I have nothing to say about politics, so if you are expecting a post on that, well, sorry. My day started in the middle of the night, when Steve decided to vomit all over the bed and me, and in such a manner that there was no way I could get out of the bed without dragging my fat self through it. So that was a pretty awesome start to the day.
Woke up to see that people are clamoring all over themselves to walk back their remarks about the Covington Catholic kids, and all I have to say to that is “FUCK THAT.” Sure, those idiot black Israelites or whatever the fuck they are were being assholes, so why didn’t the kids confront them? Because they’d get their asses beat. Instead, they fucked with the old dude. The end. That kid and his lawyers and pr firm can say whatever they want, but I saw the videos and I know what pack of white boys from prep school look like out wilding. I saw the look in that boys eyes and the smirk on his face. And this shit speaks for itself:
Nathan Phillips is a grown ass man not a fucking bear you stumbled across in the woods you fucking stupid little prick https://t.co/OTjBjuugtL
— Cake or Death (@Johngcole) January 21, 2019
If a black kid had done what that boy did, white America would be all telling us it was a justified kill based on stand your ground laws. Fuck them and fuck the excuse makers.
Messed around the house for a bit, put out a bunch of suet, thistle, and bird seed for the birds, and Gerald came over to fix my dryer which had stopped working. While doing so, he went into the basement to get some tools, and we discovered that my water heater is leaking from the top and the bottom and Gerald said it is ready to do. And just like that, another 500 bucks.
The plumber will be here tomorrow, and the charge is only 250 bucks for labor. America.
I’ve now replaced literally everything in this house except for the furnace, so I fully expect that to blow up. I love owning a house, don’t get me wrong, but jesus christ there is something to be said for renting and having this all be someone else’s problem. It’s just like every time things are going well something goes tits up and there goes a thousand dollars. And it’s never less. Grumble.
Drinking a glass of ovaltine and wathcing the Punisher. That’s my big treat. Ovaltine. God damned diet.
On the upside, clean sheets tonight.
Baud
Wear a MAGA hat, get zero benefit of the doubt.
miroker
A water heater is so easy to change now that they have solderless fittings you can use. Took me about 2 hours to replace mine when old one crapped out.
Auntie Anne
My first year of owning a home, I swear, I dropped $1000 every time anything needed to be done. I still feel lucky if I get away with anything less. It’s now become a family joke. You get through it, John. It sucks, but you get through it.
Yarrow
QFT. If you know what prep school boys are like there is no mistaking what’s going on.
Kelly
@Baud:
Absolutely
different-church-lady
I’m still wondering how “We were being assholes back to a bunch of black assholes and then decided to be assholes towards an entirely different ethnicity” amounts to a defense of much of anything.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: They’re not going to succeed at turning the story around. Conservatives pretending story is a 180. Uh, no. And they had a disastrously insufficient number of chaperones for their little darlings. Not that the ones they did have had any damn judgment.
eemom
That bear in the woods non-analogy is effing brilliant. Bravo, Sir BlogLord sir.
As for the house, look on the bright side….the mortgage interest is still deductible. I think.
different-church-lady
@Yarrow:
Well, yes, I did see lots of photos from the recent supreme court confirmation.
?BillinGlendaleCA
You’ve never met my landlord, I’ve had stuff THAT HE BROKE that I asked to have fixed last January and it still remains unfixed.
trollhattan
@miroker:
Hah!
Used to was, but the last water heater failure (day we were leaving for spring break, thanks) I find out the ARB has NOX emission standards and the compliant units have a secondary burner and forced air exhaust, so must be plumbed, wired and a new exhaust installed. We could have had an electric I suppose, but nooooo.
$1,200.
MomSense
I thought my new to me washing machine was a goner and I was dreading schlepping laundry to the laundromat in this icy weather.
So I took out the offending quilt my son tried to wash and put in a normal load. It’s fine. Thanks dog. If you had heard the loud knocking and banging sounds you would have thought my washer was kaput, too.
dmsilev
Or, as any cat would look at it, a target-rich environment.
Rich Webb
Cole, i feel your pain. Had to replace both the HVAC gas-pack and the water heater last fall. They’re better units than the ones replaced — the furnace side of the gas-pack is virtually silent as compared to the one that died — but such a PITA getting quotes, dealing with strangers in the house, dealing with a few unsats in the installations, etc. But, it’s in the teens here in the Tidewater again tonight and the house is comfortable and the water’s hot so whacha gonna do?
NotMax
Confirm beforehand the plumber will haul away the old unit. Here, some do, many do not.
JPL
Nothing wrong with Ovaltine.. just sayin. My new roof is scheduled for the 4th and the GA residents will be thrilled that I spent 10 grand for it because that will assure that the recent rains will stop. That’s my world.
On a happier note, my grand baby boy should arrive by then, so all is good in the world.
Chetan Murthy
A number of folks I know, swear by the day-on/day-off fasting thing. 24 or 36 hour fast, then eat normally (whatever that is) for a day, then repeat. I’ve tried it before (and just started again), and it works fine, but LORDY it’s *impossible* to work out hard if you’re more than 12hours into the fast day. I tried it yesterday after 36hr: just an hour swim, and when I got out I was seein’ stars for a few minutes. Today with a bagel beforehand, no problems at all.
NotMax
BTW did you shut off the water heater while you were off gallivanting in the sand and surf? Asking because two links at the same time, top and bottom, *might* be an indication of some partial freezing having occurred, just enough to have caused minuscule cracks in the inner sleeve.
oatler.
BE SURE TO CURSE YOUR OVALTINE
hells littlest angel
If you own a house (that you can afford), it is in the long run way cheaper than renting, even with the cost of maintenance. And you can’t sell your rental (except in Manhattan).
raven
@JPL: My home town
Ovaltine Factory in Villa Park from 1917 to 1985
We lived by the factory whistle and the smell will never be forgotten.
OCee
On the bright side, unlike the Republicans, Steve didn’t do it on purpose.
different-church-lady
@Auntie Anne: Nowadays I feel lucky every time I compare my mortgage payments to what I hear other people are paying in rent. I could replace the water heater every year with the difference.
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: I don’t think it’s going to matter much, though. White privilege will protect them and their community thinks they’ve been wronged so they’ll be taken care of. I think the story will disappear in a day or so.
@different-church-lady: No kidding. That was harrowing.
Cermet
I too own an old (very, very, very old) home. I discovered that replacing water heaters, entire walls, or entire roofs, gutting rooms and reworking foundations become a required skill. Cement work, block laying, dry wall and plaster installation and even rewiring, as well as adding lights are now routine. I also repair my car – whether replacing CV shafts, all new brakes, replacing water pumps, or numerous engine parts, again, becomes second nature. Otherwise, the costs of owning an old (inexpensive to buy) and far away (allows for inexpensive) home (with resulting long commute = lots of car miles) wouldn’t be cost effective. Bottom line – unless you are very wealthy, or crazy like me, fucking RENT!!!!
Raven
@Cermet: Today was a mini look at my upcoming retirement. I replaced three window panes on the old windows we salvaged and used on the addition basement that were cracked in the July hailstorm, straightened some bent hinges on cabinets, and putzed around on my new ladder. As you know a water heater is no big deal and you usually can get a scratch and dent a Lowes.
Auntie Anne
@different-church-lady: True. It’s just a shock when you’ve rented a long time.
Suzanne
@different-church-lady:
True facts. I couldn’t get a 2-bedroom apartment for what I pay for my mortgage on a 4-bedroom house. And we refi-ed to a 15-year. I have no idea how young people are ever going to live on their own.
Mike in NC
A couple of dudes came by this afternoon to fix the minor roof damage from Hurricane Florence. When they were done we were advised that we’d probably need to replace the roof shingles in a year or two. House was built in 2002 and we moved in in 2008. Delightful!
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
Washing machines are drama queens. It was probably an unbalanced load, so the machine started flinging itself around and making a lot of noise like a toddler having a temper tantrum.
Keith P.
$20 says at least one of those kids has a middle name of “Tucker”.
Bemused senior
@Suzanne: wait for us (the parents) to die.
West of the Rockies
Seems like a convergence of assholes, religiously and racially. The BHI group sound like whacko. The SPLC identifies them as a hate group. The Covington students are the all-too-prevalent entitled white pricks.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
We’re on the next-to-last episode of Vanity Fair, and thanks for recommending it — I think Tom Bateman, as Rawdon Crawley, is giving a remarkable performance. Worth the price of admission.
TomatoQueen
Hoping Steve feels better.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
Because all of those not-white people were working together to make the poor, innocent MAGA hat wearers look bad.
Swear to Christ, that’s what the idiots are actually saying.
However, I’m starting to see a pretty big chorus on Twitter saying, Where the hell were the chaperones and why were they letting the kids act up in a public place like this? so it looks like insisting that the boys were too young and dumb to handle the situation is not working out the way the adults expected.
different-church-lady
What the hell is Cole talking about on Twitter?
Mnemosyne
@West of the Rockies:
As Mr. Phillips said from the beginning, he walked over to try and defuse the situation between the two groups because none of the adult chaperones were doing squat to discourage an argument between the BHI guys and the CC kids that had been going on FOR AN HOUR.
Aleta
Would a very large crowd of black high school boys surround a white man about 70 y.o. at the L. Memorial, yelling at him, laughing and jumping up and down in unison; appear threatening and on the edge of violence? And be allowed to return home, no questions asked, safe and protected; no police showing up? Then be politely asked by powerful media companies to give their explanations, with headlines telling people to reconsider who was at fault, and don’t blame the children? Would they be defended by well-known political writers, etc.; and would 100% of them be relaxing at home tonight and back to school tomorrow?
pinacacci
Loe you old man JC. Eery day is te best day. Sorry again for keyboard, promise fixing soon
pinacacci
@Aleta: i tink you know tats a ell no
Steve in the ATL
Things I learned today: Ovaltine is a real thing and not just a punchline on Seinfeld. Who knew?
Other than John, JPL, raven, etc….
Chetan Murthy
@Mnemosyne:
Uh, I don’t mean to be anti-Catholic, but … this sort of gives the lie to the whole “Catholic schooling to instill morality” thing, no? I mean, you’d think that between “turn the other cheek” and “strict moral instruction” they’d have this covered. And the chaperones would be assiduous to protect the reputation of their school by making sure the boys didn’t behave as boys.
But no, as it turns out.
grandpa john
@Yarrow: exactly Ever lie being spread defending the little shits is destructed and demolished by that one photo of that smirk on the face of that juvenile preppy little asshole. That stupid little smirk was the very first thing that attracted my attention on observing the photo. It instantly summarized what was happening
eemom
Today’s older than dirt challenge: “My old pal Ovaltine.” Any takers?
John Revolta
@Mike in NC: I was gonna say of course the roofers are gonna say you need a new roof………….but 20 years is a pretty good run for a roof.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady:
You mean you don’t understand this:
(I don’t either.)
Ruckus
@OCee:
That doesn’t sound like Steve at all.
Mnemosyne
@Chetan Murthy:
I will tell you what all Catholics know: the only Catholic educators worth a shit are the Jesuits. Otherwise, Catholic school is no better or more rigorous than the average public school and usually has even fewer resources. It is a literal virtue signal for the vast majority of people who send their kids to anything other than a Jesuit school.
Not to mention that Catholic schools are still often used by parents as a form of punishment for kids who are rebellious.
miroker
@trollhattan: I should have specified mine is/was an electric model. Here in Floriduh most of us have that type.
hells littlest angel
Yup. If you don’t have the mob connections necessary to get a couple of hard guys to work Junior over with a baseball bat, the next best thing is to put him in the care of Sister Mary Emotionally Disturbed.