I found this in the back of a cupboard when I moved in. I have no idea what to do with it. I mean, it’s so ugly it’s kinda cute, right?
Anyway, I’m exhausted and have said f*ck it, I’m taking the day off. Everything on my list will be there tomorrow. What’s on your agenda today?
Open thread!
PigDog
Too hot and humid to think today.
frosty
Agenda: lawn mowing and yard work. Just finished mowing earlier than my usual 2:00 PM hottest part of the day time and it was sweatier than any of my 2:00 mowings.
Weeding and vegetable harvesting is gonna have to wait until sundown. Sheesh.
Peale
I feel the need to shout out about my parents 50th wedding anniversary. I’m regretting now that I followed their wishes to keep it quiet and not make a fuss. I wish they would have let me fuss somewhat.
md S Oregon
Up earlier than I meant to be, but it’s gonna be 105 and I have frozen strawberry preserves to make for my kids. Off to the local fruit stand!
Phylllis
Too hot to do anything outside. We did the grocery run first thing and I thought I was going to melt. Since the air conditioning is paid for, I’m making use of it to work through the latest stack of books from the library.
Finished Paul Theroux’s Deep South this morning. A little odd to read a national bestseller that features people I’ve known and worked with for years, including a college classmate.
Starting on spill simmer falter wither by Sara Baume and I’m already entranced.
MomSense
I need to walk the dog, then some chores that cannot wait until tomorrow, and finally I’m going to work the rest of the day.
Iowa Old Lady
My grad school roommate is driving across the country and will stop to spend the night. This will be the first time I’ve seen her in at least 10 years.
Baud
@Peale: Congrats to mama and papa!
jeffreyw
We’ll be boiling down tomato juice and keeping an eye on the weather radar. Hoping for thunderstorm, planning to run out with a half gallon Mason jar to capture some lightning – it’s the secret ingredient in my Awesome Sauce.
Gin & Tonic
Huh. Comment disappeared. I wonder what bad word I used.
Got my bike ride in bright and early, because it will be unbearable later. Probably won’t do much else.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I like that cup. So seventies! Needs to be on a desk, full of pencils.
Raining in Detroit. Finally. This is the most rain we’ve had in 3 months. It’s like a swamp out there.
We did a bit of yard work last weekend and someone has spoken for some big yew branches I cut down. Probably making a longbow or something.
redshirt
I like that mug. Keep it.
Old Dan and Little Anne
My badz if this has been linked to recently. The night Obama and Hillary founded ISIS. Link
hedgehog mobile
Pedicure. Take diabetic cat for boarding later; we’re off to Kansas City tomorrow for the World Science Fiction Convention (recommendations for BBQ?) Royals game on Thursday.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@Peale: We just celebrated 38. Well, it was more like “noted in passing” than “celebrated” but you can be damn sure I’m throwing a party for 50!
We did a catered restaurant thing at 25, and it was worth every penny to celebrate our joy with friends from different aspects of our lives.
TaMara (HFG)
@Peale: Congrats. My folks didn’t want a fuss, so we threw a ‘card party’ and had all their friends and family send anniversary cards. They were touched, if not a little overwhelmed by it.
Baud
@Old Dan and Little Anne: Very nice.
Schlemazel
Heat and humidity are taking a break today so its back to the ladder & scraping and painting.
I know he is a dick and a flake but when he hits the nail he can get it right on the head. THIS clip is Bill Maher explaining what matters this November. It has a few good laughs including Ann Coulters newest book title.
Joel
You didn’t move into Ed Gein’s house, I hope?
BR
Just as I’ve been doing once in a while, a reminder to sign up to volunteer for the campaign.
hedgehog mobile
@Old Dan and Little Anne: Hilarious!
MattF
NY mag, on The Night That Hillary and Obama founded ISIS. Here’s a passage:
Origuy
@Peale: Congrats to your parents. My sisters and I had an open house for my parents’ 50th. Their friends and neighbors all came. It was bittersweet because Mom had COPD and everyone knew she didn’t have much longer. Two months, as it turned out. She was just holding on for the party.
Emma
@MattF: And would you believe someone thought it was meant to be serious? Have we become so reality-deprived this election season?
Elmo
Seconding all those who say it’s too hot to do anything. But I want to share my amazing new toy with y’all – the iPool. It’s not an Apple product, but it might as well be, it’s so well designed and fun to use. It’s a 7×10′ above ground pool with a harness attached to an overhead bar with stretchy surgical tubing, so you can swim in place. It looks awkward as hell, and I only bought it for my wife to do water stretching and so forth. I didn’t think the harness thing would work.
I’ve been using it every day that I’ve been home since this heatwave started, sometimes multiple times a day. The harness barely registers, and you’re just swimming and never reaching the other side. It’s AMAZING.
Folks with joint issues who need a place to swim – Ozark, I’m looking at you – might want to check it out.
gogol's wife
@hedgehog mobile:
Gates, Arthur Bryant.
Although these are recommendations from 1972, so check to see they’re still open. And Stroud’s for fried chicken.
schrodinger's cat
That mug is hideous, it would give me nightmares.
CaseyL
@Peale: There should have been a fuss :)
For my grandparents’ 50th, my aunt organized a huge party, with the entire family (unto the 2nd cousins twice removed, verily) attending. She circulated an album ahead of time for people to contribute their favorite memories, stories and photos. This was no small achievement, being decades before the Internet was invented.
My favorite memory of the party was the night before, when Aunt, Mom, and I stayed up into the wee hours making fancy fruit arrangements: strawberries, blueberries and melon balls arranged in giant goblets.
We had the idea that hollowing out the strawberries and inserting blueberries would look really cool. We had the additional idea that lining the goblets with them, blueberry-side out, would also look really cool. I’m pretty sure we were smoking weed to get us through the task, which may explain why we thought this.
Because there we were, busily stuffing the blueberries into the strawberries and putting them on the glass, filling the rest of the glass with melon balls, getting into it and hitting our strides, when Mom looked upon the fruits of our labor (sorry), and said “Good God, it looks like a million bloodshot eyes staring out at the world.”
Which it did. And of course we – being inclined to zaniness under even ordinary circumstances, enhanced by being high from the weed and exhaustion – laughed so hard we all fell down on the floor.
The party was a huge success. And people loved the giant goblets lined with bloodshot eyes.
Peale, congrats to your folks. My grands made it to their 69th anniversary before mortality claimed them. May yours make it at least that far.
gogol's wife
@Joel:
I got it. Omnes would too.
hedgehog mobile
@gogol’s wife: Thanks!
max
I found this in the back of a cupboard when I moved in. I have no idea what to do with it. I mean, it’s so ugly it’s kinda cute, right?
No.
Nightmare fuel. Whoever made that cup either makes Trump merchandise or worships Cthulu. Possibly both.
max
[‘Going to be working outside today. Fun.’]
Scout211
I like the suggestion above as a pencill holder for your desk.
What I recommend that you not do is use it for beverages because many ceramic cups are not safe to drink out of, especially if they have been washed in a dishwasher or used in a microwave. And that cup has an unknown history.
Cute, but likely not safe for beverages.
MattF
@schrodinger’s cat: I actually kinda like it. But, as Baby LeRoy says, chacun à son goo.
GHayduke
6.5 mile run (12 yesterday) coffee with a friend, and hanging with Mrs. Hayduke.
Mary G
@Peale: My grandfather insisted on having their 50th at McDonalds. It was the only place he liked to eat out. My mom was furious, but it was a lot of fun.
jeffreyw
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
amygdala
Feeling sort of guilty that the forecast is for the 60s when the rest of the country is sweltering.
The Toronto Globe and Mail has a multipart series on conflict photojournalists that is interesting, even if hard to view (and read) in spots.
As for the mug, I’d definitely keep it, and use it for makeup brushes and pencils. That would play off those red toenails.
wmd
What to do with the ugly mug:
Get some model paint and change the nail polish on the toes once a month or so. See how long it takes people to notice you’re doing this.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Nursing what I’m convinced is plantar fascitis in my left heel, which is teh SUXX0R11!!ELEVENTY!!one!
CaseyL
The mug is adorable, but I would repaint the main part in a brighter color. If you’re feeling ambitious, maybe paint it to look like someone wearing a T-shirt with a snarky message – and then, to borrow/steal from wmd’s suggestion, change the message from time to time.
Poopyman
Just got off the tractor from mowing. A cloudless day, currently 95 degrees with the dew point at 80. I’m thinking I’ll forego further outdoor activities until sunset.
gene108
The cup in the OP would be cooler, if it had a face.
MattF
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: The medically correct name for that ailment is ‘foot-that-hurts’.
gogol's wife
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Put a bottle of water in the freezer. When it’s frozen, take it out. Sit on a chair and put the bottle under the sole of your foot and roll it back and forth for a while.
Stand on a step with your toes on the step and heels hanging off. Hold the railing and dip your heels several times.
TaMara (HFG)
I LOVE the idea of repainting it. Hadn’t even thought of that. Thanks!
eric
From GOS:
GOP insiders: Trump can’t win
‘Trump is underperforming so comprehensively…it would take video evidence of a smiling Hillary drowning a litter of puppies while terrorists surrounded her with chants of ‘Death to America,’’ said an Iowa Republican.
Shell
Oh no,no,no. That mug has got to go. Even if it didn’t have the painted toenails.
Redshift
@hedgehog mobile: I’m heading to Worldcon, too! And planning to go to a baseball game, though I don’t have tickets yet.
dmsilev
@eric: I’m pretty sure “video evidence of Trump drowning a litter of puppies” is coming in maybe 2 or 3 weeks. Just after he punches out a nun.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Elmo: Very interesting. Thanks for the pointer!
Cheers,
Scott.
Gin & Tonic
@CaseyL:
My in-laws will be reaching 70 next month. Kind of hard to do any sort of celebration, as they don’t get out much, most of their friends are dead, and they had very little in the way of family after the war.
drdavechemist
@Iowa Old Lady:
Reunions like this are a rare treat, but grad school is such an intense experience that the friendships seem to be immune to time and distance. I attended a celebration of the retirement of one of my research mentors earlier this summer and it prompted me to re-establish contact with a grad student who I hadn’t seen in more than twenty years. She happened to be passing nearby on her way to a conference, so we met up for brunch and it was amazing that we were pretty able to pick up right where we left off–lots of good memories! Hope your reunion is equally satisfying.
Redshift
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Yep, it sucks. I used to get it occasionally, but it always went away after a week or so. When I finally had a case that wouldn’t go away after several months, I had to get new shoes. I used to love going barefoot or wearing flip flops, but I can’t any more. Which also sucks, but I rarely get it now.
bystander
@hedgehog mobile: Arthur Bryant. That is all. Never liked Gates, mais chacun a son gout.
eric
@dmsilev: I believe that is called Thanksgiving at the Trump household…just after the mexican staff reenact the running of the bulls from their home country.
Redshift
@dmsilev: And the terrorists surrounding him probably won’t chant “Death to America” until he loses.
Suzanne
Mr. Suzanne and I were going to canvass this morning, but he is still feeling miserable and Spawn the Younger isn’t feeling well, either.
Have a little bit of shopping to do, then may just hide inside for the rest of the day. It’s hot. So hot.
bystander
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I think that most people with PF have it in both feet.
Also, hedgehog, go see the World War I memorial on the bluff overlooking the Union Station, have a drive on Quality Hill, check out the Frank Lloyd Wright house in the Valentine district. Nelson Atkins Museum for Caravaggio, Breughel and exceptional Chinese Art.
Pogonip
@bystander: So freeze two bottles of water.
If the fugly cup looks like it might be more than 50 years old, see what it might be worth. If not, use it as a gift-exchange gift or toss it.
Baud
@eric: Weird, because Trump is polling relatively well in Iowa.
eric
@Baud: it might be coming from an Iowa Republican who chairs a senate committee……….for now
Ken
You say that now. But when the damn thing is chasing you around the apartment with a steak knife you’ll change your tune.
ThresherK (GPad)
@MattF: I can’t describe how fun it is to have “Popsicle” capitalized. It just makes the whole piece work.
father pussbucket
@eric: Whitey tape 2016?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Ken: rofl. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Shell
Love that old canister behind the mug. What is it?
Mike E
US women’s team looking strong in Water Mugging™
MattF
Looks like William F. Buckley had Trump figured out.
rikyrah
that cup is adorable :)
TaMara (HFG)
@Ken: hee-hee
@Shell: It’s actually a flower pot…
Ruckus
You make a list?
That would mean that you have things to accomplish. Then when you don’t get them all done you feel bad. What’s the point of that? Almost everything can be put off to another day. Join us at Procrastinators Forever. There are no meetings, we forgot about them. There are no rules, we couldn’t be bothered to write them. Tomorrow is a concept that never changes and has no end, why do you want to be a slave to that?
eric
@father pussbucket: this?
Brachiator
A wonderfully precise post on why there are relatively many ties in Olympic swimming:
In many other areas, just because you can measure something, or even measure it with precision, does not mean that your results are significant.
Ruckus
That mug looks like something my roommate would own. And drink out of daily. She actually has cups along the same theme. The cow cup, you’ll never guess what part of the cow the cup sits on.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Sounds like the Cole household is having a busy Saturday – here’s hoping it’s not serious.
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
Kenny Baker, the man who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars films has died at the age of 83, after battling a long illness.
RIP, you little giant.
CaseyL
@Brachiator: RIP Kenny Baker. Sad Artoo whistle.
Ruckus
@Elmo:
A home therapy pool. Have used one at my ortho’s office, about twice that size and built in ground out of stainless steel but that looks great and it would be a lot cheaper. A lot. Of course living in a drought area that much water would be a huge extravagance. And living in an apartment makes it an impossible extravagance.
KS in MA
TaMara, you might like this bowl from ancient Egypt…
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/10.176.113/
Glidwrith
My parents have that same cup, also tucked into the back of a cabinet.
On the not so great side, just had one of my kitties diagnosed with diabetes. $800 later, we’ve got her on insulin. Good news is I caught it before she lost any weight and kitties tend to revert from the disease.
Ironically, it wasn’t my 18.5 lb cat that went diabetic on me!
Shell
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Krikey!
Brachiator
A prior version of this note is stuck in moderation. Take Two
A great post on Why There Are So Many Ties In Swimming
It comes down to limitations with respect to how well you can construct the swimming pool.
The explanation is more clear than the Olympic pools in Rio. Check it out.
TaMara (HFG)
@KS in MA: Ok, Ancient Egypt, that for sure would come to life, curse me and try to kill me
Luthe
@Brachiator: NOOOOOOOO! There is still one movie left to shoot! This is a disaster.
debbie
@MattF:
More than a few of the guys on the AM side of the dial will be reporting this as hard news on Monday.
debbie
@MattF:
Most of the city of New York had Trump figured out by the early 1980s.
pamelabrown53
@MattF: I, too think the mug is kinda fun. A little kitsch goes a long way. Someone, up-thread suggested pencils. Too tall; out of proportion.. Cut some wild flowers low ( the flowers shouldn’t be higher than 1/3 of the mug) or some cheap flowers like miniature carnations and maybe place it on a bedside table. A gift and link from past owners to present.
Elmo
@Ruckus: I have a shallow well. It took us three weeks to fill the pool, a little at a time so as not to run the pump dry.
But even without a heater the water is running 76F or better, and it was so inexpensive compared to the “real” therapy pools!!
JGabriel
Tamara @ Top:
It looks embarrassed, Tamara. It looks like it’s got one toe crossed over the over in frozen anxiety while it waits to get scolded.
SiubhanDuinne
My eyes and brain apparently want to turn things into optical illusions for no damn good reason at all. I stared and stared at the picture of that hideous mug, especially at the slightly patterned whitish squished thing between its feet, trying desperately to make sense of it. Was it meant to be a deflated soccer ball? Wadded-up underwear? Extremely droopy genitalia?
Could. Not. Figure. It. Out.
It was probably fifteen minutes before I realized that the Thing Between the Feet was merely a bit of the pierced metal patio table showing through a space in the ceramic. The entire rest of the background might have provided a clue, but oh no, I had to fixate on the Thing and not look at context. (And even now that I’ve figured out the illusion, I still kind of have to adjust my brain to remind myself what it actually is.)
Mnemosyne
@pamelabrown53:
Flower vase was my thought, too. I’m on Team So Ugly It’s Cute.
I should be doing laundry, but I have a strong suspicion that I’m coming down with my boss’s cold. Ugh.
Cat48
I will be laughing about The Cut story abt Isis all day. The other news is dreary or about stupid Trump. He’s campaigning in CT this weekend bc he’s certain he can carry the state. Clueless
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
It can be a hard thing to learn but always look at the big picture first. Then go for details. This is vital in reading blueprints for things like aerospace hydraulic actuators. But you can’t fixate only on the big picture or you will miss important info. Like if this is about a woman’s feet (the toe nails – and yes I’m showing my age. I’ve almost gotten over waking up one day and realizing that I’ve fallen into the group known as old.) then it’s possible that she’s pregnant. So it’s not just a cup with feet, it’s a pregnant lady cup.
Does that make it better?
Bess
Wonderful cup. Harkens back to a time during which many people celebrated creativity.
It doesn’t strike me as a good mug for drinking, doesn’t feel stable. I’d use it as a planter for some tiny sedums. I can see it with a couple of Burros Tails hanging over the side….
JAFD
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
My sympathies, sincere and heartfelt. Stretching exercises there are. Eventually mine went away.
OTOH, having had both plantar f and gout, gout much worse is.
On doctor’s orders, am taking naproxen sodium (generic Aleve) daily for gout. Don’t know if good for PF, but ask your PCP.
Good luck!
KS in MA
@TaMara (HFG): lol
SiubhanDuinne
@Ruckus:
Well, it certainly makes it more interesting.
Edit: Must check my calendar to see if I am scheduled to read blueprints for aerospace hydraulic actuators any time soon.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
It was an example. One that I use regularly. One of the customers at my job is a large aerospace controls supplier. We build tooling for them to use building things. Sometimes you have to interpret what they are trying to accomplish so that you can make sense of the designs. That’s looking at the big picture. Then you have to try to understand the details to figure out how to make the part. Their engineers are supposed to go through the same process so that we don’t have to. But just like all of us they aren’t perfect either.
hedgehog mobile
@Redshift: Woot!
hedgehog mobile
@bystander: Thanks. Have read good things about Arthur Bryant’s.
grandpa john
@Ruckus: Reminds me of my personal Motto.” Never do today what can be done tomorrow“
grandpa john
@Elmo: many years ago ,we had an inground pool for daughter and friends, after they all left home and the liner went, we let it go. One reason nobody used it much in the summer was the water got so warm that it was like swimming in a bathtub, it didn’t cool you down. For several years it was the receptacle for scraps, sawdust and shavings from the woodworking shop until I finally got around to having it filled and planted grass over it.
Ruckus
@grandpa john:
“Always postpone things. You might be dead before the absolute limit is reached, or find out that the limit is not as absolute as you first thought. At which time you can continue your ignore.”