Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

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

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

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

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Let me file that under fuck it.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

This fight is for everything.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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157Comments

  3. 3.

    catperson

    At the risk of losing my BJ bonafides, *hugs*, Cole. I lost my cat in February and it still isn’t any easier. I miss her and I’m sure you miss Tunch. I hope it gets easier.

  7. 7.

    fuzz

    Tunch is the official blog mascot. All due respect to the new cat, and the dogs, but Tunch is basically the Balloon Juice official logo.

  8. 8.

    debit

    No other cat can replace him, but I know Steve is doing his best to fill the hole in your heart.

    ETA: Also, too, the kitten I trapped on the Greenway is no longer cowering and hiding, but actively seeking pets and attention. Another week and we’ll go to the vet for a clean bill of health, and then start introducing him to the rest of the pets.

  13. 13.

    Villago Delenda Est

    What a magnificent fat bastard Tunch was.

    Just magnificent.

    Steve may be a great cat…he certainly sounds like one, but Tunch’s paws are huge to fill.

  15. 15.

    lojasmo

    @Corner Stone:
    And it is glorious that you were here FIRST to point that out. You shall be noted, going forward, as history’s most worthwhile blog commenter. Thank you for your service, kind citizen.

  19. 19.

    spudgun

    *sigh* He wasn’t even my cat and yet I find myself thinking about him occasionally and getting sad.

    Tunch was one of a kind. Sending hugs…

  21. 21.

    srv

    Little known fact: there is no lack of mustard in lolcat heaven.

    There are also many dirigibles requiring mooring cats.

  23. 23.

    serena1313

    Tunch was a beauty. He does live on in our hearts & minds.

    John, just give it time. The deep sorrow and pain you are feeling will eventually heal. But the love will always always remain.

  24. 24.

    Cain

    I hear you Cole. I miss my two cats. Especially KitKat. There hasn’t been a day that has gone by that I have not thought of him. :-( It has been 4 years now.

  25. 25.

    CTVoter

    Sigh.

    Thanks, John Cole, for sharing so much about Tunch. I never met him, and I still miss that gorgeous beastie. That cat was so loved by his human. Fortunate cat.

    /Lurker

  26. 26.

    waratah

    I need some tech help. Can you download photos from a camera with wifi ability overseas?
    Will charges be excessive?

  28. 28.

    max

    @srv: Little known fact: there is no lack of mustard in lolcat heaven.

    But there are an ABUNDANCE of uh, carpeted trees for the humans monkeys to climb. And also an endless assortment of rakes, hoes, slippery marble floors with unbacked carpeting, banana peels, pools of clear water, sliding glass doors, glass tabletops and of course, manholes without covers.

    max
    [‘Kittehs are endlessly entertained!’]

  30. 30.

    Felonius Monk

    It looks to me like this picture was taken right after Tunch hid the mustard. He seems to have that self-satisfied look that says “See Cole, I can fuck up your day anytime I want.”

    Thank you John for the remembrance. We all miss him too.

  34. 34.

    JenJen

    Sitting by a beautiful, peaceful Tennessee lake, just saw a shooting star. Cheers, Tunch!

    If Tennessee isn’t the most beautiful state, then I don’t know life. #vacation

    @Yatsuno Hugs to you, and always!

  36. 36.

    spudgun

    @Suzanne: You know, I didn’t like the way folks jumped on you during the whole pit bull argument and I’m actually on your side on that one, but seriously – bit of a low blow there.

  38. 38.

    Felonius Monk

    @Jane2: Someone commented a couple of nights ago that they had followed John’s suggestion and bought a Furminator. When used on their cat they got this huge pile of fur and a jar of mustard. So I guess anything is possible. :)

  40. 40.

    Yatsuno

    @efgoldman: I will say this: the back country of Georgia is absolutely stunning. I will also say that some of the Low Country folk back in them woods are downright scary.

  43. 43.

    Jane2

    @JenJen: It’s beautiful, but very very weird culturally. I went to Mule Days…wtf is wrong with people who would turn a traditional route to the slave auction into a celebration of mules complete with Governor, UT football coach, and Honey BooBoo clones? And have no conscious clue of what it was historically?

  45. 45.

    Jane2

    @Felonius Monk: LOL I loved that comment! And doubly so because I too bought a furminator based on John’s experience….and I swear you could have hidden a case of mustard in the undercoat I removed from my two ragdolls.

  47. 47.

    The Moar You Know

    I feel you, John. Lost my 16 year old lab mix day before yesterday. Larger than life, like Tunch, not so much sizewise but she owned the neighborhood and everyone loved her dearly. She went downhill so fast, not even one week from healthy happy old dog to getting put down on the front lawn. I haven’t slept since then. Maybe tonight.

    It’s very hard to get used to the absence of a loved one. You are fortunate, John. I am not in a position to get another dog, probably won’t be for a few years.

  49. 49.

    JenJen

    @Jane2: It’s a little weird, culturally. But damn, the people here are so nice, and I even ventured into Gatlinburg to see what that was all about (old-timey photos, fudge shops and arcades). Alls I know is I am sitting in a cabin overlooking Douglas Lake (thank you, FDR and the TVA) and Tennessee is beautiful.

  54. 54.

    Jane2

    @JenJen: The people are lovely! But you know, I find that all over the USA, even in Texas in areas with Ron Paul painted on barn roofs. They’re friendly, have the same concerns that we all do…but there’s this huge disconnect with history. And of course in the south, it’s compounded by Reconstruction and all that….I can’t pretend to understand so just shut up and say, “Why yes, I’d love a fried pie”.

  56. 56.

    Jane2

    @efgoldman: I read that and commented. It’s not because it’s Alabama…I wish I could understand the South, but then I look at South Dakota and think do you not “get” Custer vs. Pine Ridge? Obviously not. And I’d like to feel really superior but I can assure you that a book called “None is too Many” about Canada having the worst record in the world of accepting Jewish refugees in ww2 is sadly accurate, and that very few Canadians would know or acknowledge that. Historical context may be for other cultures to define.

  58. 58.

    Ted & Hellen

    Holy shit.

    Just read thru a Kerry interview in which he somehow manages, in spite of the gallons of blood flecked drool dripping from his fangs, to agitate for WAR.

    Judging from the appalling lack of self awareness, the blood lust, and that new face we’re supposed to believe is just a horrendously bad botox/facelift, it’s pretty clear Kerry has been assimilated to the clan of the Lizard People.

    Seriously, wtf?

  61. 61.

    Suffern ACE

    @Ted & Hellen: I’m convinced that his tenure will be short. Unfortunately what is next in line for that position isn’t much better. But someone has to take the fall for the humiliation that is coming and it might as well be Kerry.

  62. 62.

    Dead Ernest

    @The Moar You Know:
    I was just thinking of you earlier this evening, thinking of your post about the sad news.
    I don’t have any advice, we all suffer our grief in our own ways. Just wanted to let you know someone was thinking of you out in the world, beyond the computer screens.
    Best,

  67. 67.

    Yatsuno

    @Suffern ACE:

    I’m convinced that his tenure will be short.

    This could be true, but I don’t think it will be over Syria necessarily. Kerry is running his mouth too much here though, and Obama needs to rein him in.

  71. 71.

    Jane2

    @Suzanne: Are you up washing dishes? When I got my new dishwasher, I wanted to wash the cats when all the dishes had been done, I loved it so much.

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jane2:

    When I got my new dishwasher, I wanted to wash the cats when all the dishes had been done, I loved it so much.

    This sentence makes no sense to me at all. Well, the idea of dishwashing cats is kind of funny, but I doubt that is what you meant.

  75. 75.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Roger Moore: Yup, forgot about the Nikon. It’s 2.3 based. I came very close to getting a Galaxy Camera, but Best Buy hadn’t charged it so I ended up with a cheaper Sammy from Costco.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @Jane2: It’s only 9:30. The new dishwasher is great, but we ran out for dinner tonight as I have no emotional strength nor groceries to cook on Fridays.

  77. 77.

    Jane2

    @Omnes Omnibus: My previous dishwasher was so old, it had a hand crank to close it. I was so thrilled with the new one, I wanted to clean everything in sight. Obviously my cats were an exaggeration. MAYBE.

  79. 79.

    trollhattan

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    WiFi is creeping into “real” cameras. e.g., IIUC the Olympus E-P5 has the ability to send photos to a phone and more importantly (to me) be operated remotely from a smart phone via wifi.

    The technology is in its infancy so I don’t know where it might head, but it’s quite primising.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jane2: I have only lived in two places in the past 25 or so years where I have had a dishwasher. Household appliances don’t excite me all that much. OTOH a new turntable might cause me to want to listen to even The Archies. But à chacun son goût.

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, that fourth episode of Luther was a bit over the top, but it had a crackerjack ending. All in all, a good four-part mini-season. Now I may have to go back and watch the first two seasons again to slake my thirst. It’s been a while.

  85. 85.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @trollhattan: I think the Samsungs were the first one’s that had the built-in WiFi. I can use my phone or tablet as a remote and automatically transfer pictures to the phone from the camera. It’s supposed to be able to geotag the photos on the phone, but that doesn’t work so well as of yet(my latest pictures show up in China as opposed to Glendale).

  86. 86.

    Jane2

    @Omnes Omnibus: I used to feel like that too until I became a (((HOME OWNER))) and had to pay for the damn things. Just today I was outside admiring my new soffits/fascia/gutters.

    I need a life.

  88. 88.

    The Moar You Know

    @Ted & Hellen: Right there with you. If someone told me that Kerry had been kidnapped, killed, and that lizard people were wearing his skin as part of a reptilioid takeover, I’d believe it after his behavior and public statements this week. He’s making John McCain look like a goddamn pacifist.

  90. 90.

    CaseyL

    Thanks for the photo, John. Tunch lives on in memory.

    … now that football season is starting, I can’t help remembering how you would bring out the Terrible Towel for Tunch to lay on while everyone watched the Steelers games. Are you going to continue that tradition with Steve?

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Very possible. Samsung is a tech company trying to elbow their way into the camera biz, not a stodgy camera company grudgingly rolling out technology. Best thing they have going for them is the partnership with Schnieder-Kreuznach for lenses. They know what’s what.

  94. 94.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, that is a palate-cleansing change of pace.

    A little hard for me to watch the video, because Courtney’s train-wreck persona always gets in the way of the music for me. YMMV, etc. But I like the song.

  100. 100.

    The Moar You Know

    @Dead Ernest: Hey, thank you. It has been a horrendous week in so many ways, but I have found out a couple of things that are helpful:

    1. Everyone loved my dog. EVERYBODY. I have gotten condolences from every single neighbor I have, most of them crying when saying so. The FedEx guy cried. The UPS guy was devastated. The two teenage boys – thugs in training, or so I thought – from across the street have been stopping by to make sure my wife and I are OK. They cried too. They bought their dogs over last night so we could hang out with some dogs as they knew we were missing ours. I was floored. My idea of kindness as a teenager was not making fun of people who had just had a loved one die, and if I was really feeling gracious I would forbear from referring to fat people as “Shamu”. And modern day teenagers aren’t that much different. The teens on my block – six of them – grew up with my dog and I guess she really meant a lot to them. That is really something else that, in spite of my sadness, I cannot help but be proud of.

    2. I have been finding out who my friends are. Some people who I thought would have been supportive have failed to come through in any way, shape, or form. I’m not mad about that but I’m not going to forget it, either.

  102. 102.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @handy: Yup, takes traffic from both Brand and Central on to one on/off ramp. Worth a drive out of the way to avoid at rush hour.

  105. 105.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: That is probably on my Top 25 Favorite Songs ever. Courtney is a lunatic, but she was never better.

    And if I didn’t enjoy art created by people who happen to be assholes, my life would be far emptier.

    Don’t worry,Timmeh, you don’t qualify here, because your art isn’t any good. It’s like Nickelback all over a canvas.

  106. 106.

    Roger Moore

    @handy:

    Easily one of the worst rush-hour on-ramps in LA.

    I assume you’re just ignoring the Pasadena Freeway, and its laughable on-ramps with stop signs at the bottom and about 15 feet of asphalt to get up to freeway speeds. Merging onto CA-110 would still be challenging if your car could accelerate like a top-fuel dragster.

  107. 107.

    ruemara

    @The Moar You Know: Man, that’s awful. My heart goes out to you and your family.

    I’m just saturated in disappointment today. I had the oddest goal of being in a much better situation by August of 2013 and everything is still precarious and awful. The universe is disappointing, except when it comes to being disappointing. Yet some people just skip their way through life. I don’t get it.

  108. 108.

    handy

    @Roger Moore:

    Lived in Pas. for many years, so well acquainted with that deathtrap. However, I find generally once you south of Orange Grove and into the “Avenues” most people know to stay out of the far right lane for the reasons you describe. But in terms of gridlock and general assholishness on the part of everyone trying to get on the freeway all at once from all directions, Brand/Central is just something to avoid altogether.

    ETA: And a couple miles east on Harvey isn’t a picnic either.

  109. 109.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Roger Moore: That’s sort of comparing apples and oranges, the Pasadena was built in the late 30’s/early 40’s and speeds just weren’t as fast as the 60’s/70’s when the 134 was built. With Central/Brand they’re trying to put on a single on ramp all the business district of Glendale.

  110. 110.

    Ash Can

    I miss Tunch too. I really felt a terrible sense of loss when John reported the bad news about him. I loved joking about his girth and the “catitude” that would appear in the looks on his face. He was a great cat who charmed many people, will be remembered for a long time by many people, and helped raise a lot of money to help a lot of pets in need. A giant among kitties indeed.

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suzanne: That album was wonderful. Kurt or no Kurt.

    @Steeplejack: You weren’t aware of Metric? They’ve been around for a good 10 years. Here is a live version of their first “big” song with Emily is in full train-wreck yet professional form.

  116. 116.

    Hal

    @The Moar You Know:

    He’s making John McCain look like a goddamn pacifist.

    Wait. The John McCain who will vote against any resolution that doesn’t go far enough? The same McCain who proclaimed “we are all Georgians” when running for President, who wants to go to war with Iran, and who had no issues with being in Iraq for a hundred years if that’s what it took? Kerry has a long way to go before he’s any where near bomb, bomb, bomb Iran McCain.

  119. 119.

    Dead Ernest

    @The Moar You Know:
    It’d be easy to say ‘you’re welcome’ but more honest to say ‘thank you’ to you. Finding myself thinking of you, what you’re going through, provided me with a moment in which I could see, little by little, I am becoming more the person I hope to be.
    There is so much ‘good’ in what you described in item #1. Not the least being that your Dear Dog made your neighborhood teens better people, Good Dog!
    As for #2, I’m gonna fail in my earlier declaration of not offering advice (though I don’t think it is advice as much as likely reminding you of something I bet you already know (as I’m pretty sure you’re a Good Guy, after all, you and Good Dog were a team and surely complimented one another – and that thing I’m reminding you of is; some folks just don’t do well with grief, grieving, loss. Be it theirs or a friend’s. So that absence of support, of showing (hence, sharing) feelings may well be just a problem they have. Perhaps they just can’t return to lossess they never got over. Even lossess they don’t recall. So perhaps just this suggestion; treat them the way your Good Dog would have done))

    When you’re up to it, throw an arm over their shoulder, give ’em a hug. Or, jump up on them and give them a big wet lick on the face. Whichever version seems most appropriate to you I suppose.
    Best,

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    Welcome to my world. Last year was the culmination of about 8-9 years of the world turning to shit for me. And it wasn’t the first time either. But it has turned the corner a bit and it still will for you. I have no life to speak of, I rent a room but I’m not sleeping on the floor any more, in theory I probably have 25-30 years left although both my father and his dad passed at 84 so if genetics hold I’ve only got 20. VA says I’ve had a heart attack so who knows. Every day I try to remember that better is a relative term.
    Life is a crap shoot. Some people make pass after pass, others roll craps every time they get the dice. I’d just feel fulfilled if I could not seem to roll craps 95% of the time anymore. If I believed in dog I’d say he’s a vindictive son of bitch.

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @The Moar You Know:

    I have been finding out who my friends are. Some people who I thought would have been supportive have failed to come through in any way, shape, or form. I’m not mad about that but I’m not going to forget it, either.

    I had a friend from law school who died at 27 from breast cancer. She married one of my best friends and I got to be a groomsman in my first Jewish wedding and a pallbearer at my first Jewish funeral in the same year. But I remember talking to some of our friends during that time. Some were wonderfully supportive. Others just curled up into a ball. It wasn’t that they didn’t love either of the people – the one who died or the one who survived – they just didn’t know how to express or deal with it.

    Me, I got drunk at night and did my best during the day.

  123. 123.

    Miz Conception

    If @lamh36 is around tonight, I just finished watching the 1st season of Luther.

    You were right – holy cow, what an excellent show. Idris Elba is fantastic as John Luther, and as an anti-heroine they don’t come much better than Alice Morgan. She’s deliciously evil but you kindof can’t help liking her despite that.

    I am hooked. And a little disappointed that Seasons 2 & 3 are only 4 episodes each.

  130. 130.

    Juju

    @The Moar You Know: I sorry about your loss. I hope you got some sleep. I recently lost my beautiful golden mix girl. I understand how you feel and I send you my sympathy and hugs.

    Grieve not,
    but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you… 
    I loved you so… 
    twas heaven here with you.

    ~Ilsa Paschal Richardson 

    I love this poem, and I am sure this is how your lab mix girl feels about you.

  131. 131.

    HeartlandLiberal

    FWIW, and I think it is a lot, as an example of how kindness and wisdom spreads from person to person, I have a friend, a former member of my staff before I retired, whose 18 years old Maine Coon died. She was, of course, heartbroken, and in the days after we talked about the pain, and she pondered whether she could get another cat soon.

    I quoted Cole to her: “We don’t rescue them. They rescue us.”

    And last week I got an email with pics of the orange female she had just adopted. And had a nice discussion about how the recessive orange gene has to be in both parents to produce an orange female, resulting in only 25% of classic yellow tabbies being female.

    And of course my friends spirit was already lifting because the cat was loving her new home and owner.

    It has been a year since our beloved Josephine did not come home, and we still tear up regularly. We bond with our animals.

    Here are the last two pics I took of her before she disappeared:

    http://edgeinfotech.com/wp-content/uploads/Josephine1-20120601.jpg

    http://edgeinfotech.com/wp-content/uploads/Josephine2-20120601.jpg

  134. 134.

    InternetDragons

    @Suzanne:

    You say, “Gonna go take my pit bull for a walk. ”

    Wow, how clever of you.

    What a complete asshole. GTFO. You don’t deserve courtesy or compassion, as you are apparently incapable of feeling or understanding either.

    And gods, what a wonderful cat Tunch was. That’s one of the nicest pictures I have seen of him, and there are a lot of good ones. I still can’t quite believe he’s gone. I’m so sorry, John.

  135. 135.

    Birthmarker

    I am fairly well traveled in the US, and there are beautiful spots everywhere. It’s amazing, really. Beautiful in different ways, but shockingly gorgeous.

    But California is really special.

    I think the most underappreciated part of our great nation is the coastal northeastern US. The deciduous forests to the ocean’s edge are very unusual to us more familiar with the Gulf of Mexico. I want one of those little bitty sailboats you see floating offshore!! Summer is beautiful there.

  136. 136.

    WaterGIrl

    @Suzanne: Wow, Suzanne, just wow. I have been trying to find a way to see your comment as anything but selfish and ugly, so far without success. I am trying to imagine a world in which I could say something that cruel, even to someone I really disliked, and i just can’t.

    I have often wondered how it’s possible for someone to say something that changes everything – that completely changes how you view someone, or maybe ends a friendship or a relationship.

    People tell me I’m way too forgiving, and even I don’t see a way to forgive your knowingly making a comment that is the equivalent of sticking a knife in Cole’s already wounded heart. I hope I come to see that i am wrong about that, because believing that one comment can change everything in a single moment is just too depressing to contemplate.

    I hope Cole never sees your comment, because if he does, I imagine it will send him spinning back into the horror of that day. it’s one thing to grieve the loss, but it’s another to relive the horror, and I say that as someone who has been there.

  137. 137.

    ruemara

    @Ruckus: Hah, more like welcome to mine. This is year 14. But I’m glad you’re finally off the floor and in a room. It’s the little victories that help keep you sanish.

  138. 138.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGIrl: Well, I already apologized, because I acknowledge that it was a petty and childish thing to say.

    Perhaps you may acknowledge how a few hundred hysterical comments about the irresponsibility of owning a “loaded gun” that will kill my children and how my dog should die might make me a bit bitter when it comes to pet blogging on this site. Not to mention being called a cunt.

  142. 142.

    gogol's wife

    I’m sorry I missed the overnight tribute to Tunch. He was a wonderful, wonderful cat.

    Our Sasha was just diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, which isn’t great, but we thought it was cancer there for a while. Now we have to figure out how to medicate an extremely “fractious” cat (I learned from websites that that’s the term of art among vets).

  143. 143.

    WaterGIrl

    @Suzanne: Just back from the farmer’s market.

    Suzanne, I don’t know anything about that pit bull thread. I have mostly been away from BJ for over 3 months after my huge tree fell on my house at the end of may.

    I was devastated when I checked out BJ on what turned out to be the day after Tunch died, but I doubt I’ve even read a dozen threads since then, and mostly pet threads because I wanted to see how Cole was doing, and see Steve become part of the pack.

    I happen to think that if someone calls you a c#nt it says a lot more about them than it does about you, but it sounds like the pit bull thread got pretty heated, and being told you am irresponsible when you think of yourself as a good mom and a responsible person would certainly get your dander up.

    If it was Cole who told you that a pit bull is like having a loaded gun, that doesn’t seem like an unreasonable statement from someone whose sister’s pit bull had just killed his beloved Tunch. And lots of us here are grieving the loss of Tunch, even though he wasn’t ours.

    The thing is, your apology wasn’t to Cole. And I think what you said is far worse than petty and childish. It was cruel and ugly and selfish. You’re a smart person. You had to have known exactly what it was, and you chose to say it anyway.

    The horror of what happened when I lost my kitty, it haunted me for a long time, and at times I was afraid I would never be able to get past it. I think Cole is amazing in how he has been handling losing Tunch, and losing Tunch in the way that he did, but Cole surely doesn’t need any outside reminders of how it happened.

    When I was 13, my mom and I used to argue about the difference between someone doing a bad thing and someone being a bad person. I’m sure you can guess which side I was on.

  144. 144.

    moh

    @gogol’s wife:
    My two oldest cats were recently diagnosed with hyperthyroid also; it’s apparently common in older cats for some reason. Each one gets a pill a day – 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night. Both were good in the beginning, and then the thrill was gone, so I had to tie the pills with getting canned cat food for breakfast and dinner, and now they are resigned. I’m lucky since they are both pretty gentle cats. We had another cat several years ago who was allergic to the pills and we went for the radiation treatment, which burns off the extra thyroid growth and FIXES the problem. If you can afford it (I think it was a couple of thousand bucks) it is a good way to go.

  145. 145.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Perhaps you may acknowledge how a few hundred hysterical comments about the irresponsibility of owning a “loaded gun” that will kill my children and how my dog should die might make me a bit bitter when it comes to pet blogging on this site. Not to mention being called a cunt.

    @Suzanne: Being called mean names is an excuse for an act of vile cruelty. Gotcha.

  147. 147.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGIrl: I apologized to Cole privately through e-mail, in far more detail that I went into on the thread.

    In short: I have been feeling hurt regarding the pit bull threads, and I’ve been under some pretty severe stress this year and especially this week. I made a comment out of resentment that was completely careless and hurtful, and I typically do a better job of moderating some of the uglier thoughts that cross my mind, but this time I fucked up. I admit it and I’m sorry.

  148. 148.

    Juju

    @Elizabelle: @Elizabelle: Thank you for your sympathetic wishes, but my golden mix was a golden retriever mix. I just assumed golden mix was enough information to indicate that my girl was a dog. The funny thing is that I am very allergic to cats. I am one of those people who can tell a cat was on the premises 30 years ago.

    I apologize for any confusion.

  150. 150.

    Betty Cracker

    @Suzanne: I’m sure we’ve all said cruel and thoughtless things at one time or another — lord knows I have. Kudos to you for owning up to it and offering a straight-up apology.

  151. 151.

    Manyakitty

    @Suzanne: Humans are an imperfect bunch, and all we can do is acknowledge and sincerely apologize for our mistakes. The other side of the social convention is accepting those apologies when they’re offered. You’ve lived up to your end of the deal.

  152. 152.

    gogol's wife

    @moh:

    You probably won’t see this, but thanks. I’m still considering the radioactive thing despite the cost, but I’m just concerned about how difficult it will be for her. We’ll see how she tolerates the medicine, if I can get it in her!

  155. 155.

    OGLiberal

    @JenJen: Did Dollywood/Pigeon Forge about 2 months ago and we’re going back at the end of this month. And probably in late November/early December as well. Fell in love. Found pet friendly cabins (our dog can’t be left with anybody) with hot tubs and mountain views. Endless amounts of fun things for the kids. Extremely relaxing..and beautiful. I’m a New Jersey guy – never thought TN would be my cup of tea. But we love it.

  157. 157.

    WaterGIrl

    @Suzanne: Suzanne, thanks for that. I really appreciate what you wrote.

    I didn’t see your reply until just now (monday morning) so you may never see this response, but I am writing just in case you check back.

    Stress isn’t pretty, especially when we’re under stress for an extended period of time, and it’s easy to lose perspective. Says the person who is now in month 4 of house repairs after the tree fell, who thought she was handling things pretty well but then had a mini-meltdown on thursday when it seemed like every single thing went wrong with the bathroom repair. Now it’s monday and I have a bit more perspective.

    I can’t imagine having a full-time job and a family and studying for all these tests and nearly losing my kitty, and that’s just what I know about after barely having been on BJ for 4 months.

    All the best, Suzanne, and I hope you can shake off the BJ discussions that hurt you. Peace.

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