Ghoats Hunters (October 2020 scapegoat blame thread)

@kykazaa …and beyond

@kykazaa or unblame

@kykazaa Maybe not. Stand by.

@kykazaa @OldCatLady @ybmuG either way, there will be blame from one side or the other

@kykazaa I mean you could be the one to sway us all to #KeepBlameGreat!

@kykazaa Linus will be disjointed…again

@kykazaa ok, so two days later I finally realize autocorrect changed disappointed to disjointed… now I’m disjointed… I blame the goat

@kykazaa @ybmuG honestly I’m just concerned about what you did to linus. Considering it’s Halloween. And you are doing it again. Do we need to call CPS?

@kykazaa

You’re welcome HAHAHA

@kykazaa YESSSSS!!! I am so excited for this license plate

@sammydog01 Well, that’s some shit, ain’t it?
They don’t call them poopwaffels fer nuttin.

@sammydog01 I don’t want to point any fingers, but I think you and I both know it was @kykazaa. Probably eating them right now…

@Kidsandliz I’m very sorry to hear this. In a year that’s taken so much from so many, it’s often the things that affect us directly that awaken us and open our eyes to how hard it has all been for so many others. I live on the west coast and we’ve seen the flames for weeks alongside protests and violent clashes. My only hope is for a better tomorrow and a brighter future where we can look back and say, at least the worst is over. I truly hope that is just around the corner, but reality makes it hard to believe.

Stay strong and send our love to your friend. We will get through together.

@Kidsandliz So sad. You did what you could for your friend. I am glad your friend is safe.

@Kidsandliz I’m sorry and I echo @thunderchicken and am glad your friend is safe.

@ExtraMedium @Kidsandliz
I would like to add that if you’re ever sifting through ashes right after a fire like that, if there is anything electronic that has important data on it (external hard drives, thumb drives, laptop, computer, NAS, or your recent backup drive get them out ASAP! Time is the enemy of electronics afterva fire.

When water hits ashes and smoke, it turns into a corrosive coating and will quickly start destroying electronics within hours. So salvage data storage first and wash off the ash and smoke residue and get it to a fire recovery company to stop the chemical damage. Water can be dried after it dilutes the acids. Baking soda will neutralize them too. $6 for 12lbs in bulk at Walmart or swimming pool supply.

Once you or a service has cleaned the device, if it works, transfer all data (image the drive if you need to recover the system, not just copy the regular giles you can see) ASAP to a new fresh drive.

If that fails, you can send the drive to the best media recovery outfit I’ve encountered - HDDRecovery.ca. Erkin is a top tier data recovery shop. His prices are reasonable (T&M, a flash drive with a failed controller cost me ~$300) for recovering personal info or photos or rebuilding your digital life after a devastating event like this.

Check his YT channel to see his work. World class work if you need this service to recover precious data after a fire.

https://www.youtube.com/c/hddrecoveryservices

@ExtraMedium @Kidsandliz
That’s also why an offsite backup is important, and not just backing up to a NAS in a corner or external drive next to the computer. Cloud backups are not too expensive, but find a service that fits your budget, features, and privacy needs. Cloud backup (iDrive, Backblaze) is also different than cloud/drive sync for multi-device file sharing (oneDrive, GDrive, etc). So find a backup/recovery system/solution that works for you.

And sorry for the tragedy and loss to your neighbor and all of our fellow Americans, visitors, and immmigrants -families- who have lost so much in the West coast fires.

@ExtraMedium @mike808 interesting info on the ashes - unfortunately in this case things were too far gone. Electronics were mostly melted.

The fire aftermath taken from the door to the outside (other door is to the room the fire started in). You’d never know it from this but on top of that dresser there was a TV.

Photo taken from the window looking in at the door left open for the cat.

Room the fire started in.

@kykazaa @ThunderChicken @ExtraMedium Thanks all. Spent most of today driving my friend around dealing with this.

@ExtraMedium @Kidsandliz
I would recommend only focusing on salvaging only devices with important data on them (that you don’t have backed up - which you do, of course). Just like keepsakes, photos, and important documents. You did scan your important documents so you at least have pictures of them, yes?

Everything else can be replaced.

So don’t worry about the TV, Tivo, dvd players, stereos, kindles, or tablets. Go for the backup drive, the main computer with your personal info, SD cards in cameras, etc. first.

@mike808 Everything was melted. There was nothing of my friend’s to even try to save unfortunately of that kind of stuff. I only mentioned the TV as the fire was so hot there is nothing left of it that can be seen in that photo except the metal base and some melted plastic. There was a stereo speaker there too and a DVD player. None of that is recognizable and the pile of the remains of that stuff isn’t even even very high (as can be seen in the photo).

@Kidsandliz @mike808 Damn - do they know how it started yet? How is your friend doing?
I read a news story about it - it said one person ended up in the hospital? I’m glad he didn’t have to go. He must be devastated though.

@Kyeh @mike808 The person who went to the hospital had smoke inhalation and was out several hours later. They said electrical issues started it. Not surprised since just about every house left in that neighborhood (many razed lots and two abandoned houses) needs condemned. House had no smoke detectors so the lot of them got very, very lucky.

@Kidsandliz You are a very good friend

@Kidsandliz are they getting local support? Did they have insurance? If not it wouldn’t be the first support drive on these forums.

@unksol No insurance. These are folks living on the bottom edge of society, although for the most part employed until covid. When I hauled 3 of them to the Red Cross that organization gave a $295 gift card/person plus a small bag of personal items. End of help. Most of that went into a week of a low end 2 star motel with a kitchen where primarily homeless are living pooling their money from panhandling - although this one has a lot of employed mexican men living there with minimal english too - and the rest went to 2 shirts, a pair of pants, shoes, underwear, socks… stuff like that.

The VA will take about 6 weeks to kick into gear under the homelessness program to pay for hotel/motel until a section 8 voucher under some special VA program is available (that voucher takes about 3 - 4 months). So there is 5 - 6 weeks to figure out what to do about housing. And he needs more clothes than he has, laundry detergent, etc. I have already looked around for another rooming house on a bus line or near one (his car needs a new motor and needs towed from where it is), close enough to the VA but nothing like that is in his price range. Of course ones like he was in probably aren’t advertised on craigslist, neighbors, etc. either based on who lives in them (and are taken advantage of by whomever owns the house - likely a ton of code violations not to mention the living room is a bed room - actually divided into two in that house and he had the part of it that included the front door, the dining room is a bed room…). His church (a really small one - under 40 members) is supposedly putting together a gofundme (I suggested it to them). I sent photos of the fire to the person from there who was going to do that and she was supposed to call me yesterday so I could explain how to do this but she didn’t. She is working today so I’ll have to wait to call her again this evening.

The house was just south of where the Good Samaritan helps unfortunately. I have a call in to the Catholic Church’s (not Catholic charities - they are subcontracted to do the hotel and VA section 8 vouchers) St. Vincent DePaul’s as they help people find things like furniture, give out food, etc. and who knows what else they do. And there is stupid stuff like renting a PO box as when you put a hold on your mail if you pick it up they refuse to put another hold right back on.

I managed to get about $250 of meat of his out of the big deep freeze that sort of survived the fire and he only lost the ice cream, some other stuff was partly thawed, but that is only a partial solution. Net unemployment is $174/week so there isn’t much to work with. The biopsy of his liver came back as they don’t know what this is (it was really tiny - not enough tissue to be sure) so more scans to monitor. At least his stomach cancer at the original site looks OK (chemo finished in July). I’d put together a gofundme for him but we both know the four who’d trash me for it over and over as they always do and then try to get no one to donate. As a result it is probably better to push the church to get their act together for him. I’d have had one up on Oct 2 but who knows how long it will take them. Trouble is the 7th is the last night he has the motel room so he needs at least another week of money for that sooner rather than later (he has to pay in advance for a week at a time if he wants the weekly rate). All in all no good solutions that will be quick.

@Kidsandliz @unksol No one here has ever trashed a gofundme you posted that benefitted anyone other than yourself. Ever.

@Kidsandliz I would try and get the local news to share their story to try and get some support and maybe they can set something up. Something like that that usually draws in the news and the community and the red cross.

@unksol I just created a gofundme for him. I am also trying to get one of the two news stations that ran a news segment to do a follow up and include it.

gf.me/u/y3xnhh

@Kidsandliz How awful! I’m so very sorry for your friend and their cat. Thank goodness he/she was able to get out of there alive!! So nice they have a good friend in you! Hope they’re doing okay with putting life back together! peace, hope and smiles, ALWAYS!!
(any kind of “go-fund-me” for them)❤❤❤

@Lynnerizer His church found him a free place to stay - a 40 something foot camping trailer on a farmer’s land (several trailers there and a cabin so I guess it is a good side business) where he does things (paid) like run a brush hog, odd jobs, etc. As long as he works for the guy he has a free place to stay. Fortunately the trailer came outfitted with kitchen stuff, bedding, etc.

The gofundme (I told him to set up a paypal account so he didn’t lose the gofundme administrative fees - I’ll have to check to see if he ever did that) raised a bit over, I think it was (without looking) $600. The link - a shortened one - is the message above yours. He used that to fix his car (cost more than that but he was also getting unemployment). He is saving up enough to buy his dentures that melted in the fire. Various people have given him clothes. He used the red cross money (just under $300) for a week to stay in a motel and buy some initial clothes. I went in after the fire and pulled a bunch of his frozen food from the chest freezer that was still frozen (lost a few things on the top due to the lid (and other) heat damage. A good testament though to chest freezers!

@Kidsandliz Sounds like he’s got a good start to picking himself up. Those camper/trailer things are pretty cool, so handy. My niece, just out of collage, spent the last year toting her 2 horses back & forth from NY to FL working on the race track. So adventurous! Lol… Aren’t you in Florida, if so what part? I’ll check out the link you mentioned, i’d like to help out. Around this time of year it’s easier to remember to be grateful. On one hand life sucks for him, on the other it’s great he wasn’t hurt/burnt worse and it’s wonderful he’s “willing & ABLE” to help himself and actuly work for room and board! …always with a silver lining!! Gettin by with a little help from our friends!!

@Kidsandliz I don’t know how I missed that he also has cancer and that this happened in Oct. I thought it just happened! Again, late to the party! Ugh… SMDH

@Lynnerizer no worries. I posted a very recent update on the gofundme along with photos oh him getting the money. The fund is still open. He still needs to replace his dentures that melted in the fire.

@OldCatLady
(•‿•)

@tinamarie1974 owwwww.

@tinamarie1974 Yikes! Hope you heal fast!

@tinamarie1974 May I recommend bubble wrap? Seriously though I hope yesterday was a one time event and you heal quickly.

@Kidsandliz oohhh I could use that suit!!

@tinamarie1974 I am very sorry about your clumsiness. It is clearly my fault and as a sign of my remorse, I am participating in sympathy back pain for the foreseeable future. Here’s to pain killers!

@kykazaa oohhh take some good ones for me!

@tinamarie1974

Great scores!

Hope you are feeling better.

@Barney lol thanks! Pretty good. My toe is on the mend and only me knee is still a little sensitive. I think I will survive.

/giphy take a bow

@Barney @tinamarie1974

Ouch!

Hope tomorrow is better.

@Barney @f00l @tinamarie1974 @kidsandliz
time to invest in one of these

@Barney @chienfou @f00l @Kidsandliz haha, that would have helped! Actually my knee got the worst of it, it is still tender. I tend to have a hard head

@sammydog01 so does that make it a blame or an unblame?

@tinamarie1974 I got distracted by the internet while typing my blame and remembered what I needed before I went back down. So unblame. And it wasn’t important after all.

@sammydog01 clearly not important because it took me five days to reply.

@RiotDemon

@RiotDemon
/giphy hug

@RiotDemon i’m crying with you. thank you for the unblame. It made my day (about 14 days later than yours)

@kykazaa thanks. I am again thinking about the hug and smiling a bit.

@ruouttaurmind Only 104? Gee, you must be needing a sweater.

@ruouttaurmind Btw, @sammydog01 can knit if you don’t mind looking like a roll of toilet paper.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind I can do sleeves for sure.

@Barney I did have to throw on my hoodie when I took the dogs out at 5:30 this morning. 66* was a bit too chilly to be standing around in the dark waiting for them. 🥶

@ruouttaurmind Wimp.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind it was about 65 and drizzly here in the Lou. Perfect chilly fall weather

@Barney Come spend the day working with me in 104* and let’s see who’s the wimp.

@ruouttaurmind Yeah, I’m a wimp.

@Barney So I can’t count on you mowing the lawn while I dig up the sprinkler system valves?

@ruouttaurmind You forget that I live in Kansas with the often 100 degree summer temps plus the humidity.

Twenty years ago I could have kept up with you, but I am now a wimp.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@ruouttaurmind I’m sorry your state is broken. It was in the 40s here and got to the mid 50s like a semi-sane state. Will be back in the 60s soon.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind Please reassure us that the hoodie was in addition to your clothes, not instead of. We know it was dark but-.

@OldCatLady You surprise me. You aren’t the least bit curious?

@Barney @OldCatLady @ruouttaurmind well now I’m just confused. I haven’t worn a shirt in months. Granted there is no one else here to complain about that fact.

Other than to get the mail or extremely rarely go to the store.

What’s wrong with a hoodie other than it being too hot.

@Barney @OldCatLady @ruouttaurmind unless you think he was donald ducking it. Going winne the pooh. Etc

@Barney @OldCatLady

Please reassure us that the hoodie was in addition to your clothes, not instead of.

Well. Crap. No wonder I was chilly.

@CaptAmehrican Hope it is a fantastic thing. Good luck!

@CaptAmehrican wishing for fantastic-ness

@CaptAmehrican Unblame? Blame? Update?

@OldCatLady unsure yet. No blame , I feel ok.
Unblame is up in air still

OWLS! TOWELS! JOWLS! AWESOME!

@lisaviolet so was Ike talking to you or just yawning?

@Kidsandliz Yawning. There were more pictures I took at that time, I was testing out a new camera. (My old one lost its mind and was doing things I didn’t ask it to do.)

@lisaviolet Actually he almost looks like he is singing LOL

@lisaviolet Should you get to the point of having to replace it, the Epson EcoTank printers may be worth looking at. Similar idea, nice quality.

@cinoclav I have one and I like it. But it only prints 8.5" wide. I’ve checked into wide format printers with tanks and so far, haven’t found any that are affordable at this time. The R1900 has a 13" wide capability.

@lisaviolet That definitely comes in handy. I rarely print my photos so it’s not really a concern.

@cinoclav One day, I’m gonna plaster the walls with photos.

One of the things I make is a 13" x 19" calendar for hubby so he can easily count weeks. A customer is quoted an approximate amount of time (right now, it’s 23 weeks) until the order is finished and on the way.

In fifteen weeks the customer wants to know the status of his order. Using this calendar helps count the weeks since the order was started. Easier than flipping pages.

(I think the thing on the left of the picture is an umbrella? I forget what it’s purpose is, it’s been so long since there was a need for it.)

@lisaviolet The cat himself is spectacular. Wonderful photo!

@OldCatLady thank you.

And it’s not the cartridge. Hubby, adamantly tells me “we’re not buying a $1500 printer so you can print one picture!”

I never asked…

@lisaviolet i did it, i did it, i did it. And just like the cat, I’m just going to walk around like I don’t care.

@tinamarie1974 uhm pup. I need pup photos

@CaptAmehrican ok

Hiding

Sleeping

@tinamarie1974 who’s a good doggy?you are!!!

@CaptAmehrican sometimes! But he is taking obedience classes and coming along nicely!

@tinamarie1974 i accept the blame for the canine flatulation, but you really shouldnt feed him whatever it is you are feeding him.

@kykazaa lol

/image purina One

@sammydog01 hahahaha, our league is a testing ground for weird stuff. You can’t blame the scientist for the scientific process.

@RiotDemon I mean. I hope there was no murder

@RiotDemon
/giphy hugs

More blame. The vending machine at work is broken and I just want a damn muffin!

I missed dinner last night and didn’t have time for breakfast this morning.

/giphy give me my chocolate muffin!

@RiotDemon

@RiotDemon sorry you are working on caturday. Err Saturday. And sorry you have to actually go somewhere to work. I’d make you some chocolate crinkles but I don’t have a teleporter so idk that it would help you current situation visavi the muffin

@RiotDemon I am to blame. I can mail you a muffin if you want. I’ll make sure to use Smart Post so it gets there real fast.

@RiotDemon I am making cheese danish tomorrow. I would be happy to share

@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 I’m making potato salad (Mom’s recipe). You can stop by tomorrow and have some. After that, you would be taking a chance that there’s any left.

@Barney @RiotDemon that would go well with my Asiago peppercorn tenderloin, just sayin

I’m talking to you, too, @tinamarie1974.

@RiotDemon @unksol You can make the muffins then eat them for her. Whatta guy.

@Barney @RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 I am pretty sure mailing mayonnaise ends badly. But if you’re willing to share the recipe… I’m a mustard guy though. Last time I made some I went a little wrong somewhere. It was edible but not shareable lol

@Barney Haha, you’re out of luck with the recipe share – it’s an old family recipe and the ingredients will not be disclosed.

However, you are welcome to stop by tomorrow before noon for a bowl of Mom’s “tater” salad. Any later than that and I will ignore you because I am watching football.

Btw, there is a very small amount of mustard in it.

Maybe you could take a look at my broken down Saturn that’s in Mom’s garage?

@Barney lol I figured. My sister’s still have grandma’s recipes in one of those weird “give them to me I’ll write them out and make a book” then never get to it situations. I might have to try and appropriate them again and get it done then take a poll on how to split up the cards. They all need scanned front and back. Cause

Family recipe boxes are special.

Is not just the recipes some times but the memories that go with them. And flipping through the physical cards. And her notes. And her hand writing. Are still strong ones.

@Barney if your anywhere close to Indiana and need a Saturn S series fixed maybe. I have the tools and might get off my ass. L series or that stuff they did at the end I have not been under although dad had an ion but someone hit it before it needed old car work. but basic car issues are similar. Saturn specific repairs have a huge group because they were really good/cheap cars till they messed it up.

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/
https://www.saturnforum.com/forum/

I do have a laid up one in the driveway that it’s just not worth rebuilding the engine. But works as a second car in an emergency. I can buy an engine for one from a junk yard cheaper even though they haven’t made one for almost 20 years. I kinda had my eye on an engine in ohio when I bought the broken expedition. Cause it could bring it back…

I love that Saturn with all it’s scars and every time I take it out to keep tires/ fluids from going bad it feels so good to drive stick…

@Barney oh well in that case

/giphy on my way

@unksol Mine is a '94 Saturn L w/ 60K miles. It was the first new car that I bought by myself. I was so proud of it.

My bestest friend lives in Indiana. Maybe the next time I visit her, I’ll just push my Saturn to you (I could use the exercise.) We’ll see if you can figure out how to fix an L.

@tinamarie1974 Starting potato salad now.
/giphy get on your mark, get set, go!

@tinamarie1974 Well, I give up on the giphy. I guess this is close enough.

@Barney do you mean an SL? They made SW(wagon), SC(coupe), and SL(sedan). In a couple trims. Mine is a straight SL. No power steering, SOHC, and a manual transmission. The S series. From 1990 till 2002.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_S_series

They all have the same basic design and mechanics/engine. And are super easy to work on because they are simple and all share most parts. 60K is really low mileage to have a major mechanical issue on them but not impossible. The DOHC I think had some early issues.

The actual L series didn’t start till 99/2000 and has a V6

@Barney you should post a pic of your yummy potato salad!

@unksol Yeah, SL. I no longer keep track of what models are what. Old age, I guess. It’s pretty basic with a manual transmission and I don’t think it has power steering. It does have good air conditioning.

And it’s not a major mechanical issue. Just a lot of little things that need to be done (I’ve ignored them, thus the storage in Mom’s garage.)

@tinamarie1974 I’m a little short on potatoes, could I borrow a couple? Maybe a couple of eggs, too. Might need some sweet pickles – I’ll make it easy, how about a bottle of pickle relish?

Nah, no pix. I’ll be too busy eating it.

@unksol Mom’s potato salad has no mayonnaise.

@tinamarie1974 Oh, I forgot to buy onions. I guess I’ll need one of those, too.

@Barney @unksol by gosh, that almost sounds like a recipe!!

@tinamarie1974 @unksol Almost, but I’m not gonna tell you the secret sauce.

@Barney @unksol The secrets in the sauce!

@tinamarie1974 @unksol Absolutely!

@Barney lol that is the best one and fun to drive. Small engine but they are so light you can have fun with a manual. I have probably done all those little things at least once cause she’s at 250K miles if you ever need help. and yeah the AC still works. They were pretty well made.

If you ever get around to it the Saturnfans forums have a ton of stickies/videos/posts about all most everything that can go wrong or wear out and need replaced. A lot can be done with basic tools but if that’s not your thing and don’t know someone who is into that stuff. I get it

If it just sits though things can deteriorate. Dot 3 brake fluid is hygroscopic. Probably all the fluids should be changed. If you start driving it again.
Other than the transmission maybe. At least it’s in a garage.

Speaking of… One major flaw is the main differential pin is held in by a small single rolled pin. They should have used a larger double rolled pin. When you stress the differential like rocking it out of snow or up a drive and floor it and one tire is just spinning then suddenly gets traction yeah you get out but it can be a sudden stress on the differential and shock that pin which I did quite a bit cause northern indiana. Snow. And if it breaks the differential pin can come loose and then carve a hole through the transmission… But it took 200K miles to do that and a manual transmission swap is easy. The dedicated guys who use them for races/rough stuff have the pin welded or drill out the retainer pin and put in a better one. I might have been less agressive had I known that ahead of time. But maybe not lol

@Barney @tinamarie1974 I think I put some vinegar in and didn’t measure correctly… Def was not mom’s potatoe salad. I need to get her recipe box too. And other grandma’s.

@unksol Truthfully, I’ve thought about putting the key in the ignition and posting a sign that says, “Steal This Car,” I don’t need it or want it anymore and I need the garage space.

@tinamarie1974 @unksol No vinegar in Mom’s potato salad.

@Barney if it runs and you want it out I’m sure someone would take it. Again Saturnfans is a good place to start. The guys in there love those saturn’s.

I would happily come get it if I could find a ride or a cheap plane ticket since Idk where you are. And maybe some potatoe salad. and drive it home. Might be able to give you a little for her. Towing one is more costly… Although the expedition does have a hitch and a uhaul car setup might work… And I’m fairly confident she could handle a long trip.

I would probably use it’s engine and keep it in the drive for other parts… Or repair it with the parts from mine if it’s in better shape lol.

A junk yard will usually come get a car and pay you a couple hundred bucks. Then us weird guys will find it and put the parts to use.

If you just are over it/want it out there are options. Sounded like you were a little more attached to it at first.

@unksol That’s the problem. I love this car so much and I find that keeping it in Mom’s garage is so much easier than dealing with what to do with it.

I guess I become too attached to things. It took me quite a while to save up for my Saturn; it’s been a very good, reliable car. I don’t want to get rid of it.

I need to figure out what I’m going to do.

@Barney I am in favor of fixing it. They are so fun to drive. And you can redline them and chirp the tires shifting gears lol.

Never bought a NEW car but it’s the first car I really bought like 2 weeks before college and I’ve driven it across the country. Back and forth to college. Up and down the rockies once. Put 150K miles on it after buying it used. My first stick.

That’s why I still tell myself I’m going to swap her engine. And she’s still insured and plated.

Kinda like recipes I guess lol. There’s a metric ton of history/memories tied to some things.

@Barney if you give me a list of what’s wrong with it I might be able to give you a list of what it would take to fix. And parts needed. And link instructions. I’ve probably done it and found them before.

Even if you’re not ready to deal with it that might give you some context. A 1994 is never going to be new again but can definitely be fun

@Barney @unksol

Potato salad without mayonnaise???

/image gif what in tarnation

@walarney hey, you put a soda in the freezer! Am I too late?

@kykazaa Yup. Stubbed my toe trying jump out of my chair when I opened it.

@walarney dang it. blame on me.

/giphy freezer soda

@Kidsandliz Oh, no. I’m sorry.

@OldCatLady Our governor needs to get covid to learn a lesson from his stupidity. I’ve repeatedly had a biopsy put off since last March. It was finally re-scheduled for the end of the month. Taking any bets on whether or not I will get to keep that surgery apt? Sigh. The timing is about right to flood out the hospitals again by then.

Actually it will be interesting to see if he is capable of learning vicariously based on the Trump/covid situation. I’d bet not since we were one of the first to reopen and that drove our per capita infection numbers to run between 3rd and 5th in the nation for a number of weeks. He didn’t learn from that either - witness this stupidity. He isn’t even up for reelection either. Maybe he will get some sense over the weekend and rethink this mask thing.

@ruouttaurmind OMG! Terrible

@tinamarie1974 You’re telling me! Kinda puts a bit of a crimp in my budget. FOR THE NEXT FIVE OR SIX YEARS!

Probably the most frustrating bit: I’m a guy who is used to doing things for himself. Home repairs and improvements are right up there at the top of the list of things I would rather eat glass than pay someone else to do. And I’m very capable of doing a roof. Unfortunately the size of the job is unmanageable for me alone. If I worked on it 9 or 10 hours a day it would take me a bit over a week from start to finish. If I didn’t take any breaks and squeeze that up to 11 hours a day I might finish up in 6 or 7 days. But I have a business to run and can’t disappear for a week. And I can’t stretch out the work over several weekends because the late fall rains will be coming at the end of November or early December. So I am up against a wall and forced to shell out a pack of dosh to have someone with a crew wrap it up in three days.

@ruouttaurmind Christmas may be a little sparse this year! Can you do the roofing yourself.

@ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974

Fucking ouch!

And you’ll love your next insurance renewal bill.

This is worth being grumpy over.

: (

@f00l I do not have homeowners insurance (long story, calculated risk, blah blah blah). But even if I did, it’s unlikely the insurance company would pay for a 38 year old roof which exceeded it’s maximum projected useful life 14 years ago. And frankly it probably should have been replaced 10 years ago. But I’ve just been patching and replacing shingles and hoping for the bestand (thankfully) haven’t had any leaks. I never expected a freak tornado-like windstorm in the middle of the desert. But this time patching won’t cut it and I have to suck it up.

@tinamarie1974 Updated my comment above.

@ruouttaurmind
$12K? How big is your house? You putting italian tile on it or something? Are you upgrading with a Tesla roof?

Big costs for a big house. Downsize. Problem solved. You’re welcome.

You could start a GoFundMe if you’re dead broke with a paid off 15,000 sf house.

@mike808

Big costs for a big house. Downsize. Problem solved. You’re welcome.

Heh. This is a 3BR, 1247 sqft palatial estate. Srsly, can’t get too much smaller than this!

No tile, replacing with asphalt shingles. The only difference is the switch from traditional 3-tab asphalt shingles to “architectural” style. Cost savings to do 3-tab would be about $275. Not a notable percentage of the total price, and the newer style is a better fit within the neighborhood (mostly a mix of architectural shingles and tile).

@ruouttaurmind Prices must have seriously risen or be very different where you are. I had a company do my 1,300 sf asphalt 30yr architectural shingle roof for about $6,800. It was a 3 person team and took 3 days. 1 to remove and 2 to lay new tyvek, felt, and then shingle. And that wasn’t using the cheapest options. Also not an insurance claim.

@ruouttaurmind
Here’s the quote if you want the details. I got GAF Timberline HD shingles. They have them at Lowes and I got a fair deal, and in 3 days I was a satisfied customer and didn’t have to deal with DIY or lifting all that stuff to the roof and swinging a hammer and taking the old roof to the dump.

1. Protection of the building and property with tarpaulins. Contractor shall establish a safe job site.

2. Tear-off the existing roofing down to the wood decking and hauling of all roof debris. (1) Layer roof.

3. Replacement of damaged wood may be necessary. Replacement shall be at an additional cost of $1.41 per square foot for plywood or an approved equal, or $5.99 per linear foot for 1-by decking boards. The exact amount, if any, will be determined once the existing roofing is removed.

4. Installation of ice & water barriers around all flashings, valleys and penetrations.

5. Installation of one layer of Synthetic Underlayment over the entire wooden decking, using cap nails to fasten.

6. Provision and installation of GAF Timberline HD Architectural shingles or CertainTeed Landmark (owner’s choice) shingles over the felt using roofing nails and nailed at 6 nails per shingle. The roof will be completed with Boston-style ridge caps and GAF Seal a Ridge and ProStart perimeter shingles.

7. Replacement of existing pipe flashings with new Neoprene Pipe Flashings and Lomanco 750 vents of the same style.

8. Remove and replace step flashing as needed where roof to wall meet.

9. Install Lomanco Omni Ridge venting system where currently existing.

10. Install new furnace flue storm collar, flue cap and base flashing. Paint entire flue to match color of new roof.

11. The new roof will be installed over the existing wood sheathing and will follow the contour of the existing sheathing.

12. The jobsite will be cleaned and left free of roofing debris. Cleaning shall include clean-out all gutters and magnet sweeping around the entire house, leaving the jobsite in a broom clean condition.

13. Manufacturer shall offer limited lifetime manufacturer’s warranty and contractor to provide 20-year workmanship guarantee.

14. Please list shingle color in the space provided: ____________

@mike808 Sounds like yours and mine are very similar. Except for the Tyvek underlayment which is not commonly used in this area.

I did some research ahead of time, checking Home Advisor for natl. avg. cost, and speaking with a couple locals who had roofing replacement (8 years ago and 10 years ago). I expected my price to be around $8k.

I collected 7 bids from randomly selected companies. 2 of those were DQd straight away because of Registrar of Contractor license issues and excessive RoC and BBB complaints. Of the 5 remaining bids, they are within $800. So apparently this is really what it costs in this town at this moment.

The bid I selected will use GAF Timberline HDZ (GAF replaced your HD with HDZ earlier this year). And they’re using a GAF synthetic underlayment rather than felt. Otherwise the two jobs are remarkably similar. Except mine is going to cost $5k more.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@ruouttaurmind They used synthetic underlayment. I’m just old school and always called it felt.

@ruouttaurmind sorry for the slow reply. Blame accepted for your desert storm. Unblame for all the years of no homeowners insurance premiums you saved that will more than offset the price of a new roof.

@kykazaa no worries! The roofers pounded out the last bits of the job late this afternoon. They will have a cleaning crew here tomorrow morning for a final site cleanup, then it’s all over except the weeping as I write the check for the final balance due on delivery. 🥺

@kykazaa @ruouttaurmind

How are you feeling? Are you recovered from heatstroke or heat exhaustion?

@f00l Thank you for asking. I feel recovered. Surprisingly to me, it’s taking some time to get my stamina back though. That weekend I forced my way though three pretty grueling, very physically demanding 10 hour days. This weekend I was pooped after six hours of moderately demanding work. So maybe mostly recovered?

@tinamarie1974 nice!

@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 accepted

@mike808 not my style Especially with the long into/exit. Good lyrics though

@Kidsandliz pics?

@tinamarie1974 I wasn’t the one who found it. I signed on to nextdoor and it had been posted 52 minutes prior. I hesitate to swipe the picture from there and publicly post it since it isn’t mine. (I’ll whisper you the photo). I saw the post, called the rehab person and then I posted I knew someone and private messaged the person who had it. Two min later someone posted she had picked it up and would drop it off at the vet in the morning so I private messaged her. Within 20 min the person who rehabs them and that person connected and was on her way to get it.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Nice! Could you get permission to post the picture? Or maybe get a picture from the rehab person?

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 I’ll ask the rehab person if I can post the one she sent me holding it once she got it home.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
Well I keep trying to upload a photo and meh keeps giving me something went terribly wrong. I’ll try again later.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Ohhhh, so precious! Thanks for getting the photo!

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 It wasn’t eating last night but today is eating.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Oh good! Will you get a chance to see it in person?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 there was apparently some sort of image upload fiasco a few hours ago. Want to see the ohshit! Report just cause they are usually fascinating

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @unksol Oh, yeah - even our esteemed goat was having trouble uploading pics on the LEGO off the day post. I guess @kykazaa can blame himself for it.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 I could ask her but I don’t really know her other than a chance meeting at the vet and then connecting her with the person who had the baby. I know she would send photo updates if asked. I don’t want to intrude on an essential stranger by asking - especially with covid. But I sure would like to cuddle and pet that baby.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @unksol I don’t think they have done oh shit reports in several years unfortunately.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @unksol Pretty sure that was before my time and I’ve been here nearly five years.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @unksol Even if you didn’t understand all the tech stuff they were pretty entertaining.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 an example

https://meh.com/forum/topics/ohshit-report-fukobukuro-2-the-unluckier-bag
4.5 years ago. Ish

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @unksol huh…don’t remember those

@tinamarie1974
If you haven’t done it yet, it’s worth the read to get thru the whole thread.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @unksol I miss them. Since I’m no longer in the working fray, I yearn for the scent of adrenaline and panic, usually about five minutes before quitting time.

@tinamarie1974 Examine it carefully. Is it
/giphy murder hornet

@OldCatLady OMG that is the stuff of nightmares!

@tinamarie1974 But real. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/first-live-murder-hornet-captured-us-180975987/

@OldCatLady lalalalalalalalalalalala

/giphy hear no evil

@tinamarie1974

I went full on Rambo

maybe we can get meh to source some of these:

@chienfou it would keep me from having to wash down walls/floor after killing it to ensure the puppy does not ingest any of the poison spray!!

@chienfou @tinamarie1974

/image harbor freight bug zapper racket 2

@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974
Oh how I miss the days when you could get a coupon to get one FREE with any purchase at HF
(still have two in my barn/shop that i got that way…)

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 My Bug-a-salt only angers hornets and wasps unless you hold the barrel 1" away from them.
Works OK for flies and is fun!

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 Here’s a non-toxic spray recipe (I haven’t tried it myself)

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/cheap-way-kill-wasps-92157.html

@chienfou @daveinwarsh oh that is far too close for comfort. What if I miss and it pisses them off!!!

@chienfou @Kyeh thanks!

@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974
well would you look at that… looks like sidedeal is giving HF some competition in the bug zapper racket racket.

@kerryzero

/giphy mascara zombie

@f00l YES!!! Very close impression!

@tinamarie1974

So you found out he’s 2/3 brontosaurus?

/giphy brontosaurus

@f00l Who told!!!

@tinamarie1974

you just seemed sort of person who would adopt a two-thirds brontosaurus without realizing that you had, because you thought it was a dog.

: )

@f00l You know me so well

@tinamarie1974 Your dog is actually is half cat?

@Kidsandliz he DOES stretch like a cat. Such an odd boy. He arched his back up instead of the traditional dog stretch where they stretch their legs and bottom out their mid section.

@tinamarie1974 My cats do it both ways… omg does that mean my cats are half DOGS??? NO no no tell me it isn’t so!!!

@Kidsandliz yup! You have half dogs!!!

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Today is yesterday’s tomorrow. Just saying.

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady point taken…was a busy day. Posting NOW

@OldCatLady Well that sucks big time. I hope they get it straightened out.

@OldCatLady still blame? maybe unblame by now if your package came out of the Ellenwood Package Black Hole? Any update?

@ruouttaurmind are you a Supernatural fan? There are FIFTEEN whole seasons you could binge watch this winter

@tinamarie1974 It’s not a genre I can usually get into. Plus, Sam and Dean are probably less eye candy for me than maybe they are for you?

@ruouttaurmind well, they do make it fun to watch

@ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 I just watched the first new episode since they shut down production. It was super fun. It might be a good one to try.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01 I enjoyed it as well and that is welcome to come live here! I would love the help!!

Also, I could bring dates around and find out if they are good guys or not lol!!

@ruouttaurmind Blame accepted. This is the Way. Unblame arriving on Oct 30th.

@kykazaa Fair one.

@RiotDemon sorry, that sucks! Come over here I’ll share my Beouf!

@tinamarie1974 be right there!

@RiotDemon I accept the unblame for the dog, however, if your floors were clean you could have claimed the 5 second rule. I’ll accept the blame for your unclean floors.

@kykazaa I own a dog, lol. I do not eat anything from the floor that I can’t wash off easily.

@RiotDemon pizza stove in the oven?!?

@ELUNO damnit. You caught me.

@RiotDemon two dogs, two cats, three kids. We can’t keep anything clean

@ruouttaurmind LOL So is it actually delivered or are you still waiting?

@ruouttaurmind was it delivered to usps at that time?

@RiotDemon @Kidsandliz It was an Amazon return being sent back to the Amz warehouse. No smartpost involved I wouldn’t think.

@ruouttaurmind ah, my bad. One of my meh orders shipped ups smartpost/innovations/whatever and thought that you had one as well.

@CaptAmehrican bummer. I accept the blame for no Santa this year. Unblame because we still have Jesus - the reason for the season.

@Kidsandliz oh no! Glad you are ok!

@Kidsandliz did you butcher it? Venison is tasty.

@CaptAmehrican Nope. I left it at the side of the road. I would have gotten blood all over the inside of my car not to mention I have no idea how to butcher a deer. I did notice on my way home someone had picked it up already. Of course anyone driving the other direction would have seen all the blood on my car and kept an eye out for it to pick it up. So someone anyway got free deer meat and all I got was a nearly $1400 car repair bill (could have been far worse and if it had been an adult gone up over the hood and through the windshield or gotten hung up on the roof rack or something so all things considered I got very lucky)- not even a t-shirt!! (LOL) Makes me sad for that animal though. It wasn’t even full grown.

@CaptAmehrican @Kidsandliz now I’m curious what car cause a fender and air dam shouldn’t cost that must unless it’s pretty new or you really care. The air dam you can live without and a fender can usually be sourced used.

Depending on where you live, although I’m guessing might apply cause country lane. If you call the county sheriff to report it they sometimes know people who will pick it up or someone who will process and donate it.

I’ve only clipped one once and it didn’t cause any damage to the car and ran off. But they run across all the time. Usually you see their eyeshine and can brake/throw on your hazards. But if a young one is on its own it can be dumb enough to sprint for it when two of you are coming at each other… You can’t really see them with you headlights at each other till its too late.

@Kidsandliz Hey, lady - you need to stop having all these catastrophes in your life! Time for a little boredom and monotony.

@Kyeh Hey I’ll take boredom. At least I wasn’t in that house fire. There is that.

She’s been having “problems” and “catastrophes” since she got here some years ago. Far more than her fair share even. She must have really pissed somebody off.

It’s beyond belief actually.

@unksol Next time I’ll call. Never hit a deer before, I don’t hunt and so had no idea what the drill was and that there was a system set up for people to come collect them to eat. Although in this case it looks like someone did pretty quickly anyway. Of course continuing to drive down the highway I was a pretty obvious advertisement for carnage left behind me somewhere.

I went to the place the insurance company said to go for the estimate. All the clips are snapped off on the sides of the fender where it goes around the corner by the headlights. That then tore out the screw things that hoId the wheel well liner (currently held together by zip ties so my tires don’t burn any more holes in them due to rubbing). I suggested superglue or bondo where clips are gone and the holes are ripped. They were not amused. I had been hoping all we needed to do was heat up the plastic and pop the dent back out. Both places said that wouldn’t solve the torn out clip things and resulting rips. The radiator grill is cracked in multiple places too. I am just so lucky it was a small deer. I don’t even want to think about the damage had it been a full grown buck or something. Last thing I need is a 10 year old car totaled out only because it is 10 and not because it can’t be fixed.

I then went to the place I was going to get the car fixed. Their estimate was a bit lower. As I hope to keep this car another 2-300,000 miles and 10-15 more years it is worth fixing right and not jury rigging it. My insurance is charging me 1/2 the deductible because I could prove an animal was involved.

Quite honestly these newer cars may protect you better in an accident but oh my gosh they damage so easilyand extensively for something even small. I remember years ago when my dad backed his 1940 packard (he got it as a 13 year old used car driven by the proverbial little old lady only on Sunday’s and kept it forever) into another car in the driveway 3 times in a row trying to get out. Trashed that car’s door totally. Not even a hint of a dent on the packard fender or other evidence of any other damage on the packard. That did not give him credibility when teaching us how to drive and back up. LOL

@therealjrn I didn’t ask you.

@Kyeh I wasn’t talking to you.

@therealjrn How about leaving the mean comments in your political threads. The snide personal attacks are tiresome. I miss hearing about Snickers and CC.

@Kyeh You seem like a nice lady. May I say something here? Saying things that are fact is not mean, it is just the facts.

I (and others) have been accused of “bullying” and “attacking” for simply pointing out the frequency and dizzying array of angles a certain poster constructs.

Frankly I’m tired of it too.

@therealjrn I hope I’m a nice lady but I can’t stand this stuff you keep doing. It’s like walking along and suddenly stepping on a turd. If you’re duking it out with her directly and she’s giving it back to you, fine. I get it already, you don’t like or respect her, and that’s fine too. But if other people are interacting with her then it’s their/our problem if she somehow turns out to be the conniving manipulator you keep saying (and saying and saying) that she is. I don’t like having the really nasty political comments show up in the non-political threads, and I also don’t like seeing these snipes all the time. It disappoints me. There’s so much meanness on view every time I watch the news; I don’t want to see it here where most of what I read is funny and interesting.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @therealjrn @CaptAmehrican

I don’t know what is going on here. Anyone can be dishonest on the internet. They are plenty of scammers who fake things or fund raisers on the internet. She hasn’t asked for this particular one. I have no legitimate reason to doubt her at the moment.

She already mentioned insurance was paying for a good bit. I simply suggested if it was just a fender replacement i would happily do one for a friend far cheaper than a body shop when I had time. If I could find one at a yard. So she might know someone who could do the same.

Newer cars when those crack you can’t undent them. Or bondo them. And if you exactly match the trim up or order OEM which is what body shops and insurance do they charge and arm and a leg.

Quite frankly if it’s 10 years old… Might be time to start doing PL/PD on it and not trying to put it back to new. A dented /cracked fender doesn’t need replaced as long as it’s not hitting the tire. And the splash shields street critical if you’re paying more than the car is worth. And keep an eye on suspension parts.

But if the radiator is cracked. Just a radiator and new coolant might be $300 plus labor to install and flush at a body shop. Having a friend fix it if the front end isnt wrecked maybe $150…

It will happily crawl under a friend’s car and bring my tools and a little cursing if they need help. I wouldn’t mind a beer but wouldn’t require one. My cars are way older “beaters” cause I can and I don’t care. But people who don’t have friends who will/can handle that are stuck with local shops.

@unksol I had presumed if you heated the plastic you could bend out the dent. Shows how little I know. Thanks for the suggestions though. I appreciate it.

My one car my kid called the ghetto van. It died at 25 years and 3 mo (blew an engine bearing). Peeling and faded paint, a tear in the side metal that I filled with clear bathtub cauking to keep the metal from rusting (student was apparently pissed and walked down several rows of faculty cars in the parking lot finals week and bashed holes in each of them), I’d sand down the roof to stop the surface rust and spray with gray rustoleum. It just about matched the faded blue.

When my kid backed into a light poll in the shopping center parking lot early one morning learning to drive it was great to have a beater as I didn’t care about the dent. It was really nice to have something where stuff like that didn’t matter. It was like my little sailboat I owned. Bought it at around 25 years old, been capsized in an oil spill, fiberglass was delaminating, a zillion patches that didn’t match… but it sailed just fine and I barely had to spend time keep it up since it was already trashed. I won ugliest boat on the water one year. Hopefully this car will last at least as long.

Unfortunately I don’t know anyone who does car stuff. I have no idea it is priced out with OME replacement parts or not (I didn’t specifically ask for that so maybe not. Who knows). It is what it is unfortunately and luckily I only owe half the deductible because it an animal was involved.

@Kidsandliz only do much you can do if you don’t know a mechanicaly inclined person. Body work is always tougher if its not a bolt on swap and even when it is they have made those parts fragile/expensive in the name of style instead of a real bumper on many cars.

@unksol I miss having a “real” bumper. This giant piece of plastic that covers the front and then wraps around the sides of the car just about guarantees an expensive mess with just a tap. Earlier this summer when I was at MD Anderson Cancer Center someone backed into me in the parking garage and fortunately didn’t break anything when they dented the corner of my rear bumper. I left that dent alone when I found out it was plastic rather than metal (eg no rust issue).

A friend of mine and I have joked that the overriding concern with car design is to make it as expensive as possible to do something simple to keep the automakers’ repair shops in business (which I don’t use unless forced to). I was shocked to discover with this thing you had to remove the manifold to swap out the spark plugs. Never that that major expense before to just change spark plugs.

@Kidsandliz the Saturn is beyond simple to change anything and I have swapped the manual transmission while leaving the engine in through the wheel well. No lift required.

Expedition is a pain cause of how deep in and far down the rear spark plugs are. But that’s what you get to fit a V8

Never heard of pulling the intake manifold to do spark plugs. They would have had to design the plugs to last the life of the car or that’s… Nuts. Doable but I would never bother unless I got misfires or another leak around the gasket.

@unksol The ghetto van was fairly easy to deal with except for having to get numerous parts from the junk yard near the end of it’s life. I was incredibly lucky that my mechanic could make things. My timing belt guide broke and for love nor money, including several friends and repair shops I had used in the past in different parts of the country searching for me too, couldn’t find a junk yard one. He fashioned one for me out of who knows what!!!

@Kyeh Your naivete is charming.

@Kidsandliz glad you are ok.

@Kyeh omg, that is HORRIBLE

@tinamarie1974 It gives my house a Halloweenish ambience I can do without!

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
two words…
/giphy road trip!

@Kyeh even after it rots the smell might stick for a while. If the space is accessible you will probably eventually have a fly that finds it. I have two or three times had a mouse wedge in somewhere small and die cause they fit anywhere. Under linoleum in the laundry room. Under carpet. Cats may have participated in those deaths, still not sure. Eventually the concentration of flies and smell helped locate it.

Some thoughts. Keep all doors closed to help isolate/concentrate the smell. Then. Go to the store or errands if you have some. Or just go outside and drink a beer for an hour. So your nose resets. Cause you get used to it. Then go room to room to find where the smell is the strongest. Maybe you’ll find a region of the room.

If you are comfortable you could go in the attic and check for gaps in the top of your walls. Ideally they should all be sealed of for insulation reasons. But if you find a gap and you can smell it might be worth cutting open the bottom of the drywall to remove the corpse and then patch it. But normally If something fell down a wall you’d have heard it panic scratching.

After I bought this house I later found a piece of trim nailed over a hole in the master bedroom wall. And vacuumed a whole squirrel family of bones, skulls, and fur out. Thankfully they didn’t smell anymore.

@unksol Thanks, it’s actually dissipating some. I sprayed a thing called X-O around; it has its own weird smell but when that dies away it improves things (without adding any yukky perfumey smell the way Febreez does.)
I had this happen in my basement once and sure enough the flies came - it felt pretty diabolical, but eventually it all went away.
A squirrel family though - that would take a while to stop stinking!

@Kyeh Make sure it is OK for you to breathe in for any length of time what you sprayed around. Hope the stench goes away.

@Kidsandliz Well, I sprayed it in the morning so I think it’s okay by the time I go to bed. I keep the window open too.

@Kyeh speak of the devil a mouse has gotten. In for the first time I like 2 years… The cats are Immediately on it… I need to get up and toss it outside while they have it cornered. They are extremely effective.

They have it cornered under the robot vacuum

@Kyeh ergh. I was slow and thought they were playing with their squeaker toy at first which is pretty good but was only $2.21 when I bought some. Idk I’d pay $4 and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HWF2W6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Before I noticed it darting and them teaming up. Seems to have squeezed down the heating duct under the bot. Hopefully they didn’t mortaly wound it and it will pop back up. That would suck when turning the heat on.

@unksol Oh no! That’s too weird - what a coincidence. Too bad it got down there, ugh.

@Kyeh lol it will probably pop back up and they are on alert. Only one known incident where he killed one via a stray claw. And it was running hard so I doubt he got this one. I killed the hvac and pulled the huge filter. Should find it’s way out when it calms down.

And they will find it. Most cats are not garfield. Although I guess mine have all been taken from strays… An indoor from kitten might never have learned that instinct… But these guys are good at it lol

@Kyeh @unksol Mine have eaten (all inside my house) lizards, frogs, spiders, tried roaches (puked them up and never tried again)… They do play with roaches though. One night I woke up as a cat was jumping on and off my bed running around. I turned on the light. Turns out she was playing with a roach. Would bring it up on the bed, knock it around until it fell off, jump down, pick it up gently with her mouth, jump back up, release it, play, it would escape off the bed… rinse and repeat until I caught it and threw it out the window. I wrecked their fun at 3am.

@Kidsandliz @unksol Oh yuck!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh I’ve never had one actually eat anything live but they aren’t allowed out where they have the opportunity. Stealing chicken bones/spines after cooking a bird… Sure.

They are highly efficient murderers so yet another reason to make them convicts. Most of the time.
https://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh just got up. They were on alert in the kitchen. Took me a minute to notice they were both staring in one direction and staged. Pulled base drawer for cookie sheets etc. In went a cat out came the mouse lol. Disappeared under the oven. Pulled the warmer drawer. Probably under the dishwasher.

Little psychos would rather sit there and wait than do anything else lol. I would feel bad for the mouse except… They usually die in traps before they get in and usually I can pitch them into the woods once the cats corner them before they get hurt.

Plus it’s impressive how good they are at this.

@Kyeh @unksol A cat of mine who died in 1998 wasn’t even on alert when it came to mice except as a delayed reaction. Once I walked into the kitchen, he was eating, a mouse ran between his food dish and the wall (dish was by the wall), and he didn’t even turn his head. He just kept eating. When he was done he went over to the fridge and sat down with his ears forward staring at it. Mice apparently were safe from him.

And then there was the crow that came down the chimney. I came home one day to find him and his buddy busy with a crow. His partner in crime was gently holding the crow (who was bigger than she was) by the wing. The bird was flying back and forth across the livingroom/dinning room about 12-18" above the ground dragging the cat with it. Managed to get the cat off the bird, bird landed on the stairs, I caught it and couldn’t find blood (except mine where it was pecking me), nothing felt broken, so liberated it outside. I don’t think it was all that hurt because it flew off straight away and wasn’t “limping” while flying.

Both cats sat in front of the fireplace and stared at it for weeks. Whomever says cats don’t have much of a long term memory don’t know cats. LOL I then stuffed a bunch of newspaper up the chimney (no flue) to keep another bird from getting in the house that way.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh lol it happens. I’ve never had one not key on them immediately but they were all strays so mamas might have taught all mine to hunt before they got lost. The first one and now oldest was tiny though and hes led the rest. Seemed to young/small to have been hunting. But played fetch as soon as I got him home. After disassembling the glove box cause he crawled into the dash on the way home and I had to steer and shift and couldn’t grab him. Asshole lol

@Kidsandliz @unksol Well, they really shouldn’t have chicken bones either:
https://www.felineliving.net/can-cats-eat-chicken-bones/
My cats have all been indoor cats, but there’s one in my neighborhood who roams free and hunts - he’s a huge cat, larger than some small dogs.
But dogs kill animals all the time too, despite what that comic says. My coworker was just telling me about how her dog killed a chicken at her friends’ house, and how her parents’ dog killed magpies.
One of the sweetest cats we ever had - so sweet that the vets could clean his teeth without anesthesia - was killed in our own yard by a wolf-hybrid dog that the fucking owner let run off the leash! That was horrible.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh he didn’t actually eat them and I definitely wasnt trying to feed them to him. He just kept picking them out if the container I tossed them in after I deboned it too pick the meat/collogen/fat I couldn’t get. But yes I should have pitched them first.

But he’s not a dog or going to start actually nawing on it either where it would be an issue. Just being a cute asshole. And yes dogs can kill. And I don’t think they should be outdoor pets either or left on the yard unattended usually. But cats don’t need to be out at all. Some dog breeds just have to be out and were specifically bred for that type of behavior. Most need walks at least. Some designed to hunt. Some to run all-day protecting a herd and be farm dogs. and some owners just think “I want that it’s cute”. Without considering its needs

The biggest difference is a dog on its own just running around is going to be reported cause we don’t have wild dogs and they would probably die on their own. We def have feral cats who can live years on their own. And breed. And survive… Even when owners dump them. So they probably do more murder. And “owners” who let them roam but idk if you can really claim to own an outdoor cat. They do what they want.

@Kidsandliz @unksol Yeah, I agree with all of that!

@Kyeh That is awful about your cat being killed by a dog!!

@Kyeh @unksol Sheep dogs - When I worked in Scotland for an outdoor adventure program one of the other instructors I sometimes worked with had a sheep dog. That dog went nuts when the group (usually 12 students and 2 staff) were single file on a trail. That thing would run up one side and down the other trying to herd us all together. He’d butt the back of your lower legs with his head trying to get you to go where he wanted you to do.That walked/ran twice as far as we did each day due to that behavior.

@Kidsandliz {That is awful about your cat being killed by a dog!!}

It was.

@Kidsandliz @unksol Hilarious! My sister’s first dog wore little paths around the flower beds in the yard because she was “herding” them, so funny! She was a very small dog but maybe there was some Corgi in her.

@Kyeh @unksol luckily we’ve never had a mouse, but the cats love catching the flies that sneak in

@Kyeh @kykazaa they are definitely less effective at the bugs although they try since they move. I will admit to picking them up and pointing then at a spider… Outdoor pesticide in the spring does most of that. Traps in the garage get most mice

@Kyeh @kykazaa @unksol Oh yeah. I forgot about wasps, flour moths, flies, spiders and etc.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @kykazaa continuing the saga if anyone cares… The mouse apparently has home base. I think. In a hole in the stone work around the gas fireplace. The roving hunters alerted me when it came back out twice. Seems to keep going for the kitchen cause duh and I’m sloppy. 3rd time they pinned it under the couch and kind of rotated the perimeter… Idk how they know to do that. They each grabbed at it several times when it tried to run There was always one watching from each side…

I interviened trying to get out from under the couch and almost got it but of course through them off and I missed. Back in his hole… They are back on patrol…

They are interesting to watch when they know it exists but don’t have a lock on it yet.

@Kyeh @kykazaa @unksol Stuffing steel wool in the hole to block it would make sense. Mice don’t chew through that. Of course if it is in your wall rather than the opening actually being outside that would cause other problems.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @kykazaa I have a spool of copper mesh for that reason for squirrels. Although they do chew anything and the metal shards kind of… Kill them.

Because the house is built into a hill and the basement is a walkout l the chase that the fireplace is in are built into the sunroom 12 feet or something up. I doubt it actually came in from there although it’s possible.

More than likely it came in from the garage cause it’s getting colder and found that gap when the cats went after it the first time and had it cornered. So now it is its safehouse. And I don’t really want to block it in there and have it die.

Not one to freak out about mice they are cute and I had hamsters and gerbils and giniea pigs and rats. Just can’t have a wild one getting into stuff and starting a colony. It will come back out and they’ll corner it again.

@Kyeh @kykazaa @unksol or have them chewing on wiring. The thing I learned about mice, if you catch and release and haven’t blocked how they are getting in they will just be back. You have to take them further than I suspected to keep them from coming back (I no longer remember but it was pretty far for a small mouse).

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @kykazaa the squirrels in the attic are a a bigger threat. And yeah they get run down the road a few miles. I’m in the woods ish and 12 acres there are just going to be mice. Used to be a couple a year in the house in fall when I put traps all over the garage and some in the attic. And they stole bait. But the cats addressed them. I figure something is going to eat them when I toss them back. Never had one right back in but they get a chance

Haven’t had one in the house since I put these in the garage that you don’t have to bait. Or check every day… If you can accept a mouse starving to death… They are pretty effective cause mice follow the walls. If you check every day and want you can of course relocate them adopt them or feed them to your pet snake. Either way they were way more effective than like 20 of three different versions of mouse traps deployed. The first one does the most and is the simplest. Rural king caries one on the shelf i believe. Or maybe that was menards

https://www.amazon.com/Eaton-Repeater-Multiple-Inspection-Window/dp/B000WZ4KO0

https://www.amazon.com/Kness-101-0-002-Ketch-All-Mousetrap/dp/B00004RA4D

This one just missed them I guess.

@Kyeh @kykazaa @unksol So these are, essentially, live animal traps but for mice…

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @kykazaa they are if you check on them. and they definitely work you just dont have to bate them cause thier behavior puts them in. I consider them multi mouse traps. Vs single bait traps that break their neck and you have to use once and toss the bodies/reset/rebait. They replace 20 some traps easily but if you don’t check them daily… You will end up with some dead mouse goo… I know I need to clean mine

And the opening goal was to murder them in traps… So… Does it really matter if they get their neck broke or kill them differently?

A larger live trap I definitely watch and is not always out. I only used it for my escaped cats like twice . and strays. Rarely. I have got a couple raccoons and A possum doing that but I just let them back out immediately. Once in a while s sreabdw cat they’re

@Kyeh @kykazaa @unksol be careful handling a lot of mice. There is a mutated house mouse virus that may be responsible for me getting breast cancer on both sides and follicular non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. I have dealt with a lot of mice over the years, both as the oldest kid growing up it was my responsibility to do something about them, and then when I worked in outdoor adventure (in our housing all the time, run over us sleeping in cave entrances, etc.).

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @kykazaa
They can also carry hantavirus. So. Yeah
https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/hps/index.html

I’m careful disposing of them or cleaning up after them and wear a mask if there is potential dust. Since there is no food in the garage and most die in the traps. Eh. Good to be cautious but some things are super rare. I don’t want bit so the rare ones in the house I try and direct into a box.

@Kyeh @kykazaa @unksol Well yes some things are super rare. Fortunately for everyone.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @kykazaa
And the mouse showed up in the kitchen. Under a drawer I had pulled out. Didn’t see it come out from the living room. Just noticed the cats being on alert. Picked up the drawer and it tried to run. And the cat just picked him up in his mouth lol. Which is typical.

Mouse was squirming at first and when he dropped it there wasn’t a mark on him… He didn’t bite it just picked it up. But I think he gave it a heart attack cause it definitely seemed to have died.

Poor mouse…
Good kitties…

@Kyeh @kykazaa @unksol Unfortunately I am sure there will eventually the rest of the chapters in this book saga…

@sammydog01 don’t knock MD. We are a nice state.

@sammydog01 Yes I agree with @CaptAmehrican. There are places of beauty all over the state, the coastal area is really amazing in places, they do cool things like schooner races, their aquarium isn’t bad, the eastern shore is (mostly) a sleepy low key string of small towns, nice beaches, nice camp grounds, the mountains are pretty I’ve done some nice hikes there… there are cultural attractions… and I have probably forgotten a lot. I wouldn’t mind living there at all.

@sammydog01 nooooooo not the nuggets!

@CaptAmehrican I guess I should find a less murdery part to drive through. (And apologies, I thought you lived in Virginia.)

@sammydog01 It’s just the people, not the state.

@OldCatLady States don’t kill people, people kill people.

@sammydog01 i graciously accept the unblame for your nuggets at the second town you went to. I cant take any blame for whatever it is you call Maryland.

@mike808

That’s some damned fine musical mayhem there.

@mike808 unblame accepted

/giphy beavis rocking

@kykazaa The gif syncs up perfectly with the tempo!