I am pleased to report that even though it rained much of yesterday and all day today, the grass and willow tree are DOING THEIR JOB and there is only a slight bit of standing water:
Lily has been very playful today, which is odd because normally a day after chemo is a slow day. Regardless, here she is demonstrating a proper sploot(Tammy just taught me this is called a sploot, we always just called it froggy dogs):
And here goofus is making her bed and then acting sheepish when she notices me watching her:
And now she is sitting here helping me write this post:
If you look closely, you can see Sam on the ottoman. BTW- Rosie is pissed because I tricked her and gave her a bath and she won’t even make eye contact with me.
Jerzy Russian
How is Steve? Asking for a friend who has four legs and purrs a lot.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
your willow is too close to the camera
(are we still doing willow jokes?)
rikyrah
As always, thanks so much for the animal pictures and video ???
So glad the backyard is not a lake.
MomSense
Rocket league is whack.
Lily is adorable.
James E Powell
Singing this song will help that tree grow.
The Dangerman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes.
That willow is too close to me.
westyny
So, where’s Steve, the Overlord, Maine Coon Thanos? Don’t turn your back on him!
Major Major Major Major
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “(are we still doing willow jokes?)”
If you want, but I had the last good one.
Yard looks great!
Mary G
Yard is coming right along. Thanks so much for Lily video. She is so dainty.
Corner Stone
Still seeing a lot of Tams…
MomSense
@Corner Stone:
Enquiring minds want to know.
Yarrow
Lily girl! She’s the best.
NotMax
Well, this is something new.
Front page post shows it already has X number of comments.
Click to open the post’s comment page in a new tab and it shows (and reads) zero comments until the comment page itself is refreshed, at which points the existing comments show up.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
I had that for some time when the great upheaval was going on. It is working normally for me. At the moment.
Achrachno
@NotMax: Similar to what happened to me earlier. Maybe not truly new.
jl
Thanks. A commenter on an earlier thread said it was raining so hard in the general area, Cole’s backyars probably turned into bottomless sinkhole, sucking the whole town and Cole with it into oblivion forever. And I felt bad because demanded certain tribute from Cole to compensate for the previous post.
So, I am relieved. Thnx for pet pix and movie. But, I thought Rosie was always ticked off at Cole.
Edit: Though, Cole hasn’t given any of the disasters he endured today. Just sayin’… Full service blog and all that…
Redshift
Hey, everybody. Since this is an open thread, I wanted to update the jackals on my medical adventures. I didn’t quite get through a year of follow-up scans to be considered mostly “cured” of the cancer from last summer. A lymph node enlarged to the size they don’t like, and a biopsy confirmed it, so I had to get three weeks of radiation treatment (I’m through two weeks so far.)
And the week I was supposed to have my biopsy, which was while Ms. Redshift was at a workshop on the west coast, I went to the eye doctor because of something funny I was seeing, and was diagnosed with a detached retina, and had eye surgery the next day. And then biopsy surgery the morning after that.
The eye is mostly recovered and doing well, though still not back to focusing properly, but at least I don’t have to sleep sitting up any more. And the radiation treatment isn’t too bad, though I’ll be glad to be done with it. Prognosis is still good, and I’m not just saying that because I’m still a pathological optimist.
Haven’t had the energy to go canvassing yet, though, which I was planning to do a lot of this summer.
Major Major Major Major
@Redshift: Ah, jeez! Glad you’re feeling weirdly okay with the situation :P
NotMax
@Redshift
As intoned by Gabriel Heatter, “There’s good news tonight!”
Mary G
Tonight’s tweet is bonkers:
He must be expecting some especially bad news, to have drug out the all-caps.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G: he heard Donald Trump is about to be indicted and exploded in rage before he noticed the “jr”?
M. Bouffant
@Mary G: Naw, he’s just trying to show he’s a tough guy after the Putin debacle by shouting at Iran because one of their loudmouths said “Death to America” or something.
MomSense
@Redshift:
Please take care of yourself. Sending you lots of good healing energy.
Amir Khalid
@Mary G:
I think Iran will be sensible enough not to dignify this with a response.
rikyrah
@Redshift:
Sending you positive thoughts as you are on the mend??
The Dangerman
@Mary G:
Nah, he just couldn’t figure out how to turn Caps off.
Didn’t Netanyahu say something about Iran this week? Then Pompeo? Of course, we can’t have a President being investigated while he’s waging a war.
B.B.A.
@Amir Khalid: Man, if only Ahmadinejad was still running things there. Then we could have a Twitter war that literally went thermonuclear. Good times. /s
Major Major Major Major
@Mary G: whoa.
Redshift
Thanks for all the well-wishes, everyone. Getting the mildest form of every cancer treatment has given me a lot of sympathy for everyone who gets a more intense version.
My only complaint is that I’ve been exposed to radiation, and injected with radioactive substances, and with poisonous substances, but I haven’t developed super powers. Very unfair.
jl
@Amir Khalid:
CNN story says the tweet was in a response to statements by Rouhani, which seem to be fairly SOP Iranian boilerplate that Iranian leadership periodically burps up, to me.
I’d say it was a sign Trump has finally reach final meltdown. But I see stories that Pompeo attacked the Iranian leadership today.
Might be another war scare to distract country from new stage of advanced Trump crime regime disintegration. If so, it will get worse and we’ll have to brace ourselves for it.
Trump tweets explosive threat to Iran CNN Digital Expansion Shoot, Joshua Berlinger
By Joshua Berlinger, CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/23/politics/trump-iran-intl/index.html
NotMax
@Mary G
See Cheryl Rofer’s comment on thread below as to what this tantrum was a response to.
Amir Khalid
@The Dangerman:
You shouldn’t have a President waging a war while he’s being investigated. Especially if it’s to distract people from the investigation. “Wagging the …” something, I think it’s called.
B.B.A.
@jl:
Not possible. Like crossing the event horizon, we can get infinitely close to peak wingnut (or peak Trump, but I repeat myself) but it’ll never quite happen.
jl
@The Dangerman: Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia and UAE wanted a deal with Russia to freeze Iran out of Syria, and they were pushing hard for the Flunky/Putin summit to get one done. So, various fools who hold the reins of power have decided it’s time for another push against the Iranian regime.
I read multiple news stories saying that was the the plan for Trump, who apparently is also working for several foreign countries besides Russia instead of us. But on the other hand, how could Netanyahu, and SA and UAE leaders think having Trump BS with someone at a one-on-one meeting would accomplish anything is beyond me.
Redshift
@jl: Yeah, it’s pretty bizarre. I could remotely imagine Putin believing a pliant American president could somehow act as an autocrat, but I would have thought the Saudis and Israelis would have a better understanding of our government after all this time.
How did they think an unrecorded meeting with a 72-year-old with a memory like a sieve was going to make anything happen?
jl
@Redshift: Only sane thing I can think of is that those three countries worked out a deal beforehand and Trump just had to stumble in say he was good with it, whatever it was. Putin was the one who had the most power to help Netanyahu, SA and UAE with what they wanted. US just needed to indicate it wouldn’t make trouble. Not sure how Trump threatening war helps with that. Russia is supposed to be Iran’s ally.
Just saw your comment on the medical treatments. Glad you are OK, and good luck the the rest of them.
ruemara
@Redshift: Glad you’re here and keeping it positive! Fingers crossed that you get the cancer-free nod!
Mel
@Redshift: Please take good care of yourself, and keep us posted. Sending you a long distance hug, and keeping my fingers crossed for your biopsy news to be all clear!
SWMBO
@Redshift:
@Redshift:
I sent this to my aunt who is in her second round of cancer. You remind me of her with the “no superpowers. No fair”. Thanks for the inspiration. Here’s hoping you are done with cancer for good next week.
rattlemullet
Mr. John Cole,
Thanks for you for your blog and all the writers that contribute. I read and enjoy it everyday. I have a concern about your willow tree. Do you have a specific tank in your back yard? If so willow tree root are very tenacious and invasive they like to grow into plumbing and sanitary pipes. When I live in Dickerson MD sometimes you you see old abandoned farm house with two willow tree planted near them generally in the front yard. I was told by the locals that the willow trees roots were so invasive that there septic systems and field were ruined by the roots of the willows. Could be an old country folk lore tale but seemed to make sense to me at the time.
Keep up the good work you do especially keep up the love of animals you all do. I can see you have a big heart. Again thanks for the family of fine bloggers you have.
best-
ChrisS
My wife and I always called it a spatchcocked dog.
donnah
John, thanks for the video of Lily “fixing” her bed. Our dog Wendy used to have a funny bedtime ritual much like that, where she would stand on her spot of the couch and turn in small circles, pushing the cushion down with her nose and her paws. She turned around for a good five minutes before tucking herself into her “spot”.
Thanks for the sweet reminder!