He’s so close to figuring it out:
I set this new feeder up about a week and a half ago. Haven’t seen any birds using it yet, but the squirrels discovered it immediately. So far, they haven’t figured out how to defeat the weight-sensitive perch to get at the seeds, but I have faith that they will eventually.
There’s a lot going on in politics today. Trump basically called Sergeant Johnson’s widow a liar. Third Lady Melania Trump, who is married to a psychopath who demeans Gold Star families, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who just rescinded dozens of guidelines outlining rights for disabled students, teamed up to recognize National Bullying Prevention month.
I just cannot with any of this bullshit, so I’ll watch squirrels and wait for an expected rainstorm instead. Over to you.
SiubhanDuinne
Fucking irony, how does it work?
Corner Stone
He didn’t basically call Ms. Johnson a liar, he did it and ended with an exclamation point.
geg6
Just did some stress shopping. Some new shoes, a pair of gray cords, a couple of sweaters and a button down shirt for me. A sweater for my sister for Christmas.
I’m like you, Betty, and just can’t with these people today. I’m going to spend some time researching what to do about Lovey’s constant scratching. I know it isn’t fleas. Probably an allergy, like I get this time of year. Oatmeal bath with some vitamin E, maybe?
Spanky
Ooooh! New thread! Shiny!
We’ll scuff it up in no time.
Corner Stone
This stupid fucking WH. Such strategic geniuses that they have successfully distracted everyone from whatever it is they don’t want us to be thinking about by fighting with a couple of black women for a full week now.
Now that’s legislatin’!
jacy
@geg6:
My daughter’s dog (golden retriever mix) developed an allergy to chicken products.When she switched him to grain-free, fish-based food and treats, his constant itch went away. If she gives him scraps, the itch comes back. So maybe that’s an avenue to look into.
Humboldtblue
Here is eight minutes of infuriating video of ICE agents entering a home illegally and without a warrant and arresting a man they would later be forced to release.
Happy fucking Monday
Spanky
And on the bird feeder front, we set that feeder out last year, but it was hung close enough to the pole that the squirrels were able to hang on to the pole with their hind feet and stretch out to the seed. Nearly horizontally.
They may have gotten fatter, but their abs were fabulous.
Corner Stone
Something like 72 guidelines that had been put in place to help students participate fully in their education and life around them. Just fucking despicable.
These are the kinds of things i think about, like the EPA shenannies, when I discuss our failed institutions with Adam. Sure, there will be lawsuits over this. And I am sure there will be court ordered stays and holds. But for maybe two or three years we’re going to have thousands of disabled children being punished for their needing assistance. There’s no way to get that back.
trollhattan
California Republicans (they exist) had their annual convention this weekend and with Bannon leading the way (avec torch? inquiring minds would like to know) declared their intention to become more Trumplike in order to Win, Win, Win!
The rot is deep.
debit
@geg6: Ask your vet about B enadryl. Chloe had an allergy to crabgrass that started inAugust and lasted until the first hard frost. That was the only thing that seemed to help her. She’d chew her little feet and legs until the saliva stained them pink. Poor little girl.
Corner Stone
Now the fucking moron is aping his way through a speech alongside the PM of Singapore in the Rose Garden. He has that stupid fucking leering style smirk flashing off and on. Just like he has something incredibly stupid to say and he’s dying for a chance to say it out loud.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: Is that the same CAGOP meeting where they yelled out that someone needed to hang John McCain?
debit
@Corner Stone: “I made a potty in my big boy pants!” That’s my guess anyway.
Nicole
Season 2 of the podcast I contribute to, Uncanny County, debuted this month with an episode I wrote, that got 15,000 downloads in the first week. That’s a new record for any of the episodes (there are 13 total so far) and Geek Girl Authority just listed it as their #1 horror anthology podcast. Linky (because shameless self-promotion seems to be a requirement for creative things, much as it makes me uncomfortable):
The Ridgeway Motel
(Warning: will autoplay when window opens. It’s also downloadable via iTunes)
And I hate that this administration has reduced me to regularly reading The Palmer Report to calm my anxiety. It lets me pretend the end of the nonsense is imminent, even though it’s not. Or, if it is, is imminent because the end of everything is. :(
Bruuuuce
CNN is finally pushing back against El Jefe and his MAGAts, with the simple truth. An apple is an apple.
Litlebritdifrnt
Quiet day at home today. Who the fuck goes after a gold star widow still grieving? I mean WTF? What kind of psychopath is in the WH? Who is in charge up there? Anyway I am watching Emmerdale right now so I will chill.
Elizabelle
The California GOP. Proving daily that states can run way better without these lunatics spitting in the soup.
In time, perhaps employers will need to pay 300% to get actual talent to take jobs in red states.
SatanicPanic
@trollhattan: Listen to Bannon, sounds like a great strategy
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
Zounds, surely not! That would be undignified.
Programming note: Lincoln, CA is not a WWC enclave, it’s a 10-acre ranchette enclave for Bay Area equity refugees.
joel hanes
BC :
You need one of these
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHu-UJaK0Q
Brightens every day
sharl
In case sm*t cl*de is around: I see that some of your neighbors on the other side of the Ditch are concerned about your new government, lol
eric
@trollhattan: so, California republicans can’t help themselves, they need Washington to do it…..hmmmm…no bootstraps in that convention.
geg6
@jacy:
She is already on grain free food. And chicken is the one food we can get her to eat, so if that’s the problem, she’s in trouble. She sneezes a lot, too, so I’m thinking it’s possible that she has the same allergies to something in the air during the fall that I do. She did the same in the spring, again just like me. I’m not going to spend a bunch of cash at the vet to find out since she’s healthy otherwise. But I’ll talk to him when we get her annual checkup and shots. Maybe I’m wrong. But I don’t think so, just because it just started a week or so ago and that tracks with my own allergies.
ETA: Just read on PetMD that putting a capsule of fish oil in her food may help.
JPL
@geg6: Finch is 18 pounds and I give him one children’s chewable benadryl. That takes care of the itching.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle:
That sounds about right, considering the potential job-taker is looking at having to pay for K-12 private school, twice as much or more for health care, and runs the risk of having to drink/bathe in/cook with bottled water for the duration of the job.
opiejeanne
@trollhattan: I hope that leads to them LOSING LOSING LOSING.
I started hating those mofos at that level long before I stopped voting for Republicans, being lucky to have some truly moderate ones to vote for. Today they’d be considered very liberal.
martian
So, I hear that The Last Honest Man in Washington has announced that he’s running for Senate as an Independent again, the fucking liar.
Remember when his Senate filings came out where he listed himself as Independent and sooo many people said not to read anything into that? Yeah.
God, letting him run for President as a Democrat was such a mistake. How did I ever think otherwise. But I wouldn’t be very surprised at all if ole Wilmer thinks he won’t need the Dem infrastructure for his next run at the presidency at all. I think that’s what all his new grass roots organizing is really for.
Jeffro
Oh hey look, former congressman Joe Walsh is insisting that the GOP has a ‘right to attack’ Myeshia Johnson. A right? Heck, Joe, you almost have an OBLIGATION, wouldn’t you say? Fucking scumbag.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
I truly am stupefied and bemused that people who have hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions, want nothing more than to cause heartache and degradation to those who are without. How does DeVos benefit from swinging a club and damaging opportunities for others?
Jeffro
@martian: Time for the DNC to pull the plug – no assistance, coordinating, or in-kind help of any kind to anyone who won’t put a (D) next to his/her name.
geg6
@JPL:
That’s perfect. Lovey is 18 pounds.
FlipYrWhig
@trollhattan:
Oh my God, I know her name from college. She was editor of the once-notorious Dartmouth Review. What a world we live in when a woman of color with an Ivy League education decides that her ideology’s future is with macho-posturing white nationalism.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Are their lives so devoid of satisfaction that injuring others is a joy?
Brachiator
Hey, she knew what she signed up for when she married him.
Corner Stone
That’s about the most god damn laughable thing I have heard in some time. I wonder when the last time Bannon touched a copy of the Constitution a bible or a gun was?
martian
@Jeffro: Not assist the Senate Chair for Democratic Outreach?! Seems harsh.//
Fred
You can see the intelligence in that sqirrel’s eye. Just watched the chief executive of the USA in the rose garden looking around with all the spark of a dull eight year old as the PM of Singapore spoke. Would that he showed half the intellect of that squirrel. But then maybe he would be more dangerous.
More power to the squirrel. He’ll knock it, you bet.
opiejeanne
@trollhattan: A couple we were friendly with when we lived in the SF area in the 90s moved there. No idea how they voted but the only reason we knew them was that our daughter was friends with their son. He had a tremendous crush on her, she was dating his best friend, we went to one New Year’s Eve party at their house and it was the LONGEST evening of our lives. Dull people with lots of money, and we were the only guests.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: Yeah, no sympathy at all for her. But every time I see a photo of her looking at him, it’s so easy to envision a thought bubble that says, “With that gut, I really thought you’d be dead by now.”
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I’m spending $2,500 on a new water heater. Just what I’ve always wanted.
trollhattan
@FlipYrWhig:
Stockholm syndrome? “Harmeet, blink twice if you’re being held captive.”
Although, Dartmouth….
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone: Jeez, talk about anti-Oxford comma.
satby
so I walked into work, and the appointment book is virtually empty. They twiddled their thumbs most of the morning, and will probably do the same in the afternoon. They should have called to tell me not to come in. They make me insane.
can’t even blame the office manager, because she’s on vacation.
satby
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: WTF?? a good one costs about $500.
Betty Cracker
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Jeebus. We had to replace ours a few years back, and I think it was around $600?
OzarkHillbilly
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: $2500???? Is it gold plated? Does it make julienne fries? Come with Business class leg room?
trollhattan
All I ever get is half-crushed items; some people get all the Amazon luck.
That’s a lot of glaucoma treatment.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@satby: That includes installation, permits, and a few parts beyond just the water heater itself. I also avoided the bottom end and got one with a 12-year warranty.
Jeffro
Oh hey, look, NBC news has up a nice article & accompanying graphic that of the 275 days Trumpov has been president, he’s been at Trump properties for 95 of them, with a whopping 75 of those days being at his own golf clubs.
Can y’all imagine if a Democratic president was taking about 2 days per week off to golf, and lining his own pockets while he did so? Un-be-fucking-lievable.
Mnemosyne
I don’t care what anyone says — squirrels amuse me. I’m glad Betty got them a feeder that will give her hours of enjoyment watching them try and figure it out.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: I have been inspired by Rupi Kaur’s new freeform poetry and am experimenting with a less formal freeform commentary style.
editor needed / harassment she claimed / will you settle for a comma?
trollhattan
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Ugh, that’s a big hit. Is it integrated with your heating system?
We had an unpleasant surprise when our last WH puked (while we were packing for vacation of course). Our AQMD now requires low-NOx heaters, which begin at double and can quadruple the cost of an off-the-shelf unit. Yay. ETA, new one is nice but unlike the old days, does NOT work when power is out.
MomSense
@Humboldtblue:
If the man recording the interaction hadn’t known what their rights were, they probably would have succeeded in snatching Carlos. Man that made me mad.
JPL
@geg6: CVS has grape flavored chewable. LOL My adult son mentioned that he couldn’t have flavored stuff with he was young.
I used sulfodene 3-way ointment once, and although it worked, Finch was not a happy camper.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Bosscat has been eyeing the fat squirrels in the yard, with great longing. May be I should put him on a leash and take him outside and see what he does.
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone:
That’s probably for the best. Your comments have been pretty stuffy and overly formal of late.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: The fuck they have!
debit
@JPL: My vet actually told me to use the adult tablets. I just hid them in cheese.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: Our first cat was a fierce huntress, who often brought us small game, usually broken up into small portions, but she never managed to nab a squirrel.
gene108
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Their taxes go to pay for all those programs helping the people without. That’s money they could be investing and getting double digit returns on.
They are evil people.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
According to her Wikipedia entry,
Ironically enough, she probably knows a bit about emotional an physical abuse. Probably a complex woman, which makes some of her political choices and affiliations equally complicated.
Amir Khalid
@Corner Stone:
It should go reasonably well. Lee Hsien Loong was a brigadier-general. Singaporeans still call him “BG”. And he’s the son of Lee Kuan Yew. (That is, not the only one, just the most important.) Trump does love army generals, autocratic rule, and good genes.
Duane
@Corner Stone: We’ll know if Bannon touches a bible. The burn marks will be obvious.
Corner Stone
@debit: This is why I’m single. Women. Just can’t trust ’em.
debit
@Corner Stone: So very true! Mine is an evil laugh.
opiejeanne
Today we’re dropping off our ballots, whacking down my artichokes so I can mulch them for the winter, and planting the last of the tulips. ?
jacy
@geg6:
Hopefully it’s an environmental allergy — if it matches yours, that’s a better bet. I have a French bulldog who has lots of skin issues and one thing I’ve found that really helps with his skin is to warm up a tablespoon or two of coconut oil and pour it on his food in the evening. He thinks it’s very tasty.
Amir Khalid
@Mnemosyne:
I like squirrels. So Bianca once brought me a squirrel she’d caught and disembowelled. She was so proud of herself that day.
rikyrah
@FlipYrWhig:
There are slave catchers in every group.
efgoldman
@Corner Stone:
Don’t any much-revered salt of the earth knuckle drsggers. have special need kids, too?
germy
President Tony Clifton
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
Do you have a recipe for that soup you were talking about last night?
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: T has a few Indians too, Haley, Pai and the Medicare person, Seema something or the other.
Amir Khalid
@Jeffro:
It’s Obama’s own fault that he’s not rich enough to own golf courses, or savvy enough to charge the Secret Service rent for protecting him.//
debit
@efgoldman: Yes. They only bring them out as props. Remember Palin and her poor baby dressed in an elephant outfit at the convention? How much do we hear about him these days?
Corner Stone
@jacy: This is why I’m single. Women. Just can’t find one that will warm up coconut oil and pour it over my food of an evening!
Dread
The dachshunds would love the squirrel feeder. And by love, I mean, they’d spend all day barking at the squirrels and driving the neighbors nuts.
Amir Khalid
@debit:
I would hope he’s in a school with kids facing similar issues, and too busy for any of his mother’s crap.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: Seriously? What are you putting warm coconut oil on? Are you from Kerala, by any chance?
debit
@schrodingers_cat:
Do you REALLY want an answer to that?
eemom
B-b-b-baby you just ain’t seen nuthin yet
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
Now they just need to find at least one serious candidate for each statewide elected position. They apparently still don’t have anyone willing to run for Controller. It’s going to be very hard for them to win elections they fail to contest.
Adam L Silverman
Well this explains a lot…
gene108
@Jeffro:
I believe George W. Bush still holds the record for most vacation days taken by a modern President.
IOKIYAR
Roger Moore
@FlipYrWhig:
The Republicans are in desperate need of a few tokens, so it’s good work for those who can find it.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@opiejeanne:
So there will be no Frienaissance then? ;-)
Brachiator
@Duane:
Ha! I like that one.
FlipYrWhig
@rikyrah: Apropos in many ways. As I recall, Harmeet Dhillon was the immediate successor to the Dartmouth Review’s first African American editor, who I would sometimes see around campus wearing his Greek fraternity shirt, emblazoned Kappa Kappa Kappa. That was the frat favored by Dartmouth Review contributors. I shit you not.
schrodingers_cat
@debit: On second thoughts, not really.
FlipYrWhig
@germy: I see what you did there
schrodingers_cat
@FlipYrWhig: Harmeet Dhillon sounds like a Sikh name.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Dammit, Adam, I can’t *believe* you’re making me click on a link to alt-reich veganism! Said the woman who spent most of Friday night in a Meat Coma after eating the best steak in the mapped universe, plus cheese curds fried in yummy pork fat. I was feeling a trifle bad about this level of dissipation, but if alt-right bastids are advocating veganism, I’m going to consider frying in pork fat a patriotic, even sacred, obligation from now on!
debit
@Adam L Silverman: Huh. Not the Onion.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: I guess these aren’t the same ones that revel in their superior Aryan ability to digest milk?
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: …what I recall along these lines is just animal-rights people passing on what they think are encouraging stories from India about pro-vegetarianism laws, perhaps not realizing that they are mostly “beat up on Muslims” laws.
Millard Filmore
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Trump made the grieving widow feel worse. That right there is enough to demand an apology. There is nothing else needed, all else is fluff and backing evidence.
Unless there is a state law, the widow alone determines who can listen in on her incoming phone calls. Does Florida law require that participants on a speaker phone call declare their presence?
germy
@FlipYrWhig: Watch five minutes of Tony Clifton (whether played by Andy Kaufman, Bob Zmuda or Jim Carrey) and it becomes obvious #45 is his spirit animal.
Suzanne
I am having a hard day today, emotionally speaking. I just don’t see how this ever gets any better. I’m exhausted and the weather is this weird combination of too-sunny and hazy, so the atmosphere feels kind of….place-less. I wish I could go home and spend a week or so in bed.
The Lodger
@Corner Stone: I’d call it Why?-ku.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Bruuuuce:
“There are FOUR lights!”
FlipYrWhig
@schrodingers_cat: I wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint the culture, so, thanks. In those years campus conservatives were playing around with claiming that theirs was the _real_ diversity. Except then during that same stretch someone on their staff put a Hitler quote in the masthead for a “joke.” SMH
germy
“I am an independent and I have always run in Vermont as an independent, while I caucus with the Democrats in the United States Senate. That’s what I’ve been doing for a long time and that’s what I’ll continue to do,” Sanders told Fox News.
His first race for office was 45 years ago, when he ran for governor of Vermont as the Liberty Union Party candidate.
martian
@Amir Khalid: My dog almost caught a squirrel once. And by almost, I mean that a squirrel literally fell out of a tree and bounced off of his head. They stared at each other in shock for a few heartbeats, then the squirrel got smart first and zipped back up the tree, my dog snapping close behind.
My poor dog never recovered from the disappointment of his missed chance. For years after, whenever we walked in that park, he would run straight to that tree and sit at the foot starring hopefully up into the branches, no doubt hoping and praying in his doggish way that another such miracle might befall his head. Only, this time, he’d be ready. It was a poignant scene.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Corner Stone:
Probably, for the gun, the last time he was active duty in the Navy(?).
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
Open thread so I blogged about how to avoid passive voice and passive writing in general.
FlipYrWhig
@Millard Filmore: ESPECIALLY when one of their favorite attacks on Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice was that they said something improper about why people had died at Benghazi, a grievance that was made into a special prime-time address at the RNC. And that happened a week and a half before the Khans spoke at the DNC. I wonder how John “Conscience of the Nation” Kelly remembers that succession of events.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Matt McIrvin:
I’ll never understand people who base practically their entire self-worth on where they were born or their genetics. It’s not like they actually achieved that on their own merits or intiative. In fact, racial superiority seems like a participation trophy.
debit
@Suzanne: I hear you. Continual outrage is exhausting, and as we lurch from each outrage producing incident without the previous ones resolved it begins to feel like there’s just no point. It doesn’t matter what we do, Trump is going to continue to shit in our collective faces and his flying monkeys will continue to cheer him on.
I don’t know if it will help or not, but I’ve begun carefully rationing how much news I take in and increasing my physical activity. Instead of watching an hour of news, I jump on the treadmill, or walk the dogs again, or clean my kitchen. Etc. In the meantime, just know you’re not alone.
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
To be fair to Bianca, they really are rodents, which is what she was bred to hunt down and kill from the time of the ancient Egyptians (at a minimum). Don’t hold it against her. ?
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
The curve for unqualified White Men is REAL.
SWMBO
For all the pet people with itchy pets: I have had several dogs over the years that needed benadryl for various allergies. My vet has stressed over and over not to go over 1 mg per pound of dog. When I had to give children’s benadryl, I was always supposed to go under 1 mg per pound if I could. More fun news. They can be allergic to the flavor or to the dye in the benadryl. You can get unflavored benadryl from a compounding pharmacy and have it fish, chicken or beef flavored if they don’t like the liquid unflavored. We had to do that when Missy had a ruptured eyeball and was having mild allergies in the eye that made her want to scratch. Chicken flavored benadryl saved everyone’s sanity.
Also I think I posted this before but it’s been a while: https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2017/07/03/contaminants-in-pet-food.aspx?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=facebookpets_lead&utm_campaign=20170703_contaminants-in-pet-food
dexwood
@geg6:
My 20 pound terrier/weasel mix has seasonal allergies, too. The vet suggested children’s Benadryl for him (25mg) which worked well, at first. After a 2 weeks or so, the med caused his heart rate to increase dramatically and had him panting. End of that. Her other suggestion was to wipe him down 2 or 3 times a day with damp paper towels to remove dust and pollen. He gets frequent baths with an oatmeal soap and a daily fish oil capsule.
Adding – we cut the Benadryl tablets in half to reduce the dosage, but he still did not tolerate them.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@FlipYrWhig:
“Winning” by dragging your enemies down so that you may rise is all that matters to be people like Trump and now Kelly. Power and wielding it irresponsibly is all that matters.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
The most aggressive squirrels that I’ve ever encountered were in Washington, D.C. proper (Capitol, Mall, etc.)
Until that time, squirrels had always run AWAY from me. I’ve lived in urban settings most of my life, Midwest, East coast.
Those squirrels. Didn’t phucking move, or moved TOWARDS me. They didn’t give a shyt. Been to Washington, several times. Same thing.
It was creepy.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
It is. That is to say, her background is Sikh.
rikyrah
@FlipYrWhig:
Yes, I know of Kappa Kappa Kappa. Nobody but a slave catcher would be caught dead inside of it.
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
Would you really be happier if Trump were keeping his nose to the grindstone? I’m just as glad he’s lazy about destroying the country rather than super-diligent.
debit
@SWMBO: You did post that before and thank you so much for doing so! I’d been feeding my dogs Natural Balance, but after reading at the Clean Label Project switched over to Nutro products for both dogs and cats. They all love it.
Major Major Major Major
Productive day so far! Gonna come down to the wire getting this writing site finished before we’re legally allowed to get back to work at the office—might only have today left. Wish me luck! Almost there!
Fuck Donald Trump, I’m barely even paying attention today.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Humboldtblue:
Sadly, there were no Oathkeepers around to Second Amendment Solve those ICE “heroes”.
Roger Moore
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
It’s probably because they lack real accomplishments to point to.
Immanentize
@Major Major Major Major:
Go M4 — GO!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@debit: I think that’s a healthy choice. Trump and the Rs are just too destructive to our spirits to read about all the time.
Roger Moore
@rikyrah:
I remember one of the squirrels in Golden Gate Park climbing up my grandmother’s cane. These ones were so used to people feeding them that they’d walk right up to you expecting a peanut, and if you had one they’d take it from your hand.
geg6
@debit:
I’ll have to check out the Clean Label Project. My pups get Taste of the Wild. The vet says it’s good, but I always like to check it out myself.
Ohio Mom
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Whoa. I don’t remember ours costing that much, but to be a home owner is, as far as I can see, a money-losing proposition.
But you have to live somewhere, and you need hot water.
Major Major Major Major
@Immanentize: woohoo!
Just 1.5 more features!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Speaking of hunting cats, the one that troublesome middle daughter brought from southern Illinois- the one we thought “feral” – killed and beheaded an adult rabbit in the yard her first day with us. Finally got her to the vet last week.
As it turned out, when he shaved her belly for spaying, he noticed her prior spaying scar. Checked for a chip, and damn if she wasn’t chipped.
He made the calls. She’d been adopted out of a shelter in Cape Girardeau MO at an age unknown four years ago, and ran off from that owner two years ago – I guess living by her wits. I talked to the guy, and he didn’t have a problem letting us keep her (he has moved on). He had this to say “she’s a wild one – I watched her kill a squirrel one day, and it wasn’t pretty”.
She kind of likes me, I think, but I won’t be baring my throats to her anytime soon…
martian
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I’ve recently read that Kelly used to be the general in charge of Guantanamo and is opposed to its closing. He’s also pro-torture. How all that got overlooked when people were deciding he was a good and honorable man just doing his duty by the nation in handling Trump, I don’t know. He’s objectively a heinous person. The truth was always right there to be seen.
Thinking Kelly was better than he has shown himself was probably similar to the kind of rationalizing and minimizing that goes on in an abusive relationship to make it bearable and okayish. Can’t live without hope.
Captain C
@Duane: On him or the bible?
debit
@geg6: Yeah, my vet had recommended Natural Balance, so it was a bit of a shock to see it rated so poorly.
I hope you find a solution for Lovey and her itches. Allergies are the worst.
Hoodie
@Roger Moore: No kidding, it’s a flashing indicator of a fear of inadequacy. These people are all neurotic as hell.
Betty Cracker
@martian: That’s hilarious!
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
Time for some self-care. Call in sick to work and go get a massage, or whatever your favorite self-indulgent non-food treat is. Then get your favorite food treat. And turn off your news alerts.
ETA: And if this is Spawn-related stress, take her somewhere fun that you both enjoy. You need some bonding time with her right now.
Betty Cracker
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Wow! Might want to put a bell on her collar or something!
geg6
@debit:
Just checked it out and, apparently, they haven’t tested Taste of the Wild. So I have no idea. But Koda does really well on it (and loves it and won’t eat anything else and she’s not the picky eater Lovey is), so I’ll stick with it for now. I tried Nutro because it’s easier to get and neither of them would touch it. I can only get Taste of the Wild at the local Agway or through Chewy. Petsmart is less than five minutes away and I was rooting for the Nutro, but no go.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
At the main campus for the Giant Evil Corporation, the squirrels will eat out of your hand. They keep asking people to stop training them to do that, but no one can resist feeling like Snow White. ?
They’re kind of aggressive, but there are some hawks that like to hang around, so they’re not completely bold.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
Bells don’t work. Cats are mostly ambush predators, so by the time their prey hears the bell it’s too late. The main thing bells are good for is preventing the cat from tripping you when it runs around your feet in the dark.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
So was the “mandatory teambuilding” a way to keep you guys on the clock for a week while you waited for the project to start?
debit
@geg6: The things we do for our pets. Give your girls each a scritch from me.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: no, that’s company-wide and twice a year.
Suzanne
@debit: I have been really devoting a lot more time to my hobbies, reading a lot more novels for fun, and I have been finally getting around to some home tasks that I need to work on. For instance, I finally got a dining room table big enough to seat everyone in my household, plus some visitors. I have been trying to cope. Some days are harder than others, though. I just see Trump destroying everything good about this country, piece by piece…..with no consequence, and even support.
I have enough PTO left this year that, when combined with the days off we get for the holidays, I can take a full two weeks off over the husband and kids’ winter holidays. My in-laws will probably be coming for part of that time, but hopefully I can spend at least some of that time recharging.
I might book a spa day. BY MYSELF.
Matt McIrvin
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Usually, it’s because it’s all they’ve got.
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Then somebody needs to perfect the electronic cat bell that says, “ding-a-ling motherfucker!” in a Sam Jackson voice. I get 10% royalties.
Got a new collar for our puppeh that came with a rubber tag blank that goes between the license and rabies tags. Ah, silence during those nighttime wanderings. His paws are constructed differently from our precious Dals, the nails based higher up on the toes so he doens’t click-click on the wood floor.
Mnemosyne
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
IIRC, it’s pretty unusual for domestic cats to randomly attack people, so you’re probably okay as long as you let Scary Kitty approach you for attention.
You’ll know she really likes you when she starts bringing half-dead prey home. That means she’s trying to train you to hunt for yourself.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
Please do both — spa day alone for you and fun day for just you and Spawn together. I suspect she needs some Mom Time right now.
ETA: She will deny it, and whine, and maybe even sulk, but … she needs fun Mom Time.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: Spawn hates my ass, except when she wants stuff. Then I’m awesome.
martian
@Betty Cracker: One of the funnier things about it to me was, that dog had no memory to speak of. I used to tease my husband that I was going to teach the dog a new trick and thereby cause him to forget my husband entirely, because there was only the little bit of space available in his walnut-sized brain and something would have to be crowded out. Our hound dog used to hide the food bowl – right in front of the little mutt! – just by dragging something over it. It was like a dumb dog level magic trick.
Wicked Hound – “Watch while I disappear this kibble! Abracawoof!” *Drags towel over bowel*
Little Mutt – “Oh no, it’s gone and now I have no supper!!”
Grudges, though, he somehow held onto. And that squirrel, he never forgot.
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
Go on Groupon and get some of those coupons and take the kid too.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
There was one extremely territorial squirrel in Westerville, OH that attacked people from his tree when you walked under it. Little bastard. Never happened to me but I did see it sitting at the stop light one day. Now he didn’t physically attack anyone, but he had no fear and would come right down to head level and scream away. I blame it on Westerville being a dry town.
gvg
since people are complaining about how discouraged Trump is making us and to fit this thread, I suggest googling “squirrel proof feeder videos funny”
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
She doesn’t, though. She’s a teenager, so she’s caught up in that whole adolescent push-pull of loving you but wanting to reject you, and that’s even before her mental health issues kick in. It sucks, but you just have to tough it out and pretend to her that she’s not getting to you.
FWIW, most of what she’s dealing with is stuff that is often genetic (ADHD definitely is, as is alcoholism/addiction/anxiety from her dad), so you didn’t cause it unless you want to blame your gametes.
All you can really do is help her figure out healthier ways to cope with what she inherited. It sucks, but you should let go of any self-blame and just look at what works for her.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: I am taking Spawn to see Fall Out Boy. She posed it like, “Hey Mom, let’s do something fun together.” Made me feel good, so I agreed, even though I hate them. Come to find out she asked her dad first and he said no. Awesome.
trollhattan
@gvg
The twirly ones can be hysterical. Man, can they hang on a long time.
Ruckus
@geg6:
My dog used to love Fromm. At the time I checked it out and it was rated well. Also a friend sold it in her store. Not cheap but boy did that dog like it.
Miss Bianca
@Ruckus: I’ve heard of drop bears, but never “drop squirrels” before!
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
Yes, but that doesn’t matter because now you get to do something fun with her. That she wants to do!
She’s going to try and play you and your ex off each other, because that’s what kids do. Don’t let it get to you.
The worst thing about kids is that they know where all of your buttons are, because they’ve known you since they were born. You can’t change that, but you can change how you react. You’re the cool mom taking her to see Fall Out Boy now! Buy matching t-shirts while you’re there!
(Yeah, I’m in a cheerleader mood today.)
clay
@Mnemosyne: Both the squirrels and hawks are animatronic, right?
Jeffro
@rikyrah: The spicy sweet potato and lentil one? Got it here and oh my was it ever good for lunch today!
I think the only things I changed were 1) using chicken broth for half of the water and 2) adding a can of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup to the whole thing, to give it a little more tomato flavor and smooth it out a bit. I used powdered cumin instead of the cumin seeds and I added some smoked paprika, too.
My family is used to me doing stuff like that, btw. They were surprised I bothered to even start with an *actual* recipe…=)
Jeffro
@Amir Khalid: Obama could easily give his best, funniest speech of all time at any moment: Now That I’ve Seen Trump, I Can Only IMAGINE I Should’ve Tried To Get Away With. But then have it just be him doing the things Trump’s been doing: nothing further, nothing more.
“Go golfing every 3rd or 4th day? MAN, I would have liked to have gotten away with that…hold back on that birth certificate AND my taxes, and then go promote a YUUUGE tax cut for myself and my billionaire buddies? I’m sure Fox would have rolled with that…”
Mnemosyne
@clay:
Nope! It’s pretty funny when the hawks perch on the edge of the building and the squirrels start doing somersaults across the lawn to evade them.
Also, if you see a cat at Disneyland, those are real, too. They were unofficial for a long time, but now they spay/neuter the feral ones that hang around and use them for rodent control. It’s better for the environment than constantly spraying rat poison.
steverinoCT
I have one of these, the one-sided version. The squirrels can’t get in the main feed (it even blocks more than one grackle) but the springs on the side have a punch-out tab for adjusting, and that gives a one- or two-seed sized hole and they will spread out on the top, reach over the side, and eat one seed at a time. The nuthatches also prefer to perch on the side and peck it out that way. But no more five pounds of seed every other day!
Jeffro
@Roger Moore: If he were working hard and even attempting to do his job or wrap his head around an issue (ANY issue), he’d blow a fuse faster than you can say F.A.S.T.
Jeffro
@Suzanne: Hey! I’m taking Jeffro Jr to see them next week as well (belated birthday present for him). I hate them as well – SO obnoxious!
If they were smart, they’d sell t-shirts to that effect (“Here just to chaperone my tweener – FOB sux”)
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
I live a block from a nice urban city park, called strangely enough, because the original is thousands of miles away, Central Park, and there are a lot of squirrels living there. They run from humans. This guy was almost funny, if it wasn’t you he was screaming at.
This Central Park is just a wee bit smaller than the one on the wrong coast. 10 acres vs 843
The Moar You Know
@Suzanne: That’s a teenager for you.
I’m reluctant to comment but will anyway, hope it is somewhat helpful. I feel for you. I was on the kid’s end of something kind of similar. Wasn’t until my mid-30s that I realized that neither parent was a saint or the very devil incarnate. They were just two deeply flawed people that were doing the best they knew how. Which, objectively, was not “parent of the year” material but I never starved and learned how to take care of myself appropriately. For me, getting there, forgiving them took about 15 years of not talking to either one. But I can surely appreciate them both now and like things about them both.
To you the reality of the situation is easy to see. But it’s not easy for Spawn, and more difficult for you perhaps, is that your reality is not hers. You have a good guy and a bad guy. She doesn’t…and can’t.
I wish you luck.
Original Lee
I’m hoping I can get some recommendations from y’all. We have been routing our internet into our TV via a Wii console, which has now died. So we now don’t have access to Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime (not to mention some of the online gaming). I can get a used replacement Wii console for about $70, which will allow us to continue using the Wii Fit board and a number of our favorite games, as well as continuing to run the internet through the console to the TV. OR I can get a Nintendo Switch, which is not backwards compatible, and I’m not sure we can run the internet through it to the TV.
Which would be the better choice? I’m seriously thinking about getting the used console for now and the Switch for Christmas, but if we can’t run the internet through it to the TV, then we’ll have to figure out what gadget we need to make the internet connection happen. I am not inclined to replace the TV when it still works pretty well. (The TV is a Sharp Aqquos and doesn’t have a wifi or bluetooth connection.)
Original Lee
@Nicole: Congratulations! That’s wonderful news.
Jeffro
Btw Mike J (mods, how do I give someone a shout-out here?) last night you asked about my slow-cooker chicken mole and noted that Martha Stewart has a new cookbook out. Guess what? That’s where I got the recipe from.
It totally rocks, as you might imagine! Only thing I swapped out was using powdered unsweetened cocoa for the dark chocolate; ymmv.
Jeffro
(whoops plus I added 1 can of chicken broth…sauteed the chicken thighs and put them in the pot, poured in the can of broth, then slowly poured the mole over top of the whole thing.)
Suzanne
@The Moar You Know: Spawn resents me for being more responsible and more goal-oriented, whereas her dad is fun and doesn’t pressure her ever. Of course, he didn’t finish high school and mooches off his girlfriends until they get sick of him, at which point he mooches off his mom. I want her to be capable and self-sufficient, and that interferes with the agenda of messing around and doing whatever.
The Moar You Know
@Suzanne: I’ve been following your saga, got that part. That aspect of things will never not be frustrating and enraging.
debit
@Suzanne: You’re being a good parent. However hard it is now, you will always be able to look back and honestly say, to yourself and Spawn, that you did your best. And that’s all anyone can do. Someday she’ll see that.
debit
@Original Lee: You can’t stream through the Switch, as far as I can tell. If you just want Netflix, etc, you can get a Roku (box or dongle), an Amazon Fire TV, or a Google Chromecast. The Chromecast is the cheapest, but doesn’t have Amazon IIRC. I like both the Roku and the Fire. The Roku has the benefit of adding apps like the Xfinity one so you could have cable without the annoying box. Both should be available at Target for local examination, or Amazon.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
I think you said that she’s been diagnosed with ADHD, or is that someone else’s spawn? If so, that’s partly the ADHD — you get so frustrated that allegedly simple things like keeping track of school assignments are so fucking hard all the goddamned time that wanting to just mess around and do whatever is very tempting because you’re not going to fail and then feel like shit when everyone gets mad at you for failing. If you disappoint people up front, then you don’t have to stress that you’re going to put effort into something, fail anyway, and then disappoint both them and yourself.
There is a lot of recent research about ADHD and emotions and they’re discovering how much it affects one’s emotional reactions. One helpful book I read was Smart But Stuck, by Thomas E. Brown. It might give you some insight into the cycle of disappointment and shame that Spawn gets caught up in with ADHD and ends up taking out on you.
It’s not that you can’t have expectations, but you may have to break those expectations into much smaller and more achievable steps, especially since breaking things into steps is a HUGE roadblock for people with ADHD.
This is an area where an ADHD Coach can be better than a therapist, because you need the hand-holding of figuring out every single step in how to write a term paper, not just to talk about your feelings about school.
Suzanne
@The Moar You Know: I just listened to “Finest Worksong”, and it reminds me…….what she wants, and what she needs, have been confused, been confused…….
Suzanne
O/T. I am trying to find a Big Bird costume to wear in time for Halloween. Adult size.
Betty Cracker
@Original Lee: We use Roku and Fire Sticks (which are cheap) to view streaming channels on our TVs, but I guess that wouldn’t solve your gaming dilemma?
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: Why are the white nationalists appropriating my culture. First the name, Aryan is from Sanskrit Arya == pure, then they appropriate the swastika and flip it at an angle and make it black. Now vegetarianism? Being 100% vegetarian or mainly subsisting on a vegetarian diet (meat eating is minimized, and on most auspicious days, you eschew meat) is common to almost all religions that originated in India, starting with Buddhism, Jainism and later adopted by Hindus and Sikhs. Copy cats.
VeniceRiley
@Original Lee: You can get a Fiore Tv Stick from Amazon for, like, 35 bucks. Or a Fire TV if you want loads of features. Runs Alexa, yadda yadda. You can sideload Kodi onto both of those. Instructions on the interwebs.
I blow $330 on a bad*ss Nvidia Pro in anticipation of my next TV being a Nice UHD HDR 4K, possibly even an OLED. Then my TV died and I was kinda glad it pushed me into my next purchase. Researching now. 65″ of 4K goodness! I feel like I should spend best quality money, because I spend a LOT of time with my TV on. Things you use a lot should be premium. Beds, televisions, etc. I skimp on things I care about less … like clothes. LOL
sukabi
@geg6: try putting some fish oil in her food…that helps for my brother’s dogs who have sensitive skin.
No One You Know
@Gin & Tonic: My less-intelligent cat DJ thinks squirrels are playmates. There’s one that will run slowly around the tree for a chase, and even run a few steps toward DJ if the cat gets distracted or loses interest. Then there’s the mutual freeze-and-stare, both start jerking their tails, and they’re off again until one of them gives up–or a scrub jay joins the party.
No One You Know
@Mnemosyne:
Been there. If it weren’t for an OCD tendency to make lists, and a compulsive writing habit, I wouldn’t have made it through school at all. On my first job, I swear the forced use of a Franklin planner delayed my own diagnosis by another few years.
Original Lee
@debit: thanks for the recommendations!
Original Lee
@Betty Cracker: Correct, although based on the helpful comments here, I can get Switch and Roku and be approximately where I am now, except for having to upgrade the Wii stuff we still use.
Original Lee
@VeniceRiley: Sadly, The Spouse is one who likes to get cutting-edge and then run it into the ground, so we’re stuck with this TV for a while.