Got the tv situation sorted. Bought a 60″ used one off Facebook Marketplace for 125 bucks. Some young 25-30 year old kid whose bf cheated on her so she was selling all their shit and moving to California. Why do I know this? Because she told me and I asked no more questions and drove directly over.
The color isn’t perfect and the hue is off but it works and we can both see it and it was the right price. Joelle’s glasses are usually so smudged it wouldn’t matter if the picture was perfect anyway, and I don’t care because I can handle watching it for a couple months a year.
One of the things I am having a hard time getting used to is everything is 15-30 minutes away, but when you get there, it still feels like you are in the same place. That’s weird for me. Where I live in WV you drive 15-30 minutes in any direction and you are looking at radically different terrain. From where I am I drive ten minutes in any direction and I’ve crossed at least 2-3 named ridgelines and descended through and around several hollows and crossed at least one or two creeks. It’s very difficult to get used to.
Also you have been screaming for pet pics. Here is a picture of Maxwell Edison, who dangles, although against his will and against my better judgment:
Surprisingly and somewhat miraculously, no humans were hurt taking this picture.
Medium Cool – Dorothy A. Winsor: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thriller
Tom Levenson
I believe Maxwell grasps that revenge is a dish best eaten cold.
schrodingers_cat
He looks like trouble. How does he get along with Steve and company?
Alison Rose
That should be your new profile pic everywhere.
schrodingers_cat
@Tom Levenson: My thoughts exactly.
Maxwell’s inner monolog: Unhand me human and prepare to die.
Wileybud
Well John, while you’re up in Tempe you and Joelle should check out the Salt River in Mesa. Especially if you return during the summer to go tubing. An affordable mental vacation!
Another Scott
Yay TV situation! Being able to reasonably quickly, and cheaply, click an item off The List is a good thing.
Maxwell looks plump and happy.
Keep on keeping on.
Cheers,
Scott.
dexwood
Welcome to the Southwest, John. Moved to New Mexico 50 years ago next month. Left Baltimore on Valentine’s day. Left my girlfriend and my dog. Went back for the dog a month later. It’s all different out here,in so many ways. So much to adjust to, to explore, to become.
NotMax
There are picture settings for those in the menu section of the TV which may need tweaking up or down.
Oh, also make sure to turn off smoothing.
John Cole
@NotMax: Already done.
p.a.
I better get back on my meds. That photo reminded me of Goya.😧
Almost Retired
Panthers are patient. They wait and bide their time. Until it’s time to act. Sleep with one eye open because Maxwell Edison is not letting that photo go unavenged.
Bupalos
As a guy trained in political theory and deeply into the history of democratic decline and how political systems morph into authoritarianism….
Root hard for Nikki Haley to start gathering an insurgency against Trumpism. As important as Biden holding the executive.
To clarify, she won’t be the.nominee, that’s not the idea. The idea is that there is some cognitive alternative within the rightwing space that preserves Republican politicization
Ideally she survives the early contests and Trump is baited into playing a gender card.
mrmoshpotato
Enjoy being north of freezing.
Suzanne
Naaaaaah, you can drive 45-90 minutes and still feel like you’re in the same place. OH LOOK, there’s a Best Buy, an Applebee’s, a Fry’s Marketplace, and a -berto’s.
TaMara
If Maxwell is anything like Patrick Sullivan Panther, esq, all is forgiven if the indignity is followed by lap time and two-handed scritches. His motto is, “hooman, you have two hands and you must use them both”
You both look adorable.
NotMax
@John Cole
Another thought is to confirm the TV (assuming it’s a smart TV) has the latest software updates installed. Could be the “automatic updates” setting within the menu was switched off at some point.
Cheryl from Maryland
@p.a.: Saturn Devouring His Children?
satby
Max has fleshed out a bit.
Edit: not a criticism, so have I.
SuzieC
Awww Maxwell is a sweet little panther.
prostratedragon
@p.a.: I found myself thinking of the cat-beard seat. Much sillier, but also easier to handle.
BeautifulPlumage
Maxwell can’t be too unhappy, not with the cute blep going on. Thanks for proof of life! Is Steve getting any treatments with the AZ vet?
eclare
What brand is the tv?
satby
SOMEONE suggested I just wait until a thaw to get the snow cover off my windshield. The first day predicted to go above 32° here is a week from tomorrow. Not sure I can wait that long. I’ll definitely run out of cat food before then. Getting up to 18° on Wednesday, so that’s my bust out day.
eclare
@satby:
Good luck!
mrmoshpotato
@satby: We’re busting out, ya see, coppers! Naw!
ETA – I second eclare’s “Good luck!” 🥶
ETA2 – good call on the windshield cover. I heard at least 3 people scraping their windshields yesterday.
satby
@eclare: 😂 I could probably warm up the windshield enough with the defroster to pull it off before that, but then I’d have to go pump gas in 0° weather. I still will then, but will a +18° starting point.
mrmoshpotato gracias,
well, good call until the rain between the snow froze it in a sheet of ice.
Mike in Oly
I am totally in love with Maxwell. Reminds me of our dear departed Oliver. We need another house panther.
Chuck
@Suzanne:
I’ve always said that you can take Phoenix (I know we’re saying
Tempe, but to my mind there’s no difference in any of the cities there), cut it off at ground level, and drop it in any western city and you wouldn’t notice a difference
laura
If that picture doesn’t say “Me an my Daddy gonna tear you up and he’s gonna tell me I’m a Big Tough Boy and sometimes he’s the boss of me” I’ll eat my hat.
Dang it’s satisfying watching the Blogfather fall ass over tea kettle in love.
jnfr
You and Maxwell make a lovely couple. Glad you found a useful TV at a good price.
Suzanne
@Chuck: You are telling no lies.
It’s a very weird place. Entirely synthetic. Human will imposed on a landscape.
NotMax
@satby
Blast from the past.
:)
satby
@NotMax: 😂 reminds me of this
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … TheHill.com:
Tick tock…
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Yes, but gotta have correctly angled pavement.
Jackie
@schrodingers_cat: We haven’t seen the “after Cole put Max down” photo. Gently, or releasing QUICKLY as the claws extracted.
trollhattan
Heh.
Sleep with one eye open. Like, forever. Nice knowin’ ya, Cole.
Jackie
@Bupalos: Since TIFG wants to get at least 51%, my wish is for him to only get 45% – or less. Less would be awesome! And TIFG would be pissed, which is always my goal! lol
zhena gogolia
Oh, that kitty is so beautiful!
wjca
For any other politician, that would include picking a female VP candidate, and highlighting her during the camoaign. But TIFG a) can’t bear to share the stage, b) would prioritize looks (and loyalty, but looks are more critical because a woman couldn’t be seen as a threat**). Instead, he’d probable attack Haley on the grounds that women have no business being anywhere near in charge; coupled with renewed racist attacks of Harris.
** I wonder if he thinks he could demand some kind of pre-nup from his VP. Of any gender.
CaseyL
Those poor little flailing back legs made me laugh.
Ken
@satby: I had a long drive yesterday and there was light snow when I parked, so I was expecting that it would melt on the warm car and I’d have to scrape. But now, it was just a thin coat of fine snow that brushed right off. Maybe it was so cold and windy that the outside of the car never got above freezing?
mrmoshpotato
@CaseyL:
“Where is the floor? Put me down!”
jurassicpork
I am making a plea to all of you. My life’s being dismantled by forces beyond my control. My fiancee died last year & that was just the start. More details are in the link beneath. I have nowhere else to turn.
https://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com/2024/01/old-age-is-curse.html
Yutsano
@Tom Levenson: bortaS bIr jablu’Di’ reH QaQqu’ nay’. It’s better in the original Klingon.
NotMax
Ignore the jurassic dude above. He’s been pulling this shtick across a multitude of blogs for decades.
Pennsylvanian
@laura: Thank you! Ass over teakettle is a legit and not usually flattering situation, for those not ITK. It happens in the best of families.
wjca
Being as this is an Open Thread, I offer you this small amusement.
A while back, Another Scott was kind enough to find me an archive of columns by the late Art Hoppe. Here’s The Virtual Wife — the dream of RWNJs everywhere. At least the male ones.
thalarctosMaritimus
@BeautifulPlumage:
Thereby hangs a tale (tail?).
Manyakitty
@NotMax: how is he not blocked yet? I’ve seen this on multiple posts today. At least your warning seems to follow most of them. JFC. Some people.
Gemina13
Most housepanthers are big babies. Maxwell looks like he’s no exception. :D I’d lay odds that he’s as eager for cuddles and pets after that pic as he was before.
Anyway, I loathe Phoenix, and I heartily agree that each part of it is fairly indistinguishable from the other, whether you’re in Paradise Valley or Ahwatukee. The only reason I could easily travel it from one end to the other without a map from 2006-2011 was because I grew up there from 1979 – 1989, and covered much of it on foot because my mom couldn’t afford a car and bus service sucked. Hell, drop me there now without my phone, and I’d still be able to figure out my way even if ADOT has set up its seasonal construction obstacle course in the middle of metro Phoenix.
Just on a whim, I looked up my childhood homes (one apartment, the other a triplex unit) on Redfin and showed them to my SO. His response: “Not a hell of a lot to tell them apart, is there?” Me: “Well, one had a pool and was a townhouse complex, but other than that . . .”
anitamargarita
Those feet tho
Odie Hugh Manatee
Kitty belly! Rub at your own risk. ;) Maxwell looks like you interrupted his feeding…lol
ETA: I hated Spokane because of the same thing regarding time and travel… 45 minutes to the other side of town, about 7 miles, in moderate traffic. Here the same time puts me between Gold Beach and Port Orford.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Yutsano: I also like the variant coined for K-Thug, that revenge is a dish best served atop a Nobel Prize.
brantl
@Bupalos: What’s the big difference between Stumpy and Nazi Haley, other than genitalia?
Chris T.
@Tom Levenson: Maxwell will employ his Silver Hammer later.
Don
Living in Las Vegas was in one way a bummer. It takes four hours to get out of town. (Desert in all directions, the view doesn’t change.)
Cole, I’ve been reading this blog for twenty years. Nice to have you back. Stay this time.