Tuesdays after a three-day weekend always manifest like…
void vortex šŖļø pic.twitter.com/9XjON3xNTn
— cats being weird little guys š (@weirdlilguys) May 25, 2024
Biden says each generation has to 'earn' freedom, in solemn Memorial Day remarks https://t.co/CzJUDlVkcb
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 27, 2024
Whether it's Joe Biden sending Memorial Day greetings to Gold Star military families or Donald Trump sending his own greetings to "human scum," both candidates have marked Memorial Day with public messages.
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) May 27, 2024
I rest my case. https://t.co/zGk2ARREb2
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) May 27, 2024
Unbelievably frustrating to see people people actually say, "Okay, sure, refusing to vote is destructive and harmful, but surely you can understand why someone might publicly encourage everyone to do it because they're upset" No! That's not how being a responsible adult works!
— Finnegans Take (@LittleMammith) May 27, 2024
Seriously though, the length of US election seasons is abnormal and only inflated by competitive primaries, if you do not have that it reverts to the mean: 6 tight weeks in the fall
— vocational politics appreciation account (@Convolutedname) May 24, 2024
On The Road – Rileys Enabler – Edinburgh, Dublin, Galway and Shannon
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyoneššš
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Good morning! š
Steeplejack
I spent most of yesterday feeling like it was Sunday. I’m hoping to snap back into phase today.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Good morning, Sunshine!
Soprano2
I call days like today “Monday/Tuesday” because it has that feel.
TBone
Loins girded.Ā Must go out and face the public on a foraging foray to restock crunchy snax.Ā It’s gonna be a week like a month. Again.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
Me too. I kept wondering why there was no Medium Cool at 7:00pm.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:Ā ā
Good morning!
To quote the Beatles, the sun is up, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful, and so are you!
TBone
First thing thought today: what fresh hell awaits THIS week?Ā C’mon, man! November can’t get here soon enough and that’s saying sumthin’ cuz Summer is my favorite time of year, hands down.Ā Can I persist? My track record so far is 100% persistence for well over half a century.Ā Anybody who wants to wreck that track record is gonna have a formidable foe.
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:Ā ā
You and Liz Warren. Good company.
geg6
Last week (???) there was a post about your favorite tv shows and I completely forgot to mentionĀ Somebody Somewhere. Ā I believe it is currently streaming the first two seasons on MAX. Ā Season 3 should come out some time this summer. Ā I especially want to recommend it to Betty Cracker, if she hasnāt seen any of it yet. Ā Itās truly one of the best shows ever. Ā Bridgett Everett, Jeff Hiller, Murray Hill and the entire cast are fantastic and the stories are hilarious, touching and, especially the family dramas, REAL. Ā A very good show to recover by. Ā Betty, if you havenāt seen it, you must!
OzarkHillbilly
My eldest spent the first half of the wkend on a Shannon Co. gravel bar and spent the 2nd half packing up his soaking wet gear in rising floodwaters and running for it. I warned him on Friday to keep a weather eye on the sky. Fortunately, for one reason or another he was sans family. Not sure how his wife would have reacted to such a turn of fate.
I spent yesterday at a Doc-on-the-Block where my wife was getting treated for a spider* bite that turned ugly. Result: A script for antibiotics and the advice to, “If it gets any worse, go to the ER.”
“HEY ASSHOLES, WE CAME HERE TO AVOID THE ER!”
*ftr, I was able to identify the remains as NOT a fiddleback (brown recluse) or black widow, just a regular garden spider, possibly of the wolf spider genus.
TBone
I just made the mistake of reading Vanguard’s Notice of “updated commission and fee schedules.” You now have to pay a $100 fee to close your account OR have those funds transferred to another brokerage.Ā Plus several other affronts to my sensibilities!Ā Grrrrrrrr
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Last night while walking the dog I wrote down a list of a half dozen āEmergency Gardeningā chores that were so bad even I noticed, that I should probably spend my day doing.
Or I could go sip a coffee in the air conditioned cafe for an hour or two.
TBone
@OzarkHillbilly: my dad once had to undergo a skin graft to his testicles as a result of a spider bite he got while sleeping. š
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: We made our run to the ER on Sunday evening. There was almost no one there, though that could have been because there was a tornado warning.
TBone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: not a close contest IMO š
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: hugs! š
OzarkHillbilly
So when everything goes to shit, don’t blame me. God made me do it.
Gin & Tonic
@TBone: I may speak for the other testicle-havers here when I say I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that.
TBone
@OzarkHillbilly: that’s what they ALL say.Ā I’m gonna think up a few Acts of God for all those motherfuckers while I stir my brew today…
Spiders!Ā That’s a good one!
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My wife and I got some good barbecue for our troubles at least.
@Gin & Tonic: Amen.
OzarkHillbilly
Scout211
Trumpās lawyers filed aĀ response to the gag order request that Jack Smith requested in the documents case.
Motion to Strike
ETA: Ā My prediction: Ā Loose Cannon will sit on this for a week or two and then schedule a hearing in another month and then rule on it in another month. Ā So three months or more down the road Jack Smith may be able to ask the appellate court to intervene.
TBone
@Gin & Tonic: š one of the only times in my life I ever pitied my dad (he was a tough old bird, fiercely independent to his core). The other time an asthma attack made his entire body inflate like a puffer fish.Ā When he got colon cancer for the final time, he was so recalcitrant that the hospital kept sending him home, and I’d have to rush him back after a few days like a dervish on I-95…
3Sice
Their attempted push at inevitability…. Not a great play, but given the state of the candidate, there really isn’t any other option.
Wandering around the pits isn’t a fash boss move (an extraneous event that makes him appear small)Ā but when he can only pull 3-400 to a rally…
TBone
@Scout211: that’ll go over like a fart in a court room! Oh wait, it’s Aileen… anything could happen. Cry harder, whiny ass titty babies!
That bitch is the only judge he hasn’t insulted.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Scout211: Iāve given up hoping Cannon will make the move that allows Smith to get her removed. But FWIW, my usual legal commentator sources say thereās no way sheāll impose the requested gag order. And that will be the ammunition they need.
So probably sheāll impose some watered down version of the gag order and they wonāt get their ammunition.
Also I agree with your timeline, this wonāt play out till July/August.
smith
That salute during Amazing Grace was only a part of his bizarre behavior– there are reports that he was wandering around saluting at random people and even at a plane passing overhead.
OzarkHillbilly
@smith: His brain is turning to pudding before our eyes.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t think I ever came across a black widow back in Central Misery. Brown recluses? Everywhere. No bites tho.
This reminds me of an ongoing saga with one of the techs at the low-cost spay/neuter cat clinic my wife volunteers for.Ā Two years ago, my wife got bit by a cat, finger.Ā She went to the urgent care place later in the day and got referred to the hospital where they cut open the wound, flushed it, then kept her overnight with IV antibiotics.Ā She was out the next day with some gizmo to keep her arm upright for a couple of days.Ā Was fully recovered in about a week.
Flash forward to a month ago.Ā A new (to the place) tech got a bite but waited 24 hours before seeking treatment.Ā She went thru the same process but it’s worse because she waited and now they’re talking about amputating the finger.
Baud
@smith:
Trump likes saluting people.
Sure Lurkalot
@Scout211:
So much for Jack Smith making motions and doing legal filings when the other side just doubles down and dials up the faux outrage for delay purposes only. What we need now is a master class in leakage, some brave, misguided soul in Jackās office to reveal the breadth and scope of the national security breaches to the light of day. We all know the other side doesnāt care who or what they endanger by their fealty to their idiot king.
Sort of snark, but at this point, why not.
TBone
@smith: I posted this earlier but it bears repeating
https://digbysblog.net/2024/05/27/ok-this-was-weird/
dmsilev
Closing statements in the hush-money trial today. I liked this bit from the TPM liveblog:
TBone
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: š
mrmoshpotato
I see Doug’s still got it!
TBone
@Baud: I’d laugh but that one is not fucking funny.Ā May his balls shrivel up to match his brain. Both of them.Ā The testicle-havers in that photo. That’s, presumably, four in all.Ā BALL GARGLING THUNDER TWATS.
OzarkHillbilly
I’ve come across a few over the years, but yes, the fiddlebacks are far far far more common. I once had to do some structural work in a crawl space, it was fiddleback heaven. I bombed the shit out of it and when I crawled back in the next day, not a one had died, they were all just pissed off then.
On the slightly more serious side, I moved very carefully and they pretty much ignored me. Some of the places I’ve worked in, it’s hard to believe I never got bit by one, but I suppose it’s possible.
(we’ve all heard the horror stories but I wonder if they were just especially sensitive to the venom)
dmsilev
@Sure Lurkalot: The problem fundamentally is that the judge is going along with the delay tactics. Look at the other Trump trials, like the recently concluded defamation trials or the current hush-money one; his legal teams tried the same sort of throw-shit-at-the-wall tactics, and the judges were batting most of it away in short order. Cannon, on the other hand….
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I know it would be ungentlemanly, but would it be inappropriate for me to purchase a bottle of bubbly once summations are complete, and chill it in hopeful anticipation of at least a month’s jail time?
TBone
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: come sit by me!
I’ll make whores deserves.Ā Oops, horse deurves.Ā Oops! Pardon my French š
dmsilev
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Even if he’s convicted, as we all fervently hope, he’s not getting sent away any time soon. So, pick something that’s got a good shelf life. Or drink on conviction, not on incarceration. Your choice.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Also, what I’ve read is that he’s unlikely to get jail time for these offenses.
mrmoshpotato
@TBone:
I’m just going to assume the cookie and chocolate supply is still well-stocked. š
TBone
@dmsilev: I only drink Veuve Cliquot IRL.Ā I mean if you’re gonna go, go ALL the way.Ā I don’t drink but a special occasion is soon upon us, I suspect.Ā Until then, I’ll Pop Corn in solidarity with my favorite President of all time!
Even if he’s not convicted, his swamp ass had to fart in court in public for damn near six weeks š
sab
@TBone: That is good to know
I wonder if they will charge me for closing my two ghost accounts as I try to open the rollover account.
mrmoshpotato
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Did Sunday night’s squall line hit you?Ā It SOAKED Wilmette and Evanston.
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: hubby raided my chocolate supply while I was asleep last night come to find out about 20 minutes ago!Ā I had to put his sheets & pillow cases in the wash as a result.
List:
– Spiders for witch’s brew to accentuate the large, long, hairy centipede I killed this morning
– Crunchy Polish shrimp
– Chocolate in all of its lovely forms
– More popcorn
– Real French champagne
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic:
Hear hear!
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: man, youse guys are true empaths!Ā Hello!
Layer8Problem
A question for the people here who are paid money for doing the legal:Ā Independent of their degree of successful monkey-wrenching, what are the long-term effects among their peers, with legal academics, or in the legal community for judges like Cannon or Fifth Circuit Texas Guy whose name escapes me?Ā I understand they hold lifetime appointments, but if they never attain higher benches do they at least get laughed at at the federal judge bars or insulted in law reviews?
TBone
@Layer8Problem: Kaczmaryk or some such shit, I can’t be bothered to spell check
sab
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I waited eight hours when my cat bit because it was March ( tax season) and my whole arm swelled up to the size of a leg. Surgery and a week in the hospital, but didn’t lose any parts. Turns out nobody else in the office ( except the partners) knew how to do trust returns.
Layer8Problem
@TBone:Ā It may be pronounced ‘Strzok’ but don’t hold me to that.
sab
@Layer8Problem: I am not a lawyer, but most lawyers I know are very respectful in public of judges they or their law firm might come in front of. A lot of federal judges are professionally subpar.
schrodingers_cat
@OzarkHillbilly: He said this days ago. His delusions of grandeur are unchecked. His cult eats it with a spoon but a lot of Indians are getting tired of the empty promises and the performance artist.
TBone
@sab: my long ago teenage BF’s mom got bit by a timber rattler here in PA.Ā The 55 minute drive to the hospital in an old beater pickup truck was accomplished in under 30 minutes so that antivenom would save her leg, which was unbelievably swollen.Ā Full recovery was made!
mrmoshpotato
@TBone:
Also, too, testicle-havers!
TBone
@Layer8Problem: his first name is Matthew but I’m not looking up his proper spelling because fuck that guy.
frosty
@Gin & Tonic:Ā āI occasionally despair at the amount of time I waste every morning reading Balloon-Juice comments but then something like TBone’s nugget comes across the thread. Followed by your (and others) great responses. Oh well.āā
wjca
I have an IRA account (not with Vanguard) which has a somewhat similar provision.Ā I can take out (either a withdrawal or a transfer to a different IRA account) up to 10% of the total current value without penalty.Ā Above that, there are penalties, aka charges.
I’m currently chipping away at it.Ā When I get it low enough, the penalty will be small enough to ignore, and I’ll close it.Ā But I regret not picking up on this detail decades ago when I opened it.
Ohio Mom
@OzarkHillbilly: Last year, the urgent care staff told me the gash in my finger was too deep for them to stitch up and that Iād have to go to the hospital (pre-Thanksgiving run-in with a butternutĀ squash).
Once at my neighborhood hospital, Ā I discovered it has an urgent care section inside their ER, which means there is no reason to ever go to that urgent care center again.
The hospital calls their urgent care department āExpressā something or other (āCareā?) which is funny because they are extremely slow. And all it takes is a real emergency across the hall and the staff empties out to attend to it, leaving you all by yourself.
But I got good care and I know if I (or friend or family member) ever misjudge a situation and it is more serious than assumed, we will be delivered across the hall to the real emergency department.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@OzarkHillbilly:
You’ve been to Bonnots Mill so have seen the Dauphine and the outbuildings.Ā We owned the house next door uphill and spent years underneath dealing with plumbing and frozen pipes.Ā I’d crawl in there and it was pretty much as you describe.Ā In the spaces to small for even me (ultramarathon running keeps one skiny), my wife would go into for pipe repair.
And we never got bit.Ā I think over the decades we learned that brown recluses were actually easy to coexist with.Ā Now, the one time a ground nest of fucking yellow jackets on the bluff side of the Dauphine got me and my hand swelled up like a balloon.Ā I drowned and chemically treated those bastards into oblivion.
mrmoshpotato
@Ohio Mom: Damn you, butternut squash!Ā Also, a pain to peel (safely, with a vegetable peeler.)
TBone
@sab: I’m incensed.Ā Also Blackstone CEO just came out for Dotard.Ā Mika and Joe were YELLING about it.Ā Guillotines time, do these motherfuckers not remember the French Revolution???
wjca
No.Ā What we need now is some brave soul in Cannon’s staff to leak the text of documents from the Heritage Foundation (or whoever) guiding her in how to stall without getting removed.
TBone
@Layer8Problem: they’re all fucking peters in my book
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@sab:
Yikes!
The clinic is dealing with part of the hospital costs thru workman’s comp for the tech.Ā My wife didn’t put that on them although as a volunteer, I’m not sure what her options might have been.Ā We don’t play that way given we’ve been in the cat rescue/support game for almost 20 years now.Ā But, the clinic now has a procedure for anybody there: get bit and if you don’t go get it treated immediately, they’ll drag your ass somewhere and have it treated.
TBone
@sab: can confirm
OzarkHillbilly
@Ohio Mom: Our local hospital has a Weekend clinic too, but it is only open Saturdays and Sundays. Pbbbbththththththth…
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: My youngest son found a yellow jacket nest here the hard way last summer. Fortunately he had the presence of mind to set his beer can down where he was standing. Made it real easy for me to find the nest that night. Poured some mineral spirits down the hole and problem solved.
Ohio Mom
@mrmoshpotato: Google later informed me you can soften butternut squash in the microwave, making them them easier to slice, thereby avoiding knives hitting the wrong object.
The doctor who strolled by to check on the PAās work asked what happened and then exclaimed, āItās always the butternut squash!ā
Barbara
@Soprano2: I get a lot of industry related content in my inbox and I received something this morning that I wanted to pass along in case you were not familiar with it.Ā The headline is a little misleading.
New Help for Dealing With Aggression in People With Dementia – KFF Health News
narya
@mrmoshpotato: The trick to peeling it easily: microwave it for two minutes or so. It softens up just enough to peel. Also, I use a melon baller to scoop out the seeds.
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: š I live with one.Ā I keep them in my purse š
š¶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IzuSXhQGwMk
Gloria DryGarden
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: a friend had a cat bite, spent a week in the hospital on the special antibiotics. Yikes.
I put clay on bug and spider bites. Often helps. But if it were ever from a brown recluse, I hear you need the er pretty fast.
CaseyL
Calling on the BJ Cat-alariat:Ā Cat coughs.
My old cat Oscar has a cough.Ā The vet put him on a course of steroids early this month and the cough went away.Ā He completed the course on May 13.Ā Two days ago the cough came back.Ā Is the problem ongoing inflammation, so we should keep him on steroids?Ā Is there something else going on?
It’s a mild one, and apparently dry. (I say apparently because he also sneezes, and those are snotty.)
He already has an appointment next week to do bloodwork for his thyroid condition (he’s on meds for that), so we’ll probably also talk about the cough then.Ā Unless the vet wants me to run him in sooner – I’ve texted them and am awaiting their response.
Does anyone here know anything about chronic coughing in cats?
Oscar does go outside, still, but mostly onto the porch and deck these days.Ā He’ll go out when it’s raining, too.Ā I keep the sliding glass doors open if the weather is even the slightest bit bearable, so there’s always plenty of fresh air (also, plenty of moist air, this being Seattle).Ā He has, as noted, a thyroid condition that has affected his heart (minimally).Ā His breathing tends to be more rapid and shallow than a younger cat, but SFAICT he’s fully oxygenated.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Gloria DryGarden
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: itās may in Denver . This is when I wish I had already weeded and dug bindweed and many more urgent tasks, because if doesnāt frost or snow this week, I should have already planted. We can probably all top each other for a longer list of urgent endless garden tasks, some of which one loves, many of which one desires to avoid a little longer, with consequences.
@TBone: I heard that bugs and other animals are sentient, from the hippy gardeners in college, who tell the deer, and the insects, this row is for you, and this other row is for us. Ā So i tried it: I cut a deal with my spiders. I announced I wouldnāt kill them, and they that donāt bite me. In 25 years, only one small itchy minor bite. Seems to be working. I recommend this. I barely have to refresh the announcement. If a spider looks scary, I catch in a jar, and escort it outside. Sorry about your dad. Thatās a tough place for a skin graft.
TBone
@CaseyL: my chonky tomcat Noah was diagnosed with “asthma” when we caught Covid in 2020 and prescribed a human inhaler (I’d already had a cat with true asthma and had the special tube/facemask dealio to admin.) for 30 days twice a day.Ā He recovered fully BUT when I got sick again recently ALL of my cats got sick again too, runny eyes, sneezing fits, spasmodic coughing spells just like their mama.Ā Only my chonky tomcat is still coughing periodically but they’re all still with runny eyes.Ā I’m not putting him back on those steroids after I found out how they make you feel for the first time in my life this past January.Ā I don’t have good advice apparently, but when the vet told me he had to amputate Noah’s leg (he called TWICE to get my permission) during a tumor removal shortly after the “asthma,” I staunchly refused.Ā Noah has been cancer free and walking on all fours ever since.Ā It was a tough call that made me cry hysterically but I’m SO glad I didn’t have his leg removed!
Baud
@TBone:
They do, which is why they’ve invested in propaganda to persuade people that both sides are the same.
Geminid
The Taxas Tribune put up an article this morning titled, “It’s primary runoff election day in Texas. Here’s what we’re watching.”
One important runoff is between Beaumont state Representative Dade Phelan, theTexas House Speaker. He is being challenged by a more conservative Republican:
Also, in the 23rd Congressional District that stretches along the Rio Grande Valley between San Antonio and El Paso, incumbent Representative Tony Gonzalez faces minor YouTube star Brandon “The AK-47 Guy” Herrera. Herrera criticizes Gonzalez for his votes against Republican border crackdown billsĀ and a vote for Democratic gun control legislation.
Gonzalez was endorsed by Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Mike Johnson, while Freedom Caucus members Matt Gaetz, Eli Crane and Chairman Bob Good are backing Herrera
Texas polls close at 7pm local time.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: š we are pretty much overrun with spiders at my house and I too have a live and let live policy like yours! because they are beneficial.Ā The huge hairy centipedes we also have in abundance are natural spider predators but when I see those buggers (that can sting with venom too) I must kill them because they are so fast, lightning speed, and they give me the WILLIES!Ā They are a good addition to my cauldron while I’m thinking up new spells with which to curse the neoNazi zombies that have arisen like the walking dead.
Juju
@OzarkHillbilly: As someone who has been bitten by a brown recluse, if your wife had been bitten by a brown recluse there would have been no doubt. A brown recluse bite hurts like a son of a bitch and the venom has a fleshās dissolving component. The flesh where one has been bitten starts out as a blister then sloughs off bit by bit over a number of days and leaves a shallow hole about the size of a quarter or larger. Ā This hole takes at least a month to heal completely. I was bitten on my ankle Ā 30+ years ago. I can still find the scar because it still has a bit of an indentation. Ā I didnāt go to the ER because my dad was a doctor, and the treatment is rest, ice, elevate and so on. Just get through it and hope it doesnāt get infected. It didnāt, but I have the areas around the house checked for brown recluse spiders every spring. I never want to go through that again.
TBone
@Baud: sigh
it is ever thus
They’re crossing the Rubicon for tax breaks.
wjca
Is it only me? Or do others experience something like cognitive dissonance when they find themselves hoping for a win by someone endorsed by Abbott and bt Johnson?
I know some figure that the worse alternative would be easier to beat.Ā In some cases, that is even true.Ā But I’m always aware that the worse alternative might still win.Ā And we don’t need more MTGs and Gaetzes.
lowtechcyclist
@wjca:
That’s freakin’ crazy. They’re essentially saying you don’t have the right to your own bleepin’ money.ā
Westyny
I, for one, am glad to know there are treatment protocols.
stacib
@Barbara: Thank you for this.Ā Just this weekend, I texted my brother that we may be coming to the time when our 93-year-old mother may have to go to a facility.Ā Both of us hate the idea, but my goodness, this is hard.Ā I still work full time, and he’s a recovering 72 year old cancer survivor with many health issues of his own. My mom, for the first time, absolutely refused to take her meds for the past three days.Ā She has fits when it’s time for a bath, and she can say some of the meanest shit imaginable.Ā Reading this article helps.
TBone
@wjca: VG also lost a lot of money during the same time period that my other brokers made me a bundle (recently).Ā But I’m stuck with VG because inherited IRAs and now NEW FEES every time you make a change in direction in any fund!Ā I’m livid but sitting with my rage until I can speak to my other financial advisor in a ladylike manner (without all the cuss words) about what, if anything, I should/could do.
Jeffro
Wow.
If it were me, I’d run that account down to $100.05 and leave it before I’d pay $100 to close it.Ā It’ll cost them $X each year just to ‘maintain’ it.
Geminid
@wjca: Herrera’s pretty bad. His YouTube clips include one of him firing a German WW2 submachine gun and calling it “the original ghetto blaster.” Then he and his partner started goose-stepping for the audience.
sdhays
If I was writing this story, eventually Trump forgets she’s “the good one” in one of his increasingly frequent public dementia moments and really goes off on her.
TBone
@Jeffro: guess what ELSE the Notice states?Ā “We can now unilaterally close low activity/low balance accounts” !!!!
I’m stuck with VG because it’s my only source of income that amounts to much and the accounts are inherited IRAs.Ā You can’t really do much with those without stiff penalties.
TBone
@sdhays: ooh, good spell casting wishes for my cauldron!Ā Thanks!!!
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: let me add my energy to your cauldron stirring rituals. Yes.
we only have the predator centipedes out in the worm bins and compost. But one removes them. Yours sound useful in the venom potion.
bubble, bubble toil and trouble
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: š
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: the cauldron!
Knots in a cord. An herbal bundle. Ground centipedes.. there must be some energetic alignment or spell to help. Really not sure, but itās an extra avenue.
$100 fee to leave!
TBone
@Geminid: Goddamnit to hell
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: the oiligarchs are really, REALLY daring us to DO SOMETHING.Ā They need to FIND OUT what we can do when we’re UNITED.
Soprano2
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: She is obviously trying to prevent this trial from ever happening, because she knows how serious it is and how good the state’s case is, and that TFG has no defense against what he did.
Soprano2
@smith: And of course none of the regular press will report on this or any of the other addled behavior he’s seen to engage in. I swear, they’re determined to cover it up as much as they can. They want TFG back because he was better for their bottom line.
evodevo
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yep yellow jackets are the pits…I’ve been fighting with them around our house and woodshed for years.Ā nasty venom that is very toxic…they are hard to avoid, since you have to weed eat/mow grass/move wood into and out of woodshed all the time, and you never know when you will disturb them.Ā The last nest I dealt with wasn’t even underground, but in a folded up tarp in the woodshed – wore my beekeeping suit that time.Ā Had to pull the tarp out onto the driveway, spread it out, douse the nest and the zillion flying stingers with heavy duty insecticide and stay in the house for the rest of the day, then deal with stragglers for a couple days after.Ā Not really looking forward to dealing with them again…
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: I got bitten by one on the back; lucky for me it didn’t make much of a gouge, although I have a small scar on my back from it. I got a cellulitis infection from the bite and spent three days off work because of it. They’re nothing to mess around with. Don’t Google for recluse spider bites unless you have a strong stomach, though – if they bite a fleshy part of your body it can be bad.
wjca
I’d go down to $0.05 now that I think of it.
Soprano2
@Barbara: Thanks, I’ll read that later.
Gloria DryGarden
@Barbara: we needed this w my mom. Saving it in an open tab to read later
Soprano2
@TBone: I got some of those from my mother. Two of them aren’t under my trust; I tried to call one of them to make a change and they didn’t seem to understand what I wanted. I talked to my attorney and she said it’s not a big deal since they’re under my mother’s trust which will probably be defunct after next year, but I have to have the money out of them by 2031 anyway so then the accounts will be gone. So I’m not going to mess with it anymore.
Jeffro
@TBone: ugh…they think of everything, I guess.
Can you withdraw smaller amounts more often, just to run up their transaction costs?
(I’m in one of those moods today =)
TBone
@Soprano2: it’s all such a clusterfuck.Ā The opaque fees, layer upon layer of rules and stumbling blocks, open pit traps at every level…
My brother could have chosen to liquidate ALL of the accounts when he was Executor but he put my SIL illegally in charge of everything (oil meet water,š” she’s a real piece of work) and he thought he was doing me a solid to make sure I’d not spend my inheritance all in one place, hahahahaha.Ā Thank God I got half in cash!
TBone
@Jeffro: I could do that.Ā BUT the last time I made my Required Minimum Distributions, the fucking guy at VG thought up a NEW FEE to make the distribution and told me to call him back in a few days because he only wanted to make ONE disbursement that day and I have two accounts that require minimum withdrawals!Ā I can’t remember what he named his absurdity but I told him he was was REQUIRED to kiss my ass!Ā They know they’ve got you by the short hairs!
karen marie
@smith: Who’s the creep next to him?
TBone
@Soprano2: they understood.Ā They just didn’t want to do anything.Ā It’s a major power imbalance.Ā It’s why Stormy is my shero – she flipped the power imbalance script!
satby
@CaseyL: I hate to say it, but you mentioned his heart was affected. A cough can be a sign of heart failure (in humans too), and not terribly uncommon in cats. If he’s an older can he’ll probably get medication for it, if that’s what it is. It could be a respiratory bug, but the shallow breathing and cough together with previous heart damage could indicate worsening of that condition. Just like people, as they age the health stuff can get complicated. I hope it’s more minor, and good luck.
danielx
@Gin & Tonic:
Seconded.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato: We were in the ER at the time, but yeah. There was a tornado warning.
NotMax
@Gloria DryGarden
Pro tip:
When the spell calls for eye of newt they mean the lizard, not Gingrich (attractive as an inclination the latter may be).
//
CaseyL
@satby: Oh, crap.Ā His heart has been, thus far, barely affected by the thyroid condition – but as you note, CHF is a progressive disease, and he is getting to be an old boy.
Is there medication for that?Ā I mean: beyond what he already gets for his thyroid and the (presumably resumed) steroids for the cough?
Thank you for the info!
schrodingers_cat
@OzarkHillbilly: Mamta Banerjee, the CM (Chief Minister, like the governor of a state here) of West Bengal had the best response to the delude God comment
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: Lol. That’s a brilliant response.
gvg
@CaseyL: Is he on any new medication?
I had a cough for a year. small dry cough not serious but eventually I asked the doctor. The doctor changed a nasal spray and said the one I was using (effective) had a side effect sometimes of causing a cough. The cough went away. I never had associated the cough with the medicine as at my age I am taking several things, and the cough hadn’t happened originally.
Years before after surgery I complained about a cough because it caused the incision to hurt. The surgeon diagnosed acid reflux. I had not noticed any symptoms of that and kind of thought the doctor was wrong but they weren’t. it helped a lot.
All this is to say check with your actual vet and coughs can be caused by so many funny things.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:I know it would be ungentlemanly, but would it be inappropriate for me to purchase a bottle of bubbly once summations are complete, and chill it in hopeful anticipation of at least a monthās jail time?
You’ve inspired me to put a magnum in the fridge for the occasion. Heck, I may put champagne in for other people as well!
satby
@CaseyL: as gvg says, coughs are signs of all sorts of things, so hopefully your vet will diagnose what’s causing it. And yes, cats can go a long time on medication for CHF too, if it’s that. That he was on steroids for lung inflammation gives me pause, because you didn’t say what the vet thought caused the inflammation. Hopefully they call you back and get him sorted out.Ā Good luck!
satby
@gvg: Blood pressure medicines of a particular class also have a side effect of dry cough. We thought my smoker mom had developed emphysema. Nope, it was her medicine.
Kate in OR
@stacib
Also, possible UTI?
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
I always wanted to have an orange cat and name it Mandarin or Clementine.
Cannoli would be cute for a pug, I think.
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@rikyrah: Good morning! And good afternoon!
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@Soprano2: the only thing worse are Thursday-Fridays
Kate in OR
@stacib
Also, possible UTI?
@Barbara:
Thank you for posting this.
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@OzarkHillbilly: is Satan considered a god these days?
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
IANATH, but everything from my knees to my navel clenched up when I read TBoneās comment.
Manyakitty
@schrodingers_cat: love this!
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
I have helped farmer friends who host a tractor pull. People saluting whatever they think is patriotic is Ā the kind of shit you see there. No comment from me, I’mĀ just there to help sell the food.
ceece
@CaseyL:
sadly I do know about coughing in cats, my 15 year old Franklin has severe pulmonary fibrosis.
Often the problem is asthma, there are bronchodilators and low dose oral or inhaled steroids that can be administered long term. I think a chest x ray allows for differential diagnosis.
please send an email and I can send more info.
sab
@Barbara: To late for me and my dad ( our nurse’s aide intuitively knew most of this.) But not to late for others, including me maybe.
Old people with dementia are not toddlers lacking training. They are old people losing it and they know or at least sense that. They are at least anxious and possibly very frightened. They need some respectĀ within the limits of their safety and whatever communal living situation the are in.
If they are frightened they may well lash out, violently or mildly, depending on the person or the type of dementia.
I am in awe of hospice people who bridge this gap. I wish a lot of us relatives and non-hospice caregivers came into their cir le of understanding much earlier. But maybe not possible. We don’t believe them until it is too late.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: Nikki had it right, heās unfit for office, but now she endorses himā¦?