Big thunderstorm over Tampa Bay at the moment that might put a damper on the fireworks. Either way, dogs throughout the region will be piddling in fear. Not my mutts, though: Snoozing as usual. The only holiday that riles them is Halloween, when they go apeshit over each and every trick-or-treater.
Hope you’re having a great 4th. Open thread!
Baud
God Bless America
JPL
After having a dog that could hear fireworks miles away, I must admit that it’s nice to now have a Finch which could care less. Even my house guest, little Nona, is unfazed but all the sounds.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: San Jose represent
schrodinger's cat
Goggies has a cute and a restful. Happy 4th, everyone.
Zinsky
Do you have fleas or mites on your body from letting animals sleep on your furniture? Gross.
Baud
@efgoldman:
You must not love America.
JPL
@efgoldman: Next year will be the 100 anniversary of the contest. I’m not sure how many people died trying to stuff hot dogs down their throat though.
princess leia
Dogs are kenneled and all the cats and foster kittens are locked up for the night. We live in a neighborhood that delights in setting off lots of big booms- safe and sane? HA!- and so I have learned over the years to make sure they are locked up. Not my favorite night of the year.
Pogonip
Our holiday weekend has been great so far, hope the same’s true for all other Americans reading this. If people from other countries are reading this, I’d like to know what the fireworks holidays are in your nation.
Steeplejack
@Zinsky:
So, not a pet owner, then?
rikyrah
the dogs look cute
the Conster
@Baud:
I watched this for the first time ever today sitting in a sushi restaurant with ESPN on at the bar. It’s like, you can’t watch but you can’t look away either. It really is uniquely American/
Steeplejack
@Baud:
This is reminding me that I might want to pick up a pack of Hebrew National dogs for the cookout tomorrow. Bro’ man is doing burgers, but, dang, I love the taste of a hot dog off the grill.
ms_canadada
Happy July 4th to all my American friends, family, and of course you guys!!!
We had our Canada Day celebrations on July 1st, with fireworks going off over Burlington Bay…fantastic display, IMHO. As I write, fireworks are going off in my neighbourhood…need moar booms!
Have a great one!
Steeplejack
@Pogonip:
Guy Fawkes Day in England, or at least it was when I was a kid there about a hundred years ago.
ms_canadada
@Steeplejack: @Zinsky: Hmmm…my dogs sleep on the bed. They have their shots & flea & tick treatment. They’re my boys! Where else would they be?
Betty Cracker
@Zinsky: Unlike millions of human beings (including, possibly, you), my dogs are clean and bug-free.
the Conster
@Steeplejack:
Have you started watching Rectify?
satby
Trying to figure out which of my non-elderly neighbors are setting off huge fireworks nearby. The dogs are going nuts.
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack: Have you read about the spiral cut hot dog technique? Sounds intriguing. Might try that at tomorrow’s cookout.
Major Major Major Major
Never mind, misread the calendar. Jaws is tomorrow.
JPL
@satby: This is the first year that you can buy fireworks in GA. The neighbor behind me whose has twelve acres and a pond has quite a display going. I can see the colors through the woods.
Suzanne
We just finished eating our delicious grilled food, and will be going to fireworks later, then we’re going to Mexico for a few days (leaving tomorrow morning). I hate coming home to a dirty house, so I’ve been trying to clean, but my four-year-old will have none of it. Le sigh. I shall probably have to hire the team of wonderful ladies to come in and blitz the place when we get home.
As for fireworks, we are not located close to any of the major displays, so hopefully the dogs shall be chill. Apparently there is extra security at all the big displays around here because the cities are afraid of ISIS. OH FFS.
Spawn the Younger just came running into my room, screaming, “I GOTTA GO POOP!”. Parenthood is a joy.
geg6
@Zinsky:
Jeebus. Those of us who have pets generally take care of them, including all the treatments for pests, etc. that would make them uncomfortable, and, secondarily, make us uncomfortable. Pets are no more disgusting to live with than humans and are often quite less disgusting and difficult to live with than 99.9% of humans. I’m going to assume that, based on your comment, you are definitely in the 1% of the 99.9% of humans who are more disgusting than my pets.
MomSense
Happy fourth everyone! Lots of eating, swimming, and boating today. Now comes the drinking and dancing part of the evening. Hope everyone is having a great night!
The doggies look so cozy. My girl is tuckered out and sleeping in her kennel for the night.
JPL
@efgoldman: This is something else, you probably missed..
A 15-year-old girl won the women’s division of the 42nd annual cherry spitting contest in Eau Claire, Michigan, by sending a pit farther than anyone else: 49 1/4 feet.
Corner Stone
@Betty Cracker: I like to split the ends into four cuts, like a cross cut, and then grill. Makes the ends get a little charred and is deee-licious.
Of course, I have also been known to wrap a piece of bacon around a dog, toothpick it, then drop in a fryer.
Corner Stone
@satby: IT.HAS.BEGUN.
geg6
@Corner Stone:
Fried bacon wrapped hotdogs are the fucking bomb.
One of the few fried foods I love.
Major Major Major Major
@Zinsky: well, as a human, I do have many species of mites on my body. Possibly fleas. I’d have to google it. Did you know there’s an entire species of mite that lives and reproduces solely on your eyelashes?
ms_canadada
@Steeplejack:”Remember, remember, the 5th of November.”
A distant relative of mine, Sir Francis Tresham, was involved in the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
According to the story, he got cold feet (his 2 brothers-in-law were members of the government), and notified the authorities. Unfortunately, for Sir Francis, he was imprisoned and died in the Tower of London in 1605.
(BTW, my mother was a Tresham, and her father was named Francis, and I was named after him – Frances, and I have been so fortunate to travel to & stay at the former Tresham estate, Rushton Hall.)
JPL
@Major Major Major Major:
Did you know there’s an entire species of mite that lives and reproduces solely on your eyelashes?
No and actually that’s not something I wanted to know.
Pogonip
@geg6: I knew Zinsky wasn’t a pet owner, when, with charming naivete, he spoke of “letting” the animal sleep somewhere. Like the amusing childless people who watch a 2-year-old screaming and kicking on the floor of the grocery store, and think to embarrass the parents with “I’d never let MY kid act like that.”. Little do they know the supposedly chastened parents have burst into knowing, uproarious laughter once they’re politely out of earshot.
And how is Little Miss Lovey getting on?
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
Heh.
Steeplejack
@the Conster:
Yes. I am paused about halfway through the first episode. The show’s pacing is leisurely, so I am getting off to a leisurely viewing start. It looks promising so far.
Corner Stone
Eating contests are yoogely disgusting spectacles. They cram the dogs down their throat then dunk the bun in a glass of water so they can swallow them faster.
Hideous.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
Huh. That looks just crazy enough to work.
Pogonip
@JPL: The future of American womanhood looks brighter than ever!
Corner Stone
@JPL: Ever wash eye crust off your eyelashes? What some know as sleep boogers?
Tommy
@Steeplejack: It is a wonderful show if hard to watch at times. I won’t give any spoilers away but the pace does pick up somewhat.
Zinsky
@Steeplejack: I have a dog, I just don’t let it lay on the furniture or beds in our house. People that allow that are really exercising very poor judgement, in my opinion. They are animals, not humans, for Gods sake.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: How is your doggie’s tail? Completely healed?
geg6
@Pogonip:
Oh, Lovey is so bad! Such mischief! We’ve always had super laid back Labs and goldens. She is another species entirely. But so adorable and stubborn and smart. House training has been a bit of a challenge compared to our other dogs. But I’m told that’s normal for a small dog. She is learning but with much stubbornness and many setbacks. But she’s getting bigger (maybe 8-10 lbs. now), is super affectionate and Koda’s dearest buddy. It’s a happy ending for her and us.
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: recent genetic studies suggest the adult population host penetration is… 100%.
Poopyman
The ordinance began going off here about a half hour before sunset. Some folks apparently just can’t wait. We’re far from the organized fireworks (and none are scheduled for tonight), and far enough from everything else that the cops rarely come around, so the locals are emboldened.
Heavy ordinance, I might add. I suppose I’ll see the cats sometime around noon tomorrow. And they’re indoors.
Major Major Major Major
@Zinsky: what if it’s an indoor kitty? You’re the only one with mites in a closed system.
ETA: I find the suggestion that humans aren’t animals offensive to humans.
MazeDancer
This is my first Fourth of July in this house, but wondering if it may be my last. Having a fireworks sales booth at the edge of the Village was a bad sign. But it’s insanity here.
Why do people want to make loud noises that sound like gun shots? Why is that fun? There are no pretty colors in the sky compensating for the boom-boom, just pop-pop-pop like a war movie.
Have to say the cats are taking it better than I am. They pretty much already think humans are inexplicable, so guess this is just another wacky human thing for them.
raven
The best I could get from the addition. Fireworks in the lower right and lightning in the clouds,
NotMax
@efgoldman
When the original Nathan’s opened at Coney Island their hot dogs sold for a nickel, half the price of other places.
Sales were sluggish (people understandably were skeptical of what might be the ingredients in a 5¢ wiener) until Nathan cut a deal with a nearby hospital. Doctors could get hot dogs for free so long as they showed up in white lab coats and ate them on site.
Regardless of how feels about their signature product, Nathan’s did have tasty mustard (still does; sold in supermarkets now) and the best corn on the cob.
Poopyman
@Zinsky: Your opinion has been duly noted, for what it’s worth.
raven
Boom-boom don’t mean what it used to. . .GI.
the Conster
@geg6:
Yay for Lovey and you! How on earth do you yell the name Lovey angrily? I chuckle to myself every time I see her name.
geg6
@Zinsky:
That is your choice and your opinion. But there is no evidence you provide to back it up and my own experience with my dogs, who are allowed on our furniture and sleep in our bed, certainly doesn’t back you up.
Pogonip
Don’t know about small dogs in general, but miniature poodles are, or used to be, scary smart–two or three weeks was enough for potty traini g. I’m leaning more and more towards the theory that Ginger was the Gilligan Siblings’ foster mother; I just don’t see any poodle in either.
May you, your John, and your dogs live happily ever after .
realbtl
With about a month of no rain here in NW Montana they banned all fireworks in the county. Since you can buy the “unsafe and insane” type here, I’m hoping for a relatively quiet 4th. Since it doesn’t get fully dark until 11:00 or so usually the dogs and I get awakened in what feels like the middle of the night.
raven
@Zinsky: Who gives a shit about your opinion?
Corner Stone
@Poopyman:
The local city council started changing laws? They should check themselves.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If your dog has fleas, does it matter if they’re on the furniture or not? Aren’t fleas gonna go where they go once they’re in the house?
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman: Seconded. They’re gross.
geg6
@the Conster:
Oh, believe me, with enough provocation, you can easily say Lovey in a very stern voice. If not screaming at the top of your lungs.
Pogonip
@the Conster: “BAD Lovey!” does sound ambiguous.
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
I realize there’s always something better, but for “What’s readily available at the grocery store?” it’s always Hebrew National for me. And that combined with the fact that it’s only an occasional thing. I have gotten some great sausages at the Italian Market in Philly when I’ve had occasion to be up there.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
Had an interesting discussion yesterday in the market. I had just grabbed a package of Hebrew dogs and another fellow asked if I got the last one as I walked away. I turned and told him I just took all of them. He knew I was kidding as I only had the one pack in my hand. We talked for about a half hour on a wide range of subjects. Good laughs, was fun meeting a fellow class clown.
Another Holocene Human
@Steeplejack: Pfui, Hebrew National got bought out.
Amir Khalid
@Corner Stone:
So there are no bonus points for table manners?
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid: not vomiting is considered “polite”.
Re hot dogs, I like Vienna Beef myself.
Another Holocene Human
@geg6: fucking bomb sounds about right. my tummy my tummy my tummy
Betty Cracker
@schrodinger’s cat: Her tail is 100%, and she’s responding well to the thyroid meds, so we’re happy about that. Thanks for asking!
Another Holocene Human
I used to work at a pizza and sub shop in West Roxbury. We had a sub called the “steak bomb”. Cause when you ate it, it was like a bomb went off in your system–cholesterol, heart burn, blood pressure….
the Conster
Boston Pops are just starting the 1812 Overture, Keith Lockhart directing on a beautiful night.
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman: I look for that hechsher harder now.
NotMax
@efgoldman
There are folks brought up here who refuse to touch any hot dog unless it is of the fluorescent red local type.
As great-grandma opined, takes all kinds to make up a horse race.
Betty Cracker
@Zinsky: You refer to your own pet dog as “it.” That’s interesting.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Phrasing! (In the context of hot dogs.)
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman:
QFT
One of my personal favorite FBI Fails was when they arrested those stoner burnouts who didn’t look capable of successfully catching a ride to the bridge they were supposedly plotting to blow up.
geg6
@Pogonip:
Every bit of research I’ve done convinces me that Lovey is at least half min pin. And the general consensus is that they are very smart but very hard to house train. They know that they can hide their little tiny poops and they don’t like grass to tickle them when squatting and they like to do it where it is comfortable (not too cold, not too hot, not too wet). Prima donnas, in other words. If mixed with poodle, this could be a large personality and Lovey is definitely that. Koda is endlessly patient with her. But we aren’t. We’ve contained her to keep her away from her favorite poop places in the house and she responded by refusing to poop for a day and a half. Infuriating but hilarious.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Steeplejack:
Here on the West Coast, Applegate Naturals hot dogs are easy to find any grocery store, including the organic ones. Tasty and marginally less guilt-inducing.
Ruckus
@Zinsky:
What the fuck do you think you are? You are a mammal, just like them. Humans are better than dogs? Not a number of them that I’ve met, not cleaner, not better friends, not in any way better than dogs.
Yes they lick their reproductive organs but if you were double jointed I’d bet huge sums you’d do the same. And I’d never lose that bet.
Another Holocene Human
In genuinely good news, the Georgia ricin four got prison time, despite being old, white, and hating Obama.
Dunno why ricin is the new hotness for right wing freaks with criminal intent.
Major Major Major Major
@Ruckus: you’d be hard pressed to find a human who didn’t at least lick somebody else’s.
PurpleGirl
I saw just enough of the Macy’s fireworks display to keep me happy. Although there are buildings in the way of the lower down fireworks, I can see the higher up explosion. My terrace hs a south-southwest orientation and I see a good bit of Brooklyn too. Someone was setting off bottle rockets near my building and one of the them landed on my terrace.
Yes, I like to watch fireworks. One of the nicest displays I ever saw was in Athens (NY). My friend and I parked on the road’s shoulder and stayed in/by the car. It was great.
ETA: Neither of the dogs in the apartment next to mine barked much. I’ll have to mention to the humans who live there that I was glad the dogs were so quiet.
RandomMonster
For those of you still in daylight hours, keep your pets in tonight. Too many animals go missing on Fourth of July.
Here in Santa Cruz County, they’ve banned so-called “safe and sane” fireworks because of the fire danger. We’re hoping it’s going to be quiet, but we’ll report illegal activity if we hear it. Yes, we’re typical liberals who hate people’s freedom.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@geg6:
One of my coworkers swears by the Potty Patch for his small dog — he and his wife both work, so it prevents accidents on the floor before they can get home to walk their dog.
https://www.pottypatch.com
Another Holocene Human
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Applegate is good but it has nothing on Nettles sausage.
*eta: toooootally the fuck not kosher
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Heh.
Another local favorite is the hot dog plate lunch.
I’ll pass on that, thanks.
Suzanne
FWIW, I don’t let my Luna-Lu on the furniture, as she is 70 pounds and I don’t want it to get dirty or torn by her claws. I do, however, get down on the floor and snuggle with her. I actually am mildly allergic to my pets, and so I try not to get too much of their fur on me. The cats do whatever they want, which, fortunately for me, does not involve my pillows as long as they have their blanket at the foot of the bed.
Another Holocene Human
@PurpleGirl: I like to see professional pyrotechnics. The amateurs ain’t shit.
Steeplejack
@Ruckus:
As I edge into the “crusty but good-natured geezer” zone I try to be sensitive to the possibility that what I am perceiving as “had an interesting talk with this person at the store” might be viewed from the other side as “God, will this old fuck ever shut up?!”
Since the other guy started it and you seem to have been demographically well matched, I think you’re in the clear this time.
Ruckus
@Major Major Major Major:
I think this may be the problem, Zinsky is pissed that dogs can do to themselves what humans wish they could.
Corner Stone
@efgoldman: Their website doesn’t give a choice of ordering some items. The Baked Loaf looks…uh…interesting?
Another Holocene Human
@Major Major Major Major: The Sandman is mite poo?
Another Holocene Human
@MazeDancer: I’ve gone to the fireworks stand. It’s all brightly packaged, made in China, and really no clue what you’re buying.
I think they want to blow something up and the cheap shit doesn’t make much of a display. One step above street firecrackers.
And some idiots love loud noises. I have never been one of them, but I appear to be outnumbered.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
That’s what I thought as well. Hey I’ve never been known as the silent type, not starting now. I’ll go for the joke any chance I get. It’s the nervous laughs that let me know I’ve gone too far.
ETA He also thought that I was about 20 yrs younger than I am. I get 10-15 yrs younger all the time. It’s nice now, when I was in my twenties, not so much.
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman: Envious. I could just die for some good kielbasa.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
LOL, not a concern. Hell, if I hit the lotto I would pay to have stadium dogs delivered from Nationals Park once a month or so. Nothing tastes as good as a hot dog at a sporting event, and I really don’t want to know why that is. Hebrew National comes closest to bringing that experience home for me, and the fact that they found a forgiving rabbi—or paid one off—removes any vestigial guilt.
But I will look for the Applegate dogs. Always looking to expand my horizons.
schrodinger's cat
@efgoldman: Those red hot dogs are disgusting.
Germy Shoemangler
@Another Holocene Human:
I remember someone describing a particularly strong alcoholic drink: “It goes down like a torchlit procession, being met by policemen with truncheons.”
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman: Late 90’s. DeNo’s. It’s still there.
Best Sicilian pizza take-out in Boston. (There used to be a place in Quincy that was better, don’t remember the name so I don’t know if it’s still there.)
When I was there we had a fish guy, but that’s been discontinued. The steak subs are made with good quality steak. Awesome with provolone. Skip the meatballs, they’re lame. The cold subs are perfectly good, but by no means the best in the area. (The tuna is red, not white or yellow, which disappoints some people.) The salads are fresh, and the marinated grilled chicken is made in house.
My favorite dish there is the eggplant Silician pizza. The eggplant is actually made in Hyde Park by an Italian food purveyor.
This is probably TMI, lol.
JPL
Gotta say the pets are ignoring the booms but I’m finding it a tad tiresome.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
You would have loved the dogs served every Wed for lunch at Great Lakes Naval Training Center.
Boiled in huge steam caldrons till all the red food coloring escapes into the water, these lowest cost provider dogs were, what’s the flavor I’m looking for….. Ahhh yes sawdust flavored meat looking by product.
realbtl
@efgoldman: I don’t know, I had one of the red dogs tonight from the local (NW Montan/Idaho/E.Wash) that was quite tasty and we’re a long ways from salt water.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Steeplejack:
I should have said, less guilt-inducing because they (supposedly) treat their animals better than most mass-production farms do before killing them. Still satisfyingly fatty and not good for you healthwise.
Germy Shoemangler
I lived in Boston in the late ’70s. There was a bar called “Frankensteins” that sold foot-long hotdogs with all the fixins. Cheap and tasty. And they showed old movies!
I’m sure the place is long gone
raven
This is just one of those days where I say fuck it and don’r worry about it, like New Years Eve. It’s never going to be any different so what’s the point of getting all upset?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Ruckus:
I’m sure it was even worse knowing you could travel 5 miles in any direction away from the base and have a Vienna Beef instead.
raven
@Ruckus: Squids bitchin about chow!
Steeplejack
@geg6:
This made me laugh, because it reminded me of my brother’s Italian greyhound. Bro’ man has had a succession of rescue greyhounds, but for a long time, up until about a year ago, he also had an Italian greyhound that his former partner had adopted and left with him. Great dog, great personality, but I remember my brother’s vet, an older, very patrician Eastern Shore woman who specialized in sighthounds, telling him with stoic resignation: “They’re a dirty breed.” Meaning house training optional and impermanent.
Roger Moore
@Poopyman:
FWIW, that’s “ordnance” (weaponry) not “ordinance” (law or regulation). It’s an easy mistake to make./pedant
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Oh no you couldn’t. We were marched to chow for lunch and you had to either eat at the mess or not eat lunch at all. All the other meals no one forced you to eat there but lunch…….
@raven:
Hey we didn’t join the navy just to avoid having as many people shooting at us, those 3 squares and a flop were supposed to be part of the package.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the twitter-ghost of Richard Nixon does not care for Scott Walker
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman: If you don’t get ripped off at Fenway, you weren’t at Fenway.
Bill Arnold
@Another Holocene Human:
Ricin has been around for a while in outer wingnuttia, at least since the 1978 Bulgarian umbrella assassination of Georgi Markov.
3 of the 4 things they mentioned in the article are in my house; just missing the ricin recipe.
I grow castor beans every year from the previous years seeds. They’re fun huge plants even as annuals.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Okay, that’s good to know.
Roger Moore
@Another Holocene Human:
Because it sounds so appealing. It’s something incredibly poisonous that you have a chance of producing at home largely undetected. Fortunately, it’s hard to weaponize, so they’re a lot more likely to harm themselves than anyone else.
raven
@Ruckus: My old man became a Reserve Officer after his stint as and enlisted man in WW2. In the mid-to late 50’s he was the football and basketball coach at North Chicago and, during the summer, the head of special services at Great Lakes. He ran the swimming pools, golf course and baseball facility. When I was 8 I was the GLNTC Baseball team batboy and we did a train tour of the East Coast playing at all the garden spots. Years later I learned that I had a sister born to a woman that he had a relationship with in Boston. He once asked me if I could find her. My sisters husband is adopted so she urged me to do it but give the woman a choice if she wanted to meet him. I found her and she didn’t. I never told him.
raven
@Ruckus: Did you hot swap racks on any of your duty stations?
NotMax
Haven’t looked, but is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue lit up in red, white and blue?
If not, another banal whining point for the Foxbots.
Gin & Tonic
@Another Holocene Human: Go to the East Village Meat Market on 2nd Ave between 9th and 8th.
Though that’s probably a bit of a trek.
Roger Moore
@Steeplejack:
“A hot dog at the ballpark beats steak at the Ritz” — Humphrey Bogart
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman: No way. Practically neighbors, except for the whole didn’t move to Mass until ’84 thing.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: They grill the dogs at McCoy.
Another Holocene Human
@Gin & Tonic: Need to bookmark your post for next time I am in the Northeast. Maybe next year–what can I say, I’m an optimist.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
NYC? When did they resume selling cookable meat in Greenwich Village’s notorious meat market district?
;)
ms_canadada
@the Conster: I find that odd that they play the 1812 Overture as Britain (Canada, as of 1867) kicked the U.S.A.’s butt, in that war.
Hell, we even burnt down the White House!
BTW, I’ve played that piece on July 1st.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: The meatpacking (heh!) district, not the meat market district, is on the west side. This is on the east side.
The meatpacking district, as so much of NYC, is nothing like its former self.
And you don’t cook the sausages you buy at East Village Meats.
Shit, I’m pedantic tonight.
ms_canadada
@Major Major Major Major: Majorx4,
Have I told you latel that I love you?
the Conster
@ms_canadada:
I know – weird tradition, but, it makes sense because at the end of it, the crescendo of bells and chimes gives an excuse to shoot the howitzers over the Charles, and ring the bells of the churches nearby, and start the fireworks. It’s really quite thrilling.
seaboogie
@Suzanne: My deaf 20 year old cat is almost the same…I get a yowling discordant “I POOPED” or more frequently “I PEED!” exhortation to take the pee pad away. At this point I am basically reduced to room service staff. Her vocalizations are kind of impressive though – she really puts a lot into it.
RandomMonster
On the hot dog war front: For my money, Niman Ranch “Fearless Franks” rank high.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Here you go.
Gin & Tonic
Now I’m getting a banner ad for Atlantis all-gay cruises. Hmm.
SiubhanDuinne
@ms_canadada:
@the Conster:
It’s a wonderful piece, but — despite the name — has nothing to do with the War of 1812. It was written to commemorate an 1812 battle between Russian and French forces during the Napoleonic Wars. The Russians won that one, hence the extensive quotation of what was then the Russian national anthem “God Save the Czar.”
Edit: Or what efg said at #146, with added Bicentennial goodness.
Steeplejack
@Gin & Tonic:
Way to go, numbnuts. Now we’ll all get them.
Ruckus
@raven:
No, never had to hot swap racks.
It was disgusting enough living with 80 guys in a 40×40 compartment with no one able to take a shower or wash clothes for 6 weeks. In the summer. In the Caribbean.
Over all though my navy experience was not that bad. Compared to army/marines. I’ve known a number of vets my age and most of them went in country. Can’t think of any of them that enjoyed it. Even the marine who ended up being a company clerk at Da Nang for his 13 months.
ms_canadada
@efgoldman: @raven: Thank you. So many strange customs and practices, eh? Life forms in other dimensions must think we’re all a bunch on loons on plant Earth. Humans are such odd creatures.
Anyway, Happy Independence Day!
Felonius Monk
@Zinsky:
They are your Masters, Zinsky. You are their servant. How have you never learned this fundamental law of nature. You will find happiness if you simply acquiesce.
Go now in peace.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
You never know, he might have.
Gin & Tonic
@Steeplejack: Share and share alike, I say.
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: Council? Laws? These are private citizens unleashing their (illegal in MD) stashes.
Gin & Tonic
@Ruckus: Sorry, the targeting was a demographic miss, but I’m left wondering about the algorithm and what I’ve typed.
J R in WV
@Zinsky:
You don’t deserve a dog. Or a cat. Never let the dog you have in captivity meet a dog in a real household, they’ll run away looking for a real human to live with.
Do you pet it ever?
Gin & Tonic
@Poopyman: It was a play on the ordinance/ordnance distinction.
But speaking of laws, I was reminiscing the other day about when I was in junior high, and you could order pyrotechnic chemicals and supplies from those little tiny ads in the back of Popular Science. Half that stuff is probably illegal everywhere now, and attempts to buy it will bring a knock on the door from a couple of serious men in dark suits.
ms_canadada
@Felonius Monk: Yep.
Librarian
@the Conster: What makes playing it weird is that the 1812 Overture is a Russian piece written to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon. It has nothing to do with the US or the 4th of July.
Tommy
@Gin & Tonic: I used to build rockets as a kid that fired hundreds of feet up. And the chemistry set, pretty sure you can’t buy that stuff anymore. Lucky I never burnt the house down.
Poopyman
@Gin & Tonic: I was in a hobby shop not long ago, and was amazed to see you could still by Estes rocket engines. Even the D’s and E’s. Now, those were very useful back in the day for, well, more than just lifting model rockets.
ms_canadada
@J R in WV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWT2qHVftGk
Makes me cry.
Gin & Tonic
@Tommy: The packaged rockets are still available, I think the trick is it’s extremely difficult to get the propellant out of the engine in any useful way. That’s why they’ve been available all along.
My buddy and I would make explosives out of raw materials. Given that the Tsarnaev brothers had to make their explosives by buying commercial fireworks and breaking them down, I’m going to bet you can’t easily buy the chemicals we’d buy by mail order back then.
Roger Moore
@ms_canadada:
It isn’t about that war. It’s about Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, which is why it features la Marseillaise. And it’s a great piece to go with fireworks, which is the main reason to play it.
J R in WV
@Ruckus:
Been there, didn’t eat many.
Tommy
@Poopyman: It has been forever since I’ve been in a hobby shop and surprised you can still buy those. If I had wanted to do something other than fire off rockets I am sure a quick trip to the local community college library would have given me all the info I needed.
Tommy
@Gin & Tonic: Good to know you can still get the rocket kits. We at least have not taken all of the fun out of being a kid. Building those and launching them was one of the highlights of my youth.
J R in WV
@ms_canadada:
Not a big Cat Stevens fan, but that one is nice.
I think (hope) we ran Zinsky off. Hope that sticks.
There are people who don’t deserve dogs. Our senior dog was stolen off a chain at 2 or 3 am by a client of our vets. She couldn’t stand seeing the abuse any more. Now Happy has miles of woods and a junior Lab to run with.
There are other ways to abuse a dog than beating it and leaving it on a chain regardless of the conditions. Just not loving them is one.
I grew up with a dog jumping into the bed to wake me up. And he was cleaner than Zinsky.
Amir Khalid
@Zinsky:
As noted upthread, that is not a difference. Here’s a whole book on the subject.
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
Do you remember the fillet of brontosaurs butt they served at Thursday lunch?
I carried a razor sharp knife in those days and could not cut them. They placed a separate extra trash can by the door just for whatever the hell that thing was. I’m pretty sure they stored them, steamed them till warm and re-served them every week. Surly no one would get sick from them, they were indestructible.
Thor Heyerdahl
All this hot dog talk makes me want to take a trip to Montreal. I’d order up a couple toasté and steamé style dogs made by Lesters – “all dressed” – at the Montreal Pool Room (which has no pool tables).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ms_canadada: @J R in WV: John Hiatt, Just My Dog And Me.
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: You made me laugh! And reminded me of the old joke: Do you know why dogs and cats lick themselves? Because they can.
Steeplejack
@ms_canadada:
Well, you sent me down the YouTube hole, and currently I’m at Yo La Tengo.
“Sad Lisa” was good too. Haven’t listened to that in a while.
BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: There are a few humans that are capable of doing that, and they all do.
WaterGirl
@BillinGlendaleCA: I am reminded of the old childhood chant: I would if I could, but I can’t so I won’t.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
You are welcome.
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I can imagine there are some, I’ve seen people fold themselves up into a 1 cubic foot box. Most don’t seem to be quite that limber.
ms_canadada
@Thor Heyerdahl: LOVE your username. The Kon-Tiki Expedition has captured the imagination of of my 21 year-old son.
Amazing people; amazing era. I’ve always had great admiration of people who risked their life to follow their heart.
BTW, I’ve always told my children (3 boys,1girl) to follow their hearts…so far 2/4 have done so. Hopefully my youngest will make it 3/4, and eventually, the holdout, will make it 4/4.
SWMBO
Late as always but here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWl7pRugjbo
Major Major Major Major
Samwise the Brave of The Shire just jumped up on my lap and I had to assure him, “they’re just noises. Don’t worry–there’s no such thing as outside.”
Another Holocene Human
@Librarian: Americans love Tchaikovsky and all Slavic composers, really. Hell, we bribed Dvorak into spending several years here and he didn’t want to go.
The Nutcracker every Christmas also, too.