I almost forgot:
This one kills me:
Claim your pets. Also, kinda funny that this all started with Inkblot.
by John Cole| 76 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Dog Blogging, Open Threads
I almost forgot:
This one kills me:
Claim your pets. Also, kinda funny that this all started with Inkblot.
by John Cole| 97 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging
More cheerful news. My sister’s best friend, someone I have known my entire life, had her kitty mauled by dogs. RIP, Aiko:
She is distraught. Please send her your condolences.
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Cooking, Dog Blogging, Open Threads
First, some pet pics:
I swear that last dog is a photo shop job. Check out the pink nose and the almost human eyes.
Also this week, back by popular request, BHF has your weekend menu:
1. Grilled Salmon w/Orange Glaze
2. Tomato & Bell Pepper Soup
3. Hearty Bread
4. Raspberries & Blackberries w/whipping cream
Click the link for the full menu.
Also, below the fold, Redkitten has the play-by-play for her latest experience giving birth.
Aug 12
8:30am: Wake up, and prepare for the 15-minute ordeal that is called “rolling over”. Give up and decide to read for a bit.
9:00am: Roll over, and underwear promptly becomes soaked. That ain’t pee, kids. Sit there blinking stupidly for about 10 minutes before calling hospital.
9:50am: Call husband and tell him to get his baby-making ass home.
11:15: Arrive at hospital, where they say that they’re not detecting amniotic fluid, and that they think I just peed myself. WTF? They decide to keep me for a few hours anyway, just in case.
12pm – 4pm: Walk. A lot. Walk some more. Look at each other. Read. Walk. If they tell me to go home after this, I will have to choke someone.
4pm: Dr C. examines me and says that yes, membranes are ruptured. Resist urge to say “I fucking well TOLD you this, didn’t I?” Am told that inducement will take place tomorrow morning if no progress on labour. Call parents. Spend rest of day and night waiting for contractions that don’t come.
Aug 13
8:45: Brought into birthing room and shot full of pitocin.
9am – 6pm: Minor contractions every few minutes, but nothing to write home about. Alternate between bed, birthing ball and walking, depending on how long it takes ass to go completely numb. Hear about girl who came in and had her baby an hour after she arrived, and curse that bitch.
6pm: Dr. C. comes in and informs us that dilation is only 2cm. Shit. Says that if no progress by 8:45pm, will do c-section. My mother is freaking out. I couldn’t care less — as long as baby is healthy, who cares if s/he comes out my woo-hoo, my belly, or my left nostril?
7:30pm: Update Facebook status on husband’s cell phone, saying that I’m having a c-section. Hit “update”, and water immediately breaks.
7:32: Whoa. These contractions are a lot stronger.
7:35: A LOT stronger.
7:36: Holy fuck.
7:38: Kill. Me. Now. Please.
7:40 – 9:15: Experience sheer hell. No break at all between contractions, and they are STRONG. Try to control breathing, but it feels oddly good to just scream incoherently into pillow. Am examined again, and find out that I’m STILL only at 2cm. Cry hysterically. Dr. C. says that if no progress by midnight, I’ll have c-section anyway.
9:16: Decide that drug-free births are for the birds and beg for an epidural. Am incoherent with pain by this point, but message gets through.
9:30: Anesthesiologist arrives with sound of angels singing. Cannot even speak, as am so delirious with pain. Receive epidural.
9:35: There is a special place in heaven reserved for anesthesiologists. Srsly.
9:45 – 11:30: Recover and actually nap for a bit.
11:35: Am examined yet again, and find out that during nap, I went from 2cm to 9cm. w00t!
11:45pm – 12am: Feeling a LOT of pressure. Want to push.
Aug 14
12am: Nurse examines me and says I’m at 10cm. It’s go time!
12:01 – 1:00: Perform remarkable impersonation of someone trying to poop out a coconut. Am told that I’m really efficient at pushing, and am glad that something is finally going well. Nurse says she can see head. Dr. C comes back in. Everything’s going awesome.
1:01: Everything is not awesome. Fetal heart rate dropping, and fast.
1:05: Dr. looks serious and says “We have to get this baby out now.” Episiotomy time. Am given local anaesthetic, although I don’t care what they do to me at this point. I just want my baby.
1:10: Episiotomy performed. Husband sees entire thing taking place. I may bear the physical scar, but I think he’ll be having nightmares for the rest of his life.
1:14: After getting head out, discover that umbilical cord is wrapped around baby’s neck. Push out shoulders, and doctor gets cord unwrapped, suctions baby, and delivery is complete.
1:15am: It’s a boy! Hearing him crying is a huge relief.
1:17 – 3am: Complete blur. Get stitched up. Keith takes baby to see grandparents, who are complete emotional wrecks by this point. Baby is weighed (7lbs 11 oz.) Try nursing, and little Samuel latches on quite nicely, staring at me the entire time. I’m completely delirious with fatigue as we all get wheeled back to my room, but all I know is this:
I’m completely, utterly, and hopelessly in love. And I feel like I’ve been run over by a large truck.
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads
Lily is pouting because it is raining and she only got one several mile walk on the rails to trails today. Such a poor, abused puppy. As such, you are stuck with a new Tunch picture:
Made pad thai tonight with some of the thai hot peppers I grew, and man did I underestimate how hot those babies were. Regardless, it was really good, and I needed to use up some cilantro, too, because that goes to seed so fast.
Also, the site is supposed to be rebuilt some time this week. The designer has been super busy, but should be free this week (crosses fingers), so maybe some of the site performance problems we have been experiencing lately will disappear. I couldn’t get on for several hours today, and I got a bunch of emails, so I know I was not the only one.
*** Update ***
One of our readers passes along this pic of his recently departed buddy Maxie, who just had to be put down:
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads
I paid no attention to blogs, newspapers, magazines, or cable news for three days, come back, and everything is nuttier than ever. Crazy people bringing assault rifles to Presidential events, we’ve moved seamlessly from one lie in the health care debate to a brand new set of lies. The mendacity of the GOP and the weakness of the Democrats is just physically exhausting. In short, I feel like this:
What was it crazy and crooked Jim Traficant used to say all the time?
by John Cole| 95 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Dog Blogging, Open Threads
Because I am too lazy to blog, just finished my book, turned around to head to bed, and look what I found:
I give it another two months before they spoon.
by John Cole| 99 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging
So I’m sitting here trying to read a text I’ve put off for a month and a half, and bigmouth is bitching nonstop because he is out of food, and not slated for another portion until tomorrow because he is a fatbody and it is hard to exercise a cat. So I decide to film him. Guess what- other than a few chirps, he clams up. Go figure:
All in all, a pretty good cat, I think.
The look at 1:03 – 1:08 is vintage Tunch, btw.