::Burrrrpppp::
PFFFTHTTTTTTTT
It was the dog.
Oh hey!
I am, in fact, heading home. Sort of. I grew up in New Hampshire, but my family betrayed me and up and moved to Vermont. Heading that way for a week, then a few days on Cape Cod. Left St. Louis this morning, now just east of Terre Haute. Stopping for the night in Buffalo, then on to Brattleboro tomorrow.
Started Typing: 12:49 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 1:48 PM ET
Happy Doperversary, shoe! 
My next meeting starts in 10 minutes, but I only have to listen to that one (not participate)…so, I can ramble at y’all for a bit. 
(I was born on the west coast and raised mostly in the Baltimore area by parents from North Jersey, lived in the UK for two years, and went to college just outside of Philly: between that mish-mash and my radio broadcasting minor, theater experience, classical voice lessons, and church lectoring I’ve developed a mostly generic American accent [a decent “radio voice”], but at some point in high school I picked up “y’all”…and it stuck! 
)
I also have no plans for the 4th of July at this time. There’s a chance my BFFs might invite me over for burgers and fireworks. HusbandBFF loves setting off fireworks at the top of their driveway. It would be good to see them and have a burger, but amateur fireworks always make me a little nervous…so, I’m not sure whether I’m rooting for an invitation or not. Heh. I wish there were a possibility of seeing them sans driveway fireworks, but I know the two would go hand-in-hand. We used to always go to a local school for fireworks, but between COVID and WifeBFF’s mobility issues we haven’t done that for several years.
Not at all! Nothing about “the first thing I do is unpack” was meant to imply “the stay must be for more than one night.” I like all kinds of travel, and am adaptable. If it’s a one-night stay – or even just a few hours – “unpacking and getting my hotel room all set up” might only extend to toiletries and the next set of clothing.
Thanks for asking! 
The only change today is that now the “meds crushed and mixed into 1 oz of peanut butter” method has worked twice in a row. Which is definitely better than nothing, but she still isn’t eating anything else: maybe a few bites of wet food, then she goes back to sleep. Her balance and coordination are still crap, and she still seems to be in some pain. Yesterday was tough for her because of the grooming visit: a lot of standing (albeit with a belly sling) and being handled (albeit gently), etc.
It took a lot out of her, and this morning I actually had to wake her up to take her outside – and so I could take a shower, as she was sleeping on the bath mat in front of the tub (it’s a small bathroom ). This was the first time I’ve ever had to deliberately wake her up: normally, brushing my teeth right next to her, banging around in the kitchen a bit, touching one of her paws with my toe, turning the radio on, etc., would do the trick. I’ll admit to having a moment where I looked closely to make sure she was breathing!
I’m still hoping that the vet will agree to give her injections for pain and appetite stimulation tomorrow evening, and I’ll ask about trying Librela again. She got a couple of doses two years ago with no noticeable improvement, but her condition has worsened significantly since then.
LOL! 
Win-win! Excellent!
Eek. I totally get doing what you have to do, but sorry about the unexpected spendiness!
(Emphasis mine.)
Awesome new-to-me word! I plan to work it into my regular vocabulary – thank you!
Oopsie, few things are worse than watching a beloved 4-legged pal deteriorate into agedness. I hope the vet can help. Hugs to you.
shoe, it’s nice to see you back and posting again. You are always so delightfully amusing.
metal mouse, I’m glad the trip is going so smoothly. But of course that’s down to your being a superior planner for such things. Enjoy every minute! And yes, travel is enchanting – but there’s nothing like returning home, is there?
Sticky Buns, I’m looking forward to seeing whatever new tat(s) you settle on, if you do. Your artistic nature will make it/them wonderful, I’m sure. Good luck with the amendments to the recent one.
yankers, the world needs more good Samaritans like you. Nicely done.
taters, my little dog has itchy skin issues, too. After fiddling with diet and bathing regimens and such with no results, the vet advised that some dogs have a genetic flaw that causes it. For Ollie, it is reasonably well controlled with Apoquel pills and Cytopoint injections (probably what your vet gave your fur kids). And boy, do I understand about how expensive it all is…
dicey, enjoy the concert – and the Krispy Kremes!
My best wishes to all the travelers: Have safe, smooth and memorable (for good reasons) journeys!
Not much going on here. It is excessively hot for our area (though this is becoming usual nowadays), so I’m holed up in the air con.
Fingers crossed for a quiet Fourth here in the woods. After a scary fire close by a few years ago, the neighbors seem to have worked out that sparkly entertainments involving matches are not a good fit with living among the trees and understory in summertime. Hopefully this revelation will carry on through their patriotic celebrations this week.
I might grill a hot dog. Or two. Woo! And I will definitely bathe another hot dog who becomes quite the stinky little man in the heat. Such is my gripping life!
Our day is done here. We went to the evening song-and-dance show by the ship’s performers. OMG were the mics loud!! And IMHO, it was pretty much a high school production equivalent. But it killed an hour.
We’re both kinda wrung out, so we’re in for the night, even tho it’s just 8. Oh, but supper in the buffet included escargot! (Waiter, there are snails on her plate!) They were yum! I also splurged on chocolate cake for dessert. But I had done a bit of walking, so it sorta canceled out some of the calories. That’s my story, etc…
We came back to our room to find 2 really nice canvas totes and a couple of Lindt truffles. Good way to end the day. FCD is looking for a movie for tonight. The on-demand selection is huge! Not that I can be sure I can stay awake for a whole movie.
So nighty-night from somewhere in the North Sea.
I started to the old storage unit to tell them I moved out, but the car was making a noise. I went the couple of block home and had a look. The plastic shield under the front bumper (the ones that always drags on parking abutments, no matter how hard to try not to) was hanging down. The only way I could ‘secure’ it was by linking a half-dozen large zip-ties together and wrapping them around the bumper. I can’t get it fixed until tomorrow.
So I took off again. Got to the storage office, and it was closed. The door said their open Monday through Friday from 6:00 to 10:00. How fallible of me to think they’d be open at 10:30 on a Monday morning. I probably sounded annoyed on my VM. I tried to cancel online, but it said I didn’t exist. It turns out I was in J054 and not J54, according to the Sales guy I finally got ahold of. He said the office guy was running late, but he’d be there today. He also said I had to give 30 days notice. I expected 10. 
ETA: The online signup has been ‘saving’ for about 10 or 15 minutes. 
EDIT 2: I looked up the lease. It says [bolding mine] ‘Either Owner or Occupant may terminate this Agreement by giving the other party at least 10-days prior written notice.’
And good evening from me. Have had dinner and a snack, so belly will hold up until tomorrow. Only bad news is that there is a 70% chance of thundershowers in the New York area so we’ll have to see how the flight goes. Plus temperatures in the Big Apple are near 100F, so I’m not exactly escaping to cooler climes. Tried to exchange my Euros today and the nice lady explained that they would first have to convert them to Pounds and then to dollars, so I’d lose twice, so will wait till I’m back in the USA to change them. Will change my Pounds tomorrow once I’m through security.
And now to scroll down the postings and musings of the day…
Taters, glad the dogs are doing better, but also glad you love them because they are chewing up the budget…
shoe, a happy anniversary on discovering this message board (and eventually us).
No plans for the 4th of July here, will still be recuperating from my vacation I suspect.
Oopsie {{{hugs}}} for both you and the puppeh.
…Why thank you, I do try, but I think I mentioned 10-12 days ago that I booked my hotel in London for July instead of June so that cost me a fair wad of dough for being stupid. Otherwise everything has been on schedule.
flyboy, bet if you showed them the lease they would allow you the 10-days, but propbably most folks just take them at their word. Hope you get it settled
And I think that is all for now. I hope to be in the Virgin Atlatic Lounge tomorrow morning (Business Class has it’s privileges) and will try to reach y’all then pre-flight. Take care.
The funny thing is, the Rental Agreement, dated 01/22/20, is not signed by me. Anyway, I printed it off and also saved it as a .pdf on my computer.
Will be heading home. Felt wobbly, then checked bp. It was too high. Went to er. Got cat scan. They gave me extra amlodipine.
The person who was supposed to open the office at the storage place was sick, so that’s why no one was there. I just got off the phone with the person who is there now, and she said she just has to go to my former unit and look at it (I used a blower to empty it of dust Saturday) and that I don’t need to provide written notice of vacation. That bill I got from the credit card company is from last month. So it sounds like I’m good.
Howdy Y’all! I did motivate myself and made lasagna this mornin’, so we et it for lunch. ‘Twas good, but needs to be tweaked a bit. I think more tomato sauce for one thing. Anywho we have leftovers for tomorrow. The rest of the day has been spent in high RDOS inactivities as is our wont.
shoe happy doperversary!
Yanker good on you for bein’ the redneck good Samaritan.
{{{Oopsie}}} hope the vet can help Bailey.
Coppertone hope you feel better soonest.
Well… it’s hot. 75º Ferret Height. Got the tower fan on in the living room. Might turn on the box fan in the catio. I don’t really feel like cooking today, so I went to the corner market for a hag of salad, some ground beef, a can of corn, and a bag of Tostitos Hint of Lime chips. Got a couple of eggs boiling. I don’t know if they’ll go into the taco salads, but they’ll be ready for next time or for tuna-and-egg salad. (I’m betting the latter.)
I got home from my trip at half-past midnight, good to be home. Was up early for irk. I didn’t manage to get the lawn mowed before going away for a week, and now the lawn is quite shaggy. I’d be doing that now, but it is raining. And much too hot to be out there, it’s around 90.
Oh woe is me.
Glad everyone’s trips are going/went well.
Sorry to hear about doggie icks, gentle skritches from over here.
Waiting for my ‘Surf Nicaragua’ T-shirt to show up. It’s out for delivery. There’s a link where you can follow the progress, but it wants to text a code to the landline. That ain’t gonna work.
I talked to Sis today. My first pick of apartments no longer has any one bedroom units available. 
She is checking out more on the list and I’m adding to the list. I’m ready to get this thing rolling.
Nelson seems to be doing a little better, but he’s still a little pink on his undercarriage. Sis said that his mother has been doing this for a few years now, about this time of year, so maybe an environmental allergy in addition to having his world turned upside down.
Good evening everyone!
Happy doperversary, shoe! I’m happy to have met you, you are a very good person.
Do you buy fresh milk or shelf stable milk? Cause if you get the boxed stuff, you could probably get them all at the same place!
I hope the doughnuts are good, IMHO KK doughnuts are good for about five minutes after they come out of the fryer, then they are pretty lame.
What a nice person you are. After all the bother she put you through, you are still willing to take an extra step for her.
I’ve been sympathizing with you folks over the heat. It doesn’t matter the temp, if you aren’t used to it, it is not great.
I’ve found that if I’m staying in a travel motel, I wake up expecting to get up and leave. When I’m at a resort, the nicer surroundings remind me that I’m here to relax and do needlepoint. Maybe your mind might adjust to that sort of thing as well.
Don’t you have any fun bendy straws? I’m disappointed!
I’m also looking forward to seeing your new ink, I know it will be great and very clever.
That’s disappointing, delivery is as important as the subject.
Dude! Go you!
Hubs got to pull someone out with his Jeep once, he was equally as proud!
We missed you as well, have a safe trip home!
Prices, they are going up. I hope the puppers start feeling better quickly!
Hubs has been spraying around the bottom of our fence with a mixture of high powered vinegar and bleach. It’s animal safe and is approved by his tree-hugger wife. If you want the recipe, I can ask him when he gets back. (he’s currently hanging out on the corner with his lawnmower gang)
Once you get in the habit of just zoning, it is hard to break. I sometimes have to force myself to get off my butt and go out and do stuff, so I know how she feels.
Have a great trip and safe travels.
I have too many plans for the 4th. Besides protesting, there is the big neighborhood cook-out. I’m going to be late for one or the other and I’m still trying to decide which one will win out. We are new here, it’s important to develop a good relationship with our neighbors, but I despise trump and what he’s doing to the country, so walking the protest at the capital is really important as well.
Fireworks are outlawed in AZ and the Fourth was horrible because so many people drove out of state to get fireworks and set them off during no-fucking-outdoor burning season. Homes tended to burn down almost every year. One of Hub’s friends blew a couple of fingers off with a bottle rocket. It was horrible.
Fireworks are legal here in WV. The tents went up at the beginning of June. Kroger sells family packs of fireworks fer cryin’ out loud. It was so quiet here last year. I usually stay up late on the 4th because it’s not worth it to try to sleep, but didn’t hear a thing all night. I expect it will be the same this year and I’m really happy about that.
Would Ollie like to splash around in a kiddy pool? Sometimes outside water is different than inside water.
I’d still send them a letter anyhow, cause I’m CDO like that.
Welcome home, you have been missed as well!
I’ll bet there is a whole long list of things that broke at work while you were gone, sleep well tonight because you are going to be busy in the morning!
Happy Monday!
I had a great time at the Pride Parade yesterday. I wore my tee shirt that says, “If your family doesn’t accept your identity, I’m your mom now.” It’s a parade so I didn;t think anyone would really see it, but I had several people come up to me, say, “Hi, Mom!” and give me bear hugs. The parade was great. Truth be told, I wiped away tears many times. There were several churches marching, as well as a local synagogue, but I was really moved when the city fire trucks roll along with a dozen firefighters wearing rainbows waving. It’s just such a relief to be somewhere that’s so LGBTQ-positive after living in homophobic WY for so many years, and I’m just an ally. I hope all the LGBTQ kids I had are living where they can be freer.
Afterward I snapped a photo of a city bus that had been in the parade (It says “Happy Pride Month” on a rainbow on the marquee.) to send to my daughter and didn’t even notice the funniest part. Isn’t it adorable?
All my sympathies go to poor shoe, but my back has been killing me today, and nothing helps, including lying down. Luckily, my appointment at the ortho clinic was this a.m.. No surprise in the diagnosis: moderate to severe arthritis. They sent an Rx for Celebrex. Have any of you used it? I’m interested in your experiences. They referred me to one of the clinic’s pain specialists in the hope he can help so I won’t have to have more surgery. Fingers crossed!
It is hot. I struggled with the portable air conditioner but finally got it installed. It required a yard or two of duct tape since the company sent me the wrong part, but it’s working. And I only cussed 5 times!
I taught my 8th graders about the Vikings–Along with the important stuff like the Dane Raids, berserkers, etc., I mentioned in passing that, like many European men of that era, they wore beards. For the rest of the year, whenever the topic of Vikings came up, they’d eagerly chorus, “They wore beards!” Why that stuck with them instead of all the more relevant and interesting stuff, I don’t know. Kids that age be weird.
FCM, though the speaker was dry, I know you’ll remember the important stuff.
This is what I’LL be calling it from now on!
Also, you’re a hero for the kindness to the stuck folks.
I thought you were a teetotaler. My goodness, along with the gambling, you’re turning into quite the wild and crazy guy!
You’re a better packer than I! I pack a travel size Downy Wrinkle Release because no matter how I pack, my clothes get wrinkly.
Why does poor Buster keep getting lesions? And yikes on the vet bill! For that much, they should be able to bark in French and do ballet.
Ha! Very clever, you!
It seems to be going around. Hope you feel better!
Aargh! I finally got the numbers down, and it turns out there are also colors? Or is Middle Red something you drink from a bottle in a brown paper bag?
How hot does it get over there?
Cookie, I hope the wife decides to brave the trip.
On phone now with sister. Can’t listen and type simultaneously. Later, gators!
Wonderful stuff! Never go anywhere without it. In fact I used it at home today on a t shirt that had been folded in a pile too long. I keep a mondo big bottle of it handy for home use. It’s kinda magic.
I received an email saying I have successfully been moved out.
Taco salads for dinner. No eggs. The eggs went into the tuna-and-egg (T&A?) salad. The cats liked the tuna water. 