Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

It’s the corruption, stupid.

In my day, never was longer.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Bixby Is Not Amused

Open Thread: Bixby Is Not Amused

by | 65 Comments

This post is in: 

jacy sent this to me last night and I had to share it with you. It’s based on this photo of Bixby (and if you need some nostalgia, here’s the entire Bixby Diary, which made me sniffle – he was still so little!)

Just a reminder, this is jacy’s Etsy page. I already have several items picked out that I’ll order in the next week or so. I wanted to thank everyone, because just your comments on her fundraiser thread gave me hope that there are really good people out there and most of them hang out here.

There are several commenters who are struggling right now and I’m so glad they can come here to vent, cry and get support.

Open thread

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Did jacy give you an update on how she’s doing with the immediate cash crunch? The gofundme is just under 50% of goal, but I know she’s made some Etsy sales too.

  2. 2.

    MazeDancer

    Fabulous art!

    In MHO, jacy does not charge enough for such high-guality work. Her per hour earnings gotta be too low.

  5. 5.

    Yarrow

    @Josie: That link and the headline are misleading, or at least unclear. Here’s the first paragraph:

    U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, announced a proposal that would prevent wall construction at the National Butterfly Center in Mission and in other environmentally sensitive areas, which comes just weeks before shovel-ready work is set to begin.

    He’s a good fit for his district. The Justice Democrats can are just grifters who will ratfuck us.

  6. 6.

    Just Chuck

    Nitpick: it looks like it says “Biyby”. The top text should probably overlay the dog, the same as it does on the bottom.

  9. 9.

    Yarrow

    @Josie: I just wasn’t sure what it was about from the link and when I clicked through the headline also was confusing. It’s good news once you read the first paragraph! I’m sure Twitter would send around the headline and make it sound like he’s preventing funding for the butterfly center.

  14. 14.

    Barbara

    Sending positive thoughts to all of the crew who are coping with difficult circumstances and heartache, but especially jacy and czanne.

  16. 16.

    DSC

    about how much does a custom piece cost? I have two images I would love to have done. Love the one of the B&W doggie. Recovering from the shutdown

  17. 17.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Open thread, so I have a question. Tomorrow is Ground Hog Day. I think it’s always midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Is there a name for that day other that Ground Hog?

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Groundhog Day is a fixed date (February 2), so it can’t be the actual date that’s midway between those two things since they’re astronomical events that shift around slightly from year to year. I would ask an astronomer.

  22. 22.

    MazeDancer

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Imbolc. Used to be begnning of lambing season. Also, legend has it farmer’s would drop their trousers and put their bare bottoms on the ground to see if the land was warm enough to plow.

    Like all the Quarter and cross-Quarter Days the church usurped and re-named. So AKA Candlemas, as well.

  26. 26.

    Spanky

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: See many have already answered, but @MazeDancer: is a new one on me. And mentioning lambing season (aka sheep) and dropping trou in the same sentence ….

    Well, maybe that’s the excuse the farmers gave when caught by their wives.

  31. 31.

    Spanky

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The Christian church appropriated a lot of the local non-christian holidays/feast days, sometimes to help integrate the Christianity into local custom, sometimes to use existing festivals to disguise Christian celebrations, although that may have been mostly in Roman areas and eras.

    Anyway, most ancient cultures found it very useful to mark the stages of the year. Equinoxes, solstices, and cross-quarter days split the year into 8 parts tied to the seasons/sun. Months of course originated with lunar cycles, which don’t fit into the seasons. Our system of 12 months do, of course, but they didn’t come about until, again, Rome.

  33. 33.

    Gelfling 545

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Candlemas was traditionally the RC date on which the church candles for use throughout the year were blessed. It’s also the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin and of the Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple.

  34. 34.

    MazeDancer

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Not sure if astronmers would use cross-quarter. It is all about the Turn of the Wheel, the rotation of the planet.

    Start with the two Equinoxes and two Solatices. The Four Quarters of the year. The midpoint between each are called Cross-Quarter Days. Which is more of a Celtic Olde Religion term than anything. Goddessy.

    As all observeable planetary activity has been celebrated since before there was math, festivities would occur around them, frequently tied to agriculture. And an assortment of deities.

    As the Christian Church realized they were not likely to change the rotation of the Earth or get people to stop celebrating, they just slapped on new names and reasons. Thus, presto, Winter Solstice becomes Christmas.

    ETA: And @spanky illuminated while I was one-finger typing on iPad

  35. 35.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    For a novel I was writing, I once did a tiny bit of reading about how various cultures structure time. As I recall, things got really disorienting when whatever source I had started talking about weeks, which are less determined by external factors. I liked the stuff about hours. Again, as I recall, in Medieval Europe, the day and night each had 12 hours, but the length of them changed with the time between sunrise and sunset. So a summer daytime hour was longer than a winter one.

  37. 37.

    Kraux Pas

    Re: The earlier poll saying that Republicans don’t believe the news media understands them, maybe the news media would understand them if it spent last time trying to validate their positions and more time openly hating on minorities and the working poor.

  38. 38.

    jacy

    I want to thank everybody who has been so kind — I really have no way to express what it means. Even after everything that’s happened the last five years, the last month has been the low-point spirit-wise for me. Maybe because I keep thinking that when something horrible happens, it will be the last horrible thing. You just get tired.

    Update: I have had one meeting re: mortgage company. I have until February 25th to reinstate the loan. With my savings, my etsy sales, and the gofundme, I’m within $4,000 of that amount, so I feel like it’s doable, especially if I can get my existing clients to pay on time. I have requested that they review again for a modification, but I probably won’t hear a final decision on that for at least another week, so I am going forward believing that reinstatement will be what I have to do. I also finally got a draft of the custody modification order from my lawyer and I will sign it on Monday, it will be filed, and I can see if the ex will fight or give up. If he gives up, I hope to get back some of the retainer I had to pay that lawyer. In the meantime, I’m going to keep working.

    Again, thank you all so much. Y’all are my family.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @DSC: I am having a set of two pet portraits done for one niece and another set of two pet portraits for another niece. Sadly, both have lost two beloved pets, hence the “set”.

    Each pet portrait is $100.

    If you decide to go ahead with it, you might check with jacy on whether you should order through Etsy or just donate the amount to the fundraiser.

    P.S. Because I don’t have a ton of extra money to throw around, both nieces know that this will be an early Christmas gift to their families; if you are like me, that might be something to maybe think about to help make it all work financially.

  40. 40.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Barbara:

    Sending positive thoughts to all of the crew who are coping with difficult circumstances and heartache, but especially jacy and czanne.

    Can’t say it better. As am I.

  44. 44.

    Ohio Mom

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The two other holidays that mark halfway points of seasons are Halloween (six weeks from the start of fall, six weeks left until winter begins) and May Day (middle of spring).

    What I want to know is, why no tradition for the halfway point of summer? Maybe no one wants to be reminded the sweetest season of all will end?

  46. 46.

    MazeDancer

    @jacy:

    Please consider raising your prices. Or at least getting BJ customers to prepay. 4K in 3 weeks is doable. But gotta do too much work if people don’t pay in advance and recognize delivery will be delayed.

  47. 47.

    jacy

    @MazeDancer:

    It’s my book cover clients who are sometimes a pill. Authors! (Just kidding, I’m an author, so I’m not dissing authors,LOL) Anything through Etsy is paid instantly, so I’m good there. I really wish I could spend all day doing animal portraits, it’s better than meditation or anti-anxiety pills.

  48. 48.

    LuciaMia

    Jacy, your work is just fantastic. I have a question. How do you have the prints made?
    Do you have the equipment yourself to print them or do you use an online service?

  54. 54.

    jacy

    @LuciaMia:

    I work with a professional printing company located in PA called Giclee Today. They do wonderful work — they use archival paper and light-fast inks, they print in an amazing number of sizes, and you can get all kinds of paper, stretched canvas, deckled edge….anything. And they ship really well, always flat and individually bagged. I love them.

  55. 55.

    Steeplejack

    @Dorothy A. Winsor, @oldgold:

    Candlemas is always on February 2.

    Imbolc (Imbolg), a “cross quarter day,” is the

    [. . .] midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox; it can fall between the 2nd & 7th of February when calculated as the midpoint between the astronomical Winter Solstice and the astronomical Spring Equinox [. . .].

    Imbolc derives from the Old Irish i mbolg, meaning “in the belly,” a time when sheep began to lactate and their udders filled and the grass began to grow.

  56. 56.

    Aleta

    A thought about Gabe, though it might not apply. Something that has worked well for me when an ultra sensitive or reactive cat was affected by that undercurrent of inter-cat stress.

    Back then I had a dominant cat who was subtle at applying psychological stress. I did the whole series of introduction steps again, starting from the beginning. (Moving through them much more quickly.) One time I used it with a cat who was very anxious with a long memory, years after an abused kittenhood. I did it one more time a couple of months later, and after that there was peace and she flowered.

    I’d read a tip about repeating the introduction process for a different cat stress issue. It’s worked like a charm for me for several different cat happiness problems, even ones that aren’t between cats.

  58. 58.

    something fabulous

    Another fundraising idea! If both TaMara and Jacy are up for it, maybe consider a limited print run of this lovely Bixby picture as a poster for jackal fans of Bixby to buy? He’s so popular, and it is such a great image, I bet a bunch of folks would snap it up!

  59. 59.

    something fabulous

    @something fabulous: ….and I am now finally experiencing the dreaded “you do not have permission to edit”! …so, amending to add: Or maybe instead/in addition to a poster, how about on smaller things, like a mug! I know I still love and use my Tunch mug all the time!

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    @something fabulous: jacy has also done an adorable pet portrait of Betty Cracker’s Badger. It’s up on jacy’s website as one of the 6 examples of pet portrait’s that she’s done.

    I think jacy also said that she can print her images on mugs, t-shirts, etc.

  61. 61.

    Aleta

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I looked up Imbolc (Feb 1) and from there to the equivalent in Wales on Feb 2, Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gŵyl_Fair_y_Canhwyllau
    The divination sounds raucous.

    The period of time when working by candlelight was allowed, due to it being the dark part of the year, was amser gwylad, the time of keeping vigil. The candle was then handed back on 2 February when the light had increased enough for candles to be dispensed with and the farm animals to be fed before dark.

    As with most of the festivals of the year, rites of divination were carried out at Candlemas. In one recorded instance, it was customary for people to light two candles, and place them on a table or high bench. Then each member of the family in turn would sit down on a chair between the candles and take a drink out of a horn goblet or beaker. Afterwards they would throw the vessel over their head and if it fell in an upright position, the person who threw it would live to reach a very old age; if it fell bottom up, the person would die early. That ‘drink’, usually beer, was associated with Candlemas.

  63. 63.

    something fabulous

    @jacy: ha! Mine is “obey” but exactly!! I know I’d be happy to add Bixby disapproving of my breakfast choices, or mornings in general, or whatever!

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    I signed up for a pet portrait instead of the GoFundMe, so now jacy will be one of the few privy to my secret identity. ?‍♀️

    My secret identity is pretty boring, but I prefer it that way.

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