On the thermometer, the temperature today was the same as it had been the last few days, but, for whatever reason, it felt sooo much hotter today. Maybe less wind? You stepped outside and it just felt like you were walking into a wall of pea soup. Here’s to hoping Geg6 got her ac fixed because if not she is gonna be miserable.
As I write this, both cats are engaging in a coordinated attempt to gaslight me into thinking they were not fed. I fed them at 5 pm, went downstairs and finished the end of Dune 2 and had dinner, and then came back up here to write this, and both animals are freaking out like it is dinner time. Maxwell is doing his performative dance in between and around my legs while crooning, and Steve is sitting next to a food bowl acting as hype man, occasionally throwing out a LOUD MEOWRAWR. I’m not fooled you fuckers, I’m not that senile yet.
Last night we had a touch of drama as I was watching tv. Maxwell started making a loud noise in the front hallway wile I was watching tv, and I was able to ignore him for a few minutes before he got really loud. So I walked over, turned on the light, and he had cornered a live mouse and was keeping it there so the idiot human could learn how to hunt. I didn’t want to kill the thing, so I got a dustpan and a magazine and scooped him up in the dustpan and covered it with the magazine. I was making my way to the door to let it out outside when it squirted out and plummeted to the wood floor and either killed itself or knocked itself out. Regardless, I scooped it up again and took it outside. No idea whether it lived or died, but I feel like I did my best.
Other than that, not much going on. Little reading, little tv, little quality time with the cats.
Soprano2
I guarantee the humidity was higher today that’s why it feels hotter.
On another note, my new central air is working! Yay!
UncleEbeneezer
We finished Becoming Karl Lagerfeld on Hulu last night and it was so much better than we expected. I know a lot of liberties were taken with the history but the acting is superb, and the costumes were great. If you are into fashion and like these sorts of stories/series’, give it a look.
mrmoshpotato
Haha! YUMM-O!
ETA – could you taste the ham? 😋
SiubhanDuinne
A long time ago I caught a little mouse at work. Trapped it under a huge Big Gulps or something cup, one of those ginormous ones. Punched holes in the lid so it could breathe. My dad had some woods behind his house, so my plan was to take it home with me and release it. But on the drive home it must have had a heart attack because by the time I pulled in the driveway it was as dead as John Cleese’s parrot. I went into the living room where my dad was stretched out watching Wheel of Fortune. Sadly, I held out the cup and said, “Oh Daddy, there’s a dead mouse in here.” Without missing a beat, he said, “No thanks, honey, I just had some chocolate milk.”
stinger
Mr. Cole, I’m sure you are aware of what we just did for the NC Black Alliance group, and I want to thank you for making this space available for that kind of group endeavor and building this community. We’re better together! It takes a village, and we’re it!
Almost Retired
@stinger: Amen many times over! John Cole’s support for fundraising sets Balloon Juice apart from the pearl clutching blogs. He probably has no idea how much positive impact he has had.
Glidwrith
Mice are wired for speed. I have found I can pick them up by the tail if I move slowly.
Frankensteinbeck
99% of the time the answer is ‘It ran right back inside as soon as its head cleared.’ It is very difficult to kill a mouse with a fall, although they are prone to stress heart attacks. They find getting into a building laughably easy. Nevertheless, you saved it from immediate death by cat, so good for you.
EDIT – And by ‘very difficult to kill with a fall’ you can drop that little bastard from orbit and if it doesn’t die from lack of oxygen it’ll hop back up and run away when it hits the ground. Fatal impact speed is way higher than terminal velocity.
WaterGirl
@stinger: Yeah, BJ peeps are amazing. Glad that on BJ we are not just armchair quarterbacks.
NotMax
On the same plane as roaches, no such thing as a single house mouse.
CaseyL
Good on ya, John, for rescuing the mouse.
Between only feeding Steve and Maxwell one dinner per evening, and not being able to kill a mouse they had already gone to the trouble of catching for you, your cats probably think you’re a hopeless incompetent.
But to that mouse? You’re a hero.
PJ
99 degrees today on the first day of summer in Brooklyn. That’s not official, just the temperature outside my building. I may have to move to Maine.
Dan B
87° at our house in chilly damp Seattle. There are many plants in our garden like Cannas, Tomatoes, and Daturas that are loving it after many days in the 50’s. It cools back into the 70’s tomorrow. Too bad the Fremont (formerly quirky neighborhood) Solstice Parade wasn’t today. The naked cyclists might be the goosebumps and the shrinkages. Cats are mostly outside but not in the sun except Milly who is in the sun on the downstairs bed. It’s in the low 70’s down there.
mayim
@PJ: it was miserably hot here in Maine the last few days, although it has cooled down for the weekend.
I spent part of Wednesday evening checking job listings in Newfoundland and Shetland.
The heatwave here was made even more miserable for me because I’m recovering from surgery and the post-operative wounds means I can’t use what my mother called Yankee air conditioning [a.k.a. go jump in the nearest lake].
cain
@Glidwrith:
They feel the need …the need for speed!
geg6
The saga of the AC continues. A new unit was installed but was not putting out much, if any cold air. We let it run a while in case the heat of the last week or so delayed the cold air but it didn’t seem to get better. So we went around to all the cold air returns and nothing. He had gotten here around 5 and it was now about 7:30. He had to go into the attic!! It had to be boiling up there but he searched around and found that whoever had put the original unit in had not hooked up a cold air return and where it had been was just stuffed full of insulation and broken. So he pulled that out and some cold air started coming through. He didn’t leave until about 9 pm. He said he’d be coming back to fix that but couldn’t do it in the attic until the weather had moderated a bit so he could spend some time in the attic without getting heat stroke or dying. So we have some relief. Not enough but it’s better than it was.
mrmoshpotato
@geg6: Good to hear.
Glidwrith
@cain: But can they fly inverted with negative G’s?
PJ
@mayim: Guess I should start looking in Canada then.
pat
Here in western WI the temp has been in the 70s and we have had cloudy weather for the last couple of days, but it ain’t the heat, it’s the humidity, as we used to say. We have had a couple passing storms. And they are predicting high water on the Mississippi from rain up north.
Got all 5 smoke detectors replaced with a new brand. The one in the bedroom has been going off in the middle of the night. 4 times in the last few weeks.
BellyCat
@geg6: Sigh…. Attics are where lousy contractors commit many sins. Homeowners rarely inspect the work. Your current A/C person is a hero!
mrmoshpotato
@BellyCat: Agreed! Good on the AC contractor!
wombat probability cloud
@mayim: Just out of curiosity, why Shetland? I spend some formative time there in 1972 but, unfortunately, haven’t been back. Yet.
wjca
OT, so…
Check out this little video. Going to make it hard for voters, especially drivers, in Ohio to stay ignorant of what’s happening. So . . . unsubtle those Democrats. Probably a potential Dark Brandon ad in there.
Lily
Yeah hot. Heavy walking. I swam in cold water. After the first minutes it felt exquisite. The few others who were there said the same. Almost no one was there yesterday or today, not even the people who bring their dogs every day who are all friends and run around leaping with each other. Everyone else had decided it was too hot to walk up the hill to the water. Only Fanny, the part chihauhau, maybe terrier, fastest dog in the neighborhood was there to leap around with our dog and a ball in her mouth for about an hour. Walking home I got just as hot again. The cold water on my head had lifted my mood though.
mayim
@wombat probability cloud:
I’ve been to Shetland a couple times and loved it. I’d be happy with the climate in Orkney, as well, or Caithness/Sutherland. After Maine, northern Scotland is my favorite place.
Another Scott
@stinger: A village, indeed. Led by Cole and Watergirl.
Meanwhile, … ProPublica.org:
There are too many crooks and scammers out there. Having ways to support important causes and knowing that the money is actually going where’s it’s claimed is important. And TCFFG and his minions don’t have that – from the top on down they’re running a grift.
Thanks, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@Another Scott: Non-profit tax reform needs to happen like yesterday. And the part of the IRS that regulates non-profits needs both more money and a severe staff expansion. Oh and to keep Republicans out of power so they can’t starve the IRS again.
Jeffg166
Mice travel in pairs. If you caught one there is another and probably a bunch of babies somewhere. At least you have the cats to help you catch them.