We’ve got a big storm coming through that promises cooler temperatures on the other side. It’s supposed to plunge down to 74 degrees tonight with a high tomorrow of only 81, so it’s time to bust out the woolies.
But meanwhile, heavy, intermittent rain, which makes for wet, angry hens like Dorito here:
She’s fluffier and prettier when dry. Also, it looks like there’s been feather-pulling in the ranks.
The chickens have plenty of covered spaces if they care to get out of the rain, but they’d apparently rather strut around in a downpour and cackle discontentedly. They’d fit right in at Balloon Juice!
Open thread.
Tree With Water
She looks delicious.
raven
It’s raining like a mofo up in here. Also, I went to the doc and have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo so that’s cool.
Karen in GA
No hens here. But I’m discontented. Iggy, on the other hand, is very pleased with himself.
SWMBO
@Karen in GA: I know it’s unnerving and frustrating for you but I love the Iggy updates. Even when he’s making your heart race worse than his. Hang in there, you’re almost to the halfway point in this torture.
Roger Moore
I’d guess that rain is helpful for those who want to hunt for earthworms, which is why the hens are out in it. Besides, it’s not too cold, so they’ll survive being wet.
Karen in GA
@SWMBO: Thanks. The vet said the real critical point is 10-14 days in, and we’re on day 12, so we’re halfway through the critical point and Iggy’s still here, which is nice. But November 1st can’t come fast enough.
I’m glad you like the blog!
skerry
@Karen in GA: Just want to chime in and say I love the blog too. I’m following Iggy’s journey and wishing the best of health to you both.
JPL
This morning I woke about ten to six and put on the news and the weather person called out my city as being under a tornado warning. haha.. I tried to take out the dog quickly and he looked at me and said “really” There was a small tornado about two miles away so the dog is obviously smarter than I.
Chris Christi is campaigning for Deal on Thursday and he will visit the home of the mother of Teddy Roosevelt in my town. He’ll also walk along the square.
Should I hold up a sign asking him to run for Senate?
JPL
@Karen in GA: Oh, I’m so sorry but I have to admit that I’d do the same thing with Mr. Finch. Take care.
BGinCHI
Bawk.
KG
@JPL: either that or go with the xkcd “citation needed” sign.
That really has become my default position on all things politics
JCJ
@raven:
Ooh. I hope it isn’t too bad. I had that when I was in college and could barely get out of bed for a few days. The only lingering problem is I cannot go on rides that spin you around (used to take my daughter and nephews to Six Flags once a summer. It did not break my heart to miss out on those!)
Trollhattan
Still in mourning over “Breaking Bad” but this is a damn fine coda.
JPL
@raven: How long before it takes care of itself?
srv
Balloon-Juice is always a deluge of cats & dogs streaming their liquid sunshine.
I think I’m going to hit the KFC tonight.
JPL
@KG: The fun thing about the sign is I look like a supporter because, I’m sure the folks around me haven’t heard him say I’d rather be dead. (not that I’d wish that on him, but oh well)
Milk Maid in Chief
Betty, isn’t it molting time for your girls? Around here, it looks like someone had a giant pillow fight in our barn yard, and our (60ish) hens look somewhat nekkid.
JPL
IMO.. If folks down here cared about outsourcing, they would not have voted for Mitt. One ad could help Nunn though. David Perdue is running on cutting taxes and ridding the country of regulations. The perfect ad would be this is Perdue’s world. A picture of China’s pollution and child labor. You would have to include the wage paid to the workers.
I like the cut ad but in the South they blame regulations.
burnspbesq
Somebody flew a drone carrying an Albanian flag into the stadium in Belgrade where Albania and Serbia were playing a European Championship qualifying match, a Serbian player grabbed it, and all hell broke loose. No idea what to say or think about this.
http://www.espnfc.us/european-championship-qualifying/story/2088456/qualifier-in-serbia-suspended-because-of-drone-with-albanian-flag
scout
You never know what’s going to inspire someone. The final scene of ‘Dirty Dancing’ did it for this little boy. His mother posted it to Facebook last week and it’s going on 10 million views already.
Have you seen it? It’s great :)
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203022195057620
Mnemosyne
I have a question for (more) experienced movers, because I haven’t done this for 10 years:
I need to (a) declutter excess crap and (b) get the things that I’m sure I’m bringing (like books) packed up. Which should I concentrate on first? We’re close enough to the new place that we can drop boxes off as we complete them. I’m getting nervous because I don’t really have any boxes packed and the movers are coming on the 22nd for the big stuff, but I also have a lot of stuff to cull because I don’t want to just throw it into boxes and bring it with if I’m not going to keep it.
Also, Fluff and Fold is the Best. Invention. Ever.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
Did he do the Epley Maneuver on the spot, or do you have to go to a specialist for that? I think a couple of folks here had the maneuver done and it made a huge difference.
Botsplainer
mmmm – fried chicken.
Botsplainer
@burnspbesq:
Appropriate fan based soccer violence is always approved.
chopper
@Roger Moore:
That’s why my dog likes hanging in the backyard so much.
burnspbesq
@Botsplainer:
Those ugly guys trying to sneak out of Gelsenkirchen, Germany? That’s the Republic of Ireland national football team, who stole a point from the nationalmannschaft in second-half stoppage time.
Germany got one point out of matches against Poland and Ireland. Poland and Ireland are tied atop the group, with Germany and Scotland three points behind There will be panic in Germany.
If qualifying ended tonight, the group winners would be Iceland, Wales, Slovakia, Poland, England, Northern Ireland, Austria, Croatia, and Denmark.
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq: Violence involving the Serbs?
Wow, that is really shocking. And at a football batch no less.
I would have put the likelihood of the breaking loose of all hell at around 99% even without a drone.
JPL
@Mnemosyne: My ex and I went through several moves because he worked for a company that at the time was known as I’ve been moved. I adopted a plan early on. There are a lot of special mementos. Save one or two. I still have boxes stored in a closet for the sons if they choose to go through them of a few items from each year. After the divorce was the hardest because I donated most of my books. I still feel the pain. haha
Start with the kitchen because you don’t need five spatulas or four sauce pans.
tybee
@JPL:
you must be one of those weirdos who does dishes every day or every other day or something.
Tommy
@burnspbesq: You don’t mess with soccer fans. Personally I do not get it on many levels. But I had a friend, driving across the US on his motorcycle. Left me an official Watford jersey. It is the most bright yellow you can find, people come up to me and want to talk soccer when I wear it.
raven
@JPL: JCJ
There look to be a lot of resources online for various exercises so I can do that. The eye movement one’s are similar to yoga eye movement so I got that going for me. I think the most interesting thing is that there does not seem to be any connection between my new hearing aid and the condition. Seems strange but I looked around a lot before I went to the doc and found zip.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: Do you have an extra room or a big closet? Assign it as the Moving Central, put your packed boxes in that closet. For me, books and breakable stuff like art work and china takes the longest to pack, so pack that first. Culling before moving is a good idea.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
I think it depends a bit on whether the stuff is already sorted or not. If you already know what you’re going to get rid of, start by getting rid of it to free up space. If you don’t know, sort as you go. Have boxes for the movers and boxes for disposal, and put stuff into the appropriate box as you find it. When you have a load of boxes, take it to the appropriate destination.
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
There were no Albanian fans to speak of in the stands. The Albanian federation didn’t sell any tickets, on the advice of UEFA, and the Belgrade cops made it clear that any Albanian they caught trying to get in would be arrested (and. presumably, have the living shit beaten out of him or her).
There must not be any players of visible African ancestry on the Albanian team, because there were no reports of the throwing of bananas or the making of primate sounds.
All in all, a perfect family atmosphere for a wholesome game of football.
burnspbesq
@Tommy:
The first (and so far only) time I went to Disney in Orlando, I saw all 20 English Premier League jerseys inside the first 45 minutes.
Botsplainer
@burnspbesq:
Is there a book about how the point system-advancement thing works in international soccer, or is it as opaque as the BCS selection process?
Wally Ballou
The Tigers’ last World Series championship was thirty years ago today.
How the fuck is that possible?
FlyingToaster
@Mnemosyne: The last time I moved (12+ years ago), I cataloged the paperbacks; got rid of about 100 duplicates (on my end) and probably another two hundred when we merged our collections.
I just had my laptop there where I was packing the books; typed in author -tab- title -return- pack and pick next book. Rinse, repeat.
I did the books first, because I was moving them myself. Then the clothes. Then culling the kitchen stuff.
If your current neighborhood has something like Davis Square’s LJ page, you can post when/where you’re putting out old furniture and let providence take care of it for you :) I got rid of all of my non-folding furniture courtesy of a predecessor site, carried everything down to the corner up the way on Sunday morning, posted it, and it was all gone by 3pm.
@JPL:
Speak for yourself. Too many of our dinners need 3 or 4 sauces (one for each course), and if we’re doing breakfast for the masses*, we need every spatula we can find.
*being one daughter and 5 nephews, plus associated adults
Karen in GA
@skerry: @JPL: Thanks! And yeah, it wasn’t the first time I’ve taken a pet to the emergency vet in the wee hours of the morning. One does what one must for the little buggers.
Botsplainer
@JPL:
There are four burners on the standard stove, each of which can hold a used saucepan which boiled over. You do the dishes on day four, after the final saucepan has been used.
Everyone knows this.
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq: I have nothing nice to say about Serbians who collectively commit violence, so I’m going to say nothing at all.
I do think your analysis is spot on. I’m surprised they let the Albanian players in.
“OK, you 9 go ahead…”
Karen in GA
@JPL: I heard there was an EF-1 tornado not far from you this morning. My brother in law lives nearby; he said it was pretty nasty out. I’m glad you’re safe.
Roger Moore
@Wally Ballou:
Since there are 30 teams, a 30 year wait between Series victories seems entirely reasonable.
Botsplainer
@BGinCHI:
“…but watch yourselves, and remember, our eyes are on you. And we no give a shit what referee says, you step out of line on pitch, you’ll be arrested and jailed here in Serbia in a place that makes that shithole you live in in Shkoder seem like palace…”
Tommy
@burnspbesq: I had to Google Watford. To know the shirt I was wearing. That people come up to me when I wear the jersey is just cool. They think I am a insider on soccer, I am not. The only thing I got on the topic was my niece, she is six, playing it last weekend. Even at 44 I can juggle a ball and the little ladies thought that was neat :).
gelfling545
@raven: Had one bout of BPV about 10 years ago that pretty much cleared up on its own after a couple of days. Then I had a longer bout maybe 6 years ago that lasted a couple of weeks. Two years ago I got the mother of all vertigo & it lasted months but eventually responded to physical therapy, although I had been left with a vague feeling like another attack might start at any time. That was not relieved until I had acupuncture treatment this past year but I did find, prior to that, that taking some Sudafed (the real stuff, not the new fake stuff early on could kind of short circuit the attack and that attacks seemed to be weather connected. Best wishes with it. A neurologist wanted to put me on seizure meds but the physical therapist adopted a “let’s not be hasty” approach & saved me from that. She also taught me techniques to manage the attacks & was by far the most helpful with the condition.
raven
@gelfling545: Great info. I’ve gotten dizzy when I get up too quickly for years. I was told it was low blood pressure.
WereBear
@Mnemosyne: Pack what you want to keep and get it out. That’s why I do. Then you have the detritus left over and it is easy to dump in garbage bags or whatnot.
NotMax
@JPL
If they are good ones and vary in size, then yes, yes you do.
burnspbesq
@Botsplainer:
Three points for a win, each team gets one point for a draw, no points for a loss.
If teams are level on points, there are five potential tie-breakers, and they typically (but not always) apply in the following order: (1) goal difference, (2) goals scored, (3) goals allowed, (4) head-to-head record, (5) coin flip.
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
Might you, by some chance, be Croatian or Bosnian?
burnspbesq
The BCS selection process is not at all opaque. It is governed by two simple rules:
(1) The SEC gets whatever it wants.
(2) If you don’t like the results of the application of Rule 1, GFY.
WereBear
I’m waiting for the call from my new hosting company, declaring the website is finally being moved over.
Because the old housing company was so screwed up (as I suspected) the process has been stalled a couple of times, and had to have new angles grabbed.
However, I feel vindicated in my choice, because this place seems able to come up with new approaches and cares enough to do it right. I interviewed places which were a bit cheaper… but were going to nickel & dime me for every move I made.
I can imagine what they would have charged me for this process. My new hosting company said they would do the transfer for free.
FlipYrWhig
@burnspbesq: Funny how much overlap there is between the SEC conference and the places where Democrats fare worst. Instead of red states, let’s just say “SEC States.” Though I suppose the Big XII states aren’t much better.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@FlyingToaster:
We used Readerware and a CueCat. Take book out of box, scan, shelve. Print out report, hand to insurance agent. :D
Last time I moved, I found using three boxes a necessity: Keep, Maybe, Cull. If I dithered at all, it went into the Maybe box, which moved with us, but was left to unpack until the last. It was a lot easier to get rid of most of the Maybe contents after six months.
Bob In Portland
Hoping that the SF Giants can pull this out. Meanwhile, the not-Nazis in Ukraine are fighting in the streets of Kiev to get veterans’ benefits for the guys who fought with the Nazis during WWII. Warms the heart.
seaboogie
@Mnemosyne: Shop your own stuff, starting with your absolute must-have and favorite items and schlep them over to the new joint and install them. Move into the new place and live with what you have there and note anything that is missing that you need or really, really want. Go get that stuff.
Then pack up the rest and sell or donate.
WereBear
I like that method a lot.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Wow, seaboogie, that’s a brutal approach, more than I could do. And I’m a really good thrower-out-er and giver-sway-er.
First, pack up the stuff you know you want. Label boxes by room so they can immediately go into a corner in the correct room in the new place.
There are those who purge BEFORE they pack; there are others who pack and move EVERYTHING, and then go through and purge AFTER they get to the new place.
I purge before I pack – less stuff to pack.
Go through it like a test – do the easy ones first, then make another pass and get the other ones that are pretty doable.
The thing that always gets me at the end is the final pile in the middle of the floor – at that point I am just spinning my wheels because I haven’t decided what to do with them. There are two options at this point: 1) have a good friend come over, pick up each piece and talk you through the decisions, and 2) just throw the whole damn pile in a box and take them to the new place.
But it may be trickier for you with your time constraint and your ADD. So if you find yourself spinning your wheels and not making enough progress, I suggest you use the brute force method and just pack up everything in one room and get it done. Just go room to room. Pack up everything and decided as you unpack, when you don’t have a deadline.
lamh36
TV Alert: Tonight on PBS, Finding Your Roots. Tonight’s episode looks at family history of: Ben Afleck, Khandi Alexander and Ben Jealous. Check your local PBS station for times, but here in NOLA, it’ll be on at 7pm.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: I’m with you on that, but with more options.
Keep. Give away. Throw away. Can’t decide.
Wally Ballou
@Roger Moore: Guess I should’ve elaborated; I was speaking more in “passage-of-time” terms.
I mean, inside my head it seems like yesterday – literally YESTERDAY – that I was 11 years old and watching that game at my grandmother’s house, celebrating the win with homemade pie and ice cream. Where did all that time go?
WaterGirl
@Wally Ballou: I want to know where the homemade pie and ice cream went. There’s none in my kitchen! And now I want some.
lamh36
@lamh36: damnit, not showing in NOLA until Thursday at 4am! The Louisian Senate debate between Mary Landrieu and Bill Cassidy is on instead…blah
PurpleGirl
@lamh36: On the East Coast, it’s on at 8 PM.
WaterGirl
I have spent today unsubscribing from all the political candidates I have given money to for the november election. I gave every last dime I could to everyone earlier this week, and now I’m done. No more money to give.
Gin & Tonic
@Bob In Portland: RT won’t tell you that the “fighting” is paid provocateurs.
And the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought against Soviet occupation for 10 years after the end of WWII. They were ahead of their time; with the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukraine gaining its independence (which they fought for a half-century earlier) their goals were fulfilled. Why is a request for veterans’ benefits for the few remaining octogenarians not valid?
The Pale Scot
Things won’t change here until Thurs, I don’t think you’ll need the woolies just yet BC.
I can’t wait until there’s a strong north wind, the temps in the 50s and I can sit on the patio after a hot shower in shorts bare chested with a nice glass of Balvenie, then I’ll call it Fall.
Bob In Portland
@Gin & Tonic: You don’t need a pension in prison. The folks who helped along the Holocaust in Ukraine don’t need pensions. They need to be prosecuted.
The Pale Scot
@Mnemosyne: This my method. Bring everything out to the garbage and box it up there, remember every item you throw away is one you don’t have to drag over to the new place and find a spot for.
Books, tools, hardware for fixing stuff, everything else can go, set up a box to donate the books to the local friends of the library club
The Pale Scot
@BGinCHI: I interacted with a Bosnian today at the food bank I volunteer at. He spoke no English but i got his daughter on the phone to interpret.
After that as he was leaving he stops, turns around and says Turkey? Turkey? I respond “the country or the bird” flapping my arms, he starts flapping is arms and I just tell him tomorrow when he comes back with his daughter.
I’m glad someones looking forward to Thanksgiving.
Gin & Tonic
@Bob In Portland: People who joined UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) at or after the end of WWII had nothing to do with the Holocaust. Even those who joined at its beginning in 1943 in Polissia and Volyn had nothing to do with the Holocaust. You have been brainwashed by propaganda.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
In the last 20 yrs I’ve moved myself cross country twice, SF to LA once, across town once. Not really a pack rat but I do/did have lots of tools and stuff that has actual value so selling rather than throwing/giving away.
I’ve had to cull out the crap each time so that now I have about 1/3 the stuff. I find the cull and pack move works best because I had to move everything at once. Best advice, be brutal on the culling. I now use the option I used at my last job where I was supposed to save every slip of paper. When the pile got to about a foot tall I’d go through and throw out anything that had not required attention for at least 90 days. Pile down to about 1/4 inch in 2 minutes. Clothes you haven’t worn in 3 yrs? For me they are gone, Salvation Army. Books I keep but I’m thinking of donating a bunch of them. And so on. For you, when a box is full and you have a car load, take them over. Same with donated/trash. Box/bag full, get rid of it. With this method not only are you making progress, it actually looks like you are as well.
SWMBO
If you go the move/maybe/donate/trash route, make sure you go through the maybe stuff. Friends of mine made it a rule to go through one box a day average until there weren’t any more boxes to be done. It is tougher after you move and the frantic change is made to finish that last bit up.