Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Second rate reporter says what?

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Move Slow and Break Things RESPITE Thread

Move Slow and Break Things RESPITE Thread

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This place needs a cat photo. Here:

Move Slow and Break Things RESPITE Thread
“Huh, I wonder who did that?”

I don’t know why Monty had something against that silver pothos cutting, but I was going to repot it anyway. The Child suggested Monty was “conducting experiments in gravity,” which made me chuckle.

There was a major meeting of European leaders in Paris today, but I’ll wait until there are more substantial links to share beyond immediate soundbites and reactions. Good noises from Starmer, at any rate.

Meanwhile, here is some news we all missed last week: via Forbes, Opossum Hospitalized After Gorging on a Costco Chocolate Cake

Sometimes, your eyes are bigger than your stomach. That’s what happened to a very relatable opossum in Omaha, Nebraska after it stuffed itself on a Costco chocolate cake. It turns out the furry cake queen’s overindulgence may have also saved her life. Wildlife doctors discovered she was suffering from unrelated lead toxicity and are now treating her for both the cake feast and the lead.

Real estate agent Kim Doggett and her family discovered the opossum on their deck furniture. The family ran out of space to store a Costco chocolate mousse cake. “I always have a house full and we cook a lot and when you run out of room in the fridge you just sit it on the table outside in the winter,” Doggett says over a Facebook chat.

Doggett’s son went to put some homemade peanut butter balls outside to set up and found the opossum with the mostly eaten cake. Chocolate-y footprints pointed to the thievery. The family tried to move the animal along but Doggets says “it just didn’t look right.”

Click through if you need some light relief.

I grew up in the Poconos, so Animals Where They Shouldn’t Be was a regular occurrence. A baby skunk once got itself trapped inside the front entry porch of my parents’ house. It did its best to spray the wildlife rescue person who came to help it, but apparently its stink glands weren’t mature enough to do anything yet, so it just looked like it was aggressively mooning her.

Share your moments of respite below. It’s cold where a lot of you are; anyone making any good winter comfort food?

Reader Interactions

80Comments

  1. 1.

    Phylllis

    It’s forecast to be cold and rainy here Wednesday. I have a couple of errands to run tomorrow & am seriously debating getting chili fixings for Wednesday dinner.

    In other respite ideas, started watching Joan & Darby on Acorn. Greta Scacchi and Bryan Brown traveling Australia in a camper and solving mysteries. Charming show, and Brown and Scacchi have great chemistry.

  2. 2.

    Scout211

    Thank you for this RESPITE thread, Rose.

    Your cat looks so very curious, like he has no idea what he just did.  Or he is a good actor and is playing the part of the cat who did not break that potted plant.

    I guess it’s one step up from bringing dead birds and rodents into the house.  Now that is a mess that is not fun to clean.

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    More from Forbes on the cake queen opossum:

    The opossum is expected to recover from the sweet repast, but the checkup revealed a serious health problem—lead toxicity. “This is a common issue in wildlife, with different causes for different species, and it will take several weeks of treatment and supportive care to chelate the lead from her body,” says Stastny. Just as lead is bad for humans, it’s bad for all animals and can lead to death.

    While opossums sometimes get a bad rap for their pointy teeth and rat-like tails, they’re actually effective pest controllers with a taste for insects and a knack for chowing down on ticks. The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial in the United States. Marsupials—like kangaroos and koalas—carry their young in pouches.

    The cake-filled opossum’s prognosis is good. The rescue expects she’ll be ready for release later in March. “We release adult wildlife back to their home territories to give them the best chance of continued success,” Stastny says.

    She was “mobile and alert” when she arrived.

    I wonder if Costco will use this in their advertising.  Trader Joe’s might!

  4. 4.

    Professor Bigfoot

    19 F in my back yard right now. Today was trash pickup day and I’ve been dreading just going out to the street to bring the can back up!

    Got a crazy urge to get out the mandolin slicer and making potato chips; trying to find the optimal temperature so they get done before they start to burn… next attempt will be at 325, and yes, that’s in an actual deep fryer with peanut oil.

  8. 8.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Professor Bigfoot: Went and got the trash can; and the wind, the wind… going to go wrap myself around a hot mug of cocoa right now. ewww.

    Forecast low for tomorrow morning 4degrees F. ewww, again

  9. 9.

    Steve LaBonne

    @NotMax: Doing an easy pressure cooker beef Stroganoff tonight. It’s cold as fuck here, I was out snowblowing and shoveling earlier, and I wanted something hearty. Will wash it down with a delicious bourbon barrel aged Russian Imperial stout brewed by Jackie O’s in my wife’s old college town, Athens, OH.

  11. 11.

    bluefoot

    @Professor Bigfoot: I occasionally wish I had a deep fryer.  Lately I have been craving homemade pakoras.

    This past weekend I made chili one night ahead of a snowstorm, then baked brioche. Contemplating making cookies with my last two eggs because I need a distraction.

    I am not coping well with everything going on plus some pretty hairy personal stuff which is why I am thinking cookies.

  12. 12.

    Gin & Tonic

    Cold and very, very windy here in New England. One of the ski areas I go to pretty often (and was just there on Friday) was unable to run any of its chairlifts today. In case you’re unaware, this day, President’s Day, is also the start of school vacation week in most New England states, and may be the biggest ski day of the season up here. Glad I never ski holidays.

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    Oh, and yesterday was thoroughly miserable. Snowed 3-4 inches overnight, then the temp hit 33 and stayed there all day long, while it rained. Shoveling slush because you know it won’t all melt and the temp will drop to the teens overnight is not my idea of a fun Sunday.

  18. 18.

    karen gail

    @bluefoot: I had a deep fat fryer and it was more work than was worth; so went back to old fashioned way. Peanut oil in cast iron stove; works great, if only have a small items like spring rolls use small pan; big batch of french fries; big pan. Fry food and season pan at same time.

  19. 19.

    JoyceH

    For a respite, how about a sudden anxiety and quick resolution? Today I went out on a grocery run and my car was making a Weird Noise. Got the groceries and went by my garage, asked the guy if he had time to investigate the noise. I heard it from the dashboard, kind of a staticky whooshing sound. It only sounded when the car was in motion. So he takes the car for a drive and comes back and tells me there ya go, all fixed.

    It was a stick. Got caught up in there somewhere. So whew. Also – no charge.

    When I got home, I discovered that my shopper apparently interpreted my order of cut fruit and cut veg to assume I was having or attending a party because I got these two big old party platter things. So I guess now I’m That Person who brings the healthy snacks to the party – and no party.

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    @bluefoot: I am thinking cookies.

    Mmmmmm, coooooookies.

    When I need a pick me up, I bake my favorite dark chocolate, chocolate chip cookies.  All the chocolate.  Quite a mood lifter.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    I made a goulash last night, looking forward to eating it tonight. My cold seems to finally be passing, so maybe I’ll get to have a glass of wine by Friday, when it’s also supposed to get warmer.

  24. 24.

    TBone

    Noah Three Miracles woke up feeling spunky today!  I must’ve been contagious in my zeal about today’s protesting.  He got his regular full belly tube feeding at 6:30ish a.m. and then decided that the stinky tuna water I’ve been trying to tempt him with for weeks finally passed the sniff test.  He drank all of it.  About an hour later, he ambled back out of his kitty bed, strutting down the hallway in his signature style, straight to the normal Fancy Feast  breakfast plate we always leave out for him despite his long, continuous refusal to eat more than one nibble. He chewed and ate that up like nothing ever happened! What’s the BFD mom?

    Now, stay with me here, this has been a looooong time coming.  He’s not eating enough just yet, not by a long shot, BUT we see the light at the end of this tunnel and it’s NOT an oncoming freight train for a change.  TBone Challenge: accepted!  I’ll be getting very creative over the next few weeks thinking up exotic, and not so exotic but high calorie, irresistible kitty tapas!  The neighborhood feral cats have been getting a LOT of tuna and uneaten Fancy Feast and untouched dry kitty kibble – nothing goes to waste at Casa TBone!

    SO excited for Noah!!!

  25. 25.

    hitchhiker

    Some days we just can’t believe how perfectly our grandchildren plan worked out. This was the idea:

    We’ll put a little house to live-in-until-we-die on an island. Check.

    Our two adult daughters will stay where they’ve settled, one a ferry ride east and the other a ferry ride west. Check.

    The ferry system will not completely collapse. Check.

    And the tricky part! Both daughters will become moms! Checkity check check!

    Three yr old came w/mom to visit for a few hours today, twin four yr olds expected for a few hours tomorrow w/ their mom.

    Utterly astonishing, because my life has taught me that almost nothing goes to plan, but somehow all the moving parts here are exactly as dreamt of. I don’t deserve this, but by god I’m living into it as hard as I can.

    Today the 3 yr old succeeded in producing actual notes on mr h’s euphonium, and helped make some whole wheat rolls from my grandmother’s recipe. Now we need a nap.

  26. 26.

    Nukular Biskits

    Intended to take the day off to catch up on yard work since I was in San Diego since New Year’s.

    Wound up teleworking about four hours. Bleh.

    Loaded the truck up yesterday with prunings from the roses and other flowering plants that got clobbered a couple of weeks ago when the Gulf Coast got hammered with 8 inches of snow and several nights of sub-freezing temps. Went to the dump today to unload at the compost pile only to find the county dump closed for Presidents’ Day. I seriously do not remember them  EVER closing in the past for this federal holiday, which makes me wonder why this one.

    Came back home with the truck still loaded and worked more in the front yard. I guess I’ll drive the lumbering beast to work tomorrow and stop by the dump on my way home.

    Y’all?

  28. 28.

    Scout211

    @bluefoot: Here is that recipe in case you need a chocolate cookie fix:

     

    DARK CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

    Makes 24 cookies

    INGREDIENTS: 1 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

    1 cup all-purpose flour

    1/4 cup cocoa powder

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (cold or cool)

    1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

    1/2 cup granulated sugar

    1 large egg

    1 teaspoon vanilla

    INSTRUCTIONS:

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

    Lightly grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

    In a medium bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

    Melt 2/3 cup chocolate chips in small sauce pan on the lowest temperature and stir constantly until melted.

    Remove from heat.

    Beat butter until smooth.

    Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat until smooth.

    Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until well blended and light.

    Add melted chocolate and mix well.

    Add flour mixture, mix until just blended.

    Mix in remaining 1 cup chocolate chips.

    Drop on baking sheets by tablespoons (approximate).

    Bake for 10 minutes, or until the tops have a cracked appearance and the centers are still moist.

    Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely

  29. 29.

    Almost Retired

    I won’t contribute a weather update for Los Angeles because you probably don’t want to hear it.

    But I found respite today because I left my phone at a friend’s house yesterday.   I was so unbothered by that fact that I waited 24 hours to go pick it up.  And the world failed to collapse.

    It turns out no client dies from unaddressed employment law issues if their lawyer isn’t immediately responsive on a holiday weekend.  I am enjoying my increasing irrelevance.

  30. 30.

    Jackie

    @Scout211:

    he is a good actor and is playing the part of the cat who did not break that potted plant.

    Cats NEVER confess – even when they’re in the middle and/or covered of/in the evidence.

    Not even a Steve Erkle “did I do that?” expression.

  31. 31.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @zhena gogolia:

    My cold seems to finally be passing, so maybe I’ll get to have a glass of wine by Friday

    I’m on antibiotics and Sunday is the day I can have an alcoholic beverage. While I don’t drink much, I’m giddy with anticipation.

  32. 32.

    Jeffg166

    I only found out opossums in the wild only live one to two years. In captivity, they may make it three or four years. Who knew.

  34. 34.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: It looks like a nice evening at the Istanbul airport at least. From Clash Report:

       Ukrainian President Zelensky arrives in Istanbul.

    The short video shows the President and Mrs. Zelenskya (sp?) descending the stairs from a Ukraine-marked airliner. After handshakes, a Turkish official presents Mrs. Zelenskya with a bouquet.

  35. 35.

    Sister Golden Bear

    This meme seems appropriate:

    secondbeatsongs

    somehow instead of saying “as a treat”, I’ve started using the phrase “for morale”, as if my body is a ship and its crew, and I (the captain) have to keep us in high spirits, lest we suffer a mutiny in the coming days.

    and so I will eat this small block of fancy cheese, for morale. I will take a break and drink some tea, for morale. I will pick up that weird bug, for morale.

    I’m not sure if it helps, but it does entertain me

    I’ve been having more than few Trader Joe’s brownies. For morale.

  36. 36.

    bluefoot

    @Scout211: Thanks for this! As someone who has lived in various places in the Northeast, including in WNY snow country, I always have chocolate chips in the freezer and some cocoa on hand.  The chocolate chips are for snowstorm cookie baking.

  38. 38.

    TBone

    Awwww shit.  Noah’s sister Katrina just had a sneezing fit!  Aaaarrrggghhhh…

    I hope I’m just overly sensitive to kitty flu-like illness!  She spent the afternoon in her favorite easy chair in my bedroom with the humidifier, so maybe now that she’s out in the main house dryer air, it’s just a nasal irritation and NOT some type of contagion.  Dear LORT I’ve had enough!  Make it stop, let me off this crazy contraption!

  42. 42.

    kindness

    Speaking of skunks, my family would go away every summer to the CT shore.  So we’d get my grandfather from Yonkers to stay in the house in Tarrytown watching it for us for the summer.  He’d always tame the squirrels & skunks feeding them peanuts.  It was the cutest thing ever, especially those years the skunks would bring their babies along for grub.  Skunk babies are adorable.  Anyway, it made every Labor Day hell when we’d come home with the dog and the dog would get sprayed.  They kept telling him not to feed the skunks.  He didn’t listen.  I don’t blame him.  Felt bad for the dog (getting sprayed) and the skunks (buffet was closed for the season)

    And if I ate a whole Costco chocolate cake I would neither be mobile or alert when whomever found me.

  49. 49.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @NotMax:

    Were you involved in our “Bronze Age” appliance conversation yeterday?  Your fry pan qualifies. :)

  50. 50.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Today is day four of our “replacing the bathroom shower ceiling” project. If we stay on schedule, should only be two days left. Might need another day for touch-ups and a dump run. So far, so good!

    Day one was a big pain, but we made it through. Tearing out the old ceiling wasn’t too hard, but it made a big mess and exposed some rotten boards that we replaced on day two. Got the new backing boards up yesterday and sealed the seams and holes today. About to go get more supplies….

    Have a great respite, everyone!

  51. 51.

    A Ghost to Most

    I rarely see possums here, but the raccoons are enormous. Also experts in fine dining at our bird feeders. A great ad for Droll Yankee Bird Feeders. They’re about indestructible.

  53. 53.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Professor Bigfoot: Way back in the day when I worked in The Mouse’s sweatshops  kitchens all the deep fryers were set at 350F. The mantra after every fryer maintenance was “Set it at 350 and rip the damn knob off”. One tip on your potato chips….. Blanche them in the hot grease for 30-45 seconds, pull and rest them for a minute or so and then drop and complete cooking.

  60. 60.

    RevRick

    One of MrsRev’s bookclub friends returned to her home in the Poconos from a bookclub to find a black bear lounging on her front porch in an Adirondack chair. She sent a picture!

  62. 62.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: But I would put my chocolate chip cookies (TaMara’s recipe) up against yours.  Bake off!

    Ha! Wouldn’t that be fun, though? A balloon-juice bake-off!

    The recipe I posted isn’t a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, though.  It’s a recipe for dark chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. So, so good.

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: Yeah, I saw the cocoa and the chocolate chips, and figured out that that was probably the deal.

    I would still put TaMara’s chocolate chip cookies up against those. Best chocolate chip cookies I have made.

  66. 66.

    Tazj

    @kindness: Your grandfather reminds me of my parent’s next door neighbor.  He loved animals and had a number of cats and dogs while also feeding the wildlife. My mom kept finding peanuts buried in her planters and wondered what was going on. He was feeding the squirrels and other critters!

  67. 67.

    MagdaInBlack

    It was 6 degrees when I left for work, and 3 just now when I got home and the best part of this day is that it is over.

  69. 69.

    JustRuss

    I had a tuxedo kitty who was the world’s foremost expert on gravity.  She was constantly testing to make sure it was still working.  Nice to see Monty carrying on the tradition.

  70. 70.

    Kayla Rudbek

    Sitting here with my post-dinner hot herbal tea and my knitting. Pumpkin Scottish Nightmare is moving along nicely (I need to find a recipient once I finish it, the orange and navy blue color combo is making me think it should go to a Chicago Bears fan after a soaking in holy water).

  72. 72.

    Rachel Bakes

    Aftermath of an ice storm yesterday, followed by pouring rain, then 24 hours of 50 mph wind gusts. Not pleasant in CT today. Plus side-my husband made chicken piccata tonight and it was lovely; Sunny and fresh tasting.

  74. 74.

    karen gail

    I noticed that my dog has developed a taste for my Pothos: I moved my recliner to vacuum and he has chewed and eaten all the long runners that ran along wall and on shelving. No clue why he feels the need to eat fresh greens but my plant has been pruned back.

  75. 75.

    Soprano2

    They’re forecasting 11-13″ of snow for us starting after midnight. I have two appointments tomorrow morning, yay!  Maybe it won’t snow much until later in the day. Today I got ready as best as I  could – I filled the tank of my car and made sure the oil was full as well as the windshield fluid. I used my day off to shop some at the mall. When I was coming back I passed a Wally World Neighborhood Market. I swear there wasn’t an empty parking space in the lot! They’ve been forecasting this storm for a week, I did my shopping on Saturday.

    Off to have Chinese for dinner because I figure we’ll be eating at home for a few days this week. It’s supposed to get really cold after the snow is over, maybe below zero, which is unusual for here in February.

  77. 77.

    sab

    Pothos are toxic and should be kept out of reach of cats. It looks like you tried, but he decided to take things into his own paws.

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Couldn’t get my act together enough to make beef barley soup; made a big pot of onion soup instead. A couple of splashes of dry sherry mixed in while it simmers kick it up to grand.

  80. 80.

    sab

    @sab: My tuxedo did stuff like that all the time.

    Destructive beast. Actually,bored beast.

    My tuxedo died of hyperthyroid. He was very good at hiding and not actually swallowing his pills. Good boy being bad.

    Watching that tuxedo smash a pot brings back so many memories of my beautiful guy smashng things or testing gravity or doing whatever he did when bored.

    We have seven cats now and no one is bored anymore. Too many cats to adapt to. Too much politics.

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