POKER! JOKER! NOT MEDIOCRE! AWESOME!

@ExtraMedium I meant to reach out to you and the other Mehragonians. We have a pool and it made the heat somewhat tolerable. If it gets crazy again you’re more than welcome to come and brave them here. Also you need a tour of the shed and my crazy arse property anyway!

I can’t WAIT to blame @kyeh for the things! And I blame them. Ding dong this goat is dead! Bring on the new goat!

/giphy new goat!

@ExtraMedium @sillyheathen
Yeah, we took your cool weather and rain down here in CO - it’s neen a lovely week of rain showers and temps in the 70s/80s! Sorry, not sorry!
But seriously, I do hope you guys get some better weather. That triple digit stuff is RIDICULOUS! 🥵

@ExtraMedium @sillyheathen been, not neen. Blame to me for the typo.

@Kyeh @sillyheathen We can unblame on the weather. Woke up to clouds and 66 degree weather today. It was as lovely a day as you could ask for up here.

@ExtraMedium @sillyheathen
Wow! That’s fabulous - glad to hear it!

@sasantosh
That sounds pretty good!
I hope you had fun!

@sasantosh that’s a pretty weak first blame. Hope it’s not indicative…I’m sure we can do better!

@sasantosh blame because your zoo charges for entry. Come to STL, our zoo is free and its one of the best in the nation!!

@Kyeh Nah I was sweating in office when kids and wife were enjoying.

@ybmuG I have already played the covid blame few months back. I am running out of blames to dole out.

Just to make you happy adding to above blame.

@Kyeh Blame - started going to office. Hate it to the core because I have to take a bus, light rail and ferry just each way.

@tinamarie1974 No more WFH . And very few tech companies in STL

@sasantosh then it is a great place to visit with nearly all the museums free as well!

I think @Carl669 posted about visiting the Lou a while back and was impressed

@sasantosh No tech companies in STL? What about the NGS, Edward Jones, Pfizer, ExpressScripts, Wells Fargo, Mastercard, Citi, Amdocs, Bayer, Centene, BJC, Mercy, Ameren, Worldwide Technologies, and the downtown hub? Plenty of distribution tech in Earth City. There aren’t as many headquarters or global data centers like there used to be, but there’s still tech opportunity here.

@mike808 Well I said few. Every major city of world will have some or other tech presence, Never knew there were so many. Will surely be more careful with my words.

@carl669 @tinamarie1974 yeah surely will dokepp STL in the list. BTW we are yet to travel anywhere in USA.

@sasantosh @ybmuG

I have to take a bus, light rail and ferry just each way.

That sounds like a hellacious commute!
Maybe you should try to relocate - or else find a company that allows you to WFH - it seems like a lot of places have seen that it has advantages for the company as well as their workers.

@sasantosh the children’s museum is awesome and air conditioned. Dragging kids around a hot zoo while they wonder where all the animals are (hiding in the back/in the shade) is less so. So good choice lol.

DIPLOMAT! RAT-A-TAT! FAT CAT! AWESOME!

@sasantosh
If you haven’t traveled in the US, where have you traveled and just WHERE are you from??

@Kyeh @ybmuG I moved houses in January given it was pandemic and everyone was wfh with no end in sight. With rapid vaccination and companies asking people to come back. There are other ways to reach office (I can take bus and then a train, or drive to the ferry terminal). I believe the one I take is the fastest. It takes just 45-50 minutes door to door. Its not that bad commute given the house i am renting is in a safe community and not too far from work

@Lynnerizer I have traveled a little bit of USA, been to Vegas, grand canyon, Niagara falls, New England during fall, little bit of Houston, A lit of jersey and NYC.

Outside of USA, I was in hong kong for a year. It’s almost same as NYC, but cleaner. Matchboxes size houses, crammed public transport, lots of crowd, good food, lots of shopping.

If you are in HK, travel to Macau. It’s one hour ferry ride from HK.

I am from India (IT is filled with Indian and I am no exception).

@unksol No doubt. Kids love to play with toys more than seeing animals. In a zoo They would be excited for a few minutes and they would get bored just seeing animals.

@Kyeh @sasantosh @ybmuG

It takes just 45-50 minutes door to door. Its not that bad commute given the house i am renting is in a safe community and not too far from work

That is “not too far”??? Definitely different standards of “too far” in big cities I guess. I was once 17 miles from work (just over half of that via a highway) and there were days I thought that was too far.

@Kidsandliz

Back when you were “working” huh?

@therealjrn I’d imagine I am not the only one laid off and getting unemployment right now. Enrollment in higher ed is down 30-50% depending on the school. Adjuncts are the first to be laid off. That little thing called the pandemic - yah know? The particular job I was referencing in that post was one I had pre 2 cancers in one year. Your point is?

@Kidsandliz

Your point is?

{Faux-righteous anger}

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn

Cut it out!

No fighting in my blame thread!

@therealjrn I’ll be sure to tell the universities that I have adjuncted for that working for them isn’t an honest job. I would suspect that most people don’t feel that those getting unemployment, like I am, are the dregs of society. You do have to work for multiple quarters and clear a certain amount of income in those quarters to get it. All of us paid into this system, in my case since I was 16, and I’d suspect most of us are grateful that there is a safety net when we need it.

Welcome back by the way. I was disappointed to see that I came in #2 when you resumed your usual behavior and trashed someone else prior to trashing me. Here I thought I was number one in your book.

/giphy eyeball roll

@Kidsandliz {you’re my favorite}

@Kidsandliz {my absolute, 100% favorite}

Sorry @Kyeh. I didn’t mean to start a fight in the middle of your goat thread…but she’s a {Stymphalian Bird}

People need to know the truth {about Stymphalian Birds.}

@Kyeh OK, I’m done. We’ll see if people notice why she hides behind a private profile…

OPEN UP YOUR PROFILE kAl

She won’t, because it would expose a pattern of scams.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn

**STOP IT!!!

YOU ARE PISSING ME OFF!!!**

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Now you know how I feel when I see KaL taking advantage of the good-hearted, pure, people of meh.

She’s been a {Lernaean Hydra} for far too long.

Seriously…do I strike you as a crazy man? Of course, I’m a sober, sane individual well-versed in forum lore.

This KaL…

She’s cut from a different cloth.

@therealjrn

@Kyeh
Hey…I understand…

But the fact remains…

[uncalled for]. No debate…if she would release her forum files…

But she’s not going to…

@Kyeh @Kidsandliz @therealjrn jrn… This place was much nicer without you here. Grow the fuck up already. Jesus, you’re just an endless droning asshole. Your act is old, your “President” lost, and @Kidsandliz is liked here a hell of a lot more than you. Learn your lesson already and take a hike. I’m sure there’s some people over on 4chan that would appreciate you.

@cinoclav @Kidsandliz @Kyeh
So…Team Liz then?

I must tell you @cinoclav that you’ve hitched your wagon to a falling star…

EDIT: {More screeching noises}

I think this one can stop here.

@Felton10
You were the one who wanted to get him goated - I still think that would be … interesting!

@Kyeh I wanted him goated to deflect from me and maybe to carry on the family tradition (like the Bushes), but since he is my bird (at least we think he is a bird), that is my prerogative.

@Felton10 @Kyeh Of course there is this (posted previously on the original thread discussion)

Well, to that I say

@Kyeh Taking it like the good sport you are I see.

@Kyeh lol that snapped the cats head around so fast

@Kyeh and he’s dead now. So… Got to deal with that. I blame me

@unksol WHAT? Who’s dead?

@Kyeh @unksol The elderly cat who showed up at your backdoor??? What happened?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh no my cat. KitKat. Went to pet him and he was dead.

@Kidsandliz @unksol
I’m SO sorry!!! Just went to sleep and never woke up? That’s so sad … I hope the other two are doing okay.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh they’re… Alive. He had been throwing up and I was going to take him to the vet and that day he threw up with no food and wouldn’t even eat tuna which is… Wtf. But seemed fine.

I was going to call the vet… And he was just dead. So. I’m going to go get more alcohol so I can figure out where to bury him

@Kidsandliz @unksol
How awful - but at least it sounds like it wasn’t a long lingering illness.

@Kidsandliz @unksol This may sound weird, but when each of my last two cats died and I couldn’t get a hole dug right away, I wrapped them in a cloth and then put them inside a plastic bag in my fridge.

@Kyeh not really that weird but. I had to get through work. He’s just outside my office on a pillow. I need to do with him in the morning I guess

@Kyeh @unksol OH MY GOSH HOW HORRIBLE for you and your sweet kitty!!! That is SO HARD. But it isn’t your fault. Just like people some cats die young and there is nothing you can do about it. They may have an illnesses or lymphoma that is hard for a vet to pick up without more symptoms or the symptoms they have are so non-specific and so special tests may not seem to be indicated because of the generic, common symptoms.

I had a cat suddenly die like that. Coughed once that night but otherwise didn’t act sick. I petted her and she purred and wanted to cuddle so I decided I was going to take her to the vet in the morning since she didn’t seem THAT sick (it isn’t normal for a cat to ever cough so when they do they need to go to the vet). In the morning she was dead. She was just 3.5 yo. I had the vet do an autopsy as I was afraid she was sick with something that could affect the other cats and that I’d need to treat them before it was too late. Vet couldn’t figure out why she died or why she even coughed.

My cat that died in Feb turned out to have had fluid in her chest cavity and abdominal area (but not in her lungs) and her only symptom was not wanting to eat. Took her to the vet several times. Only because it had been going on for a while the vet finally did an x-ray and found the problem but it was basically too late.

So don’t blame yourself (I know it is hard not to). So often there is no way to know. Your cats knew they were loved, loved you back and had a good life with you.

Take care and know we are thinking of you today as your bury your sweet kitty.

@Kyeh @unksol Not weird to put them in the freezer. I have had to do that with several cats before I could get them cremated (no place to bury them where I’d be staying for years so instead I spread their their ashes at the family farm).

@Kyeh @unksol Having him lie on a pillow out in the open is not weird. Also it allows the other cats to see him and understand he has died. As a result they won’t go nuts looking for him, calling for him and wondering what happened.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh he’s just there cause I couldn’t leave him under the couch. And it’s close to the back door. And I didnt know what to do with him just had to put him down somewhere. That spot was available.

The new cat hated him and is probably happy. She’s all up on me cause he’s not which is… Meh… Idk that coco cares but she has no one to cuddle with now.

@Kyeh @unksol That’s sad. Coco probably does care as cats do like specific other cats and do miss them. You’ll have to cuddle her with when the new cat isn’t around (so there isn’t trouble) as she may struggle to get away if that cat has a history of attacking her.

Has that new cat put on weight or is all that skinniness due to old age? Did the vet have any guesses how old it is?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh new cat (twixy) is fine she just seems to be that way (on the skinny side).

She and coco mostly just go around each other. Although they had a few flat out fights. She and kitkat had a whole growl at each other stay out of my space staring thing with the occasional fight.

I wouldn’t have kept twixy because of that but I’ve worked at a shelter and I knew she’d just be stuck in a cage and putting her outside seemed meh so. Just figured we’d deal…

@Kyeh @unksol Tough to know what to do when you rescue a cat you can’t really keep but don’t want to abandon.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh you touched it last it’s your problem lol.

If I had an outside space and could deal with outside cats. I would have but you put food out and the raccoons come and I have no real shelter outside and I know I’m probably not stable enough to get them on a schedule. Fed a few before. She just walked right in the door so. Either way no more fighting I guess. Hard not to hate her

@unksol I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I know the feeling of losing fur babies unexpectedly

@unksol I am so sorry to read this.

@lisaviolet i miss him and he shouldn’t be dead cause I may have fucked up. But it’s dealt with. Pets always die.

https://meh.com/forum/topics/whats-the-most-important-factor-when-it-comes-to-getting-a-good-night-sleep#60f37420d98a59001b056051

Just was expecting him to live another 5 years.

@lisaviolet if you can’t already tell we only had hamsters growing up. So…I mean they were cute and all and ours had some epic adventures but. Still not really a pet. I think goldfish live longer

@Kyeh also for the record sorry the whole dead cat thing was not intended to… Whatever. On your first day. He was sitting in my lap and I played your clip and he was just like WTF being a cat. So thought it was funny.

And then he was just dead. And I needed to tell someone. So thank you and everyone else for your kind words and putting up with me

@unksol No need to apologize! It’s awfully sad, and so hard wondering if there’s something you could have done. Even when you take them to the vet to can end up feeling like you didn’t do enough or something. Once we spent a huge amount of money to treat a cat who had pancreatitis, and I don’t think he lived more than a year afterwards.

@sillyheathen Ooo, let’s see pictures of the dollhouse - please???
Sorry about the stubbed toe, yeowch.

@sillyheathen Isn’t there a limit to the number of blames the immediate past GOAT can pile on the new goat? I have a number of blames re the way people keep mentioning my balls not letting them rest and you don’t see me bombarding him with ball blames do you?

@Felton10 @sillyheathen Who is this HIM you refer to?
And you seem to have plenty to say about your balls yourself, Mr. Felton10.

@Felton10 @sillyheathen

@Kyeh @sillyheathen Sorry-I should have been more gender neutral in my comments. As to my continued reference to them, they seems to define me-just like bubble wrap.

@Kyeh @sillyheathen See now you have taken an interest in my balls also-how did you know it was purple in color?

@Felton10 @sillyheathen At least not blue…

@Felton10 @Kyeh @sillyheathen
Monkey see, monkey do.

@Felton10 @Kyeh @mike808

I need a much larger cnc and shop so I can make these on an adult scale!

@Felton10 @mike808 @sillyheathen
Oh, I love it! Modular home and furniture!
Is that your own design?

@Kyeh @sillyheathen You know what would sell is a 1:144 scale doll house (and selling as a kit would work too). Then you could sell those in both scales - both to those who like that scale (1:144 - a scale I used to make some stuff in) and those looking for a doll house for their one inch scale doll house.

@Kyeh @mike808 @sillyheathen I don’t know what that monkey is doing, but it can’t feel good.

@Felton10 @sillyheathen
Ut OH…

@Felton10 @sillyheathen

@Felton10 @Kyeh @mike808 @sillyheathen oh come on get off his balls :p he’s married. I’m sure she has that… Handled? Er… Covered? Er…

@Felton10 @mike808 @sillyheathen @unksol HE’S the one who keeps showing them off and talking about them!

@Felton10 @Kyeh @mike808 @sillyheathen as long as he doesn’t whip em out. Plus she could give him a swift kick.

@Felton10 @Kyeh @mike808 @sillyheathen I would buy this. If you have an online store let me know.

@Felton10 @Kyeh @mike808 @sillyheathen @unksol or a hard squeeze?

@Felton10 @mike808 @sasantosh @sillyheathen @unksol
Or a head-butt, see below

@RogerWilco Here ya go:

https://www.cookingclassy.com/taco-soup/

Yeah, what the fuck, @Kyeh?

Blame because @RogerWilco didn’t get goated.
Yet.

@mike808

@mike808 @RogerWilco I have to agree with that one. But his time will come, heheheh.

@phendrick Well, you can gaze upon this and try to cool off:

@Kyeh Yes, I feel cooler already! TYVM.
Is that part of the process for goat’s milk ice cream?

(BTW, what species of goat is that, and don’t they have ears? This one would make a cuter-than-heck pet and be a great model for a papier-mâché rendition or a stuffed toy on a sofa. Love that face.)

@phendrick I think there was a lot of artistic license employed in creating this little snow goat - evidently it’s from a goat festival in NC which I know nothing else about!

@chienfou Thanks! I can’t live up to the glorious reigns of some of you goats of the past, but I’ll do what I can.

@chienfou @Kyeh How the heck???
Did it get there from above or below?

@chienfou @phendrick
Astounding mountain goats!

@chienfou @Kyeh Some observations:
(1) Strikes me as a great reason to not be a vegetarian.
(2) I’d think, due to something called gravity, the better concentrations of mineral salt would be at the bottom of the dam, not at the upper reaches.
(3) Looks like spezztino di capretto (stew of goat) is popular in Italy. Seems like from time to time the main ingredient would be readily available at the bottom of that dam.

@chienfou @Kyeh @phendrick that is terrifying. And the babies!!!

@Kyeh @phendrick @tinamarie1974
…never mind the cameraperson!

@chienfou @phendrick @tinamarie1974
You’d think there’d be some easier way for them to get salt … nature is mysterious!
I wonder if drones were used to get this footage? (“Footage,” hah.)

@chienfou @Kyeh @phendrick mountain goats be mountain goats. They clearly didn’t climb there just for salt. They live there for other reasons and are excellent rock climber. So if they need/want some salt it would be terribly inefficient to climb down a mountain when you can just go get it right over that cliff

@chienfou @phendrick @unksol
One advantage to being on that sheer vertical expanse is no predators are going to be able to get them there!

@chienfou @Kyeh @unksol
I wonder if buzzards are smart enough to realize that if they knocked a goat off the cliff face, they could just swoop down and pick up the pieces?

@chienfou @phendrick @unksol
Evidently not.

@chienfou @Kyeh @phendrick I don’t think buzzards do attacks in general but I get your point. Might only take a nugde

@chienfou @Kyeh @unksol Or just a feint to get the goat to react. In the video, several times they slipped a bit and looked in danger of going down.

Also, eagles definitely do attack, but I’ve never heard of them facing anything bigger than maybe a canine.

@chienfou @Kyeh @phendrick well and hoofs are pretty smooth and rock is hard/smooth. They are very impressive in general.

Not even sure predator bird species hunt that high up. They would probably be out of normal food so taking on a goat. Probably a bad plan

@chienfou @Kyeh @phendrick @unksol Once I was hiking in the forestland near my house. I smelled something awful and then noticed a deer carcass in the brush. Then I looked up and saw 12 vultures perched in a tree watching me. Now, I know that vultures are carrion eaters, not predators. But I still couldn’t help feeling a little nervous with all those big-ass carnivorous birds intently watching me. I didn’t waste any time getting TF out of there.

@Kyeh @macromeh @phendrick @unksol
Definitely NOT a good time to lay down for a nap!

@njfan Do I detect more than a hint of schadenfreude in your comment?

@Kyeh @njfan I am sure things will get worse after the holidays. Hope Kyeh has nothing better to do then to respond to our complaints.

I am sure the storm headed toward Florida will be worth a blame or two.

@Felton10 @njfan

@Kyeh @njfan Are you trying to tell me something?

@Felton10 @njfan
You seem unduly gleeful about the prospect of casting some heavy blame my way. And here I was so complimentary to you when you were goated:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/youre-gonna-need-a-bigger-goat-march-2021-scapegoat-blame-thread#603ffb11acaad70011bb6242

@Kyeh @njfan On the contrary-just responding to some who seems to take a inordinate interest in my family jewels.

@Felton10 @njfan Oh, not nearly as much as some others in this forum. And nobody was paying any attention to them until you brought them up!

@Kyeh @njfan If you will remember, KHJ gave me more balls in my IRK (different sizes, colors and textures) at one time that most have in their entire life. After that and since it rhymes so nicely with bubble wrap, how could anyone let sleeping balls lie?

@Felton10 @njfan
And that’s because you said this: https://meh.com/forum/topics/its-a-meh-rathon-13#606548025dfd9e00118584c1

@Felton10 @njfan

since it rhymes so nicely with bubble wrap

Okay, I don’t get it - what rhymes?

@Felton10 @Kyeh @njfan

What rhymes with bubble wrap?

A fellow prodigiously generous festooning coprophiliac.

@Kyeh @njfan Maybe I should have more accurately said bubble wrap and balls flows easily off your tongue.

@Felton10 @njfan Alliterative, then.

@Felton10 @mike808 @njfan
Well, a lot of things rhyme with “wrap” but I was asking what Felton10 had in mind.
Man of culture, hmmmm - man who knows big words, anyway…

@Kidsandliz Sorry - the linden trees are blooming here right now and the fragrance is wonderful! For you:

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Those are way better than the ginko trees that drop fruit that smells like dog crap…

@chienfou @Kidsandliz
Ick! Do you have them? Gingko was the first kind of tree I learned to identify as a 4-year-old in New Jersey. I do love the look of the leaves.

@chienfou @Kyeh In about 4th grade we had to collect leaves and name them. A neighbor had a bunch of ginko trees. So I plucked one of those. Teacher marked my ID wrong since they weren’t in the USA. I argued with her that they were in my neighbor’s yard. She didn’t believe me. I didn’t think to ask her then where I got the leaf. I didn’t notice fruit off of those though. Do not want dog poop fruit though. No thank you.

I don’t suppose I could put a linden tree in my bathroom where the cat boxes are? 7.5’ ceiling. It would have to go in the shower since this is the smallest bathroom known to man. Not even big enough for a bathtub. Just a small shower. And sink attached to the wall - no counter top or under sink anything but pipes (good thing though as the 2 dirt boxes are there and barely fit), toilet immediately next to that, shower immediately next to that.

@chienfou @Kidsandliz Maybe you could get a gardenia plant for your bathroom…
What a crock, your teacher telling you that it wasn’t a ginkgo leaf. They’re pretty unmistakable. What did she think it was?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Some ‘urban forester’ has the bright idea to put some in downtown Montgomery. They were real pretty until the female plants started dropping a bunch of pungently malodorous psuedo canine craps all over the sidewalks…

@chienfou @Kidsandliz I’ve heard of that happening! Nasty! There are several hawthorns planted right along the path I take to work, and those smell putrid too.

@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh lol those damn things dropped all over Purdue’s campus. Wasnt sure if that was cause we all called them something else but yup… There is even a change.org petition lol with all of 8 people.

@chienfou @Kyeh I have no clue what she thought it was. Her argument was that we didn’t have these trees in the USA as they were native to China or something (can’t remember anymore what country they are native to other than it was in Asia and too lazy to look it up) so didn’t have them here. Had it been these days with cell phones I could have easily taken a photo to prove it to her. LOL.

@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba

Native to China but definitely here

@chienfou @Kidsandliz Bruther. Not the best teacher, obviously. I once had a prof in a journalism class who miscorrected my spelling.

@Kyeh
Wow…how perfidious!

@chienfou @Kyeh Now that is a sign of a good teacher LOL. Not! Sheesh.

@Felton10 Well, that must make you a REALLY good goat. Would you like to come out of retirement and take over for me?
I’m getting fed up with the fight club going on in here.

@Kyeh I don’t even think my collection of balls (big and small) would be large enough to cover this shit storm.

@Felton10 But did you buy a boat? And a flood wall to surround your property with?

@Kidsandliz No to both-might be outside with a bucket.

@Felton10 Scary stuff! I hope that tree isn’t where it can fall on your house? Ironic that the heading for this thread is “Row, row, row your goat” - although up to now it would seem to be more about this definition of “row:”

noun. A quarrel, fight, or disturbance marked by very noisy, disorderly, and often violent behavior: affray, brawl, broil, donnybrook, fray, free-for-all, melee, riot, ruction, tumult.

@Felton10 Time for this, maybe:

@Felton10 I truly hope you guys fair the storm ok.

On a lighter note, I bet all those balls float, you could tie them together and create a raft

@Felton10 @Kyeh

donnybrook

My favorite! squee!

@tinamarie1974 That is one thing I have never tried with my balls.

@Felton10 @Kyeh @therealjrn Wasn’t that Donny in one of those boy bands from back when?

@Felton10 @Kyeh @phendrick @therealjrn how you doing? Has the house floated away? Do we need to get Walter a tiny row boat? Hope all is dry

@Kyeh @phendrick @therealjrn @tinamarie1974 Thanks for asking. All the fun hasn’t started yet-this evening and tonight. 25-35 mph with gusts to 45 and 6-8 inches of rain predicted.

Pics of covering things on the lanai and putting containers filled with water around the dead palm tree so it won’t come out of the ground. No boats yet.

@Felton10 @Kyeh @phendrick @therealjrn fingers crossed you fair well

@Kyeh @phendrick @tinamarie1974 Scary but not as bad as projected. Winds were sustained at about 40 mph for about 2 hours and rain gauge (that I got at meh BTW) showed about 2 inches of rain-less than I got last week.

@Felton10 @Kyeh @phendrick @tinamarie1974 Well that’s good that it was more of a “nothing” than a media event.

@Felton10 @phendrick @tinamarie1974
Glad to hear that - whew!

@tinamarie1974 Oh, no! Are they legal there?
They’re not here. Poor pup!

I hate it for the danger too, especially in really dry years - this year at least we’ve had lots of rain so things shouldn’t be as flammable.

@Kyeh I feel so sorry for him and his calming treats/anti anxiety meds are just not helping.

They are illegal in some counties and legal in others. Regardless people set them off. I’ve never seen the cops stop anyone from setting them off.

@tinamarie1974 Yeah, people call and report them here too but I never see news about arrests being made. It’s also terrible for veterans and others with PTSD!

@Kyeh yeah, now that you say that I saw a couple posts from veterans asking people to abstain because of how it affects them. Of course so many people responded to “thank them for their service”, but yet the fireworks continue.

@tinamarie1974 They just did a story on the local news about a city nearby that’s letting people report fireworks online; they’re especially concerned because they had bad wildfires last year. But I wonder how many arrests are really made.

@tinamarie1974 I just called the non-emergency number to report a bunch going off very close by. She was nice but since I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location I kind of doubt they’ll really send someone.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Here we are having fireworks 3 days in a row. Your poor dog would lose his mind. Two of the three are near where I live. The ones yesterday I could hear from my apt and the cats all hid. This evening I went to them (they were a mile from my house) and when I got home they were all still in hiding. The ones tomorrow night about far enough away it is likely they won’t hear them from here. Of course that doesn’t count what neighbors set off.

@Kyeh so frustrating

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh it has been about four nights already, but it gets worse the closer it gets to the 4th. It is nearly midnight and I THINK they have finally stopped.

Several of my neighbors set them off, one spends close to $1,000 - it is like being at a professional event. Usually I enjoy it, but this year I won’t be able to go outside to watch, Charlie is having a hard enough time. Being inside alone would make it worse.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
What a shame!

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh aawww

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh he is still hiding upstairs. Had to go coax him down a few minutes ago and have him sleeping in the couch.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
Poor pup!
After a long combative thread on Nextdoor about amateur fireworks shows, someone posted this today:

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh hahaha I saw a similar one here where someone admitted revving the lawnmower super early since the neighbors kept him up all night shooting off fire works.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
Ooo, that’s a good one!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh yes! Extremely passive agressive

@tinamarie1974 A new sister or a new cooler?

@Kidsandliz

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
Awww… she DID go get the ice!
My sister is a gem, I wouldn’t trade her for the world, but she doesn’t drive! She’s pretty good about figuring out how to get around on her own and she has a housemate who drives, but she won’t be able to fetch me more ice.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh you raise a good point. She actually went out to fetch ice and then separately a dash to the store to grab a few things we missed. I GUESS I’ll keep her!

@tinamarie1974
Oh, that’s really aggravating! Grrr!

@Kyeh yup! The worst part is to think someone stole from me. It is such an invasion.

@tinamarie1974 Nasty! Nobody you could confront, though, huh? (Or “steal” them back?)

@Kyeh I THINK it was a guy who was over to do some work for me. He was engaged to a friend and they broke up. Haven’t seen him since the breakup. That said I am not certain it was him.

@tinamarie1974 Ugh. Good thing they broke up, I guess.

@Kyeh it was

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
I think they go where the matching socks go. I also lose small pliers and pocket/utility knives and 1/2" or 9/16" wrenches. Normally, I’d put them in the “junk drawer” of the tool bench, but whenever I need one, I am off to Lowe’s/ HomeDepot/ Menard’s for a replacement. It’s a vortex of vanishing tools it seems.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@mike808 @tinamarie1974

@mike808 @tinamarie1974
I lose rulers, and box cutters.

@Kyeh @mike808 I hope that is what it is, but the one item has never been used. I bought it and put it in my tool box. Had a use for it last night so I went to grab it and it was gone!!! Who knows, if I misplaced it shame on me. If someone took it I hope they really needed it, although I would have taken something nicer lol.

@Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 Yes! In addition to the disappearing 1/2" and 9/16" tools, I also seem to lose 10mm wrenches and sockets regularly.
And I recently lost my favorite pocket knife which I had carried, pretty much always, for years.
Blame! Blame! Blame!

@Kyeh @macromeh @tinamarie1974
That’s the spirit! Why admit to senior moments when there is a scapegoat at the ready?

@mike808 @tinamarie1974

@macromeh Have you tried taking apart your dryer?
(I did that once; I didn’t find anything I was missing but damn, was there ever a lot of lint!)

@Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 I’ve seen that photo before. Too funny.

@Kyeh @macromeh @mike808 I just have one of those things you stick down there to remove the lint. I find it gets some, and more comes out through the outside exhaust. I wonder how much is left inside.

@Kyeh @macromeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 A lot can be left in there. In one rental the landlord pulled the entire tube and OMG the amount of lint in there was scary. And a fire hazard. Mom, when I was little, had the dryer catch on fire due to the middle part of the tube still have lint in it and the one in that basement was really short. She had put all our folded clothes on top of the dryer, this was the last load to dry and we (entire family) lost almost all our clothes.

@Kidsandliz @macromeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 Whoa! Now everyone is going to take their dryers apart…

@Felton10
Yay! It varied a lot, didn’t it.
Glad you’re safe.

@Kyeh Yeh-its amazing how the rain amounts differed such a short distance away. That happens frequently with bands of rains from tropical storms and hurricanes.

@mbersiam Good luck!

@mbersiam
Fingers Hooves crossed!

@mbersiam

I have a tonne of help

I see we’ve gone metric now?? When did this happen??? Why didn’t anyone tell me about it??!!

GOAT - this is your fault!

@mbersiam @ybmuG
Fine by me! Maybe she’s British…
Actually I always think it’s funny when people talk about “tons” or “tonnes” of intangibles.

@mbersiam Sounds like a smooth move. We had to move out of our house 1 1/2 before our new house was ready and put everything in storage for that month and a half plus pay almost double for the move as well as the people who had to come back again to assemble our wall units etc.

@chienfou I couldn’t even keep up with the anniversary/birthday stuff - what an overload!
At least it kept everyone but Mike808 too busy for blame assignment.
But meanwhile you were off celebrating your own actual birthday - I hope it was wonderful!

@chienfou

@chienfou @Kyeh I tried to bump it, but Day 0 had other plans.

@chienfou @mike808
Bring it on!

@Kyeh
Thanks. We had a blast three days, three birthdays, three parties!
Son flew home today, we leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow so I can get home in time to work in the evening! Doing some home maintenance stuff for my BIL (who is not very handy) as part of his b day present. Glad Elsa didn’t crash the party…

@chienfou Nice! Yes, that’s great that Elsa left you alone. THREE birthdays, huh? That’s a lot of partying - I hope you have some quiet nights in the ER!

@AttyVette

@Felton10
@AttyVette Maybe you need a boat.

@AttyVette Whoa. How did you do, personally?
Where I am we had a major flood in 2013; I only had standing water in my basement; I also have a sump pump. Both my mother and sister had major damage to their condos, though. My sister had to live somewhere else for 6 months while repairs went on.

@Kyeh tried to reply directly to your post. Sorry to hear about your mother and sisters water damage and the water you got in your homes basement. Where we live is only 12 feet above sea level so it didn’t take much rain for us all to be concerned about flooding. Also during Harvey our city’s pumps failed so 60+plus inches of rain falling in five days, well people losing their homes was bound to happen Our next door neighbor had to be rescued during Harvey, as their home flooded.

@AttyVette the picture I posted with the arrow shows Nike and our dog Erosstros who now has crossed rainbow bridge.

@AttyVette
How HORRIBLE!
I’m glad you survived it, but that IS an absolute nightmare! And I’m so sorry about your poor mother; I can see how something like that would just be too much to bear for an elderly person. What a tragedy.
Somehow I wasn’t very aware of Harvey; not like when Katrina hit NOLA.
The flooding that happened (CO) here was strange; a gradual buildup over about a week of steady rain; it seemed so nice when it started because we’d had such a dry winter, but then it went on and on.

@AttyVette I remember you posting about this when it happened. That was so horrible!

@OldCatLady Ahhh - sorry, I didn’t know about it either. Glad you found out, and now we are all smarter - thanks! (Cool giphy.)

@OldCatLady you can also get your stretch wrap in different colors if you want to be fancy

@OldCatLady @tinamarie1974
Huh … you could also color-code categories or locations.

@Kyeh @OldCatLady EXACTLY!!!

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 I need you to come show me how to do that. I get confused, you know.

@OldCatLady @tinamarie1974 Hahaha. Lots of repeat demonstrations required, eh?

@Kyeh @OldCatLady @tinamarie1974 I’m guessing maybe 100 or so demonstrations would be enough.

@Kyeh That is why we haven’t had carpets for the last 20 years while down here in FL-hard to tell how dirty they really are and when you finally get around the cleaning them you are disgusted by how dirty they are.

Other side of the coin is that with wood laminate floors, you see every little spec of dirt and with a bird who wanders around the house that is not good. And every time you drop something on the floor, it sounds like a bomb exploding.

@sillyheathen He does not look old enough to be at the age where you have occasions where you realize there are good reasons why some species eat their young.

I believe it is Mark Twain who said at 13 you put them in a pickle barrel (these would be the 55 gallon wood ones) and feed them through the knot hole. At 16 you seal up the knot hole. He did not say at what age you take them out. There are times I thought (and on a few occasions still do) mine needed to stay in there until, I don’t know, maybe at least 90 or something.

@sillyheathen Aww - he looks so dapper in his uniform! But yeah, that first big symbolic step away from the nest …

@Kyeh @sillyheathen And he will be happy with you that you sent him to camp since most kids have a blast. You will get credit and love when he gets home.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh I need to go get letters and postcards in the mail so he has them for mail call.

@Kyeh @sillyheathen Be sure to sneak a piece or two of chewing gum in the letter so he can feel appropriately sneaky. LOL I remember as a kid when my grandmother would do that for us at camp (gum was contraband) we were thrilled. Of course then chewing a piece of gum was quite the trick and not getting caught - but hey that was part of the thrill for us campers (when you’d share it around you’d have maybe 1/3 of a piece) even though normally I, and most of the others, were not normally rule breakers.

@sillyheathen Is this why you didn’t enter the birthday cake contest - too busy getting your boy ready to go? Because I would think that your baking skills + your crafting talents would be perfect for that!

@Kyeh I SO wanted to make a cake but we went to Pacific City that day. That’s why I didn’t get in on the scavenger hunt as well. I managed to score a few irks but not as many as I would’ve had I been at home. Granted I’m not complaining at all. We had a fab day on the sand and climbed up to the top of the giant dune there.

@Kyeh

@Kyeh

@sillyheathen Oh, beautiful! Undoubtedly a lot better looking-lasting memories and a lot less regret. I’d love to have seen what kind of cake you’d come up with, though. Maybe next year…

@sillyheathen And hey …

I managed to score a few irks but not as many as I would’ve had I been at home.

Now you’re sounding like that Irk-hog @Felton10!

@Kyeh @sillyheathen I think you are jealous and BTW there is nothing wrong with being an “IRK-hog” as you call it.

@Felton10 @sillyheathen
Hell yeah, I’m jealous - and so are all the multitudes who didnt get ANY! I did at least get a day zeo one.

@Felton10 @Kyeh oh trust me. I didn’t get that many!

@Kyeh @sillyheathen When you get to my age and have nothing better to do than play with your bird and your balls, you will find that spending all day trying to get an IRK is a welcome diversion.

@Kyeh @sillyheathen Nice photos.

@Kyeh @sillyheathen Somehow I found climbing up the hill at Cape Kiwanda a lot more fun back when I was 17. At least there is the Pelican Pub at the bottom to recuperate.

@AttyVette Pack a cooler and bring some music for when you are in the parts of your drive where you can only find music you hate. Good luck with all of this.

@AttyVette @Kidsandliz
What she said! Looks like a goat emeritus is stepping in to give me a break, haha.

Good luck and hope it all goes smoothly.
And hope your kid returns the favor when you need it!

@werehatrack The grass seeds I sowed after some construction work tore up my lawn was very welcoming of that daily rain. It sprouted and is looking good so far.

@mike808 @werehatrack So do I get an unblame from Mike?

@werehatrack Sounds similar to my yard - but honestly, I’ll take that over the extreme heat and dryness and FIRES going on just to the west of me! We’ve got the smoke blowing in and smogging up the air.

@Kyeh @mike808 I should think so, until that grass goes all triffid and eats his dentist.

@Kyeh @werehatrack
Edit window closed.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@chienfou That’s cutting it close! But you made it, congratulations! I hope you have a quiet day at work.

@sammydog01 Wow! Are you sure you don’t need it?

@sammydog01 WTAF, why does ANYONE need THAT?!?!?

Unless you bought it, then cool!!!

@sammydog01 @tinamarie1974
Such a great price, too.

@Kyeh @sammydog01 oh right! She should get two!!!

@sammydog01 @tinamarie1974 One for each side of the front door, maybe!

@AttyVette Looks pretty boring, but better a boring drive than a too exciting one, right?

@Kyeh lol that’s the truth

@tinamarie1974 ouch! Stair-related?

@tinamarie1974 hiss that had to sting.

@compunaut @thumperchick It really stings, badly. This is what happens when I try to do yard work .

Was in the front dusting my roses and stepped down into the grass (only one landscaping stone high) landed wrong on the other foot and face planted in the grass. I guess my left ankle scraped on the landscaping stones. Twisted the other ankle.

So happy no one was outside to see it happen!!

@Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 Had to tear out our roses - all infected with severe rosette disease this spring

@compunaut @Thumperchick oh that stinks. Sorry!!! All my leaves have those little holes. Mom said it is a bug, and to get this powder. Giving it a try. Don’t think she expected for me to topple over in the process lol

@compunaut @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 Oh no! Yeowch!
I hope you heal fast!
Also I hope the dusting works against the bugs.

@compunaut @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 I’ve never heard of rosette disease. That’s sad!

@tinamarie1974 OUCH!!! That you scraped it over such a big area I am sure it is killing you.

If no one was outside to see then you can make up a great story to explain your injuries like saving the turtle who went into the roses to escape from, I don’t know, that bob cat that is running around some residential area recently or something and you had to fight it off.

And I hope that you were able to kill the bugs so it was worth trashing your leg and ankle in the process!!!

@Kidsandliz @kyeh @compunat @thumperchick so I am on the way to the orthopedic specialist. Apparently I tore my ligament away from the bone in two places. Not yet sure if I need surgery yet. Sigh

@Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 That big time seriously sucks!!! Hope it can heal without surgery but walking your dog in either case is going to be hard, let alone doing other things. So sorry this happened to you.

If they put you in a boot you want to buy what is called an “even up” for the shoe on your other leg (it attaches to your shoe and raises that leg - is removable and you can switch it between shoes - 20,000+ reviews on amazon, around $32 and practically 5 star, better than all the others; sizing is by the length of your shoe in inches, comes in multiple heights). I learned that the hard way. I had a biopsy last Dec, I was put in a boot, incision got infected which lengthened the time in the boot, no one told me about it and I am still dealing with hip and lower back problems because of it.

Good luck!!!

@Kidsandliz @Thumperchick @compunaut @tinamarie1974
Oh NO!!! That really does seriously suck - I’m so sorry! 🥺 I hope you don’t need surgery …
Let us know how you’re doing, please!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 Couple of years I broke my ankle and instead of doing surgery Dr tried a boot to see if it would mend properly and luckily it did-told me afterwards that 8 of 10 ortho dtrs I would have seen would have probably recommended surgery to put a screw to hold the bone in place. Said the recovery time for both would have been the same although the rehab would minimal for the boot (which it was) as opposed to surgery. So think about a second opinion whatever they tell you.

@compunaut @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick no surgery, thank god! I did get a boot so I will check out the even up. Thanks for the heads up

As for walks, Charlie is just gonna need to be happy running around the back yard. The yard is huge so he will survive

@Felton10 I did end up getting the boot! I absolutely trust my ortho. We found him from a surgical nurse recommendation and I have never doubted his diagnoses He has done a few surgeries on me and several on my dad. He is also one of St Louis top docs!

Says I will likely need PT in about a month. I am JUST finishing my PT for my back so I guess I will just continue for another body part

@compunaut @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 That’s good only a month and no surgery. Especially the no surgery!!!

@compunaut @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @Felton10. Sexy boot, right!!!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 so sorry to see that happened to you

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974
Yaaaaay!!! I’m very glad to hear it.
I hope your family and friends pamper and spoil you a bit.
/giphy blooming flowers get well

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974
Okay, there’s a blooming flower! Meh’s gif collection didn’t come through.

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick oh and it is purple!! THANK YOU

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974
Hope you’re back to your stiletto boots soon!

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974
These look like they’d keep your feet immobilized.

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @mike808 @Thumperchick holy shit, those are crazy

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974
Did someone mention stiletto boots?

Source: For your shopping pleasure

@compunaut @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974

Well she was a dom goat wasn’t she.

I could never get the hang of walking in my boot. Had move around the house using a wheel chair. Tried one of those scooter where you bend you leg and put it on a seat and use it like a scooter, but I promptly fell off it.

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick happy to say I am having no issues walking with the boot. It is just hot and heavy. Happy to have it iver thr crutches!

I started the day on the crutches, which was a bitch because I was told no pressure at all in the affected foot, so it was basically hopping on one leg OMG

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 Just keep repeating to yourself, “I’ll get arm muscles while you think your arms are going to die.”
/image massive arm muscles on female

EDIT - OMG I would not like to have arms that looked like that!!! Having some muscles yes but that THAT!

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick ha! That is exactly what I was telling the PT when I got crutch training! That and it will be such a workout I may lose weight lol.

I think those muscles are a lil much for me though

/giphy giggle

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974
That HAS to be photoshopped. The hands don’t look right.

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 Hey. Don’t blame me. Blame /image and the goat - oh wait. That’s you.

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 Been away to enjoy another website’s birthday. I am sorry to hear about you. hope you get well soon. And try for no surgeries.

@compunaut @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @NoIRK @Thumperchick thank you!!

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 ah das boot. I still have mine and my crutches down stairs from 10 years ago cause. Pack rat. I broke chunks off my ankle, a ligament needed reattached. And my fibula looked shattered to me but maybe they just zoomed in on the x-ray. But surgery and screws were required. Thankfully no cast just the boot. Which you could take off when not moving it. And walk without crutches a couple weeks later. And take it off to drive… Not that I asked.

All of this was covered by workman’s comp but my PT was a complete and total asshole and all the stuff he was asking me to do was basic stretching. I think I went 2 out of 10 before I decided I’d rather it hurt longer than deal with this prick.

Either way. Good luck. Hope it goes… Better? Then it has been

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @unksol sounds similar. Ligament partially detached and took a chunk with it. Since it wasn’t a full detachment no surgery required. Thank goodness!!

Since I am going to PT already for my back I know who I am getting and he is a good guy. Should be no issues there! Just really tired of Dr / PT visits at this point.

And thanks!

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 that would have to be annoying especially in this time period.

Just to be gross… Not entirely sure why I still have this on my phone. I don’t delete anything and got to see lots of KitKat so… Meh

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @unksol oh that is horrible!!!

@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 lol it got pretty bad I have no idea with the top bar and mouse at the bottom I must have messed with it before syncing folders years ago. Either way if you just got booted I’m sure you’ll be good to go.

Running took a while but I’m not going to lie I did not do much after that… Excuse or laziness…
Probably a 2-3inch scar on one side and a one inch on the other. Lol it was not gentle

@tinamarie1974
Wow… sorry to hear you buggered up your leg. Hope your recovery will be swift and complete.
Meanwhile:

@chienfou aawww thanks. so far it is going ok. Pretty sure I am going to have a very toned leg from wearing this boot for a month. May need to get an ankle weight so the other leg gets the same amount of tone lol

@tinamarie1974
Unnhhh… don’t want to be that guy… but in my experience the boot serves to actually make you LOSE muscle tone. I am still working on getting back my calf muscle tone after wearing a boot for about 6 weeks to recover from Achilles tendon surgery last year. It is much better but still not as strong as my right (and non-dominant) calf. My boot was more like Felton’s; hard casing with inflatable support pads inside it. At any rate, PT will get you up and going in no time I’m sure!!

@chienfou I didn’t realize. I assumed that extra weight would help my tone. My boot is hard on the sides with pump up air pockets, but does not seem as restricted as yours and Felton. Guess as that is why he mentioned PT after.

@Kidsandliz Whoa!! Stay safe. Hope you have enough supplies for few days.

@NoIRK I think it should drain away pretty quickly near me as all that goes through close to where I live are a couple of streams. Fortunately I am up hill from that photo. Thinking about wandering over (on foot) to take a look since for the moment anyway the rain has stopped (weather map says more on the way). Someone on nextdoor (also very close to me ) posted that their rain gage filled 5" all at once and a bunch of folks have some water in their homes. That sure sucks for them. The only water we got inside here is in the lobby and it was from run off down the parking lot, over the curb and under the front sliding doors. No streams near by enough to affect us that way.

I took an environmental geography course in college and the big lesson that has stuck with me for life from that class is live outside of 500 year flood zones. That has saved me several times over the years from both major river flooding and costal flooding. Of course if the flooding is wide spread enough there are collateral issues, but at least not a wet house. I think everything here is going to be short term.

PS - update from nextdoor apparently some guy with a truck used a long rope and towed that car out of that low point.

@Kidsandliz @NoIRK
Crazy! Germany has had horrendous floods too. Glad you’re not badly affected; hope it stays that way.

@Kidsandliz oh my goodness! Stay safe, and dry

@tinamarie1974 It drained away from where I live pretty quickly due to the hill and it was, for this area, caused by run off and small streams overflowing their banks. Some other areas weren’t so lucky. The up side it that is washed away all the mud in the parking lot (from the foundation work). That will only last until sometime Monday.

Germany looks absolutely horrible though. OMG. And the other sad thing is that some of the buildings taken out are 5 and 600 years old. Looking at photos online I saw flooding in areas I personally knew from living there (I never would have been personally flooded though as the outdoor school was too far up the mountain). Reminded me of how absolutely beautiful it is to live in the mountains and/or see them out your windows. I miss that. Of course I also like seeing the ocean, lakes, rivers… The scenery though where I lived in Germany was beautiful.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Really sad to see those beautiful historical buildings and villages destroyed in Germany.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974
You should have see what we lost after Katrina.

@Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974
Yeah, I really regret that I never got to see New Orleans pre-flood. Were you in the city when it happened?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974
No, but lots of people I knew lost everything, and lots of places I grew up with were just … gone. My brother and his family was there (and still is), and I went back shortly afterwards for Jazz Fest and I still feel the loss and still see signs of it all over the city and surrounding area 16 years later.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 I was in New Orleans the February after Katrina, setting up environmental remediation projects for the Navy. The devastation will always haunt me. Still, the Krewe of Barkus held their parade, and every dog in the city wore its fanciest costume, and there was music. It’s hard to keep that place down.
/giphy new orleans krewe

@OldCatLady

The devastation will always haunt me.

Me too. To my bones, and until I close my eyes.

You know what it means to miss New Orleans.

COVID really did a number on the city too.

@Kidsandliz @NoIRK If anyone wants to know more, here is a link.

Environmental Geography

@mike808 @OldCatLady So tragic. Especially to learn afterwards that a lot of the deaths and devastation could have been prevented.

@Kyeh @OldCatLady
Much like every single one of the Delta variant COVID cases filling up the ICUs across the deep red covidiot-infested land of Missery.

COVID IS PREVENTABLE. At this point, give them all Darwin awards and start saving taxpayer money on hospital care for people who aren’t in death cults to start with. If it’s God’s will they get sick and die, who are we to stand in the way of God’s will, yes?

@mike808 @OldCatLady
You won’t get any argument from me on that.

@mike808 @OldCatLady not sure how I missed this but yeah that city has been through so much over so many years. I will say it was in better shape than I expected when I went home a few months ago. Katrina was just dreadful. I had friends and family that lived downtown and had to sneak in at times to try to figure out what was even happening with their homes. So much destruction and loss of life. I’ll never forget coming back for the first time after Katrina. I cried a ton. But then we drank and looked toward the future. I miss Louisiana terribly and would move back to New Orleans in a heart beat. The Englishman….not so much. So the PNW it is for now.

@NoIRK Yikes! Was it all due to a lightening surge? What a pain. Glad the insurance is going to cover it - or part of it, at least?

@NoIRK wow that’s unusual. What were you using for surge suppressors? Even then… Most building’s don’t ever get hit like that.

If anything on the hard disks was important and not backed up it’s probably just the circuit board. You can sometimes recover data by getting a working board from a good drive and swapping it around since the platters should be fine.

@Kyeh well I filed it with insurance. Yet to get a confirmation.

–Nerd alert starts (Read at your own risk)
{
@unksol These were SSD used as a NAS backup on my raspberry pi. Luckily it was RAID 1. I was able to connect one via Ubuntu live disk and recover most of the data. So no more opening the hdd, changing chips, platter manipulation (I don’t know anything about any of the things)

The surge came through the internet/ cable line (my assumption). Because most of the device it took out were hard wired.
}
–Nerd alert ends

@Kyeh @NoIRK Lightening rod saved me once when a water spout came ashore, landed in my backyard and damaged 10 houses behind me. My only damage was a melted lightening rod and a couple of slate shingles that got broken when they blew off the roof. House was engulfed in a lightening ball, while I was home, which was amazing in a sort of detached way. I was very lucky. Not one electronic thing damaged.

It was weird. I was in the living room, all of a sudden you couldn’t see out any of the windows on all 3 sides. Pure white light that didn’t hurt the eyes and totally opaque. House shook hard with the thunder at the same time you couldn’t see out the windows. Cats had taken off from the table by the front window a split second before this happened and took off bellies practically rubbing the rug as they ran. I guess they noticed the pressure change. They were traumatized for life by that with respect to storms.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh wish I would taken environment geography in school/ college, but it was my mistake too. My surge protector has the option of connecting cable wire so any surge in cable line could have stopped at surge protector. Lesson learnt.

BTW a lightning rod is the best defense against lighting/thunderstorm

@Kidsandliz @NoIRK
What an incredible experience! The “surrounded by white light” thing sounds kind of cool, not that I want to go through it myself, but wow. Poor kitties though.

@NoIRK well you said hard disk… To me that is HDD not SSD but glad you got your data.

Honestly my first thought was to immediately put in a primary suppressor like a HEPD80 or a Eaton
CHSPT2ULTRA. I haven’t decided on one yet but I kinda lean toward the eaton.

But if you are in a rental you probably can’t mess with this.

@NoIRK @unksol Note on the Eaton, the warranty does not cover lightning strikes.

For electronics, the best is a “continuous” UPS with sine-wave output. You’re essentially always on battery power, and the wall power is just charging the batteries. Power in the US is reasonably well managed, but does fluctuate in over/under voltage, over/under current, and in frequency deviation.

Note, you do need to replace the batteries every 3-5 years. They wear out. So when a power outage happens, there may not be much capacity (Ah) left in them.

Also, all surge suppressors are sacrificial, in that they wear out with each surge. There’s no real way to know how much surge capacity is left after use, just how much to start with when it was manufactured - that’s the “Joules” rating of the surge suppressor.

That’s separate from the line conditioning circuitry for the 60Hz pure sine-wave supply to the outlets.

Quality circuits just cost more. Battery capacity just costs more. So that $5 junk surge supressor outlet strip is very likely just that - junk.

@NoIRK @unksol
Maybe something like this, APC 1500VA:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B06VY6FXMM

CyberPower also makes competitive units. You’ll see both at Microcenter, and Costco will have sales on the APCs.

Bigger than 1500VA is in the prepper space for whole house/ fridge/ freezer/ camping/ etc. battery backup power units +2K VA that use deep cycle marine batteries.

@mike808 @NoIRK while true and no manufacturer is going to warranty for a direct lightening strike they might help. But if all the effected equipment was connected to the only COAX source… Might just be awful luck. No one expects to use those warranties in north America for that reason. Usually the warranty excludes “acts of God”

@NoIRK @unksol The APC UPS also has surge arrestors for coax. You can also buy surge arrestors for Cable coax that you install right by the service entry point and ground it to your main panel ground with a 12 or lower guage solid wire.

The idea with a quality UPS is that if you do get hit, it will get sacrificed to protect the electronics plugged into it far, far better than any strip surge suppressor.

@NoIRK @unksol Another thing I’ve learned:

When a storm is coming, shutdown your electronics and unplug the power cords from the wall until after the storm has passed.

Just leave the TV and other essentials for the short while until it either passes or you’ve got bigger problems to deal with. But at least all the computers and other important stuff is protected.

@mike808 @NoIRK while generally all true and yes technically running around unplugging everything is “safest” no one actually does that and I’ve never lost anything due to a storm. I mean yes it happens but it happens so rarely I’ve never heard of it with someone I know. If it was a big deal we’d all just be throwing breakers. Statistically it’s not a thing to freak out about. All though it sucks to be @NoIRK right now

FYI irks aren’t real it’s just a joke those people who get three every time are playing on us