My office assistant Lovey sound asleep on my arm while I work:
Naptime is quite a procedure these days.
Rosie is underneath the covers, Ginger is underneath the bed hiding from her puppies, and I am relegated to about a quarter of the bed. The puppies are now to the stage where they bitch if they are not included with the other dogs, so they are now napping in the bed. I’m going to start crate training them this week, with set hours (10pm bedtime, 7 am wakeup) so it will be easier on their forever home families.
No pics of Ginger because she is not feeling very sociable, as she is still recovering from her surgery and a little tired. Plus, the puppies keep tryingto nurse and she simply has no milk left, so she is avoiding them. I had to cancel her appointment today and we will go to the doggie spa on Monday.
As soon as I can get it on video, I will have some puppies on Steve sparring action. He is such a champ- so gentle with them. Just lies on the ground and baps at them as they attack him, and he never uses claws. When he gets tired, he stands up and shakes them off and climbs his cat tree.
Baud
I don’t know why, but your arm reminded me of something out of Princess Bride.
Helen
AWWWWWWW!!!!!
the Conster
Just reading the names Lovey and Thurston makes me laugh every.single.time. You should change your name to John Doolittle.
ETA: any suggestions about how to leave food out in 5 feet of powder snow? I watched a bunny struggling on the surface, and throwing pieces of carrots and apples doesn’t work, because it just sinks. There’s nothing to eat outside for the suburban woodland animals, here in the land of ice and snow.
Pogonip
Thank you, John!
Are the puppies on solid food yet?
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: Disposable pie plates?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
We’re going to Honduras for the week before Easter this year, and I’m doing my best to talk my wife into letting me bring back another beach dog. If we do, whoever comes back with us will make it home a year almost to the day after Aþelbert died.
shelley
T hose puppies! Like my mother would say, they’re growing like Topsy.
the Conster
@Gin & Tonic:
I left cat food out for the crows on the one bare piece of real estate – the deck railing. It wasn’t touched. We’re going to get another foot + tomorrow, and it’s bumming me out for the animals.
Pogonip
Lovey’s a really pretty dog. I like the way her colors swirl together.
My God, Thurston’s enormous.
trollhattan
@the Conster:
Have a kid’s snow saucer or anything flat that will stay on the surface? Maybe a piece of thin plywood? They might be able to navigate to that.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Puppehs! Ginger is smart to hide from the kids.
How’s Rosie liking them? She’s usually (IIRC) under the covers anyway, so that’s not really a clue.
Villago Delenda Est
And they’re at the base yelping that their toy is beyond the reach of their tiny little paws.
Violet
Ohhhhhhh…….so adorable! Look at those sleeping pups! Sleeping Lovey is too cute and we get a bonus Lily pic! Yay! Glad everyone is doing well. Hope Ginger recovers soon and is up for her well deserved spa day!
trollhattan
On the heels of 2014 shattering historical temperature records globally, statewide and locally, 2015’s off to a rollicking start.
Violet
@the Conster: Can you put the food on a sled of some kind? Maybe a frisbee?
Pogonip
@Violet: A frisbee’s a great idea!
the Conster
@Violet:
When I moved in September I got rid of so much of stuff that was just lying around in my old basement, but maybe a cover to a plastic bin or something. I’ll have to posthole my way out to where there is a place to leave it. I’ll have to wait, though, until the BLIZZARD THAT’S COMING WITH SO MUCH MORE SNOW to make it worthwhile doing.
geg6
Okay, COLE, we could totally take one of those babies. Email me, please!
JPL
I’m jealous. It appears to be the ideal home. Since Lovey, Thurston, Steve, Lily, Rosie and Ginger, won’t say it, let me be first to say Happy Valentine’s Day. btw.. Store any chocolate up high, and if possible behind locked doors.
Pogonip
@trollhattan: Would you mind going to the next topic down and explaining to Cornerstone why we Hodor Bob?
I can’t believe I just typed that sentence. I gotta get a life. ( But not this weekend–it’s too damn cold!)
Howard Beale IV
Gary Owens, RIP.
JPL
@the Conster: All of the suggestions are good. Even a cardboard box that is flattened would do. In a pinch you could probably use a trash can lid.
Pogonip
@JPL: Likewise, Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
trollhattan
@Pogonip:
I dunna think it’s possible. He’s being artfully obtuse, against which there’s no resolution.
Baud
@Pogonip:
Where would Balloon Juice be if we all got lives?
Corner Stone
@Pogonip: Alternatively…
Keith G
Steve is sure a wise ‘ol cat who is secure in his status as head of household.
@the Conster: I am thinking that a wild rabbit has the DNA-given skill set to get to that carrot even if it sinks in a snow drift. Finding food buried in snow is what they have done for millennia…or else they wouldn’t be here now.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: On the contra. You honorable ones are being severe douchebags. So are they all, honorable douches.
SiubhanDuinne
@Howard Beale IV:
Oh fuck. Really? REALLY??
I officially hate this week that’s just happened.
the Conster
@JPL:
The winds will upend anything light, and anything heavier sinks. I think there’s a trash can lid that the landlord left me that might work, but I’ll have to make my way to a more protected area, which is much harder than it sounds. Imagine cold deep light quicksand – it’s a little scary now, because the snow is really fucking deep. It’s officially out of control.
@Keith G:
That’s the little story I tell myself, but watching it struggle – they’re not all going to make it through.
Pogonip
If we ever get another dog I’d like it to have Lovey’s color pattern. The more I see her the more I like it.
pat
In my experience, rabbits are more likely to eat bird food, especially sunflower seeds, than bits of veggies. Just a thought.
David Koch
Obama video nets 27,000,000 hits in 24 hours.
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
That’s the coolest rendition of “I know you are but what am I?” I’ve ever seen. Golf clap awarded.
Dinnertime.
Mike J
@trollhattan: Record highs in Seattle too. Everything is in bloom. In February.
JPL
@David Koch: Thank’s goes to Fox news for highlighting it.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: I think you have your pegs in the wrong place, friend.
Howard Beale IV
@SiubhanDuinne: Sadly, Confirmed.
Gin & Tonic
@trollhattan: I hear the skiing up there is pretty awful.
jl
Thanks for pupdate and puppix.
geg6
We want Lovey, I think. I’m serious, Cole. Email me.
SiubhanDuinne
@David Koch:
Awesome. I love that the RWNJ contingent are exploding their heads over the bit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Howard Beale IV:
Makes me sad. Goddammit.
Baud
@David Koch:
It’s damn funny.
the Conster
@trollhattan:
B02T0N HAZ ALL UR C0LD AND IZ KILLING UR D00DZ.
Seriously though, if this is the new normal, we’re all fucked.
Bob In Portland
Putin did it.
Howard Beale IV
@SiubhanDuinne: I always loved his appearances on Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh In” when he would close his appearance with “…and Morgul as the Friendly Drelb!”
the Conster
@efgoldman:
I stopped feeding birds when I had feral cats living on my property – nothing like luring creatures to their deaths. I don’t really have a good place for a birdfeeder, but I would like to leave something for the crows. There’s no good place unless I want to shovel until April. Which I don’t. I can barely turn my car around.
MomSense
All the puppies!!
I don’t blame Ginger. I remember those nursing days and how exhausting it could be. She needs a steak and some sleep.
David Koch
@JPL: I wouldn’t give fixxed news any credit. The average age of their audience is 68.8 years. In fact, the average age for BillO’s show 72 years old. Most septuagenarians aren’t on the internet.
Mike J
@David Koch: My parents are 72 years old and both spend tons of time on the internet.
rikyrah
The pictures are so cute.
Howard Beale IV
@Mike J: That;s ancedotal. My mother is approaching 80 and all she uses the internet for is to pay her bills.
the Conster
@efgoldman:
feral cats kill everything that moves – and consume parts of lots of different things. I had “gifts” almost every day in the summer – frogs, birds, lizards, guts of who knows what, mice, baby rabbits, baby groundhogs, chipmunks, etc. etc. The ferals disappeared one by one though – the night I saw the fisher cat made it clear why. That thing is creeeeeepyyyyyyyyyy.
David Koch
@Mike J:
jl
@David Koch: But Mike J was talking about relative young people: 72 year olds.
Mike J
@David Koch: I know 40 year old lawyers that have their email printed for them.
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: I’ve heard those, but have yet to see one.
Corner Stone
@Mike J:
No you don’t.
jl
Somebody needs to send out a rescue party for Cracker. She near Boca Raton?
‘ Gosar said that if the U.S. were to pay ransom to terrorists, then “every American citizen traveling abroad becomes a subject in regard for kidnapping and then the plight of how much money has been captivated in the Boca Raton group.” ‘
GOP Congressman Mixes Up Boko Haram And Boca Raton
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/paul-gosar-boko-haram-boca-raton
Edit: do we have some competition for Gohmert in this guy?
David Koch
@Mike J:
SiubhanDuinne
@Howard Beale IV:
Honestly, I can’t think of anything about Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In I didn’t like.
elis
@the Conster: Not metal, as the food might freeze/stick to it. Have any scrap plywood? My friend in Northern Mass. uses plastic lunchroom trays to set out food in bad weather.
the Conster
@Gin & Tonic:
You don’t want to. It haunted my dreams for weeks, and made me afraid on my own property. It really is a nightmare creature.
raven
@the Conster: We’re pretty sure coyotes have made a dent in the feral population around here.
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: It’s basically just a weasel, and those always just make me think of this, which makes me smile.
jl
@the Conster:
Do you mean a fisher, or do you mean a fishing cat?
This was in N America or Asia?
@Gin & Tonic: Hey, hey there. the fisher is a marten. Show some respect, dude.
the Conster
@jl:
I mean this thing. It’s bigger in person than the picture, like a wolverine, and they’re common in the northeast apparently. They hang out in trees!!
Gin & Tonic
@jl: Here in New England, we are talking about this animal.
David Koch
@Mike J:
jl
@the Conster: @Gin & Tonic: Yeah, a fisher. They are in California too.
the Conster
@Gin & Tonic:
LOL. I remember seeing that cover for the first time when I was exceptionally high, and just being so… mesmerized.
SiubhanDuinne
@jl:
It’s easy to do. I mix up Louis Gohmert and Gomer Pyle and Denver Pyle and Bob Denver and Bing Crosby and Bill Cosby and Brick Oven Bill (“BoB”) and Bob in Portland all the time.
jl
@David Koch: He really shoulda spent a lot more time staring at google maps and daydreaming. Things would have gone much smoother.
Pogonip
@Gin & Tonic: They’re among the few critters that can kill porcupines without regretting it. Or at least that’s what my animal book says.
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: It’s actually quite a good record, too.
debit
@David Koch: In my house we use the phrase “I used the Googles.”
@Cole Lovey is so sweet and pretty. I really hope that whoever adopts these puppies sends regular updates so we can see how they grow up.
raven
“Hi Boys and Girls, I’m Jimmy Carl Black, and I’m the Indian of the group.”
David Koch
@Mike J:
Gin & Tonic
@raven: There you go.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
It’s great that Steve is teaching the pups how to play with cats — the rescue will probably be able to say that the pups are cat-friendly (unless they turn out to have an irrepressible prey drive or something).
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Did you know a movie was made about him in Germany a couple of years ago?
kindness
I’m jealous of John right now. All those critters together plus puppahs. A veritable zoo.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: No, cool, thx!
the Conster
@raven:
We’re only in it for the money.
David Koch
@Mike J:
jl
@efgoldman:
‘ We saw one crossing the street in broad daylight a couple of years ago. Very, very rare ‘
I assume you mean rare to see one. Fishers aren’t rare, they are just very very discrete.
Which will creep constar out even more: they’re all around, up the trees above you. They can see you, but you can’t see them!
Kind of like bobcats in California, a lot of them, but damned if they will let anyone see them. And same for fishers here too.
Baud
@David Koch:
That’s the best one, cause Newt is such a blowhard who acts like he’s smart.
jl
@David Koch: Maybe he was talking about laundry soap. He said ‘miscommunication’. Bill talks to his laundry soap. That interpretation makes more sense.
Villago Delenda Est
@Howard Beale IV: And yet the Dark Lord continues to be animated and doing evil.
Mike E
@SiubhanDuinne: “Sock it to me?”
Baud
@efgoldman:
I revised my comment along those lines.
Villago Delenda Est
@David Koch:
And yet, amazingly it can be explained.
Which means that religion is a scam, after all, but BillO’s own logic.
Baud
@Villago Delenda Est:
Except science has not yet reconciled gravity and quantum physics. So, therefore, God.
jl
@David Koch:
That prompted me to go look. I can’t figure out what Lil’ Newtie is talking about. But then he is a visionary egghead, what would I know?
Why Newt Gingrich Won’t Call a Smartphone a Smartphone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7NdpNHVzbo
Mike E
@Baud: Gravity sucks.
Baud
@Mike E:
Yeah, but it keeps me grounded.
rikyrah
So, let us follow the trail. If he never graduated from college, then whatever degree he got afterwards was a joke. Then that means that he was unqualified to practice. So, what does that mean for all the patients he saw?
…………………………………………
FRIDAY, FEB 13, 2015 03:15 PM CST
Rand Paul caught lying about his college record
Senator’s office forced to admit that he never graduated from Baylor University
LUKE BRINKER
Ophthalmologist-turned-politician Rand Paul may have a medical degree from Duke University, but the Kentucky senator and likely 2016 presidential candidate never completed his undergraduate education at Baylor University. So why did Paul assert twice yesterday that he holds two bachelor’s degrees from the institution?
The senator embellished his record during an appearance at the Lincoln Labs “Reboot Congress” event Thursday. In two instances highlighted by Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler, Paul falsely suggested that he had obtained undergraduate degrees. First came this exchange between Paul and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington:
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/13/rand_paul_caught_lying_about_his_college_record/
David Koch
Remember when Cole insisted Baby Doc would be a formidable candidate in 2016.
Good Times.
satby
@the Conster: Last year we had 3 feet of snow with drifts that were higher, so I kept shoveling flat areas under a bush and out under some trees where I could put food for the bunnies (under the bushes) and the deer (under the trees). At one point I had a heard of 18 deer at the back of my yard at the salt link and feeding station. Clearing the snow made it low enough for them to paw the rest of the way down to the frozen grass when they were out of corn.
I bought juice carrots and marked down veggies for the bunnies.
Howard Beale IV
@SiubhanDuinne: Then you ought to look at the Dean Martin Comedy Roasts back in the 19070s. Brutal and hysterical.
rikyrah
Does this face look familiar? Valerie Jarrett’s ancestor honored with stamp.
By Krissah Thompson February 12
The presidential aide and confidant stood beside a blown-up image of her great-grandfather, looking up as it towered over her. She shares his broad forehead, his cafe-au-lait complexion — and surely his drive to achieve.
Here was Valerie Jarrett on stage at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, beaming proudly as her forebear Robert Robinson Taylor became the 38th person inducted into the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage Stamp series. She called her mother to the front of the crowd. She whispered to her daughter. She thanked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for coming to the ceremony.
“Well! This is a celebration that we are having today,” she began.
In 1892, Taylor became the first black to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He went on to become the nation’s first academically trained black architect and developed a long relationship with educator Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/does-this-face-look-familiar-valerie-jarrett-ancestor-honored-with-stamp/2015/02/12/e5791dfc-b22a-11e4-886b-c22184f27c35_story.html
satby
@satby: and, the bunnies do like bird feed that has cracked corn in it too.
David Koch
$10 million per year, with a first class travel and entertainment expense account, among other perks, and he still felt the need to cheat his company.
Amir Khalid
@efgoldman:
But his medical degree and his eye doc certification are still good, right?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: My parents are in their early 70s and on the ‘net as well.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
That sounds like the cast of a Teatime Movie with Art Fern! (Movie credits at 1:04, 1:16 and 5:00.)
Steeplejack
@the Conster:
Brown shoes don’t make it. This has been my watchword for many years.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
His M.D. is bona fide, but his “board certification” in ophthalmology is from a fringe organization that he founded himself. Mention of this causes veins to stand out on the forehead of my brother, who is a board-certified ophthalmologist.
ETA: You can specialize in a specialty and not be board-certified, but that is the gold standard. Basically, Paul pioneered the bitcoin of board certification.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Brown shoes, like tweed suits, are for the country. And suede shoes are for cads.
/ 1950s Sloane Ranger
Mike in NC
@David Koch: So Brian Williams is basically a Sarah Palin style grifter? Who could have imagined?
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
“Cads.” I have been waiting for years to use something I once saw—a reference in a 1920s women’s magazine article to an oily character as a “tango pirate.” Boom! “Lounge lizard” doesn’t even come close.
opiejeanne
@Howard Beale IV: oh no!
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: One can also note that Italians seem to be the only people who can carry off tan shoes with a navy suit.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: I found a pretty cool old TVZ concert – here. He’s got some very, very funny patter.
ETA: The sound is quite good for something of that vintage.
E.g.:
Steeplejack (phone)
@Omnes Omnibus:
And white socks. Dunno how they do that.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Bookmarked. Thanks. Oddly, for whatever reason, Leonard Cohen lyrics keep popping into my head. Better than Ariana Grande lyrics, I guess.
ETA: Damn, this is good. Watching skiing on TV and listening to great music while savoring a Scotch. I am happy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (phone): I tried to wear brown shoes with a navy suit once. I couldn’t get to my door before I went back and changed shoes, watch, and belt to black.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m ever so glad to hear that you are enjoying it. The story he tells about Pancho and Lefty and the 3 day gig in Houston made me laugh until I cried.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): If it keeps me from going to bed at a decent hour as I had intended, it will be on your head.
catclub
@David Koch: When the company has decided to come down on you like a ton of bricks, it will prosecute you for taking pencils from the office. Nobody else will be prosecuted for this. And it never mattered until you were the focus of attention.
It could mean he did not have receipts for actual expenses that he was reimbursed for. Now it matters.
Mary G
The puppies are adorable and also, too, huge, especially Thurston. I don’t blame Ginger a bit for hiding out.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah. I can summon a certain level of low-key style when necessary—the last time I wore a tie was bro’ man’s wedding in July—but I don’t even try with all that exotic GQ outer-limits stuff. A man’s got to know his limitations. Didn’t somebody cool like Dirty Harry say that?
Steeplejack
Okay, I’ve been in a background-TV lull, and now suddenly there’s Love It or List It, Too and Crime Scene Cleaner. Former is a “shelter show” with nice scenery (co-host Jillian and Vancouver, B.C.). Latter is a dark comedy from Germany on my Eurotrash micro-network MHz. Been watching it the last few weeks and haven’t quite decided about it. Trailer here.
From Here to Eternity just started on TCM, and I do like me some Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed, but I’m just not in the mood tonight.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I know my style. It works for me. I won’t step outside it. I feel like I am wearing a costume not clothes if it isn’t my thing. My ex taught me a couple things about style that I absorbed, but otherwise, I stay with what has always worked for me. I never did parachute pants or any other really unfortunate things since I had control of my wardrobe.
@efgoldman: One is making efforts.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s pretty much where I’m at. I have a few signature touches, but they’ve been long since broken in and field-tested.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I apparently have a variable eye color. If I wear blue, my eyes seem blue-green. Gray: gray-green. Green: bright green. Oddly, the ex and my mom both have encouraged me to wear green whenever possible.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hmm. Interesting. But hard to go dressy/formal with green, maybe?
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: One wears black or white tie; and my eyes are green off neutrals so I am okay.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): This is wonderful.
I can drop funk or punk on you if it helps…
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
All right, then. I’m blue eyes, fair complexion, silver fox hair (formerly blond), so I’m right down the gray/blue/black fairway.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Moi: greenish, pale as can be; dark-starting to have gray.
ETA: I am done. Good night.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
So Bryan Ferry, then, as we’ve previously established. LOL.
Comrade Mary
Are those flannel sheets? The hell with the pet hair attraction powers, flannel keeps you from turning into a yousicle.
Comrade Mary
@Omnes Omnibus: Blue-grey-green eyes here. Haven’t noticed clothing colours affecting eye colour. Only thing that makes my eyes really green is crying or allergies. Not recommended.
Steeplejack
@Comrade Mary:
Crying is hard to accessorize.
My Truth Hurts
YES LESS TALK AND MORE STEVE BOXING PUPPIES VIDEOS PLEASE!
David Koch
@catclub:
Why would anyone else be prosecuted for his ridiculous fabrications?
Montarvillois
If you haven’t been around a litter of puppies or kittens for a long time, you forget how lovable they are and so heart wrenching it is to give them up.
Pogonip
@e Montarvillois: I think Cole has more in the pipeline–and if this dog rescue is as fussy as most of them, he won’t have to give them up because no one will ever qualify to adopt them.
mainmati
@the Conster: A la the sledding principle, you need to put the food out on a largeish tray or board that won’t sink and that will accommodate, maybe, small mammals. The more enterprising bunnies may find exposed surfaces to mine.