Chickens as therapy pets are one of my favorite things:
ETA: The embed code wasn’t working – click here for more cute therapy hens.
Also: In case you missed it, we have a new member of the Balloon-Juice family (click here) Congrats to Suzanne and family!
Respite open thread
TaMara (HFG)
And in other good news:
Mnemosyne
Nine pounds for Suzanne’s newest spawn — ouch! But it sounds like everyone came through just fine and hopefully her pregnancy-addled sinuses will get back to normal as soon as possible.
Patricia Kayden
@TaMara (HFG): So good to hear. Hopefully they’re on their way to bankruptcy. Couldn’t happen to a better propaganda outlet.
plato
@TaMara (HFG): Shot in their own face (and foot). Good.
ThresherK
Welcome to the Suzanne spawn.
My back had really been wreaking havoc for several days. I have been taking a muscle relaxer since mid-Monday, and started some physical therapy and am much better now.
Lots of relief, especially since Spousal Ms ThresherK walks with a cane and has a replacement knee: I’m supposed to be the healthy one!.
Patricia Kayden
@Mnemosyne: Congrats to Suzanne!!
Major Major Major Major
Happy new baby to the Suzannes!
I had quite a day of arguing about software development, then working on a short story where people argue about software development. Maybe I shouldn’t write those in the future.
danielx
Could not be prouder of my high school alma mater.
Notes:
1. The archbishop is a well known colossal dick.
2. The idea that the Catholic Church, of all institutions, has the moral authority to make judgments about sexual matters is ludicrous.
3. Don’t fuck with the Jesuits.
Omnes Omnibus
@TaMara (HFG): Will Loesch still be the face of beet juice?
NotMax
Yay
(tiny victory dance)
. USB extension cord which I finally got around to ordering arrived, so can once again use the printer (which was moved to its new location in order to clear desk space for the second monitor installed late last year).Not that I ever fire it up much. B&W laser printer, still using the toner cartridge it came with when bought new close to a dozen years ago. Incentive was wanting hard copies of the confirmed reservations, itinerary and seating for the NY trip next month.
Suzanne
Hi y’all, first chance I’ve had to stop in today. Yes, Spawn the Youngest is here! She is just absolutely lovely. The induction was terrible—epidural pooped out, and two doses of fentanyl did absolutely nothing, as she was exactly 180 degrees in the wrong position. Mr. Suzanne and I are wrecked. Have a great night, y’all.
Ruckus
@ThresherK:
Have had two major bouts with the back. First was pulling both major muscles in the back, work related injury. Second was herniating a disc. The disc would pop back in by laying on a flat surface so that was bad but it’s been livable. The ;pulled muscles took a long time and a lot more effort to get back to shape. But neither one allowed me to stand anywhere near upright at first. As it turns out your back is fairly important to the process of being even close to physically normal.
Hope you get better soon.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Good to hear!
Congrats on the new not so little Suzanne world addition.
ThresherK
@Ruckus: Thanks; actually it’s all soft tissue stuff for me, and really on my right-hand side. Things are a lot better than they were just 72 hours ago.
Steeplejack
Corgi pörn!
Jay
Congrats to Suzanne and her familias on the new Spawn.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Congrats on Spawn three sticks (IIRC). Already a favorite to run for president in time for the 2056 election.
Ruckus
@danielx:
Went to an all boys catholic HS for 1 yr. I agree with your list and this school was in an entirely different state. What this non catholic young boy saw convinced me that my reading the bible and ongoing thought process was right, there was no god because no just god would put up with the shit done in his name. Since that time decades ago I have become even more convinced.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Congratulations! I think I had couvade symptoms just reading about the spawn’s arrival.
Yutsano
@Suzanne: I’ll get to saying this on FB later, but MAZEL TOV!!!
BeautifulPlumage
Congrats to Suzanne and family! Hoping for some rest in your future
And OT, go visit with the Opiejeans if you can; delightful jackals
danielx
@Ruckus:
Interesting thing is that the archdick, ah, the archdiocese, made the same demand to another local Catholic high school a day or two later. That school knuckled under, much to the disapproval of alumni.
I was a non Catholic attending a Jesuit school, and was thus immune to Catholic bullshit, including molesting priests. One of my teachers was one of the (late) Jesuits who were exposed a year or two ago as having fucked with (literally and figuratively) a lot of kids, at least some during my time there. That doesn’t count the ones who viewed physically hurting and humiliating kids as part of the learning experience, there were those too. It was an all male School* at that point, what would you? Times change. I did get a damn good education – I learned how to learn and critical thinking. Anyway, that other school (Cathedral) is under the direct authority of the archdiocese while Brebeuf is only affiliated with it, as I understand it. Brebeuf is under the Midwest Province of the Jesuits, who are perfectly capable of telling the archbishop to fuck off. Diplomatically, of course.
*Place went coed two years after I graduated, bad timing if it ever was. A lot of the old line Jesuit shitheads retired; they simply could not deal with 1) having girls in the classroom, 2) not being able to abuse students with more-or-less immunity. Hurl a Latin textbook and lay some blonde cheerleader out bleeding from the head?** Simply wouldn’t do any more….
**Happened, but before place went coed. Idiot priest didn’t even hit the guy he was aiming at, he hit some other kid who hadn’t done a thing.
danielx
@Suzanne:
All the best!
Gretchen
Congratulation, Suzanne family! Francesca is a wonderful name.
Debbie(Aussie)
Welcome to the world, little spawn III, Family Suzanne. Wishes for more joy and love than you are able to handle. Please share with us.?
Barbara
@Suzanne: Congratulations! They tell me bigger babies can sleep for longer periods sooner, so here’s hoping for that bit of relief. Pretty name.
Gbbalto
@Suzanne: Congratulations to you and family – and enjoy the relief!
Miss Bianca
@Suzanne: Congrats to you and yours, welcome to the world, Spawn the Youngest!
tehodler
Serious question for chicken keepers: Is it practical to keep hens as pets after their egg laying days are over? I couldn’t cut their heads off and process them for meat unless it was a dire survival situation. Is keeping retired chickens as pets really economically feasible?