Lily and I just got home from the vet, and the doctor is very pleased with her results, all the numbers are where they should be, she is back up finally to 18.5 lbs, her platelet count is still a touch high but dropping and we are now down to a 1/4 pill every other day of prednisone and will be done with it totally in two weeks, and they said she was playful and perkier than normal. Our customary post chemo front yard picture:
The ride was nice- still hot as hell but the skies were blue and the roads clear, and I listened to Section 80 on the way up and To Pimp a Butterfly on the way back, and stopped by Costco while Lily was being treated. I had to have words with a man at the vet hospital, though, so the trip wasn’t completely pleasant. Some large man (prolly two inchers taller than me with the same girth) who was easily in his late 50’s- had short white hair in a buzz cut, was getting a coffee at the coffee stand, and he turned around abruptly and bumped into a woman walking to the bathroom and spilled hot coffee on himself. She immediately apologized even though he was as much to blame or more, and then started bitching about “stupid fucking people” and cussing up a storm. I just blurted out “I’ll take stupid over loud and obnoxious,” and he sized me up and then simmered down. One of these days I’m going to get shot, but everyone else was just sitting there letting it happen. Home team needed a time out.
Just no reason for that kind of behavior. He knows he’s a large man and he was intentionally having a fit to intimidate that little woman. Made me think of Pink Floyd- “and it’s too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around, so have a good drown, as you go down, all alone” which is ironically from the song Dogs.
At any rate, uneventful otherwise. Picked up a new hose to replace the one that broke the other day, and I’m going to take a nap until it cools down a little and go out and putz around the back yard.
Speaking of large, loud men, Ed Schultz has died at the age of 64.
Capri
Very sad to hear of the passing of Ed Schultz. I used to listen to Chicago’s progressive radio and really liked his show. He didn’t translate well to TV, but at least he knew that it helped to have a little passion for the fight.
Miss Bianca
Yay for Lily, and good for you, John!
Almost had a similar encounter with one of the open-carry nuts at the Democratic Party-sponsored community picnic yesterday. Fortunately, the guy stomped off with a “Democrats don’t want guns in the park” loud enough for everyone else to hear. I was tempted to drawl, “You’re daaaaaammmn right”, a la Shaft, but refrained. Still, point made.
cliosfanboy
Good news on Lily!!!!!
schrodingers_cat
Is Russia getting rid of the evidence of how it tried to influence elections using supposedly lefty opinion makers?
ETA: Nerve gas or polonium tea?
Teddys Person
Glad to hear Lily’s positive health report. Every time I read an update, I’m a bit surprised at my emotional investment in your delightful pack.
donnah
So happy to hear about Lily! She’s such a sweetheart and it’s wonderful that she’s doing well.
Best news I’ve heard all day.
Joy in FL
I’m so glad for the good news about Lily. She is a treasure!
kindness
John you are a gallant man as well. Don’t get beat up by a redneck proving it though.
SiubhanDuinne
Such good news about Lily! It’s good to read happy things. She’s so cute and perky in that picture.
Really surprised about Ed Schultz. He was never a favourite, but I wouldn’t have wished anything bad for him. RIP.
Thanks for standing up to that bully. But please don’t get yourself shot, John.
Obvious Russian Troll
@schrodingers_cat: Why would they bother doing anything to Ed Schultz? It’s all right there in the open already.
raven
Shit happened to me in Midway Airport on July 3 about 7 years ago. It was the start of the holiday weekend and we had flown in from Atlanta. For some reason the idiots at the car rental place had ONE woman working and about 20 people is line. This one fucker kept bitching out loud and finally turned it directly on her. I hesitated for a a couple of minutes and finally said “this is a difficult situation for everyone, why don’t you just cook it so we can all get out of here as soon as possible”. Well he decided to get jiggy with me so the escalation gene took over and I got all in his shit. He was one of those loudmouth motherfuckers who immediately starts with the “that’s assault” and shit like that. My bride was seated a ways away so she didn’t see what precipitated, just me getting in his ass so she was all pissed at me. The dude did shut the fuck up and most people just stood there like that had before. I’ll get shot too and Lil Bit is recovering well after her life-saving surgery. Thanks for asking
A Ghost To Most
Yey, Lily.
Ed Schultz, not so much. He destroyed his reputation at the end.
schrodingers_cat
@Obvious Russian Troll: Since you are The Obvious Russian Troll, you tell me.
father pusbucket
Ed Schultz?? Does Putin have some kind of mind-control drug? What the hell?
Also, go, Lily! And go, John! And don’t get shot.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: I used to watch Ed on MSNBC, he lost me when he was telling folk not to vote in 2010.
jl
Thanks for Lilypic and yardpic. both look great. Where is the pawpaw Cole said he’d plant?
TenguPhule
@kindness:
Kung Fu Panda has taught us that blubber serves as body armor.
Mandalay
@SiubhanDuinne:
I felt the same but after he had a meltdown and called Laura Ingraham a slut on TV he gave the most sincere apology I have ever seen from any media figure. He groveled, and berated himself in front of the camera for four minutes. You really don’t do that unless you truly believe what you are saying.
takebakawashi
doin’ the Lord’s work, Cole
so happy Lily is doing well!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OTOH:
Mnemosyne
Repeating my bleg from yesterday for a web hosting service that charges $10 per month or less but can scale up as needed. The two suggestions I got yesterday were Tiger Tech and Hosting Matters, which is what this here blog is hosted on. Any other suggestions?
The ideas that have been discarded were Pantheon (their hosting starts at $35/month, which is too rich for my blood) and Bluehost, because some people said their online support was spotty.
the Conster
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I’ll never forgive him for that. He, the bros at TYT, the Intercept and the FDL emoprogs were all doing and saying the same things, now all RU interference denialists.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Sorry jl, you got a willow instead.
Genine
I’m glad Lily is doing well! Stay safe, John. I’m sorry about Ed Schultz
A Ghost To Most
Indiana Jones has taught us not to bring a knife to a gun fight.
Elizabelle
Yea Lily. Keep those numbers good. Stay well, dear pup.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
(the quote is from Sam Stein)I believe that LO’D also did that as well.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: What’s all this about needing a complete up-and-running website before editors/agents will look at you? Before you’ve published, what are you actually supposed to be showing? Or are you supposed to be posting excerpts of the story/ies you’re working on?
Not asking for a friend, asking for me, and I don’t care who knows it, I don’t!
Ohio Mom
@A Ghost To Most: Our TV is in the basement, disassembled — years ago, Ohio Son was being punished with no screen time and I overdid disconnecting the VCR/DVD/Wii/that conversion box because we don’t have cable/the rabbit ears/and who knows what else, and Ohio Dad has never gotten around to reconnecting it all. It turned out we never missed the TV, not even Ohio Son, who is perfectly happy with just his laptop and cell.
As a result, I had no idea who Ed Shultz was until just now, and was inspired to google him.
“He destroyed his reputation at the end” is putting it very nicely. Now I am wondering what got into this fellow I never heard of.
raven
@Ohio Mom: He was an All American QB, too many headshots.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
It’s because I’m going to RWA and will be handing out business cards with my website address on them, so I need to at least have a placeholder page up in case people decide to check me out.
Editors and agents do want you to have some kind of social media presence beforehand, but not until you’re shopping your completed manuscript around.
Mary G
@raven: Glad to hear Lil Bit is recovering. Is she back on the morning walk yet or is it too soon? Are you still being careful feeding her?
Yay for Lily’s test numbers, and playfulness and perkiness during chemo is impressive as hell. To think how sick she was and what they have been able to do for her is wonderful.
Miss Bianca
@A Ghost To Most: *checks out link John posted*
HOLY SHIT, tovarisch! What the *fuck*?
How did I go so long without truly realizing that there was a RT America?? And what is it with these white-guy “populists” who seem to veer from left-wing to going on Fox News and in front of CPAC? Are they all just authoritarians under the skin, and they end up not caring who they shill for? See, Kucinich, Dennis
zhena gogolia
@raven:
Glad to hear about Lil Bit!
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
They’re white supremacists under the skin. Seeing a Black man in the White House freaked them the fuck out in ways that we still have not been able to reckon with on the left.
They were fine and dandy with women and minorities succeeding until women and minorities started replacing white men at the top. Then the knives came out.
raven
@Mary G: She’s back on the walk. We have a little hill on the next street up and she hates it so I put her in the cart. About half way she’s start straining to get out we let her walk the rest of the way. I load them both in for the ride home. All this concern for her but Bohdi is really aging quickly. He walks about a mile but the humidity gets to hime even at 7am.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
I remember when that happened! You posted about it at the time. Can’t believe it’s been that long, though.
Glad to hear that Lil Bit is doing well.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Miss Bianca: the high-profile zig-zaggers are kind of interesting. Those two, Roseanne– shallow intelligence and what could charitably be called mercurial personalities. And all desperate for, I suspect, attention and respect, to be taken seriously, even more than money. Not completely unlike trump. Arianna Huffington does quite fit that mold, but she seems to have wandered off to get more sleep. Which is fine.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne:
Sigh. QFT. Sadly.
ruemara
Good girl, Lily! She’s looking healthy & gorgeous. So’s the house. Stop being grumpy about the house, JC. It’s coming together fine.
@Capri: the same guy who said don’t vote to teach Dems a lesson, moved to RT where he dismissed Russian interference, then spoke at CPAC? Sure, passions. Passion for what, we don’t know. Money? Ed passed, my condolences to his family. My empathy is gonna be directed to the folks he helped screw.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@ruemara: Well said.
A Ghost To Most
@Miss Bianca: See also, David Horowitz. Left-wing provocateur turned right-wing mouthpiece.
Some folks don’t care about the message, just the sound.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I missed that one. Lord above. More idiot than useful
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Huh. Pruitt’s out.
hitchhiker
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yep. Every time I think of the 2010 election, Ed comes to mind with his gotta-send-a-message-to-the-Dems nonsense. If the Repubs had been paying him, that’s exactly the line he would have taken.
We’re going to be paying for that midterm for another decade or two — probably to the end of my time on this rock.
That said, 64 is way too young to be dying of natural causes. Wonder what the story was ….
ruemara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: oh if it was only in a garbage bag. don’t @ me.
Mary G
@raven: Oh, poor Bohdi. It must be hard to live in all fur in a Georgia summer. That photo of him bouncing at Raven doesn’t seem that long ago, but time moves faster and faster for me the older I get.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: What!
Elizabelle
Yes!
LA Times: Embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt resigns amid scandals
Kristin Mink is a powerful woman.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
You can see some of this same dynamic every time they talk about how the Democrats only win because they get so many votes from minorities. The underlying belief is that only white men’s votes really matter, and failing to win enough votes from them makes a victory inherently illegitimate. I think they are deceiving themselves about their own beliefs and don’t honestly see that “you have to win a majority of the white male vote for your victory to be legitimate” is morally equivalent to saying that votes by women and minorities shouldn’t really count.
Teddys Person
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hopefully, this is the first step to prosecution and jail.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle:
Of course, she’s a Bruin.
ETA: (taps watch waiting for my camera to arrive)
raven
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, one of the most scandal-plagued Cabinet officials in U.S. history, is leaving the agency, President Trump tweeted Thursday.
“I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,” Trump said in a tweet. “Within the agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this.”
He said Pruitt’s deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will assume control on Monday as acting administrator.
“I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda,” Trump wrote. “We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!”
A Ghost To Most
@Mary G:
“Time moves slow when you’re
seventeen
But then it picks up steam at twenty-one
Pretty soon you’ll remember when
You could remember when
You loved someone”
“Streetlights”
CliosFanBoy
@ruemara: he spoke at CPAC??????>???
Uncle Cosmo
Speaking of time moving faster, I saw the title of this thread & immediately wondered why I should be interested in any communication coming out of a stadium in Philadelphia…
When my cousin was with the Cubbies in the early 70s the fambly would carpool up to Filthydelphia whenever they came in; seats behind home plate would await us. In those days the 76ers were long past respectable, the Flyers were not yet the Bullies of Broad St., da Iggls were da Iggles & the Fee-Lays had Steve Carlton & fuck-all else…
During one game a couple of smartasses got up into the deserted 4th deck (maybe the 10th, I lost count) in left field & unfurled a banner:
I think sometime after they reached voting age those jokers were one of the grenade brigade pelting Sanity Clause with snowballs…
jnfr
So happy to hear good Lily news!
I saw Ed Schultz at the 2010 Netroots Nation gathering. He didn’t seem well physically to me even then, and during his talk on the main stage seemed kind of fragile psychologically too, upset that mainstream Dems wouldn’t come on his show (which I get, but they were never keen about showing up on any liberal show, not just Ed’s).
I have mixed feelings about his very mixed-up politics but like others here, I would never wish him harm.
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
What of his replacement? Career agency man, or another Trumpista?
MaryLou
So happy to hear the Lily update! Good news at a time when most of it is bad.
I was very sorry to hear about the death of Ed Schultz. He was an emotional defender of working Americans, ended up on the wrong side of the purity wars, but his heart was always on the side of those who needed a helping hand.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The whistle blower segment from the Hayes show the other night
it’s probably by itself too small a thing for anyone to track down, especially with Rs in charge of any oversight from Justice to Congress to Oklahoma, but I’d bet the farm that the COS in question reimbursed himself from a slush fund set up by some big polluter.
The Moar You Know
Ed can burn in hell for all I give a shit. Good guy who, like a lot of them, couldn’t deal with a Black man in the White house, took the wrong path, really wrong. “Hurt a lot of people” wrong.
John: good on you for Lily, good on you twice for standing up to the jerk. Us big guys have a responsibility to do that, even though, yeah, it does put us at risk of being shot. I no longer care. I’ve lived a nice full life. Better to pass it along by being brave rather than cringe it out and not make waves.
Juju
@raven: I’m happy Little Bit is doing so well after her surgery. I agree with Bohdi, even around 7:00am it’s too humid to walk more than a mile.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@The Moar You Know: I don’t know, calling him mercurial is being kind, goofy appears closer to the mark, but Schultz was all in for Obama back in ’08. The PUMAs haaaated him.
Juju
I am so happy for Lily. You are both very lucky. I’ve never been that fortunate with bad news at the vets’ office. Cherish every moment with the beautiful Lily.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Coal industry lobbyist. Quel surprise.
stinger
@Miss Bianca: I’m hoping we can get this as a topic for a BJ Writers thread some Sunday soon. (I see Mnemosyne’s reply to you, but I think it could stand some fuller discussion.)
rikyrah
Glad to hear about Lily’s good news.
Thought that we would get a picture of today’s homemade bow?
Gemina13
Hooray for Lily! And hooray for you, Cole. I’m a 5’6 woman, and when I bump into someone or otherwise inconvenience them, my first instinct is to apologize and try to soothe them. Most people react well to that; some, though, have gotten nasty. Thankfully, I tend to give as good as I get, but a lot of people – men and women – tend to freeze when targeted by abusers. I’m glad you stuck up for that lady.
As for Ed Schultz, he shot his reputation to hell and back.
Mnemosyne
@stinger:
Short version is, publishers expect authors to basically do their own marketing these days, so it’s best to start that as early as you can and get your own brand started even before you find a publisher. And, obviously, it makes self-publishing a lot easier.
debbie
No more hanging fern?
Yarrow
Yay for Lily! She’s just the best. So glad she’s doing so well.
Joe
The “arc” bends in the right direction. Lily is all the proof I need.
Turgidson
The Lily saga has been a bit of a port in a storm in this relentless shitstorm of bad news elsewhere. You went from a post about an imminent and gut wrenching decision to put her down to where you are now.
Good things can happen. Shitty situations can turn around. It’s comforting. Happy for you and Lily.