# Twenty Days Has October Rants - The Rest Are On Furlough **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2013, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074 "2013-10-01T07:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/581 "2013-10-29T19:16:52Z")
I am mildly pitting my brother and sister for both moving out of state (different states, but they both left the summer of 2011) and leaving me the only child in proximity to our mother. I like my mom and we get a long just fine. She’s not especially needy or anything, but going from three kids locally to just one has concentrated it all on me these last few years, especially the holidays. My sister does come back for Christmas, and usually visits in the summer at some point. I am very thankful for that. My brother has not been back since he left. I just really liked it better when we took turns. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/582 "2013-10-29T20:19:43Z")
Sunday night: Neighbors across the stairwell from me with the music cranked up. Had wanted to go to bed early. Nope. 10pm ‘quiet time’ complex deadline passes, no change in volume. 10:35, I go over and knock on the door. No answer. Knock twice more, waiting a minute or two between each time. Knocking hard too. Walk into the stairwell since they’re in a back bedroom off the stairwell, pound on the wall. No answer. Called the after-hours manager. Said I was giving them a chance to do something before I called the police. She comes up, didn’t hear it as she was walking down the hall so was pissy with me. Hears it in front of their door and says it isn’t very loud. I say, listen in the stair well, directly across from my bedroom. Yeah, loud out there. Lots of bass vibration too. She knocks on the door. No answer. Waits, knocks again. No answer. Walks into the stair well and pounds on the wall real hard, then comes back, pounds the ever loving shit out of their front door and loudly announces who she is. No answer. She stomps off angry saying she is going to find the renter’s number and if she can’t find it, SHE will call the cops. 10 minutes later the volume goes down. Last night someone walks out of their apartment about 10 minutes after I got home, quietly walks over and carefully checks to see if my front door is locked. An hour later I hear two of them walk out while I’m in my kitchen near the door. The teenaged kid is bitching about something I can’t make out. As they pass my door, the dad says, very matter of factly “Then stop doing it!” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/583 "2013-10-29T21:29:29Z")
I’m sure I’m just being a crank, but it seems to me that pumpkin carving is a flagrant waste of a food product. I would imagine that those in the third world look with horror on the hundreds of tons of pumpkins that end up in the landfill in the US every year. There must be some animal that would eat these things (pigs?), but I’ve never seen a recycle effort where I’ve lived. It sort of ranks up there with catch-and-release as falling into the category of playing with one’s food. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/584 "2013-10-29T21:38:01Z")
Dude, produce departments are a flagrant waste of food. Do you have any idea how much of our fruits and vegetables get thrown away before ever seeing someone’s plate? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/585 "2013-10-29T22:57:03Z")
I had always figured that pumpkins suitable for carving were in the same category as Indian corn and those tiny, multi-colored gourds…ornamental foods that really aren’t very palatable. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/586 "2013-10-29T23:07:59Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Dude, produce departments are a flagrant waste of food. Do you have any idea how much of our fruits and vegetables get thrown away before ever seeing someone’s plate? :dubious: Yes, but that produce is grown for food, and the overproduction of those items is a different discussion. The generic orange pumpkin is grown to be discarded. Now, one could argue that xmas trees are also grown to be thrown away, but they’re not edible to anything but a starving moose. Dude. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/587 "2013-10-30T00:51:13Z")
Hmm, I came up with an idea. When people have annoying phone conversations on the bus, instead of singing loudly in their ears, I’ll wait to see if they end their conversation, and then I’ll start a conversation with them about whatever it was they talked about to the person on the other end of the line. (If they spoke in a language that I understood, that is.) \*Please note that I do not plan to actually do any of the things to cellphone talkers that I say I will in this thread. 🙂 Also, people who appropriate pictures of Grumpy Cat for political purposes can go pleasure themselves. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/588 "2013-10-30T01:05:03Z")
My poor sweet little bunnywunny two year old toddler is running a 103 fever. I’m trying to get her filled with fluids per the ped’s orders. Her eldest sister also has a fever and a nasty cough. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/589 "2013-10-30T01:05:18Z")
It’s been a sucky couple of weeks. Still sick, still tired, still no answers from doctor. Doesn’t help that I keep forgetting to call her until it’s after office hours. I don’t think she has email yet, she’s just now getting into computerized records. And then I find out last night that my grandma has had a massive stroke. I went to see her earlier today, and she’s just not there anymore. She’s 91, so if it’s her time, it’s her time. I just don’t want to see her linger like she is now. I really wish I could just go to bed, pull the covers up over my head, and stay there for a couple days. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/590 "2013-10-30T01:37:12Z")
My husband’s grandmother is in the hospital. We keep getting these updates from his parents that start out dire and predicting imminent death followed by “and then we went into her room and she was eating lunch and doing leg lifts in her chair and doing stand up/sit down exercises with a physical therapist” Meanwhile the dr is talking about palliative care and weeks if not days. On one hand I’m glad she’s feeling so well and likely will continue to up to the end but on the other how can she be dying when she’s acting like she can still take over the world. We’re going up on Saturday so hoping she hangs on that long at least so we can all say goodbye. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/591 "2013-10-30T01:50:23Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I had always figured that pumpkins suitable for carving were in the same category as Indian corn and those tiny, multi-colored gourds…ornamental foods that really aren’t very palatable. True. I’ve tried to cook them. By the time Halloween is over, most of them are moldy, so they wouldn’t make good pig food. They can be composted, maybe. Maybe not home composted, but I think we can put ours in the yard waste bin because that gets shredded before composting. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/592 "2013-10-30T02:02:29Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > True. I’ve tried to cook them. I’ve tried smoking them. Very bad move. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/593 "2013-10-30T05:31:10Z")
I actually made a pie with one, once (mid-1980s, IIRC). The pie was okay, but I would not do it again, as the gourd was a real pain in the ass to cut into small enough pieces to cook. And now I’m gun-shy about trying the smaller ones that the supermarkets call “pie pumpkins,” or some such. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/594 "2013-10-30T14:31:15Z")
> [@ghoulasdad99](#): > > I actually made a pie with one, once (mid-1980s, IIRC). The pie was okay, but I would not do it again, as the gourd was a real pain in the ass to cut into small enough pieces to cook. > > And now I’m gun-shy about trying the smaller ones that the supermarkets call “pie pumpkins,” or some such. Actually many of the small pumpkins are the proper ones to make pie from - they have been specially bred up to do so. Look for [something](http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetables/a/Pumpkins_2.htm) called a small sugar pumpkin or tom thumb, or new england pie pumpkin. Though the big ones will make a servicable pie filling, some years they are very watery and disappointing. I haven’t done one yet this year, but the amazing amount of rainfall this past summer makes me worried about the poor pumpkins pie-ability.☹ brainzzzzzzzzzz ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/595 "2013-10-30T16:17:07Z")
My lower back hurts. Planting bulbs probably caused it:( ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/596 "2013-10-30T17:25:40Z")
> [@ghoulasdad99](#): > > I actually made a pie with one, once (mid-1980s, IIRC). The pie was okay, but I would not do it again, as the gourd was a real pain in the ass to cut into small enough pieces to cook. > > And now I’m gun-shy about trying the smaller ones that the supermarkets call “pie pumpkins,” or some such. I’ve been told that if you bake or steam a pie pumpkin, it’s a lot easier to peel than if you try to peel it before cooking. And that you can cut or puree it after that. There’s also less chance of the knife slipping and you needing three stitches in your finger. As a pure hypothetical. As an unrelated aside, my kids were always way too interested in watching any small medical procedures that I had. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/597 "2013-10-30T17:34:47Z")
> [@Risen from the Gravy](#): > > \ It sort of ranks up there with catch-and-release as falling into the category of playing with one’s food. Actually, I believe catch-and-release usually kills the fish that were caught. The pumpkins go into the collective composting here, along with Christmas trees and leaves. I usually just toss mine on my garden along with the rest of my compost (I’m not a very fancy composter). ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/598 "2013-10-30T19:26:16Z")
> [@Zombie Whisperer](#): > > Actually, I believe catch-and-release usually kills the fish that were caught. Maybe this is a whoosh, but I’m pretty sure the whole point of catch and release is that it _doesn’t_ kill the fish. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/599 "2013-10-30T19:40:30Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Maybe this is a whoosh, but I’m pretty sure the whole point of catch and release is that it _doesn’t_ kill the fish. I vaguely remember something about not touching the fish with dry hands. You have to wet your hands first otherwise \*that \*can somehow kill them. Maybe that’s what happens? I learned this in the scouts though so maybe it was just an excuse for the scoutmaster to get lubbed up, IDK (kidding 😃 ). I’m in territorial battle with the cat. Once upon a time, [in thread far, far away](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=688432), I tried to compromise but trying to use the cat as a mouse pad really doesn’t work on any level. It was fine as long as she was making my mouse pad pillow her home but she’s become far too comfortable there. I understand that I’m just a lowly servant, but she does have her own computer after all so I’m just asking to be treated with some dignity and fairness. [sob, sniffle] ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074/600 "2013-10-30T19:41:30Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Maybe this is a whoosh, but I’m pretty sure the whole point of catch and release is that it _doesn’t_ kill the fish. Depends on how badly damaged they are from the whole experience. If the mouth is severely damaged, they can starve. If the gills are damaged, they may drown. Most survive, AFAIK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-days-has-october-rants-the-rest-are-on-furlough/670074.md?page=31)