Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

So many bastards, so little time.

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

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

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133Comments

  2. 2.

    wmd

    Do you put out room temperature jugs of water along with the cover?  It can keep them warm, and with luck the sun will warm them up the following day.

  4. 4.

    pluky

    Wind chill is more of a problem if the plants have begun to bud out. The problem isn’t temperature; even with the wind increasing heat transfer they aren’t going to get any colder than ambient. Rather the wind desiccates. That being said, if the temperature is going to drop that far below freezing covering up is definitely in order, wind or no wind.

  8. 8.

    Layer8Problem

    I vacuumed, mopped, and had a boiled bacon, cabbage, and mashed potato luncheon.  With a pint and a shot.  Not necessarily in that order.

  9. 9.

    jackmac

    My local Jewel-Osco has racks of pansies for sale this weekend and I was sorely tempted to get an early start on a flower garden as March has so far been mostly sunny with high temps in the 60s.

    Ah, spring!

    Then I looked at the forecast for the coming week with frost warnings and lows in the 20s nearly all week.  There’s a good reason for the adage — NEVER plant before Mother’s Day.

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    @pluky:

    Wind chill is more of a problem if the plants have begun to bud out.

    Yes, we have had warm days, so things are budding out, and some are actually flowering.

  13. 13.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I marched in the parade yesterday with the wife and little one’s Irish Dance troup.  Watched some more dancing earlier today at the local library.  Corn beef and cabbage heating the Crock Pot.  Guinness poured and delicious.  Lastly, my alma mater Duquesne won the A10 hoops Championship today and are going to the Big Dance for the first time since 1977.  Whoo-hoo.  Sláinte

  14. 14.

    p.a.

    Since food threads and music threads really garner comments, and this is an open thread;

    what food(s) do you have to really hold back from just eating as much as may be put in front of you?

    Mine: roast or grilled asparagus, with olive oil, salt, & pepper.  Don’t need anything else, although a squeeze of lemon or parmigiana shavings are nice too.  I can control myself in public, but if I cook for myself, 🥳   Boiled or steamed asparagus, nope.

  15. 15.

    WaterGirl

    @Layer8Problem: What the heck is boiled bacon?  It sounds disgusting but it must not be if you choose to eat it.  Is it an Irish thing?

    @jackmac:  So easy to know, so hard to follow!

    There’s a good reason for the adage — NEVER plant before Mother’s Day.

  16. 16.

    laura

    There’s a corned brisket and penzey’s spice applied liberally  in the crockpot, cabbage carrots and potatoes await their turn and the house smells good. The dog’s been out for multiple walks and besides the family check ins, I’m working on a line drawing for tomorrow’s screen printing class. It’s an exceptionally lovely early spring day.

  17. 17.

    SpaceUnit

    I’m reading some Yeats in honor of St. Pat’s.  Later I’m going to set fire to my Catholic neighbor’s tool shed.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    @p.a.

    Roasted is divine. The Instant Pot also does a bang-up job on asparagus; trick is to set the timer for pressure cooking to zero minutes.

  21. 21.

    geg6

    @p.a.:  I, too, am crazy for asparagus.  Love, love, love it!!

    We are definitely not having any traditional Irish fare today.  Mainly because I am not a fan of corned beef unless it’s sliced thin on some toasted rye with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island.  So it’s steak, wild rice and…asparagus!

  22. 22.

    Jackie

    @jackmac: I was just talking to a fellow plants window shopper about that today. It’s sooo tempting to buy flowers now, but there’s still plenty of freezing temps ahead. She groused the gardening centers shouldn’t put them out until the freeze danger was past. I told her “profit, profit, profit.” Buy today, and you’ll be back in a month to buy more to replace the plants that succumbed to a freeze. 🤷🏼‍♀️

  23. 23.

    thalarctosMaritimus

    @WaterGirl: The water in the jugs absorb heat all day long, and when it starts getting cold, they radiate the heat they were storing. The plants get an extra burst of radiated heat.

  24. 24.

    Mike in Oly

    Trying to get some weeding done as they are out of control in my iris beds. My busted leg is finally healed enough it is allowing me to get up and down on the ground, so taking advantage of our unseasonably warm weather (70s this weekend!) to get at them. Shot weed and dandelions are already blooming like crazy. Got to get them out before they go to seed again. Also a good chance to take stock of what the irises are doing. The bed I am working will all be dug and divided this summer as it is being entirely reset and refreshed. Long overdue. The cats and I are enjoying the sunshine after weeks of grey gloom.

  25. 25.

    TaMara

    @WaterGirl:

    @thalarctosMaritimus: This. It’s also how I solve the “keep the ducks warm, but not too warm” in the winter.  A couple of gallon jugs with hot water keeps their coop at around 32 over night, even on the coldest nights. That way they stay snug and don’t overheat (with their winter down and weight on).

    Of course, as everyone knows, all bets are off below freezing and they come inside.

  27. 27.

    Layer8Problem

    @WaterGirl:  Yup, it’s an Irish thing.  Martha Stewart’s Test Kitchen has a recipe!  Start with four pounds of Irish boiling bacon . . .
    My understanding is the corned beef thing was started on the Lower East Side of NYC, where Irish boiling bacon wasn’t to be found by the recently arrived Irish emigrants, but their Jewish tenement neighbors had a solution at hand. Hence, traditional American Saint Patrick’s Day corned beef and cabbage.

  29. 29.

    JoyceH

    I took the dogs for a walk. It was pretty hectic. Jazzy just trooped along in front of me, but Whimsy was everywhere. (In her defense, she’s only had two ‘Manners and Life Skills’ classes and very little yet on leash walking.) At the turnaround point, I stopped and fished out some treats and had them do sits. Jazzy of course sat like a little angel, but Whimsy, who’s getting pretty good about sit in the house, seemed completely baffled to be asked to sit out in the world. On the way home, Whimsy was still all over the place, but Jazzy trotted along glued to my left leg and looking up at me – looking like a girl who’d once taken a Competition Obedience class. It had come to her attention that there were TREATS in my pocket.

  36. 36.

    PST

    As long as this is open, there is something I didn’t get around to saying on the last thread. The woman who made the comment on CNN about Trump voters who view the Stormy Daniels incident as a positive, not a negative, because it demonstrates TFG’s “manly vigor” is Sarah Longwell. She is a consistent and vigorous Trump hater; for example, apropos Pence’s recent explanation of why he is rejecting his old boss, she noted that “Trump isn’t simply rejecting a conservative agenda but an American agenda of respecting the rule of law, following the constitution, standing by our allies, rejecting dictators, and being a decent human.” There is no doubt where she stands, and I think anyone who took this as an expression of her own opinion is mistaken. Her specialty is conducting focus groups and explaining what actually goes through the minds of the MAGA faithful. Sometimes she comes up with uncomfortable stuff that contradicts my suppositions, but it may be critical to understand. It makes me throw up in my mouth a little to think of the mindset that looks at sex with porn stars as a desirable quality in a president, but it goes with shirtless Putin worship and with seeing TFG as the man they want to be. More important, if Longwell says so, it is based on data, not staring at her naval and imagining what those people must think. Understanding this is the key to whether it will be more effective to brand Trump a LOSER than to brand him a threat to democracy. For some of these yahoos, the former evidently matters and the latter doesn’t, and thus could thus serve as the basis of a campaign that could demoralize them and keep some at home on Election Day. We shouldn’t dismiss Longwell, we should evaluate her evidence, because it is the kind of information that can be acted on.

  39. 39.

    eclare

    I finished my taxes earlier today, and I am getting a small ($200) refund, so that’s good.

    And I am about to watch the season two finale of The Bear.  As good as season one was, and it was great, I think season two was better.  The episodes that focused on Marcus and Richie were amazing, and I think Jamie Lee Curtis needs to start practicing her Emmy acceptance speech now.

  40. 40.

    evodevo

    @Jackie: ​
      Yeah, they do the same thing around here (KY) with tomatoes and peppers in late April…my rule of thumb is never plant these before Mothers Day here…

  41. 41.

    sab

    @SpaceUnit: My family is Irish, Scottish, Scots-Irish and Protestant Swiss, all intermarried. Every marriage created chaos in family relationships. My great great grandmother ( Irish born) left each of her married sons $3 in dimes (thirty pieces of silver, like Judas got) because they married Protestants. My mom, several generations later, was still pissed about that.

  43. 43.

    CarolPW

    @p.a.: Roasted asparagus is close to the top. Particularly the thin ones that roast up to crispy critters. I eat mine with a bit of mayo though.

    I recently discovered the top “food” when Alison Rose commented on a post talking about destructive pot-heads that the biggest thing pot did for her was give her the munchies, and named the food she most wanted. And then I thought about what I wanted most when I got the munchies in the late 60s early 70s. And the next day I came home from the market with a party-sized bag of crunchy Cheetos. The dog and I got through it pretty quickly. And now I want another bag.

  46. 46.

    TBone

    @Princess: mine are in full bloom and over-wintered spectacularly despite no attention from me whatsoever.  No need to replant anything!

  48. 48.

    Another Scott

    @wmd: @WaterGirl: @thalarctosMaritimus: @TaMara:

    Water is kinda magical.  The fact that it’s less dense (expands) as it freezes means that the oceans didn’t fill up with ice.  ;-)

    In this case, the magical property is the very high specific heat/heat capacity of water. It takes a lot of energy to change water’s temperature, so it effectively gives up its heat slowly to the surrounding air when it’s cold.

    Don’t bury your tender plants in uranium in a cold snap. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    sab

    @SpaceUnit: I think it is kind of funny. She meant to punish her lapsed Catholic sons, and all she accomplished was to make the next few generations hate Catholics. One of my sisters and I both married Catholics, and we wouldn’t have even considered raising kids Catholic, all because of her way back when.

  54. 54.

    Eyeroller

    @PST: I doubt that many who think that way are persuadable. It shows a very fundamental contempt for women.

  56. 56.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @WaterGirl:

    Plants around our place have been budding since mid February. We’ve been nervous when it dipped down to 34 a couple of times but it looks like we may make it to spring.

    Today is our vernal equinox here in Brookings, OR. Hello spring!

  59. 59.

    wmd

    @WaterGirl: water holds heat – it takes time for it to lose energy. That keeps the temperature under the cover from dropping as quickly. Used to do this in April when I lived in Indiana, out here it’s not likely to frost again.

    If you can do two layers of barrier you gain some insulation via a dead air space as well. What are you using for a cover?

    I just finished turning over garden beds. I’d mined my chicken yard earlier and put about 8 cm of mostly ancient manure over all the fallow beds about 2 weeks ago.  Lots of earthworms in every shovel full as I worked beds. We’re going to get rain end of the week, I’ll finish mining the chicken yard and add an addition 6 cm everywhere, plus a bit of finished compost. Still need to turn over a beds that’s mostly for flowers.

  63. 63.

    geg6

    @Miki:

    Thanks, but I don’t have an Instapot.  Not nuts about pastrami either, though I will get a Primanti’s sandwich with pastrami.  Like a Rueben, it’s the bread and the toppings that make the sandwich.  Nice thick slices of Mancini’s Italian bread with tomatoes, vinegar coleslaw and hand cut fries all piled on grilled pastrami with melted provolone.  An entire meal in a sandwich.  So Pittsburgh.

  65. 65.

    brendancalling

    I put together a gifted composter this morning, and did a little weeding. Lots of dead nettle in the backyard, which is actually good for the bees and pollinators, so I left that alone and concentrated on the creeping Charlie. I also hit the grocery, and bought some cod on sale. Gonna chow down on that, pan-blackened, tonight w/asparagus and a side of rice.

    Just took a long walk—about two miles—to the local brewery. Having a beer, naturally. Lots of amateurs wearing green today, sigh.

    Ate another piece of that chocolate around 4. IYKYK. Things are quite nice right now, very floaty.

  68. 68.

    JPL

    A large section of GA is under a freeze watch, although it’s more likely to freeze overnight Monday.

    This morning I was bragging about the signs of spring and now this.

  70. 70.

    SpaceUnit

    @TBone:

    It’s a great song, but wasn’t Dolores O’Riordan Irish?

     

    Edited to correct my misspelling of her name.

  71. 71.

    Princess

    @WaterGirl: I would not expect pansies to survive an Illinois winter, even a milder one! But they sell them now because late March is a good time to plant them. They hate heat and get all leggy and sprawly.

  74. 74.

    Barbara

    @sab: I’m sure all it did was alienate everyone further, but it made me think of an Irish priest at a church I used to attend who once said that no one could hold a grudge like his mother — it was usually a life sentence.

  87. 87.

    Suzanne

    Mr. Suzanne and I did a long run this morning (10 miles for him, 15 for me). Lounged a bit at home, then I just took Spawn the Youngest and the puppy to the park. Spawn is currently throwing an epic temper tantrum because we came home and she wanted to stay longer. No good deed, etc etc etc.

  88. 88.

    karen marie

    @JoyceH:   I recommend “puppy sit-ups.”   You can do them anywhere.  It involves rotating through “sit,” “down,” “stand,” mixing up the order to ensure they understand the word associated with the behavior.  “Stand” is a great command that people don’t often teach.  Very useful in the bath.  “Turn” is also a good one.

    Food is such a great motivator but too many treats fill them up and you lose their focus.  I recommend hot dog.  Freeze them, then slice super thin, then quarter the slices.  You can package the tiny pieces in useful quantities and refreeze.  The tiny bits of hot dog defrost quickly enough you don’t have to plan ahead.  And they don’t turn to mush.  They’re a hit of high-value flavor, allowing you to keep the dog’s attention for a longer time.

  89. 89.

    sab

    Sorry to see my garden frozen, but I welcome another last gasp at cooking in winter. Potato leek soup tomorrow.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    Got corned beef leftovers? Chef John’s corned beef hash.

    Sort of a variation on old school Red Flannel Hash but using a tomato ingredient rather than the traditional diced beets to give it some color. Corned beef too dry? Stir in a little half and half or milk while it’s cooking.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    @karen marie: It’s probably important to make the hot dog pieces small.  My J’s childhood dog apparently used to bury pieces of hot dog in the couch cushions.

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    karen marie

    @sab: I only recently learned that Scots-Irish isn’t crossbreeding between Scots and Irish but instead Scottish people who’d been given land in Ireland by the English, lived there for a while and then emigrated to the US.  My understanding is they never mixed with the Irish while living in Ireland.  People are weird.

    @Another Scott: Yeah, no, that’s why I say “slice very thin.”  You just want the tiniest of pieces, because the point is it’s just a flavor hit, not enough that the dog has to stop and chew – another flaw with store-bought so-called training treats.

  94. 94.

    WaterGirl

    @Suzanne: Did you give her the warning first?  We learned to do that with Cody.  When leaving an event, or a party or whatever.

    That way we weren’t yanking him out of whatever it was with no warning.

    But you’re a seasoned mom with several spawn, so I’m sure you’re onto that trick.

  96. 96.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: haha I’m listening to a youtube broadcast about the history of Danny Boy and the person said his favorite rendition was the muppets.

    The history is quite interesting..    link

  97. 97.

    sab

    @karen marie: Stand is probably the best command ever. Used it extensively with my late lamented GSD. She hated to sit in a situation that might compromise her safety or her status. But she would always be willing to stand instead. Obeyed me but didn’t lose face amongst the others. A great command for a bossy dog.

    I used it all the time with her at the vet also.

  99. 99.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    I’m in BWI waiting on a Southworst flight that’s now 90 minutes late.  It’s still in the air going from Austin to Chicago.  Typical Southworst issue in that some fuckup earlier (I can’t trace it prior to Austin, it left there over 2 hours late) kills you all day.

    Their good reputation is beyond me.  My worst, and incredibly consistent, shittastic flight experiences with them outnumber any other airline.

    Assuming they don’t fuck up any more, I won’t get into Denver until 12:30am.  There are only 2 light rail trains leaving after that, one at 1am, another at 1:30am.  If I don’t make them, I hafta wait until around 3:30am.

    And I have to testify in front of a General Assembly Committee tomorrow on a proposed bill to expand the historic preservation tax credit beyond the pitiful amount it is now.  They’re increasing it to a pitiful amount but it’s a start.

    Fucking Southworst.

  100. 100.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGirl: Oh, she absolutely had warnings. Multiple. At five minutes, two minutes, and one minute. Normally she’s good-spirited about it, but she’s just in a mood ATM. Full-on floor-flopping, kicking and screaming.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: :-(

    My J flew SW from DCA to AUS around a week ago.  They had to change a tire on the plane and it was about 2 hours late leaving.  She was not pleased.  :-(

    Best of luck with the rest of your trip.

    Thank you for testifying.  It’s important!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  106. 106.

    sab

    @TBone: Sometimes, if you startle them, or have completely cowed them in the course of your marriage. I can do 1 but 2 didn’t take.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @TBone

    Do report how it turned out, whether good or ill. Meant to bring home ingredients to try it out during the last monthly shopping splurge and completely spaced it out.
    ;)

  115. 115.

    catclub

    @TaMara: Of course, as everyone knows, all bets are off below freezing and they come inside.

     

    It is well known that no bird can survive below freezing outside.  Maybe snowy owls, and arctic snow geese, and chickadees,  and quail. and wild Turkeys.

  117. 117.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eclare:

    Pickle soup?  I missed that, it sounds awful.

    Sometimes I think you’re me. Hand to heaven, that was my word-for-word reaction and I was about to post that exact comment.

  119. 119.

    brendancalling

    @JPL: Happened last year too. How many times does humanity have to step on the same fucking rake over and over before we do something about climate change?

  120. 120.

    Matt McIrvin

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’ve actually had pretty good luck with Southwest–but I think that’s because I mostly fly them between airports where they can do a direct flight. Most often, Manchester to BWI or Manchester to Orlando. Going anywhere else I’ve learned to use somebody else (and take the hit of having to fly out of Logan if necessary).

    One of the times I had to make a connection was a disaster that resulted in my spending the night in the terminal at Chicago Midway.

  121. 121.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @skerry:

    Heh heh, I know most airlines suck massively. What’s bugged me about Southworst is that they have this good reputation that’s so undeserved.

    When their computer system melted down a year or so ago and everything went to shit, it finally showed to everybody just how cut rate and shitty they actually are.

    Just like most airlines.

  123. 123.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Matt McIrvin:

    My flight to Denver is nonstop.  The problem is all the legs beforehand.  I’m guessing they had a maintenance issue at the start of the day and it screwed up everything thereafter.

    I should know better than to book a flight this late in the day with them, it’s always a clusterfuck, but I didn’t have a choice this time (couldn’t fly earlier).

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    @TBone

    Why hasn’t modern science come up with non-stick leeks so we don’t need to scrub all that grit out?
    :)

  125. 125.

    TBone

    I’m watching Grumpy Old Men and the “Did you mount her?” scene with Burgess Meredith and all his smartass words of wisdom will never not be funny!  Yeah, I know, sexist but it was a different time way back then in 1993.  I’m still laughing 🤣

  126. 126.

    TBone

    @NotMax: Soak them in a little baking soda poured into a clean sink filled with very cold water.  The grit falls right out!  Like magic.  Oh, cut them in half lengthwise first.

  132. 132.

    Ironcity

    @Another Scott: HS chemistry as I recall it is 1 calorie to heat (or cool) one gram- mole (18 grams of water) at sea level.  The big heat absorbers and emitters are when the water changes state.  From 18 grams of water at 0 degrees to 18 grams of ice at 0 degrees takes 760 calories, a relative lot of heat.

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