6. 6.

    Juju

    I’m closing the pool today. That should be fun.

    Wow, that sink sounds beautiful, but I wouldn’t want the ceramic part. That is a lot of maintenance and you have to be really careful with heavy pots. I’m just not that careful. I have a lovely low maintenance composit sink, gray. I tend to choose things that are near or are the color of dirt. You should post pics when all the work is done.

  8. 8.

    brettvk

    @Betty Cracker: Oh, how I envy you. The sink in my fixer-upper is extra small to fit into a miniature galley countertop; evidently it was retrofitted from a travel trailer. I dream about deep, big sinks of unmarred finish…

  10. 10.

    ThresherK

    I had a dishwasher part to replace this weekend already.

    Then the drum on the dryer stopped turning Thursday nite.

    I’m a handy enough sort, but a dryer is capable of plenty of destruction (house fire) if fixed wrong. And it’s 40 years old.

    (Disclaimer in my eco-defense: Humidity is still 115% outside. We have not reached that wonderful winter setting where work-clothes on the rack at 10pm will become bone dry at 6am.)

  11. 11.

    MomSense

    We just finished the kitchen part of our renovation. We are now at the painting and putting furniture back in phase.

    As much as it sucks–using the new kitchen is fantastic. I still can’t believe we were able to feed ourselves with the old one.

    Keep going through this last bit–definitely worth it!

  13. 13.

    PsiFighter37

    Probably going to make a trip to the Union Square Farmer’s Market here in NYC shortly. Even though there’s a Whole Foods on the other end of the park, it really is fantastic – fresh produce and free-range meats (even ostrich!) of all kinds available. While those are probably a bit more expensive than what you’d get in the supermarket, the vegetables, herbs, etc. are so much cheaper – as well as so much fresher. I’ve really taken a liking to it; it’s almost a given that we stop by. Given that we usually host a group of friends at our place for the Sunday night football games (and then Game of Thrones when the NFL season ends), it’s very convenient to pick up fresh ingredient’s for the next day’s dinner party.

    I anticipate today to be relatively quiet, though. Probably going to put some time into cleaning up the joint a little (it gets messy quickly), exercise a bit, and generally take it easy.

    Oh, and to continue from my question from last night – if I were to go do GOTV the weekend before Election Day, where should I go in Ohio?

  14. 14.

    Svensker

    The hubster volunteered to work 10-4 setting up a big Friends of the Library book sale today. Problem is, he also volunteered me.

    Grumpy.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Your girls are beautiful, Betty. I remember when they were fluffy little chicks, and adolescent poults, and now they are lovely sleek plump hens. They must be nice company.

  17. 17.

    JCT

    First day off after a rough on-service week! What I *want* to do is lie in bed. Instead, given that the beagles just woke me up at 6 AM by jumping on me, I’ll head into town for our farmers market (fresh eggs!) and then South Tucson to buy tortillas and hot chorizo for the week.

    Tonight getting together with friends to celebrate a new NIH grant – serious drinking.

    And good luck Betty, when I was looking at houses earlier in the year my husband’s main edict was that I had to find one with an already rennovated kitchen and bath! Looking forward to pics when you are done.

  19. 19.

    cmm

    Gorgeous hens! Are you in Florida? The yard greenery looks tropical. Our chickens seem quite happy but they have become 47%ers. No eggs in a couple of months and the molting excuse has worn out. The rooster isn’t even crowing! But they are at the back door every morning looking for their chicken feed handout…or is it wingout?

  20. 20.

    aimai

    I can’t post pictures here but I just found out my kitchen is on the front page of our architect’s web site and that people clip it all the time for their idea books (!) What a weird feeling. We have a huge ceramic farmer’s sink and I love it. I made only one mistake with it which was using a cheap little strainer for the central disposal unit (totally not necessary) which seems to have left a tiny permanent ring of scratches around the disposal. Other than that we’ve had it for six years and it looks like new. I’ve never had a problem with pots, pans, or keeping it clean. I would never go back to a smaller sink or one of those one and a half sinks with the disposal unit off to the side. The thing people seem to clip my kitchen for is actually that we have a row of glass doors and lit up cupboards at the ceiling level and we painted the inside of the cabinets hot red.

    As for me I’m going to go phone bank for Elizabeth Warren this morning. I was over at local headquarters and AL FRANKEN came and spoke to us yesterday and was he ever adorbs. I have high hopes that Scott Brown is sinking like a stone as voters “come home” to the Obama/Warren ticket.

    aimai

  22. 22.

    Schlemizel

    @ThresherK:

    If its an electric dryer its one of the easiest things in the world to repair. Ours is getting near 30 & I have replaced both heating coils and the drum bearing (sounds like bearings are your problem). The trickiest part is figuring out how to open the outside. Once inside look at the back & either see the axle the drum turns on or a small metal plate held on with 4 screws that some dryers have to cover the end.

    I happen to have a snap-ring pliers for removing the snap-ring that holds the axle in place but its hardly necessary. pull the drum out the front & you have access to everything that ever needs fixing. Heating elements are cheap, there are two identical ones & they seem to only go out one at a time.

    While you have the dryer open its a great time to clean up all the stray lint that builds up. That will prevent a dryer fire.

  26. 26.

    R-Jud

    The Bean and I walked up the road to a local place that does a Saturday hog roast. We took a couple of sandwiches (with stuffing and cracklings) and some hot apple cider to the park. Ducks were fed, a football was kicked, and leaves were collected. Most agreeable.

  27. 27.

    HRA

    Kitchen redo has been on my mind for weeks. Right now finishing stages of the laundry room need to be done. In truth, this whole house needs a lot of redo or finishing.

    Today I am going to be celebrated by half the family for a milestone birthday at brunch. Tomorrow on the day, the other half will do the same for a dinner. As one wise child said when they were in deep discussion over this day, you can’t mean you don’t know she has never been keen on reminding her of her age.

  28. 28.

    Poopyman

    From This Week in Science:

    Hats off to ABL from Balloon Juice, the Cole monster explains her new role injecting science and reason into the war on women’s health.

    Apparently somebody’s getting a rep around the intertubes.

  29. 29.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Long ride on the bike and then job apps – a few positions that better fit my background, talents, and interests have popped up in the stat gov’t and I intend to try to take advantage.

  30. 30.

    Poopyman

    Oh, and now that the master bath is done (we paid somebody else to do it), I have to move everything back into the MBR and empty the upstairs hall to make room for the gutting of the other bath.

    I suspect ibuprofen will be involved by the end of the day.

  31. 31.

    Amir Khalid

    Fashion query: I have a pair of white Levi’s 501s I bought in San Diego during Bill Clinton’s first term. They still fit, and are in excellent condition because I’ve never really figured out what goes with white pants. I still haven’t, and any suggestions would be appreciated.

  32. 32.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Amir Khalid: Well, in my part of the US, I would say that you need to leave them in the closet until the end of May, but you are in a different climate. Try black. Or wear them with a simple, neutral colored jacket or blazer.

  34. 34.

    kdaug

    @Amir Khalid:
    Paint splatters.

    I’d go with red and teal predominately, but make sure you have at least 5 different shades.

    If you can put paint in your hair, too, all the better.

    (Added bonus if you actually paint something other than your jeans. Purely optional, of course.)

  36. 36.

    gbear

    One of my cats helpfully pointed out where mice were coming into the kitchen and stealing her food. I plugged the gap, put down a sticky trap, and had the first mouse within an hour. I put down a second trap last night and this morning the trap was 4 feet away but no mouse in the trap.
    I ran to the hardware store this morning so I could be home in time for new living room furniture delivery. I’m having nightmares about how they’re going to get the new couch through my 32″x76″ front door opening.

    I let new cat Edward have the run of the house for a while as old cat Halley looked om disapprovingly. Edward got really brave at one point and walked right up to Halley nose to nose. It lasted for a nervous 3 seconds, then both cats hissed and Edward scampered off. Today they’re segregated until the furniture is delivered and in place, and after I run some errands. Tomorrow I hope to give them lots of time together.

    Right now, learning how to type with a cat lying on my keyboard tray and right arm….

  40. 40.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Betty Cracker: In one of our renovations I had to remove a 72 inch double bowl cast iron / ceramic sink/drainboard. I rented an engine hoist.

  41. 41.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    As for what I’m up to, this afternoon will be my first canvassing shift for Obama. Madame Shotgun will be doing data entry at the same time.

  42. 42.

    dance around in your bones

    Chickens are better than geese when you are feeding them – at least they are happy to see you and don’t try to bite your ass when you bend over.

    Don’t ask me how I know this.

    ETA:We have recently been having to put duct tape on the corner of the dryer door to keep it running, most likely because the two year old likes to stand on it to “help” with the laundry.

    He’s a sweetie.

  43. 43.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @dance around in your bones: Geese are bastards. When I was a kid, one of my uncles offered me five bucks if I would pet one of the geese at his friend’s farm. Needless to say, I did not get the money. Geese taste pretty good though.

  44. 44.

    suzanne

    I have a hookup for cheap quartz countertops (so I’ll look rich), and I think those look best with stainless steel undercount sinks, so when we finally commit to remodeling the kitchen, that’s what I’m gonna do. I want a very modern interior.

  45. 45.

    dance around in your bones

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    They really are shits, aren’t they? My husband had to rescue me once because I got charged by a goose and was dangling it by the neck – afraid to let go- the bastid (not my husband. He saved my ass).

    We lived on a farm that was a winter-over place for Canadian geese, but we also had a neighbor who kept chickens, geese and various other fowl who I got to feed when they (neighbors) were out of town. Hence, the ass-biting/neck-dangling stories.

    I remember once looking out the kitchen window and seeing a dog chasing the Canadian geese around the pond. Looked closer and realized it was MY dog. Oh, the embarrassment.

    One thing I can say in the geese’s defense is that they are excellent early alarm systems. They will hear a car or person from a mile away and start the honking.

  49. 49.

    dance around in your bones

    @Maude:

    Oh, gosh, Maude – it would have been mass slaughter – we literally had hundreds of (visiting) geese. Plus there WERE no cell phones back then. Plus, the one I had to dangle/strangle by the neck was one of my neighbor/friend’s pets!

    Unpossible.

    I still hate geese, unless they are flying overhead. Even then they drop large quantities of gooey green-black stuff for you to slip in.

    I’ve actually never eaten a goose.

  50. 50.

    Yutsano

    @dance around in your bones:

    I’ve actually never eaten a goose

    The flavour is similar to duck but richer. Goose is usually fattier than duck, plus there’s more to it. It cooks very similar to roasting a turkey, and it takes well to stuffings like sausage-apple.

    As an aside, I horrified a Canadian friend of mine about this. I told him what our family’s traditional Christmas dinner was and he couldn’t believe it. His family did nothing but goose. Then again they came from Wales.

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    Enjoying our weekend getaway. It’s cloudy and drizzling this morning, which gave us an excuse to turn on the fireplace. Getting ready to get dressed and go yarn shopping.

  54. 54.

    dance around in your bones

    @Yutsano:

    I guess we should have killed some of those mofos, and eaten them just for revenge.

    As an aside, my friend raised a couple turkeys one year (free range, fed on leftovers thrown out the kitchen window + grain) and had a butcher friend come out and kill/pluck/gut whatever the heck you do, and we had them for Thanksgiving that year.

    The one thing my friend said was that it made her almost nauseous stuffing the turkey because it was WARM. She was used to frozen turkeys(defrosted).

    I have to say that they were some of the most delicious turkey that I’ve ever eaten.

    Poor little fellas.

  56. 56.

    Jerzy Russian

    @WereBear:

    Just because you can DIY doesn’t always mean you should.

    Yes indeed. We hired a local contractor (a guy and his two sons) to redo the bathrooms. I would not have been able to jackhammer the slab to move pipes myself. They did most of the other things like wire fixtures and hang tiles about 5 times as fast as I could have done, with much nicer results in the end. One amazing item: the father (who was the “boss”) rewired a fixture and moved a junction box without turning off the main power. I asked him about this, and he made it sound like it was a bother to turn off the power, and that he has only rarely gotten a “jolt”.

  57. 57.

    Juju

    @suzanne: When you get your sink, remember deeper is better. Get a sink that is at least eight inches, if not more. I love my 10″ deep sink.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    @trollhattan:
    Actually, I haven’t bought new Levi’s in over a decade, and given their current prices here (about twice the US retail price) I think I’d rather just get my 16- and 17-year-old ones mended. My most recent jeans purchase was a pair of black Uniqlos, which are only two-thirds the price of Levi’s here. I wouldn’t buy Glenn Beck’s jeans (ew!) at any price, let alone the designer prices he’s charging.

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