Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

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

Let’s finish the job.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Everybody saw this coming.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

T R E 4 5 O N

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Respite Open Thread: You Deserve Some Ducks

Respite Open Thread: You Deserve Some Ducks

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I can’t think of a better way to finish up before the holiday season, than with some ducks for you. (Although, I may have a Christmas Eve Menu for you later today, depending on how the house cleaning goes).

The weather has been beautiful the last few days, so I’ve left the patio door open so the cats could spend some time in the backyard. Meanwhile, I’m trying to work. But an open patio door leads to these constant interruptions:

Ducks are not quiet…and there are always duck rumblings in my backyard.

A friend and I are going to start a dedicated Youtube channel for the ducks. She wants to do some graphic art with the ducks. so there may be merchandise, Just waiting for my GoPro to arrive. Because they HATE cameras and my only chance of catching their antics is via stealth.

Here they are, complaining,  after 22 inches of snow was dumped on us Thanksgiving week.

Respite Open Thread: 1

That was after they had to spend a full day literally cooped up, until it was warm enough for them to venture out. And yes, I had to shovel a path and a roosting spot for them. Otherwise, all you’d see would be the little tops of their heads as they scooted through the duck-deep snow.

Respite Open Thread: 2

Bonus Christmas Kitteh:

Respite Open Thread:

It’s his favorite spot this holiday.

I have all my cooking done and have vowed not to venture out again after seeing my clients today and picking up a forgotten item at the grocery store. Had a sweet surprise this morning, one of my oldest clients, who I have worked with since long before Bixby, bought me a nice gift, BUT also went to a boutique pet store and bought beautiful leather toys, and baked goods for the pups. He laughed as he handed the bag to me and said, “I realized as I walked through the store, I had no idea what to buy dogs.” I thought, Great Danes are even tougher to buy for, but he did great and Bixby and Scout love them.

It was the sweetest thing. Buying my pets presents will always win me over.

How are you coping with the holidays? I know it can be a tough time. Last year was the worst for me, but this year, I’m feeling more hopeful. Maybe it’s that nice gift Congress got me.

Check-in in the comments, we’re all in this together.

Otherwise, open thread

Reader Interactions

139Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    Ducks!

    Objectively pro-duck, I am. I hope they get to thaw out, they look a bit grumpy. :-)

    First sunny day here in awhile. Time to go…shopping, something I did not get to yesterday, because rain.

  2. 2.

    satby

    I’m listening to my bad little rescue boy climb into the 20 lb bag of cat chow upstairs, but I’m too exhausted to do more than yell at him to stop. Which has no effect at all of course. He’s loving being an inside cat. He teases the other cats with his worldly experience.

    I should be getting ready for the last market day before the holiday, but I just want to sit for a minute. The last few days have been gonzo.

  3. 3.

    ET

    Do you Twitter follow @caenhillcc? You get geese, ducks, chickens, some cats, and other assorted critters. Of course Cuthbert is the star.

  5. 5.

    sab

    I finished all 5 batches of cookiedough yesterday. Didn’t have the energy to roll and bake them today. Tomorrow.

    I am a luddite so cannot link, but somebody (Dorothy A Winsour possibly) in a thread within the last 24 hours linked to a UPS drivers Book of Faces page with photos of dogs on their routes. Many dogs. Surprisingly many goats. Only one cat. No ducks, but one sheep, one alpaca and one emu. Many of them climbing into or out of the truck.

  13. 13.

    bemused

    Ducks are hilarious.

    I’m still debating with myself if I should try to spatchcock an 18 lb turkey Christmas day. I like doing that with whole chickens but a big turkey might be more trouble than it’s worth to save time even with a large roasting pan that fills the oven.

  16. 16.

    Yarrow

    Kind of tired and sad because I started my day with a funeral. Watched by video feed because I’m unable to be there. Really weird to do that first thing in the morning and then it’s done and you’re alone and there’s no one to share your grief with. Oh well.

    I’ve given up on this holiday season. It has been terrible since before Thanksgiving when the stomach virus hit and hasn’t got much better. Funeral two days before Christmas is rough.

  28. 28.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @TaMara:

    That apposition of ducks and “Christmas Eve menu” is a little too close for comfort!

  29. 29.

    satby

    @LivingInExile: Rosie passed away last night. It was expected, she was on home hospice for the last 5 (!) months and she was over 14 years old (would have been 15 in two months).  I had the pet cremation people pick her up this afternoon and her ashes are going to be scattered in the same pet cemetery garden as her  beloved Hershey was last May. So the two will be reunited there in spirit. Its not really sad, she lived an amazingly long life after being rescued from doggie death row 12 years ago. Thanks for asking.

  31. 31.

    sab

    @Mnemosyne: I am wondering if reviewers are divided into cat v not-cat people. You really cannot expect much plot if it’s about cats. That is just not their thing. And they really do need to have tails, whiskers and moveable ears.

  34. 34.

    HeleninEire

    “You deserve some ducks.” Yes, yes we do. Thank you TaMara.

    Happy Holidays to y’all BJ’ers.

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker: I want to watch it, but am waiting for the DVDs to come out…

     

    And why do I want to watch it? Because week before last, I was sort of forced to watch “Last Christmas” with Emilia Clarke (I was the fill-in concessionaire at the movie theater) and everyone kept comparing her character, and the story, unfavorably to “Fleabag”. So now I’m curious about it.

  48. 48.

    zhena gogolia

    @sab:

    The Times had a cute anecdote. Hal Prince heard Lloyd Webber do a runthrough of the songs, and he said, “I don’t get it. Is it a metaphor for the British empire? Is it about Queen Victoria?” ALW said, “It’s about cats. It’s just about cats.”

  49. 49.

    zhena gogolia

    @sab:

    The Times had a cute anecdote. Hal Prince heard Lloyd Webber do a runthrough of the songs, and he said, “I don’t get it. Is it a metaphor for the British empire? Is it about Queen Victoria?” ALW said, “It’s about cats. It’s just about cats.”

  50. 50.

    sab

    @satby: May I offer condolences. End of life decisions are so tough. It sounds like you did well, and she was relatively fortunate.

  51. 51.

    Yarrow

    @Yutsano:  Thanks. I am with my dad on Christmas and then I’ve got an extended family obligation the next day. I’ve been eating ice cream, so maybe that’s self care? Not sure it’s good for me, but it sure tastes good.

  53. 53.

    Yarrow

    @Betty Cracker:  I watched the first two or three episodes of the first season. I think it’s an acquired taste. She’s not a very nice person but I wonder if series goes on maybe there’s more that comes out to explain what underlies who she is. I thought it kind of dark and I have plenty of dark in my life so I tend to stick to comedies.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @sab:

    As far as I can tell, the problem is that director Tom Hooper chose to use digital effects rather than costumes for all of the actors and then half-assed the special effects to the point that the artists were still trying to finish them on the day of the film’s premiere.

    I mean, it’s a really bizarre show anyway, but the special effects problems are making it truly surreal.

  56. 56.

    Yarrow

    @satby:  Aww, sorry to hear about that but it sounds like her passing was as peaceful as could be hoped for. You did good by her.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yarrow:

    If you can, you should probably declare a mental health day (or at least an afternoon) and do something fun by yourself. Read a book. See a movie. Get a massage.

    I think we’re going to go see “Knives Out” the day after Christmas, and “Frozen 2” is good for a cry if you’re okay with sad things happening to animated characters.

  62. 62.

    sab

    My comments on this thread. I think it was my browser not BJ. So I may have been multiple posting. Embarrassed.

    ETA  I have been getting a 502 alert for about two hours, but I think it was me and my browser and not BJ. So if I posted repeatedly, yeah I am embarrassed, but that is my excuse.

  63. 63.

    spudgun

    @satby:  I am so sorry, but as you and others have mentioned, you gave her a wonderful life, so I hope that gives you comfort. Still, it’s sad when they’re no longer here…

    This time of year is usually awful for me, but 2019 was my annus horribilis, so there’s a thicker shit frosting on the shit cake this time around (with apologies to the folks who enjoy this holiday season). Just going to hunker down until it’s over.

    Thank you for the critter pix, TaMara – they actually cheer me up a lot.

    Erm…Merry Christmas, everybody!! ?

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    The Asphalt Jungle running in the background on TCM.

    Hearing Sterling Hayden’s character say “You boned me in front of a stranger. Made me look small.” brings forth a snort the writers never intended to be there – every time.

  65. 65.

    Jay

    The planet is burning up. Australia is literally on fire with 200 wildfires spread across 5 states. 8 people have already died.The solution, it seems, is to threaten this young girl with arrest for trying to do something about it.pic.twitter.com/r7wxVCovTx— Mark Adkins (@MarkMyWordsJCPM) December 20, 2019

    Got a 454 error earlier, when trying to post.

  67. 67.

    Raven

    5 hours of torrential rain that lifted just as we hit the Blue Ridge at Fancy Gap. Two more hours to the Airbnb which is in a nice setting on the lake. Back in the van to Falwellville for dinner.

  68. 68.

    feebog

    I had to run out to Lowes Hardware to complete a Christmas gift.  My sister mailed us our gifts, among them is (unknown to the Missus) a piece of homemade yard art.  So far so good, except to mount the sculpture I need a length of rebar (which I had) and a length of 3/4″ cooper pipe (which I now have).  I’m sure cutting the rebar and pipe to size on Christmas morning will be… interesting.

  73. 73.

    spudgun

    @Yarrow:  I am so sorry, Yarrow…I am with you in spirit.

    Of course ice cream is self care! ? what would make you think otherwise?

    Sometimes being around people is a good thing, even though it can be quite the effort. I really, REALLY have to force myself, but once I’m out I feel a bit better. My brother and his SO are coming over this evening to take me to dinner and then of course there’s Christmas  lunch with my parents on Wednesday, so I’m going to try to keep my spirits up until I can go back into my cocoon.

  75. 75.

    Jay

    “Technical data corroborate reports that network operators have complied with orders by authorities to cut off telecommunications in Assam, leaving the state in the midst of a telecommunication blackout.” https://t.co/lI1q48gWAC via @netblocks pic.twitter.com/YSGEfOIjYZ— Erin Gallagher (@3r1nG) December 22, 2019

    Assam is one of those parts of India, that has a multifacetted and complex relationship with the State of India in which not everybody agrees.

  76. 76.

    VeniceRiley

    @Betty Cracker: I watched all of Fleabag.  It’s very rare a female unsympathetic character, no matter how well written, gets a green light.  I kinda loved it and am sad PWB has moved on to bigger and better things.  As a writer, I can see her clever mind all over Killing Eve as well.  Haven checked out the latest Bond movie rumors but she was brought in on that too.

  78. 78.

    spudgun

    @Betty Cracker:  I am a Fleabag fanatic! First season is a riot (a bit tough in some spots, to be sure), but I love the fast pace and the humor and I really connected with the protagonist. Second season blew me away, it was so brilliant and in my opinion better than the first. Phoebe Waller-Bridge deserved all the Emmys and the actress who plays her sister was robbed of best supporting, truly.

    My hard-to-get-into is Killing Eve, written by PWB. I think I’m going to give it another shot, though…

  82. 82.

    spudgun

    @Mnemosyne:  Thank you. So far I’ve taken up cross stitch – it’s surprisingly soothing. I’m also trying to read more…anything to keep my mind occupied.

    And the occasional pint of ice cream…?

  83. 83.

    Steeplejack

    I’m killing time for about another hour before picking up pizza and going to Sighthound Hall for dinner. Bro’ Man is in bachelor mode—husband and kids went to Brazil on Saturday, he’s not going until this Friday—so we’re going to get caught up, discuss politics and use all the swear words because no little ears around.

    And we’ll discuss Christmas dinner plans. After the success of the prime rib at Thanksgiving, I’m ready to deep-fry a turducken and burn the house  down, but I think cooler heads will prevail.

  87. 87.

    Raven

    @Steeplejack: in a way. My job is to make fun conversation, that I can almost always do. EVERYONE loves fishing stories and with my new gigantic beard loafing is sure to come up!

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    Repeating from the other day, but (very) broadly in the spirit of the topic, Quack Quack.

    From one of the most curious productions ever.

    … it was the first and will almost certainly remain the only vampire snooker musical ever made. Source

  90. 90.

    VeniceRiley

    As for Christmas, both I and the GF are off work. Plan to spend the whole day watching sportsball matches and talking to each other, except when she is making and eating Christmas dinner while also fending off a dog pack (she has two she’s watching for an ex.) This is the last Christmas I will spend alone! Happy about that.

  92. 92.

    Yarrow

    @zhena gogolia: OMG, that is awesome. I love that Biden is keeping his focus on Trump. His recent ads have been great.

    @Mnemosyne:
    I don’t think I’d find going to a movie much of a mental health day. Would have to get myself out, go somewhere in awful traffic, sit in the dark by myself and all of it would cost a bunch of money. Movie tickets are expensive. But your general point stands. I just have things I’ve got to do and other people are depending on me, so I’m not sure how to get out of it. Maybe in January I can take a mental health day.

    Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts.

  93. 93.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    As far as I can tell, the problem is that director Tom Hooper chose to use digital effects rather than costumes for all of the actors and then half-assed the special effects to the point that the artists were still trying to finish them on the day of the film’s premiere.

    I understand that the studio is sending out, downloading, etc., a new version of the film with some changes/refinements to the special effects.  I think it might be too late to save the film, however.

    The common complaint is that the characters are in just too much of an un-catty valley.

  96. 96.

    Jay

    As Sarah Chayes, one of the leading anti-corruption voices in the U.S., told Bellingcat… “it’s frankly open season. It broadcasts to the Kremlin that if you just disguise your money a little bit, the U.S. system is still fully penetrable.”https://t.co/TxhOBdTVZu— Bob Magaw (@BobMagaw) December 23, 2019

  97. 97.

    sab

    I have been living at this latitude and longitude for twenty years. So Why am I so surprised that I think dinner should be ready by now, at 5:30? Because it is very dark outside.

    Because I am retired and not commuting for two hours. So I can cook dinner when it gets dark and I am here, not when mom/wife gets home from her long commute.

    We do things badly nowadays, but we have pressures directing us badly.

    Just saying.

  98. 98.

    spudgun

    @sab:  Oh no, I’m nowhere near that good! I just started, so I defaulted to a few beginner’s kits from Joann Fabrics. But I did a lot of online research and found a site for DMC – it’s based in Europe, France or Luxembourg or somewhere – and they have TONS of free patterns to download. You have to sign up for their newsletter to download, but it’s worth it because I found over a hundred easy-beginner patterns that I’d like to work my way up to.

  101. 101.

    sab

    @Jay: Sarah Chayes dad thinks Caleb Carr is a sensible foreign power voice. Makes me doubt the whole Chayes dynasty. Writing aptitude is not actual knowledge.

  106. 106.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    In the spirit of respite, I am taking a break. I don’t want to read or hear that name, see that face, hear that voice until after the new year. Not even if he is taken away in chains during the holiday. I’ll catch up on any such news in January.

    So by necessity that means I’m not going to read any political blogs for the next 8 days or so. Just to show how pervasive he is in our culture, he popped up in this interview with Robert DeNiro about “The Irishman”.

    Frank has a problem with his daughter. He has problems that anybody can relate to. I never thought of him as being amoral or immoral. He lives in a world where the penalties are harsh if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do. He says he’s going to do something, he does it. I don’t like to go to Trump, but he is a person who, to me, has no morals, no ethics, no sense of right and wrong, is a dirty player.
    Could you find your way into the character of President Trump? I wouldn’t want to play him. He’s such an awful person. There’s nothing redeemable about him, and I never say that about any character.

    See you on the other side, jackals! Have a wonderful holiday!

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yarrow:

    Honestly, even just downloading a fun audiobook or podcast and listening to it as you travel from place to place could help. Don’t underestimate how valuable even a 10 or 15 minute mental break could be.

    Gentle hugs if they’ll help. ?

  111. 111.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    A writer friend of mine just found out that she’s on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the top 10 romance novels of 2019. I would be jealous if she weren’t immensely talented and deserved every bit of the praise.

    If you look up the list, it’s Mia Hopkins and the book is “Trashed.” It’s a great book, though quite, quite dirty. ?

  112. 112.

    NotMax

    @Yarrow

    Everyone has something (or somethings) which works as a salve to at least temporarily combat down in the dumpsdom.

    Personal go-tos are watching either The Stunt Man or a few episodes of Wonderfalls. Takes me out of myself just enough to shake the emotional dice and re-roll them. Musically, Prokofiev’s Lt. Kije Suite or else Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s A Night in the Tropics symphony or his shorter composition, the Grand Tarantelle. YMMV.

  113. 113.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    We put the urn with our kitty Annie’s ashes under the Christmas tree this week, because she always loved hanging out there during the holidays. She’s the one we lost to cancer back in May. ?

  115. 115.

    Jay

    @sab:

    Sarah Chayes Dad isn’t Sarah Chayes, and one can suck on Foreign Policy, ( it’s a given in the US) and not be wrong on corruption.

    Parnas, of Fraud Guarentee, Mafia Rave and Loan Crime Investigation Group, LLC’s, according to FEC filings, gave the maximum amounts to all the ReThugs, from Individual cantidates, to State and Federal ReThug Committees, to PAC’s.

    For a guy with no money who was selling Trump Condo’s for a “living”, that’s quite the “giving”.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Not too bad. I’ve been off-line a lot since I’m (theoretically) writing a new book. Theoretically. ? And I’m hoping to finally get my author website up and running for 2020 and actually get onto a blogging schedule.

    How are you and husband kitteh? I know that the news from home is pretty scary right now — my Indian friend that I recently re-connected with has been keeping me in the loop.

  121. 121.

    Miss Bianca

    @NotMax: I never would have thought of The Stunt Man as a feel-good – or feel-better – movie.

     

    Maybe because I first saw it when I was still in high school, and the only part of it I could relate to was that it had been filmed at the Hotel del Coronado, where my grandmother used to take us to dinner when we’d visit her.

  123. 123.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Mnemosyne: Actually the past week has made me more hopeful about India than I have been since Modi was reelected.

    That Modi would do the things he is doing is not surprising. Sangh’s intent has been clear since its inception in the 1920s. But the push back that this agenda is getting has been heartening.

    If you are on Twitter please retweet the massacre Modi’s handpicked chief Minister is perpetrating in one of India’s most populous states, Uttar Pradesh.

    https://twitter.com/RanaAyyub/status/1209145386327257089

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    @Miss Bianca

    For me it’s that it is so over the top yet manages to keep all the pieces and gears humming along in unison. Plus O’Toole thoroughly masticating the scenery (while going right up to but not crossing the line into farce) is a delight.

  126. 126.

    Miss Bianca

    @NotMax: Yeah, I guess. I must be alone in the world in that Peter O’Toole in his Manic Pixie Nightmare Boy mode does nothing for me

     

    ETA: Then again, my “the world sucks so bad I need a personal re-boot” movies are Muppets from Space and Desperately Seeking Susan, so what the hell do I know?

  128. 128.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne:  Thanks. I’ve watched some comedies I had piling up on the DVR. At least that makes me laugh. I still have a long list of things that must be done so I’m doing that, then taking a break. And then over again.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @Miss Bianca

    Will add I find the secondary and tertiary characters, although caricatures, fully-formed individuals, not simply way stations along the road to the end credits. (And if you’ve never seen it, stick all the way through to the finale of those credits.)

    And there are sprinkled throughout internally consistent amusing Easter eggs encountered (in my case) only upon repeated viewings.

  133. 133.

    Brachiator

    @Miss Bianca: 

    I must be alone in the world in that Peter O’Toole in his Manic Pixie Nightmare Boy mode does nothing for me

    Not even My Favorite Year?

  137. 137.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    I made it thru my last day of work until next week. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I needed time off. I’ve got the presents wrapped, kids fed and can’t wait to put them to sleep. Then I get some alone time in my craft room. Trying not to think about the ex’s hearing tomorrow morning. So much is riding on it. I dread the thought of having to go to trial and testifying. But worse than that having my daughter testify. I’m praying for a good plea deal.

    @VeniceRiley:

    @Betty Cracker:

    Highly recommend Fleabag for all the same reasons VeniceRiley mentions.  But you have to be ok with unlikable characters and sexual content.

  139. 139.

    Dan B

    We’re getting a respite from the Koch related, FOX news fanatics this year.  Yesterday we had dinner at friends, four hearty homemade soups: Wonton, sun dried tomato, chickpea with chinese noodles and ginger, and a hearty turkey noodle!  One couple’s gay nephew from small town and crazed evangelical family was there to have time with a batch of gay guys.  Xmas day we go to my brothers and a nephew and his Persian boyfriend and a niece with twins and husband.  They live in Bend, OR, a very different climate.  They are all anti-GOP so politics will likely be discussed but I could skip that.  Too much anxiety as is the news out of India.

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