.
Rationalist Libertarian romance, from the horse’s… mouth. Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg View:
… “I don’t want to string along for years,” I told him. “I’m not demanding a proposal or anything, but I’m just letting you know, that eventually, I’ll want to get married, or we’ll have to end it. If you don’t want to marry me, hey, fair enough, and we can still be friends. But I just won’t do it again.” A few months later, he proposed, spontaneously in the middle of a household budget meeting, which is a great story to tell at cocktail parties and, hopefully, a nice memory for us to laugh over in the nursing home…
***********
Now that we’ve established a suitably low baseline, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Keith G
Been at the cafe since 4 am getting the final round of desserts prepped.
Morzer
Spontaneity after an ultimatum, while thinking about money.
Anne Laurie
@Keith G: Spousal Unit & I have plans for next weekend — for a long-established couple, this is amateur’s night. But the local news says business has been so bad due to all the snowstorms (with a full-scale overnight blizzard predicated to start this afternoon) that the Boston restaurants are actually cutting prices this weekend. We won’t go into Boston, but roads allowing we’ll make the twenty-minute drive to our favorite Chinese restaurant, and bring home takeout if we can’t get a table.
Morzer
A bit of good and rather impressive news:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/14/cameron-clegg-and-miliband-sign-joint-climate-pledge
Much credit to the Brits for being reality-based on climate change.
raven
I went to Traders after work and the guy said there was no chance they would be out of roses this morning because they had plenty and a truck was bringing more at 4am. I can do my regular Sat at the bakery and hardware store and get back home with them for the V-Day gifting. Later I’ll make my traditional valentine shaped polenta served floating in a nice, bright red marinara with salmon. There is a full throated freakout on the news because ONE inch of forecast for Sunday night through Monday but given the track record in the ATL they’ll shut this fucker down at the drop of a hat.
raven
Jesus what a goober headline in the local rag:
Georgia mashes five HRs in season-opening rout of E. Illinois
geg6
Gotta run out and get the lobster tails and filets I’m making for our Valentine dinner as early as possible today. By 3pm, the temps are supposed to start dropping and it’s going down to a low of -3F, with wind chills of -15 to -20. Glad we decided to do a dinner at home. It will be a good night to snuggle with my John and Koda.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Morzer: As pointed out to Scotty Walker on his visit to London last week, all British politicians accept science; a stark contrast to this side of the pond.
Morzer
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I am not sure that’s true of Nigel Farage, but he is an outlier in his resolute pursuit of smug bigotry and calculated ignorance.
Mudge
I wonder what it takes to love McMegan? And what is a “household budget meeting”? I won’t be inviting her to any cocktail parties unless I also invite TBogg and Charlie Pierce. There would be laughs then.
OzarkHillbilly
I met my wife on a ridgewalk (walking ridges and hollows looking for caves, a lot of ups and downs, no trails) Started off with 4 in our group, then we split up so we could cover more ground when the hollow split. All day long she stuck with me like stink on sh!t. No matter how high I climbed, she was right there with me. No matter how tight the hole I crawled into (to see if it might open up) she was going to follow. I figure we did about 12 miles that day with all the doubling back and forth and ups and downs.
Needless to say, I was fairly impressed. She had kept up with me all day thru some pretty rough country on short water and food rations (her roomie had taken off with hers so we shared what I had), taken a bad fall at one point that resulted in some pretty nice bruising, and had kept a fairly cheerful attitude with nairy a complaint all day long(she did get a little thin toward the end as the sun dipped below the ridge and it started getting dark down in the hollow).
When we finally made it back to camp after sunset, we were the last of about 2 dozen, somebody asked her, “So who’d you go with?”
“Tom.” she said, as she pulled off her boots and proceeded to nurse her many blisters.
“Ohh, you poor girl.” someone replied.
About a year later she admitted to me that the only reason she stuck with me so long that day was because she had absolutely no sense of direction and was absolutely terrified that I would lose her out there and she would never find her way back to camp, die of exposure, and the coyotes would gnaw on her bones and her daughter would never know what happened to her.
Which did finally explain why at the end of the day as we were headed back to camp, when she was really dragging, and limping, she absolutely insisted on climbing up the 60 or so feet to an interesting outcrop I had spotted thru the trees, no matter how I insisted that,
“I’ll be right back.”
raven
@Mudge: I wonder why ANYBODY fucking cares?
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Nice
Baud
@raven:
No kidding. She is so dull.
Morzer
@Baud:
She puts the turd in turgid.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: She asked me yesterday how many roses I was getting for her this Valentines. I said, “We’ll see how cheap they get on Sunday.”
I am such a romantic.
SRW1
What I wanna know is who chaired that meeting and whether any minutes were kept.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Morzer: Maybe he should come over here and join the Republican party.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: My dad was from southern Missouri(Springfield). His advice was, before you propose to that nice young lady take her camping.
Morzer
@SRW1:
Were granite countertops involved? Information wants to be free!
Pogonip
@OzarkHillbilly: “All day long she stuck with me like stink on shit.”
You, sir, are a true romantic. Many happy returns to you and your wife.
Pogonip
I am “between boyfriends,” as they say, so this year I’ll be rooting from the sidelines. And this year I prefer it that way. It’s going to drop to about 10 degrees today with 40 mph winds. If I had a boyfriend he’d feel obligated to take me out because Valentine’s Day and I’d feel obligated to go because Valentine’s Day. Flying solo I can stay inside and eat peanut butter sandwich and chicken soup.
That said, if any old guys who like to cook are reading this, contact Anne and she’ll give you my e-mail.
Baud
@Pogonip:
Would you really want to date the type of men who read this site?
satby
Happy Valentine’s day to all of you happily coupled folks! Good on you all!
I’ve been appreciating how much more bearable my recent travails have been without a chronically complaining, perpetually dissatisfied with something partner around. So, happily uncoupled I will stay for now.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Better yet, our GOP should all move over there.
satby
@Baud: Don’t sell Juicers short. I’m thinking of making reading Balloon Juice and leaving an intelligent comment at least once my new litmus test before dating anyone new.
That’ll thin the possibilities right down.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Excellent idea.
Morzer
@Baud:
Hmm.. if the choice were Romanov in Portland or eemom…. tough choices, tough choices.
Morzer
@Baud:
They’d fit in better in Tony Abbott’s Australia.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: $12.99 at Traders!
Phylllis
@OzarkHillbilly: A man after my dear late husband’s heart. Who made it clear that Valentine’s candy/treats were purchased on 2/15–aka half-price day.
Keith G
@Anne Laurie: Here in Houston, it’s been a different type of perfect storm. With Valentine’s Day on a Saturday, Friday was a busy day for those folks with office or school needs to fulfill. And of course, today the regular Valentine’s Day will have its own special type of craziness. Added to that the weather has been perfect. Exceptionally perfect – sunny skies, highs in the upper 60s to mid 70s. Everybody is out and about.
Baud
@satby:
Maybe Balloon Juice should have a dating thread.
Or a swingers thread so everyone can participate.
Schlemazel
@raven: There would have been room for the “S” had they just not been playing E. Illinois!
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: My sons (app 10 & 12) and I were doing an overnight float on the Current River (something we would do at least a half dozen times every year). We were sitting around our fire as I cooked dinner when we heard from the dark reaches upstream this long long constant whining incessant redundant female voice of complaint. “I’m cold. I’m wet. It’s dark. I’m tired. This is the worst time of my life! Don’t worry, you said. It will be OK, you said. Well, I’ve had it!! I am never doing this again!!! Don’t you say ‘I’m sorry.’ again, you are the sorriest person in the world! If you ever…”
As it got closer, it got worse, and worse until finally a the vague shape of a canoe paused in front of our gravel bar.
The poor guy in the back said over the caterwauling from the front, “Can you tell me how far it is to Jerktail Landing?”
What I really wanted to say was, “Pull up and come sit by the fire. We don’t have much, but it’s hot and you can wrap up in blankets until they come looking for you. No sense risking life and limb floating on a moonless night. ”
Instead, “About two miles.” was all I said.
He sighed. She turned it up another notch to a level I had no idea existed, and with great resignation, and infinite patience, he continued the long trudge down the river.
As they disappeared around the bend, and the whining blessedly went with them, I looked at the boys and said, “Let that be a lesson to you guys. I would have invited them into camp but there was no way on Dog’s green earth I was allowing that woman into our camp.”
Schlemazel
Our younger son, who has currently unattached (which is OK by me as he can spend more time at his studies!) posted this on FB:
What’s the difference between you and a calendar?
.
A calendar has a date on Valentines Day.
Ultraviolet Thunder
No plans for hearts and flowers day, so I may be in trouble here.
But I’m home, so there’s that.
I spent the week in Kokomo, and yesterday morning it was so cold that when I took off my boots at the car to change into driving shoes steam came out of my boots.
Gonna be single digit temperatures all weekend so we’ll likely hole up in the house and avoid the outdoors.
Pogonip
@Baud: Why not? Most of them probably come with at least one cute pet attached.
JPL
@Raven: I went out and bought bread. Monday is just iffy now and it depends on the temps. If drivers didn’t abandon their cars in the middle of the road, it wouldn’t be so bad, but they do.
@OzarkHillbilly: That is the type of story you share in your olden years.
Morzer
@OzarkHillbilly:
Seldom can the words “Jerktail Landing” have seemed more tragic.
Nicole
The better half and I went out for our Valentine’s dinner, with the 4-year-old in tow, last night. Anne Laurie is right; the actual day is amateur night (my husband waited tables for many years and HATED working Valentine’ Day for that reason). Ah, romance.
(Actually, it was nice. The wee one is very good in restaurants, so it’s fun to go out with him.)
Speaking of the 4-year-old, a mom of one of his friends commented to me that in Australia (her home), Valentine’s Day is really just for lovers; they don’t do all the kid Valentines (this comment was shouted to me over the cacophony of a bunch of 4 year olds hyped up on sugar from their Valentine’s Day parties at school). I said it really is only fair that the kids get to move in on Valentine’s Day seeing as how we grown-ups are taking over Halloween. ;)
moonbat
Since we’re in the middle of another arctic blast, the hubby and I decided to have our romantic dinner at home. He’s in charge of the steak and I’m making the flourless chocolate cake.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
There was a bit on the local news this morning about how tulips are supplanting roses for Valentine’s Day. There’s hope for you yet.
OzarkHillbilly
@Morzer: The name comes from the steepness of the ridge above the landing. In order for the old timers to get their mules to pull the wagons up the hill, they had to “jerk their tails”.
Always liked that little factoid.
Botsplainer
I picked up a couple of live lobsters yesterday. They’re in the back fridge, hopefully still alive until this evening.
I followed the fishmongers commands explicitly.
WereBear
satby and Ozark Hillbilly are right. Better blissful silence than a bad mate.
I am happy I have a good one. It has been a raucous week with Winter Carnival and I am glad to rest up today. Leftover pot roast will be our dinner. No way we going out this evening. Town is full and there will be shortages of air in dining spots.
Elizabelle
@WereBear: Where are you that they’re having a Winter Carnival? Fun. And happy VDay with the loved one.
@OzarkHillbilly: I hope so much that poor guy did not marry that whining harpy. Or worse, she was already a wife.
Some people are only happy complaining. Scram. It’s not a character flaw that improves with age.
geg6
Okay, plans have changed. I just fell flat on my back taking Koda out for a poop. If I hadn’t had my over-stuffed down parka on, I’d be at the ER with a broken tailbone, at the least. Fuck. Now what?
Southern Beale
I’m sick. Been fighting some chest cold type funk for 2 days but couldn’t fight it off any more. So tonight’s dinner reservations have been cancelled and I posted our hockey tickets for sale. I’ll be watching the game on TV tonight I guess.
SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS
debbie
@geg6:
Ice in bed with your knees supported with pillows.
NotMax
Awakened by the fierce winds. Whole house is periodically shaking on its piers. Been gusting like crazy for about 16 hours now.
Was going to get around to mowing the property today, but the intermittent rains accompanying this weather front have put the kibosh on that.
Brace your ears.
Cocktails For Two.
And It’s Magic.
Something less skewed and more melodic – The Uplifted Veil of A Downhearted Frail.
WereBear
@Elizabelle: Oldest Winter Carnival in the East
We build an Ice Palace and mold a mini golf course from snow and have marvelous ice carvings with volleyball and bonfires and such.
beth
Our V-day plans (dinner and theater tickets) for Wednesday got cancelled when I came down with what I’m pretty sure isn’t the flu but an incredibly nasty cold. I’m still wiped out three days later. My sweetie’s been stopping by the soup store every night to bring me dinner which is the best Valentine’s gift I could ask for.
satby
@geg6: @Southern Beale: I hope you both feel better soon.
SRW1
@Morzer:
Screw the countertops! Was there a quorum and is the decision legally binding?
Gozer
My corp transitioned to a 24-he production schedule…which means 12+ hour days (and alternating Saturdays) for the next 6 months.
I don’t think I’ve seen daylight since Monday.
satby
And a Maggie dog update: Maggie gave me a scare yesterday morning when she collapsed outside (it was 3 degrees out and she’s at least 70 pounds). I got her back in but we were both shook up by it. The vet thought she was just showing how weak she had gotten, and since she had been eating and drinking she said just keep encouraging Maggie to get up and move, eat and drink, and get her strength back. Seems to be working, she’s done better ever since. We may be past the crisis for now.
NobodySpecial
Just remember, kids, if you’re feeling low because you’re single on the holiday…..
McMegan is married. Serial murderer Drew Peterson got four whacks at marriage. So, really, your only competition this year is Charlie Manson, who got dumped.
greennotGreen
Exciting day planned! My builder and I are siting my new house! Footers will probably be poured next week while I’m in Florida at a meeting, but then I’ll have something to see when I get back.
Also, I’m feeling somewhat better this morning after a couple of queasy days following chemo. Because it’s only once every three weeks I expect to have many more good days than not-so-good.
Happy Valentines to all of you so inclined. I’m afraid my long-ago marriage was so psychologically damaging that I can’t imagine a good relationship, but all the best to those who can.
MomSense
Puppy class, then pick up another 50 lb bag of ice melt. Then it’s roof raking, placing ice melt on the roof, grocery shopping, pre shoveling to make room for more snow, and all day long laundry. Kids are shoveling neighbors’ houses until I get home with the ice melt. I sent a picture of my house to my dad in Florida and he asked me if I was lying down on the ground in order to make the snow banks look so tall.
I did not respond with the words I was thinking!
If you want a laugh at our misfortune, some guy on YouTube does the hillbilly weather report from NH. I can’t link on this stupid phone but he is wearing red suspenders and says what all of us are thinking.
OzarkHillbilly
Why does a chicken coop have 2 doors? Because if it had 4 it would be a sedan.
Abuse will have to wait till the morrow as I leave for STL.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@satby:
Enjoy being single, do you?
Violet
What is the “it” in this sentence from McMegan’s purported conversation with her then-boyfriend:
Won’t do what again? Have a budget meeting? Date anyone? Get married? Have secksy time with him? (Sorry) What is she talking about?
ThresherK
Last weekend was our Valentine’s Day. A long-standing tradition is for me to bring her roses in late January, stemming (/rimshot) from when I was unemployed and didn’t have the money to buy the same roses for $30 more on Feb 14th itself.
I make home-baked goodies. And for a wife who doesn’t check her email and has trouble navigating the internets, I get a “Some Ecard” or two, and print them out (springing for the color laser print) and laminate them. (In addition to a regular store-bought card. But those I’m very picky about.)
@Southern Beale: Okay, you can have dinner any old day, and you might have a better experience in a less-crowded restaurant than on a Feb 14th on a Saturday nite. But miss a hockey game? I feel for you and the Mr.
SRW1
@Violet:
I suspect it refers to being in a relationship without having received a written commitment. But I was also wondering whether it was a threat of a secksy time embargo a la Lysistra,
JPL
@MomSense: The weather forecast is certainly NSFW
Thanks for the laugh though.
kdaug
@OzarkHillbilly: Same here. Mountain biking, greenbelt, a 2″ cliff ledge w/ a chain bolted to the wall. When I saw her hoisting her own bike on her right shoulder, grabbing the chain with her left, and toe-to-heel the 30 or so feet to get back to the trail, I knew I was going to marry her.
Botsplainer
Informal survey on the annual disappointment that is a box of Russell Stovers:
Does anybody actually LIKE the vanilla cream, maple nut cream or apricot cream?
And yeah, I know there are better assortments (bought the big ass box of Godiva one year – thought we’d never get through it).
satby
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): after the last train wreck, who my formerly best buddy poached, yes. Yes, I do.
Don’t miss her either.
Violet
@SRW1: Yeah, it’s a terribly written paragraph. If she’s telling him she won’t enter into a relationship without a written commitment, but he’s not going to marry her, then why would he care? And if it’s secksy time embargo, then why be so coy, since she’s advocating such directness? It sounds like some kind of threat, but what threat exactly is unclear.
Typical stupid McMegan.
Schlemazel
@NobodySpecial:
There was a meme making the rounds a couple years ago. ‘Dolph and Eva holding hands with the caption, “Even Hitler could get a girlfriend, you are worse than Hitler”
patrick II
Old age Valentine’s Day advice: don’t schedule a colonoscopy the day before Valentine’s day. They pump you full of air and you are still passing it a day later. Not romantic at all.
satby
@Botsplainer: good luck with the lobsters, and I don’t really like Russell Stover candy, but I do tend to like maple anything. I have 4 sugar maples on my property, may have to learn to tap them and make my own maple syrup at least once.
Violet
@Botsplainer: I’m not really a Russell Stovers fan.I’d rather spend the money on a smaller box of excellent chocolates from a local chocolatier.
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet: Hipster.
MomSense
@JPL:
I did say it’s what we are all thinking-not actually saying out loud!
satby
@Violet: this
@Omnes Omnibus: And this too.
satby
@beth: and you feel better soon too, beth
Botsplainer
@Mudge:
In my mind, McMegan has the sense of entitlement and narcissism that my wife has (our biggest source of conflict that I’m now no longer tolerant of) without her good qualities or the many good times we shared in the past.
In other words, badly high maintenance, but without any stored up goodwill.
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus: Nope. Chocolate snob. Long before it was ever cool. I was the kid who traded for the Hershey’s Extra Dark miniatures in the Halloween candy because I liked dark chocolate. Been a chocolate snob as long as I can remember.
satby
@Violet: well, I am both a chocolate snob and a hipster.
JPL
@MomSense: I already emailed it to friends in the Boston area and I’m sure they will appreciate it.
JPL
@Violet: Hershey’s special dark bars aren’t bad.
BGK
Today is a fine day for binge drinking and deep self-loathing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Violet:
Me too. My current favorite indulgence is World Market’s store brand dark chocolate with sea salt and ginger and — wait for it — wasabi. It’s just wicked good.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Not a taste since New Years!
Baud
@BGK:
It is a day that end in “y”, so yes.
BGK
@Baud:
Eh. I have bartending enablers which will offer extra-special assistance today.
Ira-NY
Has Firedoglake gone out of business?
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
You poor thing.
WereBear
@Violet: Chocolate snob here, too. Our local health food store has some organic dark chocolate varieties that are awesome. Accept no substitutes.
We have an incredible local chocolate shop too.
NotMax
@Violet
Not sure if they still make them, but at one time Godiva produced chocolate-covered cranberries for Thanksgiving.
Brought a small box to the big dinner one year and one grandfather (in fact the very Max whom I am Not, then well into his nineties) pronounced them “The best thing I’ve ever eaten. I’m glad I’ve lived so long, just to be able to taste these.”
Gin & Tonic
@patrick II: Last year Valentine’s Day was on a Friday. That was, in fact, the day of my colonoscopy. (We do not actually commemorate the day.)
ThresherK
@Violet: Oh, my misspent youth! I discovered dark chocolate during my freshman year in college. It was the ’80s, everybody was doing weird things.
Hershey’s Special Dark was my gateway then, and now I can get chunk Callebaut by the pound chunk in my Stop & Shop.
WereBear
Get Well Soon to everyone suffering from the vicious bug this year. I’m still not shaking it off.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Did a (mostly) improv skit at one time about Edward Scissorhands being forced to support himself and choosing to become a proctologist.
You can likely discern the rest from that premise.
Amir Khalid
I told my best Valentine’s Day story here four years ago today, in a thread put up by ABL: it had to do with me, a male buddy of mine, and a steakhouse waiter who regarded with much curiosity what he apparently took for the first gay couple he’d ever laid eyes on.
satby
@WereBear: I’m sure this weather isn’t helping. Hope you feel better soon in spite of it.
satby
@Amir Khalid: LOL!
PIGL
Roses are red
Gender’s performative
Mass-market romance
Is heteronormative
I will be a romantic evening in my tea shop revising a manuscript after a romantic afternoon in the office working on a grant application, after a romantic morning at my martial arts club.
Bah! Humbug!
ETA: the rest of you, you with normal lives and healthy relationships, have a wonderful evening.
PIGL
@BGK: Oh, those are go-to’s for any day of the year.
NotMax
Speaking of romance, The More the Merrier on TCM at 3:30 Eastern today.
Solid little bundle of cuteness. Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur’s slow-burning chemistry is a fun diversion.
If you haven’t seen it yet it seems familiar, was remade as Walk, Don’t Run some decades later.
gelfling545
@BillinGlendaleCA: Anyone who had tried to take me camping would never have been given a chance to propose anything.
NobodySpecial
Well, for Valentine’s Day, I euthanized my cat. I can’t complain, though, we had 23 good years.
debbie
@NotMax:
Jean Arthur is a real treasure.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I used to save up for a weekly trip to Teuschers for a couple of truffles. These days, anything but Hershey’s will do, so long as it isn’t chalky.
NotMax
@debbie
Yes indeedy. Never gave a weak or strictly by the numbers performance.
It’s one of those films loosely grouped into a category I have dubbed deus sex machina.
Amir Khalid
@NobodySpecial:
You’re always welcome to share your kitteh memories with the gang, if that helps. {{{hugs}}}.
Poopyman
@PIGL:
Well, that either/or covers just about everybody.
Poopyman
@NobodySpecial: Well, … fuck. That hurts and I know it.
Debbie(aussie)
@Morzer: Hey! No fair! We have more than enough irrational anti-science nutcases without taking yours.
I had a great Valentines day. Hubby is 1500kms away in Ipswich. I am in Townsville visiting our daughter and her boy friend(his birthday). We went to the pub, then to a chocolate café, then home for movies and Indian take-away. Am just about to get some sleep.
Happy Valentines Day to those who celebrate.
Amir Khalid
Why is Brian not a good name for a police horse?
The Pale Scot
I’ve been afflicted with a nice ear worm for the last few days, We Sink by Chvrches and the rest of their The Bones Of What You Believe album, which keep bubbling back into my conscience no matter what other music I’m listening to.
And I’d like to extend my sympathies to the restaurant workers in the NE who are prepping for all those V-day reservations.
Mike in NC
We invited some neighbors over tonight for snacks and to knock off a few bottles of wine. Hopefully they can get home before the Arctic Blast arrives (expected high of 34 on Sunday, with wind chill in the teens). I had to rummage through the closet for a wool sweater and gloves.
JMG
Not going out tonight due to blizzard and since our kitchen renovation is scheduled to start on Monday, we’re liable to be going out a lot in the next six weeks. I am making lamb chops with shallot sauce with raspberries for dessert. We have champagne, so we’re good.
Amir Khalid
Well, Fifty Shades’ Tomatometer rating is in: 27%, more or less what I expected.
ranchandsyrup
Sometimes love hits you with a 2×4. Even if you’re the most special glibertarian eva
Buddy H
After a two-year loan to the United States, Michelangelo’s David is being returned to Italy
http://kikoshouse.blogspot.com/2015/02/when-picture-is-worth-thousand-calories.html
His proud sponsors were Mcdonald’s, Starbucks and Burger King
Josie
@Violet: This sounds so familiar. Every Christmas, when I was a kid, SC left Hersey’s miniatures in our stockings. I always traded my two brothers all my milk chocolates and Krackles (?) for their special darks. They thought I was nuts, but now I am right in style.
dexwood
Valentine’s Day, 1974. I left my girlfriend’s apartment, took my dog to my father’s house, picked up a friend, and left a cold, snow-covered Baltimore heading west to New Mexico. A month later, I went back for my dog.
Buddy H
Anyone else have tenants?
We rent the second floor of our house. Young couple.
BANG! The front door. Every time the guy comes in, he kicks the front door shut. There are scuff marks all along the bottom of the white door.
Here he comes again.
BANG!
Amir Khalid
@Buddy H:
Here’s a suggestion: repaint the front door every fortnight, and add it to the rent.
Buddy H
@Amir Khalid: They seemed nice at first. I think there’s a thin veneer of passive-aggressive resentment, simply because we’re their “landlords”
We’ve been so good to them. I remember when I was young, I had so many shitty landlords.
Buddy H
On the lease, it says they’re not supposed to put nails or anything into the walls.
So one night, about two weeks after they move in, my whole house is shaking. I hear a loud drill upstairs. The guy put up heavy shelves (right over a gas-fired spaceheater). A few weeks later, I hear more loud drilling. More shelves.
Last week, I get a text from the girl. “Do you have a drill I can borrow for a few minutes?” I replied “No, sorry, we don’t have a drill. Please don’t drill any more holes in the walls”
After that, the noise level increased. More passive agressiveness. Bang! Bang! thump! My wife texted her “Are you moving furniture or re-decorating up there?”
It got quieter after that.
patrick II
MSNBC is having a panel discussion of Fifty Shades of Grey right now — is it pc to have a more powerful rich male take advantage of a younger less powerful female? Was her “yes” entusiastic enough? Was it real BDSM?
Just shoot me now.
Amir Khalid
@Buddy H:
Your tenant situation sounds like it’s time for a reading of the riot act.
Buddy H
I get paranoid and uncomfortable having strangers upstairs. My wife says “Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity.” I think the guy is just careless and thoughtless.
But when we first advertised for tenants, we got some doozies. One girl, I checked out her twitter, and it was all boasts about how hard she partied and how drunk or hung over she was.
delk
We got our tax refund today and it is sitting pretty in our joint savings account. Best Valentine’s Day I’ve had in a while.
Buddy H
@Amir Khalid: I don’t like confrontation with people who could make a point of damaging my property on their way out.
Stuffing toilets or damaging pipes…
Denali
I can’t get a hold of Firedoglake either.
Tenar Darell
@Botsplainer: Big bar of Toblerone. (Or chocolate turtles, but not sure if they’re available at this time of year). Or if she likes it, the Taza chocolate assortment. Chili or cinnamon infused dark chocolate made w/o milk is eminently satisfying with a stout or a nice old vine red Zinfandel. /foodie mode off
Elizabelle
@WereBear: Looks wonderful. Will put Lake Saranac’s winter carnival on my list, for next year and beyond.
Enjoy.
stinger
@NobodySpecial: So very sorry to hear it.
MomSense
Just got back from puppy class. The trainer could put a cam in that class and make a fortune. Puppies running and playing everywhere.
So all the puppies except ours and one other were tearing around the place. The two lab shepherds who were 10 times the size of the others were hiding under the chairs terrified. Pugs, Pomeranians, and Shih Tzus oh my.
Tenar Darell
@Buddy H: If you have the money, I’d replace it with one of those slow closing door mechanisms. That way it becomes physically difficult to slam at all. Otherwise, put on a lower door weatherstrip that drags the floor, and if any extra left put a metal plate on the bottom foot of the door. /evil grin
Origuy
@Amir Khalid: Nobody mentioned the legendary Irish king Brian Boru? Not a god, but the first High King of Ireland is pretty good.
Amir Khalid
@Buddy H:
It sounds like young Mr Doorkicker and his sweetheart are already busy damaging your property.
Tenar Darell
@SiubhanDuinne: tastebuds just lit up and said “WANT SOME!”
Buddy H
@Tenar Darell: All good ideas.
The people we bought the house from, they had a tenant living upstairs for about twenty years. When they put the house up for sale, they evicted her, and she apparently was pissed.
After we moved in, I kept noticing a weird smell upstairs. Didn’t recognize it. Then one day I get my utility bill, and attached was a safety notice with a “scratch and sniff” coating. It said “this is what a gas leak smells like” I scratched it, and Shit! That’s the upstairs smell!
I called the Utility, the tech comes over and finds that the pipe leading to the gas space heater had been loosened.
Thank FSM that I quit smoking twenty years ago. If I’d lit a cigarette up there, my house would basically be a crater today.
stinger
@greennotGreen: Six years ago, I built my house. As a single, middle-aged, middle-income woman, it was scary but exhilarating. I’ve never regretted it. The building process goes delightfully fast at times, and inexplicably drags at times. But in a few short months, you’ll be hanging curtains! Best of luck!
Buddy H
I want them out after their lease is up this summer.
I’d rather get a second job and work day and night rather than having strangers upstairs, but it was my wife’s idea. Her friend bought an old house and rents upstairs, so it’s in her head it’s a good thing for her retirement. I just find it too risky; people are unpredictable.
My wife is better with people than I am. She doesn’t find them a problem.
Bobby B.
Thanks to The Corporation, American chocolate can legally be made of corn syrup and fart flakes.
patrick II
@delk:
How romantic.
WereBear
@Buddy H: Why not keep the tenant? Makes no sense.
@NobodySpecial: Twenty three years is an amazing run. My sympathies on such a loss.
patrick II
@The Pale Scot:
As soon as I read the words: I’ve been afflicted with a nice ear worm I stop reading. Those fcking things are contagious.
Tenar Darell
@Buddy H: Whoah. That is scary. I managed to finally quit in ’05. Even as a tenant I still have residual fear of gas.
Buddy H
@WereBear: Why not keep the tenant? Makes no sense.
I think their realtor told them they’d have a better chance of selling the house if it was unoccupied. Also, the way the owner talked about her, they didn’t seem to like her much any more. Flooding the bathtub, never cleaned.. Apparently, she’d been born to a wealthy family, had servants her whole life, and now in her mature years, financially diminished, she’d never acquired the habit of cleaning up after herself.
But it just reinforced my paranoia that some people, while outwardly normal, are capable of horrible acts. The young couple upstairs are better than most tenant horror stories I’ve heard, but I think they’re thoughtless and inconsiderate.
MomSense
@NobodySpecial:
I’m so sorry. Big hugs to you.
satby
@NobodySpecial: Awww, so sorry! But 23 years is amazing! Well done you, that was a cat that was much loved and very lucky!
Gene108
@Buddy H:
CO monitors are required in the city I live in, if you have gas appliances / heat.
They are relatively inexpensive and should pick up on gas leaks.
aimai
@Buddy H: If these are your tenants you really need to get a hold of yourself. Not drilling holes into a rental apartment is incredibly standard. You are letting them screw you over and its only going to get worse. You need to draw the line right now because you are never going to be strong enough to hold the security deposit or sue them for damages and they are going to damage that apartment plenty.
Ruckus
@WereBear:
Much harder to sell with a tenant. On a related note I just had to move as the house I was living in is now for sale. Owner, 90+ passed and his kids wanted to sell. We had 2 months to get out. We didn’t think it would be a problem finding another place. How wrong we were, we found a place one week before time was up. Moving is a pain in the ass, and everywhere else as well. Every time I’ve had to move in the last few yrs I’ve tried to pare down my excess crap. I’ve finally learned to be ruthless about it. Do I use it, do I actually have to have it to fulfill my life? No, it goes, thrift store or trash.
buddy h
@Gene108: I have CO monitor and smoke alarm. I installed them right before the tenants moved in.
My wife isn’t bothered by the shelves they put up. There’s only one she said she doesn’t like, and she spoke to the girl about it.
bemused senior
Unite world-wide under the magnificent blood-red banner (hat tip LGM — Erik Loomis).
opiejeanne
@NotMax: LOL! It’s been many years since I heard that Jo Stafford recording. One of my college music teachers shared it with us, with a straight face.
WereBear
@Ruckus: Seconded. We’ve gotten rid of an entire storage unit. This Thanksgiving I gave nine boxes of books to the library.
Kathleen
@satby: Yes! And geg, if you can tolerate them take an anti inflammatory. I neglected to do that after a foot injury and I paid the price with increased healing time.
opiejeanne
We were kind of stuck the last few days so my husband drew me a Valentine’s day card, and then went to the store after I got up and bought me some red roses and some bacon.
It must be love.
opiejeanne
@gelfling545: I thought camping sounded like fun when I was a young woman. Now I’ve camped enough times and I know better.
The most fun camping, aside from being terrified I’d meet a bear on the path to the showers after dark in a campground in Oregon, was when we had only one or two kids and an old but well-kept SixPak camper. We paid next to nothing for it and used the heck out of it, and when we had the third kid we sold it for what we’d paid for it. Tent camping and cooking on a camp stove is too much like work and not enough of a novelty for me to enjoy it, and not being able to sleep because of the cold, those things decided the subject for me. I hike and fish and love the outdoor stuff, and have slept on the ground outside in the mountains in the summer, with just a sleeping bag (I was 11, what did I know then) but tent camping is just too much like work.
I’m kind of sad that I feel that way because I’ve long wanted to hike the John Muir Trail, but it ain’t happening until there’s a motel with a room for me every ten miles or so.
Fred Flintrock
I’m taking my wife to the Cana dinner at our church tonight. If we are lucky, Jesus will stop by and turn some water into wine!
Matt McIrvin
@BillinGlendaleCA: In Britain there’s a peculiar, small contingent of climate-change denialists on the radical left, I think because they associate any attack on the coal industry with Margaret Thatcher. Alexander Cockburn used to uncritically relay talking points from American right-wing anti-environmentalists.
gail sadock
@opiejeanne: With a full stocked bar for me
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Probably not legal to do that.
Cervantes
@Matt McIrvin:
Alex was a friend. Did you ever read the book he co-authored about the rain forest?
(Not a comment on your criticism of him.)
gelfling545
@efgoldman: Precisely. SUrely we have evolved beyond living in crude, temporary shelters.
Matt McIrvin
@Cervantes: No, but it actually sounds interesting. It appears that on CO2/global warming he got snookered by the Spiked Online folks, ex-Communists who went some strange variety of libertarian.
(He also seems to have been extremely down on Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution, which I think was probably just incorrect, but it’s an attitude I’ve seen elsewhere.)
Cervantes
@Matt McIrvin:
Details from the publisher (UCP) here, if anyone else is interested.
And yes, like all the rest of us Alex had his idiosyncrasies — not limited to a mischievous love of what is sometimes called trolling.
dopey-o
@satby:
The only thing worse than feeling lonesome is wishing that you were.