I’m up in Connecticut for the weekend, and I am spending the weekend with ABC and the ADORABLE polydactyl kittens her sons adopted. Meet Stripers (male) and Blacky (female):
They are EVERYWHERE. I have no idea how two things so small manage to be everywhere. It’s been forever since I have been around kittens, because I always get my cats used. If I were to have named them it would have been Clyde and Madame Pounce, but I have been told my animal naming skills suck.
Also, on the ride up yesterday, I had to get gas at the Penn State Hazleton exit on I-80, and across from the gas station was a Mexican food truck rocking this sign:
I had stopped at My Sister’s Bistro a couple hours earlier for another fish sandwich and wasn’t hungry, but I checked out his reviews on Yelp and I will be hitting it on the way home for sure.
We have no cable tv here so I have to go out of my way to hear about Trump. That is ok.
Baud
Highway roadside snark. Nice.
cynthia ackerman
I’ve had those tacos.
You won’t be disappointed.
khead
Those KITTEHS!
Bill
John, if you’re coming west on 84, stop and visit us in PA. We have a pretty cool food place that’s open weekends and a nice lake. About an hour east of Hazleton.
Mnemosyne
If I lived on the East Coast, I would be driving to that restaurant right now solely on the strength of that sign.
Bill
Also, Cats. We have cats.
SiubhanDuinne
Taco sign is AWESOME.
Kittens are EVEN MORE AWESOME IF THAT IS POSSIBLE.
Thank you, John G. Cole, for reminding us all that there is life beyond the horror of Trump.
Central Planning
Our polydactyl cat is really smart. She users her paws to scoop water out of her dish to drink it and to pull food out from the auto food dispenser (not sure those are signs of intelligence, but I’ve never seen another cat do things like that).
Her front paws are like gigantic mittens. She’s awesome.
John Cole
@Bill: Where do you live?
MomSense
Kittens!!!
singing truth to power
I’m sort of watching Ghostbusters, and shopping online. Just ordered a railroad track anvil for my jewelry work. On one end will be stamped “She persisted.” Can’t handle one more iota of “reality.”
Mnemosyne
Now I remember why I don’t get the Ginger Brew soda at Tender Greens very often — this shit is SPICY (in that ginger-y way). At least my sinuses will be nice and clear once I finish it.
frosty
I haven’t read the post or comments yet, but just wanted to say that you, Cole, do non-political better than anyone else on this blog. Thanks, it makes it much more engaging than GOS or TPM or most of anything.
Omnes Omnibus
@singing truth to power: My evening became HGTV after the Arpaio pardon came out.
TaMara (HFG)
Watching DOGMA.
la caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
Squee! Thread needs MOAR kitteh pics!
SiubhanDuinne
What the fuck just happened here?
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: do you think those kittens can be trained to eat faces? Leopards are hard to come by in our over-regulated society.
Amir Khalid
@Omnes Omnibus:
Everyone saw the pardon coming as soon as Arpaio was convicted, didn’t they? I suppose that, having successfully up-ended the executive and alienated Congress, Trump is coming after the judiciary to get his hat-trick.
SiubhanDuinne
Somewhere between TaMara @ #15 and la caterina (Mrs. Johannes) @ #16, several comments — including one of mine — up and disappeared.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: have you considered writing more memorable comments?
Zing!
NotMax
What a day to be absent from B-J and the ‘net in general. Sheesh.
Anyhoo, reservations made for NYC meet-up. E-mail zapped off to AL for front paging, but here’s the skinny.
When: Sept 1, reservations at 6:30
Where: The Shakespeare, 24 E. 39 St. in Manhattan
Outside entrance from street downstairs, under the Hotel William
Their site: https://www.theshakespearenyc.com/
Reasonable prices, great bar selection, old school Brit pub atmosphere. Told them to expect about 6 attendees but that there may be more as people filter in.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: They’re on their way to Hogwarts.
Maybe?
Cheers,
Scott.
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: Thanks for the recommend. I’m Jamaican. It’s not enough ginger until I feel I’m breathing fire and my mother’s sinuses clear back in NYC.
Also, KITTEHS! OMG KITTEHS!
I’m about to start fostering because the new roommate has demanded a cat or three.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Let me go look.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Do you like spicy tea (masala chai) with ginger and black cardamom?
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Not sure where your’s went, but I dug several others out of the trash folder. Your’s was not in there. Sorry.
PeakVT
Worked 47 hrs this week. Will probably work 25 hrs this weekend.
At least I have some B&J ice cream to savor and a kitteh pic to look at.
Stay safe, Texans, even if you are bigoted, American-hating morons who voted for Trump.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s a pity. It was one of the best comments I’ve ever posted.
Seriously. One of the best.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
Is “up yours, Mofo” memorable enough?
Zing!
ETA: In case anyone is worried, that was good-natured snark. I hate having to lay on a proviso — explaining jokes is always a dreary business –but sometimes the friendly intent doesn’t come through the hostile language.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: I have no idea where it went.
Steve in the ATL
@PeakVT:
This may be my favorite comment of the day. This one, or SD’s deleted one that, rumor has it, was her greatest ever!
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
¿Dónde está Hazleton? If I knew where it was, I might go get some Meckisan food. As somebody who grew up in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, anything north of Reading or west of York is a mystery to me, and might even be altogether mythological.
??? Martin
Man, Houston looks completely fucked. I hope our folks have evacuated and that things take a turn for the better.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
It WAS! Truly! You must trust me on this!
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
I believe you.
But damn, it was good.
Lyrebird
@cynthia ackerman: across from which gas station?
relative of mine will be coming through but approaching 80 by coming up 81 from Harrisburg, she loves good tacos, and she would enjoy the sentiment. (all of my olds are RESISTING the maladministration)
The Moar You Know
John, your pet naming skills are great. Those are both excellent names. And those kittens are going to be nonstop fun. I love them at that age.
Lyrebird
@Mnemosyne: from two days ago or so – have you tried Tinkyada rice pasta? I consider Trader Joe’s to be a pretty good knockoff of their stuff.
rikyrah
They are so cute, Cole.??
NoraLenderbee
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): It’s about 90 miles northeast of Philly. My father used to go there on business. He called it Pennsyltucky.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: was your post a fresh take on that joke about Shrodinger and Heisenberg taking a road trip to Vegas? Cuz that would be awesome.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: Yup! A little almond milk sometimes, but I often just drink it sans milk like a savage.
Lyrebird
@Bill: Care to name the food place? The Frackville PA Cracker Barrel serves a purpose, but alternatives would be awesome.
gene108
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Just head west on the PA Turnpike. You can’t miss it. It’s like the whole town’s economy survives because of turnpike traffic.
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
It’s a simple formula. The number of possible mischiefs at one time equals the square of the number of pets who are awake.
ABC’s home (2 kittens) = maximum 4 mischiefs
Your house (3 dogs 1 cat, unless you’ve gotten more since I started typing) = 16 mischiefs
My house (2 dogs, 3 cats) = 25 mischiefs if they’re all awake. The only thing that saves us is that cats mostly exist to nap.
satby
Hey John, where’s Marmalade? ABC still has her, right?
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
Even better. Much, much better.
satby
@??? Martin: I think Corner Stone lives around there, hope he and his son are far away and safe.
gene108
@gene108:
Ignore. I was thinking of Breezewood.
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: hey SD, saw your comment about your mom earlier, and condolences. My dad has been gone 30 years and every once in a while the sorrow hits me just out of the blue.
They’re with us always no matter how long they’ve been gone.
Lyrebird
@gene108: Are you thinking of Breezewood? That’s where 70 meets the PA turnpike. Hazleton is where 80 and 81 cross, just SW of the Poconos, S of Wilkes Barre etc.
ETA: and you were faster! Understandable confusion…
CZanne
I’m putting up cabinets and a length of countertop in the weird breakfast nook/extra kitchen space. I like Ikea cabinets, so I’ve got a bunch of boxes. And I realized I’ve got all these now empty boxes and no cats anywhere doing some “I sits, I fits.”
Bast, if you’re listening, please send Spouse a pair of kitties. They need to be persistent, utterly charming (on first acquaintance), homeless if he won’t take them, and bonded. We promise years to decades of adoration, the good food, clean litter boxes, many flights of stairs to play on, bookcases for heights, copious string, much tissue paper, boxes, laps and they may take their half of the bed out of the middle. On the hypotenuse if they prefer. But they have to approach him, and not triggering his allergy would help significantly.
satby
@NotMax: Do have fun, sounds wonderful! Wish I could be there and compare notes on our favorite classic movies!
SiubhanDuinne
@satby:
Thank you, satby. Yes, it’s true. And after so many years, always a bit surprising. My condolences to you as well. They live as long as there’s someone to remember them, and that knowledge (belief) satisfies my vestigial wish to believe in some kind of afterlife.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Moar You Know:
Yeah, it would be funnier, though, if the black kitten was “Stripers” and the striped kitten was “Blacky.” Just to fuck with people.
Doug R
Mariners beat Yankees in 11.
Woot.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
I like the way you think.
smintheus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): About half way from Allentown to Wilkes Barre. It’s where that bigot friend of Trump’s, Lou Barletta, crawled out from under his rock.
frosty
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): A Philadelphian made it west of the Suskie to York? I thought Lancaster was as far as you guys usually got.
Mike J
@Doug R: Woot woot! My number two team helped my number one team by beating Satan.
Went sailing today, discovered when I got back to the dock the main halyard was shot. Spent an hour and a hlaf replacing it, only to discover the replacement wasn’t quite right, so I’m off to West Marine tomorrow then back to the dock to do it again, when my sailing to maint ratio will hit hit 1/1. Grr.
smintheus
NYT wedding page does cringe comedy. Really sad case of terminal stupidity.
Major Major Major Major
Those kittens are adorable.
Customs at the Vancouver airport is the best customs in the world!
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
I know how that works — a black kitten followed me home 13 years ago, and I named her Bianca. Bianca says hi.
Mike in NC
@smintheus: It was a rather brutal winter when I drove from Germantown, MD to Nashua, NH to see family at Christmas in 1990. Passed through Wilkes-Barre where there were several closed gas stations, but luckily I made it all the way. Ugh.
frosty
@gene108: Breezewood. ‘zactly. Where I70 and the DC/Balto traffic meets the turnpike and everybody has to hit the bathroom before hitting the toll booth.
chris
@Major Major Major Major: Welcome to Canada
frosty
@Mike J: 1/1 is a damn fine sailing to maintenance ratio. I’ve improved somewhat from 1/10 after I found a boatbuilder to finish replacing the plywood hull and deck on my Blue Jay.
smintheus
@Mike in NC: Curious coincidence. I think it was just before Christmas of 1990 when I drove from Annapolis MD through Harrisburg and up past WB/Scranton to visit my folks in north-west NH. One of those Christmas drives to NH was through a bad snowstorm, it may have been 1990.
efgoldman
@Doug R:
Meanwhile the Red Six brought in some high school pitchers and fielders last night and tonite and dressed them in the major leaguers’ uniforms.
Ugly. Very very ugg-LEE!
singing truth to power
@Omnes Omnibus: I stumbled onto a Netflix series just now about a teenager on the autism spectrum – Atypical. Liking it. HGTV would be good too. Reality is way too real right now.
Major Major Major Major
@chris: it’s like Star Trek in here!
Omnes Omnibus
@singing truth to power: Any port in a storm. On the positive side, I have a reclusive aunt who knits/crochets/whatever who made me a brain hat as a part of my birthday present earlier this month. It was her way of contributing.
GregB
@Mike in NC:
I was born in Nashua. The place where Russian dressing was invented.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
Hahaha, and backatcha, Bianca! Love those counterintuitive (or just plain contrarian “you’re-not-the-boss-of-me”) names.
SiubhanDuinne
@smintheus:
Dear lordt. I don’t give a shit about the age difference, but the vapidity of that piece, I can’t even.
Aleta
@frosty: I’d like to get a Melon Seed (boat). They move on almost no wind. To feel that restores one’s faith in cod.
ruemara
Too beat to finish the notes I had on someone’s script, too beat to edit my own and too beat to play games. I’m drained
efgoldman
@smintheus:
Holy crap! I’m nine years older than mrs efg, and sometimes that seems an unbrigeable gulf (less so every year as we get older)
Mnemosyne
@Lyrebird:
Sorry, just got home from shopping. Yes, I have several versions of the Tinkiyada brown rice pasta. Their lasagna noodles are really good. I haven’t found anything penne-sized, which is one reason I picked those up at TJ’s.
There’s a good chance that they actually make the TJ’s pasta — that’s usually how TJ’s gets such good (and so much) stuff under their private label.
seaboogie
@Major Major Major Major: Vancouver airport is one of the best – used to be my home airport. Those Haida “welcome” figures are awesome.
Once had the “nearly perfect” coming home experience there.
Arrived, skipped through customs in a short line, and my unique hard-shell suitcase came off the baggage carousel as I emerged from customs. Grabbed it, and caught Park’nFly shuttle just pulling up. Got on the shuttle, and found my car running and waiting for me. Totally seamless experience. Arrived home after an hour and a half drive to discover that the “unique” suitcase in my possession was not mine. At 11:30 at night.
So I called the airline to report same, drove back to the airport, and exchanged luggage, because I didn’t want the other person to be inconvenienced. Heh. The whole time I was all “this is so perfect!” I’ve learned to inspect tags since then.
Mnemosyne
@seaboogie:
My brother’s friend/business partner once came home from a business trip with the wrong computer. The really funny part was that he didn’t realize the wrong computer was a Mac until my brother told him.
The Lodger
@frosty: That’s because Philadelphians know there’s no reason to go any further than Intercourse.
seaboogie
@Mnemosyne: ha!
frosty
@The Lodger: Nyuk nyuk. At least you didn’t stop at Blue Ball.
Nethead Jay
Ah yes, those 2 look like some Grade-A shithead kittens. Tons of fun and being polydactyls only adds to that… :-D