Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

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

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

The revolution will be supervised.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Democrats are back in array!

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

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

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

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

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / I Never Had a Chance

I Never Had a Chance

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Here’s a great pic of Steve, the walking Ottoman, sleeping on the Ottoman, on one of the few occasions he, like my other pets, is not on Shawn’s lap and not following him around the house like he is the pied piper.

steveottoman

Shawn just shared this video with me of his pet squirrels outside his apartment in Ocean City:

No wonder my pets abandoned me for Doctor Doolittle. At least Lily and Rosie still sleep with me at night.

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  2. 2.

    wormtown

    Steve showed up in a dream I had a few nights ago. For some reason, you (John) had given him to me to watch for a few days. I was worried about how he would get along with my cat (Bridget); but they got along fine.

  3. 3.

    Yatsuno

    At least Lily and Rosie still sleep with me at night

    Give it time…

    So I am going to be in Fresno from May 13th through the 22nd. Since the gubmint made me change my plane reservations I now have a better argument for a rental car on their dime. Instructor was supposed to come rescue me from the airport but now I’m getting in way too early for that to happen, but I may just say fuck it and rent one anyway. So…meet-up?

  4. 4.

    Tommy

    I don’t know the whole back story of Shawn. But the Maryland/Delaware place? The only Ocean City know

  6. 6.

    Jennifer

    I have pet squirrels too. Well, not pets, but tame ones. They’ll come jump up on me to get food. If I’m not outside, the tamest one will come and stand on the threshold for the french doors and peek in looking for me. The funniest thing is the cat – they aren’t afraid of her and the tamest squirrel has chased her several times.

    I also have a couple of blue jays who will get in the tree by the patio when I’m outside and warble for food. I toss a peanut, they fly down and get it.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    Open Thread? Goody.

    Watched the first episode of Penny Dreadful, which premieres on Showtime on May 11 (but is viewable for free now on YouTube)..

    Not too shabby a production, touching on but not (yet) reveling in the hoariest of Gothic cliche, and positively drenched in High Victorian atmosphere.

    Best part for this watcher? The sets and locations are to die for (no pun intended).

  12. 12.

    Tommy

    @Alison: If you an I were on a date and you said you had just listened to Mathew Sweet I might like you a lot! Want to hug you. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that folks here know who he is, but I guess it does.

  13. 13.

    PurpleGirl

    My friend who had the Doberman pinscher has a way with animals. On one trip to Florida he and his wife went to one of those swim with dolphins pools. There were several other people wanting to swim with the dolphins; the place had to extend their time in the pool because all the dolphins were ignoring all the people except for my friend. The dolphins just didn’t want to interact with anyone else.

  14. 14.

    Tommy

    @NotMax: Watched it twice, cause I like me some Gothic horror. I wanted to like it. Honestly I didn’t get it. Not a fan. I will watch it again just cause maybe I am wrong.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    My elder spawn has had stomach flu this week, and it looks like she shared with me. Chills, barf….just another exciting night here at Casa de Suzanne.

  17. 17.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Alison: I walked in a bar/club in Columbus years ago and MS was starting a performance. It was brilliant.

  18. 18.

    Tommy

    @PurpleGirl: I don’t mean to tote my own horn but I am that guy. Animals just love me. Again I don’t know why exactly. But I can walk up to any of them and hit it off.

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suzanne: Okay. Matthew Sweet is about my age. Susanna Hoffs is a couple of years older, but goddamn. The song is good and written by a Monkee. Does that help?

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    @Tommy

    Not sure if I liked it, but did appreciate the effort that went into it. As the premise is a slow-burning infusion of classic tropes (Frankenstein, Dracula, Dorian Gray, etc.) into the foundational story of the main characters, it could tip either way, becoming either innovative or tiresome. And Timothy Dalton skirts perilously close to becoming Patrick Stewart. Doesn’t mean I disliked it, just that the jury is still out.

    The work of the set designer(s) and set dresser(s) did just blow me away, however. (There’s a ‘behind the scenes’ video in which one can see that a lot of it was filmed on sets).

  24. 24.

    Suzanne

    Susanna and Matthew are good. I honestly don’t get the song. But multiple people whose taste I generally trust love it, so maybe it’s just me.

  36. 36.

    Steeplejack

    @Shana:

    Your link came out with “yoTI” in it (uppercase I) instead of the “yoTl” (lowercase L) that YouTube wanted.

  40. 40.

    Jackie

    @Omnes Omnibus: I was in Jr High when Linda Ronstadt and Stone Poney had this hit. I still remember singing this while my sister and I were making my mom and dad’s bed (double-bed training.)

  42. 42.

    Jackie

    @Tommy: I am a cat whisperer… don’t know why, but… even feral cats will come to me. And, every spring a Mallard duck couple show up in my yard for about 3 weeks – I don’t have a pool. Don’t live next to water – in fact nearest water I know is a man-made canal about a 1/2 mile away. Columbia River is at least 3 miles away. Mr and Mrs Mallard Duck hang out in my yard, eat my bread, enjoy my sprinkler and disappear. This started 4 springs ago. Love it and my young grandchildren love helping feed the ducks – but why they started showing up is a complete mystery.

  44. 44.

    Ruckus

    @Jackie:
    It’s where they were when they wanted to stop. Done that before myself, tired of moving, ended up in unusual places. If they were OK I might stop there again when I passed by next time.

  45. 45.

    moderateindy

    @Omnes Omnibus: That is probably my favorite of the covers that those two do, although, “and your bird can sing” is pretty close. It helps that it is a Nesmith tune, a guy that doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his songwriting abilty. It’s actually a clip from 7 or 8 years ago, I think they toured under the name, Sid and Susie. Hoffs is still gorgeous, as far as Sweet goes, my favorite you tube comment was; “Oh my god I think Matthew Sweet ate the rest of the Bangles.”

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    @Suffern ACE:
    I’ll bet there are lots of things out there that you don’t know exist. I’ll also bet there are lots of them you don’t want to know exist. And I’ll also bet that a lot of those things people put in their mouths thinking they are food.

  55. 55.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    I saw something different on my walk tonight. Walking up one of the main streets here, I saw two of Glendale’s finest coming in the opposing direction down the sidewalk on Segways.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    I broke down and started watching “Mad Men” this week. (No spoilers!) Much ostentatious smoking and drinkIng! And gyad, what a bunch of sexist swine!

  62. 62.

    MomSense

    @Betty Cracker:

    I watched the first season and maybe 3/4 of the second until I decided that I just didn’t like any of the characters enough to keep watching.

  68. 68.

    JPL

    @MomSense: That’s how I felt about Breaking Bad. I think it’s a mistake to drag the last season of Mad Men over two years but no one asked me.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    @raven

    The street that wears a fancy label
    That’s glorified in song and fable
    The most exciting people pass you by
    Including a private eye

    Seventy Seven Sunset Strip (snap snap)
    Seventy Seven Sunset Strip     (snap snap)
    Seventy Seven Sunset Strip

  74. 74.

    MikeJ

    @raven: I’ll bet it’s “remote control airplane with a video camera” rather than a drone as they claim.

    It’s possible (maybe likely) that other people don’t care about the distinction, but I think “drone” should be reserved for autonomous vehicles. Where one draws the line between “rc plane” and “unmanned aerial vehicle” could be a matter of debate, but it’s probably just size and whether its engine is made by Cox or General Electric.

  76. 76.

    MikeJ

    @Betty Cracker: When I was in college it was all hand cranked Bolex. Of course we had to walk to the film developing lab, uphill, both ways, in the snow.

  77. 77.

    Schlemizel

    My brother had a roommate in college that told stories of a squirrel that had lost one of its paws. His family felt bad for it & started feeding it peanuts and it would climb on their screen door and knock with its stump leg until they would come out and give him peanuts.

    One time they were feeding the guy after he banged on the door when they noticed another squirrel limping along on 3 leg coming towards them for peanuts. The one they were feeding had 4 good paws but had tucked the one up & thy hadn’t noticed. Turns out they had been feeding several other ones that had learned that there were some suckers in the hood that would feed you for free if you walked on 3 legs!

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    @Schlemizel: Hahaha! I believe it. Squirrels are smart as hell, and cooperative. I once saw several form a squirrel-chain to swing one of their number to the platform of a particularly hard-to-defeat birdfeeder, where he or she dumped out a ton of seed for the waiting comrades below.

  79. 79.

    S. cerevisiae

    @Schlemizel: The squirrels here love to tease my German Shepherd and she in turn keeps them away so the birds can eat when she is out on the deck. I have just stopped feeding the birds for the summer (because the bears and skunks are waking up) and there was still a squirrel out trying to get something out of the empty feeder. Soon he was on top and started chewing on the rope and a few seconds later -boom- down goes the feeder.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    Thanks for the great wake-up thread, you guys. Starting with the great song from Omnes all the way to 77 Sunset Strip and the FBI, and the funny story about squirrels pretending to be hurt to get food, and all the great songs and stuff in between.

    Sad to lose Ephram Zimbalist Jr., but there are some sweet memories hidden in both of the linked articles.

  84. 84.

    Roxy

    I loved with Efram Zimbalist played a con man on Remington Steele. Stephanie Zimbalist, the lead actress on the show, is his daughter.

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