Saturday Night Open Thread
Just had dinner with mom, dad, my brother and sister for Father’s Day. Dad is the proud new owner of a “FEED” Tunch Apron.
Six dogs and five people at the house- it was chaos.
June 19, 2010 7:58 pm
Posted in: Open Thread
88 Comments
88 Responses
debit - June 19, 2010 | 8:00 pm · Link
Were there pictures?
SiubhanDuinne - June 19, 2010 | 8:03 pm · Link
Does Seth have his new dog yet?
Delia - June 19, 2010 | 8:04 pm · Link
So the humans are now outnumbered. Any JRT plots to seize power in play?
Comrade Javamanphil - June 19, 2010 | 8:05 pm · Link
Nothing wrong with chaos. Having a hard time convincing my neighbor of that though.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 19, 2010 | 8:08 pm · Link
I’m just watching the calendar for our moonsoon, or rainy season to begin. I love the sunshine in the desert southwest, but the months of May and June get so hot and dry it makes you hyper aware of the importance of water for human life, and spirit. Never had this back east, you just take water for granted cause it’s everywhere. Then the first week of July we normally get thunderstorms everyday, or have them close by to cool things down. But right now reminds me of that old Twilight Zone episode when the sun starts getting bigger or closer, and peeps just sit around sweating and waiting to bake like a tator in the oven.
edit – I blame my more than normal atrocious grammar and spellling on the heat. lazy
John Cole - June 19, 2010 | 8:08 pm · Link
@SiubhanDuinne: He gets it on Friday.
QuaintIrene - June 19, 2010 | 8:13 pm · Link
But a good chaos.
Adam Collyer - June 19, 2010 | 8:14 pm · Link
Sounds like my large Italian family. Lots of dogs and women, and about 5 men…..2 of which are ages 11 and 15.
Happy (Pet) Father’s Day, John.
Dork - June 19, 2010 | 8:18 pm · Link
If you were Korean, those dogs would be your dinner.
SiubhanDuinne - June 19, 2010 | 8:20 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: One of my all-time fave TZ episodes. IIRC it starred Lois Nettleton, a very much underrated actor.
I think of it, too, in super-hot weather (although here in ‘Lanna we have humidity to match the mid-90s temps, unlike your dry heat).
Tokyokie - June 19, 2010 | 8:22 pm · Link
Six dogs, five people and one Tunch? Or did he stay home?
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 19, 2010 | 8:32 pm · Link
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, the humidity is very bad in the SE US, living in southern Mississippi it was the months of July and August that were the worst. You sweat 24 hours a day, But it also rains a lot and water is always around. I think the hard part here is largely psychological with not having rained the past three months. Not a drop. No running water in streams or anywhere else. The Gila river is 30 miles away and there are a couple of manmade lakes about the same distance, but that is it. It just works on you after a while, especially with 90 or 100 plus temps, dry or not, it is still hot.
SIA - June 19, 2010 | 8:39 pm · Link
I think we need pictorial evidence of the Cole fathers day gala. I always want more detail than you provide, John. How did the dogs get along with Rosie? Did your parents like her? What about Tunch – is he brooding in his private domain?
Does make me miss my father – 16 years since the colonel moved on. God bless ‘im.
General Stuck, the west is so beautiful and I’ve never seen skies like that anywhere else. I used to travel out there for a week or so at a time. But the dry thing got to me really quickly. By the time I got back to GA, I felt like I was a fish gasping for water. The humidity sucks as SD said though. I just turn into a mole and move from one air-conditioned location to another until September. Except when I’m on the screened porch, but it’s always fairly cool with the fan going.
Litlebritdifrnt - June 19, 2010 | 8:42 pm · Link
I too demand pics. I am needy like that
frankdawg - June 19, 2010 | 8:43 pm · Link
@Dork:
I know that was a joke & I hope this does not upset anyone but dog is very tasty. It is a Euro-centric prejudice to think there is anything wrong with it. Some people keep pigs as pets but pork ribs are still socially acceptable in the US. Hindus probably find our affinity for dead cow a bit upsetting.
If a culture has survived thousands of years it must be doing something right & we should respect that and they should respect our success as a culture.
arguingwithsignposts - June 19, 2010 | 8:44 pm · Link
@SiubhanDuinne:
As a comedian once said, “It’s a dry heat. Yeah, so’s an oven.”
And I agree with Stuck. Pretty much anywhere close to the Gulf Coast in Summer is brutal humid and hot. blecch.
debit - June 19, 2010 | 8:44 pm · Link
It is a wonderment to me that our elderly cat Max likes to hang out with me when I routinely stick a large needle in the back of his neck (he needs fluids under the skin once a week). In fact, he just licked my eyelid. Weirdo.
And apparently I went crazy on the produce aisle and bought 3 bunches of parsley, so I made a giant batch of tabbouleh and an equally giant batch of olive salad for muffaletta sandwiches. I realize one doesn’t traditionally add parsley to olive salad, but I do.
Litlebritdifrnt - June 19, 2010 | 8:44 pm · Link
PS) here in eastern NC we have dreadful humidity right now and you just pour buckets of sweat the minute you walk outside, streaming off the end of the nose type thing and dripping off the eyebrows. I have maters to pick!
arguingwithsignposts - June 19, 2010 | 8:45 pm · Link
@frankdawg:
Just out of curiosity, I have heard the dog cuisine remark before. But I have never heard of anyone eating cats. Is there a culture that eats cats?
frankdawg - June 19, 2010 | 8:46 pm · Link
Today father is Fathers Day
So we’re giving you a tie.
We know you’ll say we shouldn’t bother
but it really is a pleasure to fuss
For according to our mother you’re our father
and that’s good enough for us.
Yes thats good enough for us.
h/t Groucho Marx
Libby - June 19, 2010 | 8:47 pm · Link
Sounds like my family gatherings, only since Phoebe left us, we’re evenly matched on critters to people.
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: I spent about three weeks in Arizona around this time year once. They told me it wasn’t going to be so bad because it’s a “dry” heat. Ha! Only difference was it felt like being baked instead of steamed.
I was lucky enough to be there for a very rare and brief thunderstorm. It was astounding. Those huge empty cement canals that I wondered about were instantly full to the top. That was about 30 years ago. Never forgot it.
Nicole - June 19, 2010 | 8:48 pm · Link
A friend sent my husband a Father’s Day card- mind you; our baby isn’t due for another six weeks. Same friend sent me a Mother’s Day card this year. Sweet thought, but srsly?
But maybe that’s just the panic talking.
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day always make me think of my dad responding to my question (when I was a kid) as to why there was no Kid’s Day- I’m sure you all can quote the response, word for word, as I think it’s one of those universal parental retorts…
Libby - June 19, 2010 | 8:52 pm · Link
@arguingwithsignposts: Spent a week in New Orleans in June once, in a B & B without AC. It was the only place we could get on short notice in the garden district that would allow dogs. It was so humid, that you still would sweat while standing in a cold shower.
CynDee - June 19, 2010 | 8:52 pm · Link
Do Lily and Rosie ride well together? What do her new cousins think of Rosie?
frankdawg - June 19, 2010 | 8:52 pm · Link
@arguingwithsignposts:
Not that I know of but if one did I would be interested in giving it a try. I would expect the meat to be lean & from the emergency vet repairs I have had to do I would guess it is ‘white’ meat. But I am a hypocrite, I don’t think I could do one in to eat it, same with dogs. I have butchered pigs & chickens & game animals with little remorse. I have been socialized against that for ‘pets’. Never had horse though it is popular in many places.
BTW - dog reminded me most of pork but it may have to do with the preparation.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 19, 2010 | 8:57 pm · Link
@SIA:
Yup, that’s what hooked me. My first visit to the west was attending grad school in MT for a year and a half. When I went back east, it seemed claustrophobic because the sky seemed so small. Mt really is Big Sky country. But the rest of the west is about the same. The space and light suits me well and a constant source of awe, and I couldn’t dream of leaving it.
Though I still miss the ocean from living in Biloxi several years. Pretty awesome in it’s own right, though under attack from the designs of stoopid humans at the moment.
Cheryl Rofer - June 19, 2010 | 8:59 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: I was just thinking that it looks like there’s a monsoonal flow starting in Mexico. It needs to move a bit to the west, though.
John Cole - June 19, 2010 | 9:00 pm · Link
It is so damned humid here in WV that I have the AC on and the house windows are all fogged up.
Lily and Rosie get along fine. They ride together well, too.
The only problem is Rosie has some neuroses that need to be worked through. When she is sitting on my lap and someone tries to pet her, she gets snarly. Most of the issues like this are when she is in my house, though, and seem to disappear when she is outside.
We think she was understimulated for a long time and does not know how to interact with people, and is over-protective of the household.
I’m seeing a lot of the same emotional responses I got from Lily earlier on, just with different physical manifestations. Where Lily would cower and look pathetic, Rosie growls and snarls. No snapping at anyone, just snarls. I’m ok with that in the short term, because the alternative would be not warning people and just snapping. Snarling tells people to back off, and is a good thing.
It will just take some time. She just needs lot of exercise, regular walk and eating times, and to get up and go to bed on a schedule for a while. Everything will be ok.
Litlebritdifrnt - June 19, 2010 | 9:01 pm · Link
Apparently there is a movement in the UK to eat Grey Squirrel, they are abundant (and terrorizing our sweet red squirrels) and according to what I saw on the F Word, delicious. (I seem to remember a southern hunting/cooking show video on youtube once that showed a recipe for grey squirrel, I may have dreamt it however).
frankdawg - June 19, 2010 | 9:01 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
We lived in Cocoa Beach FL for a few years while I worked at Kennedy. Summer lasted from March through October & every day was the same – 95 degrees, dew point in the 80s so it felt like you lived with a wet blanket on. between 3PM & 6 PM it would rain for some time between 5 minutes & 3 hours. You get used to it. Stay out of the sun, take it easy from 10 till 6. December and January were great.
It always stunned me to see old photos of men in suits w high collars & ties & women in long dresses – how they didn’t die from heat stroke is a mystery but I bet they stunk!
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 19, 2010 | 9:02 pm · Link
@Cheryl Rofer:
gawd, I hope so. It started a little early last year. The first T storms start over the mountains about ten miles from here. It is always a joy to drive up there and get a soaking. I have been known to just stand out in it getting pleasurably drenched.
frankdawg - June 19, 2010 | 9:03 pm · Link
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I like squirrel – its a dark meat & it roasts really nicely. My mom refused to cook them because she said they looked like little people. :)
Cheryl Rofer - June 19, 2010 | 9:08 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Yes, it’s hot in northern New Mexico too, and we have a fire in the National Forest west of Espanola that has been smoking along for almost a week now.
Litlebritdifrnt - June 19, 2010 | 9:14 pm · Link
@John Cole:
I am sure that once she gets into the family routine she will be absolutely fine. Right now she has found a savior and she wants to protect him. It is understandable. Once she settles down and realizes that she is not going to be left in the road soaking wet again it will be cool.
True story, my mum and dad used to go to a particular pub (The Boot and Shoe in Lancaster) every Friday night to meet with friends. There was a delightful wire haired JRT that belonged to the pub owner called Skipper who used to spend all night wandering around the pub saying hello to everyone, getting treats and stuff. The owner of the pub died and mum and dad ended up adopting Skipper as no one else would take him. They had four or five wonderful years with him until he died, but when he first came home with them he was very protective of his new family to the point that he would go NUTS at anyone that came to the door. After a while he settled down and was just the most delightful of doggies. I do not know if it is a trait of the breed but Skipper had a “stash” of stuff in the upstairs bedroom closet (which had a sliding door), he used to take his treats up there and hide them, as well as other things. We had a whole load of stuff “going missing” including car keys etc., so in a stroke of genius Mum gave Skipper a treat and followed behind him as he went up the three flights of stairs and slid open the closet door with his nose, deposited the treat and then slid the door closed behind him. Once he had gone back down stairs Mum opened the closet door and there was an absolute treasure trove of treats, keys, hairbrushes, toys, bones, you name it. It was hilarious.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 19, 2010 | 9:14 pm · Link
@Cheryl Rofer: Yea, I been hearing about the fires up there. We have had some smaller ones, I think, here in the Gila. About ten years ago, I spent a lot of time around Espanola and Taos. The heat and dryness was about the same as down here. And really, it’s not as bad as the severe drought in the early aught years, when we had the epic Los Alamos fire.
Cheryl Rofer - June 19, 2010 | 9:22 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: New Mexico fire info. Looks like none of them will be out any time soon, unless we get a miracle monsoon.
SIA - June 19, 2010 | 9:24 pm · Link
@Litlebritdifrnt: Squirrel hunting always makes me think of the Beverly Hillbillies. :) (It’s bizarre, I still remember all the words to that show’s opening song).
Linda Featheringill - June 19, 2010 | 9:28 pm · Link
@John Cole: Rosie might be especially protective of home and family if she recently lost hers – through whatever circumstance.
I took in a starving kitty once. [Beau. Birth defects made hunting impossible for him.]
It took him about 6 weeks to develop some manners around food. He was very demanding and very protective of his food. After a while, he figured out that there was more food coming. Then he developed into a lovely gentleman.
He lived with us for 16 years.
BethanyAnne - June 19, 2010 | 9:28 pm · Link
I bought the Pop Cap Mac Pac. 13 games for 50 bucks. I are happily distracted :)
Nicole - June 19, 2010 | 9:33 pm · Link
@John Cole: I saw an episode of “It’s Me or the Dog” where the dog (a terrifying fluffy monster named Teddy PomPom) snarled and snapped at anyone who approached his owner when the dog was sitting in her lap. The trainer advised putting the dog down on the floor immediately- the dog figured out snarling meant he didn’t get to stay where he wanted to (on the lap) and stopped it.
Litlebritdifrnt - June 19, 2010 | 9:34 pm · Link
@Linda Featheringill:
Ms. Peaches (former feral) was like that around food for a while, she would lay her whole body over the bowl and snarl at and smack any kitteh that came close to the bowl. Like your kitteh, once she figured that there was a never ending supply she calmed down about it. Now she is all “meh? Tuna? I thought we were getting salmon tonight?”
debit - June 19, 2010 | 9:36 pm · Link
@SIA: Well, next thing you know old Jed’s a millionaire, and his kinfolk said, “Jed, move away from there!”
I still remember the bit with Jethro Bodine and his giant brain, and think of it when someone is being obnoxiously stupid.
sputnikgayle - June 19, 2010 | 9:36 pm · Link
We too had the whole clan and their traveling animals over for an afternoon bbq at our farm and we still have some campers. Exhausting! Plenty of ribs for humans and dogs. The guest dogs and our guard dogs were amazingly tolerant of each other even without my commands. They’ve all known each other for awhile and have trained together but they don’t run and play together all that often, about once a month. We had one new rescue visiting, an adorable hound mutt, who was overwhelmed at first and didn’t know she could run loose in our fenced compound. It was heartwarming to watch her cut loose and be part of a pack.
Best part—I’m now being waited on hand and foot by my spectacular children.
MattR - June 19, 2010 | 9:40 pm · Link
@Litlebritdifrnt: So you are saying I should be happy that Ellie only hides her treats all over the condo and leaves my stuff alone? I knew there was some kind of silver lining to that behavior.
elmo - June 19, 2010 | 9:41 pm · Link
OMG I can’t contain myself—that Last Chance Highway show I mentioned in yesterday’s Open Thread was just on, and my puppies were on it!
We fostered a whole litter of nine Pyr pups back in February, and Pam Peterson and her husband Kyle babysat them for us for a day after they were neutered. Pam and Kyle run the pet transport business the show is about—and the cameras were there when the pups were there. They’re out playing in the yard with the Petersons’ daughter.
OMG I’m all verklempt. I’m pathetic. But my partner and I were just watching and squealing, Look, there’s Sydney, and Temper, and Trace, and Big Red, OMG!!
jeffreyw - June 19, 2010 | 9:41 pm · Link
@SIA:
The thing about hunting squirrels…
Punchy - June 19, 2010 | 9:49 pm · Link
John…..how you can be so lucky with animals and so unlucky with women (men?) is a complete mystery.
demimondian - June 19, 2010 | 9:49 pm · Link
@Litlebritdifrnt: And, as Mike Huckabee will tell you, squirrels are easily and conveniently cooked in old-style popcorn poppers. FDDD, a gen-u-wine Arkansawyer, disagrees, however; she says that the meat is too easily seared, and that they’re best roasted whole.
Oddly, although I’ve introduced her to a variety of vegetables that she didn’t grow up, she has thus far failed to introduce me to the forms of varmint meat that she did grow up with.
Gina - June 19, 2010 | 9:50 pm · Link
@Nicole: A thousand times THIS! John, she’s a small dog but you can’t let that stuff go. She’ll be a nightmare. Now, my guys are all pretty big, and then there’s the whole breed rep thing, but still I’d never tolerate for even one.second. that kind of display. She needs limits, it’s the kinder thing to set them early and be consistent.
demimondian - June 19, 2010 | 9:54 pm · Link
@Gina: I agree. Growling and snarling aren’t bad—there’s no call for a collar pull—but they are unacceptable. When Rosie growls, she goes down on the floor. Immediately.
frankdawg - June 19, 2010 | 9:56 pm · Link
@Linda Featheringill:
We have two rescue cats & the older one (Edward Wellington Mouseripper) goes insane around food – we assume she must have gone hungry for a time – opening a tin of cat food cause her to become almost hysterical & she will inhale the food as if there will never be any more.
Oddly she is skinny as a rail & the youngster (Puck) hates all human food, really is not interested in canned food but is a wide load.
demimondian - June 19, 2010 | 9:58 pm · Link
@BethanyAnne: And you are doomed, doomed, doomed.
—demi “Plants versus Zombies? Bookworm Adventures? So many choices…” mondian
Yutsano - June 19, 2010 | 10:02 pm · Link
@jeffreyw: Squirrels are evil. Therefore I take no sorrow in their execution. Scarf them down to your hearts’ delight I say.
BethanyAnne - June 19, 2010 | 11:29 pm · Link
@demimondian: Escape from Rosecliff Island first, with some Plants vs. Zombies mixed in :)
SIA - June 19, 2010 | 11:31 pm · Link
@debit: “They said, Californy’s the place you oughta be, so they packed up their ? and moved to Beverleee…Hills, that is. Swimming pools – movie stars.” Make it STOP!
@elmo: What part of the world are you in? I read your post on the pyrennes the other day and last night wrote about our fantastic golden/pyrennes mix we had for 12 years (I just realized I said last night it was 14). I tell Maggie’s spirit all the time if she wants to come back, make it clear it’s her. I would love to have another golden/pyr mix. What a great great dog.
ETA: Gen Stuck, I meant to ask, how was your nekkid vampire movie? Was it SKEEERY?
Punchy - June 19, 2010 | 11:39 pm · Link
I think an abortion is more entertaining than this Cleveland v. Pittsburgh baseball game.
Yutsano - June 19, 2010 | 11:43 pm · Link
I am gonna say right now that it kinda sucks y’all ain’t in my house right now. The Great Pork Experiment smells AMAZING right now.
Roger Moore - June 19, 2010 | 11:46 pm · Link
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Older editions of The Joy of Cooking have a good sized section on game meat. ISTR that squirrel is included, but that section is cut down drastically in my more recent edition.
Steeplejack - June 20, 2010 | 12:00 am · Link
@debit:
Don’t forget he was training to be a double-nought spy. And I think it was from that show that I got “cipherin’,” which goes great in software (and other technical) conversations. “Well, I’ll have to do some cipherin’ on that, but I’ll get back to you.”
Polish the Guillotines - June 20, 2010 | 12:03 am · Link
@SIA: Okay, enough with the Beverly Hillbillies. They made their fortune from petroleum. Do you know who also made a fortune from oil? That’s right…. Hitler. Oh, wait. Wrong villain.
And if you’re old enough to know what “Abscam” refers to, this SNL Hillbillies sketch will be even funnier. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… The Bel Airabs.
Mark S. - June 20, 2010 | 12:06 am · Link
@Roger Moore:
My girlfriend has a copy of The Joy of Cooking. Let’s see here, “Squirrel”, page 515:
Other delicious meal ideas on the next two pages include opossum, porcupine, raccoon, muskrat, and woodchuck. It is advised to trap your possum and fatten him up for 10 days on milk and cereals.
Polish the Guillotines - June 20, 2010 | 12:07 am · Link
@Steeplejack:
Yup. Gotta know your timeses and goesintas.
suzanne - June 20, 2010 | 12:09 am · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Oh, God. I feel you. The thing I just absolutely hate about when it gets this hot is how the ground absorbs so much heat and radiates it back. So from above, you get the intense radiation and then the heat comes from below. If’s like being in a fucking rotisserie.
frankdawg - June 20, 2010 | 12:10 am · Link
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I think I know the show you are talking about – short guy with a big mustache & cowboy hat? I can’t remember the name of it but he does a lot of camp cooking over open fire.
@Steeplejack:
The last few years of the show they got pretty political & tried to make Jethro a hippie so they could take shots at them & the anti-war movement. Political comedy is really hard though because you can forget to be funny while you try to make a point – BH stopped being funny.
frankdawg - June 20, 2010 | 12:13 am · Link
Speaking of the Beverly Hillbillies here is a link to the rude pundits send up – what happens when Jed finds out Mr. Drysdale has invested all his money in CDOs. Its hilarious:
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com.....ed-in.html
Steeplejack - June 20, 2010 | 12:15 am · Link
@frankdawg:
Fortunately I missed the later years. Went overseas in 1967 and had very limited exposure to American TV until I came back in ‘69, and then I had limited exposure because I was in college. I can’t remember anyone in the dorm having a TV back in those days. (I was practically a god because I had a reel-to-reel tape system that I had bought in Japan.) There was a TV in the common lounge that served the whole building, but I don’t ever remember watching TV. There was too much other stuff to do.
frankdawg - June 20, 2010 | 12:19 am · Link
@Mark S.:
Possum has a strong odor that puts me off. Woodchuck tastes OK but is greasy beyond belief. Raccoon changes depending on what it eats, its good but if you get one from corm country it is outstanding.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 20, 2010 | 12:19 am · Link
@suzanne:
I think the worst part is the outside walls of my building are just brick with no drywall between. So the afternoon sun just bakes the bricks like a kiln, so at night, even when it cools off, the stored heat radiates from them. The good news is by morning everything cools down, even the bricks. Lasts till about 8 AM, then we do it all over again. Plus I don’t have air conditioning, or a swamp cooler. Only a couple weeks till relief, thankfully.
Steeplejack - June 20, 2010 | 12:21 am · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
No air conditioning? That’s brutal. Can’t you even deploy a small window unit?
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 20, 2010 | 12:32 am · Link
@Steeplejack: Refridgerated air conditioners don’t work well with the ultra dry weather, plus they suck up electricity in this climate, that is very costly. Swamp coolers are best. One of my neighbors put in a window unit, and his electric bill went thru the roof with very little relief. I complain about it, but is only really bad for the month of June, until we start getting rain. It cools down enough at night and with two box fans, I sleep alright. That is the main thing, the other discomfort, I just suck it up albeit with some bitching.
Comrade Mary - June 20, 2010 | 12:37 am · Link
I have air conditioning, but I’m cheap and green, so I use it as little as possible. I sleep with the fan turned over the bed and the window open.
This week I have become a convert to “blow the hot air out the window” during the day. It takes a few minutes for the temp to drop, but it maintains comfy temperatures quite well. I work on the second floor and find that this method not only doesn’t disturb the papers on my desk the way even a gentle direct fan does, but I can leave the fan on when I leave the room without wasting energy. (There’s nothing more useless than a cooling fan turned into a room when there’s no life form there).
There’s also the venerable swamp cooler. I’ve never tried it myself, but people swear by it. You can rig up a home version by hanging a wet towel in front of a fan, or having the fan blow over a pan full of ice water.
Cain - June 20, 2010 | 12:39 am · Link
So I missed the whole John found a new dog episode. Which blog post was that anyways?
cain
suzanne - June 20, 2010 | 12:44 am · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Dude. Are you HIGH?
High-mass walls are more effective in the low desert in terms of moderating the daily temperature swing, but they have to be sized right. Standard bricks are too small. A good two-foot thick wall would keep you nice and comfy, no drywall required.
I’m a building energy nerd, and all about saving electricity, but the idea of going without HVAC in this climate is pure masochism.
suzanne - June 20, 2010 | 12:49 am · Link
@Comrade Mary:
Swamp coolers are faboo if the dew point is below 50. You can also ad hoc them really well by taking those unglazed terracotta plant pots and filling them with water if the area is ventilated.
Our new house is a two-story, with the ground floor about two feet below grade. Even without HVAC, it’s been very comfortable down there, even in this friggin’ heat and even with typical frame construction. The upper floor, on the other hand….. DAMN.
One of my professors is an expert in urban heat island effect. Based on his research, he’s predicting that, sometime in the next three summers, we’re going to have a 100° NIGHT here in Phoenix.
But, but…AL GORE’S FAT
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 20, 2010 | 12:53 am · Link
@suzanne:
No pain no gain. What don’t kill you, makes you stronger. Cliches are my only comfort. John McCain didn’t get much HVAC in the Hanoi Hilton, now did he. Ummph!!
edit= Oh, almost forgot. You go to summer with the HVAC you don’t have, not the HVAC you wish you had.
suzanne - June 20, 2010 | 12:58 am · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Don’t forget, “Thank you, FSM, may I have another?!”
Anne Laurie - June 20, 2010 | 1:01 am · Link
@frankdawg:
I’m guessing the dog’s diet had quite a bit to do with it, as well. I remember reading that dogs raised for the table in China are fed rice and nothing but rice ‘to keep their flesh fragrant’.
Dogs, unlike their wolf ancestors, are pretty omnivorous. I think one reason cats aren’t on the menu except in cases of siege or starvation is that cats are obligate carnivores and carnivore meat ain’t good eatin. (I did try the bear goulash at a restaurant’s Game Month special once, but of course bears are omnivores too, and with that much sour cream and paprika a skilled cook could’ve made tire treads edible.)
Cain - June 20, 2010 | 1:02 am · Link
@Punchy:
That’s the next thing, John coming out of the closet.. this would be the most awesome gay blog evah!
That said, wtf is wrong with people in the other states? I have not yet seen a single abandoned dog in this area. I’ve been living here for 14 years. Even the stray cats get fed, and we have a 90% adoption rate in the shelters.
We love our pets here.
cain
Yutsano - June 20, 2010 | 1:08 am · Link
@suzanne:
Where I live it gets pretty warm (runs about 100° consistently during the summer but cools down by about 30 degrees) but nothing prepared me for Phoenix at night. It was monsoon season, raining, almost midnight and 95°. I was flabbergasted, my friends just said, “Welcome to the Valley of the Sun.”
asiangrrlMN - June 20, 2010 | 1:12 am · Link
@Cain: Here is the first mention. There are about eleven-billionty after.
@elmo: That’s really cool! Any links?
@Yutsano: #Gives you the fish-eye# You didn’t invite me to partake?
Cole, more vids, please. And, how’s Tunch? Vids of him in his new domain would be greatly appreciated as well. I need to take a nap, so talk to you bitchez later.
asiangrrlMN - June 20, 2010 | 1:13 am · Link
FYWP, repost, part I
@Cain: Here is the initial post. John posted about eleven-billionty afterwards.
asiangrrlMN - June 20, 2010 | 1:15 am · Link
FYWP, repost, part II.
@elmo: That’s so fucking cool. Any link to the vid?
@Yutsano: #Gives you the fish-eye# Where is my invitation, Mister?
Cole, vids of the new pup and of Lily, but especially of Tunchie in his new domain would be greatly appreciated. I’m fucking exhausted and taking a nap. Talk to the late-night Juicers later.
Yutsano - June 20, 2010 | 1:18 am · Link
@Anne Laurie:
Bear meat is actually quite tasty in a sausage. I had it once, the trick is to get one from a bear in late summer or fall so they’re building up fat reserves and it can be incorporated into the sausage. At least I can say I ate it once, but I don’t recommend bear steak, mostly because of parasites.
@asiangrrlMN: Ahem. Fake marriage. All food invites are implicit in that contract. Nuff said.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 20, 2010 | 1:32 am · Link
@SIA:
Not hardly. More like the first ever R rated Vampire Sitcom.
Cain - June 20, 2010 | 2:11 am · Link
@asiangrrlMN:
Thanks!
cain
asiangrrlMN - June 20, 2010 | 5:32 am · Link
@Yutsano: NOW you fucking tell me! After the pork has been consumed. Feh.
@Cain: No prob. It’s really fun to follow the arc of the whole Rosalita drama.
elmo - June 20, 2010 | 6:48 am · Link
@SIA:
It’s not Saturday night anymore, it’s Sunday morning, so you may not see this—but I’m in East TN. Cookeville, where the Petersons are located, is about an hour from me.
frankdawg - June 20, 2010 | 9:26 am · Link
@Anne Laurie:
I have only eaten bear twice but had heard how awful it was before eating it. The first bear was very good. The meat was dark and had a mild game flavor. The second one however was horrible – greasy, tough and with a taste that could put you off meat for a week.
I bet what they were eating had a lot to do with that.