This is Probably a Baaaad Idea (June 2022 Scapegoat Blame Thread)
14June snuck up on me, even though I spent the day reminding others that a new month was upon us. I’ll just say, my baaaaad, and goat on with it.
@yakkoTDI managed a notable run, as many of you noted that they were just another in a very short list of what I’m officially titling “ghoatsts.” That said, you guys wrote the rules for this thing, and no one said you have to be present when you have the title. So, congrats!
Now for something completely different, uh, a bird.
Yep.
After many months of waiting in the wings, @walterbird is your scapegoat. I guess the plus side is that you don’t have to worry about hurting his feelings. Your blame rolls off him like water off a…bird’s back?
Leave your blame below and don’t be surprised if the goat gives you the bird.
- 26 comments, 139 replies
- Comment
I want to thank everyone who voted for me primarily because there was no one else to vote for. I promise to faithfully execute the duties (not the poop) of this regrettable honor. I also promise to do better than the previous goat which is a low bar indeed. I also hope to pave the way for non humans of any species to assume this honor.
I feel this is like when Wile finally caught the Roadrunner.
I scratched my cornea on Monday. On a national holiday when every eye doctor in the country was closed. All birds are to blame.
(It’s already much, much better. I did see a doctor on Tuesday.)
@kostia
That’s the beauty of a corneal abrasion… they hurt like hell but heal very quickly. Used to get them often when I wore hard contact lenses and rode a motorcycle… I’d wake up feeling like I had a razor blade in my eye, but by the next day it was better.
I got a bug in my eye once while on I-70 going from Boulder to St. Louis, reached up to try to clear it and ended up blinking out a lens at 70 mph. Didn’t bother to go look for it… Hard lenses sucked!
@chienfou A friend with a motorcycley past had a very similar story! She knew exactly what kind of drops would help.
@chienfou @kostia I have chronic corneal abrasions. I get them almost every night as my eyelids get stuck to my eyes while I sleep. I’ve tried sleeping with the thick drops, but that hasn’t helped much. It started when I have PRK to correct my vision, which also didn’t work out. Now it’s just a thing I live with.
Good luck with your healing!
@chienfou @kostia were the drops she recommended vodka based?
@ExtraMedium
Wow, that sucks! Have you tried some of the ointments which are more like the consistency of petroleum jelly? How long does it take you each day to feel better once you wake up?
Blame: My four day holiday/mini-vacation is over and I had to go back to work today.
If only I could win the lottery. I’ve given up on finding a rich husband
@tinamarie1974 You got Charlie-what else do you need?
@Walterbird well, Charlie would appreciate if I won the lottery. Only then could I quit my job and in his mind give him my undivided attention
@tinamarie1974 have you considered finding a husband named Rich?
@njfan I have not. Should I?!?!?!?
@njfan @tinamarie1974
Very doubtful
/eightball Should she?
well, there you go
@tinamarie1974 I am very wealthy. I’m a multi- hundred trillionaire. Just don’t ask what currency. Hint: Zimbabwe dollars LOL
Thank goodness we’ve got a blame platform here because I don’t know what I’d do without someone to help shoulder this blame! WAIT, I’m not sure Walterbird even has shoulders…
I’m over the top frustrated! They’ve REALLY dropped the ball on this one!
Since last May I’ve been having shortness of breath or just can’t breathe is more like it. It started around the same time as the blood clots in both legs. When I was being released from the hospital the Dr said my body would take a few more days to recalibrate and I’d be back to normal. After another 1-2 months go by and I still can’t catch my breath, I started different tests and scans with both pulmonologist and cardiologist Drs. Besides being diagnosed with lymphedema they didn’t have much else to say. They did find my heart and lungs are okay and not causing the problem. I was told that because of the massive blood clots in my legs that they might have broken off and are now settled in the small veins in my heart and lungs. That could be the issue. When my new (to me) pulmonologist told me that I really wasn’t sold!
But what is one supposed to do, that’s way above my pay grade! 
This sucks so bad! Here I thought pain was the worst thing to have! Boy Oh boy was I ever wrong! Talk about the worst thing ever… Well then there’s the whole thing of supporting my guy who’s waiting for a liver transplant. It’s pretty bogus to be having HIM push me in a wheelchair when we’re going to the cancer and or transplant center. This whole thing is just beyond belief! 
Meanwhile, here I am, 1 year later, and STILL not able to walk down the hall without huffing and puffing like I just ran a marathon!! Not MEH-RATHON, calm down…
Well apparently I still have my people above looking out!
Two days ago I wake from a nap and hear a TV commercial in the background saying something about shortness of breath being a side effect of whatever drug they were talking about. Still being groggy I rewound the TV to hear what they were saying. Unfortunately it wasn’t anything I was taking.
BUT… IT WAS A SIGN!
I thought about any drugs that I started when I was in the hospital last May. I was given Losartan for high blood pressure last April, just days before going into the hospital! After I Googled what the side effects were I was estatic, I once again have my hope restored! SURE ENOUGH, there it was, possible shortness of breath! I immediately called my GP and told her I was stopping my med and needed a replacement. She agreed that this could be the problem and gave me something that works totally different.
My pharmacist said that I should see a change in a few days, that’s how long it takes to be totally out of my system.
Not to keep reliving this nightmare BUT… How on earth is it possible for EVERY SINGLE Dr/specialist to have not even mentioned or asked me anything about new medications!? I mean I saw at least 5-6 Drs about this since I was released from the hospital. It’s so rediculouse to me how they ALL dropped the ball!!
I really feel bad for those who can’t advocate for themselves. Watch out for your people, and anyone else who might need you. Jus sayen.
Thanks for carrying the blame Walterbird, this is a heavy one.
@Lynnerizer Uggggh, that’s so frustrating when the docs don’t consider side effects or drug interactions! I’m glad you caught that and I hope it makes a difference soon.
And that you get some improvement in all those other areas too!
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer You are supposed to read the pamphlet they give you with the prescription that lists side effects and interactions, and to contact your Dr if you are affected or have questions.
Gotta love Capitalism and self-responsibility and less gubment regulations. Merka!
@Lynnerizer @mike808 My most recent doc visit, he recommended something for some mild asthma, but when I read up on the side effects there was one thing I was uncomfortable with. So I called his office, and got a call back from the (very nice) receptionist, who passed along a long, bromide-filled message about likelihood of side-effects and requirements for manufacturers to post them etc. etc. etc. blahblahblah - basically he’s the doc and knows better and he thinks it’s fine. And I just said, yeah, I still don’t want to take it. So even if you DO read all that tiny print it’s hard to get all your concerns addressed!
@mike808
Believe it or not THAT particular side effect wasn’t on the pamphlet! Not ever! Matter of fact I was told it’s a very rare side effect. AND, I WAS TELLING EVERY SINGLE DR I SAW! THAT’S is WHY I have so much frustration!!
@Kyeh Thanks!
I’m dying to get out of this house and start living again! It’s beach days for goodness sake!
@Lynnerizer @mike808
Wow.
Good thing you persisted in doing research on your own.
And yes, I sure hope you start having a better spring/summer!
@Kyeh @mike808
Yeah I guess after a year I definitely have tenacity!
I’ll be looking for rainbows and butterflies from here on out!
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @mike808 I recently had Covid (all done with that and more or less back to normal!). When I tested positive, I called my Dr’s office and they arranged a tele-medicine appointment with a nurse practitioner. She went through a checklist (including a review of my meds) and prescribed the anti-viral Paxlovid. When I got the prescription I did read the pamphlet and noticed a warning about an interaction with the statin I take. So I followed up on various medical websites, which also mentioned the interaction and suggested stopping the statin for the 5-day course of the anit-viral. Which I did. But I’m confused why the NP never mentioned it. So, yeah - I’m glad I read the pamphlet.
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @macromeh So did you bring it up with the NP? How else will they get better?
When you had COVID, did you get a PCR test, or just went with a home test? I ask because the CDC only tracks lab-confirmed COVID, and more importantly, the variant. Home tests are not included because they’re not reliable from a scientific viewpoint, and they’re not independently confirmable. Which is why they aren’t included in the reports, but mire importantly, planning and allocation of healthcare funds and resources.
I hope you went in to the local pharmacy to get a PCR test to confirm your home test (and help the science, which is how we got vaccines and boosters to start with instead of more ventilators and deaths.
We are part of making our healthcare system better for everyone, so keep doing what you’re doing - checking your information, and giving feedback to the system about what works and doesn’t.
Perhaps the literature doesn’t reflect more prominent mention of people with your side effects because they didn’t call their doctors or NPs and tell them. So keep up the pressure on your providers to be better providers.
@Lynnerizer Hey after what is going on with my “mom”, medical issues are my specialty. She developed an infection after her double mastectomy and implants and had to have one of the implants removed. We might be back to square one given that the radiation she got when after her lumpectomy after the cancer was first discovered over a year ago could make her susceptible to re-infection with another implant.
@Lynnerizer I think docs rely on the pharmacist to catch interactions. I get mine filled at where ever is cheapest and so have to check the interaction websites myself. Found a few. Found one black boxed for one problem I have. And the MD didn’t know that?!?!? Then it happened again. And then some more crap with that. The other thing you have to watch out for is if you are supposed to have follow up tests after you start a drug. That has been blown off by my docs until I mentioned them. You are so right about if you can’t advocate for yourself you are so screwed.
Might as well get the ball rolling. Big blame for @extramedium as I stayed up all night with my eyes glued to the computer waiting for the election results.
Nothing.
Almost fell off my perch this morning I was so sleepy.
That’s not how being goat works. The scapegoat can’t blame me.
I’ll get the ball rolling
Blame: My reminder didn’t remind me which is obviously @Walterbird’s fault since birds aren’t real, just like the reminder I meant to set.
@ExtraMedium Well who else can I blame for the snafu in the election results? As to me not being real, does that mean that the poop I deposit on the floor when I walk around the house isn’t real also. @Felton10 will be glad to hear that since he won’t have to wipe it up now.
@ExtraMedium @Felton10
@Walterbird
You have to blame yourself.
Wait, @ExtraMedium why cant @Walterbird lay blame? I didnt know there were any rules lol
@ExtraMedium
So whom can we give the bird back to?
@Walterbird
I suppose you will also be depositing your poop on this thread.
@ExtraMedium @phendrick @Walterbird
/giphy giving the bird the bird
@ExtraMedium @phendrick @Walterbird I give up. Nothing came up that matched what I was looking for. For that I blame @walterbird.
@ExtraMedium @Felton10 @Walterbird
@Kidsandliz
WoW…I own that shirt!
@chienfou what does the bottom half say?
@Kidsandliz
… general direction. It’s a Monty Python reference from the Frenchman taunts in Search for the Holy Grail.
See 1:45
@chienfou @Kidsandliz
/youtube unladen swallow
@Kidsandliz @unksol
“Due to Monty Python’s famously small budget (using coconut shells as horse gallops, etc.), Doune Castle stood in for most of the castles they visit including Camelot, Castle Anthrax, the Frenchmen’s castle and Swamp Castle”. -Wikipedia
Fun fact: when we went to visit Doune Castle during a visit to Scotland years ago, they kept a pair of coconut shell halves behind the ticket taker’s booth. We borrowed them and re-enacted the approach scene above with another couple that was touring with us up in the parapets. Needless to say, we were NOT the first to do this!
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @unksol so years ago I was in the UK on a business trip. One of my customers/vendors was taking me on a quick sight seeing tour in London. We actually hit the European Vacation roundabout. YOU KNOW THE ONE!!
I made them go round a few times, and sat in the back seat saying, “Hey look kids, its Big Ben and Parliment”! Laughed my butt
They were VERY confused and I had to explain that it was from a movie
@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Sometimes it’s a little things in life that give us the most pleasure!
Had Panda Express for dinner this evening. Opened my fortune cookie and found THREE fortunes inside. That must be lucky, right?!?!?
Apparently I am a leader, I am a considerate and thoughtful person AND I am a fun loving person who will find much happiness! Damn no winning lottery numbers!
@tinamarie1974 Maybe you will find your husband named Rich?
@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 and that ladies and gents, is what we call full circle comedy.
@tinamarie1974
I’m really feeling for you, everyone deserves to find some winning numbers in a fortune cookie! Try these, they’re my favorites…
3 5 6 9 11 18 22 48
Blame - I guess having some strawberry plants in patio containers is going to be purely for foliage, because I just saw a little chipmunk scampering around my pots! I’ve never even seen them here before. But Unblame because it’s so darn cute, and it’s providing 5-star Cat TV for Toby, who’s strictly an indoor cat.
🐿
@Kyeh I don’t think chipmunks usually inhabit home spaces but I would not encourage it cause getting them out is a pain. A have-a-hart trap might get him and relocate him.
Their less destructive than squirrels but still. An upside down tomato planter wire and hardware cloth might keep them out if you actually want some strawberries. Basically make a cage
@unksol The tomato cage-hardware cloth idea is clever. I’m not sure I’ll see the chipmunk again - I was shocked because I’ve never seen one here before - but I always have regular squirrels so I was already expecting them to get the strawberries. I’d hoped I might get a few, but who knows. My sister seems to have more luck with container plants but she’s closer to the street and farther from the foothills.
@Kyeh @unksol As a kid we had them living under the back porch. We took a butterfly net and caught him as he/she ran out the hole he had chewed in the step and caught him in that. Yeah late grade school kids and what we did unsupervised. LOL. Anyway we weren’t dumb enough to try to pet him, but we did walk out into the front yard to show him off to other neighborhood kids before liberating him. He did come back as that was where he lived. In high school we had skunks living under the front porch. Now that was no fun.
@unksol Oh, by the way - the chipmunk was outside, and Toby was watching from the back patio door. I haven’t seen chippy today, but there aren’t any ripe strawberries right now either.
@Kidsandliz @unksol We had raccoons in a chimney years ago, and I had squirrels in the attic last year.
Once at our previous house I saw two baby skunks playing with each other, just like kittens, down at the far end of the yard. So cute!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh I’m pretty sure there are squirrels in the attic and have been for years. I vacuumed some skeletons out of the master bedroom wall after I bought it years ago and I hear them up there. Still need to deal with those little terrorists but there will always be more.
I see chimpmunks all the time and they are benign as far as I’m aware. Just saying if the “food source” was right next to the house. Don’t want to give them an excuse to start looking lol
@Kidsandliz @unksol Well, true - but I’ve already had mice because the stupid basement is only partially finished, with bare dirt beyond the concrete that surrounds the middle area. So critters have no problem digging in around the outer walls. If I won the powerball or something I’d do a scrape-off but I’d have to play it to win.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh tell toby to get off his but and do his job lol
@Kidsandliz @unksol
Since I’ve had him I haven’t seen mouse droppings, so maybe he is.
@Kyeh @unksol Many cats ago I had one who was chowing down on his food, dish was by a wall. A mouse ran by. He turned his head to watch it run then went back to finishing chowing down. After he was done he went over to the fridge (mouse had run behind it) and sat intently staring at the fridge. So much for his mousing skills. LOL
@Kidsandliz @unksol He’s figured a sure thing was better than a chance, I guess.
Toby and I just collaborated on catching a moth!
@Kyeh @unksol wait until you find crickets and grasshoppers with missing heads and all that is left of lizards are the rear legs.
@Kidsandliz @unksol Those kind of critters don’t invade my house.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @unksol I often find lizard tails outside but that doesn’t mean our lame-o house cats are good hunters - it means the lizard’s Hail Mary defense was effective on the dimwits.
@Kidsandliz @macromeh @unksol @tinamarie1974
/youtube There’s An Animal In The Attic - GEICO Insurance
@Kyeh
There have been chipmunks at Boulder Falls since at least Sept 2020…
@chienfou Nice - is that Madam Chienfou?
Yes, there’s always been chipmunks in the foothills and mountains but I’ve never seen them in my urban yard before. But we’re getting more and more wild animals all over the place. Bears have become common, also mountain lions, and even a few moose have meandered into people’s yards!
@Kyeh
Yes…45 yrs in Sept…
And WOW moose are some seriously large critters! I remember seing one in the road in the Ho national forest. It was eye to eye with me in the driver’s seat of our RV… It filled up the road.
@chienfou Yikes! A friend of mine lives next to a stretch of open space and they had a moose hanging around over there for several days a while ago.
Sorry I have been AWOL lately and not responsive to your blames. Been taking care of mom as she had a setback. I am now at her beck and call (LOL)
@Walterbird oh no! I am so sorry. Hope it is not too serious
@Walterbird Hope she is feeling better soon. So much fun what she is going through. Not.
BLAME! Proctor & Gamble makes a “dishwasher cleaner” under their Cascade Platinum brand that has So Fucking Much Perfume in it that I had to evacuate the premises when I pulled the door of the dishwasher open after it had been run with that crap. None of their other Cascade products that I have tried is perfumed at all, and the very idea of putting a stench into something that’s going to result in stinking up the cookware is just amazingly idiotic. Smell is an important part of the sensory experience of taste, and putting perfume on plates, cups, bowls, glassware and all the rest will foul up the flavor of whatever is made or served using the contaminated items. That’s just cruel as well as stupid.
If that junk shows up here as a super-cheap clearance item, I strongly recommend that you order it and give it for free to the people you truly despise, but make sure they don’t know who gave it to them.
OBTW, I am on the fifth clean-and-sanitize run of the machine, using assorted chemistry sequences, and there is still some lingering stench. This shit is just ridiculously intrusive.
@werehatrack vinegar and lemon juice perhaps?
@tinamarie1974 P&G suggested vinegar; it did little. Bleach followed by citric acid seems to have scavenged a lot more.
@werehatrack goodness
@werehatrack I’ve used Finish brand dishwasher cleaner that has citric acid. However, it says don’t mix with bleach because it will produce toxic fumes. I’m guessing ammonia, because mixed with bleach it basically makes mustard gas, like the kind used in WW1. Also, don’t mix bleach and vinegar or a similar poisonous gas is produced. Just google “bleach and ammonia” or “bleach and vinegar” to confirm.
Maybe that’s part of the problem?
@werehatrack I never ever pay for those “dishwasher cleaner” products. I generally have a 5lb bag of citric acid around for all my hard water cleaning needs. A pinch can also be good in bread. Easy to mix up to descale the coffee maker. Etc etc. For the dish washer I just put some in and run it empty
@mike808 @werehatrack Mustard gas? That would be fun. One of the chemos I had, bendamustine, was derived from that stuff. It did a nice job of killing my bone marrow such that my bone marrow cellularity was knocked down to 20% with a white count of 0.5 and no neutrophils and so had to stop chemo 2 rounds early. Yup you want that in your house.
@mike808 The bleach and citric acid were not mixed, that would have evolved chlorine gas, which is really nasty. But following the bleach cycle with citric produced only a trivial amount because all but a trace of the bleach had already been rinsed out. Altogether, it took over six hours of nearly continuous running with various agents before the dishwasher stopped smelling like a bordello locker room. One of the things that I tried was running the Finish cleaner product. It helped a lot, but wasn’t able to remove all of the Cascade stench.
@unksol I get my citric acid from an industrial chemical supplier locally, and it is amazingly cheap that way. I also keep a jug of 80% phosphoric around, for corrosion removal. You have to know how to use these safely, of course…
@unksol By the way, be careful about using any significant amount of acid in a dishwasher whose pump housing is made of zinc, as a few cheaper ones apparently were in the past. Ditto for waste disposals.
@unksol @werehatrack
Why wouldn’t you put the disposal in the zinc?
/image badum tsss
@mike808 @unksol @werehatrack
too late now, but for the sake of completeness I have had good luck with baking soda for such projects. Stick half cup or so in there and run the cycle. Stop it before it drains the first time. Let it sit (overnight is best) then complete the cycle.
I also don’t really understand the use of ‘dishwasher cleaners’. Maybe I am a slob, but I have NEVER used such a thing. Haven’t ever had any build up of crap in my DW nor does it smell normally.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@chienfou @unksol @werehatrack
Seconded on the baking soda. Works for keeping the side load HE washing machines from getting funky too. And it’s dirt cheap. A&H makes 3lb bags of the stuff in the pool chemicals section. It’s used to buffer the pH from chlorine.
@mike808 @unksol @werehatrack
Sams has it in 15# bags as well… costs about 9 bucks!
As for citric acid, I have it around the house as well. It gets used when canning tomatoes etc.
@chienfou @unksol @werehatrack
Don’t forget citric acid’s prettier cousin, sodium citrate, for making NaCHO cheese sauce.
/image homer drool cheese
@chienfou Sam’s has baking soda, which is sodium bicarbonate. The stuff in the pool chem supplies is sodium carbonate, a.k.a washing soda, which has a different set of uses. I generally have some of each around. The washing soda is obtained from an industrial chem supply house or from a dye house like Dharma Trading. Most pool supply houses want way too much per pound for it.
@mike808
That would be NaOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2
@werehatrack
correct… and exactly what I said. It works just fine in a pool. and is WAY cheaper.
also Washing soda is also commonly called Soda Ash…
@chienfou True, but what @mike808 was citing is soda ash, not bicarb. Sodium carbonate is sold for pool pH balancing; bicarb, not so much. I should have added him to the tags on that.
@werehatrack
That’s true, but given that my pool’s pH has never been too low using sodium bicarb to raise the total alkalinity is actually very cost-effective.
@chienfou @werehatrack What I was referring to was bicarb, or baking soda. It is literally Arm & Hammer branded baking soda, in a bag a little bigger than a 2lb bag of flour or sugar.
I found it in the garden section of Walmart in the pool supplies. At the end of summer, when they’re clearing that section for the Christmas decorations, the 12lb version is on sale for a ridiculously cheap $2.50 a bag.
There is a smaller version that doesn’t highlight the pool usage, probably in the “household cleaners” section at the big box stores.
@chienfou @mike808 Somebody at WallyWorld must have caught the clue that Arm & Hammer baking soda was useful over in that area, this is the first time that I’ve run across it being sold for that purpose under that trademark. Pool supply houses generally want 2 to 5 times as much per pound for bicarb (and some don’t carry it) and slightly more for soda ash. But then, they’re selling it for a boutique use, for all intents and purposes. They don’t expect the people doing their own pool maintenance to understand the actual chemistry. It’s all recipes. “Use what we tell you.” It actually makes slightly more sense to use bicarb then soda ash, since the latter will increase the level of sodium in the water more than the bicarb does.
@chienfou @mike808 @werehatrack people have been using baking soda for pools for years! I can remember my dad hitting Wal-Mart when I was in high school and buying a cart full of the little boxes for out pool. Thrn having to go outside and help him open and dump howeveer many he thought he would need.
I would think A&H finally caught wind and updated their packaging accordingly.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack
A&H also makes a product for those “boutique” pool stores - convenient tablets with a clear “recipe” of 1 A&H tablet per chlorine tablet for your pool.
https://www.armandhammer.com/en/articles/diy-pool-maintenance-tips
(For your benefit, I stripped the hideous 2GB of google tracker and ad telemetry from the URL)
And A&H is definitely on the tip. Remember, they’re in the business of advertising that A&H baking soda will clean a felony off your record if it would sell more baking soda.
@chienfou @mike808 @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack You guys are missing the easy way to deal with swimming pools… a good friend or good friend neighbor with one. Then the only soda involved is soda pop that you bring over a 6 pack of.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack you mean coke. Right? What kind of coke do you like? Orange? Red? Grape?
@chienfou @mike808 @werehatrack
I remember that thread from 2016 AND how to find it.
site: www.meh.com Velveeta
https://meh.com/forum/topics/homemade-real-cheese-dip-you-like-velveeta-dont-read-this
Blame- I’ve had a horrible ear infection (that I didn’t know I had bc I’m an adult and hadn’t had an ear infection since I’ve been a kid) and it ruptured my ear drum and I’ve had fever all week long.
@Star2236
OMG I can only imagine how painful that has to be!
Feel better!
@Lynnerizer
It’s been hell, I finally feel a little bit better. My fever last week was 100.3, I was so wiped out and felt like I was on a high power jet and my ear was gonna explode. I couldn’t eat anything but soft stuff bc it hurt my ear to chew.
@Lynnerizer @Star2236 I’m glad you’re feeling better; hope you’re completely healed soon.
@Star2236
Oh wow, that’s awful!
Glad you’re over the worst of it!
Blame? Unblame?
Drove 500 miles, a bit more than half of it in the dark, through relatively short horrific downpours with frequent extremely high winds interspersed with “normal” rain. At one point, in the dark, mist was rising off the road. And then there was the lightening. IT LIT UP THE ENTIRE ROAD LIKE DAYLIGHT OVER AND OVER!!! OMG literally as bright as day (and then that wrecks your night vision). The lightening was amazing.
@Kidsandliz Yikes! Glad you got through it safely.
@Kidsandliz
I hadn’t driven at night in many years until a few weeks ago when my guys surgery went into overtime. An hour on the highway in good conditions was enough for me! I just can’t see at night anymore, never knew that was a real thing!
Blame: some stupid bird has decided to roost at night over the top of my lawn mower and s**** all over it each night. It’s starting to piss me off Walter. Can you put in a good word for me?? Otherwise I’m going to run 110 to the nail he’s been roosting on and we’ll have something roasted for dinner the next day! Just saying…
@chienfou OH NO
Can’t you find some non lethal way to get rid of him or her. Could be a relative of mine.
@chienfou @Walterbird Probably an owl. Running 110VAC to the nail will do nothing without a second point of contact to complete the circuit; do birds sitting on the power lines by the road get electrocuted? Nope! They have to bridge an open gap in what then forms a complete circuit. Best approach is to move the nail, move the mower, or cover the mower, perhaps with a lawn & leaf bag turned inside out which then gets used for whatever would have gone to the curb anyway.
@Walterbird @werehatrack
I’m well aware of how electricity works (have done a bunch of (inspected) wiring around the house/pool house). I was just joking…
At any rate, I think it’s a wren that is perching on the wire for the 4ft led strip that is under the lean-to. No way an owl would fit in that space. Gonna (1) move my mower, (2) put some staples up to hold the wire tighter to the framing.
Now if I could figure out what ate 2 of my chickens recently…
@chienfou @Walterbird Coyotes or possums, if they didn’t vanish in a splat of feathers. (Yes, a possum will try to drag away a live chicken. Or duck. A turkey will generally be able to make the possum desist; geese are a toss-up depending on the breed.)
@chienfou @Walterbird @werehatrack Now that could have been a bird like Walter as he eats chicken leg quarters for dinner (cooked of course).
@chienfou @Felton10 @Walterbird Generally, if it’s a bird, there will be a big splat of feathers where the hawk took the chicken down - and it’s got to be a pretty damn big hawk. (There are a few in my immediate area that could make the kill, but they’d have problems hauling away the carcass if the hen weighed over five to six pounds.)
@chienfou
/youtube failure to launch bird
@Felton10 @Walterbird @werehatrack
In my case it was most likely a raccoon, since the cage is completely surrounded and there are no holes big enough for a coyote. There is also a cover over it, but I think the raccoon may have managed to squeeze in along an eave. Probably going to revisit the engineering on the bottom of the pen. And maybe lower the electric lines for the fence charger.
Why has no one brought up the fact that today is https://nationaltoday.com/national-cheese-day/, as much of this site tends to get very cheesy, indeed?
I blame the bird – he probably is lactose intolerant (all the poop we hear about) and doesn’t eat cheese, anyway.
/giphy cheesy web site
@phendrick Wrong kind of web site, stupid /giphy-bot
@phendrick Perhaps this will prompt a visit to the local cheesemonger…
@mike808 Feeling a trifle peckish, then?
@werehatrack No, a bit more on the esuriant side. I was thinking some Venezuelan beaver cheese would fit the bill before resuming my sauntering about.
Blame!!! How did I get involved with this? Umm I know. Cats. Anyway, pulled into a gas station and very young, had had kittens (I suspect they died, milk was dried up and she was hanging out there far too long to leave babies), very friendly about 9 mo old cat came over to me and purred her little heart out. The mother-in-law of the one of the cashiers inside was going to take her. I had to explain to the cashier if she was going to have that cat in her car she couldn’t leave the windows open, had to hold the cat by the scruff of the neck if the door was open blah blah blah… Cat left 15 min before she got off work, she called me to tell me. I told her feed her really close to when she gets off work so that doesn’t happen again (apparently it hangs around there). If I had been going the other direction (eg back home) I would have taken it but I was headed to Houston to MD Anderson and no way could I have a cat with me doing that.
Then some guy came over and we started talking and he asked me if I wanted his cats (after I told him the situation with the one I was petting and he started petting - not hitting on me, just talking about cats). He works off shore on a tug boat for 30 days at a time, his wife died and he has no one to take the cats while he is working (lives on the boat then). I found him 2 no kill shelters in Lake Charles and told him as back up plan I’d take them to the no kill shelter I volunteer for but he’d have to buy a cage for me to put them in.
So now we wait and see if he takes them to one of the no kill shelters or if I am driving two cats to my house and then to the shelter.
@Kidsandliz
And what would we do without people like you…
@Lynnerizer Getting his cats today. If I vanish and never return to meh you know what happened (and yes I have sent someone the info about where I am going, will be texting on either side of arriving/leaving in case this isn’t all above board). But when a grown man has tears in his eyes and turns around embarrassed, then on the phone yesterday his voice cracks I think it is likely legit even if I am going to an isolated area.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer And he cares enough about the cats to not just put them outside and make them fend for themselves. In this day and age that’s almost remarkable all by itself.
@Lynnerizer @werehatrack Picked up the cats today. VERY VERY sweet, calm animals. Didn’t even cry once except when I turned the radio on so I turned it off. Had a brainstorm for how to get them almost immediately placed. There is woman who had two cats. One died 2 years ago, one last Dec. She comes nearly daily to Petsmart (one of the places I clean cages) to look at the cats. I had the Petsmart person call her (I clean cages for her and the cats are now at her house). She said she wasn’t sure she was ready (she told me she was when I talked to her so I think she is afraid to love cats again and have her heart broken). She was told the story, wanted photos and said she’d pray about it. The Petsmart person had a brainstorm to ask her if she would be willing to foster them figuring she’d get hooked since they are so loving and cuddle cats. She is going to do that tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @werehatrack
That’s wonderful! I sure hope she takes them. Do you have photos?
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @werehatrack
Kyeh took the woods right out of my mouth, that’s SO WONDERFUL!! I’m betting it’s going to be a foster fail and she’s going to fall head over heels in love with them!
My guy had a 8 year old dog (a weimaraner named Nikki) that had to be put down due to cancer in 2015 and he’s STILL not ready to get another dog yet. His dog Nikki did and went everywhere with him, the 2 were inseparable! He’s just started getting really close with my Himalayan cat Tucker since he’s the one who is tending to most of his needs these days and it scares him. It’s strange how we can get so close to certain animals and not others. I mean Nikki wasn’t his/our first dog but her passing effected him very different than others. Guess it depends where we are at in life. Such a journey were on here…
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @werehatrack Well that is what we are hoping for - she agrees to foster and it is a foster fail. These photos were taken where they are now - at the person’s house where I leave my cats when I am out of town. The first photo we had stashed them in the master bath while I took my cats out of the bedroom. The second photo is in the bedroom my cats were in and they will stay in for a while - well unless that other woman agrees to foster.
He is 4 and missing an eye
She is 1.5 and that is her owner’s shirt she is on in their bed from her house.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @werehatrack
The calico is gorgeous! They’re at a good age, so that’s nice.
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @werehatrack They are hiding today. Poor babies.
Just blame…
@tinamarie1974
@chienfou a hug would be a good start, thanks
@tinamarie1974
Consider yourself hugged!
What does meh button do?
@buythis
pretty much the same thing it did the last 3 times you clicked it…
@buythis @chienfou Try to take over the whirl.
@werehatrack
nicely said Ren…
@buythis same thing it does every night- try to take over the world!
Interesting that this month’s goat has not placed a single meh order . . .
@hammi99 Not really. Not many birds have their own credit card and when I finally was given one it was under the condition that I only use it to purchase bird supplies and toys. If I purchased something from meh my credit card would probably be taken away.
@hammi99 @Walterbird Excuse me Walterbird but don’t try to make us feel sorry for you. Not going to work. You are just a cheapskate who wants 5 star review items (we have heard about what you expect to be fed) trying to make your
ownerhuman look bad. I am sure there is room in your fridge for batteries. Even your human might make an exception for that. Or ear buds since likely you destroy ones that get left lying around. In fact there are some for sale today.@hammi99 @Kidsandliz @Walterbird I’m sure even walterbird is smart enough not to buy non rechargeable batteries. I bet the ear buds don’t fit parrots and I can’t remember using any in at least the last decade.
@hammi99 @unksol @Walterbird But if he bought non-rechargeable batteries he’d have another excuse to get in the fridge (eg visit his friends) and thus could sneak out some of his food kept there.
@Mike808 no blames for your IT related issues?
@tinamarie1974
No, UNBLAME for Meh figuring it out and fixing it.
Unblame for the thoroughly entertaining IRK-a-thon today.
$200 IRKs, and they sold 19 of them!
Blame.
Ate some gummy edibles and now I be tryna peel this fucking banana for 20 minutes…
@mike808 That’s not what most people use a banana for, you know.
Paging @walterbird, where did you go?
@Walterbird After all that campaigning you did, you’re not being a very active
!
@Kyeh
@Walterbird is probably helping @felton10 with caring for his momma, I guess she had a set back of sorts.
Feel better Mrs. Felton!
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @Walterbird
Well, he’s had time to take a shower!
@Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer Yes she had a setback-one of the implants caused an infection and she had to have it removed. Just got the drain out early this week. So three surgeries and almost back where we began. I’m not blaming myself.
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @Walterbird
I’m really sorry to hear that - I hope she’s doing better and heals up soon.
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer Well she now has to decide what they next step should be
@Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer Maybe get a second opinion elsewhere at a major NIH cancer center?
BIG TIME BLAME!!! So I go to take a shower and hear the machine (hadn’t stepped in the shower yet fortunately but was about ready to). My bathroom door doesn’t shut due to a cat dirtbox and stacked litter. Curtains are left open otherwise the cats would shred them. I managed to get dressed just in time just as they were even with my bedroom window. The photo is outside of my livingroom window when they were cleaning the algae off the brick on the floor above me. And we would be starting this at 7 am? Seriously? In a residential building?
Of course they are doing all the foundation work including breaking up cement starting at 6am because of course why would the Nazis who own this place now care that some of us aren’t up by then. We aren’t really human, just a source of money. Been going on like this for a year and a half so far. When I asked them where we would park when they did the parking lot I was told that wasn’t there problem. There is nowhere for people living in 128 apartments to park. It’s all medical center (much of it staff reserved and they boot people with no permit) or other apartment buildings. You can’t park on the street as it is a main busy street (hard to even get out of our parking lot) with no parking. This should be fun when they start that.
@Kidsandliz There’s probsbly an ordinance that sets the 7am start time. That’s what it is here, and in this summer heat, 7am is already mid 80s. In the big picture, it’s the best compromise among all the stakeholders.
If they’re starting before a city ordinance allows, call the code enforcement and building/construction permit office manager to complain. They’ll get educated on the ordinances and if it continues (i.e. residents complain), the city can revoke their permit and stop work until they get the message.
Attend your city council meetings and P&Z meetimgs and make your voice heard when the building owners need a variance or something from the city. They have more leverage than you do, and can include restrictions on the permits and variances needed by the owners. Like requiring notices to the residents fir upcoming renovation and construction, hours of operation restrictions, etc. But the city won’t ask for those things if they don’t know their constituents want them and all they hear is what the owner/builder/developer wants.
@mike808 the owners can ask them to start later. They (owner) don’t give a fuck. They’d rather we were dead with the utilities off and pay the rent. And no I can’t vote with my feet. HUD. Waiting lists. Their city work permit is done under commercial. WTF? It is an apartment building. They work 6-7 days a week you can never ever sleep in. It’s been like that over a year and a half. You try it sometime.
@Kidsandliz @mike808 seems timely
/youtube John Oliver rent
Not that this in anyway really encapsulates the problem. And I’ve lived in the Midwest and never in a large city or had a problem. But a 2 bedroom in a calm complex off Purdue campus used to be like $450 or $550 in 2010.
But I knew people whose Landlords could be dicks. They would counter with nightmare tenants. Except those never affect them they affect the little guy. The current trend is obviously to treat people as commodities by investment companies. And I’m sure forcing people out has gone on forever
Fucking boil water order again - only about 5 days late as water pressure had been too low for at least that long before they announced it on two tv stations but not anywhere where they are supposed to until yesterday. Hope I don’t get sick. Treatment plant needs filter parts, hopefully in stock when they finally get around to ordering them, then water off to fix them, then the two day wait for the test to come back drinkable… Yeah, Any bets on how long this time? Last time after the Houston storm that got us too, 31 days with no water at all. As in zip zero none. And then there was a couple months later the fire at the water treatment plant that no one noticed for hours as no one showed up for work and no one knew the place had no one there… That one lasted at least a week - can’t remember any more. About 2 months last year no water or boil it.
@Kidsandliz So … that’s a … blame?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@mike808 yeah duh. Starts with fucking…
@Kidsandliz Blame isn’t the only thing …
Unblame.
It’s that time of year again in Belgium.
Tomorrowland