Our cat took the same topical med. The advantage was that our cat sitter could easily medicate the cat (of course, she had to come twice a day, and charged us appropriately, but that’s how it goes). We switched ears every time, and used ‘right at night’ to remember which ear to use. Disadvantage was that his ears needed to be cleaned out every few days to clear out the build up. All in all better than trying to pill him every day.
Our 19-and-a-half year old gets a daily prednisolone pill (she was diagnosed with “either cancer or IBS and there’s no point in biopsying a car her age, so let’s treat her for IBS”). We have reached detente on the pill. She’s not happy about it, but she accepts it.
Her 14-and-a-half year old brother had a heart murmur and “hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with right atrial dilation”. He was prescribed a daily dose of clopidogrel to reduce the chance of a blood clot. Unfortunately, he was so averse to being held or restrained in any way that any attempt to pill him was probably worse for his heart than not getting the pill. He did end up passing from what was probably a pulmonary embolism from a thrown clot. I have occasional regrets about not getting those pills in him, but I really think his existence would have been so miserable from the stress that we took the right course.
My son has about six weeks of ABA left. His therapy place, which used to be a mere seven minute drive away, randomly moved locations to way the fuck far away. The bus wouldn’t go get him for school, and we couldn’t take him in the middle of the day, so he was out of therapy for six weeks. Now that school is over, he’s back in therapy for a final six weeks, and who gets to pick him up on Fridays during rush hour?
This girl!
Factoring in the construction that’s right outside my subdivision, forcing a right turn instead of a left, and the construction on the detour road, it’s an hour round trip.
This feels unsustainable to me. I really don’t feel like he needs ABA any more, and probably not even speech or OT. Kid’s drinking out of an open cup and building things with LEGOs now. He will need social skills and probably still feeding in the Fall. But Jesus Fucking Christ, this went from being in the perfect location to the worst location five fucking miles down an eight-lane road in the city where I live.
The real problem, because I’m sure you’re thinking, “Just go somewhere closer,” is that these people work miracles, and are hands-down the best possible place for him to be. Any move to anywhere would be a massive step down in quality.
So things are going to fucking suck for a while.
I thought that the official start of summer in Ireland was when the black flies can strip a human body to the bone of flesh in less than an hour. #IgnoranceFought
I have watched ‘The Patriot’ a dozen times ( I even own the DVD ). I was genuinely surprised to find that this version has easily 30-45 extra minutes of footage that I have never ever seen. It’s probably best that you watch it while it still exists, given Douche…
I mean Doge…
I feel your pain.
When our kid was daycare/preschool- aged, we had him in a very good facility run by my wife’s employer. It was aways away, but she could commute with him.
But then she was unjustly sacked. Kiddo stayed on, but now it was a 30-40 drive each one-way drive. We couldn’t change facilities because there were no openings closer, then Covid hit (it never closed because most parents were in health care).
It was a year and a half of misery before baby.gnu started public kindergarten a few minutes away.
I just threw a small amount of laundry into the washer, including my jeans, and when transferring them to the dryer I noticed some silvery stuff at the bottom of the tub.
Egads! I have just thoroughly washed my keys, including my car’s electronic keyfob!
I slowly made my way to the front door, more or less despondent and kicking myself for my idiocy, and, with little hope, pressed the “unlock” button. But lo and behold, my faithful car unlocked and turned on its lights! Lock worked fine. Unlock trunk worked. It was a friggin’ miracle!
I took the fob apart to help it dry out, but there wasn’t any sign of water in it at all. There was a rubber gasket around the edges that was apparently pretty effective. I ran an air dryer on it on a no-heat setting for a few minutes, and then put it together again.
I pit my absent-minded idiocy but I appear to have survived it. It might have been a different story if the fob had not fallen out and it had been put in a high-temperature dryer!
The only other time I’ve been this stupid is when I once laundered my wallet and everything in it. But that was many decades ago. This fuckery is brand new.
I imagine they are engineered to not strand a motorist if it gets dropped in a puddle or rained on. I wouldn’t take it deep sea diving but I’m not surprised it survived an “oopsie” like that. Glad it wasn’t a disaster.
I remember years ago having a Bluetooth earpiece that was supposed to be military grade. It survived a trip through the washing machine, and the dryer.
Then my daughter, who was a toddler at the time, she found it and destroyed it. I’m guessing military testing does not include children under the age of 2.
Pro-tip. If you wash some bit of electronics and find it wet, don’t go test it immediately. Instead let it air dry awhile. Take it apart, open the battery door, whatever you can do to get air into it first. Especially don’t push physical buttons as that’s a good way to pump surface water into the innards where it’ll do lasting damage. Touchscreens aren’t risky from a water-pumping perspective.
Then test it a few hours later when it’s dried out about as much as it will.
But yeah, modern fobs are at least sorta water resistant. As are modern phones. The idea either is instantly bricked if it drops into a toilet is sooo 1980s
In 2018 I dropped my Android LG cell phone into a toilet at a training facility. At that time one could take out the batteries unlike the solid built phones of today.
I took it out to my car parked in a warm, sunny spot, took out the battery and left everything on the seat to dry.
Took it home and continued the drying for a couple days.
It worked perfectly fine. In fact it still works - I use it as an alarm clock and occasional reader/browsing tool to this day.
I accidentally washed my 2013 era key fob several times without issue. I think on the third or fourth time it totally died and I had to order a new one.
I had a an outdoor Zen retreat planned at a local park today. The weather did not look good. We have an Extreme Heat Watch through Tuesday with heat index up to 106F (a lot for Michigan.) When I checked the weather last night it said it would feel like 103F today at 3pm. Woke up this morning and it’s storming with 70% chance of rain.
So I sent my temple an email saying I wasn’t gonna make it because of the heat. They responded kindly but basically implied the threat was overblown and welcomed me to show up if I wanted to later.
So that made me feel stupid. Then I checked the weather and sure enough, shortly after I sent the email the severe weather predictions vanished. So I cancelled my retreat for fucking nothing.
By then I had already made different plans.
And no, I’m not feeling Zen about it! I’m long overdue for a good meditation session and was kinda hoping to get back on track today. I feel like a stupid idiot.
I’ve been trying to put air in my car tires for a few weeks now. First I had to get up the courage to do it, because I had never done it before and it makes me feel socially anxious. I had to find a gas station with an air pump and do all new things, etc. And what if people were watching or someone else was waiting, etc.
Finally got up the courage to do it on a day off, stopped by a Cafe and on my way out the door to go to the gas station, it started pouring rain. Attempt 1 failed.
Today after Sangha, I made up my mind to do it, never mind the heat index of 101. Found a pump at one place, quarters only, no air pressure gauge and the electronic gauge I bought is a piece of shit, turns out. Ran out of quarters. Attempt 2 failed.
Finally got it done at an adjacent gas station with a credit card and a handy monitor that beeps when you got the right air pressure! Attempt #3 success!
My indicator light won’t go off though 
so all I got in return was a little self-respect.
I had a Nissan that had to be driven so many miles before the indicator would go off. Hopefully that’s the case here and it’ll clear itself in a day or two.
How old is the car/tire pressure monitor sensors? The batteries can start to fail and then the indicator always stays on. The replacement costs were ridiculous back then so I just lived with the light being on. And the car self destructed not long after anyway (see Nissan above).
Depending on how new/fancy your car is, you may have to dig through the UI to a place to reset the tire pressure monitor system. The basic idea being, refill the tires correctly, select the reset option, then drive a mile or two and viola, everything is back to normal.
Lotta cars don’t use those kinds of battery-powered sensors now. Again depending on how old / fancy @Spice_Weasel’s car is.
Oh that’s good to know! I’ve been low-key dreading having to deal with it in the future. I’ll have to see what my current vehicle has.
It’s quite common for tire pressure warning lights to go wonky and have to be reset.
Or you may have to Google teh interwebs! In my previous car, there was a way to reset and recalibrate the entire instrument cluster, but it was super-sekret and was supposed to be known only to dealerships. Found the super-sekret procedure on the internet and it worked a treat! 
That reminds me…
Last week I parked my car up somewhere, and when I got back i saw
that the right rear tyre was flat.
I must have been driving on it flat for a couple of days, because It reminded
me that I’d been hearing a noise while driving - a sort of ticking noise like
there was a piece of paper stuck to the tyre. I didn’t notice anything else like
change to the handling or anything !
I saw there was a screw in the tread.
Anyway, I jacked her up and put the spare on.. only to find that was flat
too. That had a nail in it ! Must’ve got in there during the last time I had a flat..
Very luckily, the guy I’d been working with had an electric pump so I was able
to plug it in the cigarette lighter socket and pump it up. Fortunately it stayed up
to get me home and down to the tyre shop the next day.
Anti-rant! It did indeed rain earlier in the day, and I had the barbecue pulled up near the patio door so I wouldn’t have to go outside at all, but the rain ceased and I made some of the best burgers ever, if I do say so myself! 
2016 Honda CRV. Not so fancy.
I’ve had trouble with Honda’s indicator lights in the past. Small price to pay for a great car, IMO.
I inherited a car with warning lights instead of guages, and cute little scrolling LCD messages. The tire pressure warnings seem capricious and persistent.
And finally, just last week, I had an epiphany: Why don’t I just do what car owners have been doing for a century?
- Check tires
- Fill if needed
Spoilered because apparently it’s become a secret ritual.
Along with secrets like:
- Find dipstick (Yes, Mom, you have one…)
- Check oil level
- Add oil if needed
* 3a. Apply to other fluid levels and maintenance.
If you don’t want to do any of that, don’t skip it. Take your car in regularly to a trusted dealer, or better yet find a “good local car guy”.
This has been my very successful solution. I am lucky to have a good mechanic/service location close to where I work. I have them do “travel checks” before I go on a trip along with regular maintenance and random repairs.
If my tires are low I stop in and they put air in for me.