Can you believe it’s been ten months since I bought the house? At any rate, still working on it, slowly but surely. At any rate, still doing lots of stuff. I still don’t have curtains or everything hung in all the rooms, but the outside is coming along. Put in a bunch of new shrubs and plants out front, and expanded the beds down the side of the house so I can plant some things there, too. Hung new numbers, repainted the porch, and a bunch of little stuff. The big bald spot in the grass is because there were holes there from tree roots so I’ve been packing in dirt and tamping it down every week or so. I also intend to put some trees in the front and back yard, sooner rather than later.
I have a bunch more I want to do to the front porch, like hang shades, add some hanging pots, and get some wicker furniture, but that all costs money and takes time to find the right wicker on craigslist. Besides, no need to rush, as I’m not going anywhere. Plus, I found another bad board (this time I didn’t fall through) on the back deck, so I need to not spend money in case I need to replace the entire damned thing.
Here is a bonus picture of Steve sitting on a box on the back deck.
Cats are weirdos. Season 3 of Bosch is on the agenda tonight. What are you all up to?
Elizabelle
All that and rescuing sweet Walter for the best last months of his life.
Am reading The Man in the High Castle. With trepidation. But what a good book.
Mnemosyne
That house needs an apple tree in the front yard with a tire swing. Get moving on that before you have stepgrandchildren.
Corner Stone
Hmmm…
lollipopguild
STEVE-Mine! Mine! Mine!
donnah
Your house is beautiful! So clean and bright and pretty. Nicely done. I hope you will enjoy many happy years there.
sukabi
Looks good John. ☺
lollipopguild
@Corner Stone: GET OUT! GET OUT!
Corner Stone
Owning a mortgage is its own form of masochism.
zhena gogolia
I love your house.
I’m enjoying Richard Russo’s Trajectory.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne:
He’s not John McCain and the press isn’t stopping by for a BBQ.
22over7
Love the soft yellow highlighted with black and white. What kind of curtains, do you think? Shades, Venetians, fabric ones that cost $15/panel at Big Lots? Got mine at Ross.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Read the rest of the comment. You missed the actual tweaking.
?BillinGlendaleCA
The house looks nice John, now you just need to automate it.
I’m re-scanning a shitload of slides I took on my first trip to Europe in 1979, I’ve scanned them before but I’m re-scanning them with 7 passes and saving them in TIFF and fixing things light blown out skies.
NotMax
What’s the sign in the yard?
“World headquarters of balloon-juice.com. Tours by appointment” would be the initial guess.
;)
khead
Love the bonus pic. I’m working.
Also, Adam West’s Batman (RIP) was the original Austin Powers.
Batman window cameos.
jharp
Be warned.
Do not plant exotic trees. Stick to the native species.
Locust trees are very nice to grow grass under and provide shade.
And a tulip tree would be nice on your bare spot.
Elmo
Fruit trees. Cherries at a minimum. Apples and a crabapple for pollination. I think pears also grow in WV. I’m partial to figs, but they don’t like winter and have to be either brought inside or thoroughly protected.
Fair Economist
Houses are never done. We just recently put in the new kitchen we intended when we bought our house – 20 years ago.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax:
Nope.
“World headquarters of balloon-juice.com. Go Fuck Yourself*”
*Meant, of course, in the nicest possible way.
JPL
@Elizabelle: During the election season, I tried to stream the series, and had to stop. That was about the time of the freedom girls, and I’d awaken at night in chills. Have fun reading the book.. lol
lamh36
the house looks great.
It looks like a family house…I seriously expect to children running round the porch and up the stairs.
Hey John you’re still young yet…
glory b
@NotMax: I see it a lot in the next neighborhoods over from mine (Point Breeze/Shadyside/Squirrel Hill for those of you familiar with Pittsburgh). It says “no matter where you’re from, We’re glad your our neighbor” in English, Spanish and Arabic.
Most of them are taking the place of Clinton/Kaine signs.
Yes, I live adjacent to well off liberals, why do you ask?
Seriously, there are a lot of them(people and signs) here.
Jane2
Your home is gorgeous! And so is Steve.
Major Major Major Major
@Fair Economist:
I imagine if I ever own one, this will be true for me. Always something new to do, or something delayed that you finally have time/money for.
If I ever own one, of course; I’m a millennial and spend too much on avocado toast to afford one.
spudgun
@?BillinGlendaleCA: May I ask what kind of scanner you are using? Been dying to get one of those small negative scanners from amazon but they all get such mixed reviews.
John, great looking home! Very envious out here in NorCal, where I will probably never be able to afford a tiny condo, much less a big ol’ house…
NotMax
@jharp
Also too, don’t plant a willow unless having the yard dug up to replace pipes is a favorite pastime.
A red maple might be nice, if its growing range allows.
Or if something not as tall, bulky and subject to being a source of falling damage might work better, perhaps a flowering quince.
Mathguy
Plant a couple of paw-paws. They have nice foliage and produce really interesting unique fruits in early September.
jharp
@Elmo:
Fruit tress are messier than most and are relatively high maintenance:
And the wildlife devours most of the cherries within days.
They are cool trees no doubt but a lot of effort.
JPL
John, the house is lovely.
dlwchico
Season 3 of Bosch kept me up too late a few nights when I had to work the next morning.
Miss Bianca
Rehearsing “Romeo and Juliet” – it’s a week till opening. House looks good, Steve looks great!
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
I hope you get to play the Nurse. She has all the best lines.
Quinerly
Beautiful digs! Can’t believe it’s been that long. It will all come together….take that from a chick who has rescued and restored two 1880’s Victorians. Right now I’m eating asparagus risotto on my courtyard porch,hanging with a very needy Poco,drinking a “Beast Lite,” listening to Mark Knopfler…”After the beanstalk, your life’s just not the same…..”?
JPL
@dlwchico: I really liked season 3 and enjoyed his interaction with his daughter.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
“Regular commenters welcome! No invitation necessary! Come on in! Stay the night!”
ET
@NotMax: I recognize that sign. There are a few here in DC that popped up about inauguration time. I thought they were more local but they must not be.
NotMax
OT: First loaf from the shiny new super deluxe bread machine just removed from pan. Looks great, proof will be waiting long enough for it to cool and taste that first slice.
(Better be good. Sprang for a 25 lb. bag of bread flour at Costco yesterday.)
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
Poco is probably aware that you’re still a little mad about him eating the basement.
Charlotte is still hiding with me from the Scary Noises coming from the apartment above as they replace the carpet for the new tenants. Now she’s sitting under my knees with the blanket over her, still on the assumption that whatever is making the Scary Noises will eat me first.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@spudgun: I’m using Pacific Imaging 7200U and I’m also scanning with 7 passes to bring out the full color range this time.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: bread machines are awesome, hope it turns out well.
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major:
If you let the toast go stale, it makes a dandy building material. Problem solved.
lamh36
On my agenda tonight, starting my new 10 day antibiotic regimen. Right now though, I’m Bout to get into this latest new Hallmark movie…
Don’t judge me
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: Snarksville U.S.A.
jharp
@NotMax:
I favor sugar maples.
And you are dead on re the willows. Not yard trees and it isn’t even close.
Sweetgums are pretty cool lawn trees too.
spudgun
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks!
Sab
@jharp: locust trees are messy, although they do have a nice dappled shade.
amk
what does that tricolor signboard say? GET OFF MY LAWN?
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Who do you play?
Ripley (Whiskey Fire version)
Gotta fix that step!
For the Modern Family fans. And John.
frosty
Nice house, John. And in only 10 months!
geg6
Catching up on Elementary after dinner of shrimp, orange bell peppers, scallions and pineapple kabobs on the grill with grilled asparagus from the farmer’s market and rice. Nice warm relaxed days. I’ve been in a no politics zone today and it feels great.
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: but the avocado makes it mushy.
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne:
Love the name Charlotte! I love pets with people names. (Poco is an exception over the years in this household…Buddy, Leo, Scarlett, Spenser…Ivan, John Lennon….) Ear rubs to Charlotte from St. Louis. (that’s what my Ivan and John Lennon love!)
geg6
Oh, and the house looks beautiful, John.
T-minus 6 days until the dreaded road trip to Florida with the dogs. Got some anti-anxiety drugs for Lovey from the vet. Hope they work.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
It says, in Spanish, English and Arabic, “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor.”
What a really nice sign for John to have in his front yard.
lamh36
It’s “June Wedding” season on Hallmark…so Saturday movies all have do do with weddings. So excuse me for the randomness of my coming comments for next 2hours…lol
do people still buy into the superstition that “groom can’t see bride in wedding dress before the wedding”?
Happen to see an ep of Say Yes To The Dress, and they’ve actually had whole entire episodes where the groom was there and helped pick the gown for the bride…so wondering if it’s no longer a “thing” for folks
Kirk
My two cents on the trees get spent on placement. Plant them based on the full expected size, both for the branches and the roots. For branches, you don’t want to have one tapping shingles or trapping water against the facings. For roots, you don’t need a wide one disturbing sidewalks (or more costly, foundations). FWIW, the general guide is that roots and branches will have the same coverage. (If life had been better my parents would have learned that /before/ we paid for foundation work. meh.)
schrodingers_cat
@amk: The sign says in three languages, Spanish, Arabic and English,
SiubhanDuinne
@amk:
It says, in Spanish, English and Arabic, “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor.”
HinTN
@Elmo: I disagree. Fruit trees bring vermin and you can support local farmers by purchasing their harvest. Oak trees take a long time but are what you want in the end game. I prefer White Oak. You can plant dogwood (slower growing but beautiful) and flowering Yoshino cherry (faster growing, also beautiful) trees fifteen feet from the oak and get some good shade fairly quickly.
JPL
@geg6: Finch is not great in the car, and early on I discovered that I needed to make sure that the windows were locked. I had to pull over to find the child proof instructions. If you plan on crating Lovey, that won’t be necessary. Have fun.
amk
@schrodingers_cat: @SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks.
Cole, the libtard?
spudgun
@lamh36: Hey, no judgment here! :-) One of my favorite movies is The Magic of Ordinary Days with Keri Russell and Skeet Ulrich – love me some Hallmark movie schmaltz!
NotMax
@https://balloon-juice.com/2017/06/10/ten-months-later/#comment-6421445
Slightly out of focus money shot.
Another Scott
@jharp: Sweetgums have those nasty prickly seed pod balls that fall for months on end. And get half-buried in the turf. Our back yard fills up with them from the neighbor’s tree every year – it’s a huge tree. Not a fan.
Silver maples are bad choices, also too. Weak trees that grow fast and can get huge, meaning they’re a danger due to branches, trunks, etc., falling.
An eastern redbud might be a good choice. We have a few along our backyard fence line and I transplanted a volunteer to the front. It grows reasonably quickly, but doesn’t get huge, and is pretty in the early spring with its pinkish buds (which cardinals apparently like).
Nice house, JC. You’ve done well.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@JPL: Quite a few passages that send frissons of anxiety.
Philip K. Dick. Great observer.
NotMax
@NotMax
Whoopsie That was a response to Major⁴.
Honus
We’re gearing up for the KKK rally in Lee Park on July 8. You know, because we want to rewrite history by taking down a statue honoring a treasonous slaveholder because we don’t think we need to deify people like that. Then Richard Spencer coming back for another torchlight vigil on a August 12.
And John, somebody told me about an old Asian saying several years ago: “man finish house, man die”.
mai naem mobile
I.love the exterior colors. They look so good and suit the house perfectly. I am also glad you have nice clear numbers. I have an EMT friend who says some people don’t understand that clear visible house numbers may help the paramedics to find you quicker.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: Lady Capulet – I wanted the Nurse, but she was already cast.
Omnes Omnibus
My grandfather had a rule: Do something for your house every day.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
Lady Capulet isn’t so bad, and you’ll get better costumes than the Nurse.
Are you watching rikyrah’s favorite new show “Still Star-Crossed”? I’m curious about it since she’s been raving so much.
HinTN
@NotMax: I love maples and have two the the yard where I mow but they have a bad habit of having roots right at the soil surface which require some sort of flower bed to cover them up or a willingness just to live with them being lumpy and inhibiting the growth of grass near the trunk.
TaMara (HFG)
Thornless Honey Locust if we’re naming tree choices.
House looks lovely, John, just lovely. I feel like I’m way behind you even though I started out without as much work to do. But I am building a fire pit this weekend.
And in case anyone didn’t see it, a few cans of spray paint and some antique metal chairs turned into a real nice mid-century patio set.
Omnes Omnibus
Lindens.
Iowa Old Lady
@mai naem mobile: Are you suggesting EMTs might need to find John’s house? He said he didn’t put his foot through the deck floor this time. And surely he’s learned his lesson about vacuuming naked.
ETA: I’ll bet the neighbors are glad to have John there instead of the guy who abandoned Walter.
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
Our other two are Keaton and Annie, and our previous two cats were Boris and Natasha, so I’m all about the pop culture names, which are usually human names.
@lamh36:
I think it’s less of a thing nowadays. When we had our wedding, we did our photos beforehand, so the photographer did a thing where I came around a corner so G could see me in my dress for the first time. We got some cute photos from it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Iowa Old Lady:
Not when he shouting at his animals for setting booby traps for him.
divF
@Elizabelle:
Re: Man in the High Castle. I’ve loved that book since I first read it in college.
However, I will be interested to hear what you think of Juliana Frink. She is an unusual woman character for science fiction of that period (she and Nobusuke Tagomi have the greatest degree of agency in the book). However, PKD’s depiction of women was fraught by his own complicated personal life.
encephalopath
That is a damn fine looking house.
Sitting out on that porch on a late summer afternoon drinking iced tea. There will be nothing finer.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: My friends have cats named Moose and Squirrel.
HinTN
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s a great rule!
lurker dean
house is looking good, cole.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: 7 pass tiff, now that’s a labor of love. i keep putting off scanning old negs, it takes real dedication. or maybe it’s motivation, lol.
Iowa Old Lady
@Omnes Omnibus: There is that.
And again we come back to the naked vacuuming.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Do they have identity issues?
@HinTN: He had his good points.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
I had Boris first (full name: Boris Karloff), but when I got a second cat, she had to be Natasha. It was foreordained.
Omnes Omnibus
@Iowa Old Lady:
And the fact that he has not prioritized curtains.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Iowa Old Lady: I have faith that Cole will find new and interesting ways of keeping the local EMT’s in business.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: no, I know nothing about it. I’m always at least a season behind current TV offerings, and usually more like 3 to 4. What’s “Still Star crossed”? Romeo and Juliet reincarnated? :-)
My costume is awesome, btw – very Red Queen.
eclare
@geg6: Trazadone works wonders for my 9 year old dog. I am still looking for the “off” switch on this dog.
schrodingers_cat
@Iowa Old Lady: I believe it was mopping.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lurker dean: I’ve got some good pics on some of the slides and negatives(my next submission to ‘On the Road’ will be from slides) and I’ve become really picky about color. The extra passes really do make a difference in color range. I also fix the blown out skies in photoshop.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
It’s apparently a sequel to Romeo and Juliet, where two of the other Montague and Capulet kids are forced into a betrothal to try and reconcile the families, with soaptastic results.
Some idiots are up in arms because there are African-American cast members. After all, there are no Black people in Shakespeare’s plays! //
raven
Just finished our first Flimstruck flick. Alice in the Cities by Wim Wenders from 1973. Interesting film, its too late to start Blue from the Tricolor but I’m jacked to have all these Criterion films available. Fuck a bunch of comic book movies.
lamh36
Do folks really “meet cute” at wedding? don’t know anyone who met their S.O. at a wedding. I haven’t been to a lot of weddings (I can literally count with like 1 hand in past 25 years) still, I haven’t heard a grand meet story from folks I know
debbie
@Major Major Major Major:
That’s great!
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
My BFF met one of her boyfriends at my brother’s wedding (this was 20+ years ago). He turned out to be gay, but that was’t the wedding’s fault.
(The boyfriend turned out to be gay, not my brother. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ;-)
Kristine
Beautiful house.
Currently watching Dr Who. Waiting for Orphan Black. First ep of the final season.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: that sounds like a YA book I read last year, which paired off the disdainful Rosaline, Romeo’s first love, with his pal Benvolio, after R and J’s death. There was some kind of mystery surrounding vandalism of Juliet’s monument starting it off. I may have to read that one again, but can’t remember the title.
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: Its a big Hindi movie trope. I have no idea how often it really happens IRL.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne:
Denzel was in one of them.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
That sounds like the plot of the series, so it may be based on that.
lurker dean
@?BillinGlendaleCA: for me, my negs (no slides) are all before i started getting more serious about photography, so the quality isn’t great so the motivation to scan isn’t there. now i’m mostly digital, and bracket a lot for dynamic range when needed. but then i’m stuck doing a lot of post processing, trying to make it look not hdr, lol.
a bit of an aside, but i was lucky to get a pakon scanner for 35mm negs before they skyrocketed in price. the kodak color profiles it uses are fantastic. i’ve scanned a bunch of old family negs with it, it’s nice to have digital archives of them, and makes it easy to share them online.
Quinerly
Since I’m conveniently listening to Knopfler and some are chatting about Romeo and Juliet….a musical interlude…10 minutes of pure pleasure: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o7GJgncybV8
mai naem mobile
@Iowa Old Lady: Hopefully he won’t be mopping the deck naked and fall through it.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: Trois Couleurs is awesome. Make sure you watch all three.
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne:
?
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
There’s also kind of a famous play by the guy that has a Black lead, maybe you’ve heard of it …
;-)
Iowa Old Lady
@Miss Bianca: I liked Rachel Caine’s Prince of Shadows which is YA from Benvolio’s POV.
geg6
Just started a really good historical fiction book called Lilac Girls. Based on the true story of a group of Polish women who were interned at Ravensbruck concentration camp, were subject to medical experiments and finally rescued after the war by an American woman and brought back to America to live with her and recover as best they could. I’ve only just begun but I think I’ll be weeping a bit throughout the read.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36: I’ve hooked up at weddings. Yes, with bridesmaids. Does that count?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lurker dean: My family always shot slides, there there’s a bunch of b/w prints when I was a baby, going back over 60 years. I’ve got them all scanned in jpg, but I’ve got some shots that I wanted to try to see if I could get them to come out better, so I’ve gone with the 7 pass method(it’s done internal to the scanner/software(Vuescan) so I really only see 2 scans). BTW, if anybody does decide to get a scanner for negs/slides throw away the software that came with it and pay the $50 for Vuescan.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Blah, blah, blah…
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Is it the Scottish Play? Scotland has had a lot of immigration.
satby
@glory b: That was started by a Mennonite church in Indiana (I think) and they’re all over here too.
Takes a lot of work to make the Mennonites get political. Well done GOP.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m only doing this because you asked for it:
ETA: Also, too, I apparently have distant relatives in Scotland — some of my grandfather’s brothers immigrated there instead of the US.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
The rarely performed Irish play, O’Tellow.
Saga of the Black Irish.
Mary G
I haven’t watched any TV for a long time, but I started to watch season 1 of Orphan Black and now I’m hooked.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: wow, how weird – I was thinking i’d like to read that one again, but I couldn’t remember the title! Now it’ll probably be checked out from the library!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: I brought it on myself.
@NotMax: As I did this.
Miss Bianca
@Mary G: oh, LOVE Orphan Black – binge-watched all four seasons and now have to wait till the last one is out on DVD!
PIGL
@donnah: Well said! and I hope the same.
Just One More Canuck
@HinTN: oh god yes. Our old house had two huge crab apple trees in the front yard, and the mess they made was unbelievable. I had to use a snow shovel to get rid of the rotting fruit on the ground, and the bees and wasps were all over it. The only good thing about them was the crab apple jelly my neighbour would make from them
A lilac or a rhododendron would look good in that empty space of John’s
planetpundit
GReat hob with walter, John. You are the best.
STEVE!!!!!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
no wonder the Beast likes Jared better
CaseyL
John, the house is lovely. Thank you for sharing the saga of acquiring, renovating, dog rescuing, and so on. Have you already had a house warming, or are you waiting until the last projects are done/last curtains are hung?
@geg6: Why is Lovey the only one getting anti-anxiety drugs? Sounds like you could use some, too :)
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Also acceptable would have been, “It’s a fair cop, and society is to blame.”
Just One More Canuck
@Quinerly: I went down a Mark Knopfler rabbit hole earlier tonight on youtube, going through most of ShangriLa and Golden Heart, as well as a few of his duets with Emmylou Harris
NotMax
@Just One More Canuck
Ooh, ooh – mountain laurel would be ideal. Grows tall and wide enough to block the view from the street but not tree tall.
rikyrah
AWE.
You have a porch swing :)
rikyrah
watching the Season Premiere of Orphan Black
rikyrah
HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY SASHA!
https://twitter.com/TheAffinityMag/status/873701712602824705?
Keith P.
Do all cats love the feel of cardboard? Every one I’ve ever had loves to lie down on folded up boxes, jump in new boxes, and sleep on those cardboard scratchers. I’m saving a bunch of boxes right now to build my cat a giant maze-fort in the living room.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: But no tire swing, guess Mark Halperin won’t be stopping by.
Mnemosyne
@Keith P.:
Yes, all cats love cardboard boxes, including kitties big enough to fit into refrigerator boxes.
J R in WV
Speaking of falling through. When we moved out here on the farm in the late 1970s, I rehabbed an old Jenny Lind style farmhouse, and we lived in it through many traumas until we built a new house we have liven in since 1994. The old farmhouse had two more families stay in it, the last built another new home on the ridge above our house.
So a few years ago I wanted to have it torn down, as it was attracting vandals, etc. I learned that I needed to have it inspected for asbestos, and sure enough, there was some on the front porch roof and in the back kitchen roof. I had two choices, remove it myself, personally, or pay a certified asbestos remediation company to remove it.
Being cheap and retired, I did it myself. I put my foot through the boards the sheet metal roof on the front porch were nailed to first. No harm. I knew it wasn’t real sturdy, so I was treading lightly.
Then on the back shed roof over the kitchen/bathroom, which was thin plywood with roll roofing over it, I put my foot through the plywood, and went down further than on the front porch. Again, no real harm, pulled a few muscles here and there, took the appropriate medications, finished the job, got receipts from the certified asbestos landfill, old house was landfilled by professionals at an approved construction debris landfull.
Barn was torn down and packed into the base of a hill, and that pile is about a third the size it was when the barn was done.
New house, well, it was built to be low maintenance… hahaha!!! And now it’s over 20 years old!!!
Quinerly
@Just One More Canuck:
I think he’s one of the best musicians of all times. Under appreciated. Great catalogue. And with Ms. Harris….oh, yes!
Amir Khalid
@lamh36:
Re the superstition: What happens if it’s a lesbian couple getting married, and they want matching wedding dresses?
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: Neither one is the groom… Maybe?
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Obscure TV: Here Come the Brides.
mainmata
As a fixer-upper not that far from you, I love what you’ve done to the home. We’ve been fixing up an 1896 farm+house in the Shenandoah Valley close to WVA.
rikyrah
Forget It Paul. It’s Trumptown.
The blue states and cities are beginning to chart their own course, leaving the tarnished White House behind.
Joy-Ann Reid
06.10.17 7:34 AM ET
Not even six months into his term, for all intents and purposes, Donald Trump’s presidency is dead.
Not dead in the sense that he will imminently be run out of office.
Republicans have made it clear that there is literally nothing he could
do, no matter how destructive, obscene or humiliating to the republic —
that would make them remove him. But it is functionally dead, in the
sense that the Trump presidency has any moral force at home or abroad (in fact, if you look at rare European Trump friend Teresa May’s situation in the UK,it’s quite the opposite), or that the president has the influence or the power to move his political agenda through a Congress that itself is imprisoned by his scandals. Remember “infrastructure week?”
Whatever happens from here — whether Robert Mueller finds actual crimes or a criminal cover-up surrounding Russiagate — the man whose entire life has revolved around filling the gaping hole in his psyche with forced praise, vows of loyalty and boasts about “winning” will go down in history as a disastrous fluke, whose ascent to high office resulted from the machinations of a foreign power that manipulated American voters to avenge their hatred of a woman. History will remember him as the most disgraced and scandalized American president of the modern era,
eclipsing Richard Nixon and making a damned near success of George W. Bush by comparison. Donald Trump is, by all accounts, an object of
global ridicule; reviled around the world with the exception of the
capitols of authoritarian regimes and of course, the Kremlin. His own
sycophant party defends his misdeeds by declaring him to be almost
childlike in his innocence and inability to understand the basics of
governance, such that the former director of the FBI had an unprecedented duty to teach a 70-year-old real estate tycoon right from wrong.
Trump’s most ardent defenders — his unpleasant sons, when they take time away from from grubbing off his office, his weird hireling Sebastian Gorka and his thuggish former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski — can only talk to his existing fans via Fox News and Breitbart. No one else will have them. His favorite daughter and ineffectual adviser Ivanka is down to securing cover stories in pop culture magazines explaining why she stands both with and against her dad — the better to sell shoes made in Chinese sweatshops to the trendy people who have turned their backs on her. His son-in-law, already talking about escaping back to New York, may be lucky to avoid indictment.However corrupt the men around him were during the campaign — Manafort and Flynn and Page and Sessions and the rest, Trump brought all of this on himself. He hired them. He eagerly benefited from and solicited Russia’s aid in tarring his presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, even to the point of publicly encouraging Russian hacking. His Twitter attack on Jim Comey is what prompted Comey to release his notes from their bizarre meetings in hopes of triggering the appointment of a special prosecutor.
His continued attacks on Comey, including his personal lawyer’s attempt to sic the Justice Department on the fired FBI director, on top of the firing itself, could hand that prosecutor evidence of obstruction of
justice and abuse of power. We may yet get to witness the spectacle of a president pardoning his cronies, and then himself.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/forget-it-paul-its-trumptown
Just one more canuck
@Quinerly: totally agree – he has such a subtle style of playing but it’s brilliant
rikyrah
@Miss Bianca:
Based upon a book. It’s basically ‘ what happens after Romeo and Juliet die?’
Shonda Rhimes is producing. Has multi-cultural casting. Gorgeous costumes. Sets to die for. I am loving it. You can catch both episodes on abc.com.
workworkwork
Saw “Megan Leavey” this morning – weepy but good.
Finally broke down and ordered a proper chef’s knife.
Made some quiche to have for breakfast (four breakfasts worth, actually).
Watched the new Sarah Silverman special on Netflix
Started the new season of “Orange is the New Black”.
Quinerly
@Just One More Canuck:
Two words…”Ragpicker’s Dream.”?
No Drought No More
“Besides, no need to rush, as I’m not going anywhere”.
That might be the beginning of a wisdom for every first time home owner. It was for me, anyway. In fact, it’s only fairly recently I’ve stopped hop-hop-hopping to Hoppers after being seized by a need to start-and-finish every new project pronto. I’m glad I went through that manic period for 2-3 years, though, as I accomplished a lot that I now enjoy. But those days are over, and I’m more relaxed for it.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Miss Bianca is a Shakespeare fan (and sometime Shakespearean actress), so I’m assuming she will love “Still Star-Crossed.”
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
IIRC, it’s a very old bad-luck superstition — you don’t want any evil spirits to be able to figure out who the bride is until she is safely inside the church. That’s one of the reasons she’s wearing a veil to hide her face and is surrounded by identically-dressed bridesmaids.
(The veil is also originally because of arranged marriages, but I think that Jewish and Muslim brides wear veils for the same reason.)
So, in theory, there’s no problem for lesbian brides, because the evil spirits will become confused about which one they’re supposed to steal and wander over to the bar to get a drink instead.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
10% of evil spirits are gay.
Saw it on the internet, so must be so. :)
way2blue
Wow. Your house looks great. Congratulations! I’m still plugging away on mine. New dining table soon; then a new sofa. Once the last two rugs are back from cleaning & repair, I can pick paint colors for the walls…
Mnemosyne
@NotMax:
Yes, but if you’re an evil spirit who’s supposed to steal the bride from the wedding, what do you do when there are two brides?
The really traditional way to do it that you still sometimes see is to have the bride and all of the bridesmaids dress identically for the walk to the church as an evil spirit confusion technique. So, really, a lesbian wedding is far more safe from roving evil spirits than a straight wedding ever could be.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Take a cue from Candlejack?
“I’m gonna need more rope.”
joel hanes
Plant one of the resistant mostly-American-chestnut strains, but don’t plant it where it’ll be crowded.
Vhh
@?BillinGlendaleCA: “Get off my lawn”
Anonymous At Work
@Just One More Canuck: Pecan tree or two. Nuts, good to harvest and crack by hand, does take a while to grow that big. Oak near a house is asking for root issues. Fruit trees do bring pests and critters. Nut tree is best of all worlds.
WaterGirl
@Kristine: What??? The final season? Oh, no!
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: @Mnemosyne: I am so gonna watch this…when it comes out on DVD. So…next year. ; )
Still can’t believe I read that book a few years back and couldn’t remember the title! I’ll never forget it now!
The Lodger
@Omnes Omnibus: At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival a couple of years ago, they did the Scottish play with an all-black cast. These things happen.