My mom used to tell the story of how she drove from New Jersey to Texas with a black cat crawling all over her and the car. This is back when the average cat carrier was called “a cardboard box.”
I got another quote on the fucking water heater. $1320!!! The water heater retails for $400. Why the fuck does a plumber get to tell me he expects me to pay over $900 for two fucking idiots to stay in my basement for three hours and install a fucking water heater. The fucking piece of shit says he charges $170 an hour. What the fucking hell is with plumbers and their fucking greed? This is plumbing. It’s not heart surgery. You’re a fucking plumber installing a fucking water heater.
You’re a not a vet who has to make sure my poor cat’s broken leg heals properly and went though years of vet school to make sure it happens correctly. You’re not a surgeon restoring my dad’s sight by removing his cataracts. You’re not a pediatrics nurse making sure that a little kid isn’t going to die if his cancer meds aren’t delivered properly. You’re not my OB who spent hours at my side during labor making sure I had a healthy baby and didn’t die or have convulsions or lose my lady parts during her delivery.
Geez. Not even the fucking police are this greedy and I live in a town where the local fuckers make 95k largely to do nothing but give out parking tickets and tell me they can’t do anything when my idiot neighbor runs her fucking leaf blower for five hours at a time.
A honest day’s pay fine. Highway robbery FUCK YOU! We’re trying to figure out another solution. My local area plumbers can eat shit and die. Greedy, blackmailing, arrogant, useless scum the lot of them!
Heh…used to have a saying “Plumbing can’t be that hard…it’s done by plumbers”*.
Having said that, I’ve seen some copper work that’s damn near beautiful enough to make you cry.
- substitute “electricians” at will.
A honest day’s wage is fine. I respect hard working craftsmanship and people who have a good trade. This isn’t a honest day’s wage. This is ridiculous. They want NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS for less than half a morning’s work. That’s just greed. An ordinary, hard working homeowner like myself should not be screwed out of her vacation money just because someone thinks he can get away with doing so.
LavenderBlue, I asked my husband about this (he does home remodeling, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. as well as painting, electrical, water heaters, etc.)
He said instead of asking plumbers, do you have any handymen type guys around you might get a quote from?
When our hot water heater went out, he took out the old one and put the new one in in an hour. He charged my landlady $75. I don’t know what kind of set up you have in your basement, but it’s a place to start - a handyman type (or even a friend who has done this before) could probably significantly lower the cost.
If you live anywhere close by, I’ll ask him to do it for you! 
We moved 5 cats by car from Indianapolis to Seattle back in 2001. Then six years later we moved 5 cats (3 of which had made the outbound trip) by car back from Seattle to Indianapolis.
We bought three cages; two large and one small before the outbound trip. Put two cats in each of the larger cages, and the one grouchy cat in the smaller cage by herself. It really wasn’t a bad trip either way (although my wife, who got to drive the car with the cats in it on the outbound trip discovered that one cat wouldn’t stop mewling pitifully unless she played Simon & Garfunkel on the stereo - she couldn’t listen to it for more than a year afterwards).
I was terrified on the bus yesterday morning. A crazy psychopath with no indoor voice was yelling constantly to his friend (how do such people even have friends?) about weapons and wars and how he liked Nazis and how he wanted to commit murder-suicide and assassinate local politicians and how the last time he said that loudly on the bus, the police came to his house and looked for guns.
Most horrifying bus ride ever. I almost actually feared for my life. 
Thankfully, the rest of the day was better, and most people on buses aren’t dangerous. It’s not going to put me off riding the bus.
My husband and yours think alike. He got three quotes today from recommended handymen – all at far less than my vacation money! But thanks for the idea.
Used to take anywhere from 2-4 cats plus two dogs to our summer camp for a month. Played Enya and Loreena McKennit and couldn’t distinguish the cat yowls at all. The human members of the family found other rides. Go figure.
I am so old. I’m watching the slopestyle Olympic event. All I can think is, “Holy Shit, stop that this instance! You’re all going to kill yourselves, young people.” Fuck.
Mine is pre-owned, too, but he and his ex worked different shifts and he was asleep when she got up. In many other ways, he came already housebroken.
I’m glad to hear so many people saying that we should definitely keep the cat. Also… kitty valium? Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Hurray that LavenderBlue has hot water again. Cold showers really suck.
Ask your vet, but do try them out first. You don’t want to be sitting over a poopy cat for an entire flight. If the first ones don’t work, you will have time to get different ones and try again.
My rant: I hates my BFF with the heat of a billion suns. She had her yearly physical today and because she’s past menopause, she only has to get pap smears every 3 years. She called me to brag and I hates her because I’m so jealous.
Did you all know that someday, our ovaries will just shrivel up and die and that when the doctor can’t feel them, you don’t have to get a yearly pap unless you change sexual partners?
Laura says its worth the menopause thing just to not get the yearly pap smears.
I’m happy that she is over menopause, but I still hates her for bragging.
{Makes note} I should totally start a newsletter!
I’ve started packing to move (that’s a whole series of rants in itself) - how can we have a house full of stuff that we’ve accumulated for 40+ years and have so very little that I can get rid of? I’m trying to be tough and realistic, but it seems like I have a reason to keep everything!
I am anxiously awaiting menopause to be done with abattoir style monthly rituals and crippling pain. The paps being cut down - pure bonus baby!
I will endure whatever menopause throws in my direction just to stop all that. Hot flashes? Sure! Moodiness? Okay.
After my cancer scare (hospital lost the excised tissue so couldn’t test it) I had to get paps every 90 days. Then down to every 6 months. … eventually.
Damn sometimes it sucks to be a girl.
Attention, petition pushers on the train: when someone has earphones in and reading material up to her face, SHE DOES NOT WISH TO INTERACT WITH ANYONE. LEAVE HER ALONE!!!
Also, idiot who can’t figure out proper operation of a belt or trousers: your belt belongs ABOVE your hip joints so that your pants are above where your boy bits ought to be (in your case, I suspect they’re highly inadequate anyway) and your underwear is not on display. This is especially important when you are on the bus standing near a little girl you are not associated with. It also appeases the PMSing woman with some mama bear tendencies who is watching you because she thinks you’re skeevy if you keep your hand away from your groin in this situation.
Seriously, my hormonal crankies were combining with my maternal instinct to protect a child in my vicinity (and I’m not a mother!) and my serious distaste for the guy in question in a way that would have been bad news for him had he moved any closer to the child in question (and really, there was plenty of room for him to not be as close as he was) or attempted any form of interaction with her. Yes, her mother was also on that bus, but for whatever reason was farther away from the child than I was.
Electricians I’m willing to give a bit more of a pass, because that shit’s dangerous and can seriously backfire on you if not done right. Both for the person installing it, and the people living in the house with it afterward.
Goddamned anxiety. I hate it when I text friends, and don’t get a reply - it sends me straight into “they’ve realised I’m a terrible person and hate me” mode, rather than “they’re a busy parent, it’s not urgent, and they’ll get back to me at their convenience” rational thinking.
Sounds like you’ve experienced that the hard way!
If someone you don’t want to interact with is approaching people on the train, I find that pretending to be asleep usually works to get them to avoid you.
Oh…? In my area, no matter what age you are, if you’ve had three normal ones in a row you are then shuffled into the every-three-years bracket. Happiest news I’ve ever received in a doctor’s office, I can tell you.
Two rules in plumbing: Shit goes downhill, and don’t chew your fingernails.
Yes, electricity is a tad more complicated. Also keep in mind this was said by carpenters. Soooo…