Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

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

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

People are weird.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

Saturday Night Open Thread

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This post is in: 

Still feeling a little crappy today, so I have been doing not much of anything and watching the X-Men movies in order (I am up to Apocalypse) and shitposting on twitter. I know I shouldn’t talk about this without pictures, but Maxwell is sitting on my lap like the handsome gentleman that he is, and it really is one of my favorite things.

I just love being fully owned and claimed by a cat. It’s just such a rewarding experience. I like it when I am sitting here and the cat decides “hey that looks comfortable and peaceful I’m gonna get me some of that,” jumps up on the chair and sits on my lap or stomach depending how reclined I am and just sits there and stares at me while I pet him. The purring, the cleaning themselves, the eye contact, it’s all just so nice. You know they feel safe and you know they accept you. Nothing better.

And I will leave you all with that thought.

Reader Interactions

59Comments

  1. 1.

    jackmac

    Yep, the love of a cat is awesome. But if your cat is like mine, he’ll do all that and then turn into a scratching, surly terror in an instant.  But that’s what makes him interesting and we love him for his complete personality.

  3. 3.

    wmd

    You should edit your headline – this is a Caturday Night Open Thread.

    And yes having a cat’s love is a wonderful thing. Buzzy was loving on me earlier today.

    Buzzy got her name after she picked me at the shelter by running up a cat tree and onto my shoulder, at which point she began purring. Once she got home she didn’t stop purring for 2 days and earned her name.

  4. 4.

    Mousebumples

    I just love being fully owned and claimed by a cat. It’s just such a rewarding experience. I like it when I am sitting here and the cat decides “hey that looks comfortable and peaceful I’m gonna get me some of that,” jumps up on the chair and sits on my lap or stomach depending how reclined I am and just sits there and stares at me while I pet him. The purring, the cleaning themselves, the eye contact, it’s all just so nice. You know they feel safe and you know they accept you. Nothing better.

    Haha, I’m happy for you, John.

    Reminds me of when my littles decide to snuggle onto my lap. Usually great.

  5. 5.

    pat

    Suzy slept snuggled up to me the very first night she was here.  She does it every night, sometimes not coming in until 2 or 3 in the morning, but throwing herself down next to me and just….. being the third body in the bed.  Ha.

    And she will come to me as I sit at my computer, tap on my thigh, and try to tell me that… needs more Party Mix, needs some quality time on the couch…

  6. 6.

    HumboldtBlue

    Noodles has left me scarred, kitten needles are SHARP. Other than chewing on cords and wires — which anoys me very, very much — when he finishes zooming around the place like he has a rocket strapped to his back and climbs onto the desk and then into my arms is heart-melting. Then it’s suckling and purring til he dozes off.

  7. 7.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    I miss my cat, Billbo. I remember when he was only a few years old, shortly after he was adopted, he would jump up to lay next to me in bed. It was always so nice to hear him purr as I drifted off to sleep

  8. 8.

    beckya57

    We just returned from music camp.  Rocky has been a velcro kitty ever since our return.  He’s sitting on the sofa arm next to me right now.  He missed his mommy 🩷.

  9. 9.

    ChasM

    How come you’re still shitposting on Xitter? Bluesky is becoming lively, esp since the Brits moved over en mass

    It’s mostly shitposting Xitter without them knowing about it.

  11. 11.

    TaMara

    @HumboldtBlue: Are you trimming them? I had been trimming Reggie’s weekly, but now at 6 mos, they seem to be growing slower.

    He hates it, but eventually, he should adapt like all the others.

  12. 12.

    Doc Sardonic

    @HumboldtBlue: For the wire chewing you need this stuff called Electriduct. It is a braided flexible conduit that you can put on wires, comes in a variety of sizes, available on Amazon. Worked well when ours were kittens.

  15. 15.

    BenInNM

    Makes me think of my cat Chloe who was a dilute calico and hated everybody but me. I always appreciated how when I’d put on a few extra pounds she’d just be like “oh this is comfy “ as she’d sleep on my lap and rest her head on my belly

  16. 16.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @jackmac: sounds like your cat loves being petted but then gets overstimulated/overwhelmed and lashes out. Try paying close attention to his body language while petting him and stop petting him immediately after he shows he has had enough of pets and being touched.

  18. 18.

    Spanky

    Not seeing werebear chiming in, I’ll make the psa in her absence:

    The answer is always “more cats! ”

    If you have a cat, it needs feline companionship. If you don’t have any cats? Get 2.

  21. 21.

    CaseyL

    When a cat reaches out to press their paw against your mouth is one of the most heart-melting things ever, at least for me.

    Oscar, alas, doesn’t go in for that sort of thing. His thing is to ask for pets, let me pet him once or twice, then walk a few steps away and ask for pets again, then keep doing it.  He has led me all through the house this way.

    Also, and I’m afraid to ask because maybe I missed something – but:  where is Steve?  Did something happen to him?

  23. 23.

    narya

    Zippy used to lie on my chest and pet me by gently running her paw on the side of my neck…

  24. 24.

    Doc Sardonic

    We use these clippers for our cats. They are quick, easy and you are not likely, with the right size, cut the nail too close. They have a downloadable size card that you can print out to get the correct size(s). A couple of our cats require 2 different size clippers.

    https://petppi.com/products/zen-clipper

  25. 25.

    Kelly

    Day 4 with puppy Daisy. Things are going well. She’s happy to live here with us. I expected more “where is Mom, Dad and all my siblings?”. Seems we’re good enough. She fusses for 5 or 10 minutes before falling asleep in her crate. Daisy plays hard and sleeps a lot. She is litter box trained at 9 weeks old. Our cat Martin has cautiously bumped noses a few times thru the crate grates. Cat Phoebe is keeping her distance but now watching from within the room.

  27. 27.

    brendancalling

    I gigged last night and wound up staying out too late (karaoke WAS fun though). Then for no reason I woke up before dawn. I didn’t get back to sleep for an hour or so, but after I got up I guess I had an hour or so for coffee before a 4-hour RT to pick up my other upright bass from the shop.

    im likely in for the night.

  30. 30.

    sab

    Our cats and our dog have settled in and love the new house. It has these weird windows, with a bottom window that can be opened and a big plate glass window above. I put plastic film ona the upper windows for privacy, but the lower windows are still clear. 5 cats and 1 dog spend all day looking out on the busy (by residential housing development standards) street. Also sunbathe there.

    One cat, Sadie (we kind of enticed her away from the neighbors) does have some issues. She keeps peeing in our bed. One night she peed on husband! He is angry. I think the issue is not enough litter boxes. We used to have one per cat. Now we only have three. I thought the rule of thumb was one per cat plus an extra. Also too the boxes were all over the house (upstairs, downstairs, and basement.)  Now they are just in the basement. And access to the basement involves going through the utility room with a very loud washer.

    Husband has been in charge of the litterboxes, so of course she blames him for the inconvenience. He doesn’t think that cats think, so he is just angry and not trying to decipher her message.

    Every day he says “So what does Wearbear say, and I have to admit that she and I are currently on different BJ comment schedules.

  31. 31.

    karen marie

    @TaMara:   I second that emotion.  The earlier you can start clipping, the better off everyone will be.  I had clipped my previous cat’s nails her whole life, not starting until she was several months old, but she took to it easily.  Being a polydactyl, with nails that aimed in all kind of crazy directions, it was imperative that her nails get clipped regularly.

    Fast forward to current cat.  OMG, I’m so stupid sometimes.  I got her when she was between four and five weeks old but somehow didn’t even think to start clipping her nails.  By the time I realized they had to be clipped to stop my person being covered in tiny scabs, it was too late.  She was probably close to a year old, and simply wasn’t having it.  She’ll be three in a couple weeks and despite keeping the nail clippers out where she can see them and occasionally attempting to cut one nail, she is still not having it.

    Nothing for it but I take her to my dog’s groomer.  I keep her cat carrier open under my desk and she sleeps in it pretty regularly but shutting her in results in a lot of frantic attempts by her to get out.  I keep telling her that if she’d let me cut her nails, I wouldn’t shut her in there and drive her down the street for a pedicure.  Does she listen?  NOOOOOO!

    Recently I was reminded how very sharp a cat’s unclipped nails can be.  We were playing with her tunnel – she likes me to tap the outside of it and she then attacks that spot  – and she caught one of my fingertips with one of her claws.  Sliced my finger open.  Like a fucking chef’s knife.  I know cat’s nails are sharp but that was crazy.

    She likes to make biscuits on my neck and shoulder when I’m in bed.  When her nails haven’t been cut recently enough, I get a thousand painful tiny cuts.

    Let this be a reminder, kids – start your kitten early with nail clipping!

  32. 32.

    sab

    Whatever happened to Brachiator? I always loved his comments and his nym. Has he posted at all in the last year

    ETA I miss Steeplejack so much. My Dobby is so very happy in the new house, and Steep always followed Dobby’s progress through life from demon cat to snuggly fuzzball.

  33. 33.

    CaseyL

    @karen marie: ​

    Sometimes clipping their nails while holding them in your lap (on their back) works, especially if you can pause every now and then to pet them.

  34. 34.

    sab

    Still moving stuff to the new house. Discovered that the sawhorses in the old house had very shredded legs. Claws sharpened there. I had no idea that the cats valued them.

  36. 36.

    Ohio Mom

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I saw Martin in the last week or so. There will be a thread he participates in with lots of comments, and then i don’t see him again until the next time

    @sab: Brachiator! This happens to me so often: I don’t notice someone is gone until someone else asks and then it’s KaPow! How did I miss that they were missing?

    I did notice Immanence (spelling?) moved on. I hope he’s doing well.

  39. 39.

    mrmoshpotato

    @sab:

    Still moving stuff to the new house. Discovered that the sawhorses in the old house had very shredded legs. Claws sharpened there. I had no idea that the cats valued them. 

    My parents’ last cat valued the inside of the first floor basement door.  Did he ever claw that up.

  43. 43.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Cole, you’re not wrong at all.  Winning the approval of a cat is very easy if you treat them with the respect they desire, feed them regularly, and clean out the litter box.  Dogs, bless them, just give it away.  You must earn it with a cat.  But they’ll return your efforts with affection ten times over.

  45. 45.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @HumboldtBlue: I have a black cat who is 13 and a half months old.  Might well be him.  Unfortunately Reebo, the other Wakandan Terror, has gone missing, and I fear he’ll never return.

  47. 47.

    sab

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I probably read him then. Currently I have the memory of the average goldfish. Every trip around the bowl is a discovery.

    Getting old sucks. I thought my brain was intact, but I know my knees aren’t . And then husband’s back surgery really threw us for a loop.

    Successfeul surgery but MRSA infection. Surgeons practice blew us off. Trip to ER  and they were horrified.

    Note to self: surgeons are glorified plumbers or engineers more than they are actual doctors. You need to remember that. They don’t think about us as patients. We are just engineering projects.

  49. 49.

    mvr

    Since this is an open thread I hope it is OK to say that there was an overflow crowd at the Omaha Walz rally.  Got there at around noon. By 2:30 or so the place was full and those of us still in line were directed to the overflow area outside where we watched the goings on on a large screen outdoors.  People were still coming in a little after 3 PM when Walz and spouse and former student were introduced. All did a good job. Walz gave a somewhat corny but decent speech filled with Nebraska references. The crowd was feeding him energy and liking the applause lines. And then the main even was over a bit before 4.

    But then he came out to the outdoor overflow area where he gave a 3 minute speech from the mosh pit, explaining that NE2 might matter and we should all work hard around here. And then waded into the crowd for another twenty minutes of handshaking and high fiving and schmoozing the crowd. He didn’t have to do that but it was good retail politics and the energy was high and enthusiastic.

  51. 51.

    Chet Murthy

    @Scout211: I’m sure I’m not the only one here who is *intensely* interested in what transpires at Harris/Walz and other Dem rallies and events.  Thank you for reporting!  And I’m happy that you had a good time!

  53. 53.

    StringOnAStick

    @HumboldtBlue: Hey, Lowes sells this cord cover stuff that’s split along the long side and also great for aggregating cords under your PC, it’s cheap too.  It looks like that black AND material they make culverts out of, only tiny in comparison.  We have to use it because 6 years after getting our two cats, one is a lifelong chewer.  Probably a good idea if your kitten is chewing cords because they can be killed by doing that.

  58. 58.

    Gloria DryGarden

    I miss my cat. I became allergic, so since he died, I’ve stayed catless, but I make friends with other people’s cats.

    So great to hear about Walz rally in Omaha  that is so uplifting.

    Soon my devices will understand that Walz is a proper name.

    On the topic of missing Jackals, awhile back people said they were looking for Khalid amiri, or was it amir Khalid ? I have a clue, if someone wants to pursue it. You just need someone who speaks “bahasa Malaysia”, who can help you search. Unless, you are friends w Michelle yeoh, who is from Malaysia. You can find interpreters pretty easily on Google. Might be  “bahasa malay.”

    One time someone was looking for an obscure African language and a church that spoke it in my city. I googled that language, added my needed search terms, and got a list of 5 or 10 people in Denver alone. If someone has the money and time to interview a few interpreters, I’m sure you could find someone to try and track down your leads, the guitar store, whatever your little clues were. If someone finds him, please post your success.

    I love that meme w Tim Walz petting the cat. It’s come through my Facebook feed several times.

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