I believe I promised a birthday photo of Scout:
Compare and contrast:
Scout 8 weeks
Bonus game of tug:
I am putting the finishing touches on dinner for guests tonight. Hopefully, I’ll remember to take photos and have a recipe post for you tomorrow. Doing my best to provide some distractions.
What’s up for you tonight?
Open thread
Jerzy Russian
That is an impressive rate of growth. At that rate Scout will be as large as the house in a few more years. When that happens, you can write a series of children’s books called “Scout the Big Gray Dog”.
Yarrow
Scout is totally adorable. How was she ever that little? Happy birthday, Scout!
Still recovering from this cold. I had an outdoor event this morning and it was cold and raining off and on. I ended up being there for an hour and a half, which was about an hour longer than I had intended. I am feeling it now. Can’t really seem to get warm. Think I overdid it. Hopefully I won’t have a relapse. Probably curl up on the sofa and watch something on TV tonight and try to stay warm.
debbie
She has certainly grown into her bandana!
Orchid Moon
Love the pictures! She looks so confident and happy. Thanks for all of them, and look forward to more.
debbie
@Yarrow:
Drink lots of hot liquids while you’re curled up!
cope
Leftovers for dinner: cod filet sandwich for mrs. cope, bratwurst sandwich for me, homemade potato wedges and corn on the cob for both of us. No company, just the dogs.
Tomorrow night however is a different story. Bone-in rib eyes, brocolli casserole and baked Idaho potatoes. Also no company but there will be bones for the dogs.
satby
I was chuckling when I saw the 8 week old Scout with her Teddy and fleece tie-dye blanket, because an identical blanket is over my legs this minute. She looks so much like my very first dog, Freckles, who was a mutt, in that picture.
Yarrow
@debbie: I had chicken soup for lunch, a cup of hibiscus tea after (lots of vitamin c), and just had a cup of coffee. I didn’t really mean to drink it all, but down it went.
Hob
The cats we adopted two months ago are now 7 months old and they’ve nearly doubled in size. They’re part Maine Coon so we think they might be naturally large, but it’s also possible that we’re just making them fat. Either way they seem pretty happy, and they’re indoor cats so the smoke from the fire in Chico is not bothering them too much.
rikyrah
Happy Birthday Scout ?????
Hob
Also, Scout looks like a great dog. The puppy version is ridiculously cute.
satby
@Hob: ? nice!
Schlemazel
colder than a well diggers ankle here & snowing. We made an excellent stew and have plans for the US/Canada gold medal game of the 4-nations cup.
Schlemazel
@Yarrow:
sounds like you are doing it right, get well.
Schlemazel
Happy birthday to scout. I am not a dog person but I have a soft spot for danes. Big dumb puppies but so affectionate.
p.a.
She is something. Not to pry (here I go!), but what’s the weekly feed bill for the two ponies?
sukabi
@Hob: those kinds of cats have a naturally fuller figure…they look and feel “fuller” than cats like say a Siamese that have longer legs, neck and slimmer bodies. Main coons and Norwegian forest cats have shorter thicker limbs, bigger feet and bodies.
John Revolta
This defies the laws of physics
debbie
@Yarrow:
Keep going! Flush all of those germs right out of you!
waysel
I love your dogs.
Yutsano
@John Revolta:
Adjusted to reflect thread topic.
Also: SCOUTPUPPEH!!! Still kinda pissed apartments don’t allow Danes.
dexwood
Great distraction. Thank you. Happy Birthday (Jean Louise Finch) Scout. I like how the Teddy Bear was used to chart her growth.
CaseyL
Happy Birthday, Scout! Will she get much bigger, or mostly just fill out from now on?
Bruuuuce
Scout is adorable. Happy birthday!
And in another tab, I’m watching one of my favorite live streams, the puppy cam of the Service Dog Project, where another Dane is giving birth (three pups as of this writing, with more obviously to come). Between that and rewatching The West Wing, my night is booked.
West of the Rockies
@Hob:
Point of order: the fire is in Paradise. Chico is not out of harm’s way yet, but we are hopeful.
chopper
aw. big dogs are the best dogs.
West of the Rockies
@Yarrow:
Hot toddy time?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I love it when Krugman subtweets his colleagues
Platonailedit
Sinema leads by around 29K. Any azians wanna weigh in on whether she has this thingy done & dusted?
Schlemazel
you don’t adopt a kitty, a kitty adopts you
https://twitter.com/l_love_nature/status/1061304285697196032
guachi
@Platonailedit: A lot of it depends on how many votes are still left to count but McSally probably needs about 59% of the final batch of 200,000 votes to take the lead. From what I understand, there were three batches of votes to count after election day and the first two were likely to (and did) lean towards Sinema. Sinema has won 56% of the post-election day counting and netted 45,800 votes to lead by 28,700.
I don’t know if getting 59% of 200,000 votes is possible, but I’ll say it’s unlikely.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Platonailedit: this guy was McCain’s closest aide, I don’t know if he lives in AZ, but I’d bet he’s pretty plugged in
Cory Gardner is head of the NRSC if you live in CO and want to let him know what you think
laura
That spotty pup is still a lovely gal.
I planned to make general tso’s meatballs for dinner, but this choking smoke has kicked my behind.
I left the Yountville Veteran’s Home Thursday morning and headed over the hill to Windsor and watched a finger of smoke head southwest and growing. It was hard to keep the anxiety in check driving through last year’s burn and by 10:30 Windsor was so smokey it looked like a heavy fog. Friday morning the car was coated in sharp, gritty ash and driving back to Sacramento provided a bit of relief until yesterday afternoon. The air is gross and there’s no good news to be had.
Jay
The Donald has hair like a krill
And a soul that is shriveled and ill.
He insults his French hosts
And dishonors the ghosts
Of the Lafayette Escadrille.
Found on the web
Platonailedit
@guachi: @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Thanks. fynyt has this seat lean dem now. One great flip by dems.
Platonailedit
satby
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Platonailedit: they claim cheating because it’s what they do. Always projection.
Jay
@satby:
Guess you saw the thing about Comey’s gmails,…….
satby
@Jay: yes. And he certainly never disclosed that during that mess. What an asshole. But we knew that.
Hob
@sukabi: Yeah, we used to cat-sit a lot for an adult Maine Coon and we’ve seen some other ones… we just weren’t sure how round they’re supposed to be when they’re less than a year old.
@West of the Rockies: Sorry, I do know but the first time someone told me about the fire they said Chico and I got that stuck in my head (even though I know someone whose whole extended family was in Paradise and lost everything). I hope you all stay safe. This is so awful.
debbie
@satby:
They eschewed principles decades ago. They have nothing else now.
Schlemazel
In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row,
but it might drizzle, so lets not go
MazeDancer
Justin Trudeau, today, at 100th Anniversary observation:
That Trudeau can shade. It’s real. There is video.
Do not understand how all those MAGA veterans can excuse Trump on this. I know it’s all about racism, all the time. And that’s why they cult Trump. But, c’mon, vets gotta feel something.
Yarrow
@satby: Aren’t you in Indiana? Thought you might be interested in this twitter thread about voting in Porter county.
Frankensteinbeck
@satby:
I think the connection is a little less direct. Their cheating and accusation of cheating stem from the same source – white supremacy and narcissistic assholery. In the Republican mind, they are owed victory, always, in everything. If they cheat, it’s morally valid, not even really cheating, just fighting cleverly against the forces of evil. Anything we do that advances our cause, anything, is cheating, because we’re the bad guys and inherently inferior. That we win is proof we cheated, because we cannot possibly win fairly. Now, lard all of that with a thick layer of anger and enjoyment of hurting others.
Yarrow
@MazeDancer: That video is from 2017.
guachi
@MazeDancer: That’s not from today. Apparently it’s from last year.
Yarrow
From Nelson’s attorney:
debbie
@MazeDancer:
I’ve seen photos. Angela’s hair looked just fine. No one even looked damp.
Jackie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I read somewhere the last two days that McSally will replace McCain’s temp place holder. Is that likely?
Platonailedit
I see that AZ also has sent a 5/9 dem majority to the congress. From next cycle, it should be pinned as blue.
Platonailedit
satby
I love this guy:
geg6
Happy birthday, Scout! ??? And a big hey to the rest of the menagerie!
Platonailedit
Mary G
I have a putrid sore throat and my whole body aches. Hope it’s a function of extremely low humidity from the Santa Ana winds we’re getting and not a bug.
JPL
Cute pup! lol
sukabi
@Hob: they are very “sturdy” cats from a very young age. I’ve had a couple of them come live with me…their mom gave birth under my porch…they start filling out at about 4 to 5 months…about time other cats start looking gangly, at least that’s what mine did…
JPL
@Mary G: Feel better soon.
Platonailedit
us of a has to set the barest minimum standards for the future presidential contenders.
John Revolta
@Platonailedit:
Seems a little high. Like maybe 1%.
Pogonip
Happy birthday, Scout! ????
Shana
@Schlemazel: That is freaking adorable. Thanks for the link.
Our house is mostly cleared out. Of the five English and Irish young men who have been living with us for the past month in order to volunteer on the Wexton campaign only one is left and he’s heading out tomorrow. It’s been delightful to have them with us and especially sweet that their (our) candidate won her election.
Quiet night watching a Poirot and early to bed I think.
MazeDancer
@guachi@Yarrow:
Immense apologies.
Snookered I was.
Along with half of Twitter.
Do not like lefty lies. Person should not have done that.
More apologies.
Shana
@MazeDancer: That clip is from last year, a WWII commemoration.
jl
@Platonailedit: What an ignorant jerk. Most forests in CA are federally managed. And the Camp Fire, from news reports and maps I’ve seen, looks like it came out of Plumas National Forest (but correct me if I’m wrong). And I heard a news report that malfunctioning transformer owned by a certain privately owned public utility, that in order to avoid hurt feelings we can call Peculation Greed and Explosion, is suspected as a cause. Locals in Northern California will be shock shocked and shocked in disbelief at that news. I heard news report where Pec Geed and Explo admitted that a broken transformer was in vicinity of where fire started, looking into it yessiree, and can’t say no more about it.
Frankensteinbeck
@Platonailedit:
Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero
trollhattan
@West of the Rockies:
The progress has pivoted southward, which has implications for Oroville and towns between it and the fire.
Locally a hundred miles away we have the worst air quality perhaps ever, with PM2.5 readings over 400.
Uncle Cosmo
@MazeDancer: The misattribution is immaterial. Trudeau’s point – “what’s a little rain for us, compared to the bullets that rained onto those whose lives we are here to commemorate” – is every bit as applicable to Tangerine Twitler’s current hydrophobia even though he said it last year.
Platonailedit
Sinema widens her lead close to 30K. +1.4% now.
satby
@Mary G: feel better soon. That smoke can’t help.
trollhattan
@jl:
It’s absurd. None of the burned area is commercial timber forest. It started in the Feather River canyon just upstream of Oroville Reservoir, jumped the ridge and raced north and west. Scrub, oak, brush, grazing land, etc.
jl
@Platonailedit: This kind of thing from Trump is where, completely randomly, there is nubbin in his statement that is technically true, but he is an ignorant incompetent and has no clue what he is talking about.
Forests have been mismanaged and for that, among several other, reasons, number of costly dangerous fires are increasing. But in Central Sierra, where I have most knowledge, Trump-like scam artists try to sell a public private partnership to thin the forests, and clear out dead wood and underbrush. OK, probably not best to rely on that solely. Probably periodic controlled small burns should be in the mix, but let’s go with ‘trim only’ policy for the sake of argument.
Next step is that the kindly public spirited corporation says, hey, they can’t make a profit by taking out dead wood and underbrush only, they need to cut down healthy live trees too. OK, so now it’s a devil’ in the details trade off. From what I have seen, as soon as the kindly public spirited corporation gets the contract and rights, then they change into snarling greedhead assholes, cut out the healthy live trees asap. Leave a mess, privatize the profits, and socialize the losses. That was before Trump. Imagine what kind of disaster the Trumpsters would make of it.
debbie
@Platonailedit:
I’m not clear on the meaning of urban interface fires, but this morning, I heard PG&E acknowledged that the fire started to to an “incident.”
TS (the original)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The only honest NYT pundits
jl
@trollhattan: Thanks for confirming. Most of that area runs NE to SW inside western boundary of Plumas National Forest. I think it’s a beautiful area, in the right time of year. But very dry and hot from mid summer to first autumn rains.
Jay
@debbie:
Urban interface in CA means suburban and urban plantings, green zones and scrub covered emply lots awaiting development.
It’s not forest.
Mart
So the article link at CNN.com has the lead:
When you click through the title of the article is
It is not until over halfway through you get (my emphasis),
This from CNN, the network with a real solid chance of one of their reporters getting seriously hurt, one banished complete w/SS pimping fake video, etc. Sorry for venting.
Yarrow
@MazeDancer: No big deal. Lots of people made that mistake. The person who did it originally did issue a correction but not before it got widely shared.
Here’s a tweet from 2017 that should get more attention:
Windy and wet conditions, eh? How…interesting.
Platonailedit
@Mart: Yup. The media is the thug’s enablers. I have zero sympathy for them over the scum’s attacks on them.
jl
@debbie:Poor little PG&E, everyone all mad at them. They just can’t seem to catch a break, can they? They been putting out feel good BS PR ads ever since last year’s horrific fires. Maybe if they hadn’t paid millions and millions in fines for not maintaining their equipment, and not trimming trees next to their lines, and admitting in court that they stuffed the money down the throats of their executives and shareholders. people wouldn’t be so down on them.
I remember when their maintenance in SF was so lousy, fires were breaking out, manholes blowing into the air and maiming people on a regular basis. I think it was Gavin Newsom who threatened to declare a public emergency and take control of their operations in SF if they didn’t clean up their act.
It was so weird what happened next. Almost like magic, problems solved. I just wonder how they managed to find the managerial ability to get that fixed up. Maybe it was an act of God, we’ll never know for sure.
Eric S.
@Platonailedit: that’s pretty darn close tp 27%.
JPL
@MazeDancer: We all get snookered at least once.
Another Scott
@MazeDancer: It’s on Nancy Smash’s Twitter feed as well (with no commentary) – don’t feel bad.
:-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Platonailedit
@Eric S.: Good point.
Patricia Kayden
@Platonailedit: Because counting all the votes isn’t cheating.
HAL
Poor dana rohrabacher
Mike J
@HAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg72cFC7fZw
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HAL:
“There’s a good chance I may have committed a little light… treason.”
zhena gogolia
Scout is a dear creature.
We had dinner at our favorite Italian (Kosovar) restaurant). Tomorrow night I’m making Tamara’s beef barley soup.
debbie
@jl:
Heh, PG&E sounds like Con Ed in NYC. I remember those dancing manhole covers.
zhena gogolia
@MazeDancer:
No, it was in 2017.
jl
@HAL: Read a report that it is most likely that only 6 GOPers will remain in the 53 seat CA House delegation. I think we can take another bite out of them in 2020. Good chances in 39 and 45, if we can’t get them this time. Go after 21 and 50 (Hunter, if he can stay out of jail), and concentrate forces to give Nunez a real scare in 22, assuming he is not in jail.
Says a lot about the slimy CA GOP House delegation that good chance we can gain more seats because substantial fraction of GOP incumbents might face justice for their crimes.
zhena gogolia
@MazeDancer:
Which is not to say it isn’t relevant.
JPL
Captain Drizzle was afraid his makeup would run.
MomSense
@Yarrow:
I’ve got the same cold. ? I’m drinking tea with local honey and looking for something to watch. I finished the last episode of The Detectorists and can’t find anything else as satisfying.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love the way grown up leaders make Trump look bad just by doing the obvious.
ETA: Here’s another one
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
A no-show? Seriously?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wonder if he’s sick (physically) and they just don’t want to admit it
Schlemazel
Dump blew off the formal dinner for world leaders tonight
https://twitter.com/lauraapollo/status/1061363796571238400
Apparently he needs his beauty sleep as Putin arrives tomorrow
The cover of the PDB today is
Mrs Vladimir Putin
Mrs Donald Putin
over and over with the ‘i’s dotted with little hearts
Tazj
Happy Birthday to a Scout! Wow, how she has grown in a year.
I wonder if Trump is ill also. It seems very strange that he hasn’t shown up for this dinner with the other world leaders.
jl
@Tazj: Trump might be emotionally and mentally out of it. Looks like his scheme to put in a scam artist and sleazeball as acting AG will blow up. He knows the clock is ticking and might not be fit for public appearance. He has been progressively losing it before our eyes a little more each day since he lost the House.
I hope he has a cold or just too damn lazy and thoughtless and slothful to show up to anything, since that would make the situation safer. But missing the dinner is pretty strange.
Frankensteinbeck
@jl:
He does. Even firing Mueller wouldn’t help, now. Nancy will rehire him.
Dog Mom
Happy Birthday, Scout! You are a sweet Pup! My old girl Skye is sixteen today – pretty good for a Weimaraner with Cushing’s Disease and a Arthritis slowing her down.