Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

People are weird.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Republicans don’t trust women.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka

Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka

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I got some grief a while back for failing to post enough Tikka pictures…and it’s time for  new thread. I’ve got a couple of things I’m trying to find mental space to post, but just to give us a bit of a change-up for the afternoon, feast on a few Tikka moments.

First, here he is channeling his inner Isadora Duncan:

Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka

This is him, giving Donald Trump the appropriate wordless response:

Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka 1

And here’s Pandemic Cat, telling y’all stay home or mask the fuck up:

Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka 2

The other two books in that pile, btw, are Charles Rosenberg’s The Cholera Years, and Margaret Humphrey’s Marrow of Tragedy. He’s dressed in black for a reason…

Finally,  Tikka wants every jackal to know that he loves them and wishes them well…

Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka 3

…as long as one approaches at one’s own risk.

ETA: Bonus respite pics.

1: a young buck on the beach at Loblolly Cove in Rockport, MA:

Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka 4

 

And last: the heron I met a couple of days ago on Leverett Pond (the first of a chain of ponds in Boston’s Emerald Necklace heading south from the Fens.)

Respite Thread, Ordained by H.R.H. Tikka 5

The thread…Tikka graciously opens.

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Are you reading those books for fun, Tom, or is your next book going to be something pandemicky and you’re in the research phase?

  8. 8.

    karen marie

    Tikka is a very handsome fellow.

    I see pictures of cats and want one.  And then I remember that I live in a 700-square-foot apartment in Arizona that is effectively sealed to exclude all outside air until at least mid October.   I’ve had a cat most of my 63 years, up till 18 months ago when I had to have our Gracie euthanized because she was old and her health was rapidly failing.  I miss her very much, as does her dog Lucy, but I do not miss the smell of cat piss.  (I emptied the pan every time she used it, so it wasn’t accumulated cat piss – just the smell of fresh piss hitting the litter).

    I wish they made pissless cats.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SWMBO:

    I second the recommendation. A couple of years ago Fathom Events had it in cinemas. I saw it once and was so moved that I returned a few days later for the encore screening. Am very tempted to watch it yet again while it’s available.

  13. 13.

    Mike in NC

    Yesterday’s mail brought the hospital bill for the minor prostate surgery I had to have in March. It was for $29,129.55!!! My head started spinning and I envisioned having to sell my car, our three cats, and possibility a kidney just as a down payment. Then I called the number on the statement listed for “questions or concerns” and spoke to some nice woman who, after a few minutes of reviewing my account, told me to disregard it.

  17. 17.

    Skepticat

    @karen marie:  I have three cats and even less space but suffered from the same issue, plus litter’s extremely expensive and difficult to get on a desert island in the Bahamas. However, a friend got a Tidy Cats Breeze litter box, and at her suggestion, I tried one. It’s made a huge positive difference for me, and I’ve just ordered a second. You might want to check it out.

  18. 18.

    West of the Rockies

    In honor of Tikka, I am having a beer, the first in over a year (it gives me heartburn).  It’s 100° F here though, I’m dog sitting a just-spayed dog girl, and something in Tikka’s face says, “Have a beer.”  Always obey cats.

  20. 20.

    Ken

    @Mike in NC: Is this somehow your first hospital stay? In my experience that’s always what happens. The hospital sends a bill for six times your expected lifetime income and you faint.  Then weeks later the insurance company sends a statement saying “the negotiated rate for that is (much lower figure), you already made your copayment, and we paid the rest”.

  23. 23.

    bemused

    We have a 9 year old female cat and a 15 month old male. They get along great and both are sweeties. However the young male likes to chew on cords. We had to replace 3 or 4 phone charger cords. It wasn’t easy to find an outlet to plug our phones in that he couldn’t get to. He also chewed the cords to our two phones to the landline. We now have cord protector covers but he still tries to chew them. We’re out of solutions.

  24. 24.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    It doesn’t say anything *bad*, but it must say *something*  when I read “young buck” and my brain immediately went to “t-bone steaks”, rather than, you know, a quadruped.

  25. 25.

    randy khan

    @Ken:

    The single thing that most convinced me of the value of Medicare was dealing with the bills from my father’s last illness.  All of the Medicare-covered bills basically disappeared.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    @bemused: Some 24 or 48 volt chargers might have enough of a kick to convince him that noshing on the black wires is a Bad Idea…

  30. 30.

    Yutsano

    @randy khan: The mechanics side of Medicare is great. One of the reasons doctors like to take Medicare as insurance is because Medicare pays. There’s no fighting or wrangling over the costs, Medicare just shells out. It’s also why their overhead costs are so low. They just process the claim.

  31. 31.

    jnfr

    @karen marie:

    Both of our elderly cats passed on over the winter and I am catless for the first time in more than 40 years. We thought we’d wait a bit because we needed to get some work done on the house and didn’t want to stress a new cat with it.

    Now we’re stuck in the pandemic and I am missing my kitties so much. Though I hear you on the piss smell.

  32. 32.

    bemused

    @West of the Rockies:

    Maybe try that. He’s a stinker when he gets fixated on the cords. Hot sauce crossed my mind but thought that was going too far. He looks so angelic when he wants to climb in my lap.

  34. 34.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Am in a BLM symbolic funeral march in Louisville in honor of Juneteenth and the victims of police violence. The park across from the Louis XVI statue has the air of a street fair. Panthers are liberally dotted, helping with order. A few streets got blocked, but it was peaceful – meanwhile, LMPD insists on buzzing us with their helos.

  35. 35.

    Gvg

    @karen marie: when I was selling my last house, I really needed to be confident there was no cat smell to put off a buyer. I discovered crystal cat litter locks in the smell better than anything else I ever tried. From on line reviews not all brands are equal so read. I also used a robo litter scooper. The cat cooperated, not all cats accept either that kind of litter or the robot. I use a mix of tidy cat crystals and a brand called ultra, clumping crystals, about 2 to 1 mix.  The robot is pet safe scoopfree. If I used just clumping, it would clump too hard for the robo scoop, but partial clumping means I can get the pee out not just the poop. Scoop free wants you to use their prepackaged cardboard litter box inserts but that gets expensive. I had read up, and immediately bought an aftermarket plastic bottom and added my own litter I buy in bulk at grocery stores. Anyway I love the less smell. Probably never go back.

  36. 36.

    WereBear

    @bemused: can you give him something else like it to chew?

    It’s some kind of snake killing instinct. I weaned RJ off blind cords by giving him something like it, only thicker and tougher. He had to kill the bigger snake.

     

    Left the blind cords alone.

  37. 37.

    Gvg

    @jnfr: start putting out cat food. A hungry stray will show up. Make freinds. Do on purpose what usually happens by accident.

  39. 39.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, animal-related question.

    The Sighthound Hall mob is “fostering” a dog that they will undoubtedly end up adopting, because small kids and dogs. “Chip”—dunno if the name has stuck for sure—is a black and white mutt, already 35 pounds at four months old and with big paws to grow into.

    My question is: what dog food do the jackals recommend? Probably dry, but wet-food suggestions taken too. I used to argue with my brother occasionally about the dry food he fed his last greyhound, Kitty (RIP), and I’d like to nudge them into good habits with the new dog. I’ll even pay for some food to get them started on the path of righteousness.

    In related news, this is the first comment I am writing in Word on my new computer. I got a Lenovo ThinkPad T480 about three weeks ago, and it has taken me this long, in between doing other things, to get my documents and other files transferred and to get Word’s 4,392 options set up to my OCD liking. But for anything longer than a short comment I prefer it greatly to the built-in FYWP editor. So, yee-haw, I guess.

  40. 40.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    Sadly, I’m the oldest white guy marching – not quite 60 yet. Precious few white men over 40 in an otherwise large and friendly crowd.

  41. 41.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Now they’re buzzing the square. They could EASILY stand off.

  42. 42.

    bemused

    @WereBear:

    I’ll give that some thought like what type of material to try. If plastic, it would have to be practically indestructible for this guy.

  44. 44.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Two helos and an MRAP. We’re taking photos of faces with a DSLR.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack: I like Fromm’s pet food.  I buy the grain free varieties, but they have some with grain if you find that desirable.

    Recommended to me by my friend who raises and shows dogs.

    Congratulations on the new computer.  Tons of work to get everything transferred and set up just how you like it, but totally worth it.

  48. 48.

    danielx

    @Gvg: 
    IF there are no raccoons in the vicinity, otherwise word will quickly get around there’s a smorgasbord available.

  50. 50.

    CarolPW

    @Steeplejack: Not so much a brand recommendation as a type – my vet prefers large breed puppy kibble for the first year, even if the pup isn’t going to be particularly large. He really doesn’t want dogs to get fat, and the large breed puppy chow has fewer calories but still has the extra vitamins and minerals they need.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    A year and a half after getting the new PC am finally getting to the process of going one by one through the 800+ fonts I had over the years installed on the old machine, choosing which ones to keep and put on the new unit versus those which no longer hold appeal, are similar enough to one another to pass as clones or for which never came up with a use. Had migrated the entire kit and kaboodle to a flash drive prior to reformatting the old machine (and upgrading from Win 7 to Win 10) in order to give it to Mom.

    Yes, I’m a fontaholic.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    Thanks for the suggestion.

    Even getting little Windows and browser settings set up has been a minor adventure. Things that you tweak one at a time over months or even years, and then suddenly on the new computer with a freshly installed copy of the browser it feels like nothing is working quite the way that you want it to.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    a freshly installed copy of the browser

    Can’t speak to others but it is a snap to migrate your Firefox settings and profile from one machine to another.

  56. 56.

    BruceFromOhio

    Open thread? Alright then!

    Who do I call, email, bribe, extort or otherwise brace to get the Pets of Balloon Juice Calendar published in December instead of January?

  57. 57.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Oh, God, I haven’t even gotten into the font issue. Thanks for reminding me. I don’t have 800—I don’t think I have 800—but I have quite a few that I acquired over the years. Need to look at those and see which ones I really need. I guess I could just copy them all to a spare folder or USB stick and install them as needed.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @BruceFromOhio: What do you mean by published?

    After the experience this year, Beth and I talked about getting started on the calendar right after Halloween, so people could include their pets in costume, if desired.

    I can dig out the timeline we talked about, it’s go to be in a text or an email somewhere, unless we talked about that by phone.

    Found part of it, at least:

    Next year, I’m thinking we put out the call for photos on October 1, and give them until a week after Halloween to get everything in. Then you would have the photos and could work to your own schedule, without the holidays breathing down your neck.

    I don’t want to speak for Beth, but I can tell you what I know. Beth loves doing the calendar, but it’s a ton of work. I volunteered to help with a lot of the grunt work this year: going through the emails, saving the photos to a shared drive, etc so Beth can focus from the beginning on getting the photos sorted into months, and can get started early on the design. There were so many issues with Cafe Press this year that we are even considering using a different company for printing/ordering.

    Does that help?

  59. 59.

    jeffreyw

    @Steeplejack: 
    Look into a network attached storage gizmo. I keep most everything on mine and access it from any of my devices. Robust backup options abound. Alternatively, external drives are faster then ever, and come in gigantic sizes for pretty cheap.

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Didn’t really look at that, because I’m leery of synchronizing a browser over multiple devices and I sort of equate migrating the profile with that (possibly in error). I’ll take a look. Everything’s mostly done. I just need to figure out what to do with the bazillions of bookmark lists I saved on the old machine. A lot of them are crap, but you have to go through the crap to find the pearls.

  62. 62.

    CaseyL

    @jnfr: So sorry to hear that!  To be catless after spending most of your life with cats makes for a too-quiet house and an “off” feeling (at least for me).  Best of luck finding new kitties – I like Gvg’s idea, of letting them find you :) (That’s how I got my current pair.)

    There are Juneteenth events in Seattle throughout the city, but I’m not at them.  Today decided to be extremely muggy, which type of weather basically exhausts me just walking around the block.  (Besides making me extra cranky.).

    It’s very VERY good to hear that, so far, the major protests have not resulted in covid-19 spikes among the protestors, because the wave seems not to be letting up.

  64. 64.

    Steeplejack

    @jeffreyw:

    Yes, I know (hangdog expression), or I could even store my files on Microsoft OneDrive or whatever Google’s alternative is. Somebody’s cloud, anyway. I just never got around to setting up a system. It’s like moving: you don’t realize how much junk you have until you have to box it up and take it someplace else.

  66. 66.

    Skepticat

    @Ken:

    If you had to pay for and haul it all over hell and gone you might not! And yes, I did try sand, and though the price was right, the smell was hideous—and I still had to lug it.

  67. 67.

    jeffreyw

    @Steeplejack:

    And while you are thinking about it, once the new machine is just like you want, go to control panel, click on the win7 backup and restore icon and create system image.  And set up a backup schedule.  Get one of the bus powered external drives and use that to keep everything on.

  70. 70.

    Steeplejack

    @jeffreyw:

    Oh, I’m definitely going to create a (bootable) system image! I’ve got a big USB stick waiting just for that.

    And my backup needs are actually quite modest. Even on the old machine it was mostly documents and Excel spreadsheets in one folder, plus some folders of Web development/database stuff that changed much less frequently. Every few days I would copy the documents folder to one in a rotation of USB sticks: one getting the current backup, one near at hand at the desk and one in the glove compartment of the car. After the backup is done, that stick goes on the desk and the one on the desk goes to the car. The one in the car comes back to get the next backup. Currently using 32GB sticks, which are cheap but still overkill for space.

    I do have some folders with a lot of photographs, from my succession of cell phones, cameras and old computers, but I back those up when I copy them from wherever to the computer or, as with the development stuff, when the content changes.

    I don’t have a formal home “network” or other users to contend with, so my needs are simple. Most of my current problems are “moving day” problems. But I appreciate your suggestions and probably should look into a more formal solution, even if only as a technical exercise. I’ve got a couple of external drives sitting around here somewhere. I used one to hot-rod my old Cox cable box and quadruple the storage space.

  71. 71.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Good to know. You used to have to “manually” install them. Which I guess is an indication of how long it has been since I’ve gotten any new fonts.

  75. 75.

    karen marie

    @Gvg:  I appreciate your (and others) suggestions.  My brain is completely overloaded with pandemic stress of not enough work and it simply being fucking summer in Arizona.  We will revisit the question when the weather cools down, if I survive till then.

  76. 76.

    smedley the uncertain

    @Steeplejack:   Try MozBackUp.  I use it across several machines but it is unique to each FF install.  No sync.  I’m leery of sync’ng also.  Caution it restores everything!

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