Don't Goat Breakin' My Heart (January 2026 Scapegoat Blame Thread)
10I’m going to keep this quick because I know you have blame to share, and we all have places to be. 2025 is toast (and seriously, it couldn’t have happened fast enough), so @caffeineguy is officially off the hook. Probably for the best, because 2026 is off to a rough start, and no one wants to be in the line of fire now. Conveniently, @somf69 caught your votes and will still likely avoid actually taking any shots. Again…probably for the best.
Here’s hoping 2026 can get over the extremely low bar set by 2025. Any shortcomings are clearly the fault of our new ghost er…goat, @somf69.
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merci et bienvenue à somf69
I welcome our new Goat Underlord, @somf69!
Blame- I thought I was gonna have to go to the hospital this morning bc I was dehydrated. I couldn’t keep anything in me. It was so bad, I haven’t felt this kind of body pain since I’ve had 3rd world country food poisoning. To top it off I tried to stop smoking cold turkey so I was withdrawing from that too, I had to start smoking again and save that for another day. I feel a little bit better as I got a little bit of liquids in me but still feel like shit.
@Star2236
@Star2236 What you got to do is at least drink a Bottle of Gatorade or Pedialyte. that is what I do to keep from having to go back to the urgent due to the fact You could be dehydrated.
@mycya4me @Star2236
Correct. Small frequent sips of something like Gatorade or Pedialyte (which in all honesty tastes like crap) will help keep your fluid levels up. Try not to drink too much at once as that will frequently promote vomiting. A good indicator is whether you’re urinating still (and how concentrated it looks) as well as skin turgor. Pinch the back of your hand and if the skin stays tented up you’re probably a bit on the dry side.
Zofran (vomiting) and Imodium (diarrhea) will help as well. Zofran comes as an ODT (oral dissolving tablet) so you can just put it under your tongue and let it absorb that way without having to drink additional fluid if you’re puking actively. Imodium is good if there is too much diarrhea, but a few episodes actually will help to clear whatever the uninvited gut biome that is bothering you a lot of times. Dehydration, while uncomfortable, is not usually dangerous unless you have kidney issues and/or it gets too extreme.
I realize this is a bit late, and hopefully you’re doing better by now. You can file this away for future reference. Any idea what caused this episode?
@chienfou @Star2236 the likes Gatorade or Pedialyte has got better, they have started adding a good flavor to it. Well I also like drinks w/o the ROCKS aka ice. I also use a lot of the Flavor power sticks to flavor my Dihydrogen monoxide aka H2O.
@chienfou @mycya4me
I had some of those iv hydration packets (didn’t have any gatorade or Pedialyte) so I drank those. Today I finally got some soup and bread and a pop in me. What’s made this so bad is I’ve also been detoxing from medicine I take bc I couldn’t keep anything in me. I feel a little bit better but I still feel like shit. I’m gonna take a shower for the first time in days and I’m sure that will feel wonderful too. Extreme dehydration and detoxing is no joke.
@chienfou @mycya4me I’m glad you’re doing a little better @Star2236.
@mycya4me @Star2236
Hope today is better and you continue to improve. Keep us posted
@chienfou @mycya4me
I feel so much better today, still have bronchitis and getting shots for that but so much better on the other front.
@Star2236
/giphy happy dance
@chienfou
My dr thinks I’ve also had the flu too, as to why everything has been so bad.
@Star2236
Good possibility. There’s a lot going around. I know my hospital has had a hard time keeping the tests in, we’re using them fastier than we can replenish them.
@Star2236
Ha! Just reread this. Fastier … d’oh
@ExtraMedium The ghost goat prediction is unfair - he’s already shown up even before getting his official crown! (Horns?)
https://meh.com/forum/topics/frosty-the-goat-man-december-2025-scapegoat-blame-thread#695995062b0826efceb63d74
@Kyeh He has shown up on the old thread, but not over here - yet.
Blame!.. it is way too Cold in the South.
@mycya4me We’re getting all your heat up here, where we’re supposed to be getting snow!
@mycya4me Well, it is the first week of January.
Where are you and how cold should it be?
@mycya4me @phendrick Houston, unseasonably warm, should be highs in the low 50s(F) and lows in the upper 30s. My pepper plants from the summer have come back up from the roots and are thriving.
@mycya4me in tbe southwest we’ve been breaking record highs for like a month. It looks like we’re finally gonna get some normal seasonal temps now.
@mycya4me @phendrick @werehatrack And your pepper plants will die when the cold weather kicks back in so you will have something to blame the goat for shortly.
@Kidsandliz @mycya4me @phendrick @werehatrack
Well, we have had a couple of mid-20° days. But, overall the weather here has been remarkably warm in central Alabama. We’ve probably only had even a frost a half dozen times this fall/winter. I’ve been outside working in shorts and a t-shirt lately. It’s gotten into the mid-70s more often than usual. Overnight low the last few days has been in the mid-40s!
@phendrick Yes we here in the Mid Atlantic region of the South. get all 4 seasons. It is just I like the warmer seasons, Yes we get early Spring & extended Fall & PTL a shorter winter. BUT for Pete’s sake. We got 2 snows before Jan!
@Kyeh You can have the Snow. I got my Annual Snow pictures. that was back in early Dec. it is NOT enough for sledding any more. Plus the roads are very busy… & am a bit Old to be trying that anymore! We don’t need any more snow. It is Extremely Rare to even have a Flake or two of Snow on Christmas!
@Kidsandliz I’ve been watching the weather reports pretty closely, and I think I can keep the pepper plants from getting frozen as long as the temps don’t get down to the mid-20s. This can happen, but it’s not common.
I blame @somf69 because the ABS wheel sensor in my car snapped off trying to replace it (after we needed an EZout to remove the Torx30 bolt, and now I’m stuck with ABS, TPMS, Airbag/SRS, and ASC lights on until I change my hub assembly!
@caffeineguy My servant cautions against buying the crappy el cheapo hub and bearing assemblies on Amazon, after having had several of them that were either immediately troublesome or annoyingly short-lived. (Basically, she says that it’s running about one in four that craters inside 30K miles.) Added observation: The Duralast brand from Autozone isn’t perfect either, but it comes with a warranty that’s easy to collect if you’re going to DIY on the repair. (She prefers established traditional name brands like Timken.)
Blame - for @ExtraMedium posting the goat thread late, because, you know, holidays and likely being off work.
Also for @ExtraMedium naming this thread “Don’t Goat Breakin’ My Heart” in January rather than saving those puns for February.
@Kidsandliz HAHAHAHAHA… are you trying to be Funny… it is NOT even a ROTFLOL statement!
Major Blame: My 3D printer is Major League clogged, It might even require me to buy a new Hot end assembly. (where the Filament is extruded onto the Build plate)
I can’t do any more printing till that is fixed!
@mycya4me heat gun or hair dryer is your friend… just be careful of the thermistor or you might be resoldering in a new one of those!
Blame: The battery in my car was dead when I went to drive it. (AFAICT, it was drained because I accidentally left the dash cam on while it was parked for 10 days. Doesn’t seem like that much of a load, but there it is.) It was dead to the point that when I hooked up my old-school 8A trickle charger, the charger kept resetting.
Mitigating partial unblame: I was able to smoosh my pickup close enough to the car to use jumper cables and then was able to start the car. I drove it on the highway for ~an hour to let it partially recharge. At that point, my charger was able to complete the job.
@macromeh
Yeah, it’s surprising sometimes how it seems like a small drain can tap a battery.
We once left our interior dome light on trying to get baggage out of our car when we parked it at the airport lot before a 2 week trip. It was totally dead when we got back. Of course that meant the electric door locks didn’t work… and as an aside that was when I discovered that my RAV4 does not have a mechanical key lock on the tailgate. My jump starter pack was under the floorboard in the cargo area and we had to enter the driver side door and crawl to the back to get it out. What a PITA.
Damn you @somf69 I was eating my Habenero Lime big-bowl Ramen (BB 9/2024) today w/ chopsticks and somehow splattered just the tiniest bit of sauce in my eye and that shit burns! Entirely your fault!
@caffeineguy That’s so weird - I just read this in a goofy Buzzfeed list of “fails.” So at least you’re not alone.
Blame -
Thank goodness my guy jumped out of the way quick enough not to be injured by the flying batteries or the scooter itself! The scooter (to my surprise) held up pretty well too. She only has a little road burn… and a missing bolt. 
That’s the reason it fell off in the first place, the bolt must’ve been loose. 
When taking my scooter out of my SUV it fell off the lift from the highest possible place, about 4 feet from the ground!
I was able to find the nut but that was all so I ordered a new replacement bolt set-up (it’s got a special curved washer) today and hopefully we’ll be able to fix it without a service call.
…as for the road burn I was thinking a Meh bandaid would be fitting.
Unblame for the ghost goat. I just love the dickens out of Costco!
/showme a ghost goat
@therealjrn Here’s the image you requested for “a ghost goat”
@therealjrn You’ll like my click count for today.
@Kyeh So symmetrical! So elegant! So many divisible by 3 numbers! :swoon:
Blame, @somf69, because it’s been ridiculously warm and windy here for way too long - warmer than Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Birmingham AL, the weather guy said. And we just had a grass fire nearby yesterday; luckily they got it out fast.
But unblame, because I was out planting bulbs today that I should have gotten into the ground 2 months ago! I thought I’d have to put them in a pot, but the ground was soft & workable, so it’s done! And we’re supposed to get snow Thursday and Friday.
@Kyeh We have crazy weather here too! Even w my window open my bedroom is tepid. Had to hook up my portable a/c to cool things off. Thay should be a crime in January.
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 It was warm here in Oklahoma too. Some of my neighbors turned on their A/C!
AND we have a possibility of snow Thursday and Friday.
@Kyeh @therealjrn I just turned on the stand alone unit in my bedroom. My bedroom is on the 2nd floor, and my a/c is a single unit for thr entire house. Bad execution as heat rises and it gets WARM upstairs. The portable unit has been a saving grace.
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 When I lived in a 2 story my bedroom was upstairs. It practically demanded a small window unit for the bedroom! I cannot sleep in a hot room.
@Kyeh @therealjrn same and now add menopause. Had to get poor charlie his own blanket so he doesnt freeze lol
@Kyeh @therealjrn @tinamarie1974 extra warm here too but I’m not complaining since i don’t want a repeat of the great freeze of 2021, aka Ted Cruz’s cancun adventure.
@Kyeh
Yep, it looks like the ski season is going to be screwed this year.
Hey @cinoclav any trips planned?
@chienfou @Kyeh Decided we’re staying in North America this year. Headed out to Mammoth on the 31st and then to Banff in late February. Buddy and I were planning on a quick trip up to Vermont this weekend but it didn’t happen.
@cinoclav @Kyeh
Hopefully the snow pack will meet your needs/expectations.
@chienfou I’m just glad we didn’t plan any trips to Utah or Colorado. I can’t believe how bad it is in those places.
@cinoclav
Yep it’s so sad. I had many a great ski trip locally when I lived in Colorado
It’s been windy and freezing here in Pennsylvania, so you can have that if you want
@somf69 No thank you, so kind of you to offer!
@somf69 Freezing is really what we’re supposed to have here in January, but I can do without the wind, thanks.
I guess everything is fine now…
Blame. The root canal has been done, the hole in the old crown has been patched with a filling, and the jaw around that tooth is still just a bit sore. It’s not enough to be actively distracting, but it’s still annoying, particularly since it means that anything hard or crunchy is still a challenge to eat.
Grump. Grumpitygrumpgrumpgrump. And grump.
UNBLAMES: The root canal has mostly settled down into close-to-normal feeling, so it looks like that’s under control. And today I pulled all of the keycaps from this keyboard, swabbed the deck under them with alcohol on q-tips, and swapped the troublesome “A” and “N” switches with two that I never use (Scroll Lock and Pause). I’m no longer seeing unintended double-strikes from those two keys, yay!
@werehatrack Nneaato!
@therealjrn @werehatrack
Could have used that ozone generator after all…
BLAME
they are damn good at their job.
@zhicks1987
/giphy who dat?
20 days in and we’re done?
@somf69 Nah. The real weather arrives on Friday, and it’s all your fault!
@somf69 @werehatrack
@somf69 @therealjrn @werehatrack
Jeez, that’s a BIG one!
@somf69 @werehatrack
~blush~
@Lynnerizer @somf69 @therealjrn @werehatrack Yeah this coming weekend should be good. Snow predicted in the deep south were I think we have a total of 2 salt trucks. Last time this happened it didn’t occur to them to salt the highway off ramps (well and the on ramps too) that are by 2 of the major hospitals so the ambulances can get up the the hill (or not slide down it getting on the highway) to the hospitals after idiots still tailgate and speed despite ice and snow.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @somf69 @therealjrn @werehatrack
Aren’t ALL (past) storms technically historic?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@somf69 @therealjrn @werehatrack
Boys will be boys…
(
)
@Lynnerizer @somf69 @werehatrack
@Lynnerizer @somf69 @therealjrn I don’t know if a French Toast Alert has been issued for this weekend, but here’s an explanation of that system.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2022-01-28/a-brief-but-delicious-history-of-the-french-toast-alert-system
@Lynnerizer @somf69 @therealjrn @werehatrack @Kidsandliz
Personally I’m more a fan of the Waffle House Index
@chienfou @Lynnerizer @somf69 @therealjrn Even FEMA knows that if WH isn’t open, things are really bad.
@Lynnerizer @somf69 @therealjrn @werehatrack
Yep
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @somf69 @werehatrack
Indeed! I’ve got one just a mile from me!
In other news, my landscaper (who also does snow removal) called me today to say he’s hanging up his snowblowers and retiring. He’s a long time family acquaintance but I couldn’t talk him into strapping up one last time…shit.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @somf69 @werehatrack
You know shits gettin’ real when the big shot local weatherman is spotted stocking up!
BLAME: The tail of the P-trap under the kitchen sink has apparently been leaking for several days without my knowledge. It’s been detected now, and what first looked like an annoyance turned into a minor Project pretty quickly. I knew that the wastewater stub coming out of the wall was 1 1/2" ID lead, but there was a useless decorative flange concealing the end of the lead pipe and the joint. I could feel that the leak was coming from the tail of the P-trap runner, just before the connection to the lead pipe. One trip to a Real Hardware Store later, I thought I had what I needed. I was almost right. The scope of the rot just got better and better as I got further in. Along with the rotten pipe near the wall, I discovered that the P-trap runner’s elbow was also rotten. And then came the real fun part. Once I got the useless obfuscating decorative flange washer out of the way so that I could see the actual joint where the rotten pipe joined the wall stub, it became obvious that the rotten piece was sealed into the lead wastewater stub via the I-have-only-a-hammer technique of using a punch applied to the end of the lead pipe to mushroom it in against the OD of the P-trap runner. This also expanded the OD of the lead pipe, which became A Problem. I ended up using my smaller cordless reciprocating saw to hack the mushroomed end off, which allowed me to use a repair collar to seal the connection between the lead pipe and the new P-trap runner. From that point on, it was all very straightforward assembly.
UNBLAME: It tested leak-free on the first attempt.
Now, I need to go fetch the pressure washer in so that the pump doesn’t explode due to the freezing temps.
@werehatrack
While you’re under the sink check to make sure the batteries in your
have been replaced…
@chienfou No electric frog thing here.
@werehatrack
/showme a farmer locking up the barn doors after the horse has escaped and is running across the field.
@chienfou Here’s the image you requested for “a farmer locking up the barn doors after the horse has escaped and is running across the field.”
Blame!! One of my monitors appears to have died. It is an almost new refurb that I just got 12+ years ago.