(OLD) Out and About in the MMP

[LSLGuy]

@TruePisces

The van is back! All the quirks are gone. I’m in my happy place.

Yaay! I hope at no cost to you beyond the irritation of returning it for a second service.

@TruePisces

What I didn’t expect was the trees to decide that they don’t like me here and are throwing nuts at the top of my van. I just watched one roll down the windshield. I shouldn’t be, but I’m highly amused.

Never attribute to innocent trees what can more readily be attributed to malicious squirrels. For cute woodland creatures those little bastards have a mean streak a mile wide.

@susan

Today’s weather was sun, rain, sun, snow, clouds, snow, sun, clouds.

Ours was clouds and rain. Or clouds without rain. Off and on all day, but mouch more of the former. Walked to dinner out with umbrellas that were not needed. Walked home and they were totally needed. Plenty of total rainfall for the day.

And yet it continues. Literally as I was typing the above paragraph my phone chirped with a warning from NWS:

Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing
  heavy rain across the warned area. Between 2 and 5 inches of rain
  have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches are
  possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected
  to begin shortly.

  HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

  SOURCE...Radar.

  IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban
           areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as
           other poor drainage and low-lying areas.

I guess that’ll put out the wildfire out in the Everglades and solve the recent short-term drought in the adjacent county.

[wolfpup]

More weather reports from the Great White Green North. A couple of days ago I said Spring had Sprung and that it’s supposed to climb to 24C (over 75F Amurrkan) over the next couple of days. Well, it’s now a couple of days, and we very nearly hit 80F today. Not quite an all-time record, but close. Tonight’s low will be warmer than the normal daytime high, and tomorrow will be 84F.

Thanks to global warming, there is no such thing as “normal” any more, especially in more northerly latitudes where the warming is amplified. I’m happy for all the wine growers in the area – I hope they have a banner year and keep me well supplied!

@LSLGuy

@TruePisces

What I didn’t expect was the trees to decide that they don’t like me here and are throwing nuts at the top of my van. I just watched one roll down the windshield. I shouldn’t be, but I’m highly amused.

Never attribute to innocent trees what can more readily be attributed to malicious squirrels. For cute woodland creatures those little bastards have a mean streak a mile wide.

Indeed. My brother’s old house had big trees fairly close to the pool. At least, close enough that squirrels with well-developed pitching arms could throw nuts into the pool, and there were more such accomplished pitchers than in the entire American League. Why the squirrels did this was never clear, but they seemed to instinctively sense that it caused trouble, so they did it. My brother hated the bastards with a passion. He’d frequently trap them in live-trap cages and drive them far away, but I’m not sure he ever got satisfactory results.

[LSLGuy]

I’ve always enjoyed watching their petty vandalisms. Clever, persistent, and imaginative in a free-spirited way. What’s not to like?

Although to be honest I got lucky and when I lived in serious squirrel territory they mostly took a hate to my neighbors, not to me. I suppose maybe they could tell which of us on the block were harmless and which had no problem committing mass sciuricide. As I sometimes say at work … I’m not going to start anything. But I guarantee I’ll finish whatever some idjit chooses to start.

[JaneDoe42]

@overlyverbose

I just talked someone else off a ledge last night (my advice wasn’t to stay at all costs, it was do what you gotta do).

I walked out of my last job 10 minutes after starting my shift. I walked in, tried to log into my work comp which was having issues as usual and realized that I was just done and packed up my stuff and left.

My BFF ended up being put in charge of a team (with no extra money, authority or training) and when told she had to give them a motivational speech because people were quitting daily…she told them that she knew how bad things were but to not pull a Jane because then they wouldn’t be eligible for rehire.

@scareyfaerie

Perhaps he’s just telling us off for leaving him for so long on his own with just a couple of visits every day from the catsitter. Will keep an eye (and ear) on him today anyway.

No other kitties, no slaves, yeah, he probably is just telling you off which you richly deserve!

@Sahirrnee

Oh you know Ripple?

I’m still juvenile enough that when I look at the local newspaper, I go to the comics first. As soon as I saw that one, I thought of you.

We have cats, they can be even pickier.

Currently, Crabby Old Cat is living on canned tuna and rehydrated Halo chicken treat soup. Because I’m concerned about mercury, I will be trying to move him to canned chicken AND hubs ordered some Dr. Tim’s taurine topper from Chewy so the little jerk doesn’t go blind before he goes to the bridge. He has accepted the topper, which makes us happy.

@purplehorseshoe

Better, somewhat. It’s mostly a stress response

I’m glad you are feeling better. Stress kills people daily. The death certificate won’t blame stress, there will be other reasons blamed…heart, auto accident, work accident, etc. When folks are stressed all the time, they don’t sleep well or eat well which causes their health to fail and their reactions to slow.

I surely do wish I could do something to help you out even a little.

@Wheelz

I started this morning by running the coffee maker without a cup underneath.

I’ve never done that. Of course, I set the Keurig up with my cup in place before I go to bed, but still. Hubs reports that the grated mug stand will hold a mugs worth of coffee, he tests it twice a year just to be sure.

I’ve always thought Murphy beds were super cool but have never known anyone who had one irl. Please be sure to share how that goes with pics!

@TruePisces

Ooopsie, I’d be upset too and Dr Y would have been gone before now. I’m glad that you’re going to get a new doctor for Bailey.

I am in total agreement, and you said it better than I would have.

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

So I’ve called AAA (finally get some benefit from my membership) and am awaiting a service person in about 30 minutes. Oh joy.

Geeze louise! Totally not fair!!!

@missred

I’m getting no younger and have a bad back, so Nelson’s 17# and change works for me.

I’m actually regretting buying a giant breed, GG doesn’t hold on when I pick him up, he’s all knees and elbows until he’s settled and that doesn’t work with my bad arm.

@LSLGuy

I’ve always enjoyed watching their petty vandalisms. Clever, persistent, and imaginative in a free-spirited way. What’s not to like?

My father in law used a large colander and bicycle tubes to make a squirrel catapult that he used to launch squirrels over the fence and into his neighbor’s yard. He spent many a happy day baiting the trap and sitting at the kitchen table with the trigger cord in his hand ready to launch his next victim.

My mother in law thought it was super funny to watch the squirrels fly over the fence and then scamper right back for another ride.

I just bought them a lot of peanuts.

So today was produce day and once again I saw a large RV in line. This makes me sad, because those things are too expensive to take to a food drive unless it is your home and vehicle. I gotta get GG Creamery up and running again, I miss having grocery cards to hand out.

We got three cabbages which was opportune considering the requested potluck coleslaw. I gave one to my Tai-chi instructor because I want to get a red one to add some color and Lisa loves cabbage. We got some nice looking oranges and orange Gatorade. Before I started doing this, I had NO idea how many different Gatorade colors there were, back when I drank soft drinks, they were all the same color.

[LSLGuy]

@JaneDoe42

I’ve always thought Murphy beds were super cool but have never known anyone who had one irl. Please be sure to share how that goes with pics!

My immediately previous residence had one. Installed by the previous owner. The mattress was the full-size form factor. Which does work for two people who are a) good friends, and b) not both large. And better yet, c) both small.

Worked great & left us the room as a fully usable studio for 355 days a year and a fully useable guest bedroom the other 10. Unlike a folding couch (such as I have now) there’s no compromise on the mattress design and it’s fully supported on a completely flat sheet of wood like a platform bed. I’ve slept in that murphy bed several times with no complaint.

@JaneDoe42

Hubs reports that the grated mug stand will hold a mugs worth of coffee, he tests it twice a year just to be sure.

I use a conventional drip coffeemaker, but I’ve often marveled at discovering yet another way to make not-coffee. You’d think after drinking it daily for nearly 50 years and using some manner of drip coffeemaker almost all those years I’d have discovered every possible not-coffee recipe. Not so.

@JaneDoe42

My father in law used a large colander and bicycle tubes to make a squirrel catapult that he used to launch squirrels over the fence and into his neighbor’s yard. He spent many a happy day baiting the trap and sitting at the kitchen table with the trigger cord in his hand ready to launch his next victim.

I like the cut of that man’s jib! Your kids have great genes. I hope they use them well.

[nelliebly]

The weather was gorgeous, and I enjoyed all the walking (6 miles) to and from getting shots. The sky was incredibly blue. It was perfect cloud-watching weather, too. I love clouds. Just after I got home, it started raining. Now the sun is out again. Mother Nature is moodier than a class full of freshmen.

@JaneDoe42

We will be here with hugs when it is done.

We really will.

@TruePisces

What I didn’t expect was the trees to decide that they don’t like me here and are throwing nuts at the top of my van.

Kind of like the apple-throwing trees on the Wizard of Oz? Yay on getting the van back!

All this talk about squirrels made me think of Norman Bates, the psycho squirrel who’d shriek at me for a half hour at a time because I put prickle strips over the soil in the big pot he liked to dig up. (No nuts in there–I checked.) One day he was gone. I like to imagine that the sweet little robins, gentle bunny rabbits, and friendly raccoons beat the bejeebers out of him. Other than that, I like squirrels. My brother was walking down a dirt road near their place in Michigan when WHOOSH-plop, a ball of black squirrel fell out of a tree, narrowly missing him. After a moment, the squirrel shook its head and scampered up the tree.

shoe, it’s not just Michigan. I grew up in Chicago, and we called it pop. I still do. On Cape Cod back in the 70s, they called it “tonic.” What do they call it in Texas? Soda? I hear that some Southerners call all soda pop “coke.” I really hope you’re feeling better and are eating more. Don’t make me come over there and force-feed you lasagna!

doggio, how did the interview go?

[purplehorseshoe]

@Wheelz

morning

Was there at least coffee in the coffee maker?

Hell, the other day I poked myself with a red Sharpie (was trying to put the cap on & missed) … hours later I was slicing something and gasped, thinking briefly that I’d cut myself.

Once I clarified to my slightly concerned co-worker that I’d merely forgotten my own marker mishap, well, she had a good laugh at my expense.

@Wheelz

Since we moved, I’ve assembled a TV stand, a dining table, four dining chairs, three counter stools, an office chair, a dresser, two nightstands, two end tables, the aforementioned office cabinet; plus I’ve mounted two TVs, a large heavy mirror, and a laundry rack to various walls.

Lazy.

@TruePisces

since CtE stayed home again because of panic attacks

Maybe I’m overly cynical, but I’m starting to wonder if CtE hasn’t simply figured out a way to just avoid that whole “school” nonsense.

I mean, you’ve mentioned a lot of skipping school lately.

@susan

Today’s weather was sun, rain, sun, snow, clouds, snow, sun, clouds.

Overachiever.

@TruePisces

What I didn’t expect was the trees to decide that they don’t like me here and are throwing nuts at the top of my van. I just watched one roll down the windshield. I shouldn’t be, but I’m highly amused.

Oh, yeah. Definitely squirrels.

@JaneDoe42

I surely do wish I could do something to help you out even a little.

Your kind words - and endlessly entertaining stories - do help, and that’s more than a little!

@JaneDoe42

My father in law used a large colander and bicycle tubes to make a squirrel catapult that he used to launch squirrels over the fence and into his neighbor’s yard. He spent many a happy day baiting the trap and sitting at the kitchen table with the trigger cord in his hand ready to launch his next victim.

My mother in law thought it was super funny to watch the squirrels fly over the fence and then scamper right back for another ride.

Priceless!

@JaneDoe42

Before I started doing this, I had NO idea how many different Gatorade colors there were,

Plus most of them have weird names like “Glacier Freeze” like WTF flavor is that supposed to be?

Okay, I could use a nice shower and a nice cuppa soup and some nice … niceness.

[purplehorseshoe]

@nelliebly

What do they call it in Texas? Soda? I hear that some Southerners call all soda pop “coke.”

Usually soda, but old-timers in rural diners often do have the following conversation:

“What’d ya wanna drink, hon?”
“Coke.”
“What kinda Coke, sugar?”
“Y’all got diet Dr Pepper?”
“Nuh-uh, sweetie, we got regular Dr. Pepper and we got Diet Pepsi.”
“Ah, I’ll just get a Sprite, then.”

[The_Stainless_Steel_Rat]

Evening all. Well, the AAA guy was here when promised and got the car started, I drove it around to the dealership with the idea of leaving it there overnight (would Uber back) but it started right up after I parked so wasn’t really sure. One of the dealers was still there and suggested given the symptoms that maybe I had left a door ajar or the inside light on (both possibilities) and drained the battery. So I drove around to several other places, turning off the engine and re-starting it, and had no problems. So I brought it home and will try it tomorrow (made sure that the doors were closed and lights were off). Do need to get a new battery for one of my fobs, the other is working just fine. And best of all it didn’t cost me a cent (outside of the hundreds of dollars I’ve given AAA over the years).

So ham-n-cheesers are in my belly, a new book and a couple of stopwatches have arrived from my Amazon buying spree Moanday, and the temperature is still about 70F, so all-in-all I can’t complain much (wait until next week when the fence and water issues get resolved).

@JaneDoe42

I had NO idea how many different Gatorade colors there were, back when I drank soft drinks, they were all the same color.

JtC, watch this You Tube and be astounded; I was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_bM-Olp1Ng And who hasn’t thought of just saying “I’ve had it” and walking out…but you actually did it! Good on ya!

I can take or leave squirrels. Without any trees in my yard I don’t see them very often here and it seems most of the one who can’t get out of the way of my car have been Darwin’ed by other drivers, so not much interaction.

wolfie, great story on your brother and the squirrels.

Real Fish, great news on the van, hopefully improved news on CtE. And hope Dad and you two raise enough heck to get him the PT he needs and deserves.

FCM, what JtC said above about Taz is perfect; I couldn’t improve on it so I echo it. Hugs are ready when the time comes.

oopsie, hope Bailey is doing OK and OUCH! on the wasp sting. Will double-check my Tide Pods next time I do laundry.

Wheelie, wonder if a furniture store could use your talents…

@Die_Capacitrix

I just made flight plans for San Diego. I guess this might be an interesting landing.

Been to San Diego a couple of times, no problems but they only have one runway (IIRC) for both takeoff and landing so that makes things a little more dicey. I never liked Washington National, because the landing was almost always over the Potomac until your were only 5-10 seconds from touchdown and the water just kept getting closer and closer…

Sari, stick to your guns and make sure they know about it; it’s your damn property!!

Pilot, thanks again for the info; I never knew about that part of the business, so I guess I learned something new today.

OK, getting towards 9pm so need to finish up a couple things and be thinking about bedtime. All y’all take care now.

[dogbutler]

Had a martini, 3 cheese tortellini, and meatballs with sauteed asparagus for dinner tonight.

@Die_Capacitrix

Hopefully shoe is no longer heaving today.

Or at least heaving dough, and not last night’s dinner.
{{{{shoe}}}} I feel you on the sickness thing.

@Ponderoid

Happy World Hamster Day , everybody!

Glad the van is back Fishy, but {{{{hugs}}}} for the rest of your day.

@JaneDoe42

she told them that she knew how bad things were but to not pull a Jane because then they wouldn’t be eligible for rehire.

“If you quit, we will refuse to flog you any more” is a bold take.

@nelliebly

doggio, how did the interview go?

Tomorrow, at 4:40P.M. < crosses fingers in nervous anticipation >

[TruePisces]

BooFae, here’s hoping it’s just Shadow being upset at you being gone. I had a cat once that successfully hid from me for 3 days after I returned from a couple day trip to Key West because how dare I leave him at home with only my best friend to check on him! I was convinced that he’d gotten out. Nope. When he thought I’d been punished enough, he came out of hiding.

Wordy, crossing my fingers for Mom’s Big Appointment!

shoe, glad you’re feeling better but sorry you had to go through the ick last night.

swampy, you definitely deserved nappage. Personally, I think anyone that takes on the mowing duties deserves a nap when they’re done!

sari, I can’t believe that the seller is listing your parking pad as parking space in the back. Um… no. And if you’re street is anything like the ones I’ve been around, street parking is a joke! Hopefully whoever buys it won’t have a problem with it when they move in.

Wheelz, I’m tired just reading everything that you’ve been putting together. Good luck on finding a job soonishlike, and that tomorrow the coffee maker has it’s cup without incident.

FCM, I’m so sorry you’re having the make that decision. Making the decision for my Old Man Kitty was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and I was thinking the same thing - Why can’t he just go to sleep and not wake up? But I am glad that I had the chance to say goodbye to him and he wasn’t alone when he went.

metalmouse, ARG!!! At least you were at home so you could wait in comfort. AAA has been a lifesaver for me on far more occasions than I’d like to count!

VanGo, I’ve been saying it for years - Mother Nature is having some of the worst menopausal symptoms I’ve ever known! She needs to find some way to control her mood swings.

@LSLGuy

Yaay! I hope at no cost to you beyond the irritation of returning it for a second service.

I wish it was the second service! It’s the 3rd, with them not even getting it out to me after the second transmission because it wouldn’t come out of reverse. All of it has been covered (except the first, of course) by the three year, unlimited warranty. And considering what we paid, it all had better be!

pilot, wolfpup and shoe, I hadn’t thought of squirrels. Yeah, it was probably those little bastards. If I’d thought of it, I would have tried to throw them back at them.

JtC, I love your FIL’s inventiveness!

nellie, exactly like the apple throwing trees! And The Wizard of Oz was the first thing I thought of when the nuts started hitting the car!

shoe, I honestly wish it was just them figuring out a way to avoid school. It’s been a really rough balancing act the last couple of years between trying to get them to be responsible and being understanding about their depression and anxiety. Over the last two years, they’ve spent more time out of school than in school, though they do get their work done so they haven’t been in danger of failing. I just don’t know the best way to help them. Should I be more understanding? Should I be more of a hard ass? I know that when I was growing up, my step-mom was more the hard ass type for everything and that added to my depression and anxiety. She also didn’t believe in my anxiety attacks (which, as a nurse, she should have known better). I don’t want to be that kind of parent to CtE, but I don’t want to be taken advantage of either. I suspect I’m going to need to find a therapist for me to talk to just to get some of these thoughts out of my mind.

They did talk to their therapist about their recent panic attacks and were given some steps to work through them so they aren’t debilitated. We’ll see how that goes. I’m really hoping that it does the trick. And I’m hoping they don’t have an attack before their concert tomorrow night. They’ve got a very small solo during one of the songs and that can go either way when it comes to their mental health.

Dad called me earlier tonight. He called the appeal line and got a case number. Now we just have to hope that they will agree that he needs more care to keep him from getting hurt because he lives alone. There’s supposedly a third tier of appeal that he could do, but that can take up to 14 days to resolve and any time after his discharge won’t be covered if they decide against him. I’m glad he’s not giving up though. And, selfishly, I’m glad that I don’t have to be the one making the phone call.

doggio, thanks for the hugs. And good luck on the interview tomorrow!

I want to get myself a small bowl of ice cream before bed, so I hope all of you have a fantastic, restful night.

[susan]

My parents had two Murphy beds when they converted our abandoned rooms to guest rooms. We are planning to get one for the guest room.

[Johnny_L.A]

Did you hear about the Irish psychologist?

Instead of a couch, he had a Murphy bed.

[susan]

Hah!

Discourse Discourse

[LSLGuy]

Hoping not to turn this into the @LSLguy show … If anyone is offended by this occupational stuff, just ask and I’ll shut up.

@nelliebly

In your experience, what US airport is the worst to fly into? Years ago, I read it was San Diego. This made sense because the approach took planes between buildings. You could could practically look in the windows. (“Hey, that guy is brushing his teeth! Ew, gingivitis.”) But recently, I saw #1 (worst) was the airport at Aspen, and surprisingly, the tiny airport in my old Wyoming town was #4.

San Diego is not so bad as it once was. They raised the approach path so you’re not skimming the buildings quite so much as before. Modern airplanes are also rather more capable than 1960s models.

Different places have different challenges. The various ski resorts in the Rockies are generally the ones where small airports, short-ish runways, high altitude, bad weather, and nearby terrain mean any buffoonery is rapidly fatal. Most folks are less than fully comfortable in that arena. San Diego is a doddle compared to Eagle/Vail, Hayden, Aspen, Gunnison, or Montrose to name a few I’ve personally operated through. There are certainly more in that vein up in the Rockies. As the airplanes have gotten more sophisticated, the feeling of playing Blind Man’s bluff with nearby peaks has gotten a lot less. The Braille method sucks for those things.

Personally, I find LGA & DCA to be unacceptably stupid ideas. The total system safety is seriously degraded there by short runways, packed taxiways, high traffic levels, often crap weather, and difficult arrivals and departures optimized for noise impact, not safety. But unlike the low-traffic Mountain West airports, we’re landing and taking off 180-ish people from both those places every single minute all day and much of the night. The collective risk exposure is tremendous and unwarranted.

John Wayne / Orange County and Burbank in greater Los Angles, plus Key West, Florida are three more much too small airports with jetliners crammed in. But given their much smaller volume than DCA & LGA, no convoluted flight paths and vastly better weather, the collective risk is much less.

If I was Emperor we’d close them all to anything bigger / faster than a turboprop. Those places belong on the ash heap of at least major airline history.

@nelliebly

How does seniority work re: your reserve status? Do you only get called in for flights to your preferred airports?

Ha! I wish!

Senior reserve people have more control over their days-on vs days-off pattern. So one can better optimize that for what you care about, whether that’s trying for least likelihood of work, or Tuesdays off for Kid #2’s soccer games. Another factor not mentioned in my prior post was work shift within the on-call days. Some folks like pre-dawn work & hate late night and some are the opposite. Seniors pick what they want, and juniors take what’s left over. Setting up my work patterns as to both day/dates on-call and shifts to minimize my likelihood of work is my personal secret sauce.

Once on-call during the month the roster of available folks of the moment are arranged in some kind of priority scheme. Different carriers do this quite differently, from round-robin to junior goes first to least month-to-date work goes first to a blend of the above to ???. But speaking in generalities …

If there’s one trip to be assigned then the next person whose on/off pattern and legalities can take the trip will get it. No choice involved. Conversely, if they have several trips to hand out to several interchangeable workers, most senior gets first pick and so on down the line. If there are more than enough available workers, the senior-most may be able to say “no thank you; I’ll stay home” and force more junior folks to take the work.

Or if one of the trips is nice enough and spouse and kids are getting on the senior person’s nerves, they can choose the long layover in Cancun and leave home for a couple days rest & relaxation while blaming the pesky company for their bad luck. Meanwhile the junior person goes to Cincinnati and Des Moines instead and some extra lucky junior person get a reprieve and stays home. Until something else goes wrong to somebody somewhere and another body is needed to fill the next resulting hole.

The former situation: “You’re next. Off to Cleveland for you. Hop to it!” is the more common scenario IME over 30+ years of this. So even for senior folks there’s not too much sense of being able to pick and choose destinations. There’s certainly no right of veto. You’re largely at the whim of whatever random stuff happens to become available as a result of whatever is going wrong and why.

The very senior-most of the regular schedule people do have that kind of control. e.g. “I want to visit only Rome and only on Tuesdays.” But only a tiny fraction of crewmembers ever reach that exalted level in their career, much less for most of it. I certainly have not been one of the annointed few and never will be. Rather the opposite; I’ve had to make do with the short end of this stick most of my years.

Still, it beats the heck out of working for a living. Been there, done that too.

[dogbutler]

@LSLGuy

If I was Emperor we’d close them all to anything bigger / faster than a turboprop. Those places belong on the ash heap of at least major airline history.

Still gotta be better than the old Hong Kong Kai Tek

@LSLGuy

Hoping not to turn this into the @LSLguy show … If anyone is offended by this occupational stuff, just ask and I’ll shut up.

Do. Not. Ever. Stop.

[Johnny_L.A]

@LSLGuy

San Diego is not so bad as it once was.

I can’t speak to the airport; but whenever I think of San Diego (where my sister still lives), I think You Can’t Go Home Again. I grew up there from the age of four to 15. I thought it was cool growing up in San Diego instead of Los Angeles (born in Greater L.A.), but as I grew older it occurred to me that there were basically two kinds of people (excluding Navy): Hippies, and rich f__ks. It’s a pretty city, but damn it’s depressing to go there!

[JaneDoe42]

@purplehorseshoe

Priceless!

MIL was so cute about it. FIL was showing hubs his squirrel catapult while complaining about squirrels and the neighbor who just had to mow his grass at dawn which didn’t give the sun time to burn off the dew so the grass always looked bad, not like FIL’s…MIL pulled me into their bedroom so we could watch the squirrels fly over the fence and scamper back, you could tell just the way they acted that they were having much fun.

We had even more fun after we bought some red pistachios for our men to use for bait (yes, we knew that squirrels shouldn’t eat them, but also thought one bag wouldn’t hurt). As we thought, all of the “flying” squirrels were frequent flyers.

Nobody ever got up the nerve to ask the neighbors what they thought about their flying squirrel problem.

@purplehorseshoe

Your kind words - and endlessly entertaining stories - do help, and that’s more than a little!

Of course I am assuming that you are speaking about all of us

I’m so looking forward to doggio’s stories of his new dawg. Of course his application will be moved to the head of the line, who wouldn’t want him to adopt any animal they cared for.

@dogbutler

“If you quit, we will refuse to flog you any more” is a bold take.

I texted this to my friend and she almost killed herself laughing while walking up the stairs.

[kitap]

I had chemo #12 today; theythink it should be the last one.

Next is a CAT scan, then a blood draw then an appointment with the main oncologist on my case (who also did the surgery) and the oncologist they shifted me to. We will go over the results and my options.

[JaneDoe42]

Fingers crossed that all goes well.

How are you holding up? Are you eating?