Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

T R E 4 5 O N

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Fight them, without becoming them!

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

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

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

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

So many bastards, so little time.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: A Little Scout

Open Thread: A Little Scout

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A Little Scout

We’re doing okay here. I took Scout out for her first ice cream yesterday. She enjoyed it. We are just back from a very long walk to try and expend some of that Scout energy.

Thank you all for your kind words to both John and me.  I read every comment, a little at a time, because your kindness was both overwhelming and healing. Shared grief is always easier to bear. I am sorry I had to hit you with Bixby on the same day John had to let go of Rosie. I knew it would be gut-punch (reading about Rosie when I returned from the pet crematory was devastating). I almost didn’t post, but couldn’t face telling you later this week and doing the deep grief-thing all over again.

I will do my best to get you some happy ducks later this week, so we can all take a deep breath and laugh a little at their antics. Maybe I’ll be able to catch morning duck-zoomies on video.

This is an open thread to discuss whatever…I haven’t watched the news since last week, so I’m sure there’s something going on, LOL. Anyone have fun 4th plans? Do you need any cookout recipes? I can probably come up with some… ?

 

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  5. 5.

    Tenar Arha

    Scout is adorable eating ice cream. Virtual hugs to you both.

    (Was so sorry to hear about Bixby yesterday. I was incommunicado for long enough yesterday I missed you posts until late last night. My condolences).

  6. 6.

    zhena gogolia

    Thank you for the lovely picture of Scout. Hugs to you both and the whole menagerie.

  7. 7.

    Scamp Dog

    Sad and shocked to get the news about Rosie and Bixby yesterday! Meeca is starting to show her age now, but I made a vet appointment to figure out how to manage the situation.

    Love to all!

  8. 8.

    cope

    My wife is currently making the easiest recipe. A melted stick of butter, a tablespoon of Italian Seasoning and a half teaspoon of salt to start. Dunk some Saltines in the mix and toast in a 275 oven for 15-20 minutes. It’s her go to recipe for someone with a sick tummy and her sister is sadly suffering therefrom.

    Sorry about your dog. I have been a dog person from about the age of ten and that is some six decades ago. I have been through iterations of the end of life situations with beloved pets too many times to count and yet, what did we do last December?  Take in a terrier mix shelter puppy.  Continue to take solace in your other critters as you are so clearly doing.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Scout is beautiful. I love her markings (is that called “brindling”?) and I love that the perspective of that photo makes it look as though her head is about 20x bigger than your foot :-)

  10. 10.

    Lyrebird

    Hello Tamara,

    I came to both of those threads way too late, so if you’re up for more condolences, here are mine! If you’re not, skip on down!

    Thank you for sharing so many of your great moments with Bixby through your photos and stories. What a fine pup. When I was little, I was terrified of most dogs, especially small nippy ones, but got on great with Great Danes! So good that you had your time with Bixby, and so good for him that he had you.

  11. 11.

    Jay

    I am sorry that I didn’t comment to you or John, both posts just left me gutted.

    Just so much loss the past 2 years.

  12. 12.

    Argiope

    I’m so sorry about Bixby, TaMara.  And as for getting the grief over with, yes, thanks for ripping the whole bandaid off at once.  Much better that way, even though it’s a tough week for the blog.  I’m so glad you have Scout and the ducks and that John has the remaining ColePets to tend to–you can fall apart for just the right amount of time, and then get busy hanging with the rest. Caring for the survivors can keep us going in times of huge loss. Yay for ice cream and for Scout!

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    All the dogs need all the ice cream.

    We love them, and all our pets so much, and we need to remember that their most of their little lives are too short, and that we have to see they have happy days, every single day they can. Dogs are so appreciative — most of them — of attention, of walks, and treats, and just being around us.

    I am seeing more dogs carted around in strollers these days. Happy little faces, and probably feeble little legs.

  16. 16.

    TomatoQueen

    Good morning Miss Jean Louise. You are a beautiful girl who deserves ice cream and a kiss. Also just now the woods behind us produced a lone buck white tailed deer, whose antlers look to be prodigious later,  just ambling along at 11 am, munching the knotweed in this heat, a healthy glow about his bronze coat.

  17. 17.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @SiubhanDuinne: She is a Silver Merle. A little different than a Blue Merle – her markings are more vivid, not dusty. She has a marking on the other side of her face that just stole my heart when we were looking for a pup after Bailey. But the best part is, when she arrived, it was clear she had angel wing markings on her back. And she’s been that for us ever since.

  19. 19.

    Nicole

    Don’t apologize; you needed to let us know when you could bear to let us know.  As I’ve said before, it’s a great tragedy of our lives, that they live for so much less time than we do, but it’s a great boon for our animals, because Bixby didn’t have to know a life without you (yes, yes, parrots.  I know. I know, pedants).  I think being the ones to handle the grief is the gift we give our pets for all they give us.  I’m glad you took Scout for some ice cream.  And yourself!

    And I think animals can feel grief.  My aunt and uncle’s golden retriever was friends with my elderly gelding, and would go out to the barn in the morning to “help” my uncle clean the stalls (often involving helping himself to some of the horse manure).  After we had to have my horse put down (he lay down one night and couldn’t get up.  Like I said, elderly), their dog never went out to the barn again.  His buddy wasn’t there anymore.

    My soon-to-be-11-year-old requested to learn to ride a horse this summer (OH MY HEART.  YES!  OF COURSE!  CAN WE AFFORD IT?  I DON’T CARE; I’LL FIGURE IT OUT) and I signed him up for a first lesson today, but it was cancelled on account of the heat.  Darnit, Global Climate Change; NOW it’s personal.  But he has another scheduled for over July 4th weekend.  July 4th is a great time to be in NYC because everyone else leaves. ;)

  20. 20.

    Leto

    TaMara, I just wanted to say again how sorry I am. I feel like we don’t ever have enough time with them, but the time we do have is so special. I hope in time that the grief fades and the wonderful memories are all that remain. Don’t worry about 4th recipes as it’s hamburger/hotdog/watermelon season. Take your time. We’ll all be here when you return. /hugs

  21. 21.

    Baquist

    Tamara, so sorry for your loss.  I missed the blog the last few days and ran into this.  Scout is beautiful, give her extra hugs in the coming future.

  22. 22.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Not as bad as Bixby with Bailey – I take comfort he is reunited with his first love.

    She is much quieter and very clingy.  But she’s resilient and she will get through it. She just needs some extra attention.

    Everyone, including the ducks*, is missing him. He was a big presence.

    *they all came to the patio door at sunset yesterday and made such a racket – I could even distract them with lettuce. If I had to guess, they were looking for Bixby. They’ve never behaved that way before…

  23. 23.

    Embra

    I want to thank you for going ahead with your post about Bixby.

    Pets are so pure…to know them is to love them. The grief we feel at their passing is one of the hardest things I’ve encountered in life.

    But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  24. 24.

    raven

    I made “ice cream” for the pups out of banana, yogurt and peanut butter. It’s way better for them that the real thing.

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Entirely off topic, but it is an Open Thread.

    There’s a really nice profile of Dr. Jill Biden in the latest issue of Vogue, with a beautiful cover photo. If you admire our FLOTUS (and who here does not?) it’s well worth reading.

    https://www.vogue.com

  28. 28.

    raven

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: We were sure Bohdi was going to miss Raven but it turned out he was perfectly happy being the only dog. When we adopted Lil Bit he gathered up every toy in the house and sat on them looking at her. He never played with them before or after but he let the little girl know what time it was!

  32. 32.

    Kristine

    @raven:

    We were sure Bohdi was going to miss Raven but it turned out he was perfectly happy being the only dog.

    Gaby has been perfectly happy being an only dog as well. I thought for a time that she missed having a buddy–she and King were close, and she did stop eating a few days after he passed. She loves other dogs, but she likes alone time as well, and she does grumble if I pet a dog that isn’t her. I think it could’ve gone either way, but being The Boss of Me suits her.

    And after decades of big dogs, it’s nice to have one that I can pick up and carry when they refuse to come when called.

  34. 34.

    Rob Lll

    I’ve been offline for a couple of days so this is belated, but my deepest condolences on your loss, TaMara. I hope your many happy memories of Bixby help you get through this difficult time.

  36. 36.

    West of the Rockies

    Open thread, so I really wish one of the main A-holes would finally face consequences:  Gaetz, Stone, ANY Trump, Flynn, Pompeo, MTG, etc.  None should be walking freely and gaining (I refuse to say earning) money.

  40. 40.

    cope

    @Kristine: Absolutely agree with you about the advantages of down-sizing with dogs.  Until 2019 when we had to make that awful last trip to the vet with each of our Catahoulas within a couple of months of each other, we had always loved larger dogs.  Now, our latest, Jesse, is barely 25 pounds and even old me can grab her and pick her up if need be. We still get our big dog fix when one of our neighbor’s pit bulls comes over for a play date with Jesse. Each weighs a good 60 to 70 pounds. They’re both males and Jesse terrorizes them as if she were ten times their size.  Dogs….

  41. 41.

    Kristine

    @cope: Gaby’s 40 lbs, so it’s a heft for me but doable. But King weighed 115-120 lbs, Mickey 85-90 lbs, and Prince, 77 lbs.

    That said, to me Gaby is a small dog. I can’t adjust to the halter and bedding measurements that indicate she’s a medium (insert Pterry joke here).

  42. 42.

    Nicole

    @cope:

    Each weighs a good 60 to 70 pounds. They’re both males and Jesse terrorizes them as if she were ten times their size.  Dogs….

    I have read on many pet sites that the (generally) easiest combo of dogs to keep is a male and a female so she can boss him around.  Yours is living the dream when the big boys come to visit, it sounds like.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    Glad y’all are hanging in there. Losing a beloved pet just sucks!

    @cope: Badger is our first small dog, and it really is handy to be able to just pick them up. We were talking about taking him on the boat with us sometime. I think he would love it, and I trust him not jump into the water with the gators because he is emphatically NOT a water dog. I did some research, and they make small dog floatation vests with a handle — ultra convenient!

  44. 44.

    Kristine

    @cope:

    They’re both males and Jesse terrorizes them as if she were ten times their size. Dogs….

    Some of that may be the male/female dynamic. King tolerated stuff from Gaby that he never would’ve tolerated from Mickey.

    I’ll never forget watching Gaby standing at the back fence barking like mad at one of the neighbor’s mastiffs. That dog would run along the fence with King and bark right back. But little Gaby? He stood in one spot looking down at her, his tail wagging, with his expression on his face like “you’re so pretty.”

  45. 45.

    J R in WV

    Our first dog was named Muffin, short for Ragamuffin, who was a mischevious Medieval small scale demon. I rescued her in mid February from a Dairy Queen where I would stop for a hot dog some days going back and forth to MU in my late college days. She was barely getting by on hot dog ends, and it was really really cold.

    After a couple of years Wife brought home a road-side puppy, half Airdale wit that tight curly coat. Muffin was “Oh, WOW now I have a Puppy! I’m a MOM~!!~ I’ll show her everything!” and she did. The time she taught Annie how to get in and out of the car — she jumped in and out twice and stepped away, and woofed at Annie, Now YOU do it! And she did. They were quite a couple for many years.

    Muffin was a Valentines Day present for Wife, the perfect event for that place and time.

  48. 48.

    J R in WV

    @raven: ​
     
    I use peanut butter to pill the dogs — they love it so much, I could feed them anything if I cover it with peanut butter.

    A good friend feeds her small rescue bird dog by filling up a Kong toy with kibble glued in with peanut butter, it takes the pupper hours to eat so she has no clue that she is on a diet.

  49. 49.

    Ruckus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    And it doesn’t hasn’t happened.

    FIXT for you.

    This stuff takes time. Just because we know who they are and what they do, and don’t do, doesn’t mean there is a case that can be proved in a court. That takes time. And it’s not like there aren’t other things taking up time and effort. Yes it’s a big government, and departments for the different problems but some of those have been at least partial disabled because the people in charge for 4 yrs knew that they are assholes and were fucking up, gumming up the works, so that they could do the very crap that they did. Getting through that, gathering evidence, trying to fix things so that people don’t continue to suffer, takes time. And along with that you have the people who support the shit posse continuing to stir up shit, in the hope that it will all go bad, because they are fucking idiots with a pension for doing stupid shit and hoping that it will pay off.

    IOW it’s not as simple as we think it is and neither are the answers.

    It takes time.

    It takes effort.

    For most of my life I made precision things out of metal. I learned at a very early age that it always takes longer than one would like, and often longer than experienced people would think, if you are trying to do it right. We seem to have a hurry gene, we want what we want when we want it. But life far more often takes longer than what our hurry gene tells us it should.

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    Scout is good.  Ice cream is good.  The two together is better.  :-)  Hang in there.

    ObOpenThread – Dean Baker’s latest at CEPR:

    I know I harp a lot on all the ways we structure the market to redistribute income upward, but that’s because we keep digging in deeper on these policies, and almost no one else talks about it. I get that it’s cool to talk about all sorts of tax and transfer schemes to redistribute some of the money we give to the rich and super-rich. But, I’m one of those old-fashion sorts who thinks it’s simpler just not to give them all the money in the first place. So, now that you have been warned, here again is my short list of ways to not give so much money to rich people.

    Patent and Copyright Monopolies

    Downsizing Finance

    Corporate Governance and Super-Rich CEOs

    Section 230 and Special Immunity for Mark Zuckerberg

    If the New York Times runs a defamatory ad, it can face a large lawsuit for libel. If Mark Zuckerberg runs the same ad on Facebook, he faces no legal liability. Only the person who paid for the ad can be sued. It’s not obvious why we should think that an Internet intermediary bears no liability for spreading defamatory claims, but a print or broadcast outlet does.

    Clearly far more material is carried over Internet outlets, but that is the choice of the outlets. That doesn’t seem like a good reason to allow them to profit from defaming someone.

    The reason Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t face liability and the New York Times does is that Congress gives him and other Internet intermediaries special protection. Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, protects Internet intermediaries from liability for third party content. This protects it from being sued for both the ads it carries and also the posts from individual account holders.

    We don’t have to give Facebook this special protection. We could make Zuckerberg libel for ads in the same way that the New York Times and CNN are libel for ads that they carry. This means that he would have to scrutinize ads for defamatory material in the same way that traditional media outlets have this responsibility.

    We can also make Facebook libel for defamatory posts just like the New York Times is libel for defamatory statements that appear in letters to the editor. It would of course be impossible for Facebook to screen every post in advance. We can structure the liability to take the form of a takedown requirement after notification, just as is down now with material that is alleged to infringe on copyrights.[3] This will undoubtedly add considerable costs for a company operating on Facebook’s business model, but so what?

    I had a serious of Twitter exchanges in the last couple of weeks in which several people argued that this sort of change in the law would just benefit Facebook at the expense of smaller competitors, since its size would make it better able to absorb the added costs. I had argued for continuing to exempt common carriers, who don’t control content, but we can draw the line somewhat differently.

    We can exempt any intermediary that does not either sell advertising or personal information. This would mean that any intermediary that either made its money on a subscription basis, or was operated as a public service, would not face liability for third party content. That should provide a substantial advantage to Facebook’s competitors who choose to structure themselves in a way that they could benefit from this protection.

    If We Care About Inequality, Maybe We Should Stop Giving So Much Money to the Rich

    […]

    That’s the first seemingly thoughtful approach to addressing FB’s power to spread lies and Section 230. Money makes things different, and an effective way to address the power is by addressing the money.

    Lots more thoughtful stuff in the article. Click on over.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    Ruckus

    TaMara, I am so sorry that you’ve lost one of the family. They are all precious to us, well because they are, if we have any humanity. They are beautiful, they are our friends, our companions, our family and we love them in spite of their faults and we miss them when they are gone. The best ones take a piece of us when they go, and while that hurts, we are glad that we got to share life with them. They have a better life because  we care and we give them what they need. We have a better life because of them.

    Thank you and John for sharing them with us, it makes life better because we get to share them a little as well, even if it’s long distance.

  55. 55.

    La Nonna

    Add our condolences to your losses, both.  Ultrahot weather, 103F is messing with wifi reception here, and not a breeze to be found….weitd considering we are between the Adriatic and the Ionian, def not normal June weather….buckle up.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    @J R in WV:

    The time she taught Annie how to get in and out of the car — she jumped in and out twice and stepped away, and woofed at Annie, Now YOU do it! And she did.

    What a touching story.  I teared up.

  57. 57.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    I’ve been harping on the money issue for a very long time because there is a reason that money is what makes the world go. Not go round but what makes society go. Wars are fought over, monetary issues, no matter what they were said to be about, that is at the bottom for most of them. I’m not saying they were valid issues but greed issues. Money is value, with currency it is a somewhat agreed upon value. Or at least it has been for most of our existence. But now we have taken the fixed value out of it, because there isn’t enough gold or whatever to use it to set that value. So now we value money by how much people think we have, and the more we can make, reasonably or not, the higher we place them on a scale of value. Currently that’s billionaires. Except that to get there one has to fuck over someone or lots of someones, even if while doing so, one provides some value. And that measurement can’t be all used or one loses one’s place in the counting. Our world has always been one of massive excess for some and barely enough, if that much, for many. And it really can’t go on because there are too many of us for the amount of currency in circulation. So we can create more currency and cause inflation or we can increase circulation of that held by those we call the super wealthy. IOW control how wealthy they can get, by taxation. And we have done this during my lifetime and it causes a massive redistribution of wealth. The rich still are, it’s just that the differences are much less.

  58. 58.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    A trillion dollars of what exactly is correct. It does not have a value in of itself that would put it anywhere near that. Which means that the value is hidden, and it is. The value is in what can be sold, and not to the obvious customers, but to the customers who use that which they buy to make more from those original customers. As we know, FB is about selling your information, as is most of internet business which is about selling information that you don’t even know they have. And even if you protect yourself as good as is possible/available, there is still value there to sell. Hell even that protection costs something.

  59. 59.

    TriassicSands

    Tamara, I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. Bixby was such a huge presence and, recently, every time I saw his grizzled face, I felt like I was looking at a (maybe slightly funny looking)¹ wise old man. I live in Washington and for the past four days I’ve been dealing with extreme heat and my 18-year-old cat who was severely stressed by the temperatures until I was able to move her to a neighbor’s air conditioned house. So, it was only minutes ago that I saw the sad news about two of BJ’s special resident canines.

    You gave Bixby a wonderful home and all the love any dog could want and I’m sure he loved his life with you. That’s all anyone — dog or person — could hope for.

     

    ¹ But not funny looking at all for a Great Dane.

  63. 63.

    debbie

    I did not know about Bixby until just now and I am so, so sorry. I’ve known a few Great Danes, but Bixby was the greatest.

  64. 64.

    dkinPa

    Missed the post about Bixby.  I am so sorry to hear that, Tamara.  Many condolences.

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