Overcast day today with what can be charitably called a slight drizzle periodically, so not much going on outside the house for me other than a couple walks with Jack, the goodest boy:
Have I told you the story of Jack? Remember back to the background on Joelle’s friend Buzz aka her Tammy? Well Buzz lives up in Anthem, palling around with all the Scottsdale types, and he has two dogs of his own (a husky and a german sheperd, Floyd and Jackson respectively), and does long walks with them through the hills. At any rate, he had a neighbor or something who owned Jack but has Parkinsons. She was declining so she was going to have to go to assisted living, and no one knew what to do with Jack. Buzz could keep walking him, but who would take him permanently because 14 year old dogs are hard to home.
At any rate, Buzz had been stressing about it a lot on their phone calls, so Joelle told me and I just said without pause “oh you should take him” and she replied “I already said I would.” This was, for the record, after a long conversation in which I was repeatedly told that even though Thurston was coming to live in Arizona permanently I was not to under any circumstance adopt another cat. So at least we are on the same page.
At any rate he is just the perfect model of a very good boy, and he loves our walks as much as I do. He also loves riding in the car, and unlike a certain mongrel who will not be named, he is not a complete spastic asshole. Really just a perfect gentleman. He’s basically the dog version of an older southern gentleman. Although he doesn’t hate black people. In every other way, though.
Dinner was leftovers from last night. Had to boil two potatoes for some new mashed, but otherwise it was just last night’s meal again. It’s Monday and neither one of us were into anything super complicated, so leftovers were perfect. I did bake an apple pie, but I used store bought crust because working with pie crusts in Arizona is a pain in the ass. Even in the winter. I also made this week’s run of pico de gallo, which I’ve just kinda got in the habbit of keeping in the fridge. It’s so useful in so many things and it’s a super easy and quick snack. Cut up some corn tortillas, give them a quick fry, and voila, perfect snack.
On serious news, does anyone know anything about how the meeting with the four leaders of congress and Biden re: Ukraine aid went?
That’s about it for me. Gonna go clean the dishes and mop the kitchen and watch some idiot box. If I think of anything I will post it.
War for Ukraine Day 733: The Ukrainians Continue to Fall Back
Jackie
John, I believe that meeting is tomorrow – Tue.
Trivia Man
Did I miss the Cat Fest recap?
RaflW
@Jackie: I haven’t heard excessive howling from D.C., so I assume Mikey J is going to attend? I don’t think it will pry him off his Russian teat just yet, but maybe we can avert an idiotic shutdown.
On second thought, idiotic is Mikey J’s brand.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Our trivia team won again tonight. Squeaked it out by a single point. We are very trivial people.
Steeplejack
@Trivia Man:
Covered last night.
Miss Bianca
I am boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes and I have *never* had them take so long before! Ack!
Wait, Thurston is living permanently in AZ now? You mean, when you go back to West Virginny you’re going without him?
John Cole
@Miss Bianca: Yep. He loves her more than he loves me.
Starfish
@John Cole: She doesn’t call him an asshole on this blog every day. 😂
laura
@Miss Bianca: i immediately did the cost benefit analysis of endearing jerkamer of a dog and road you need 7 eyes on. Is this trip possible/ advisable?
laura
@John Cole: speaking only for myself, I love her more too.
dmsilev
Some days, I hate construction workers. Build a new building wrapping around our current one, they said. We’ll be incredibly careful they said. We know how sensitive all of the lab gear is they said.
Well, today someone apparently rammed a main chilled-water pipe and ruptured it, leading to what our Facilities team called a ‘reduction in pressure’ and what I called ‘three hours of frantically running around making sure that all of the superconducting magnets were de-energized and everything else was safed’. Blergh. And we haven’t even started the main construction work yet, this is still in the site preparation phase. A year and a half of this …fun still to go.
piratedan
@dmsilev: I would document it and note dates and times and asses a possible income loss to each incident.
you may need it later. If its a one off, not as big a concern.
Sister Golden Bear
@Starfish: Yet.
dmsilev
@piratedan: Oh, we definitely keep records of this sort of thing. In this case, there wasn’t any damage that I’m aware of, just a couple of hours of partial downtime on several systems and a bunch of stomach acid, but my fervent hope is that the contractor (and more importantly their subs) will learn from the reaming that they’re getting from our project management team…
Pete Mack
Every now and then I get a craving for Kofte. Tonight was such a night. Sliders with onion, garlic, parsley, cinnamon, curry powder, and some fresh tomato*: what’s not to like?
* outside part only. The inside makes the meat too sloppy.
MomSense
HOLY SHIT my cousins are on the White House Instagram page. They are standing right behing MVP and the Second Gentleman. She has been posting really nice photos and videos but seeing it on the official account is very cool. Cannot wait to get all the details.
Jackie
@RaflW:
I think tomorrow’s meeting is mandatory for The Speaker in Name Only. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes. AFAIK, TIFG – I mean Johnson – is the only one of the four in “favor” of a shutdown due to the puppet strings jerking him around.
CaseyL
Interesting news about Thurston! I hope living with Joelle continues to be a happy change for him. And I hope she has a kiddie pool for all the doggies to soak in, come summer.
Mr. Johnson is convinced he’s an instrument of God, ranking just below Trump. He will not budge. McConnell has also become frightened of the Trumpenvolk, on a personal safety level and also because they have the knives out for him as Senate Poo-Bah, and so he won’t be of any help. I appreciate Biden’s giving it the ol’ college try to negotiate with the GOP, but unless he has something up his sleeve (poisoned tea would be good), he’s not going to get anywhere.
(Not to mention, Mikey lies about as constantly and effortlessly as Trump, so any agreement he makes is worthless: he’ll renege as soon as he’s back in the House.)
Ksmiami
@CaseyL: yep. The only thing I’m hoping for is that Biden serves drinks then says a discharge petition is moving forward in the House
trollhattan
Welp, saw a Cybertruck parked on arguably our richest residential street. Kinda clashed with the setting, kinda clashes with the retinas. Somehow manages to be even more angular than the pics and much, MUCH larger. Why is Cyber? I do not fucking know. This ends my road test report.
Another Scott
@CaseyL:
Zelenskyy is doing his part to get Johnson to get a move on. TheHill.com:
(I continue to think that Johnson and the bomb-throwers are trying to get every single thing they can in exchange for letting the Ukraine aid through. They don’t recognize that they have a very weak hand though.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Gin & Tonic
@dmsilev: I remember a great time when a major building was going up on undeveloped land adjacent to that which the building I worked in was on. Blasting was needed for their foundation, and it absolutely, positively wouldn’t have an effect on us.
Took quite a long time for our facilities folks to tie the weird odor in the downstairs level to cracks in the sewage outflow pipes under that floor that were apparently caused by the blasting. Lawyers for the involved insurance companies probably put their kids through college on the resulting litigation.
trollhattan
@Another Scott: Zelenskyy needs to tell Johnson it’s a Covenant War.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Holy crap, the hot engineer on engineer action in the courtroom would be epic.
“Our engineers can whip your engineers with one calculator-gripping hand behind their backs.”
“Cannot.”
“Can so.”
“I declare recess until Monday.”
dmsilev
@Ksmiami: From what I read today, there are two separate discharge petition efforts underway right now, including one that is cosponsored by a Republican congressman. So, Johnson doesn’t need Biden to tell him that, he just needs a subscription to the Washington Post.
trollhattan
USWNT v. Mexico begins now. Paramount+.
Futbol.
dmsilev
@trollhattan: Slide rules.
The engineering code duello is very slow to change.
dmsilev
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve talked with people who have tried to run labs next door to a construction project that had a blasting phase. ‘Run the experiments from six pm to five am’ was about the best option they had, even putting aside the chance for collateral damage.
Kayla Rudbek
My eye exam went fine last week so why am I having problems sorting out which shades of orange and red are which for this beginner level embroidery project? Answer is that the directions said to soak the strands in vinegar before starting the project and there were no labels on the strands to say which ones were which. I’m probably lucky that they listed the DMC color codes so I could look up the actual color names with the Needleply app. So I think I have half of a section completed in the wrong shade of orange so I will be taking it out tomorrow. Or maybe I should wait until daylight so I can decide if I actually used the wrong shade. Grrr. At least my knitting went well tonight.
Kayla Rudbek
@trollhattan: that’s a patent law trial right there…
zhena gogolia
@dmsilev: Did you let those magnets go underwater???
dmsilev
@zhena gogolia: Hah.
No. God, no. That would be Bad. They’re cryogenic magnets; we can’t even let air touch them lest it freeze solid. Water is Right Out.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: If it should become necessary, I can tell President Zelenskyy how to acquire a horse’s head for Speaker Johnson. Only if needed of course.
NotMax
If end up looking for something light to relax by, might check out Leon the Pig Farmer on Freevee via Prime. British balance of cute and fluff.
brendancalling
My back went out yesterday—sciatica attack—but it’s getting better now.
A few months ago, the guitar player from my country band and I got into a spat, and we all stopped playing. Our steel player mediated shit between the two of us, and we agreed that we like playing together and untangled the bullshit. We’ve been doing a stripped down Thursday night music club (down from 7 people to 4) and it’s been going well. We rescheduled this week’s session to tonight and just… wow. We got some good stuff done. Our guitar player is more a jazz guy than country, so we’ve always had that inflection on what we play. Tonight was great. We got to the place.
mrmoshpotato
Let the comments argument continue!
mrmoshpotato
OT – I want a yurt.
CaseyL
I’m not sure if it’s serendipity, but there are two books out now that are all about beavers, and how they (in partnership with humans) are remediating wetlands. I’m just about done reading “Eager,” and next on the list is “Beaverland.”
I think there are also some documentaries in production (possibly based on one or the other of the books).
H/T to TaMara for highlighting them in one of her recent Good News posts. I honestly did not know how big the renaissance in beavers was, nor how important, nor how (so far, knock wood) successful. It’s exactly the sort of project I’d love to volunteer for long-term but, alas, Washington State’s beaver projects are mostly up in the central part of the state.
Citizen Dave
@trollhattan: Watched the first half. Mexico up 1-0. Still, reading good things about the first two U.S. matches. Good to see new young players, and lots of different players getting game experience. Bedtime for me though.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Woo-hoo!
You may enjoy the New Zealand series Nothing Trivial. 3 seasons available on Freevee or on FilmRise, 4 seasons on the Roku channel.
NotMax
Slight fix. Post-nap eyes not quite focusing yet.
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Woo-hoo!
You may enjoy the New Zealand series Nothing Trivial. 3 seasons available on Freevee or on FilmRise, 4 seasons on the Roku channel.
NotMax
Hey, jackals. Am I alone in finding this ad super creepy?
Leto
@John Cole:
I’ve spoken a few times how we acquired our previous pup, Bella, but it’s essentially the same convo there:
Me: I’m deploying to Iraq for a year, no new dogs.
Avalune: copy, no new dogs
*Fast forward 3 1/2 – 4 months*
Me: what’s that on your desk? Is that a puppy?
Avalune: well you see, what had happened was…
CaseyL
@Leto:
Pups, like kittens, just happen.
Leto
@mrmoshpotato: yes, but g-d are they expensive.
Regarding the soccer match: US women’s team can’t keep possession, can’t string together more than 4 passes before they lose possession. Glad the youngsters are getting minutes.
Edit: @CaseyL: that’s very true. I complained initially, but we became best friends after I returned. What more can you ask for? (Though she still loved Avalune the most; who doesn’t?)
BlueGuitarist
@MomSense:
awesome! Keep us posted!
cain
@MomSense: wow that’s awesome ! Next time it needs to be y’all’s !
Jackie
The odds of this happening?
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
John these daily slice of life updates are wonderful. Thanks for posting them.
Leto
@Jackie: counter: give the State of the Union straight from the Resolute desk, directly to the American people. No bs applauding, no delays, less dog/pony show, just speak directly to us.
wjca
Depends on how many in the House GOP are bright enough to realize that the President is only required to “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union”. Until President Wilson, the vast majority of Presidents merely sent a written report. Biden could easily do the same. And then give a televised address to the nation. All the networks, including Fox, would inevitably carry it. Live. And segments would be all over the Internet.
Being petty enough to rescind an invitation already given would not play well outside the MAGA base. Especially if the government was shut down at the time. “They don’t have time to listen, because they are busy NOT doing their jobs to fund the government? What are they afraid of hearing?” Dark Brandon would have a field day.
EDT I like Leto’s suggestion of giving the address from the Oval Office. Maybe start out with: “Here’s what the House Republicans didn’t want to hear.”
RaflW
@CaseyL: Biden isn’t doing this Tuesday meeting to convince Mikey (or Mitch). It’s outreach performance for the Beltway media claque, and perhaps for persuadable voters. He’s making it clear who the intransigent party is, and it ain’t him.
WaterGirl
@wjca:
RaflW
@Jackie: I’d like to think the civility police at WaPo, etc, would have a meltdown. But we know that they only expect ‘civility’ in the other direction.
It does seem like another potential echo-chamber induced own goal if they did recind the invite. Looks petulant as hell, and petty to boot.
CaseyL
@wjca:
@RaflW:
I think it would be a great and good thing for Biden to address the nation directly, without reporters or other politicians. Regularly.
Maybe he could revive FDR’s Fireside Chats.
Matt McIrvin
@wjca: And he only is required to do it “from time to time”– there’s no set schedule; what we have is tradition.
BeautifulPlumage
@CaseyL: someone on bluesky suggest holding them at a Baskin Robbins and calling it Today’s Scoop.
ETA or maybe it was Here’s the Scoop. Too lazy to look.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Fine line between state of the Union and state of the executive office. IMHO even that tepid a statement crosses over into electioneering. I’m confident an experienced hand like Biden recognizes the difference and will speechify accordingly.
cain
@CaseyL: well Obama did that. Did that work at all ?
I think he needs to create video shorts that can be published in tiktok and Instagram. That will definitely bypass the press.
It’s not like they are going to cover in it anyways. They are busy working with the Russian assets
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Never much cared much for “creepy” as a word; too nonspecific. But I agree there’s something wrong there.
Jackie
@Leto: 👍🏻
Miss Bianca
@Ksmiami: OMG, now *that* would be hilarious.
@MomSense: How exciting!
Mel
@NotMax: It’s so awful.
The talking baby horror is right up there near clowns and collections of glassy-eyed old dolls on the “Run away screaming! Do not look back!!” nightmare meter for me.