Totes May Goats (May 2021 Scapegoat Blame Thread)
12Let me start by recognizing @rockblossom for the thread title which I have egregiously stolen, without remorse, and now take full credit for. You’re welcome.
On to the point, we survived month four of “2020 Part 2” only to be left facing the wrath of May. Big thanks to @DoctorOW for taking things in stride through the April showers. Now, as the Doctor steps aside, it seems the time has come for @Lynnerizer to feel the weight of this mediocre responsibility. She also managed this narrow “win” for her birth month. Congrats?
Give @Lynnerizer the blame she’s earned for herself, and don’t let her off easy just because she’s one year older. We all survived a birthday in 2020, so this month is nothing to write home about.
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Unblame. Getting jab #2 this morning. Doing my part to put COVID in the same category as Polio and Smallpox.
Vaccines work.
@mike808 Let us know what side effects you suffer. I had essentially none. “Punch in the arm” effect for a day, like any vaccine. Otherwise nada.
@PocketBrain Nothing for this one. The first one felt like a BB inside my muscle for about a minute and then dissipated. No side effects after that.
My jabs were at my local hospital (where my patient records are, insurance info, etc, so it was simple to have all my health info in the same place). I couldn’t get mine until the state opened it up for everyone, and the hospital was ready and knew the drill.
@mike808 @PocketBrain Wife and I got our first dose (Moderna) yesterday (Friday). Arrived at the clinic 15 minutes before our appointment and had to stand in line outside for a half hour just to get checked in. Typical bureaucratic shit-show. At least it didn’t rain while we were out there. Once checked in, things went pretty quickly. Medical staff was friendly and efficient. Props to them.
I slept well last night, but feel like I have a mild cold this morning. Arm that got the jab is mildly sore - no worse than when I got the last flu shot. Much better than when I got the shingles vaccines.
@macromeh @mike808 @PocketBrain I got the Pfizer. After the first jab my arm was slightly sore, but nothing more. A lot of people I know had no effects, so I was surprised that after my second dose, I really felt like I had a 24-hour flu! My hands got very cold and I couldn’t find the energy even to make dinner, so I had toast or something, and spent the following day in bed. But by that evening I felt okay. And I was relieved in a way to have proof that it was working!
@Kyeh @mike808 @PocketBrain After my second shingles shot, I felt like I had the flu for a couple of days - no energy, body aches, chills. So I won’t be surprised if I have similar reaction after the second Covid shot. I guess it means my immune system is cocked, locked and ready to rock.
@Kyeh @macromeh @mike808 @PocketBrain I had Moderna and no real issues after the first shot. The second, however, was horrendous. Chills, hot flashes, headache, aches/soreness, nausea, zero energy and a low grade fever. Lasted about 24 hours and was gone as quick as it came. Lots of Gatorade and no food. I guess my immune system is ready!
@Kyeh @macromeh @mike808 @PocketBrain @tinamarie1974 I had zero side effects from either Pfizer shot except a mildly sore spot a the injection site. I was afraid I didn’t respond. Fortunately the spike protein antibody test (I am part of a clinical trial) showed a response.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @macromeh @mike808 @PocketBrain @tinamarie1974
Of course it’s the Johnson vaccine that’s said to cause clots BUT I just don’t know?! I’m usually not like this but who’s to say which vaccine is in the syringe? 
I got the Moderna vaccine, with the first dose my arm was very painful and super swollen, looked like a baseball was in there and I had a day of excessive sleep. My 2nd dose, no pain, no swelling and the same amount of excessive sleep. The one thing that we’ve been questioning is about the fact that I got massive blood clots in my legs just a few days after the 2nd dose. No exaggeration when I say “massive”, these clots go from my groin ALL the way down to my calves. In BOTH legs!
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @macromeh @mike808 @PocketBrain @tinamarie1974
Generally speaking each site is only give one brand of vaccination to give because of logistical issues with respect to scheduling follow up apts so that (shot mix up between brands for shot 2) is a very low probability explanation. Also the blood clots from the one are in the brain (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis). Moderna and Pfizer use a different way to create an immune response and neither have been linked to blood clots. Of course that doesn’t mean there could be a very, very rare response in someone - however the fact that there have been more than a billion vaccination shots given world wide that is plenty of opportunity for the very rare side effects to surface.
In Europe they found that “five cases with the Moderna vaccine among 4 million Europeans dosed” which can’t be distinguished from from what they call the “background level” (eg you don’t have an increase in the number of blood clots of people who had moderna vs the number you’d expect amongst people who were not vaccinated at all yet).
(https://www.statnews.com/2021/04/13/researchers-search-for-answers-in-puzzle-of-blood-clots-and-covid-vaccines-and-see-some-clues/ This is a science based source, 4/13/21)
By law all side effects a patient reports (or medical personnel see) must be reported to the FDA/manufacturer and of course at this point everyone is paranoid about blood clots so any that are reported are going to get vaccination company attention, if for no other reason than to prevent a class action liability law suit.
Hope your mess resolves quickly!!!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @macromeh @PocketBrain @tinamarie1974
Then there’s also the science that birth control hormones have far, far higher rates of blood clotting issues in comparison to the J&J vaccine, and yet you don’t see people going apeshit bananas about that being too risky to keep on the market.
Bottom line: Vaccines work. Get yours today. Live long enough to see your grandkids get their annual SARS/COVID vaccine because we all know the knuckledragger mouthbreathing freedumb fighters are gonna keep on infecting others until they’ve wheezed their last intubated puff of oxygen.
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @macromeh @mike808 @PocketBrain @tinamarie1974 Well my first sentence above has a ton of problems. Opps. That is what I get for not proof reading. LOL
Fashionably late, better late than never, always late for party, blah blah blah, i’m finally here! Your goat HAS arrived!
Now, IF I remember correctly, I might’ve been one of “those people” who was a little heavy on our previous goats. Even though I have already appoligized to @DoctorOw for the blame of a drunk driver plowing through my mom’s house, THIS is where the Karma God’s come into play. Yikes!
Bring it on peoples;
I GOT THIS, ME… “STRONG LIKE BULL”!! Or GOAT!
“STRONG LIKE BULL” (deep Russian voice)
@Lynnerizer I shall smite you with a THOUSAND blames!
Congratulations, Lynnerizer! I hope our blames are just an amusing distraction for you while you’re dealing with real difficulties. And I can think of plenty of possible unblames to come now that the weather’s getting warmer and birds are singing and spring is busting out all over!
@Kyeh
Yeah I hear it’s really nice outside and I even got a glimpse on the way down to a MRI yesterday. I know the beautiful flowers my mom brought where to brighten my day, not to show me what I was missing out on! Lol… I really don’t know WHEN I became such a wise-butt or SO sarcastic, but it sure as heck happened somewhere along the way! (eye roll)
I was meaning to say “thanks” Kyeh, somehow that went south! Spring has always been my most favorite season, I think I might even be missing my alergies. Oh well… I’ll blame the goat!
@Lynnerizer is a ray of sunshine and a pretty stellar mehtizen. How many of us could look on the bright side of being in a hospital, where the faster internet connection might score her an IRK?
I think she should have the option of being goat or honorary goat (this or another month of her choosing). And if she really wants to be goat, but has a lot on her plate, we should cut her some slack.
@Lynnerizer @mehcuda67 I agree-let her choose if she feels up to it.
@Felton10 @mehcuda67
Thanks for your kind words. It’s been a real pleasure to find such warm and caring new friends the past couple of years. Definitely not what I was expecting when I signed onto a discount sales sight. I think I can handle this cuz i’m “STRONG LIKE BULL”!
…and i’m just gonna keep telling myself that!! Lol…
Unblame… My employer had a few layoffs this week and thankfully I was spared.
Unblame @Lynnerizer Happy birth month to both of us…
@sasantosh Yes, yes, YES!! Happy birthday to us!!
/giphy happy birthday
@sasantosh Did you get anything special OR do anything for your b-day? I DID! My sister gave me a piece of art i’d been wanting to steal from her for 20+ years! It’s got a wall calling it’s name! Plus, all of the nurses came in singing happy birthday and gave me a Reeses Peanut Buttercup cupcake, super surprising me! Not to bad for a Covid, hospital birthday!
@Lynnerizer Happy belated birthday to you.
Mine is on 29th, so still a long way to go. Chances are I will have a simple birthday. As we are still social distancing.
Congratulations @Lynnerizer! I hope you are getting the healing magic you need in hospital and or at least giving the staff hell. I will do my best not to blame too much on you.
@ironcheftoni Thanks!
As for the nurses, i’m just not a hell giver, i’m actually a pretty good patient. 
The Dr’s have been great, they’re working hard to figure out the not so clear things, i’ve got them earning their pay this month for sure!!
Blame - we got a brief heavy dose of hail a little while ago! It terrified my cat and I was afraid it would beat down all the tulips and flowering trees. But unblame - now the air smells wonderfully fresh, and the flowers look a little worse for wear but not too bad.
@Kyeh
@Kyeh Those flowers look beautiful.
@sasantosh Thank you! I carefully framed my photo to crop out all the dandelions around them.
@Kyeh @sasantosh Dandelions are flowers too you know
@Kidsandliz @sasantosh That’s true! I’m told (by my mother) that when I was 4 I picked a big bouquet of long-stemmed dandelions for our neighbor, for his birthday.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh Just FYI, my wife has planted dandelions and marigold on our deck.
@Kidsandliz @sasantosh
The colors will look nice together!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @sasantosh
Since both dandelions and marigolds are edible you’re on your way to a tasty salad garden! Yummy yum YUM!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @sasantosh I recall many a summer with my grandmother and her sisters picking dandelions for the salad.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer Wife said that flower will taste and smell sweet so she has added ghost pepper to the plant collection.
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @sasantosh @ybmuG We tried eating dandelions once but I don’t think we knew how to prepare it. We ate nettles once too. Way too much work to get those so you can eat them. I am lazy and don’t like to cook. I either need to be able to pick it straight off the plant and eat it or cook it briefly or buy it in the grocery store. LOL
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @sasantosh @ybmuG Do you eat the dandelion leaves or flowers or both? I know people eat them but I’ve also heard that they’re bitter. Is it like arugula? I like that - but if it’s more like radicchio, that’s too bitter for me.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @sasantosh we only ever used the leaves. Can’t speak to the edibility of the flowers. And they are bitter. I’m not sure i could accurately place it relative to endive, arugula or radicchio, especially since i was a kid with a different palate, but the best ones are the small ones and definitely want them from a lawn that isn’t fertilized, etc. Was a bit of work, but for a young kid in the country with no TV, it was actually a fun distraction.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @sasantosh @ybmuG Well, I don’t apply anything at all to my yard, although the critters are pretty active in it. I guess I should try some newly sprouted leaves sometime…
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @sasantosh just went out and picked some. I’d say of medium size. Not bad. Just takes a while to pick a bunch, but if you use it in a mix it’s a nice addition.
I also have a recipe for dandelion wine somewhere
/image dandelion wine
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @sasantosh
FYI, though it’s a sample size of 2 leaves, they were about the size of the ones in the above pic and I’d place them on par with arugula. YMMV.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @sasantosh @ybmuG Thanks! I’m not up to making wine, but I’ll try some greens. I hear they’re very good for you.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @sasantosh @ybmuG
I’m with you on that, not too much prep makes it doable. Last time I tried dandelions I remember them tasting bitter. Don’t know that i’m a fan!
What if we make May the month of the Anti-Goat? Rather than blaming @lynnerizer for everything we reward her and we all send Meh gifts for her that can be packaged into a phenomenal IRK they send at month’s end?
@cbilyak That’s a very sweet thought. But you know, Lynnerizer actually said in the nomination thread for April’s goat that she’d like to be the May goat. So that’s why I nominated her and campaigned for her. But I agree that she probably doesn’t need any really heavy rants - which I think is actually how it’s supposed to be anyway???
@cbilyak @Kyeh Her last post yesterday said she wanted “Walter” for goat.
@cbilyak @Felton10
Okay, we can lay all the blames on Walter, and all the unblames on @Lynnerizer, how’s that? Since Walter doesn’t give a fuck, obviously - he’s one very chill bird.
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Lynnerizer
/giphy chill bird
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Lynnerizer Well, not a parrot, but the same attitude.
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer
Don’t you mean Walter doesn’t give a cluck - oh wait. That’s a chicken. LOL
@cbilyak @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer Stop making fun of Walter. When he finally ascends to Goatdom, he will remember the people who made fun of him. Paybacks can be hell.
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer
How am I making fun of him?!
I’m praising his cool alpha-bird demeanor!
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer I am wondering what payback can be given from a thankless position?
Btw, Felton Walter has to have his own account b4 he can be nominated
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer I am not intimidated. I have 2 attack cats who ate birds for lunch before I owned them. There is back yard bird feeder dinner bait kitty (aka Tigger) and feral kitty (aka Peaches). Instead it should be Walter who should be very afraid. (grin).
@cbilyak @Kyeh
Yep. Some people take the blame thread way too seriously and dump unnecessary shit into it.
@cbilyak @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer Walter had been barking like a dog, following us around the house and asking to be petted so he is more dog than bird at the point so I have no doubt he can handle your cats.
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Kyeh @Lynnerizer Cats womp dogs on the nose. While your dog has a beak so might be safe from that, all 4 of mine are in love with feather toys. You might find you have a naked
birddog after an encounter with my cats.@cbilyak @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer
/youtube cat saves kid
@cbilyak @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @unksol I LOVE that video. Something to show the cat haters who always say cats don’t care about you/dogs defend you - HAH!
Blame.
I don’t know how to get my cat off his high protein diet without getting my ass kicked.
I’m leaving tonight for a drive to east Texas for the weekend. My folks have sold their business and in their mid to late 80s, they have finally decided to retire. And none too soon as my mom is showing signs of dementia.
The business is Self Storage and two units, both single car garage size are my mom’s hoarding motherlode. Dad has determined that this weekend is when we sell it all in a massive garage sale. My mom is loudly protesting this. Wants to keep everything and dad is making her get rid of all her things. I’m on the side of dad in this crap has got to go.
/giphy pray for me
@ironcheftoni where would you even move that much stuff? Can you have the sale on site? Sounds like you might be better off with a liquidator who could give you a price for everything and leave it right where it is. Unless you think she might have some family stuff mixed in there you want to keep.
/image storage wars
@ironcheftoni It might help to have her pick out a few things to save and then take photos of the stuff she is most sad to get rid of so she can look at those photos later. We did that with mom when she downsized and it helped a lot.
The other thing that helped, and it doesn’t sound like you have time for it, is I let mom tell me about each item she was getting rid of. It took all afternoon to go through two dressers full of fabric. But once I had heard why she bought it, what she had been planning to make with it, etc. she found it far less stressful to then put it in the donate pile. My sister was ‘what do you want to do with this, if you don’t tell me in 5 seconds it goes in the donate pile’ (we had a keep, donate, give to someone specific piles) and mom was too stressed out over that to cope with doing it that way.
If your mom is at the beginning stages of dementia you might want to figure out how to do what needs to be done with the least amount of stress for her as possible as dementia complicates this and triggers stress responses far more than in someone who isn’t suffering from dementia.
Good luck. It isn’t easy. Especially if she is emotionally attached to some of the stuff.
@Kidsandliz I got in last night and a lot of stuff has been pulled out and priced. But many things she has them priced so high that they won’t sell. I’m sure it’s a passive aggressive motive on mom’s part.
It’s been hard dealing with her dementia. I’ve been noticing it for years but dad finally admitted the D word last Christmas. But at this point it comes and goes. All my life, she has been an avid cook. One day she won’t know what a family favorite dish is and the next day she will rattle off all the ingredients out of her head.
And I know don’t argue with a dementia patient but we have been arguing ever since the day I could talk so it’s been really hard.
@ironcheftoni You’ve really got your work cut out for you. I see myself going through something similar in a short time. Just remember, a lot of times folks view their things as worth more than they objectively are… try not to view the high prices as a strategic move on her part, but more a reflection of how much she values her possessions. This is really typical with old people. We all know that those 5 pound steel scissors her father gave her after the war can be replaced with dollar-store China made scissors for $1, but she doesn’t view them that way. and she thinks she could $20 for them. Idk, just saying, I feel for the old bird.
@ironcheftoni Don’t forget to hug both your parents a little extra. Dementia and just plain slowing down as we get older is hard on everyone. It will be some tough (and frustrating) times but you will be happier remembering that you took a moment to say and show your love.
@ironcheftoni It may not be passive aggressive as much as people tend to value their own things far more than anyone else and then tend to price them higher than they’d actually pay themselves if they were to buy the same item. It’s a cognitive bias.
Unblame.
I can finally take my pet fish out for a walk.
It is called a Katsugyo Bag, and the guage is measuring oxygen saturation so he’s comfy.
@mike808
Looks like he might be dead then since it is appears to be reading zero!
Unblame today is someone’s birthday!!!
@tinamarie1974
Attaboy Charlie!!
@tinamarie1974 It looks like you got the green off his face?
@Kyeh it is there just faded. I haven’t tried anything just yet. Plan on experimenting when the rain stops and I can brush him out/clean his face in the back yard.
As a side note, it has been raining off and on since Sunday, and it seems all that humidity makes his hair extra poofy!!
@tinamarie1974 He is the quintessential shaggy dog!
@Kyeh ssoooooooo shaggy!! I keep going back and forth about trimming his bangs. I don’t know…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well cool. A tornado is coming through. Phone is going nuts. TV is still on showing where it is, going up the highway and I live 2 blocks from the highway. And sirens just went off. Cats are already in a cage. No good place to hide here even on the first floor. Says will hit here in 7 minutes. Bye for now.
@Kidsandliz
I guess we’ll see an unblame shortly.
@mike808 Yup unblame fortunately. Sirens turned off. Apparently it went a tad more east than north so crossed just south of me. TV back on. TV weather guy just told his wife live on TV to text him since it is going near his house. LOL
@mike808 And it missed my daughter too (had to wait to find that out since she is north and east of me) and my best friend who was right in the middle of the cone east of me. We all got lucky. From the TV doesn’t look like they were very strong as damage looks pretty mild fortunately for everyone.
It’s only Tuesday and I blame @Lynnerizer for how tired I am.
/giphy coffee please
@mbersiam Probably tired from opening up both your IRK and BOC-all in one day.
@Lynnerizer blame for pulling me back into the wonderful Meh community after working so hard to end my addiction. Good to be back!
@lbcausey
And what a wonderful addiction it is!! Welcome back!
Unblame I think… Multiple trees fell in today’s storm around the building although fortunately none fell at my end of the building. As winds were 64-78mph I wasn’t so sure the pine tree near my window wasn’t going to come down. No idea how they didn’t break any windows. Also you can see our lovely moat.
@Kidsandliz Water views are worth more.
@Kidsandliz
Is that a boat slip next door?
Ah, life at the marina, with dockside living.
5 o’clock in Margaritaville.
@Felton10 We have even more than that. I couldn’t get close enough to show the extent of the underground cave swimming pool. I mean how many apartment buildings have something like that?
That happens to go under my apt (first floor aren’t apartments, rather the common area that the nazis who now own this place told us is not to be used by residents and they took out all the furniture. On the other side of the building they are digging too, I presume to meet in the middle. Today we were watching the hole in the front have big chunks of dirt avalanche off of the sides of that hole. Lets hope nothing collapses.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz
Ooh, a Treasure Cave!
@Felton10 @mike808 Yeah probably a treasure cave but I think the people digging will find the treasure before the rest of us due to how deep the mud is. The boots I got in the irk are a size too small. Every time they hit the building with their excavator my apt shakes. It is going to take them a while to suck all the water out so they can keep looking for said treasure.
Hole does go down deeper than the excavator is tall. So does the end of the moat that is in the front of the photo. In the back end of the photo it is around 4 or 5 feet deep. In the photo the moat at the front end is around 6-8’ deep, under my window it is even deeper - also deeper than the excavator is tall.
@mike808 Nope. It is the parking lot of the apt next to us, although if they keep digging we could ask the owners of that building if we could tie up to their
dockfence, although first we’d have to move a shit load of downed trees from the storm all along that side of the building.@Kidsandliz You could startup a guided kayak tours business.
@mike808 What about cave diving?
@Kidsandliz Yikes sinkhole or worse.
@Felton10 Well the hole is there on purpose to put in supports under the building (foundation issues, building had about a 7" drop in some areas). I am not worried about a sink hole, rather that these dirt walls will collapse as the soil is incredibly saturated and chunks of dirt bigger than basket balls are falling off the “walls” of the dirt dig holes.
When the lowest bidder fixes the building that is cause for concern around here. Especially since much of the work crew has been fired more than once. I hope this batch knows what they are doing since the big holes that are going to run under then across the building are under my apt (there is one more tunnel they will be digging further down after they are done here).
So here is the hole on the other side of the building that will be going under my apt. All the dirt piles are from dirt walls they weren’t planning to dig out that collapsed in the rain and from the hole filling with water. Nice huh. Some of us are starting to wonder if we should take anything we value out of our apts incase it does collapse since likely we’d never be let back in to rescue our stuff. I park near that mess and overheard them talking about how to shore up the collapsed stuff so no more collapses. Not so reassuring (well other than they plan to do some temporary support). Photo was taken from the first floor lobby. Looks like we are on the second floor LOL
What they were doing when I took that photo earlier today was scraping dirt off the underside of the slab foundation, causing the water pipe (actually hopefully sewer pipe) to shake as they’d hit it each time.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz
OMG! Is that safe? I mean to be living there? Was that hole done from man or machine? I fear for you and everyone else living there!
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz
My questions answered, but still, it’s a big WOW! And it’s STILL pretty scary stuff!
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer They are digging even more of these big holes. Where all those pipes cross in a star pattern I noticed yesterday they are digging one straight ahead and one to the left of that.
I sure hope key batches of soil under the slab doesn’t collapse and cause that to crack. Several of us have visions of everything dropping a floor. Allegedly they know what they are doing. Allegedly. I do know I’d be happier if these holes where not under my apt. because if something collapses you know they will never let us back into our apts to get our stuff.
Hello. Long time reader, first time blamer.
Is this where I grumble about the quarter mile line for gas that was blocking off part of the highway? I didn’t even want gas @Lynnerizer, I just wanted to drive home in peace.
/giphy east coast
@Yepitsbrian I may be driving 1000 miles each way, leaving this weekend, having to drive thought the shortage areas. I am not looking forward to that part of the drive. Having to pull off the highway looking for gas at half a tank just to be sure I can find some before I run out is going to big time lengthen the trip. Not to mention what the price of gas will be. Some gas stations around here are out of gas as people are filling up their tanks, extra gas cans…
@Yepitsbrian I bailed on my volunteer job tomorrow because I don’t have enough gas to get home if I go. Guess I’ll have to watch Netflix instead.
@Kidsandliz Unblame: Looks like people are either returning to reason or running out of things to put gas in… And just in time for the weekend!
@Yepitsbrian Well cool!! I am really, really glad to hear that. Around here not so much so, but maybe that will change on Friday. Of course if they haven’t driven enough to go through their stash of full tanks, plastic bags and water bottles full of gas that would cause a drop in demand too.
@Kidsandliz @Yepitsbrian I think you want
https://meh.com/forum/topics/how-to-handle-the-east-coast-gas-panic
For this specific issue. I think it’s a little much to blame the goat for the sheer stupidity of Americans as a whole. If people behaved rationally it would be a non issue.
Plus Walters filling in and I don’t think we want to draw attention to humans stupidy to an independent judge. He might turn us in
Advanced blame: Memorial Day is celebrated locally by massive backyard fireworks, many illegal. Locals stocked up on gasoline to hoard, and now it’s stored in sheds and garages. I expect the weekend of the 31st to be noisier than normal, with a spectacular house fire or two.
@OldCatLady
OMG.
@OldCatLady
/giphy Explosion
@OldCatLady
Says every hoarder of gasoline…
@OldCatLady
It’s the 31st, Happy Memorial Day!!
@Lynnerizer Only small fireworks so far. No fire engines, no houses involved. Maybe the 4th will put on a show. This has nothing to do with honoring or observing the dates, it’s just because locals only know how to make noise.
Unblame. Road trip to see my mom for the first time in about 17 months or something way too long. Blame. It’s a 1064 mile drive. Where’s my teletransporter when I need it?
@Kidsandliz If you just want to see your mom, there is technology for that: Skype, Facetime (Apple-only), Duo, Team, Zoom, and more.
If you want to be with your mom, then, yeah, it means you’ll need a teleportation device.
Welcome to the 21st Century, time traveller.
@mike808 My mother can’t even operate her cell phone or cable TV remote. She can’t do tech stuff.
@Kidsandliz Congratulations on being able to go see your mom!
@Kidsandliz Is there a caretaker or regular friend/relative that does and can facilitate? That must have been rough during the lockdown and throughout the pandemic.
Safe travels if you do make the trip.
@mike808 She is in assisted living. They are supposed to help her, etc. and mostly aren’t.
@Kidsandliz I hope you get lucky and some high school kid comes up with the idea to bring some friends to visit a local assisted living place and facilitate video calls with residents and their loved ones. It seems an easy and simple volunteer activity to do, and kids know the technology.
Maybe reach out to a local high school and suggest it to the counselor or volunteer coordinator for juniors looking to buff their college apps next year.
@mike808 Great idea but the problem is that they won’t even let my sister and I in together - they still have them in solitary confinement which is wrecking havoc with cognitive function. I am about ready to call the state advocate about the problem. Now they will only let someone in for one hour (except made for me since I am coming from out of town so I get 3 hours. What I used to do is show up at about 10am and leave about 8pm. Sucks.
@Kidsandliz @mike808
That really sucks! I’ve been struggling with what can be done about this whole thing of visitors not being able to see “their people” in the hospital, and in convalescent homes since this whole thing started! I’ve had to deal with family being in both and It’s really awful! Even the staff members/nurses agree that it’s only caused more issues for everyone. None of which are anything good!
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer
If you have POA, you can ask for the facility ombudsman if the staff/administrators are not being helpful and insist that you need to speak with your charge on legal matters relating to your POA, and that if they need paperwork to make that happen, then you can politiely suggest they do less fucking around and do more filing paperwork and calling whatever supervisors they need to in facilitating you exercising your POA powers to speak with your mother.
And get the facilities CEO and COO on speed dial. Send them an advance notice of your previous impediments their staff has presented and that you question they are following corporate policy to deny access to POA primary relatives (parent/child/spouse). Let them (the CEO/COO know which facility you plan to visit and when, and to expect a call immediately if there is pushback from the staff.
Contact the state licensing board ombudsman and ask for help in understanding what authority the facility has in excessive and non-medically necessary “solitary confinement” against your wishes, as POA and/or primary relative. If it was medically necessary, your mother should be transferred to a hospital - and get them moving on that transfer ASAP if they’re still pushing the “we think it is medically necessary” angle while also being magically *not" beyond their level of care certified by the state to provide. The magic phrase is “elder abuse”. Read up on the state helpline for it and statutes/requirements for assisted living licensing.
I hope you have medical and/or legal POA. They will help you cut through their BS to some extent since you can legally speak for your mother and to her wishes directly (i.e. to visit with you), and they can’t contradict/prevent your wishes/direction except for what are likely to be required medical services they are not licensed to provide.
And if you’re in a red state “wide open for business, the pandemic is over by governor’s decree”, even better. Use their pandemic fuckery against them.
She has been in the hospital with major major life threatening problems. I don’t feel it is fair to dump this on her also.
@Felton10 Thanks for lookin out Felton! Me; STRONG LIKE BULL!
@Lynnerizer Remember Walter is standing by if you need any help.
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer strong like a bull, but are you blameworthy like a goat too?
@Felton10
I sent Walter a S.O.S just moments ago. It’s crazy how weak and exhausting being sick and so stressed out has made me. Even my concentration is worse than ever! Blood clots are NO JOKE! What I thought was a good distraction turned out to be TOO much. Thanks again!
@Felton10 @OnionSoup
Maybe i’ll give myself more credit, after all I made it home from the hospital after ONLY 18 days. Could’ve been much worse! If I would’ve hung out one more day I would’ve had great internet speed and probably would already have a IRK for today! (Sure hope it wasn’t a once in a lifetime kind of thing, i’d be sad!) I’ll definitely be calling around for new service during this long recovery i’ve got ahead me. New goals is where it’s at AND of course doing my best to step up my rain as goat! 
Ohhh Walter, how’s it going my feathered friend? 
Turns out i’m more blame worthy than I was “strong like bull”!
Blame because I am not sure if I can post this link! In all efforts to be transparent… I am related to this scout.
https://gofund.me/6e310ac7
@mikibell Cool she is working on becoming an eagle scout!
So many blames so little time. Figured I would finish the month off with a BANG!!
Let’s see…let’s start with the fact that my back injuries from my 2019 car accident flared up and I was unable to be vertical three days this week.
Saw the Dr and they said I have degerative disk issues so there is no way to “fix” the problem. Yea me. Getting old sucks, so does the other driver who just wanted his breakfast sandwich. 
Back in PT for now (after eight months of it last year) and he will assess once my muscles are no longer in spasm. Might do acupuncture, massage or some type of injection…need to find out what type of injection he is thinking about. Not a fan of cortisone. More on that later.
Further blame. Tried to wear my contacts again today for the first time since covid. I was so excited to not wear glasses today. Apparently I now need bi-focal contacts. Couldn’t do it with my old prescription. Anything up close was super fuzzy and made me nauseous. Have a call in to the eye doc for an appt. Apparently my eyes are as old as I feel this week!! Curious to see what the doc says.
Having family over tomorrow for a smaller than usual Memorial celebration. Just the “inner circle folks” but I ended up spending the day helping my mom with her shopping and side dishes as she is having a flare up with her RA and a sinus infection. So I just got home to start getting the house ready and work on my side dishes. Sooooo tired. Again I am feeling old
And, I got two emails today from my credit card company for charges on my card w/o the card present. They were not charges I made. Had to cancel the card and my account is frozen for eight days. @Narfcake, how do I find out when my VMP is billed? I don’t want to loose my status because of a frozen account.
Unblame because Charlie was actually an angel (finally) at my mom’s and was super good with her dog. Thank God, he is starting to settle down. Let’s hope he is good tomorrow when company is here
TL:DR. Apparently I am old and feeble and that makes me crabby. But it felt good to get it all out, so thanks for readying. Deep calming breath…
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend surrounded by those they care about!
@tinamarie1974
Weird on the frozen account. One time, Chase reversed the charges, told me to notify them of any others and they’d take care of it. Super easy to deal with. Another time, Citi froze the account and mailed me replacement cards that day with new numbers. Is the 8 days because they’re mailing you a new card with a new number on it?
As for the bifocal contacts - those are like astigmatism contacts. However, if you have astigmatism and want bifocal contacts, that may not be physically possible. They weight them at the bottom to keep them positioned right, but the shape of your eye might not let them. It will also mean very expensive, special order contacts.
TBH, you may have to resign yourself to wearing glasses. I gave up on contacts long ago amd never really looked back. Far, far cheaper too.
@mike808 The eight day freeze is because they canceled the current card and are mailing a new one. They said I can access the new number on the app, but I don’t like to have banking or cc info on my phone. God forbid I lose the phone and someone finds it and my financials. So I am resigning myself to wait for snailmail.
As far as the contacts, no astigmatism so I guess that is good. Did you try the weighted contacts? If so what did you think? Any watch out issues?
@tinamarie1974 Everybody has astigmatism. Yours just may not be enough to need correction (your brain is doing the image correction). That’s also different than the physical astigmatism of your lens outer surface, which affects contact lens fitting. And if you’ve had RK surgery, although now, they’re doing ablative surgery, that cann affect fitting.
The idea is your eyes are spherical, so a segment of the lens has to be weighted (thicker, more material, means more mass) and gravity keeps it at the bottom. Otherwise it would spin when you blink. It still does, but the weighting of the contact keeps it oriented.
Hopefully, bifocal side of the lens down at the bottom. Or to keep the astigmatism correction oriented at the correct angle. Which is not as precise as in glasses, btw. I think it is ±5⁰ in glasses and ±15⁰ in contacts. Doing the math, that’s 24 different lenses for each specific pair of primary and secondary powers in your individual Rx that they would have to manufacture to cover everyone. I’m sure they have population studies and know which configurations just don’t work to cut down on the permutations, but they simply don’t make them all.
IMO, at that point, they’re more trouble than its worth, in addition to the health risks inherent from wearing contacts.
@tinamarie1974 Look on your credit card statement and see when meh charges you for VMP. Also send a message to support that this may end up being an issue. I’d suspect meh would reinstate you if there was a problem under the circumstances.
That sucks about all your other issues. Hope something can be done! Pain is no fun. Especially long term pain.
@tinamarie1974 I’m sorry about all those problems and I can relate to them all too well. The contacts/glasses thing is giving me grief too; I wish they’d find some new better ways to accommodate a combination of near-sighted and far-sightedness. Hope your back heals up soon!
/giphy feel better
@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
You can also change your Meh payment method to another card and then switch it back.
@tinamarie1974
Hey TM. Hope you are feeling a bit better.
Just a few thoughts:
My daughter, SIL and the 2 grands were here this week so we spent a bunch of time in the pool and made some father’s day and birthday projects for upcoming holidays. They brought their dog (a 2 yr old Labradoodle) who has an affinity for chasing a thrown ball and LOVES to swim. I spent hours playing fetch with her in the yard and in the pool, yet she would occasionally freak out when I walked by the window or she first saw me in the AM and barked her fool head off… GO figure.
TL:DR
Get better soon. June will be better!
@chienfou thank you very much! The muscles are still in spasm, but I can function normally so I am good. Heating pads and my handy dandy tens unit I got from Meh are super helpful! Not use to being unable to easily do for myself and I think that was the most frustrating part. There is a plan to make things better so I am focused on that and trying not to take the pain pills. Those things scare me.
Charlie was actually execellent today. I don’t think I had to yell at him one time. This was the first time he saw a group outside of my parents/sister at the house so it was a good test. Yard full of toys (lawn darts, hoosier golf, corn hole, etc) and he did not mess with any of it!! I guess that training and hard work is finally paying off.
Credit card charges were from Wal Mart, couple hundred dollars worth of stuff. I filed a report and the cc company is working on it, I won’t get stuck paying for any of it. I was able to report it when the charges were only pending, so that is a plus.
Sounds like you had an excellent day of fun in the sun with your family as well! Happy to hear it!!! You work hard and deserve these fun breaks. I think they are good for the soul!
@Kyeh @kidsandliz. Thanks to you guys as well. It will get better. Just a little overwhelming all at once.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 The bigger problem with the credit card stuff is going to be figuring out how they got your number. And trying to figure out if they got anything else. I had this happen to me. Fortunately my credit card cut off my card within 18 hours. The person was caught as they were stupid enough to make a fake western union account in my name and then wire themselves (eg using their real name) around $800. Stupid dumb fuck. In my case it was a car rental employee who stole the info. Had it not been for his stupidity with western union though he may never have been caught. Good luck with all that crap. It is a real PITA to deal with.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 LASIK scares me! But you can do the one-eye-close, one-eye-distant thing with contacts, too - they call it “mono-vision”.
@chienfou @Kyeh I will have to ask doc about that. Will be interested to see what he has to say
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
Are you not a LASIK candidate?
@chienfou @Kyeh No idea. The idea of letting someone laser my eye terrifies me. 🥴
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Wait till you have cataract surgery. They do one eye at a time in case something goes wrong. Not sure if I was supposed to be asleep or not, but I wasn’t. When he removed the lens, it got all blurry and fuzzy. Didn’t feel anything in fact was back at the computer working that afternoon although I wasn’t supposed to be. They up sold me for premium lens which were supposed to work for both near and far at approx $4,800 more than medicare would pay. But went from bifocals to just reading glasses which I still use today so money well spent.
Wife had lasik probably 25 or more years ago when the procedure was in its infancy. Had one eye done by same surgeon who did Tiger Woods’ lasik so we weren’t too worried about it being a relatively new procedure.
@chienfou @Felton10 @Kyeh @tinamarie1974
Lasik is still RK, just with a laser instead of a scalpel.
The really cool stuff now us the ablative laser surgery where they literally vaporize the surface of the lens until it is the shape they want it. No incisions.
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974
I am TOTALLY with you on that. I’ll wear glasses, thanks.
BTW - really hope the PT and financial stuff gets worked out. Having it all at the same time, even if one at a time you might shrug it off, can sound like you’re just complaining when you say it out loud, but when you’re actually going through it it is surprisingly draining. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
And it is always extra special when the doggo just seems to understand when you are having a bad time and just adds to the comfort and not the chaos. I’m convinced they really can tell.
@Lynnerizer blame for our daughter leaving today after a week’s stay (where she spent most of the week at the community pool) and ate us out of house and home.
@Felton10 so unblame? Because she is not eating your food and messing your house
@tinamarie1974 Don’t you have to blame someone before you can unblame them?
To be specific while at the pool, she charged food and drink ordered at the pool side tiki bar to our account. And ever time she is down here, we have to get hard shell (blue crabs)-who spends $ 200 for carryout?
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974
Q: Who spends $200 on carryout?
A: Failed parents?
@Felton10 you do not have to blame to unblame. There are no rules!!!
@tinamarie1974 So I should unblame because she left?
@Felton10 I mean, maybe??? What do you think?
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 If you like blue hard shell crabs-the sky is the limit. $ 11 a piece for 8 jumbo crabs plus $ 70 a dozen for regular plus all the sides. You have to be from Maryland to understand.
@tinamarie1974 Well someone has to take credit for making her leave???
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974
I’m from Louisiana. Y’all cray-cray in Maryland.
If I’m spending $11 a crab, it gonna be soft-shell dressed on a poboy. Real French bread, not that faux frou-frou grocery store “bagette” or <your-town-here> Bread/Bagel/Coffee (can’t make up its mind) Company pretend poboy bread. Leidenheimers or go home.
You gettin’ ripped off, bro.
Now get me a cold Barq’s.
@Felton10 @mike808 @tinamarie1974
Gotta have Virgil’s, Sprecher, or Abita (best with spicy Cajun food)
Goood sammich.
Bad root beer.
@compunaut I’m talkin’ OG Barq’s. Before Coke did a “new Coke” job on it. Abita uses the old recipe, or as close to it that’s available nowadays. Sprecher is too hard to find down South, unless maybe you’re in a Menard’s. And Sprecher is pond water compared to Spotted Cow for the non-grain-free crowd.
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 Remember this is before crab season in Maryland and it is way cheaper than flying up up there for crabs. And I love a good soft shell crab poor boy also.
@Felton10 @mike808 so it is worth the expense?
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 Definitely-2nd time I spent that much money (daughter has been down here three times this year already) and of course I pay for her plane ticket also.
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974
Think how sad you’d be IF she didn’t come home to visit AND what about IF you didn’t have to pay for her bad habits of food and drink? You might have no reason to go to work and bring in the big bucks, AND you might not have anything to complain about! What a sad, boring life THAT would be! Perspective IS everything, and you’re VERY welcome!
@Lynnerizer @tinamarie1974 Well certainly having her visit three times this year was a diversion from being couped up during covid. Now waiting for Ashley-she is late-was supposed to be here Thursday and now won’t be here until Monday.
Was hoping she would be here for my brother’s visit today. KHJ said she is probably sightseeing.
@Lynnerizer @tinamarie1974 Correction-just got notification that Ashley is out for delivery today.
/Unblame.
Planned a day trip to visit Philadelphia. Turns it was too rain intermittently. We thought we would miss lots of outdoor activities. It did rained only when we were indoors or while driving. It was great weather to visit Philadelphia today.
We missed the tour for liberty hall because the passes were sold out. Other than that we were able to hit most of the places.
/image liberty bell
Unblame - a nice round number on the first row (but not on the others - that is a blame).
Unblame. I am getting spam in Danish telling me I have a package that they are unable to deliver because I owe postage on it. Click on the link. Hey @koolhandjoe - did you have an irk sent to me from Denmark where my VMP isn’t working?
@Kidsandliz
Lol… Too funny! 
Before finishing the first sentence all that I could picture was literally squishing canned spam into a danish, how gross!
BTW; what link?
@Lynnerizer I meant click on the link in the email, not on here. I wasn’t going to click on anything in that email after I translated it online.
Hmm a spam and danish, how tasty. Not.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer Well, it’s not a Spam Danish, but it is Danish Spam
@Kidsandliz @ybmuG
How do you have your Spam? Last time I remember having Spam was back in the 70’s when I was around 10. It was never a big favorite but I liked it pan fried with butter, or grilled is more like it. It was always way too salty though, and definitely very greasy! My stomach is turning right now with just the thought of it, but, I also had it sliced thin on bread with mustard for the (gross) Spam sandwich.
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer diced with rice, onion, peas, mushrooms, whatever. No added salt to the dish helps. Or grilled with cheese like a burger.
And there are “gourmet” flavors like smoked, Korean bbq, hot and spicy. And there’s a low salt version that is pretty good.
But truthfully, not often.
@Felton10, paging Walter:
Hey, Walter! Blame for this weather forecast:
50 and sunny with a few clouds right now, but … tomorrow?!?
Ugh, there’s some critter, probably a squirrel
in my attic. I have someone coming to try to deal with it but not until Tuesday. Until then I have to hear it scrabbling around up there. I just hope it’s not chewing the wiring. 
@Kyeh get a live animal trap?
@Kidsandliz That’s what these guys are going to do; I’ve looked but haven’t been able to figure out how they’re getting it in. We did trap and transport raccoons in the past but they weren’t inside my house. The attic isn’t easy to access - there’s only a trap door up there that opens above the stairs down to my basement. Very inconvenient.
@Kyeh At least it’s only noise you hear, they can really stink if it was to die up there. Last year something died in my inlaws basement and the smell was beyond disgusting!! It was like the smell of rotting animal crawled up my nose and stuck to my nose hairs. I brought that gross smell everywhere I went!
So what ended up happening, did they catch it?
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh When we had mice in our attic part of the service the exterminator provided for
$ 500 (which carried a life time warranty) was to go up on the roof and plug up all the places that the mice could have entered. And he said there were a lot of places given it was a tile roof.
@Lynnerizer They came out and found a hole in the soffit - you can even see where the squirrels chewed along the edge to make it larger! Then they wrote up a price estimate for putting steel mesh over 9 attic vents in my roof and trapping and transporting the squirrels. I asked how do they know they’ve got them all, and they said they put duct tape over the last remaining entry hole, and if there’s one in there, it will chew its way out.
So I guess I’ll have them do it but OHMYGAWD it’s expensive.
@Lynnerizer Oh, and yes - I had something die in one of my walls last year and it was awwwwwful. It was almost certainly a mouse, and the smell finally went away; I couldn’t get to whatever it was.
@Kyeh
/giphy good luck squirrels
@Lynnerizer Aww, thanks - so cute - we do have bunnies around here; my cat was staring out the window the other day and there was a bunny about that size on my patio!
But the squirrels - so far the guy has live-trapped about 6, but something’s still making sounds in my attic. He claims he can solve it.
Looks like one of the places I work, when there is work, got hit by either ransomware or was seriously hacked. I asked a bunch of yes/no questions (since they said they weren’t allowed to tell us the problem) and the answer I got over the ransomware and the system being hacked was that I was very, very warm. Been over a week with everything gone - contacts, calendar, past email messages, etc. They are having trouble restoring it. Lesson learned here is create a free account some where and blind anything important there, copy the calendar stuff (of which there isn’t much) to my own one, the contacts, etc. For as much over the top stink as they make to use about this kind of crap it is ironic they now have a problem. Hope we can get it all back.
@Kidsandliz Yikes! Well, maybe they need to hire you to try to restore it all, and then help with backing it up for the future?
@Kyeh Nope. I know very little about the internal workings of IT crap.
@Kidsandliz Oh, too bad.
@Kyeh We STILL don’t have our email back. I am so glad that I am just an adjunct there right now with no course assignments (enrollment is way, way down). Be a real PITA otherwise.