Goat Stop Me Now! (August 2023 scapegoat blame thread)

@ircon96
(wow, this is taking a lot of tries to get the right one)
/giphy this is fine

@ircon96 @xobzoo …but as a goat, of course.

(ironically, as soon as I commented “this is taking a lot of tries” the very next save got the one I was looking for)

@ircon96 @ircon96 lurking seems to be a good avoidance method, as well as keeping busy with studying.

@lisaviolet OMG!!! I’m so glad it missed your eyes. I once picked up a kitten that was terrified of a dog in front of it and got clawed in the face for my efforts - right below one of my eyes!

@Kyeh The really sad thing is I was more worried about getting blood on the bedspread and pillowcase.

And my glasses cover both scratches. Great placement. lol

@Kyeh @lisaviolet I’ve had cats leap from the dresser onto my chest while I am lying in bed. That hurts more than one might expect when they come at you with an acceleration that takes into account that it isn’t that close. Especially if they land on my port. No clue why they don’t aim at some of the empty areas of the bed when they do that.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @lisaviolet Is this why I still only have catshirts and cat plushies instead of actual cats?

@Kyeh @lisaviolet @narfcake Probably because you don’t want pin prick cat claw holes in all your cat shirts.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @narfcake

One of our cats gave my husband a black eye. He was watching television, one cat behind him on the back of the chair and DeeJay didn’t appreciate it and slapped the other cat. Yeah, missed.

At the time, Brian worked in construction. It was easier to wear makeup than explain the shiner.

And when I had my gall bladder removed and had to lay flat on bed, I totally understand where you’re coming from, @Kidsandliz. I most certainly do. A pillow on my belly didn’t help much.

I have catshirts and plushies. Plushies are where the cats can’t get to them. I have a bunch of Meh pillows and Nooby has chewed holes in the two on the bed because he loves them. A little too much.

And I do resent little holes in my shirts, that’s a true statement.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @lisaviolet
YES, @narfcake THAT IS PROBABLY THE REASON YOU WOULDN’T WANT THE REAL THING! BUT YOU’RE ALSO MISSING OUT ON A ONE OF A KIND TYPE OF LOVE!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @lisaviolet @Lynnerizer @narfcake My late sister had the most lovable cat that would drive her crazy at night, because she insisted on playing with my sister’s eyelashes while she was sleeping. She would wake up with little scratches around her eyes. I thought it was adorable!

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @lisaviolet @Lynnerizer @narfcake Ouch! Scratches around her eyes?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @lisaviolet @Lynnerizer @narfcake Yep, but just little ones. Idk why my sister insisted on locking the poor baby out of the bedroom at night! So mean. Lol

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @lisaviolet @narfcake oh we know why you don’t have one. You’re scared of soft fluffy warm things.

Or have allergies or something. Lol.

Or you’re actually pinky, of pinky and the brain, and possess a good survival instinct .

Or you’re actually pinky, of pinky and the brain, and possess a good survival instinct .

@unksol

@PHRoG No worries. Not like you were getting paid or were going to get fired. Job well done, I say.

@ExtraMedium @PHRoG Hope you get that promotion. Then you can unblame this goat.

@PHRoG I hope your son is doing better?! That’s a lot, sorry I nominated you at an especially difficult time!

@Kyeh @PHRoG curse of the goat. Sorry about your kiddo. Hope everything works out ok

@PHRoG Since you mentioned it on my watch, you can blame me! Sorry to hear about that, what a sucky experience! I hope the little guy feels better soon & the situation gets resolved permanently.

@Felton10 Oh no, how awful for both of you! Sending you guys lots of good vibes and healing prayers, and a speedy recovery!
On the up side, it’s wonderful that you’re in a position to be able to help your daughter with an aide. I’m sure she appreciates it more than you know!

@Felton10 Hoping the surgery takes care of her problem. It’s good that you are in a position where you CAN help her with home aid.

You still have your wisdom teeth ?

@Felton10 @lisaviolet Speedy healing to you both, though i must say I’m jealous of your daughter, i was in orthopedic rehab for almost 4 months! It might seem like forever, but 3 weeks will be a breeze. As for the dentist, i hope you won’t have to return!

Btw, Lisa, i only had one of my wisdom teeth removed, the rest were fine, so they left them alone. Just lucky, i guess.

@ircon96 @lisaviolet I just had one of my wisdom teeth refilled. Dentist said he could pull it, but at my age am very protective of all my body parts even teeth and he is it is more dangerous because of age.

You would think Florida is the toothless and outhouse capital of the world with all the “New Teeth Now” and bathroom remodeling commercials on TV.

@Felton10 @lisaviolet Lol, we get those incessant ads up here in New England, too. I guess there’s no shortage of toothless people with outhouses! That’s smart, going with the filling, so much more can go wrong with oral surgery. Good luck!

@Lynnerizer I had cataract surgery done on both eyes one week apart about 10 years ago. Hated those bifocals which I had to wear before I had it done-now only reading glasses for computer work.

@Felton10 @Lynnerizer I will probably be eligible for cataract surgery on my left eye in about five years, at which point it’s likely that the right will be starting to cloud up as well. I am not looking forward to the event, since for the moment my sight is good enough to keep me from having to wear glasses to drive.

@Felton10 @werehatrack
Yes cataract surgery is changing/helping so many people! My mom also hated her bifocals and she doesn’t even need glasses anymore (except for reading) since her cataract surgery a couple years ago. Her eyes were so bad! She’s always joked about going to the eye doctor and having them point her in the direction of the eye chart! Lol
I’ve only had to wear readers for the past 10-15 years or so but when my sugar (I’m diabetic) gets too high my eyes are so blurry that I can’t read the closed caption on the TV, that’s a bit scary!

@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @werehatrack When my mom had her cataracts done a couple of years ago she was shocked that one of her favorite shirts wasn’t just several shades of blue and white - it had yellow in there too.

@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @werehatrack Interesting story although not so funny then after I had my second cataract surgery. It was my birthday and both our children came in for it and we drove up to Tampa about 50 miles away to eat at Bern’s Steak House. When we left it was night and I really had a hard time seeing and told them I needed to go by way of the straightest shot to get home-no turns which we did.

The next morning my eyesight was appreciably worse and made an emergency appt at the eye dtr. Went over there and he asked me what could I read on the chart on the wall. I said what chart (no joke). He asked me how I got to their office this morning and I said I drove. He then told me that I was legally blind and he had seen my condition (can’t remember what it was exactly) in one eye after cataract surgery, but never in both eyes at one time. He prescribed some medication which cleared it up after a few days.

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @werehatrack Congratulations to your guy, Lynn, it’s exciting when something like that happens! Years ago, my mother had framed one of her jigsaw puzzles & hung it in a high-traffic spot that my father would pass daily. After having his cataract surgery, he finally realized it was a puzzle. Lol… He was so amazed at the dramatic difference in his vision, he was almost like a little kid seeing things for the first time!

@Felton10 @ircon96 @Kidsandliz @werehatrack
Oh that’s funny! Puzzles ARE really hard to see though if you don’t know that’s what it is.
I’m starting to realize that he’s got better eyesight than me now and that’s crazy weird!

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @werehatrack
OMG Felton, that must have been so scary! Thank goodness it was only temporary! Wow!

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @werehatrack
I didn’t realize that it affected colors. She must’ve felt like she had a whole new wardrobe!
Lol

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @werehatrack
sounds like the reaction I had after lasik years ago. It was remarkable to see individual leaves on the trees!

@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @werehatrack As your lens gets cloudy it also gets a yellow tint. That is how colors are affected.

@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @werehatrack Just for everyone’s info-at some point after new cataracts, your vision may become cloudy again in which case a minor procedure may have to preformed where they put holes in the new lens call “Yag Lasic”. A minor procedure, no pain killer and you can drive right afterwards. One eye required it less than 6 months after cataract and had the other eye done earlier this year more than 10 year later. Had two different types of lenses put so maybe that is why for me.

It improved my night vision and driving greatly.

@Lynnerizer My former mother in law had this yesterday! Fingers crossed the other eye next week goes smoothly

@Felton10 There is an electronic billboard in town that says “We have Yag Lasers” but the Y looks like a V and we have often debated if it is a vag mounted laser for defeating ones enemies or if it is a laser used ON a vag for … maybe hair removal? Both of which would be odd things for an eye center.

@MsELizardBeth That is funny, but maybe you have to multitask with equip these days to have them pay for themselves.

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @werehatrack
FYI, it’s not new “cataracts”- that term refers to the clouding of your OEM/God-given lenses, which are removed in the surgery- dissolved by a laser and suctioned out before implantation of the new plastic lens[es].

During the surgery, they leave the posterior [rear or back] membrane of the lens capsule in place to support the new lens[es], and this is what can eventually [sometimes soon after, and otherwise years later] get cloudy and impair vision after the initial lens replacement, which is treated by further laser application to clear up the visual distortion it causes…

@ybmuG See if this song gets that one outta yer head!
/youtube If I were a rich man

You’re welcome!

@phendrick @ybmuG Ah, I was going for “Don’t stop me now!” (thus the first two lines of the post)

@phendrick thanks for the…ummm… help

@ExtraMedium @phendrick just listened to that in the car the other day so you’d think it would have been first to mind, but no!

@phendrick @ybmuG I must say, @ExtraMedium, i wholeheartedly approve of your choice for my unofficial theme song, keep up the good work!

@phendrick @ybmuG I generally use Weird Al’s The Saga Begins to counteract an earworm. But I’ll let someone else link it if they feel the need.

Meanwhile, I will toss out a neologism for your consideration; the word is “earagami”, and it’s the art of bending your ear so much that it conforms to the shape of the phone.

@lisaviolet Do wet minks smell as bad as wet dogs? I hope not.
On the plus side, a lot of those items probably needed airing out anyway.

I take it you’re not worried about rain there today. The last time it rained here was about three weeks ago. Just about four hours after I hauled a mattress and box springs out for steaming and airing out. Didn’t occur to me to check the weather forecast, as it had been hot and dry the previous three weeks :>( Amazing how heavy a wet mattress (queen size) can be. Left it out there two days longer than planned, so it could dry out again. But it smelled a whole lot better after that than before.
[Now I’m thinking about putting a twin size mattress outside, to see if I can attract some more desperately needed rain.]

@phendrick The wet dog smells better here because if he’s wet, he just got a bath. She got the mink when my dad was stationed in Athens back in the mid-sixties. I found the sales slip for the coat and it was $645.

The cover was what stunk the most. I imagine that’s what it smells like in hell.

Hubby found the leak. It was caused by this little thing that holds the pipe in place, the U shape, rubbing on the copper pipe and putting a hole in it.

Rain. What’s that? Well, we did have a few sprinkles earlier this week, barely enough to cool us off. We’re hitting monsoon season, which means cloudy and humid. And hot. That’s it, rain is rare.

@lisaviolet @phendrick Your ceiling looks a lot like mine did last winter, except mine was caused by a huge branch impaling my roof over my relatively new, giant TV! I still don’t know how the water missed the important stuff, it was SO close. That was 5 days after Christmas, then a couple of months later, the same tree fell on my house! I was starting to think i was in that M. Night Shyamalan movie where the trees & plants start getting revenge on humans.

@ircon96 @phendrick As yesterday wore on, I found out that there was more damage to the stuff that was in there than I realized. Nothing major, but the container of RCA cables and coax and splitters was a surprise. I started going through it, found a Toshiba VHS player that was put in sideways and started to pull it up and…

I called out to my husband that now I knew why he was complaining that it was so heavy, how did I ever manage to move it around and I said “well, I was stronger then” and made muscles with my arms, saying “see my guns?” and made a kissing sound on one of them like Sadie did in Logan Lucky (we love that movie).

The bottom of the container had about four or five inches of water in it. Nothing was salvaged.

It took most of the day (you know how do it yourself repairs go - there’s always something you don’t have that need to finish the job) and today, he’s off to Lowe’s to get cedar and he’s going to cover the hole with that.

And I will not have anything electronic that isn’t completely wrapped in plastic in the closet again. This is the second time there’s been a problem.

I’m really close to seventy years old, I don’t want to deal with this again.

@ircon96 @lisaviolet I’d be willing to deal with it maybe three more times, every ten years or so. (But would call in help and let them do all the actual work.)

@ircon96 @lisaviolet @phendrick August seems to be making its entrance with plumbing problems - today I discovered that the pressure tank for our well is leaking. Called the well folks, but no word back yet.
The good news is 1) the tank lives in its own separate shed, so no water damage to household and 2) we still have usable water pressure.
I expect the bill for replacement will be multiple $K.

@ircon96 @macromeh @phendrick Ours is now fixed and hopefully we will not have another problem with it.

A few trips to hardware stores. A Sharkbite fitting from True Value. A section of pipe from his brother’s house. A copper cutter and Sharkbite coupler from Lowe’s. A plank of cedar fencing from Home Depot.

And here we are:

Damn, that’s not a cheap fix for your tank. Brian’s brother put his tank in (they have a well, house was built in the fifties, just around the corner from us) and it was over a thousand. And that was just for the tank, he did all the work himself. We’re in Southern California.

I hope they can get it done quickly.

@ircon96 @lisaviolet @phendrick I guess I can’t complain (but I still will! ) - the whole well system has been in service for over 25 years, with only a few minor problems until now. According to various websites, the typical life expectancy for a pressure tank is 15 years. So I guess we’ve been lucky so far.
I’m a pretty handy DIY person (I plumbed our entire house myself), but a replacement tank has a shipping weight of 166 lbs. I don’t think I’m quite up to wrestling with that.

@ircon96 @lisaviolet @phendrick Woo-hoo! Well guy just called and said he can replace the tank today! $1925 for the tank, plus (unspecified) labor.
So probably not quite as much as I had feared.

@macromeh Must be huge! The biggest one that Tractor Supply carries is only $800. Or maybe that’s for the tank plus labor, in which case it’s not at all unreasonable for getting the job done by a pro.

@ircon96 @lisaviolet @macromeh
I guess all the “well wishes” came through!

Then you are saving a lot over anticipated spending. So you have more money left for Meh and IRKs (and free advice and such here)!

How about an UnBlame? @ircon96 could probably use more of those the way this month has been going.

@ircon96 @lisaviolet @phendrick @werehatrack Def Unblame for the goat, for having household water again so soon.
The tank is ~120 gallons. The quoted price for it is within the range of prices I found when looking online. I haven’t seen the final bill yet that includes the labor and a few other peripheral items that also needed replacing. It has been 25 years since the well and associated hardware was put in place - a few grand worth of repairs and maintenance does not seem unreasonable, especially compared to 25 years of water bills from the city.

@lisaviolet @werehatrack Awww, thanks, @phendrick, for thinking of me, the lowly goat! I am humbly grateful.

@macromeh … for the labor charges. I hope your local plumbers aren’t like the ones around here, basically thieves armed with wrenches instead of weapons!

@lisaviolet
Glad you got your ceiling fixed. Notice you have a copy of Rummikub. We have played that as a family for MANY years and now play 3 games every day with my 91 yr old Mom after she comes over for lunch. Starting to have some memory issues so the rules are a bit fluid, but still she holds her own.

@ircon96 Many years ago, we had a big tom whose favorite thing in the bedroom was the high windowsill, and whose favorite route down from it was via me - since I slept on that side of the bed. That was when we started keeping the cats out of the bedroom half of the house.

@werehatrack Damn, that really sucks! Personally, I’d use it as an excuse to have a lot of smoothies, milkshakes, DQ Blizzards, etc, but that’s me. Too bad the timing didn’t work out a little later in the season, that scowl might have come in handy during Halloween! But seriously, hopefully you’ll heal extra fast & will be MUCH better before then, so you can debut your stunning, newly-refined visage & forget all about this hellish hiccup in your journey.

@phendrick I was still editing when I got cut off by the time limit to edit. So I will finish here. This seemed to me to be appropriate for a blame thread.

Frisco and McKinney are Dallas suburbs.

I’m sure this can be attributed to negligence and/or inattention on at least one person’s part, but the child, the driver, or the parents? Or a combination?

Out on a bicycle at 5:30 AM? A little early to be on the way to school. There was no indication of how well the intersection was lit. Or whether the bike had lights. Would have been very hard to see if it came from the side into the path of the driver. But should the driver been looking a little better? Should the boy have been better trained on traffic safety? Should the parents/guardians been keeping closer watch on the child? The final chance to prevent this was with the driver, whether they were to blame or not.

I’m posting this to hopefully make everyone aware of how quickly a life can be ended. Make yourself be more attentive on the roads and even city streets! It’s bad enough to lose children from mass shooters, personal violence, drugs, but major leading cause of youth deaths is still TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS.

Don’t be to blame, even tangentially.

@phendrick

Out on a bicycle at 5:30 AM?

My grands school starts at 7am. When I was a kid we had activities before school (clubs, extra choir practice, etc.). Maybe he was on the football team and since they have practice in the weeks before school even starts, maybe they had practice before school that day. Maybe he wanted to be early to meet his friends before school started and have time to talk? Maybe it took him a half hour or more to bike to school. Maybe if he didn’t ride his bike he’d be on a bus and didn’t want to take the bus. I think likely there many legit reasons why he could have been riding his bike to school at that hour. With staggered starts, who knows. His school might have started prior to 7am.

@Kidsandliz @phendrick The school day is 9AM to 4:25PM, but with the heat running so high, the outdoor extracurricular activities have probably been shifted to before school rather than after. I don’t know for sure that Frisco does this, but I’m aware of several districts that do.

@Kidsandliz @werehatrack Here’s the latest update I found. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/15-year-old-frisco-isd-boy-killed-on-his-bicycle-headed-to-the-first-day-of-school/3313103/
It says that he indeed was on the football team and there was an early practice. Witnesses say that speeding has been an issue in the area. The school was not new, drivers should know it was there.

My point still stands: This was preventable if the boy, the driver, or both were more focused on the realities of traffic. It requires better personal responsibility.

I’m sure there will be more recriminations on this as time goes on, everything from calls for better street lighting, more police patrols, even doing away with the football program. Does anyone think calls for better safety instruction for child bicyclists or adult drivers will be high on that list? I don’t, but think they should be.

In my community, the TxDOT solution for reducing traffic crashes at intersections and turns into commercial establishments was to put up MILES of concrete center lane medians. This was not an expressway, but a business district. Fewer places to turn => fewer accidents during turns. Merchants weren’t happy, because businesses were harder to get into and out of. Wonderful. Totally logical. Keep following that logic and just require everybody to walk everywhere if you want total safety. Too many motorcycle or bicycle deaths? Just ban all two-wheeled travel. We have had bicyclists and motorcyclists killed here by car drivers, where the FAULT usually lies. But I never hear about charges from these.
Our society is now in the habit of blaming everyone else.

I first rode a bicycle all over my small town at the age of 9 or 10. I rode my first motorcycle about 55 years ago. I never got hit by a car, but there were times when it was MY actions that prevented that, because they tried and I didn’t let them. I especially learned to watch oncoming drivers who could possibly (illegally) turn left in front of me at intersections, and often did. You have to watch over yourself, and others, best you can.

As the school year continues, don’t put yourself into the position of that driver that hit the bicyclist this morning. Even if totally not at fault, imagine how they feel. Drive as if lives depend on it.

@Kidsandliz @phendrick @werehatrack The left-turning car vs. motorcyclist is tragically what happened to Treat Williams, & it turns out the guy knew him. That’s another lesson, you never know who it is that’s sharing the road with you, it could be a friend or family member that gets killed. So, if you’re a misanthrope that doesn’t care about strangers, i guess there’s that.

The poor kid on the bike reminds me of a local skateboarder that was recently hit & dragged 60 feet by a driver that didn’t even stop. By some miracle, he survived, but one of his many injuries is mental, wondering how someone could leave him there to die. It was especially heinous, because it happened around 2 a.m., so they couldn’t assume someone would be around to help him. People. They’re still looking for the a-hole.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @werehatrack

The left-turning car vs. motorcyclist

borders on attempted assault in my judgment. Many times riding a motorcycle I had to hit my brakes when about to enter an intersection b/c of the idiot turning in front of me with no claim to right-of-way. No accident, because I drove with a mindset expecting such things. In fact, even in my pickup, I am a two-footed driver, with my left above the brake pedal when i am in traffic.

It’s absolutely no better on a bicycle.

I haven’t ridden a MC in years (but am thinking about fixing up my old Honda CB700SC Nighthawk, a perfect commuter bike for around here, vs high gas prices for my truck).

The usual lame excuse after a “cage” obliterates a motorcyclist is “I didn’t see him”. I call BS. Forty-some years ago, my office mate used to keep up with the current issues of various MC magazines. One issue, I think it might have been Easy Rider, had a lead article about a guy writing about this phenomenon.
He had bought at auction a retired police motorcycle that no longer had the insignia on it, but still had all the cachet. He said it was amazing how car drivers would slow down when he was in front, behind, or on the side of them. He said this didn’t happen when he was riding his like-sized Harley. His premise was that in general car drivers see motorcycles, they just don’t give them a bit of respect. I afraid the situation is probably worse now with all the damned wannabe-motorcycle scooters out on the roads, that even motorcyclists have no respect for.

On a related note, I’m all for cell-phone usage banned while driving, even the hands-free ones. These are distractions and carnage waiting to happen. Driving can be a life-or-death activity.

@Kidsandliz @phendrick @werehatrack Then again, we have our share of motorcyclists who drive like absolute maniacs around here, so there’s more than enough blame to go around. I’ve heard reports that driving skills & basic courtesy have taken a nosedive since the pandemic, so that might explain some of the uptick in frequency of these incidents, even though they’re problems that have been around just about as long as vehicular traffic, i suppose.

@ircon96 @phendrick @werehatrack Here several years ago on the highway there was a group of 5 or 6 of them weaving between all three lanes of traffic, sometimes on both sides of people. They they started going down the road doing wheelies. I called the police at that point as that was dangerous.

@Kidsandliz @phendrick @werehatrack Yeah, they’ve had several incidents in NY in recent years involving large motorcycle & dirt bike gangs assaulting other drivers in between doing a lot of what you described. Total menaces.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @phendrick Crotch-rocket pilots running between vehicles at 120+ is a daily hazard on the North Central Freeway up in Dallas, most often seen on the stretch from Richardson into Plano. Down here in Houston, the 610 Loop near my house is a favorite; I think it’s because there’s a complex interchange that they can use as a way to split up and defeat pursuit efforts. The cops don’t seem to be making any headway when it comes to stopping them. Same goes for the asshats that go out there racing their Hellcats and modded Mustangs.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @werehatrack Many years ago, I used to travel North Central a lot to visit relatives in both the Plano and McKinney areas, so I witnessed a lot of those crotch-rocketeers, behaving exactly as you all described. Maybe a short stint with an EMT team in the Metro area should be a requirement for getting licensed there (for the bike and the rider) so they could see the possibilities firsthand.

But the most remarkable thing I ever saw there was on a return trip with my wife that took us on South Love Freeway. I was driving, my wife was talking, it was after midnight with relatively light traffic for that road. IIRC, speed limit there was 55 and I usually went about 5 mph over; it was 4 or 5 lanes on our side .
We got passed by a Charger type vehicle and I realized there was a guy climbing out of the passenger window. I pointed it out to my wife.

He proceeded to get on the roof, face down, facing forward, holding on to the roof edges with both hands, and deliberately slid back onto the trunk. And was stark naked.

He rode this way for a mile or two (a minute or two) and then clambered back onto the roof and back through the window. My wife and I couldn’t quit laughing while we watched the car disappear ahead.

Sure wish I had had a dash video camera then. It would have made a great YouTube video nowadays. (Actually a little surprised they didn’t have a chase vehicle to film it.) Still made a great story when we got home. I always wondered what kind of a bet the dude lost! (Or was that one he won?) And whether he had ever heard the term “road rash”?

@ircon96 @phendrick @werehatrack When I worked in Scotland we (staff) were going down a narrow rural road at night dodging sheep (you have to pay a lot of money if you hit one). Some of the staff thought it was a good idea to go out the driver’s window, passenger moves over to the driver’s seat, into the passenger window, rinse and repeat. We were probably going 15-20mph if that due to sheep. So the one person didn’t come back in the passenger window. We turned around and he was in a tree laughing his head off. He had grabbed a tree branch when we had stopped to let a sheep get out of the way.

@ybmuG I lightning bugs! If it’s any consolation, there’s always the celestial light show, the Perseid meteor shower, which happens to be peaking this weekend, especially in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday the 13th. It’s pretty cool. It’ll last till the end of the month, so if it’s cloudy where you are or you’re too sleepy, etc, you’ll have more chances to get your butt out of bed!

https://www.space.com/32868-perseid-meteor-shower-guide.html

@ybmuG

@tinamarie1974 @ybmuG OK, now I know to BLAME Sigma for no longer having any fireflies around here. Haven’t seen a one in 4 or 5 years. I had just been ascribing it to excessively hot and excessively dry weather, along with all the excessive city light pollution, and was ready to blame @ircon96 for all that, but now I know better.

@ircon96 @phendrick @ybmuG well from what I understand this project ended a long, long time ago (when my parents were kids) I suspect it didnt help, but I would blame climate change and the loss of habitat.

I kinda wonder if they paid someone to count all those bugs that came in the mail. Like, nah this is only 91. Or oh, this kid included a few mosquitoes, etc

@ircon96 @tinamarie1974 @ybmuG LOL on the wonderings. I thought it was pretty old, since the first sign had no ZIP code on the address and had the two-letter prefix on the phone number. Are those signs that you have?

@ircon96 @phendrick @ybmuG oh my gosh I didnt even notice that! Also, the lightning bug looks a little too happy. Clearly it does not know its butt is gonna be pulled of to steal its biolumenessence

Not my signs, although they are pretty cool. I did a quick google search and took a few screen shots. It was a well known thing in the St Louis area and Gumbys post reminded me. Figured it was worth sharing.

Also, FWIW, when Im outside and only see a couple blinking in the night sky, I also wonder if it is Sigmas falut.

@ircon96 @phendrick @tinamarie1974 @ybmuG This for a fire fly? Right?

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @phendrick @ybmuG seen those pics before. They are spectacular

@ircon96 @phendrick @tinamarie1974 @ybmuG Someone was brilliant. It must have taken a while as they have no shirt on in the first one.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @phendrick @tinamarie1974 @ybmuG I’d bet that the first one was done as a standalone bit, and then somebody asked where it was being wheelbarrowed off to, and a plan was hatched to do the other three. Note that the background and the light quality are both different in the first shot.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @phendrick @werehatrack @ybmuG

https://www.pixheaven.net/photo_us.php?nom=110913_5897

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @phendrick @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack well that was a huge rabbit hole… There are some really cool pictures on that site.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack @ybmuG I really like that caption “Full Moon Gardening”. Neat in itself, but before I saw that I thought it was actually a globe with some kind of light in it, maybe even multitudes of our favorite bug under discussion. Then it hit me. You know, like “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore”.

@phendrick
If it’s long and it’s green,
And it looks really mean, that’s a moray.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @phendrick @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack @ybmuG
#2-4 look like Jason Momoa.

@tinamarie1974
your parents must be about my age. I can remember this program, but never did take part in it. Not that I didn’t capture my share of fireflies in my day…

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 I think I vaguely recall seeing one of those ads, but as the northern-style firefly is not found in Miami, the offer was not even briefly enticing. There’s a luminescent bug down there, but it’s a click beetle with two green phosphorescent spots on its head. Not the same thing at all.

@chienfou nor did my parents, but my dad knew about it. Mom is 75/dad is 70

@tinamarie1974
Yep, that tracks. I am (slightly) younger than them. Get them to tell you about the earthquake in '68…

@chienfou earthquake or tornado? I dont know about an earthquake

Mom lived in the city very near the old Arena and saw the tornado. Said she was terrified. Ran right behind my grandmas house

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 It is terrifying seeing a tornado. I have had several very up close and personal experiences. I no one reading this or their families ever have to see one.

About 8 or 9 years ago I was driving (headed home from work) on a road with no way off (eg to turn south to get away from it) when I saw one out the driver’s window slightly behind and slightly north of me. Fortunately it was paralleling me. When it was even with me the wind picked way up, tree limbs landed in the road around me (still no way to head south). I was nearly home and the radio was tracking it’s progress. As I finally turned onto the road that went to the one I lived on it was in the air ahead of me, slightly to the right and kept trying to go back on the ground. Had it been successful it would have landed around on top of my house or that of my immediate neighbors. Fortunately it stayed in the sky until the reservoir and came down over water.

A waterspout (tornado that starts over water, I lived in Virginia across the water from Norfolk, VA) landed in my backyard, my house was engulfed in a lightening ball while I was in it - that was really a strange experience (melted my lightening rod but amazingly no other electronic damage except 3 slate shingles that came off the roof). It damaged the backyard fence and the 10 houses behind me.

Back when I lived in Norman Oklahoma the first Moore force 5 that swept clean foundations of about a third of the town and brought an airplane wing 90 miles was landed just north of me (until the last moment it was supposed to hit our town, freaky to see lightening on the TV screen that matched what I saw out the window). Some years later (I didn’t live there anymore) a tornado tracked right through our neighborhood and the map showed a path where it went through the house 2 houses from where I had lived (so I presume a lot of damage to where I had lived too). So very glad I no longer lived in that state. The number of tornadoes we had around where I lived in Oklahoma had me watching the sky to keep an eye on the weather. I didn’t realize how much I did that and and had low grade underlying stress with each storm until I moved to northern Idaho. Of course there we had grass fires from farmers burning their wheat fields after harvest and the fire getting out of control, one of which came within 2.5 miles of where I lived. But at least you have plenty of time to run away from those.

@tinamarie1974
11/9/1968 about 11:00 in the morning. 5.4 on the Richter scale and the center a little over 100 miles away from St Louis. I remember being outside playing and the ground moving and the house shaking. It was pretty wild!
I also seem to remember coming back from football game in the fall of 72 and having a tornado (or at least terrible straight line winds) come through a neighborhood in front of me. I remember watching a garden shed go tumbling by down the street and a bunch of snapped off power poles as I worked my way through the neighborhood. It was pretty impressive!

@chienfou Ill ask them about the earthquake, I don’t think they’ve ever mentioned it.

@Kidsandliz Who’s to blame for that?

@phendrick the goat. duh.

@Kidsandliz @phendrick Hey! Isn’t that an unblame?? Not that I’m keeping score or anything…

@ircon96 @phendrick Hmm well it would depend on your point of view about coming to meh often.

@Kidsandliz @phendrick Well, you got me there. My baa-aad. (Ahem. I’ll see myself out.)

@Kyeh You might be doing a blame when you see your water bill.

@Kidsandliz True - although I was away for 2 weeks not using water I’d normally use, so maybe it will balance out!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh Oof. I don’t think I’ve ever done that, but i did do something similarly scatter-brained. Years ago, i forgot to shut off my car when i got home & didn’t discover it until later the next day. I think it was idling for at least 16 hours. Thankfully, i live in the boonies, so we don’t have many car thieves out here.

More recently, i forgot to shut off my heat tape until June! It was an unusually warm winter here, i probably could have gotten away with shutting it off early. Of course, i was distracted by breaking my femur & being away for almost 4 months, so i guess since it happened before my caprine tenure, i can blame the friends who were checking on my house during that time. What were they thinking??

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz Reviving this post because I just got the water bill that covers that span of time, and K&l, you’re right - it’s twice as high as the month before! That tree is looking pretty good, though.
About leaving a car running - I did that once, in the parking lot at work! Luckily a friend and I were going to lunch that day, so it only ran for half my workday instead of the full 8 hours. I sure felt stupid though.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh Well, we geniuses are so distracted by important thoughts, it happens to the best of us! (Sorry about the water bill, even though it’s technically @macromeh’s fault! )

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @macromeh

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh Hey, I just paid a $2400 water bill (see elsewhere in this topic).
Do I win?

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @macromeh
Oyyyy! Yes, you do. Is that typical?

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh
I have a well - the pressure tank sprung a leak and had to be replaced (after 25 years of operation), in addition to several other small maintenance items.

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @macromeh
So - not what you’ll be paying next time, then!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @macromeh Ouch! I would say you “win.”

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh

So - not what you’ll be paying next time, then!

Dunno - check back in another quarter century.

@chienfou Wow, you’ve got a lot of equipment! Sounds like it might be time for one of those whole-house surge protectors! That kind of weather is only going to get more & more frequent & severe, they say. In the meantime, my humble apologies for your troubles & hoping that’s the end of it!

@ircon96
I have one on the poolhouse panel, but I think in this case the modem/router/roku/ooma/cordless phones got toasted thru the (unprotected) coax then thru the ethernet cables. (old Roku 3 with hard wired 'net, not wifi…)
The outdoor stuff probably got popped due to the bonded grounding process for pool equip.
Oh and to top it off, the robot vac is just outside of warranty, and I bought it from Amazon using my VISA card during a 5% back promotional period. Generally they are all AMEX purchases and THAT would have extended my warranty by a year! Gonna try to dig around and see if my Chase card has a similar warranty boost.

@chienfou Wow, that sucks! Talk about bad luck. Fingers crossed for the Chase card working in your favor, at least.

@ircon96
unblame on the robot… I got a ‘under warranty’ RMA in my inbox yesterday! I was pretty sure it was a one yr deal so … Whoohoo. It’s boxed up and on the way there (hopefully before they change their mind about the warranty).

@narfcake Oops.

@narfcake Damn. The goat must have decided it wanted cooked food. I hope you won’t loose any important data. What a major expensive inconvenience.

@Kidsandliz Mostly just the inconvenience; the whole computer isn’t even worth $100. If the CPU, memory, and SSD are fine, then the only loss would be the motherboard itself.

@narfcake That looks like it could be a GPU subcard. If that’s the case, popping a cheap graphics card into an open slot might get you a working system - if the bios will find it and will allow disabling the on-board graphics. Direct replacements for older mobos can be a pain to find.

@narfcake Glad it is not a crisis level event.

@werehatrack It’s actually the motherboard’s chipset. OEMs are cheap and a heatsink would have cost upwards of 10 cents!

If the rest of the components are fine, a barebone can be had for under $30 – not that I’ll likely bother.

(Maybe for under $20 …)

@narfcake @werehatrack Yeah, if it’s not a proprietary format rig you can probably grab a matching atx (micro or mini even) board and have it running again in short order. If it were worth doing. I was looking at throwing a new mini system in the living room for multimedia stuff on the TV and ended up buying a Playstation 5 because $450 for something with a bit longer life was worth it vs building a weak PC at the same price point just to run my video library and maybe play a couch co-op game now and then.

@ExtraMedium @werehatrack Proprietary/non-consumer can sometimes have benefits – higher supply from retired equipment and a more limited second hand market (versus standard components) will tend to result in lowers prices.

Hence how one of the older Xeon workstations at work was loaded up with 128 GB of RAM for under $30.

@ExtraMedium @narfcake @werehatrack @Kidsandliz I have no idea what most of that means, but i will sheepishly (goatishly…?) accept responsibility. I’m glad it wasn’t too catastrophic, i have my hooves full with @chienfou’s electrical issues as it is!

@chienfou @ExtraMedium @ircon96 @Kidsandliz @narfcake @werehatrack

some magic smoke

I thought that only came from magic mushrooms being toasted.

@chienfou @ExtraMedium @ircon96 @Kidsandliz @werehatrack Well, the other components are working, so in light of the WTF of the whole situation, have an unblame instead.

@phendrick Magic smoke is what electrical systems contain when they are functional. Let the smoke out, and they stop working. Only Lucas has ever figured out how to bottle it, and it was essential that they do so; their electrics are notoriously leaky in that area.

@phendrick @werehatrack Yep. As vehicle electrics go, Lucas pioneered widespread inclusion of the intermittent wipers. Along with intermittent starter, ignition, lighting, and more!

@narfcake @phendrick @werehatrack Don’t forget the other kind of magic smoke!

@ircon96 @narfcake @werehatrack That’s a picture of the dude who owed me money, the last time I saw him!

@phendrick

@narfcake @phendrick @werehatrack @ircon96 And I thought you meant this kind:

@Kyeh @narfcake @phendrick @werehatrack Such a wide variety of options… Something for everyone!

@Kyeh Cute video. Sweeney looks like he could be my dog Ash’s long-lost brother (but Ash is deaf and does not sing).

@Kyeh @macromeh Hope someone adopts the guy.

@Kyeh @macromeh @phendrick Awww! What a good boy!

@Kyeh @phendrick I would consider adopting him, but: 1) LA is too far to go, and 2) there are plenty of deserving pooches in this area.
But I also hope he finds a good home.

@werehatrack I had the furnace go out one winter. Thankfully they technically didn’t do it “wrong” but it’s a twenty year old system. Just some gunk built up in the drain back trap over time.

I’d be a bit annoyed if it built up that fast

@unksol @werehatrack I’m glad you were able to figure it out so quickly, this is no time to be dealing with that kind of crap down there! Why is it so damn difficult to get a contractor who gives a these days?

@ircon96 @unksol @werehatrack I learned something a few years ago along that line.

I had been plagued with condensate from AC leaking above ceiling in a guest bedroom, close to the outlet. From attic, I put a drip pan above the leaky spot on the flooring above the leak and put insulating tape around the pipe that was directing the condensate to the drain, a few rooms down. Didn’t stop the problem; in fact it got worse, dripped through the ceiling in the next room, my son’s bedroom. Tried dealing with it there, to no avail.

Long story short: Turned out I was fighting on the wrong battle fronts. The issue was the drain pipe for the condensate was clogged with gunk, causing the condensate to back up to the other locations.

Got my son up on the roof with a 15-20 ft augur snake, and he punched a hole through the sludge through the pipe vent. Solved all the problems, except for the bad sheet rock in 2 rooms. But a house fire took care of that problem. (Most sheet rock through the house had to be replaced after helpful fire department put holes about every three feet in all bedroom ceilings. The fire had been at the other end of the house. The FD also not only knocked out most panes of glass, but also THEN the aluminum frames that held them in, as I watched.) Also, they had to return TWO times because of flare ups at the original location of the fire. Too, someone kicked the cage on the front porch that had a pet rat, which then died. Hate on me, but I am no longer a fan.

Anyway, if you want to sabotage some neighbors’ house while they are on vacation and have some quick-set foam insulation…

@phendrick @unksol @werehatrack Geez, i wonder if the flare-ups had anything to do with all the extra airflow they created?!

@ircon96 @phendrick @unksol @werehatrack
the catch pan under my (in attic) AC unit backed up and overflowed in the summer a few years back. Same issue with slime mold, but that one only had a couple of elbows (but a pretty long nearly horizontal stretch as well). Got it clear out then added some bleach to the pan to run thru the drain line. Haven’t have any trouble since.
/giphy knock on wood

@unksol I bet it lasted until exactly one month past the warranty. (They plan those things…)

But at least that is better than the battery warranty scam. Those they plan to fail about one year BEFORE the five year warranty ends. Then either you buy a replacement from the same crappy battery maker just so you can get the “prorated” credit on your old battery or you say Chuck It and you have paid more for a '5-year" battery and gotten 80% of the use from it that you paid for.

@phendrick it was actually manufactured in 2016. So. It had a good run. One of those early QHD IPS acers when they first came down in price, a year or two after everyone was buying those panels from China via eBay with no warranty. So. Not bad. Just. No signs. No issues. No stuttering. Just turned it off Friday or Saturday night. Nothing now. I’m sure the panels fine but I can’t pinpoint the problem without spare parts. Shame to waste a good panel though. Probably not worth shipping it for parts either though. Ewaste is annoying.

@phendrick and yes the car battery thing is… Eh. Although mine all go in rust buckets and I know the expedition has a current leak. One of the main body grounds was just rust before I relocated it. And that battery they prorated from the previous owner abusing it with no receipt. So… It’s almost four years. I can’t REALLY complain about this one

@phendrick @unksol Dang! I think i might actually be to blame IRL for everyone’s computer-related issues! I’ve always said computers & their peripherals hate me, they always seem to work great for everyone else & as soon as i go anywhere near them, they start malfunctioning! My theory is that i emit some weird electrical field or something, but i had no idea it could travel over the interwebs! I am so terribly sorry to foist my malady on everybody, i can only recommend you take extra precautions to discharge yourself before approaching any electronics you care about until the end of the month.

@ircon96 I generally have the opposite effect but the new one just would not show up with my old PC. Granted it’s a 13 year old gaming build with a… 4 year old GPU upgrade I think? Finally hauled it up stairs to the tv, reset things, swapped to a GPU used in my first build in like 2002 lol. Finally started cooperating, put the newer GPU in and it’s fine. There was cursing and maybe some unnecessary roughness. But it works now. Probably not monitor related, it’s been finicky for a while cause. Old. So unblameish?

@unksol Well, old i can understand, unfortunately. Although, i too find that sometimes getting “animated” works wonders with that stuff. When in doubt, give it a boot in the ass, i say.

@ircon96 well. If old is getting old technically you’ll be joining the dead in… 15 and a half days. So. There’s that lol

@ircon96 @unksol Percussive troubleshooting is a real thing, after all…

@ircon96 @werehatrack yeah but the 3lb sledge does better on the cars than the computers lol

@unksol My smallest and largest dead-blow soft-face hammers. (I have many in between as well.) Back of hand truck for scale.

@unksol Joining the dead anytime in the near future would NOT surprise me at this point!

@unksol @werehatrack “Percussive troubleshooting” is the perfect phrase for that methodology!

@ircon96 @unksol @werehatrack

yeah but the 3lb sledge does better on the cars than the computers lol

Some years ago a student tried “Percussive troubleshooting” of his grade with an axe on every faculty car in the faculty parking lot finals week. Back then the ghetto van had already earned its name wings. I fixed it with tub waterproof sealant (so when that thing died at 25 years and 3 mo no rust there). I only had one hack. Some cars had far more. His “A” in getting in trouble did not help his college career.

@unksol @werehatrack I’ve used small ones for such things as tapping hub caps back on, but what the heck is that large one’s intended use? Moving concrete wheel stops an inch or two in a parking lot?

@phendrick @unksol @werehatrack

but what the heck is that large one’s intended use?

Suggested uses:
Tear apart the house TV shows for the tear apart section maybe? To kill fire ant hills so you can stand far enough away for the first blow (then you run)? Take in your car for when you need to parallel park but the driver of the one of the ones infringed on the open space (which is why it is still open to begin with no doubt) and you wack the tires to make the car move over to the other side of the line?

@phendrick @werehatrack yea… I did wonder about the big one. Usually when you get that large you don’t need a dead blow any more a sledge hammer is acceptable. Or the back end of a splitting maul.

I guess I could see persuading a transmission and engine to separate or something but you couldn’t fit it in a normal car. Semi? Large construction equipment?

@unksol I have a laptop I got in 2017 and it’s been giving me fits for the past year. I’ve spent more time trying to get it to work, than getting any work done on it.

I ended up getting a new one that I’m working on right now (I still have my tower in the office).

I did a clean install of Windows 10 on the old one and it’s working better, but has been semi-retired to the extra room.

At my age, I don’t have time for that. Every day it was cmd - sfc - scannow and the DISM stuff - never found any problems

@lisaviolet now that I could probably fix. Or… Possibly. A motherboard going flaky is always possible but also really rare/weird. Usually it’s something else. But. When you need it to work you need it to work.

@lisaviolet sigh. Fought with it again today. Because it worked fine with a new driver install. But once you rebooted it it would black the screen after login. Which can be a thing with these cards. Finally pull it back out. There are two just trashed pins on the HDMI outbound connector… The only one it has.

Head bang. I know better. Didn’t think HDMI was that susceptible to bent pins though. The only reason I didn’t try display port was all my cables are a foot too short without relocating it. And that’s the correct conector anyway. Serves me right

@unksol Well, now you know.

I am a big fan of extensions. I have a drawer full.

Too short? There’s an extension for that.

(If I could be like any superhero? I choose Elastigirl. Because I’m short. My extensions are stools and chairs.)

@lisaviolet extensions/couplers are just bad news for high speed data connections. They are already fighting length problems vs cable quality so you don’t really get away with that anymore

@werehatrack Yep, there’s not enough air conditioning in the world for me to be able to survive down there. When we in NH start warming up to the usual southern/southwestern averages, i might have to relocate to the Arctic circle. Although, this summer we’re in a relatively cool, rainy pattern, since we’re on the other side of the crazy, amplified jet stream. No happy mediums for any of us, i guess. I accept full responsibility. I sowwy.

@werehatrack And we’re up to 21 consecutive 100F+ now. The forecast says we might only hit 98F on Tuesday. We shall see.

@werehatrack We’ve hit around 3 weeks of 100+ too here.

@Kidsandliz @werehatrack heat index was 118 yesterday. Suppose to be hotter today.

@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Yikes!! I have no idea what the heat index will be when it will be 107 thermometer temperature later this week. But what I do know is the A/C in my apartment (one motel style one for 2 rooms) struggles with 95.

@Kidsandliz @werehatrack not sure what the actual temp was, I know it was under 100. But the humidity. Woke up this morning and the air is so think outside already.

I think I heard Wed and Thurs will be the worst days of the week. Cant wait

@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Hope charliedoggo hates it as much as you and does his business outside at lightening speed.

@Kidsandliz @werehatrack he enjoys the weather. All of it

@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Well I hope he enjoys being outside without you so you don’t roast to death.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack
I guess I should be grateful that we’re only supposed to be in the high 90s here all week!

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Why be grateful? You are suffering in the high 90’s just as we suffer in the high 90’s. The fact that we are going to break thermometers with our upcoming highest temps ever at 107 and 111, etc. (never mind the heat index) doesn’t make your suffering any less.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack
Grateful it’s not 100s, and that I have a swamp cooler.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @werehatrack so grateful for the a/c. Otherwise I dont know what I would do!

Also K&L, Charlie refuses to be outside without me. As soon as I go inside he stops whatever he is doing and runs fullspeed for the door #velcrodog

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack I hope he is quick with his business then… that has to be really uncomfortable if he wants to stay outside a long time.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @werehatrack my boy has no sense of urgency. Pretty sure the neighbors get tired of hearing, Charlie Go Potty!!!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack My dog (Ash) insists on staying near me as much as he can. Probably because being deaf makes him depend more on eyesight to keep track of me. His one saving grace is that he is willing to go outside alone for his first (early) morning bathroom break, so I don’t have to put on pants (and maybe a jacket in cooler times) and accompany him to do his business.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @macromeh @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack I mean… You know. Cats will love you and you don’t have to go outside.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Granted the litter is heavy going both ways.

@unksol

Cats will love you and you don’t have to go outside

I do if they wanna get fed…

@chienfou I mean. The litter is going to get dirty somehow so it’s kinda implied. More a trip a month. Than a daily outage.

I have to go to the store to you know. Get fed anyway? Cat or not.

It’s more a… Output? Issue.

@unksol
you missed the point… my cats live outside… so no litter to deal with, but I do have to go out to feed them.

@chienfou ah. well no litter is good. But yea I’m sure the outdoor kitties still want fed. And all the kitty love is also outside so…

@chienfou @unksol Don’t get me started… My wife, who normally deals with the 2 cats, is gone for a couple weeks on a road trip with her mother. That leaves me with the cat duties (and doodies). I like the cats OK I guess, but the litter box chores make whatever pleasure I get from them
Not Worth It

Yes I have a dog, but he is sensible enough to make like a bear and go do his business in the woods.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @macromeh @unksol @werehatrack no, no cats here. Some of my family members are highly allergic and I have a fear from being bit as a child.

Of course I would never hurt them, and I love playing w kittens, but TM’s house is fully team doggo

@unksol I wish our eleven cats only needed litter box maintenance once a month, but daily scoopage of the three giant litter boxes is inescapable. Two of them hold 20 lbs, and one holds 30. We buy refills in 20 lb plastic sacks, and go through about three a week.

@werehatrack well obviously I meant for a single cat a box a month. But I feel you

If I could get a pallet delivered… I might consider it.

@tinamarie1974 I might have a bite tolerance. Hamster/gerbil/hedgehog spikes/cat

Normally with cats the last thing they will do is bite. They will retreat. They will hiss. Body language says back away. If they run out of options they will fight. Which is claws first, teeth last. If declawed they know it. So teeth.

A cat CAN mess you up so I get it. Grabbing a feral cat is going to be a very very poor decision. Chasing a cat that does not want the interaction also bad. May be learning curve with small kids.

Statistically dog bites are worse, but also rare so. Eh.

@tinamarie1974 also wasn’t implying that’s what happened to you/you did anything to get bit. Shit happens. Just almost all cat interactions should be like that though. They don’t normally come at you

@chienfou @macromeh @unksol Our dogs used to take care of the cat doodies in the yard…

@chienfou @lisaviolet @macromeh well. Cause dogs are gross. Lol. Jk

@unksol oh you are fine and it was totally MY fault. I was like 6 or 7 and wanted one of the neighbors outdoor kittys to sit on the swing w me. It tried to get away, I thought it just wanted me to hold it tighter. Not my brightest moment. It took a nice bite out of my neck. I let go and it ran away.

Now I have a healthy respect for them and I panic when they get near my neck.

Spent the week at a friends house once. Had a cat that just really liked me. 1st night jumped up in bed and laid across my neck. OMG!!! Scooped it up, opened my friends door and said nope, it is sleeping w you tonight. Shut their door and went back to bed. Lol. The next morning she was like, uh anything we need to talk about

@tinamarie1974 yea… That’s not a good spot to get bit.

Uncle had a huge to me at the time dog that would bark and jump up when you came in the door… I… do not care for that at all. Had a couple charge me. But at least a dog has never bit me.

@tinamarie1974 @unksol When I was three I went to the post office with my dad. A huge, to me, dog was in there (I now know was a greyhound). I was convinced it was a “horsey”. I kept asking to ride the horsey. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t ride it and why it wasn’t a horse. It’s one of my few memories from when I was three.

@tinamarie1974

and I panic when they get near my neck.

well THAT sux! And you should probably steer clear of Bandit. The little sucker (literally) loves to nuzzle into my wife’s neck and suck on her skin. I think the little bastard may be a vampire in disguise…
Glad Charlie has a doggo-friendly person to hang out with!

@chienfou omg, although I am sure it is very sweet, I would hyperventilate if Bandit did that to me.

In general I am very animal friendly and dont fear too much…snakes and sting-y insects are on the top of that list!!

@chienfou @tinamarie1974

The little sucker (literally) loves to nuzzle into my wife’s neck and suck on her skin

Cats often do that when they were separated from their moms too young.

EDIT
WAIT WAIT WAIT - I think your wife just blew it and you can bring the cats inside. If Bandit is up by her neck and it doesn’t bother her then she should be able to deal with them in the house too.

@chienfou @tinamarie1974

@Kidsandliz:

@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974

She’s actually still reacting but not as badly as she used to. Having them inside 24/7 would definitely be ill advised.

@chienfou @ircon96 @tinamarie1974 I am glad things are better with her as certainly bandit wouldn’t understand why she’d keep pushing him away. How cold does it get in the winter where you are? There are some really neat outdoor cat “houses” that are heated available that you might find useful to put on your porch then. There also are some feral cat “houses” that are insulated and protected that might be useful if it doesn’t really drop below 60 or so (well they get used with feral cats in colder temps but usually a pile of them are on top of each other which increases the heat and with two it would be harder).

@Kidsandliz clearly home depots next Halloween hit giant sculpture. Only released in Florida.

Eyes glow red and the heads rotate on the motion sensor.

They are probably little dinosaurs.

Ok. I can’t make it happen.
/youtube flamingo mating dance

@Kidsandliz I’d have classed that as an Unblame. Clearly selling flocks of deadly guard flamingos is a thoughtful and caring public service. You never know when one of the lesser kaiju or some lab’s neoclone of an ancient terror is going to get loose; it’s important to be prepared.

And meanwhile, the flamingos can look decorative.

@Kidsandliz @werehatrack How about some of these?

Or these?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh That goes beyond hungry and out the other side of anorexic. They must be zombies. We don’t want them biting a kaiju and making things worse, do we?

@phendrick Yikes that is high. I was thinking the 107 we will get later this week was going to be really bad (that will be the highest temp ever here).

@Kidsandliz @carl669
It has been a while since I’ve seen a fuck count update or encouragement to escalate. Hmmm. Conspiracy

@carl669 @unksol Well @carl699 did recently get married. Perhaps he has a different, ummm, fuck count now.

UNBLAME Found out the end of yesterday that I won my battle against the fucking place I live in. I was right and they were wrong (so it affects this fucking spreadsheet but at least everything will now be counted). Again. For the third year running. Had to involve the people who deal with hud complaints. They haven’t told them yet due to the hour they notified me. If past history is any guide the retaliation will begin.

@carl669 @Kidsandliz I mean. I didn’t specify which one. Although hopefully only one is determined via googling. And you know. Priorities

@carl669 @unksol

And you know. Priorities

And being safe for work

@Kidsandliz Congratulations… Good on you for sticking with it! Let’s hope some karma befalls them so they’ll be too busy dealing with their own personal disasters to retaliate.

@ircon96 Unfortunately retaliation is their best skill. They practice it a lot.

@unksol I did not call any cats. And then one of them jumped on me at 5:10am and woke me up. Of course I also had one sleeping at my feet and one at my head. No clue where the last one it. Which is why I am up posting at this hour as now I am not sleepy even though I know I’ll be tired later today.

@Felton10

@Felton10 @werehatrack
Wow that hurts. What were the biggest impacts?

@chienfou @werehatrack

@Felton10 Ouch! I sincerely apologize for their money-grubbing ways. Although, from the sound of it, it seems like you’re lucky they didn’t just cut & run like some of the other greedy cowards. They say some aren’t accepting new clients, while others are dumping their existing clients & pulling out of the state altogether. Pretty scary that they’re allowed to get away with that!

@chienfou @ircon96 @werehatrack Except for the increase, I am pretty satisfied with them as they were my homeowners insurance carrier for 16 years until I moved into my new house 4 years ago and used the builder carrier until they raised my premium 40% for the second year and my broker when looking for a cheaper option and guess who popped up as the cheapest-my old one and was able to attached flood insurance to the policy for almost exactly what the builder’s company was going to charge me. So they have been my carrier for 20 of the 21 years I have been in Florida.

@chienfou @Felton10 @werehatrack Let’s hope they stick around!

@chienfou @ircon96 @werehatrack Well they were listed as the number 6 insurance co in FL by number of people they insure and now there is a Progessive logo when I log on so that gives me a little more comfort that they were either taken over or associated with a stable ins company. The name of the company BTW is American Strategic Insurance out of Fort Lauderdale.

@phendrick Great story in these days. Everyone should have a pet and be appreciative like pets.

@Felton10 @phendrick

@werehatrack

VAN GOGH! MANGO! TANGO! AWESOME!

@tinamarie1974 How cool! Maybe @Tadlem43 should see them … she’s trying to figure out her kitchen cabinets right now!

@Kyeh @Tadlem43 can’t figure out how to do a link on my wayfair app, but here are some screen shots

@Tadlem43 @tinamarie1974 Nice!
Did you see @chienfou’s custom built cabinets in the “Do you drink enough water” thread?

@chienfou @Kyeh @Tadlem43 did not, but I checked it out. I have serious cabinet envy. Blaming the goat for that

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Thanks for the mention. It notified me!
This is awesome! Gives me more good ideas! I appreciate you posting the pics!
Got any ideas for a blind corner? The sink is too close for me to put in a lazy susan corner cabinet, and I hate to waste the space.

OWLS! TOWELS! JOWLS! AWESOME!

@Kyeh @Tadlem43 I sm actually looking at something. Check this out

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rev-A-Shelf-18-94-in-H-x-11-69-in-W-x-22-25-in-D-27-Qt-Double-Pull-Out-Brushed-Aluminum-and-White-Waste-Container-5PSP-15-CR/313917348

@Tadlem43 @tinamarie1974
That looks cool …!

@Kyeh @Tadlem43 @tinamarie1974
Thanks. It was actually an enjoyable project. And yes, drawers inside your cabinets are definitely the way to go. Having plain shelves makes it such a pain in the ass to get anything out of the back of the cabinet.
If I have a chance tomorrow I’ll post some more pictures of the pantry spaces I built.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Yeah… I thought about something like that. I’m trying to come up with a new idea. Maybe I’ll put a safe in there. lol

@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 That really is neat. The older you get, the more you appreciate easy access. I may look into something like this. Can’t wait to see your pics! Thanks for sharing!

@tinamarie1974
Unblame. Great recommendation on that HD blind corner set.
Concur on that bit about getting down on the foor to retrieve something. But…

Blame. Said Out Of Stock.
(Did mehmbers here just order them all??)

@phendrick it was OOS last night. Google the name a bunch of retailers offer it for sale.

@phendrick @tinamarie1974 The price for the three-tier, 18" wide, is $881 at HD. I really like the idea, but it would be a challenge to install even if I could afford to buy it.

@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Ouch.
I was so focused on the video and the “OOS” notice that I didn’t even look for the potential price.
I’m usually a lot better at taking things apart, fixing them, and then reassembling, but I might try to come up with something like this from scratch.
(I guess Ikea and Lego are out…)

(Even if it’s not too pretty, at least it would be out-of-sight from most critics.)

@phendrick @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Thus my hermit-like lifestyle…

@phendrick @tinamarie1974 A similar unit sells for $229 at the 'Zon, probably made in China.
https://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Kitchen-Organizer-Storage-Organizer/dp/B09TDXW6RD/ref=asc_df_B09TDXW6RD/

@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack There’s this one also, at $110 and the only review is 1 Star and says
" It is heavy duty so I think it would have been great" but “didn’t fit” to recommended measurements.
https://www.amazon.com/ZHAIUPON-Corner-Cabinet-Kitchen-Organizer/dp/B0C6X89QHC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

And the measurements shown are kinda flaky. Picture says 24.8 in H while description says the incredible 62 in H. That’s not even inch to cm error.
Company name is ZHAIUPON, so usual lack of QC, at least from copywriters. (What was the term you once gave for that lack of caring?)

Can’t decide if I want to chance it. I don’t have that large dead-blow hammer you showed a while back.

@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Ah, better not try it. Just measured and my outer opening to the cabinet below the pull drawer is precisely 24 inch. And I do want to keep a drawer there.

@ircon96 Considering that you’re still recovering from a lengthy ordeal with seriously breaking your leg, you were a very kind and responsible goat! Thanks!

@ircon96 @Kyeh

As far as i know, everyone came through with all limbs & digits still attached

Well, it wasn’t your fault but I did get the top of my femur cut off doing my hip replacement… Just sayin’

@ircon96 Thanks for your efforts. Kept the crowd moving right along. (Even though there was something to see here.)
And greatly apt giphy there.