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You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Thursday Night Open Thread

Thursday Night Open Thread

by | 73 Comments

This post is in: 

Because it is summer and a holiday weekend, I have no idea what day it is. I had to check twice to make sure it is in fact Thursday.

I’ve been super swamped with projects and the news has been flipping between irritating and terrifying, so I don’t want to talk about anything, really. Just wanted to pop in and thank you all for what you have done for Adam and Betty. It means so much to me that she will not have to worry about things while trying to heal. That piece of mind is so vital to recover.

So, thank you.

Also I dropped off some cat food today at the shelter and boy howdy it was a close one because I almost came home with an eight lb calico named Jazz, omg she was so adorable.

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    cckids

    I am getting kind of desperate for a new kitty, but ccSpouse says he’s not ready, after losing our Empress Hermione at the age of 21 last year. But . . . oh, I want a new furbaby.

  2. 2.

    dr. bloor

    Wait, it’s not Friday?

    Also, too, you should never be allowed near a shelter without adult supervision.

  3. 3.

    TaMara

    Go back and get her! Calicos are the best and you boys need a Queen (which a calico will definitely be!) to rule over your sorry asses.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @cckids:

    I can hardly wait until I am once again in a place of my own and can get a kitty. Probably at least another year.

  5. 5.

    pat

    @cckids: ​
     
    Go get one. We found a cat about a week after we lost one and she has completely taken over the house. Can not imagine a cat-free house.
    Go to petfinder.com to start. You will not regret it.

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    eight lb calico named Jazz, omg she was so adorable.

    John, she needs to come home with you. She needs Steve and Maxwell and you. You and Maxwell and Steve need her. Do it!

    ETA: What TaMara @3 said.

  8. 8.

    cckids

    @pat: I’ve agreed to give him a bit more time. Plus, his mother just broke her hip, and he/we will be traveling to & from Phoenix way more than either of us wants to for the next while. Seems unfair to get an animal then keep boarding them.

  14. 14.

    Percysowner

    @cckids: ​ Maybe you can talk him into doing what I did, fostering? I was sure I wasn’t quite ready to adopt after losing my last cat and my last dog. The I saw a call for foster and thought, what the heck, it’s not the same a adopting, if I can’t give my heart, well at least I’m giving someone a home. Of course I HAVE given my heart so best choice ever. Maybe your spouse could try this?
    ​

  18. 18.

    BellyCat

    I almost came home with an eight lb calico named Jazz, omg she was so adorable.

    Cole, restraint is over-rated…

  20. 20.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    i NEED AN 8 LB CALICO!

     

    I didn’t mean to yell, my cleaning lady left the caps lock on, but maybe I did mean to yell. One of my cats died 2 weeks ago or thereabouts (I’ve mentioned it before), and my other kitty is so sad, he’s just heartbroken. He’s not eating & he’s lost 20% of his body weight since his buddy died. He just wanders around the house calling – they had a special call when they wanted to play. I went to the vet this afternoon to get medicine to perk up his appetite, and he got very excited when he smelled the bag because he thought Reilly was coming home. :-(  Anyway, I want a new cat friend for him to play with, to maybe keep him company and pull him out of his depression.

  21. 21.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I wish we had a larger home as we would fill it with more cats. Speaking of, our orange guy is scoping out a bunch of birds fighting over what looks like a sandwich roll that blew into the street and was run over. He doesn’t stand a chance and he knows it so all he can do is watch and dream. He was sleeping about 20 feet from them in one of the yard tents, completely ignoring their squabbling for about a half hour. Our other two cats are in the house taking an afternoon snooze so they are missing out on the fun.

    As I am finishing this the bread is gone and so are the birds. Chuckie has a sad as he comes into the garage.

  22. 22.

    Nukular Biskits

    I identify.

    Was on business travel in SAN for the past 2 weeks, flew back Monday.  Teleworked part day Tuesday, went into the office half-day yesterday and are taking off (kinda) today and tomorrow.

    But today seemed like Friday all day long.

  23. 23.

    CaseyL

    Since Oscar has settled very happily into only-cathood (after Jeannie’s death), I don’t dare go anywhere near unhoused kitties. He’s wanted all of my attention for so long and finally has it.

    (Background: Before Jeannie and Oscar, there were Ariel and Jazz. Jazz died, and Ariel – like Oscar – discovered she very much liked being an Only Cat. Then Jeannie and Oscar arrived on the scene as Ariel was on her last legs. There was no way to avoid the overlap, but I think it broke Ariel’s heart that she was no longer my One and Only.)

  25. 25.

    Layer8Problem

    Simon Rosenberg of Hopium just did a Zoom presentation and chat for a bunch of our local groups that I listened in on. He’s strongly and calmly positive about our prospects in November.

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    Because it is summer and a holiday weekend, I have no idea what day it is. I had to check twice to make sure it is in fact Thursday.

    I can really relate to this.

    But did summer come early? Don’t scare me.

  28. 28.

    Doc Sardonic

    @KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)):  Get another cat, I made a mistake when my soul cat died a few years back. I was so deep in my grief, and depression over losing him I would not even remotely consider getting another. One day I noticed our other cat was not herself and I realized she was grieving as much as I was and was lonely. We got two other cats from a rescue that were a bonded pair and she got better. That mistake haunts me still, that I allowed her to suffer that grief and loss, due to my being blinded by my own grief.

  30. 30.

    TaMara

    Speaking of Reggie, I believe he is fitting in and Willow is finally getting over being miffed at his mere existence.  So much touching!

    Thursday Night Open Thread 11

  34. 34.

    TaMara

    @eclare: He’s been so good about giving her her space and not pushing it. I suppose that could be because he was having so much fun with the dogs (did you know Great Dane tails are better than feather sticks?) and Sully Panther was being a good big brother.

  36. 36.

    Kayla Rudbek .

    Grr. FYWP, it has eaten my griping about dealing with the pharmacy and mammogram appointment making about 2-3x now.  Suffice it to say that I am extremely unhappy with my local CVS and with the radiology scheduling website.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    My high school best friend had a tiny Calico. She was a great cat, and a good vole-er. Her name was “Cali”. ;-)

    OpenThread? Punchbowl.news:

    [Speaker] Johnson’s decision to publicly — and quite relentlessly — push for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Washington to address a joint meeting of Congress has put Schumer in an unusually uncomfortable position inside the Senate Democratic Caucus, where opinions of the Israeli leader have sunk to a new low.

    The politics are easy for Johnson. His conference is in lock-step behind Netanyahu. And Johnson is using Israel as a political cudgel against Democrats.

    It’s more complicated for Schumer. The New York Democrat has called for Israel to hold new elections to oust Netanyahu, describing him as an obstacle to peace as the bloody war in Gaza drags on.

    So Johnson is putting Schumer in an awkward spot here. Still, Schumer has said he’ll join the invitation because the U.S.-Israel relationship “transcends” any one leader.

    Yet Schumer is already under pressure from Democrats who say it would be inappropriate to do so while the war continues without an apparent endgame. These Democrats argue it would give Netanyahu a platform to boost his standing back home while playing up disputes with President Joe Biden.

    Democrats also view it as a rerun of 2015 when Netanyahu used his congressional address in a failed effort to block the Iran nuclear deal. Rank-and-file Democrats warn Netanyahu is making support for Israel a partisan issue on Capitol Hill, something Schumer has tried to prevent.

    “The horse is out of the barn. Israel is just another issue that Republicans are trying to gain an advantage on,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. “If he’s going to come here and pick a fight with Democrats, I don’t know that that helps anybody. Netanyahu’s in the business of holding on to political power, not bringing peace.”

    This is news: Johnson’s team is eyeing a Netanyahu speech before the August recess, although they are deferring to the prime minister’s team on an exact date. There are only six weeks of legislative session between now and the August recess. One week is the NATO summit in D.C. So time is short.

    Johnson and Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday. The conversation was focused on Johnson’s forthcoming legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court over potential arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. No vote is expected until after the Memorial Day recess.

    The two briefly discussed the speech and vowed to continue to try to find a date that works for Netanyahu. If it comes together, it would likely be one of the most divisive addresses to Congress in U.S. history.

    Yet another possible reason for the loud public criticism of the potential ICC indictments. Yet another reason for Bibi to try to hang on as long as possible even with Gantz demanding Bibi come up with a post-war plan by June 8 or he’s gone.

    Johnson and the rest of the GQP aren’t very bright, but they have a history of spending lots of energy to find ways to punch Democrats. Schumer and Jeffries and Biden and all the rest know this. It would be delicious if Bibi were gone before he could give the speech, but politics is slow.

    As always, eyes on the prizes…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  39. 39.

    opiejeanne

    What’s going on with Adam? I haven’t been able to spot anything about him, in going back through the last 12 hours of posts.

  45. 45.

    Hilfy

    Tomorrow  go back and get JAZZ.  Calicos are wonderful cats, great mousers, great mothers and beautiful to have around the house.  Also Steve may like to have a lady friend after putting up with all those dogs for so long..

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    I got up extra early this morning so I could be off at 3 so I could fight all the traffic to go to a doctor appointment. Got all the way up there, tried to check in automatically and it failed. Went to talk to the receptionist.

    “Oh your appointment is tomorrow!”

    In my abject stupidity I somehow was convinced it was Friday. So I get to do this all over again tomorrow.

    Ugh.

    Anyway, how’s y’all?

  49. 49.

    Jackie

    @Yutsano: I feel for you! No school tomorrow as an unneeded snow make up day/Memorial Day wknd kickoff, so it definitely feels like Friday.

  50. 50.

    Ohio Mom

    @Brachiator: Summer arrives in June, same as always. When you teach college though, summer feels like it starts when all your grades are turned in, and Cole teaches college.

    @cckids: Ohio MIL hasn’t broken any bones (yet, at least) but at 92, she is frail, getting frailer, and is requiring lots of attention. The other day, Ohio Dad went to help her with what was expected to be a short errand and returned home over hour hours later.

    First, she doesn’t move very fast, which make everything take longer; then she needed to be taken out for lunch because she’s lonely; then, back at her apartment, she needed various things moved and tidied.

    So you may be right about needing to wait a bit to take on a new pet.

  56. 56.

    Gin & Tonic

    Great headline in the NY Daily News: “Brooklyn rappers accused of murder conspiracy join Donald Trump at Bronx rally”

  57. 57.

    Layer8Problem

    @Madeleine:  He had a solid message and it needs to get out more.  Polls only go so far and when the media lean on a few of them and make highly questionable decisions about what to accentuate about them I at least have to wonder what they’re about.  He pointed out that the other side would like nothing better than for us to give up to an unstoppable “Red Wave” made up out of whole cloth.  It’s an election and work needs to be done, but doomism is cheap voter suppression and in any case is not borne out by the facts on the ground.

  59. 59.

    sab

    Our local crazy cat lady  (meant in the kindest possible way since she works relentlessly to rescue feral cats) has adopted an adorable young cat. He wanders the neighborhood and sits in every available lap. A few neighbors have tried to rescue him, so now he wears an id tag and a collar. She picked him up in our yard and scolded him: “What are you doing here?  Everyone thinks you are homeless but you have a good home.” He does. My husband called the number on his tag and found out who she was. She lives across from the people whose cat we stole (for its own protection) so this might have been performative for our benefit.

    She doesn’t believe in outdoor cats but he insists. He was hanging out in our front yard today and Dobby was fascinated.

  61. 61.

    Madeleine

    @Layer8Problem: These were important points, and I agree. I just don’t pay attention to polls—or try not to. The idea that they’re trying to get us to give up was a new thought and bears repeating . . . alot!

  64. 64.

    KrackenJack

    Shelters should do it like supermarkets do the dairy section.

    “Food drop-off? Yeah, it’s in back past all the kennels… You can’t miss it.”

  66. 66.

    sab

    The thing I have learned over the last twenty years as I got older and my parents got really old is that you can buy a lot of safe one floor housing for the cost of a couple of years in a nursing home. And being safe on one floor with a walker or a wheelchair may be all that will keep your kids from sending you to a nursing home.

    That’s why Mom moved her mother out, and why I moved Dad out. With age appropriate housing they could have stayed home for years longer.

  68. 68.

    sab

    @sab: Akron has a lot of issues against it, but its housing stock is still remarkable. Lots of gorgeous but affordable, and even more sensible but more affordable.

  69. 69.

    sab

    @Jackie: Cole needs to stop getting animals. He lives half the year on two sides of a continent, with everyone commuting. This isn’t good for pets. They will deal with it, but other homes are probably better for now.

  70. 70.

    Pennsylvanian

    @sab: Disagree. For pets, home is where the love is. They are resilient and adaptable when they know they are with their pack.

  71. 71.

    Kayla Rudbek .

    @sab: I am relieved that my parents will be moving to a single level house. My main concern right now is that they get through the process okay (for some strange reason Indiana allows a house seller up to 14 days after closing to leave the sold house, which is going to slow down the move and cause more opportunities for my parents to have to repeat the drive from Minneapolis to South Bend)

  72. 72.

    Manyakitty

    @KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): do it! That’s how we ended up getting Cygnus (8 weeks when we brought him home). Asimov (4) was so sad and lonely when Heisenberg (16) died, and he started acting out a bit. There’s still a little tension now and then, but they already love each other, and they’re leaving 16 year-old Manya alone (mostly).

    John, go back and get that pretty girl!

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