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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Lazy Friday Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

Lazy Friday Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

by | 91 Comments

This post is in: 

My sister asked for some photos, and I thought I would share this one here, too.

Lazy Afternoon Open Thread 1 Lazy Afternoon Open Thread

Please nail every corrupt asshole on the Supreme Court.

Flowers, two Henrys, and a killer tweet from Sheldon Whitehouse.  Oh, and Henry would like to tell you about his new fun game, knocking the pillows off the bench.  Clearly the kitties have been training him whenever I leave the house.

That’s all I’ve got!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

91Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    All I can say, is who are you and how do you have so much time to keep such a well tended garden?

  4. 4.

    Soprano2

    So we made it. We’re on the runway at LaGuardia waiting to disembark. It’s surreal seeing Manhattan from the air.

  6. 6.

    FelonyGovt

    Henry is just too cute. I bet he gets away with everything.
    And your garden is beautiful.

  7. 7.

    japa21

    Lovely place to escape to.  Now that Mrs. Japa and I have left our home we no longer have that special place.  Envious to say the least.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    @OzarkHillbilly: Are bunnies going crazy in your neck of the woods this year?  I swear I have 7 generations of bunnies in my yard right now, some nearly as big as Henry all the way down to tiny little baby bunnies.

    They are eating EVERYTHING.

    The pots on the table (in the photo) have been rescued from the bunny massacre on the ground.

  12. 12.

    Anne Laurie

    Beautiful pics, WaterGirl — it’s a good thing for us all that you love keeping things in order (and also Henry).

  14. 14.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl:  Bunnies exploding in many places.  Our 7 pound cat, BaBoo, dragged a twelve pound bunny through the cat door.  My partner was awakened by the “playing” and put the bunny outside.  I thought that was nuts.  Fortunately (sorta) we have a greenbelt that is a highway for coyotes so we are not overrun with bunnies.  Worrisome about our kitties but the yard is fenced.

  15. 15.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: Bunnies and chipmunks are the bane of gardeners.  I hate them, but when Finch uncovered a nest of bunnies and they scurried away, I did make him come inside.   It’s a complicated relationship.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL:  I have never seen a bunny year like this.  The little babies don’t even know not to eat the stuff that they won’t like!

    I am currently a cross between “hey, little bunny” and considering roasting them to make s’mores of sorts. //

  18. 18.

    MagdaInBlack

    You know I am envious of your porch and if I were Henry, that’s exactly where I’d be too. ❤️

  19. 19.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl: I haven’t heard any theories but my hunch is they’re exploding but diseases will take the population down soon.  So the current boom is years after the last cull.

  24. 24.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Los Angeles Juicers- Sat (4-10pm) and Sunday (3:30-8pm) there are celebrations of Metro Art happening at Union Station.  Sat theme is SouthAsians and Sunday is Brazilian.  We are looking to go Sat because we’ve always wanted to see Cambodian-American rock band Dengue Fever live:

    SAT:
    North Patio
    4:00PM-4:20PM: Nkauj Hmoob Dance Team
    4:30PM-5:15PM: Sookjai Ensemble
    5:30PM-6:15PM: Ho Chan’s Pin Peat Ensemble
    6:30PM-7:00PM: Bo Razón
    Ticket Concourse
    7:30PM-8:00PM: Gingee
    8:00PM-9:00PM: Demonslayer
    9:15PM-10:00PM: Dengue Fever
    7:30PM-10:00PM: Visuals by Sick Delicious
    SUN:

    Ticket Concourse
    3:30PM-4:30PM: Rachel Hernandez – Samba Reggae Dance Instruction
    5:00PM-5:15PM: Gathering followed by procession (Passenger Concourse)
    5:20PM-6:00PM: Mestre Amen Santo: Capoeira Movement Instruction
    6:00PM-7:30PM: Roda de Capoeira featuring Mestre Amen Santo, Mestra Minha Velha, Mestre Muito Tempo, Professor Saracuru and Kahlil Cummings
    7:30PM-8:00PM: Roda de Samba led by Mestre Amen Santo and Mestra Minha Velha

     

  30. 30.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Lovely garden, WaterGirl and I love your doggo from afar (as I’ve confessed).

    Mr. Lurkalot is vigilant beyond words about bunnies so we don’t CURRENTLY have any in the yard. But I walk and bike a lot along an old farmer’s canal and they are EVERYWHERE AND HUGE.

    We also have a squirrel invasion. We normally maintain about 3 but this year there are at least 7 and their antics aren’t always cute (off my lettuce, rodentia)!

  31. 31.

    Anonymous At Work

    The nigh-human governor, DeSantis, is now suing the Department of Education.  He wants to pick his own accrediting agency for school quality AND to receive federal dollars at the same time.  Not gonna be pleasant and a lot of public colleges & universities in Florida are about to have a very bad summer and next budget year.  Having to plan for “And we can’t accept new students who get federal money…” is a disaster.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/desantis-sues-education-department-over-171017096.html

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @Sure Lurkalot: Last night I ordered something on Amazon so I can protect what I call my “Tucker hydrangea”, purchased in honor of my sweet boy.  It’s the most beautiful hydrangea I have ever seen.

    It was a hard winter for hydrangeas here, so it’s only about a third of the size it was last year and it is outgrowing the small bell-shaped chicken wire cloche that is protecting it.

    The bunnies are driving me crazy, but if they ate my Tucker hydrangea I think I would be heartbroken.  Sometime this weekend, I can post photos of it from last year.

  35. 35.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl:  There are plenty of diseases that will wipe out an otherwise healthy population.  We seem to have had a cull of birds here from bird flu.  We had resident Flickers, Crows, Scrub Jays, and myriad other birds.  We have a Hummingbird that visits regularly but only a couple Crows once a week.  Our neighbor’s bird feeder has many days with zero birds.  It’s eerily quiet and we’ve got a perfect garden for birds.  Scary.

  39. 39.

    Layer8Problem

    That garden looks peaceful and pleasant, nice work.  And that’s one handsome pooch, WaterGirl!​

  40. 40.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl:  We had three hard freezes this winter.  There were both early and late hard freezes – 23°.  Those would be hard on birds but this seems like Bird Flu.  The Hummer has no mate, or competition.  The only little birds have been Finches and we haven’t had those for three weeks now.  Our bird baths used to have birds every day, currently nada.

  43. 43.

    Fair Economist

    There has been a major outbreak of rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV2) in many parts of the country. Maybe the rabbit populations are developing resistance and rebounding (so to speak).

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    The repair of the I-95 bridge in Philly must be near completion. I saw a tweet from Penn Governor Shapiro saying that the Pocono Speedway sent its track dryer over to facilitate paving and striping in the wet weather.

  48. 48.

    Dan B

     

    @Sparkedcat:  Yes.  We built a garden on one of the San Juan Islands, very sparsely populated, maybe 30 homes and mostly visited a few times per year by people with private planes.  The island is about eight miles long and seven wide, 95% forest.  We planted with plants that are repellant because of their smell or deadly toxic.  There were 50 Aconitum, Wolfsbane.  It has a deadly neurotoxin that causes paralysis.  A client picked some of their beautiful blue flowers on a hike in the mountains and was puzzled when her arms went numb past her elbows.  The deer ate them to the ground.  They browse so never got enough to kill them.  We installed an eight foot fence.

  52. 52.

    Dan B

    @Baud:  The governor seems to have several very capable and cooperative agencies and help from Secretary Pete.  Good people and good governance.

  54. 54.

    Gvg

    @WaterGirl: Hydrangeas are easy to root. Any plant that is precious, you should clone multiple copies of so you can’t lose it so easily. Root cuttings of your Tucker hydrangea. Plant some extras around to be protected and transplanted if the mother plant is killed. Also keep one as a houseplant? And it is considered good planning to keep making copies of the copies and give them to friends and relatives who could give copies back if you had really bad luck, like a bad winter or something.

  55. 55.

    kalakal

    That’s a lovely garden and Henry is as cute as buttons.

    I like the hostas, do you have a magic secret to repel slugs and snails?

  57. 57.

    Jeffro

    I know there’s no practical way to do it, but I want SOMEONE to put Whitehouse’s two questions to Alito until he cracks and admits he ordered the Code Red.

    For realz.  >(

  58. 58.

    Jeffro

    @WaterGirl:

    @Dan B: our bunny population has gone nuts in the neighborhood here in central VA

    Same thing with field mice/moles/rats (we can’t quite tell what we’re seeing – but they’re out there in the mornings and evenings, just like the bunnies)

    The raptor population needs to get cracking on the problem, but they can start with the snakes (we’ve been seeing more and more of those here, too)

  59. 59.

    Jackie

    @Baud: It’s opening TOMORROW!

    “PHILADELPHIA – The collapsed stretch of I-95 is reopening sooner than expected, as Governor Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll will officially reopen the highway at noon Friday.”

    “Festivities will begin 10:30 with the governor and Carroll, along with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Philadelphia Building Trades members and contractors, with the official reopening set for noon.”

    ”PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll says teams have been working on the rebuilding process and thinking outside of the box to get the interstate back open.”

    https://www.fox29.com/election/gov-shapiro-officials-set-to-reopen-i-95-noon-friday.amp

  60. 60.

    Joy in FL

    Henry’s yard is beautiful. You’re doing a good job making it nice for him : )

  62. 62.

    Dan B

    @Jackie:  I thought it was going to take another week and THAT would be a MIRACLE!  I hope there’s a story about how it was done.  Sixty Minutes, are you there?

  63. 63.

    Martin

    @Geminid: So, this is important. One problem this country has is that we drag out large capital projects which opens the door for those projects to be undermined for political gain. So I-95 proves that we can do this shit fast, if we choose to. It doesn’t need to be 24/7 fast, but even 16/5 fast would have this done in 2 weeks instead of the originally estimated 2 months.

    The US has to find a way to do this. We get these moments – I-95 repair, the healthcare.gov recovery – that show that goddamn we can do stuff quickly and efficiently and competently when we demand that outcome. And that would restore SO much faith in government to be a force for good if we could just do that.

  64. 64.

    Jackie

    @Dan B: The article I linked to says it’s a temporary fix, BUT STILL!

    I’m reasonably sure it’ll be on national news. MSNBC gave it a quick mention today.

  65. 65.

    Jackie

    @Martin: I agree! I wish Biden could be there, but hopefully Buttigieg will be there to carry the water for Biden. It IS a Big Biden Deal!

  69. 69.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’m really not sympathetic to all of this “this isn’t the real left” or “where did this come from?” with regard to the ignorance or outright hostility toward the people Russia is doing or has done incredible state violence toward because it’s been there for a long time

    The left of center has been intensely distrustful of “mainstream media” and as a result preferred the constellation of Russian funded media outlets because they “tell it how it is” and this is the consequence

    This is also absolutely a Western thing because every time I make this kind of post, I get a bunch of westerners mad that I’m throwing shade at their social club and a bunch of Eastern Europeans and Asians saying they know exactly what I’m talking about

    we do this song and dance every other week and somehow westerners are incredulous that everyone else thinks we’re morons and are convinced that it’s actually their problem, not ours

  73. 73.

    CindyH

    @Geminid: my nephew who is a civil engineer in Philly says:

    They are building a temporary road on full and then replacing the bridge in sections for a long time

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    @CindyH: By “on full” do you mean “on fill?”

    That would not be a bad temporary fix. It might cause some congestion on surface streets, but that is a tolerable tradeoff.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    I thought that was supposed to take months

    There are sometimes special incentives for fast completion of road and bridge repair projects. This was the case for repairs of damaged freeway segments in California.

    ETA. Oh I see that there may be a temporary structure until the main section can be repaired.

  81. 81.

    topclimber

    @schrodingers_cat: Thank you for illuminating what goes on in a country most of us know little about.

    Do you have any faith or other reason to believe that India’s elections are fairly run?

  84. 84.

    OverTwistWillie

     

    The I-95 repair is a temporary fill structure.

    It doesn’t have to last 20 years, only long enough to build replacement overpasses.

    The permanent roadway will take longer and cost more, because it is designed for a 25 year service life, has bridges, and now involves staging and working on an active highway.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I don’t know what diplomatic efforts may be happening behind the scenes, but in public Modi is treated as an almost benign forward thinking science oriented technocrat. In much of Western media the mistreatment of Muslim minorities seems to be treated as a problem of local communities, not deliberate government policy.

    I am not sure of the extent to which media coverage of what is happening is suppressed in India itself. Are there vocal critics of Modi outside of India?

    There is little coverage of what people of Indian descent think about what is happening in India.

    Also, I don’t see many think pieces about whether Indian policy with respect to Muslim minorities is creating added tension with Pakistan.

    ETA. In UK news I think I saw an almost ironic story about how the conservative government is almost desperate to complete trade deals with India.

  86. 86.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: Aftrr the recent election in Turkiye, observers pointed out that they had been free but not fair. Free in the sense that the voting process was transparent with good safeguards against tampering, but not fair in the sense that the Turkish media landscape is dominated by allies of President Erdogan. Is there a similar dynamic in India?

  88. 88.

    dww44

    @Anyway: I came here to say the same thing.  It’s gotta be rewarding to be able to grow such beautiful flowers and so many  varieties.  I’d share pics of my own but we’ve had a week of very tropical almost monsoon like rain events and if they don’t stop all mine are gonna rot.

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Most of the Indian media is cowed down but it is not that difficult to find dissenting voices. If I can, sitting here in the US, anyone with an internet connection in India can.

    We know who some of the more noteworthy Russian and Putin opponents are. Opposition voices in Brazil and other countries would get some news coverage here. Are there notable Indian opposition who should be noted?

    ETA. A recent episode of Democracy Now may have a segment on the Modi visit. I am curious to see what guests are interviewed.

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