The little finches below have cleverly created an apartment complex in the ruff of a palm tree located in the increasingly fashionable (i.e., Disney-fied) Ybor City section of Tampa:
I’ve been thinking about nests a lot lately because mine is about to be empty. The fledgling is flying off to college this week, leaving her father and myself without a chick to look after for the first time in nearly two decades. Damn. It’s both liberating and devastating.
The liberating part: We no longer have to set a good example / make sure no one decides to stage a bubble party in our home in our absence, so we can wander around Ybor City on a Sunday afternoon, catching a movie, drinking beer, eating pizza, watching finches and contemplating the explosion in the number of tattoo shops:
We didn’t Walken to get tattoos, but we talked about it in a non-serious way, competing to come up with the tattoo idea that our daughter would find the most embarrassing. (KISS face tattoos! Kid’s baby picture reproduced on our calves!)
Also, we’re thinking about moving further out into the country now that the only resident who would be dismayed by that notion is decamping, so we looked at some potential new homes this weekend too. At one property, we saw this gigantic spider:
I’ve included a photo of it next to a normal-sized flood light so you can contemplate the scale of the creature. There were several such specimens around the empty house; I walked around waving a stick in front of me so I wouldn’t accidentally face-plant in Shelob’s web.
Had any neighbors been around to see that (and they weren’t; the point is to have no close-by neighbors), they might have mistaken the stick-waving for some odd ritual to expel evil spirits. And from my perspective, they wouldn’t have been wrong, though the mister assures me those spiders are perfectly harmless. But I maintain that anything that can make me flee in panic into a tree hard enough to get a concussion isn’t harmless!
In the meantime, we plan to turn the kid’s old room into a nano-brewery, freeing up the current office / guest room from its shelves of carboys, bottling equipment, etc. Summer will end soon, and it will be beer brewing time again, thank FSM.
But this turn of the seasons will rob our home of its heart in many ways. The kid isn’t going far; she’ll be within half an hour of the mother ship, and even if we move, we’ll be close enough that she could conceivably live with us again and commute to school if she wanted.
But she won’t want to, at least not on any kind of long-term basis. We’ve done our jobs well enough to become obsolete. There is great pride in that, but great sorrow too.
Please feel free to discuss whatever. Open thread!
Dave C
That spider is probably Argiope aurantia. It’s very widespread and totally harmless (to non-arthropods).
Davebo
Look on the bright side! You’ll be able to smoke dope and talk down your country right out in the living room!
Ruviana
That spider is reason enough to prevent me from living in Florida. Just sayin’.
gogol's wife
@Ruviana:
Me too.
Dave C
@Ruviana:
If you live in one of the contiguous 48 states, you have that species of spider in your state.
CaseyL
@Dave C: Wikipedia says Argiope aurantia range in size up to a little over an inch. The spider in Betty’s photo looks….considerably larger.
I love spiders, even welcome them into my home to eat whatever bugs find their way indoors… but something that looks like it would fill my palm is Beyond the Beyond. Sorry.
PS – Never having had children, Betty, I can only imagine what it’s like to see the kid leave the nest. I can tell you this: She will likely never find another home as interesting, zany, adventurous, and supportive as yours… until she creates a family of her own.
greennotGreen
@Ruviana: A spider wouldn’t keep me from living in Florida. Rick Scott, on the other hand…
OGJamie
Ybor City frequently mentioned in The Hold Steady’s storyline. Not sure why since their lyricist, Craig Finn, is from Minneapolis and now lives in Brooklyn. He seems to imply some shadiness to the place but when I was there about 15-years ago (my only visit, and it was brief), it seemed pretty Disney-fied already.
greennotGreen
@Ruviana: A spider wouldn’t keep me from living in Florida. Rick Scott, on the other hand…
Dave C
@CaseyL: Could be another species, then. But it’s definitely Argiope.. I’ve seen lots of them that big.
MomSense
It is so satisfying to see them thrive and yet you miss them.
TheronWare
Gods, that spider is so large you can probably hear him breathing!
Betty Cracker
@Dave C: Hubby says it’s a banana spider, also allegedly harmless.
@CaseyL: Thank you!
Ruviana
@Dave C: I’m going to assume that where live it’s at the smaller range of its size. No spiders the size of my cats please!
schrodinger's cat
We have a new troll. They do seem to proliferate around the election time. Must be the sweet Putin cash.
gvg
5 biggest spiders in Florida.
the biggest sticky webs are what bothers me, I am too used to looking at big spiders that don’t hurt me. I just hate the feel of sticky web, especially on my face. interesting that one of these spiders hunts roaches. Good spider!
most snakes are supposed to be good too and I was taught to leave them alone to do their natural chores, however current dog is a snake hunter. It was a coincidence we named him Rikki Tiki Tavi. we had no clue he actually would hunt snakes even though we didn’t want him to. He also kills stuffed toy snakes and rubber snakes so we no longer have any.
Mnemosyne
If I had seen just one of those, I would have run screaming. I am firmly anti-arachnid in all times and places.
schrodinger's cat
@Ruviana: For me, its the flying cockroaches.
Mustang Bobby
I wouldn’t mind having that spider outside the house, but I’m getting tired of the little ones that have taken up residence inside. Yeah, I know website development is a thing, but not that kind, okay? Even if they trap the bugs, they never empty their trash.
On the patio enclosure I have the little “smiley-face” globe spiders. They are cute in their own way, but they get in the way of guests who understandably don’t like to wrestle with cobwebs.
Oh, and advice on feeling like empty-nesters: it goes away, especially if the kid boomerangs after college. I did that to my folks three times (ages 21, 25, and 29) to the point that they started charging me rent. I got the hint.
waysel
@Dave C: Golden silk orb weaver. Nephila. AKA banana spider ’round these parts. (NW Florida)
Larv
The spider is actually Nephila clavata, the golden silk orb-weaver. Along with other members of the genus, they have the strongest silk of any spider. It’s also a nice yellow-gold color (hence the name). They’re also pretty harmless, albeit large and scary.
MattF
@schrodinger’s cat: I have to agree. There’s a violation of a ‘Fit for human habitation’ criterion there.
raven
Got back from the procedure, chrashed out and was woke up by the hvac dudes. As I thought it was a capacitor so everything is 5X5!
SFBayAreaGal
I’m known as the spider catcher/releaser. When I find one in the house, I catch it and release it outdoors.
sheila in nc
I still remember launching our offspring-unit to college — 1,000 miles away from home. The first month was definitely a grieving period — the house was SOOO quiet! Then the spouse and I looked at each other and said, “wait a minute, now we can do WHATEVER WE WANT!” and we’ve never looked back.
It helped that the daughter-offspring moved back to town after college. She finished a master’s degree in May, landed a very nice job in June, and just moved into her first non-shared apartment. So I guess my work here is done.
Brachiator
Wait. What? Bird nests in Christopher Walken’s hair?
Beat THAT, Trump!
dedc79
@OGJamie: Well, hold steady Ybor City
You’re up to your neck in the sweat and wet confetti
If you want to get a little bit light in the heady
It’s gonna have to get a little bit heavy
They’re jamming jetskis into the jetty now
With some guy who looks like Rocco Siffredi
And I’ve heard he’s been dead once already
It’s going down right now in Lowertown
They’re skipping off the good ship U.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S. Sexuality
Searching for the merchant with the five second delivery
debit
I am usually okay with spiders, but that one gives me pause. Even if it’s harmless.
In Walter news, his transport has been paid for and his paperwork completed. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who tossed money in the tin cup. I have $26.40 left over, which is going to buy him an extra large pet bed. His ship date is August 27 and he should hit my doorstep sometime Sunday the 28th.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
The pop-up for me is a pair of “male-enhancing smart shorts”… The mind is boggled. They look to have odd blue wired striations in the posterior area. Smart shorts? Seriously?
gogol's wife
@raven:
Glad you’re doing well.
R-Jud
@MomSense:
Children or spiders?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Brachiator:
Yes, upon Bernie’s command! He talked to them, you will recall.
acallidryas
I hate to break it to all you Latin-quoting arachno-elitists, but as a former long-time resident of Florida, that spider is instantly recognizable as a Florida banana spider. (A quick google search tells me it’s Nephila clavipes, the North American variant of the N. clavata). The summer camp I went to every year as covered with them.* They are incredibly harmful because they have a tendency to build webs quickly next to your house/cabin/what have you that you will walk into and then injure yourself flailing about trying to fling off the spider and the web.
*At that particular camp we also went canoeing in a river where we were told under to under no circumstances leave the canoe for swimming because of the alligators. And it was near one of the few areas that has Florida panthers left. Looking back on it, maybe my parents were trying to get rid of me?
rikyrah
Paul Manafort, Vladimir Putin, and the Southern Strategy
Trump’s team is killing the Republican party with its own playbook.
by Martin Longman
August 15, 2016 11:45 AM
…………………………………
I don’t know how anyone can not be suspicious that Manafort might have something to do with the way pilfered Democratic Party emails and text messages are being selectively released to do damage to Hillary Clinton for the benefit of Manafort’s newest client. The consensus among analysts and the intelligence agencies that Putin’s Russia is behind the hacking is very high, and obviously Trump believes it himself since he asked Russia to do more of it.
In any case, Manafort has been partnered up with folks like Charlie Black, Lee Atwater, and Roger Stone (the most notorious political ratf*ker of all time) for more than thirty years.
These guys will have their own wing in the Southern Strategy Hall of Fame in Hell.
……………………………
I’d like to point out that many of us were calling out the “White Hands” and Willie Horton and Southern Strategy stuff as morally reprehensible back when it was mainstream and standard Republican operating procedure. Trump isn’t really an outlier so much as a candidate for a time that is now in the rearview mirror. What’s different this time is that it’s not being done to empower the South or even to assist business in rolling back the regulatory state. It’s being done for no reason at all except to help Donald Trump.
And, as you can see by the alarmed response of the Republican Establishment, they have no interest in using a torn and frayed playbook to further the ambition of Donald Trump. Things would be different if it would work and if the prize were something worth having. I know this, because everyone was fine with it when another Connecticut Yankee, George H.W. Bush, used it to win power for himself and his allies. But that’s the thing.
Poppy Bush went along with empowering the South and allowing a conservative takeover of his party, but he also had real allies who benefited in the bargain.
If Trump has any allies at all, they’re his kids. And, if I were them, I wouldn’t even count on that.
Mike E
Lil birdies sublet the huge apex predator’s nests like those of osprey (which weigh hundred of pounds) so squatting is their thang…in NC we got some honkin spiders like the ‘garden’ and the ‘writer’, definitely not for the faint of heart!
Shell
Man, Betty. i think only Australia can compete with Florida with the size and scarifying look of its insects
Jim Parish
Wikipedia says that N. clavipes spins webs as wide as a meter in diameter, with anchor fibers two or three times that. Nnnoo, thank you….
waysel
@raven: Congrats on both counts!
Mike E
@Shell: no contest… Oz has the deadliest creatures in nearly all categories. Hell, a male platypus will mess you up!
CaseyL
@raven: A great start to the day! How long should your recuperation take?
japa21
@raven: Welcome back. Hope all the news was good news.
Betsy
My dad used to go to Ybo City (to this day how he insists it is correctly pronounced). At the Columbia Restaurant, the rich bosses would be seen making deals and dining in style, while any poor old broken-down fellow could also go there and be welcomed to a steaming bowl of hearty black bean soup, along with a crusty hot loaf, for a nickel. Back in the day.
rikyrah
Tax returns take on new importance as a 2016 campaign issue
08/15/16 08:47 AM—UPDATED 08/15/16 08:59 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump has been quite clear that he has no intention of releasing his tax returns, despite the norms established by presidential nominees in both parties over the last several decades. That does not, however, mean that the Republican candidate can make the issue go away through his obstinacy.
Late Friday, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine both released their latest returns, adding to many years of disclosed tax documents. And while the materials themselves weren’t especially noteworthy, their release renewed interest in the simmering controversy surrounding the GOP nominee’s apparent need for secrecy.
Indeed, the Democratic ticket once again taunted Trump over his refusal to release his returns, asking anew, “What is he trying to hide?”
Team Trump may hope to avoid that question, but the Republican candidate’s running mate may soon complicate matters.
Belafon
We get those spiders that big here in Texas. And the webs are huge. My mom took a picture of one last year that had the babies on her back.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@schrodinger’s cat: Thirded or whatever we’re up to now.
Brachiator
This spidey stuff reminds me of the French ditty,
araignée du matin, chagrin,
araignée du midi, souci,
araignée du soir, espoir
Spider in the morning, anguish (or bad luck),
Spider at midday, worries,
Spider in the evening, hope
Betty Cracker
@Betsy: Columbia is one of my favorite restaurants, and you can still get a relatively inexpensive bowl of soup served with hot crusty Cuban bread or have an elaborate fancy dinner — with friendly, knowledgeable black-tie servers in either case!
Major Major Major Major
Who gets a walk-in tattoo?
Betty Cracker
@Major Major Major Major: Drunk people?
Cermet
Have wolf spiders that big but happy they do all they can to avoid us in the house; luckily, they don’t spin webs! Fear Brown Recluse spiders – they are mean and carry a really nasty venom (that has to be removed) and are anything but reclusive … .
Happy my daughter is in college (and currently working a summer intern project in Germany – her senor year is this fall) but do miss her terribly. Success for them in their academics/career track does have one down side – when they are done school, they are not coming back – except for short visits … sigh.
MattF
Ron Fournier is well-known here as Mr. Both Sides– but, apparently, when Trump blamed the media for his troubles, he went too far.
pamelabrown53
@Betty Cracker: #47
We have a branch of the Columbia in St. Augustine. It’s the go to place when we take out of staters to St. Augustine. IMO, while still good (and great atmosphere) it’s in danger of resting on its laurels.
So Betty, how serious are you in your house hunting? Would you move to a place where you couldn’t keep chickens?
mike in dc
Orb weavers are cool…outside the home. I’m mildly arachnophobic and when I was married and we had a dog(a newf…BIG dog!) her tail swiped past the spider’s web out back, and then we didn’t see the spider…until a couple days later when my then-wife called me to the kitchen. I am a catch and release kinda guy, so we spent 15 minutes maneuvering the little bugger into a shoebox, then rushing to the nearby woods to dump her out. Whew!
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker: Well that’s just wrong ?
Trollhattan
Will just leave this here.
MattF
@Major Major Major Major: When ‘who’ is sufficiently inebriated, shit happens.
ETA: Looks like I’m late to the party, but I can catch up!
Dave C
@Betty Cracker:
Ah, okay. I stand corrected!
Emma
OMGOMGOMGOMG! Michelle Carter won the women’s shot put! First American ever!
EE Varanini
Try a giant banana spider in the chops climbing Dong Den in RVN. Straight out of a horror movie. Point man tried to take off, but he was on a steep grade on the side of a mountain. The beast came down it’s web, and I knocked it off the most terrified Marine in Nam that morning!
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
OK, I’ve got a storefront and the first of the 15th and 19th designs up. There may be some color options available that don’t look good with the dark blue text; let me know if I’ve missed something dramatically bad.
I’m still feeling my way around the interface. I have a 26th and a 15/19/26 image ready to be added.
cleek
@Major Major Major Major:
@Betty Cracker:
yes indeed.
wife and i got walk-in tattoos one drunk night. i got her initials on my ankle and she got mine on her wrist – very simple, just the letters, sans-serif. and they were terrible – looked like they were done with a ball point pen. she has had hers improved since then. i left mine as-is as a reminded to not get drunk tattoos again.
Major Major Major Major
@cleek: Well, that should be a good reminder.
Would you have got it improved if it was your wrist?
Elmo
I grew up in San Diego’s East County, and then traveled to Massachusetts to go to college. I used to joke that I went as far from home as you can get in the US without getting wet. When my folks dropped me off, my mother and I sat there bawling at each other until my Dad – blessed be his memory for ever – said, But she can come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter.
Understand, my Dad was a telephone company lineman and my Mom was stay-at-home. Firmly working class blue collar family. And it was as though the skies had opened, the clouds parted, and Heaven smiled down on my mother. She looked at him in wonder and said, “Do you think so?” And my Dad smiled. “Sure.”
They had already taken out a second mortgage to pay my tuition. And true to his word, they flew me home every single break except for spring break my junior year, which I spent with college friends in Florida.
Keith G
Joe Biden speaking live in Scranton, PA after an intro by HRC.
Edit. Joe is so good at giving a “Carrying the Mail” type of political speech. I think the best still living.
cleek
@Major Major Major Major:
probably, yeah.
Villago Delenda Est
@debit: I’m thrilled for you, and for Walter! I anticipate there will be occasional updates on yet another Balloon Juice virtual pet (Pokemon?) for the Juicitariat.
Poopyman
Speaking of Tattoos …
MIT Unveils DuoSkin: Temporary Tattoos That Function As On-Skin Interfaces To Interact With Computers, Mobile Devices
I blame Levenson
Fair Economist
@Shell:
Yeah, but the bugs in Florida that creep people out like Palmetto bugs (ooh, how my dad hated them!) and banana spiders are basically harmless to human. Now those Australian spiders – they really ARE dangerous.
Mnemosyne
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Woot! Now I have to decide between a plain t-shirt and a 3/4-sleeve baseball one. Decisions, decisions …
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
Somebody who will regret it when they sober up.
Villago Delenda Est
@raven: Good news. Best of fortune to you as you face tomorrow’s procedure!
Betty Cracker
@pamelabrown53: I’ve visited Columbia branches (though never the one in St. A), and IMO, they don’t live up to the Ybor original. Part of what’s so unique about the main branch is the beauty of the building itself. If you’ve never been but get a chance to go, I heartily encourage it!
RE: moving — we’re in no hurry at all, and if it were entirely up to me, we’d probably stay here forever just because I dread the thought of moving. But the mister would like some more gardening space. I can be happy pretty much anywhere, so I let him decide where to live because it’s more important to him. If we move, the chickens will definitely come with us — that should be an adventure for them!
MaryRC
Don’t rats make their homes in those palm tree ruffs? I fear for those little birds’ eggs. Rats make me much more queasy than spiders, including your guy. Spiders inspire friendly feelings in me so long as they don’t get too big (I’m talking tarantula-size).
OGJamie
@dedc79: Don’t tell the DJs, they already suspect us. And don’t tell ’em we went down to Ybor City again.
Mike J
@Keith G: Link to Biden in Scranton
Iowa Old Lady
My sympathy, Betty. The day I left my son at college felt like the day I left him at kindergarten.
Keith G
@Mike J: Thanks….I have trouble getting the link window to work here when using my tablet.
OMG this speech is great!!. Better than the convention.
Punchy
Confused….these 2 things dont compute:
and
If she’s only 30 mins away, how/why is she flying to get there? Is your daughter an osprey?
Mike E
@raven: wait..yer scope diagnosed an HVAC problem?!
Gindy51
@Punchy: A half an hour? Paying room and board for that length of a drive? nuts. Now over 2 hours I can see but not that close.
JCJ
@Brachiator:
German has a spider rhyme as well:
Spinne am Morgen
bringt Kummer und Sorgen.
Spinne am Abend
erquickend und labend
A spider in the morning brings troubles and worries
A spider in the evening – refreshing
I learned that it refers to having to spin yarn – if you had to do it in the morning it was because you were poor, while if you spun yarn in the evening you were doing it as something to do in your spare time.
Trollhattan
@MaryRC:
Had two Mexican fan palms that were nice yard shrubs then disease-free trees as long as I could reach the dying lower fronds with a pole saw then tall vermin factories once they were out of reach, becoming the happy home of uncountable pigeons, rats and squirrels. The bonus was bearing fruit that today, ten years after their removal, still sprout hundreds of Mexican fan palms in the yard.
Never, ever, plant these things. Ever.
wenchacha
My youngest, 24, and his wife have been driving cross-country all week: destination Mountain View, CA. His sister, 28, heads back to the PNW tomorrow. My husband and I will be missing them both.
It’s tough to decide what we will do with our child-free time. He’s still working at 60; aiming to pay off some debt. Moving is also anathema to me, the process is so daunting. But do we stay in NYS, with higher taxes, or move elsewhere? Our daughter may well stay in PNW; our son is likely to move around as a young engineer.
What do I still need to do in my life?
Poopyman
@Keith G: Joe grew up in Scranton. He’s probably cranked on seeing his old neighbors.
debit
@Villago Delenda Est: Oh yes, there will be updates. :)
Major Major Major Major
@wenchacha: Come join us on the west coast! Although if you’re looking to avoid taxes, I might recommend Oregon. The problem there is, then you’re living in Oregon.
pamelabrown53
@MaryRC: #72
MaryRC, Methinks you’re trying to scare yourself (unnecessarily): with all my, oh so cool palm tree ruffs (cool because of how they develop organically and with such individuality), I’ve never seen a rat in a ruff…or on the ground.
catclub
@OGJamie:
Trump is Donald J. I remember some show (Roseanne!) where John Goodman calls his son Deej. I think Trump would hate that.
Trollhattan
@wenchacha:
What are your feelings about snow and the shoveling thereof?
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
I’ve gone to lots of debauched parties in my time, including nude hot tub parties – but never had the pleasure of going to a “bubble party”. Presumably that name suggests something a bit more delightfully sinister and sensual than simply a bunch of folks drinking champagne.
Haydnseek
I love finches. My girlfriend, who lives less than a mile from me, still kiddingly gives me grief about persuading her to by a feeder. She has numerous cats, many of the outdoor variety, but the goldfinches were just too good not to attract. I have none of those, but the gray males with the red breast and little red pope-cap are ubiquitous. It’s strange that two different species favor one location so specifically…… Raeline the adopted after abandonment wonder cat pays little attention. Her game is squirrels and gophers. Doesn’t catch them, but tries really, really hard!
Brachiator
@JCJ:
Very interesting. Sounds like class distinctions were alluded to as well. I would think that the person spinning for fun was of a higher social class.
Major Major Major Major
@cmorenc: room full of bubbles.
Beth in VA
Betty Cracker,
I’m a long-time reader/lurker and infrequent poster, but I feel obligated to contact you in this very public space because though I live in Virginia now I’m a 5th generation Floridian by birth, raised in the greater Tampa Bay area, and have relatives probably walking the same streets you walk, and the same gulf hammocks and rivers you frequent. I too will be an empty nester very soon with college for my younger daughter. We may never meet, but every post, pic, and political thought just feels so incredibly llike home to me. Thanks for all your great posts. – Beth
cmorenc
@Major Major Major Major:
I figured that much – it’s whatever the bubble-filled environment is supposed to facilitate that grabs my interest. Sort of like the role of the hot water at a hot tub party.
pamelabrown53
@Beth in VA: #93
What a lovely post, Beth.
wenchacha
@Trollhattan: Oh, I like snow and cold more than I like heat and humidity. I live in the WNY snow belt. But this summer, we may as well be in Georgia or something.
prufrock
@Betty Cracker: Have you tried Ulele? It’s owned by the Gonzmart family. It is outstanding, and I swear that my opinion is not colored by the fact that my best friend from high school is the brewmaster. ;-)
rikyrah
@raven:
Good to hear it?
rikyrah
Spiders scare me. Period.
SiubhanDuinne
Because I am stuck in a hotel room with no transportation until sometime tomorrow, I am having the novel experience of watching an actual TeeVee machine. Trump is on now, giving his terrorism speech. Why are his eyes so squinty? They look much narrower than usual. What’s that about?
I caught most of Joe Biden’s speech earlier, but missed Hillary (was cancelling appointments, trying to figure out about my car, etc.) I’m sure one of the programs will show excepts later today, so maybe I can see it then.
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: That’s because spiders are scary!
Trollhattan
@wenchacha:
Insofar as Oregon goes, Portland’s probably not cold enough but some place like Bend might be an option, presuming you don’t need to be near a real city. FWIW Washington has no income tax and Oregon has no sales tax. This means they collect revenue in interesting ways that may or may not dovetail with one’s particular financial situation. Needless to say, everybody in Vancouver, WA shops in Oregon.
I’m about done with heat–this summer has been brutal–but any transplant to somewhere with boring weather needs to wait until the daughter unit is done with high school. Will change my tune at Thanksgiving when I’m smoking the turkey out back wearing shorts.
catclub
@wenchacha:
Worse. In Georgia they have effective air conditioning. OTOH, it will cool down some time before November in WNY.
Betty Cracker
@cmorenc: Here’s a picture of a bubble event (not at my house!).
@Beth in VA: Thank YOU! We’re probably related — my family history goes back that far too, when the state was far less populous!
@prufrock: I have, and I agree that it’s outstanding. The beer is first rate!
SiubhanDuinne
Man, this is fascinating watching p̸r̸e̸s̸i̸d̸e̸n̸t̸i̸a̸l̸ boring Donald Trump give a “serious” speech. Not only does he have that very weird squint I mentioned, but he turns his head and body to read the TelePrompTer on the right, and the TelePrompTer on the left. Right, left. Right, left. It’s as though there are actual instructions typed in his speaking notes every couple of paragraphs saying “Turn left. Now turn right.” It’s not that he’s connecting with/including all parts of the audience. He’s just terrible at delivering scripted talks. Terrible.
His audience sounds pretty tepid. Don’t blame them.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: How’d you do that with the letters?
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
I know, it’s like they figured how to remove his entire personality, he’s totally low energy, and really boring. His speech is simply a regurgitation of republican pablum. Crowd wants to get into it but can’t because he’s just so flat.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
Someone needs to ask the repubs if they wish they had a candidate who knows how to read a teleprompter smoothly.
glory b
@schrodinger’s cat: No, no, no, as my Florida relatives tell me, those are palmetto bugs!!
baquist
Our oldest chick is leaving the nest too. Only about an hour away, and will be back for summer. I dont know how I feel about his leaving – glad he’s growing up and on the right path or bawling that he’s no longer an infant.
Damn.
glory b
@Betty Cracker: Cuban bread is the best!!
SiubhanDuinne
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
These are great! Can’t wait to see the 15/19/26 one.
Humdog
Betty, if you are still checking this thread, did you notice your award to Charlie Pierce got rejected by him on Friday? He linked to your post but didn’t really answer your complaint. Wonder if his mention woke up that comment thread?
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
Ⓘ ⒹⓄⓌⓃⓁⓄⒶⒹⒺⒹ Ⓐ ⓀⒺⓎⒷⓄⒶⓇⒹ ⒶⓅⓅ ⓌⒾⓉⒽ ⒹⒾⒻⒻⒺⓇⒺⓃⓉ ⒻⓄⓃⓉⓈ, i̸n̸c̸l̸u̸d̸i̸n̸g̸ s̸t̸r̸i̸k̸e̸ s̸t̸y̸l̸e̸ λ₦Ð λ ₡ØUPŁE Ø₣ ØŦҤEƦ$. It’s quicker to pull up that keyboard than it is to type in the angle brackets and strike tags.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
He never relaxed once. The only time he smiled was at the very end after thankyougodblessamerica. And even that wasn’t a smile in any accepted sense of the word — he slightly stretched the corners of his mouth in a perfunctory, pro-forma smile-like expression, but it never got close to his eyes. His squinty, squinty eyes.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
Yup, a completely flat affect, both in his facial expression (or lack thereof) and tone of voice. The only time he came close to smiling was at the end after thankyouverymuchgodblessamerica. And his smile wasn’t even that — he stretched the corners of his mouth in a perfunctory way, but his eyes — his squinty, squinty eyes — remained untouched.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
Ha!
Betty Cracker
@Humdog: Ha, no — I had not seen it, and I thank you for pointing it out since I would have otherwise missed it, being much occupied with other things this weekend.
Mnemosyne
@JCJ:
AFAICT, people didn’t start knitting for fun until the early 1800s at best — IOW, after it had been almost entirely replaced as a cottage industry by knitting machines.
schrodinger's cat
@glory b: Sorry, name change doesn’t make them cute.
Mandarama
@baquist: All of you guys are killing me…because I have a new 10th grader, and I’m watching his very-normal beginning stages of drift. The real kind, like “I’ll be leaving before you know it,” not the “Mom, cut it out” kind. I’m grateful my baby is still only 12, but still. I would never do anything to keep them from launching, but in my heart I would love to go back 5 years and stay there! Betty, I’m thinking of you!
MattF
@Major Major Major Major: There’s an online unicode tool at YayText.com that lets you type text in a box and then decorates the text in a dozen entertaining ways. So, e.g., if you’ve felt a need to use italics on Twitter, that’s a way to do it.
satby
@Betty Cracker: I love the Columbia, used to take my mom there when I was visiting.
Mr. Mack
We just shipped our two off to college. Betty, I’m sure you already know this…but Skype is your friend.
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: So COOL!
FMBJO
When we had to get serious with our last son about leaving the nest,” Get a fulltime job, go to college or join the military!” he joined the navy and will have put in 20 years soon. We sold our house when he left and downsized, haven’t heard the last of that decision.
BTW the Wolf spiders in my lanai put yours to shame.
SiubhanDuinne
@satby:
There are bunches and bunches of different fonts in this app, but I haven’t bought them. Yet. The only ones I have are the four or five that came free. That’s probably enough, but sometimes it’s just fun to play.
Betsy
@Betty Cracker: Good to know! In my memory, it is delicious, and the black soup looks so delectably dark against the snowy tablecloth, with the bread crumbs a-bouncing across it! Oh, bread, and butter, and black bean soup!
cat copeland
@Ruviana:
DAMN RIGHT!! ANY creepy crawler with 8 LONG legs & THAT BIIG, is NOT harmless to ME!! Heart attack, Baby. UNLIKE Indiana Jones, I would rather be surrounded by HARMLEES snakes than spiders anyday.
BruceJ
We used to live in a place that had a couple big fan palms complete with long ‘beards’ that were thoroughly infested with pigeons.
One day I hard a commotion and looked out to see a red-tailed hawk literally hip deep into the tree going after one. Got it too. Pigeons went away for while after that.
J R in WV
I have found that glass containers are great to rescue big spiders. They can’t really see it, so they don’t try to run away. Then I slide a cardboard piece (usually junk mail) under the glass or mason jar, and take them outside to the jungle, where I drop them into ferns or the woodland floor.
I have pics of wolf spiders almost too big for the mouth of a wide-mouth mason jar!! They get into our bathroom sink and the corian is too slick for them to escape. That white background fades out of the picture, and there’s that dark spider… looming out of the white, invisible background.
sukabi
@Shell: naw, Texas has tarantulas the size of your hand, not drumpfs hands, much, much larger.
sukabi
@cleek: bad drunk tats? So presumably you checked to make sure the tattooer was sober?