(Non Sequitur via GoComics.com)
On the positive side, we didn’t get hit by the latest storm here, just north of Boston.
On the not-so-positive, one of our rescue cats has been diagnosed (after emergency vet visits at a cost rounding four figures) with urinary issues requiring a life-long, expensive prescription diet. Which will have to be fed to both of our rescue cats, of course. But hey, they’re still young (Rocket is three, Piper just two), so with luck we can still keep them around for another twenty years!
And that’s on top of the $1500 we’re shelling out to get the collapsing porch roof torn down later this week, assuming the weather doesn’t prevent the roofers from working, in which case we’ll risk losing our home insurance.
So… how’s life in your neighborhoods, tonight?
Baud
I feels you when it comes to pets with medical conditions.
Violet
Why would you lose your home insurance? Don’t understand…
It’s freaking cold here. This is March. I’m far south enough that everything is budding out. My tulips are gorgeous right now. Or they were on Sunday. And then last night it was 28 degrees. The weather people said it wasn’t even going to freeze. When I woke up at 3:30 a.m. it was 29 degrees and it dropped to 28. I hadn’t covered nearly enough plants for that kind of temperature. Freezing rain/ice is forecast for tonight. I’m sick of this weather. March is usually warm and glorious. It’s going from hot and miserable (80 and humid on Sunday until the front arrived) to frozen. Ugh.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
A little ice and about 3 inches of snow at the Mason-Dixon line. The heavier stuff went south of us. Forecast tonight is -2 degrees, though!
The good news is that I checked the 30-day forecast and it looks like after we get through this week and the next, Spring might actually be here — 50 to 60 degree highs. It’ll feel hot, considering that for the last 2 months I’ve been thinking it’s balmy when it’s above freezing.
Baud
BTW, I know we’ve been dealing with the Village’s attitude towards Obama for a while now. But does it seem like they’ve gone especially around the bend with the Ukraine stuff, even by their standards? Like they’ve had enough, and they’re not going to hide it anymore?
Elmo
After the best snow day of his entire eighteen months of life, during which he ran, played, wrestled, barked, and then ate a hearty meal, our rescue Great Dane ran down to the basement family room, had a heart attack, and died.
I adored that great, goofy hound. He came to us from a puppy mill bust, with entropion, malnutrition, demodex, and incipient arthritis. He had gotten over all of it, (at a cost of about two grand) and was just starting to blossom as an enormous lovable puppy.
And I had to drag his 175-lb body up the stairs because there was no way I could carry him or leave him in the basement.
Loved that dog so MUCH.
Southern Beale
Responsible gun owner, extra stupid Florida Man edition!
Jesus effin whatever, y’all.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Chez Q we are delighting in the fact they we only got 3 inches of snow over the underlayer of ice from the earlier sleet storm. And tomorrow Layla will have her last antibiotic tablet following her ($1900) surgery to remove a dog toy she ate. She made doggie snow angels all the way down the back yard hill during the afternoon sunshine.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Elmo: I’m so sorry for your loss. They leave such big paw prints on our hearts.
Violet
@Elmo: Oh, how sad! I’m so sorry for your loss.
Steeplejack
Hunkering down here in NoVa after getting 5" of snow today. It stopped in midafternoon, but the temp is 15° now and going down to 3° overnight. Holy shnikeys.
Getting caught up on Justified.
Baud
@Elmo:
How awful.
danielx
Life in my neighborhood is…okay, if you don’t mind the part about how it’s March 3rd and the temperature outside is ten degrees above zero. The cold is getting to me; I can take the snow, but these repeated trips to single digit temperatures are wearing my ass out (the rest of me as well).
This evening also included the arduous project of trimming Eric the Magnificent’s claws, which is always an adventure. Poor guy got a front claw stuck today in the living room couch today when he tried to jump down, meaning that the paw remained stuck on the couch while the rest of him was on the floor, with his front leg way extended up to the cushion where his claw was stuck. Fortunately the daughter unit and I were home and heard his serious distress/discomfort/pain. Equally fortunately I had a pair of leather work gloves handy and didn’t try to extricate his claw while it was stuck way up above him, but rather lifted him up so as to un-torque his claw and leg. He seems to be okay, but that’s the kind of thing which can truly mess up an eighteen year old cat. Anyway, wrapped him in a towel and got all his claws trimmed this evening. Shockingly, he wasn’t one bit grateful.
WaterGirl
I was so excited when I saw the thread title. I thought maybe this was announcing the next book thread as This Dark Road to Mercy. I am really liking the book.
Elmo
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
His paws were seriously the size of my hands. He was from true European lines, and would probly have topped 200lbs.
I need to get drunk.
Steeplejack
@Elmo:
So sorry, man. That’s rough.
danielx
@Elmo:
Very sorry for a terrible loss.
raven
@Elmo: I hate to pull this out but it seems right”
We who choose to surround ourselves
with lives even more temporary than our
own, live within a fragile circle;
easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps,
we would still live no other way.
We cherish memory as the only
certain immortality, never fully
understanding the necessary plan.
— Irving Townsend
Ruckus
Just got back from having to purchase a new refrigerator for the second time in 5 yrs, third in 20. I’m still trying to figure out if I will ever come out ahead even just a little, whatever the game is.
Oh you asked about the weather……
Shorts and tee shirt at 6. But we do have a bit of traffic in the LA area. And not enough water.
Ruckus
@Elmo:
Sorry about your friend. Sounds like he was a grand dog.
raven
@Ruckus: I want the last check I write to bounce.
Citizen_X
@Elmo: Eighteen months, holy moly! So sorry to hear that. The poor guy! At least it sounds like he had a happy last day.
Are Great Danes prone to having short life spans or something?
Hill Dweller
@Baud:
Josh Rogin was on Chris Hayes’ show implying Russia invaded Ukraine because we weren’t coordinating our response to Euromaiden with them. When the other guest pointed out that was bullshit, Rogin backed off, and started talking about the Obama admin’s “ad hoc” handling of the Arab Spring.
Amir Khalid
@Elmo:
That’s sad news. Especially since your puppeh was just a young’un.
PurpleGirl
@Elmo: Oh, Elmo, I feel so sorry for you and your family losing a pet that way. {{{hugs}}}
At one of the kitten cams I watch, a momcat who had only 3 kittens, lost one over the weekend. The foster parent was holding the kitten, about to feed him some formula because this little one was very active, losing a little weight, and not nursing very well on his momcat. Everyone was very upset because this little one was walking already (even blind and two-three days old). All of them — momcat and kittens — were very vocal. Sometimes things happen and you have to accept them. Still, it’s sad to lose a kitten.
AL — Sorry to hear about the health problems of your cat. I understand about having to feed both cats the same way even though only one needs the special food.
Everyone who has pets — dogs or cats — given them extra hugs tonight.
Elmo
@Citizen_X:
They can be, yeah. One of the things that they are prone to is bloat and torsion, so we had the surgeon doing his neutering go in and staple his stomach to his abdominal wall – this is a common preventive measure.
But we never, ever suspected heart trouble.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: My uncle died a few years back over $10k in the hole, and intestate. He had no other family and very few friends, so I got stuck with the arrangements, but the lawyer said “his debts? fuck them.”
Ruckus
@raven:
I’d just like to get even someday. Ahead is way beyond my dreams. I know I’m not anywhere as bad off as some, but my life still seems like that country western song, Been Down So Long, Worms Are Taller.
raven
@Ruckus: I didn’t mean to make light of your situation.
ranchandsyrup
@Elmo: sorry about your pal. Thoughts and prayers
Frankensteinbeck
I said I would announce it – the printer finally caught up and the trade paperbacks for Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain are on Amazon! Some folks here said they wanted to know when physical copies are available. No doubt they need them to build a permanent shrine celebrating the day.
Baud
@Hill Dweller:
I don’t pay that much attention to the MSM anymore, but this time feels different somehow.
raven
Rachel has Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) on. She’s of Ukrainian extraction and she’s beating the military assistance drum. She also said Russia “supposedly” was a US ally in WWII. Great, go get em.
Suffern ACE
@Baud: Seriously, they have no perspective. As members of the Elite, they really are failures and we will be well to be rid of them. I’m sure in a week, the calls to get even with Russia by invading Syria will be deafening, the way that invading Syria was going to get back at Iran last year. They have a problem with the fact that we have not invaded Syria even though they have been bleating incessantly. War will solve a lot of our problems, as it always does. (eyes are rolling.)
Suffern ACE
@raven: Has anyone actually asked for assistance yet?
Ruckus
@raven:
Didn’t think you were at all.
No harm, no foul, my life is what my life is.
The only people who have to apologize would be the MOU who caused the economy to melt down and the conservatives who helped keep it down. And the only successful apology would be for them to be in a position for me to piss on their graves.
Hill Dweller
@Baud: Rogin also claimed(without any specifics) that we’d ruined relationships with our allies because we didn’t consult them. Hayes didn’t question his assertion.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elmo:
Oh, Elmo, I am so sorry. There is little consolation I can offer, but it sounds as though he died in pure joy. I hope that’s a comfort.
raven
@Suffern ACE: All freedoms loving peoples around the world.
WaterGirl
Anne Laurie, my boy kitty was diagnosed with a UTI condition and my vet said prescription food. I went home, did some reading, and asked my vet if I could try changing some things at home for a month before we went to prescription food. (which would have been a total pain in the butt, 2 kitties, etc) He said okay.
Here’s everything I recall from the internet, and it worked because he has not had to go on prescription food.
Limit dry food. He gets 1/8 cup dry food in the morning.
Multiple small meals instead of one or two big ones. I feed them 3 or 4 times a day, all wet except for the morning.
Add water to wet food. He gets 1/4 can of Fancy Feast at each meal (except breakfast, which is dry). I add water to his food dish, making a very chunky soup.
Cosequin on food to prevent inflammation. It comes in capsule form and I sprinkle it on his wet food a couple of times a day.
He is prone to UTI infections, but the real issue is whether you can generally keep the crystals out his urine.
Does that sound like the same issue your kitty has?
trollhattan
@Elmo:
Damn, so sorry!
Baud
@Hill Dweller:
There’s a limit to the number of lies you can question. Didn’t see this episode, but I’ve seen it in others.
trollhattan
Next week will be three years since the great Japan quake and tsunami. There are doubtless a million or more stories, here is but one.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_death/AJ201402180008
WaterGirl
* I will once again put in a plug for pet insurance. I use PetPlan and will never again be without it.
PetPlan would have covered Bear’s prescription food for the rest of his life. After my annual 50.00 deductible for his UTI issue, everything is paid for by insurance. The first 2 bottles of cosequin cost about 50.00, so I essentially get the other 10 bottles free. All urine checks are free, as are prescriptions, etc once the deductible has been met.
Bill Arnold
Dunno if it’s the same near-fatal “crystals” problem my (male) cat had, but after getting tired of paying too much for the prescription diet urinary tract formula (plus vet visits and testing) we started buying the Purina urinary tract formula. It’s been a few years and the cat has been fine. (He supplements with the occasional little furry.)
Since he’s an only-cat, an auto-feeder works fine. (Just need to adjust the timer a few times per year to real sunrise/sunset.)
Schlemizel
@Elmo:
Oh man that is sad news. Danes are the most lovable damn dogs, they never seem to grow out of the puppy stage & just want to love and be loved. Its trite but at least the happy guy didn’t suffer, it was quick. I am so sorry for your lose.
raven
@WaterGirl: We have Embrace on the Bodhi.
Karen in GA
@Elmo: I’m so sorry. His life was short, but you made sure he spent it happy and loved. That’s all any dog could ask.
Howard Beale IV
Twin Cities may get above freezing on Sunday. Yippie.
Schlemizel
@WaterGirl: My Tomtegubbe had a problem with stones and one vet had us put her on an expensive low ash diet. We were young and pretty broke so we took her to the vet school at Minnesota. They took an exray and discovered her bladder had an extra lobe on it that was causing the problem. Because it was a University training center we could afford to have it fixed & was trouble free for 15-16 years after that.
It was good to have a second look.
Karen in GA
@WaterGirl: I have Petplan for my menagerie. They’re good, but I thought they didn’t pay for food?
? Martin
Recall the howls and cries that Apple was in the pocket of the NSA. Here’s how Apple treats your security:
The punchline: Apple sells devices. That’s their business, and your password credentials are therefore tied to your devices. The only way to normally get access to your password information is to know the unique identifier for your device, along with your account/password. And if the NSA demands that Apple turn over the master key to the system – they can’t – they destroyed the master keys so that can’t happen:
They aren’t interested in selling your information, your profile, or putting your information on every device sold on earth. Nobody else can set up a security system like this because nobody else has the guarantee of a piece of hardware that they provide and can use as a necessary token into this system, but Apple can because Apple doesn’t sell password services and the like, they sell phones and tablets and computers and those services are merely value-adds to the hardware and therefore can hang off of that hardware.
I mention this less to advocate on behalf of Apple (which I don’t mind doing), but to further point out that GG gets shit wrong all the fucking time because he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. He doesn’t know the first goddamn thing about the subject he’s reporting on, and he draws whatever conclusions fit his own biases and way too many people take him at his word.
Roger Moore
@raven:
What’s a “check”? I kid, but they’re close enough to obsolete that you’re likely to write your last check years before you shuffle off this mortal coil.
WaterGirl
@Elmo: I lost my first dog at 9 months, it’s just heartbreaking in a different way when they are so young. So, so sorry for your loss.
What a great day he had, though, almost like heaven on earth. I’m glad you guys got that, anyway. But damn, the shock of it all, it’s just terrible. So sorry.
raven
@Roger Moore: Actually it’s a Kinky Friedman quote.
GregB
@raven:
Suit up Marcy, we’re all Ukrainians now!
This nation really is chock full of insane warmongers.
WaterGirl
@Karen in GA: This particular UTI condition is the one condition where they will pay for food. I would have taken them up on it – would save me a ton of money on food – if I wouldn’t end up having to pay for prescription food for my other kitty.
Life is just too short to fight with feeding every single day.
Edit: I also would have gone with the prescription food if I hadn’t been able to resolve the crystal problem with the process I outlined above.
raven
@GregB: It’s all such fucking bullshit. We didn’t do diddly in 2008 and we ain’t gonna do shit now.
randomworker
@Bill Arnold:
AL – Bill’s solution worked for me, too.
Best of luck.
WaterGirl
@Schlemizel: That’s great. The vets at the university of illinois where I am saved my dog’s lives 3 times when regular vets either didn’t know or gave me bad advice.
I changed vets after the 3rd time the vet gave me bad advice!
raven
@WaterGirl: They are obviously a top-knotch vet school! Osskeewow!
Elmo
@WaterGirl:
Thank you. Today really was the best day of his life so far. And we’ve been talking about how he’s really been improving a lot over the past month.
So in one sense it’s good he had such a great day, and in another it’s just such a damn shame he went as he was getting better.
Culture of Truth
@Elmo: Awww, so sorry. He sounds like a great dog.
lurker dean
@WaterGirl: i’ve read lots of reviews for pet insurance and they seem to be all over the place, so i appreciate reading a real life positive experience. one common complaint i’ve seen is that they don’t cover preexisting conditions. so if your cat has already had crystals, future issues probably wouldn’t be covered. but if you get the insurance when the pet is still pre-existing condition-free, it seems like the insurance can be very beneficial.
WaterGirl
@raven: I’d forgotten that was the name of the song!
Culture of Truth
@Hill Dweller: Exactly. He was reduced to blabbering about how “the perception is” Obama is weak and Obama won’t address how Obama is weak, which is weak. He sounded like a crazy person.
lamh36
Carnival Time in NOLA. Even the NOPD getting in on the wobble. And can I just say…da white boy cop is getting down!
Mardi Gras videos: NOPD does the wobble, share your pictures and videos
RuhRow_Gyro
There is something we should think about. Consider the names of Sarah Palin and Vladmir Putin. You will notice that both have last names of five letters, with three consonants separated with two vowels. AND BOTH END WITH THE COMMON LETTERs ‘IN’.
And Sarah PalIN exactly predicted the geopolitical chess game presently being played by… Vladimir PutIN. There are now TRUCKLOADS OF RUSSIAN TROOPS MOVING.
Therefore, should we punish Sarah PalIN for the actions of Vladimir PutIN as President Obama is so evidently impotent against this man who so brazenly violates political treaties?
I think the answer is self-evident.
srv
Other than a little rain here in Norcal, we haven’t had to deal with y’all subzero stuff this ‘winter’. I’m flying to DFW on Wednesday, so could you please have all that cleaned up?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Culture of Truth: Yeah, that was Cokie Roberts level logic there.
I’m also kinda baffled by the “ad hoc” thing as a criticism. Events, dear boy, events. The Beltway discourse on this is even dumber than usual: If we had bombed Syria, Putin would have been afraid, even though of course no one thinks we would ever bomb Russia. We invaded and occupied and sort of defeated Iraq and Afghanistan, Putin wasn’t afraid to lop off a big chunk of Georgia
? Martin
Fred Kaplan presents Obama’s foreign policy approach. Politico, but not bad.
WaterGirl
@Elmo: I’m sitting here nodding and crying as I read what you wrote. Joy and sorrow mixed together.
Hold on to this: he was blossoming into that enormous lovable puppy because of the life you gave him.
My Arrow was such an awesome, amazing girl. She’s the dog that people still ask about by name, even decades later. She may not have been long for this earth, but while she was here, she made her mark. Only the good die young.
Suffern ACE
@Culture of Truth: Egad. They are just scared shitless all the time and they want someone to be brave for them. Russia could roll tanks through Ukraine and kill a million Ukranian’s tomorrow and you know what would happen to our elite? NOTHING. I would like something to happen to them. I would like them to be chased away by people with pitchforks and brooms. But we can’t get rid of them and their desire to control the meaning of every last glance of anyone on the planet who might notice they are insane.
But hey. At least we aren’t talking about inequality and wages this week.
Gin & Tonic
My advice is if you own any MSFT, time to put in your sell order. Mark Penn named chief strategy officer, whatever that is.
? Martin
@Gin & Tonic: Windows 9, Soccer Mom Edition
Steeplejack
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, I saw that yesterday and did a full Danny Thomas spit-take. Surprised a front-pager hasn’t jumped on it yet.
Mnemosyne
I got to hold an Oscar today.
(Okay, so did about 500 other people in our building because they were letting everyone pose for pictures with them but, still, it was coooool.)
WaterGirl
@lurker dean: Absolutely. I sign up for pet insurance the day I bring my guys home, and I take them to the vet that first day for their official exam. There’s a 2-day waiting period, and then they’re covered.
I researched for hours and hours before I chose PetPlan years ago. I liked that there are 3 levels of coverage (gold, silver, bronze) and 3 levels of coverage after deductible (100%, 90%, 80%) and 3 levels of deductible amount ($50, $100, $200). So you can control your premium amount with that, and you can change it as they get older and have more health issues.
Edit: you’re right that they don’t cover a pre-existing condition, but you can still get coverage for anything else that might come up. And like I said, if you get it right away while they’re young or before they have multiple issues, you’re in great shape.
Linnaeus
After some weeks of mental health counseling, I got a diagnosis that I did not see coming at all. But this can be a good thing in that, if accurate, this diagnosis makes some of the issues I’ve had make more sense. So let’s see where this goes.
Pogonip
@Elmo: He loved you too; I can say this without having met either of you, because you opened the gates of hell and freed him.
He died happily, among his loved ones.
Mnemosyne
@Linnaeus:
FWIW, I had about 7 years of therapy and medication for clinical depression before anyone realized that I was depressed because of my untreated ADHD. Mental illness can be complicated and often the one that’s at the surface isn’t the underlying cause. Good luck!
some guy
Trotsky on ‘The Ukrainian Question’ in Socialist Appeal, 22 April 1939
http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/03/03/the-editors/trotsky-on-ukraine/
some guy
@Mnemosyne:
good luck with that.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Danny Thomas spit-take. Should be a Wikipedia entry. Actually, there should be a Shtick-o-pedia on line somewhere.
BruceFromOhio
@Gin & Tonic: Hot holy fecal matters, Batman, it’s the guy who leaves a trail of slime wherever he goes.
Poor fucker couldn’t cut it east of the Missus Hip, so he’s gotta go see the other ocean to peddle his ooze. Hope he took his umbrella, he might dissolve in the annual precip.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Aw, you know that means you’ll never win one now, right?
Third Coast
We have one cat that has urinary tract infections occasionally, and we knock them out with antibiotics.
This most recent time, the vet told us to start giving her “UT Soft Chews” that are supposed to help keep the cat’s urinary tract healthy. They look pretty cheap and easy to purchase on line without a prescription.
I’m not a vet, of course, but I’m suspicious of prescription food, after forcing expensive and, apparently, awful tasting kidney food down our two cats for years. Then, when the cats finally wouldn’t it eat anymore, the vet who prescribed them just said “oh well, put them back on regular food. It’s more important that they eat.”
Then, again, you hate to take a chance…..
BruceFromOhio
@Hill Dweller: BENGHAZI!! SOLYNDRA!!! SNAILS AND QUESTIONABLE HERBS USED TO DRESS SALADS!! ARGLE BARGLE!!
@RuhRow_Gyro: Glad to see at least ONE other person is grasping the larger view here.
WaterGirl
@Linnaeus: Hoping a whole new world opens up for you.
Not saying it’s the same, but do you watch Parenthood? It’s been really interesting to see a grown man figure out that he may have Asperger’s, which helps him understand his life in a new way.
some guy
Scamp Dog
@Elmo: Owww, that’s horrible news. I know Great Danes tend to be short-lived, but that didn’t even get him out of puppyhood. I’m so sorry for your loss, I can tell he had made his way into your heart in those months you had him.
Thad Phetteplace
Here is a little known fact about cat food. That ‘prescription’ cat food you are paying so much for? That is how ALL cat food should be formulated. The typical cat food is not actually healthy for your cat, and will actually contribute to cats developing pancreatitis and/or diabetes. In a wonderful twist, however, the companies that sell the actual healthy food have managed to make their formulations proprietary such that you have to get a prescription and pay exorbitant prices for it. It is near impossible to buy decent cat food without a prescription. You have to either make it yourself or seek out a few specialty suppliers (also expensive). I learned all that the hard way after having two cats with pancreatitis and diabetes and doing a lot of research.
some guy
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1939/07/ukraine.htm
Shakezula
Not nearly as snowy as I hoped, just outside of D.C. But most of it came during the day, so I got to watch it fall.
I like snow a lot, it makes up for the cold.
And you all know that when the weather report is Swamp Ass Hot for the 5th day in a row and the sky is a nice shade of brownish grey, you’ll look back on this winter with a wistful sigh. Enjoy!
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
Meh, I’m already almost 45 and still running on a parallel track to the creative side of things, so the odds have been shrinking every year anyway. I’ll risk the jinx.
Violet
@Linnaeus: That sounds promising. Good luck with it. I hope it’s helpful for you.
A new area of research for mental health issues is gut health. There’s increasing evidence that some mental health issues can be dealt with by fixing gut issues. Something to look into if you’re interested in that kind of thing.
Alison
Random question for a friend: Is anyone here 1) a Costco shopper, who 2) buys wine there?
Linnaeus
@Mnemosyne: @WaterGirl: @Violet:
Thanks, all of you. We’re still trying to tease out if my new diagnosis is comorbid with the old one, or if the new one is the “real” underlying problem (there’s lots of overlap between the two). We’ll see. I feel good about actively doing something about it.
I haven’t seen Parenthood, but I’ll check it out. It’s an interesting feeling to say, “So that’s what it is.” Possibly.
WaterGirl
@BruceFromOhio: Thanks for that link. It was amazing that even in the first few seconds of that video, it brought me instantly back in time to January of 2008. Mark Penn is disgusting, a total slime, and since I’ve always hated Microsoft, I guess they deserve each other. Hard to believe, though, that even Microsoft is dumb enough to be taken in by him.
Love Joe Trippi in that video! I remember it all so vividly. That was such an exciting and hopeful time. Who knew that there wasn’t a shred of statesmanship left in the republican party and that they would go scorched earth against Obama rather than allow anything good to happen for this country.
IdahoFlaneuse
@Elmo: I am so sorry for your loss. They bring such joy into our lives and then they leave.
lurker dean
@WaterGirl: I’m definitely going to consider it again, before they start adding up preexisting conditions. Thanks for the info!
David Koch
@raven: Hayes had the aforementioned Julia Ioffe of the “liberal “New Republic on to say it’s all Obama’s fault because he didn’t bomb Syria.
Here lies America (1776-2014).
SarahT
@lamh36: Cannot express how much that video pleases me. Happy Lundi Gras !
WaterGirl
@Linnaeus: It sounds like a hopeful time for you, anyway. Yay for that.
Parenthood is in its fifth season, and it’s only this season that the adult character figures out that he might have Aspergers like Max does. (Max is one of the kids on the show.) Season 5 started in September 2013, and it’s the early January episode where he figures it out.
David Koch
@Hill Dweller:
Hayes didn’t question anything, he was completely out to lunch. He needs to be replaced. He just doesn’t have Rachel or Kornacki’s intelligence.
SarahT
@Elmo: So sorry about Elmo. Glad you both had a last great day together.
WaterGirl
@David Koch: I think Chris Hayes has the intelligence, and I think he was great on UP. He challenged people all the time.
I just don’t think the evening show format is a good one for him. I wish he had never been promoted to prime time. But it gave Kornacki the UP slot, so that’s a good thing.
Karen in GA
@WaterGirl: My Elwood kitty has recurring bladder crystal issues. I got a fountain water bowl, he drinks a lot more, and the bladder issue seems to be under control (knock wood). Not sure if that’s helpful for you.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Checked in to rehab this morning. I am feeling grateful and rewarded.
Couple of extra perks. By the time. I get out, this bitch of a winter will be mostly gone. I will also use up my out of pocket allowance, and so can plot to have all kinds of free unnecessary surgical procedures this year. Win-win.
Suffern ACE
@David Koch: You have to understand the way the world works, my friend. Most of the world lives under violent threat and that is all they understand. Fortunately, US exceptionalism is all about providing the volence people crave while claiming to be a people of simple pius virtue. There is a sado-masocism in the world, and the US has not been playing its god sanctioned role of the prudish dominatrix. This is why not levelling Aleppo was a mistake.
WaterGirl
@Karen in GA: I keep looking at the kitty fountains on eBay. I had a stainless steel fountain, and it was a LOT of trouble and the kitties weren’t crazy about it. WereBear posted a link to some ceramic ones on eBay, which I have been looking at.
What kind do you have?
David Koch
@Baud: most of the villagers are either neo-cons and/or rethugs. They’ve been stewing because in the last six months Obama didn’t bomb Syria, he defeated the Likud lobby on Iran sanctions, he made a monkey out of them in the shut down, Obamacare didn’t turn out to be Katrina, and their great white hope – chris christie – imploded. So as their loses rack up, their frustration boils
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Coolness.
Can think of some (not you) encountered online who would immediately post the pic to their blog or social media account somewhere accompanied by a lengthy diatribe sprinkled with ALL CAPS railing at the innate sexism of the Academy for its unbroken 86-year record of handing out statuettes depicting only males as a reward for and symbol of excellence..
WaterGirl
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): I imagine you are ahead of the game because you had already stopped drinking. Right?
David Koch
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): when you get out, let’s all have a drink to celebrate your success.
NotMax
@Alison
1) Yes
2) Occasionally (liquor, more often)
WaterGirl
@David Koch: Are you fucking kidding me ??
That’s your response to someone who goes into rehab?
Not funny.
MikeJ
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
Get a tail added. That would be cool, except for having to have all your trousers altered.
WaterGirl
@MikeJ: I see someone else is watching Orphan Black?
Alison
@NotMax: Okay, my friend says there is a brand of wine they sell that has a tie-dye-ish label…do you have any idea what that might be?
Suffern ACE
@David Koch:I don’t think they’re all neocons. They have no idea what they are talking about. At least the neocons understood that to ensure the safety of Israel and destroy Hamas and Hezbollah, the US would need to invade and overthrow a dozen middle eastern governments. The villagers just read their stories, believe whatever the news anchor with the highest salary says about the meaning of events, and think we won the cold war so anything bad that happens is an affront to their belief that we won. If you told me that they’d all built replicas of the Berlin Wall in their backyards and knocked them down each evening in a strange cargo cult ritual hoping to good times would return, I wouldn’t think it was satire.
MikeJ
@WaterGirl: Actually I always meant to but I haven’t. I’ll probably binge it.
Suffern ACE
@MikeJ: That, and unless he’s planning on wearing his underwear backwards, there really isn’t a lot of clothing designed for a tail. I wonder how much it costs to have boxer briefs made to order.
satby
@Elmo: Elmo, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry. But you saved him from a terrible life, even though he was destined not to stay long. RIP.
CaseyL
@Elmo: I am so, so sorry; what a dreadful, tragic shock. He sounds like he was really enjoying his life, if that’s any comfort. {{hugs}}
SarahT
@Elmo: D”oh ! Meant to write “…sorry about your puppy” ! So embarassing.
David Koch
@WaterGirl: oh please, my sister-in-law went through rehab, she’s kept her sobriety in part by using humor.
Violet
@Alison: If you have a Costco near you, you can tour around it even if you’re not a member. You could go look at the wine section and see if you can find the wine.
I have family members who buy their wine at Costco and it always seems like good wine to me. They said the price is cheaper than anywhere else.
greennotGreen
@Elmo: I’m so sorry. Far too short, but you made what time he had so much better than what he’d had before.
David Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yup. US bombed the fuck out of North Korea and Vietnam and overthrew countries left and right (Iran, Guatemala, Chile) and that didn’t stop russia from respectively invading Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan.
Origuy
Looking at about $1200 in plumbing repairs, not including repairing the drywall and possible mold remediation. I was expecting that, but it’s finally time to do it.
Alison
@Violet: I don’t have one near me and it’s not for me, and also I don’t even drink. Was just trying to get info for a friend.
Violet
@Alison: Oh well. Sorry I couldn’t help you out. They do have plenty of wine from what I’ve seen when I’ve been there. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of it is regional as well.
Alison
@Violet: Yeah, she’s in Santa Cruz so who knows, maybe it’s only sold there, LOL :P
Suffern ACE
@David Koch: O.K. maybe Putin wants us to bomb him because he is really a peace loving pacifist and wants Iran to give up their nuclear weapons program and he and Obama decided that they would pretend to escalate a crisis where we would drop a bomb on moscow, proving to the Iranians that their idea that we treat nuclear powers differently from non-nuclear powers is baseless.
trollhattan
@Alison: Oi, that’s not easy. What metroplex? Local buyers have a lot of sway in what wines a given store stocks, also, too, beer. Mine has a significant cohort of stuff from within a hundred miles.
NotMax
@Alison
No idea, and I won’t be going to Costco until the 10th or so. You could check pictures at their web site if it is important.
Alison
@trollhattan: I’m assuming somewhere near her in Santa Cruz CA.
It’s no biggie, was just wondering if anyone might know it off the top of their head. :)
Anne Laurie
@Elmo: Oh, goddess, I”m so sorry for your loss.
One of the women who first got me interested in living with dogs was a Great Dane owner/breeder — she said they had so much love & heart to share that it made up for knowing in advance they’d break hers in only half the time us toy-breed people got to share.
And it’s not much consolation now, but you did give him the gift of a Perfect Day.
I’ve said before that I hope my last day is as happy as that of our late beloved Flicker, who died after her idea of an excellent meal (a whole cheeseburger! even the pickles!), in the arms of the one person in the world she truly loved (the Spousal Unit), with the sobs of her enemies (me & a ring of vet techs) in her ears…
ruemara
I’m sorry @Elmo: That sounds like he went out like a super happy puppy.
Kinda counting down the days until things happen. It leaves me in quite the bitter mood.
Ruckus
@David Koch:
That’s fine for her. Not everyone is ready for the comedy and as you don’t know this person that was out of line.
At least you could have had the stones to ask if it was too soon.
Anne Laurie
@WaterGirl: Yup, Rocky’s got ‘struvites’ in his bladder, and your recommendations go along with what the vet ordered. Except we also came home with a bottle of special ‘chicken & tuna flavored’ cosequin (Dasuquin) to sprinkle on his wet food. We were worried about him refusing to eat the Royal Canin prescription glop, but once Piper started sucking down his share, Rocky decided he couldn’t just leave more around for that other cat to purloin. (As cats will.)
We need to buy Rocky his own auto-flow fountain, especially since he’s fascinated with trickling taps, but the ones we’ve tried in the past have been expensive failures. Anybody using them got a recommendation?
Ruckus
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
Good luck.
YellowJournalism
@Elmo: I teared up reading your story. You got so little time together after all you seemed to go through in the beginning, but I have to say what a great way to go for a dog or a human: loved and running free.
dww44
@David Koch: I’m sure this thread is dead by now, but I saw that piece on Chris Hayes and Ioffe was on with that other fellow (Rogan?) who was really laying in to Obama’s fecklessness. She was much more measured and while attributing some blame for missteps to the Obama Admin, she was/is far more interested in the man Putin as a leader and weighing in on his actions.. She really has written lots about Putin.
Skerry
@Elmo: I am so sorry for your loss.
David Koch
@dww44: she was mealy mouthed. here’s the transcript of what she said: “I’ve been hearing all day, had Barack Obama been been stronger on Syria or if he had smacked Assad around none of this would have happened, there’s some truth to it, but I don’t totally buy it.”
So she doesn’t complete buy it, only half way buy the notion that bombing Syria would have kept the Putin in a corner.
But prior to that, she contradicted herself, stated Putin had been “hugely obsessed with the way Khadaffyi was killed”. So how could action in Syria have scared Putin, when according to her, action in Libya only served to anger Putin.
David Koch
@dww44: It’s wasn’t just me pointing what a light weight she was, it was also The Guardian and Cole.
opiejeanne
@Frankensteinbeck: Just downloaded it to my Kindle. Will read it tonight.
WaterGirl
@Frankensteinbeck: Just added the book to my Amazon cart for purchase for a birthday in a month or so. Congratulations, it must be a total thrill to have the book published!
Mnemosyne
@NotMax:
I’d really look like a jerkass doing that because one of the co-directors of the film is a woman (first woman to direct an animated feature film at Disney). Pixar beat us across the finish line for the first woman to win for Best Animation Feature ever, curse them, but it was pretty sweet anyway.