# Your greatest and most august mini-rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 1, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550 "2017-08-01T06:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/241 "2017-08-28T14:47:01Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Are these people actually saying to themselves “A party? Oh, whatever shall I do? If I’m not within ten feet of my dog for an afternoon s/he will…” what? Shred the couch? Howl like a coyote? Clean out the fridge? Poop in the dishwasher? Find a way into the liquor cabinet? You’d be surprised. One of our ex housemates treats her dogs like children. As a result, they’re utterly dependent upon her as much as she’s dependent upon them. She can leave them for a couple of hours, but anything beyond that and she’s an emotional mess. If you invite her to a barbecue, she’ll take the dogs with her if her husband doesn’t stay home with them. > [@](#): > > We leave our dogs home when we’re at work. We just make sure they’re outside for a while beforehand… and of course, we say “Bye, be good boys, and stay out of the liquor cabinet.” We have a walker who comes in if I’m at work and my husband is at a client. She stays for about an hour. If we’re both delayed coming home she’ll return to give them a potty break. If we wanted her to look after them for an extended period of time, however, it costs $$$, more so if she stayed overnight or they stayed at her place overnight. Our older dog aged out of daycare, so we no longer do that. Their rates are cheaper than the walker’s. However, they’re located a difficult hop and two skips from us, so we only used them if we were in a bind. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/242 "2017-08-28T15:11:02Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I am so sick of water right now. We don’t have water in our home, but its everywhere else. I’m honestly thinking that Reno might be a nice place to live. You never hear of major floods or fires or anything like that happening to Reno. Flood of Dec 30 2005-Jan 12006. Wasn’t pretty. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/243 "2017-08-28T15:57:01Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Flood of Dec 30 2005-Jan 12006. Wasn’t pretty. That’s a long flood! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/244 "2017-08-28T16:37:28Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’ve never seen anybody show up to a party with an animal who didn’t belong to the genus “homo”, without previously clearing it with the host. Many years ago some friends held a brunch and some other friends were not invited because they had small children and dogs and were rather selfish people. They were invited to come over later in the day (as some other people were) to the secondary party, but the mailed invitations specifically said No Children, No Dogs. So of course they showed up with their children and dogs. :smack: The hosts were rather unhappy about it, said as much in front of everyone, and after about 20 minutes, asked them to leave. And of course, the guilty couple just did their usual dismissive rolleyed _Pfft_ and said they weren’t going to find a babysitter for the afternoon. They were pretty much personaes non-grata after that show. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/245 "2017-08-28T17:22:28Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Flood of Dec 30 2005-Jan 12006. Wasn’t pretty. nm ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/246 "2017-08-28T18:02:07Z")
Ah, August. When children come back to daycare after their summer break and bring all their new viruses with them. Which my son brings home to me. I’ll just be over here coughing and sneezing if you need me. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/247 "2017-08-28T21:35:20Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > That’s a long flood! Heh heh to Jan 1 2006 ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/248 "2017-08-29T04:03:36Z")
It’s 112 degrees today. Our mobile home is cooled by a swamp cooler, which cools things with water that runs across its vents. For the third time in two weeks, the water was out in the entire mobile home park, caused by Comcast digging new cable under the ground and hitting water mains. We had to abandon our home and go to a shopping mall because my 88 year old mother was on the verge of heat stroke. We can’t have window outlets because all of the windows in our house crank upwards, they don’t open wide at all. And they’re hard to close, once they’re open, too. We have five fans running at all times, even with the swamp cooler working. The first time the water went out, when it came back on again, it surged through all of the pipes and hoses in the swamp cooler, and blew them all out. We had to spend $150 to buy new ones, and $50 to the handyman to install them. Comcast is supposed to be coming back Wednesday for more digging. If they shut off the water once more, I will call the fire department to let them know that they are endangering elderly people. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/249 "2017-08-29T12:11:52Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It’s 112 degrees today. Our mobile home is cooled by a swamp cooler, which cools things with water that runs across its vents. For the third time in two weeks, the water was out in the entire mobile home park, caused by Comcast digging new cable under the ground and hitting water mains. We had to abandon our home and go to a shopping mall because my 88 year old mother was on the verge of heat stroke. > > We can’t have window outlets because all of the windows in our house crank upwards, they don’t open wide at all. And they’re hard to close, once they’re open, too. We have five fans running at all times, even with the swamp cooler working. > > The first time the water went out, when it came back on again, it surged through all of the pipes and hoses in the swamp cooler, and blew them all out. We had to spend $150 to buy new ones, and $50 to the handyman to install them. > > Comcast is supposed to be coming back Wednesday for more digging. If they shut off the water once more, I will call the fire department to let them know that they are endangering elderly people. Maybe you should do that now. Stay safe. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/250 "2017-08-29T12:48:01Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It’s 112 degrees today. Our mobile home is cooled by a swamp cooler, which cools things with water that runs across its vents. For the third time in two weeks, the water was out in the entire mobile home park, caused by Comcast digging new cable under the ground and hitting water mains. We had to abandon our home and go to a shopping mall because my 88 year old mother was on the verge of heat stroke. > > We can’t have window outlets because all of the windows in our house crank upwards, they don’t open wide at all. And they’re hard to close, once they’re open, too. We have five fans running at all times, even with the swamp cooler working. > > The first time the water went out, when it came back on again, it surged through all of the pipes and hoses in the swamp cooler, and blew them all out. We had to spend $150 to buy new ones, and $50 to the handyman to install them. > > Comcast is supposed to be coming back Wednesday for more digging. If they shut off the water once more, I will call the fire department to let them know that they are endangering elderly people. Don’t you have 311/One-call or whatever to locate utilities? If Comcast hasn’t done that, then I’d think you’d have a reason to request they pay your repair bills (and even if they have). Small claims court and/or your local TV trouble-shooters could help, I’d think. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/251 "2017-08-29T17:41:27Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Don’t you have 311/One-call or whatever to locate utilities? If Comcast hasn’t done that, then I’d think you’d have a reason to request they pay your repair bills (and even if they have). Small claims court and/or your local TV trouble-shooters could help, I’d think. Eh, I’ll bet Comcast contributes a lot (one way and another) to the local municipality so it doesn’t have to be bothered with trivia like that. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/252 "2017-08-29T18:01:03Z")
Two minor rants. Mr. Helena is flying to Chicago today on Southwest (from Seattle). It was scheduled to leave at 9:55am. It pushed back at 10:02. From the location of the flight on Flightaware, it’s not even into Eastern Washington so it took off about ten to fifteen minutes ago almost 50 minutes late. Yet because it pushed back at 10:02, it’s still listed as “on time”. They’ll make up some of it, but it will still be about a half-hour late (having flown that route a hundred times or more). It’s _ridiculou_s that it’s considered “on time”. I live about 20 minutes away from the Amazon processing center in Kent, WA, but USPS decided to send my two-day Prime package to a coastal Oregon town (Newport). Ok, (really stupid) mistakes happen, but it’s been sitting there for two days! What the HELL, USPS?? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/253 "2017-08-29T18:11:12Z")
There was a Grand Prix in the neighborhood last weekend, so hotel rooms were scarce for this two-week stay. I was lucky to get one. Huge room. Two big windows. With views of two walls, oh hi. Wifi gives me 1 bar. The jacuzzi is in the same floor as my room; the first week it was broken, but they fixed it on Saturday, so now the corridor smells like a swamp that someone has tried to bleach. And the breakfast buffet is nice 'cept they have a problem with the eggs: the scrambled eggs have a 50:50 chance of being runny enough that nobody will touch them, the hard-boiled eggs basket has been known to contain un-boiled eggs. For the price they’re charging me, those eggs should be hand-painted and embroidered 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/254 "2017-08-30T03:50:22Z")
One of the kitten fosterers I watch is losing a kitten tonight. It’s fading. Poor wee kitten didn’t bake long enough, or there’s something congenitally wrong. The fosterer thinks that maybe the Mama was aborting the group of kittens it was born in (there was an empty sac and two stillborns in the group), and this one just happened to survive. One of the things making him think that is that another kitten was born today, four days after the first group. THIS one is extremely vigorous and hasn’t stopped nursing for about 6 hours. Everyone watching is very sad and heartbroken for the fosterer. He’s worked night and day to save this kitten. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/255 "2017-08-30T06:54:11Z")
It can be heartbreaking to work with stray malnourished mama kitties. ☹ I hope the little booger makes it. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/256 "2017-08-30T07:27:32Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > It can be heartbreaking to work with stray malnourished mama kitties. ☹ I hope the little booger makes it. Sadly, she didn’t. Whatever was wrong with her system prevented her from converting food into kitten. She died about midnight, eastern time. She was warm and loved to the end. Her surprise sister, however, is very vigorous and very, very vocal, with one hell of a set of lungs. Fosterer reports he can hear the kitten from the other end of the house. I don’t \*think \*the mama is malnourished (she looks pretty solid), but she’d had a litter just 3 months before this one. I suspect that between nursing and raising one litter and gestating the second, she just didn’t have the nutrition to supply both litters. Luckily, that won’t happen again. She’ll get all the food she needs, her daughter will also, and when the time comes, they’ll both be altered. ETA: Rereading the description, I see mama was a house pet who was abandoned right before giving birth to her first litter. Someone kept her fed while she was nursing and weaning the first litter, then brought her and kittens in to a no-kill shelter. They found out she was already pregnant again when they were going to spay her. People who do that their pets shouldn’t have pets in the first place. Fuckers. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/257 "2017-08-30T12:59:36Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > They found out she was already pregnant again when they were going to spay her. I’m just curious as to why they didn’t go ahead and spay her anyway. Unless it is would have put her at risk? There is no shortage of kittens in the world, so I don’t understand a reluctance to abort this set? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/258 "2017-08-30T13:37:20Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I’m just curious as to why they didn’t go ahead and spay her anyway. Unless it is would have put her at risk? There is no shortage of kittens in the world, so I don’t understand a reluctance to abort this set? Our veterinarian spays cats right up to their due date. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/259 "2017-08-30T13:38:02Z")
“no kill” = “right to life” maybe? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550/260 "2017-08-30T13:52:00Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > “no kill” = “right to life” maybe? In our area, a discounted cat spay of a pregnant cat is $65. Decide to allow the pregnancy to go to term, and if there are problems at 2 am, emergency clinics charge $2,000 for a cat c-section. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-greatest-and-most-august-mini-rants/792550.md?page=14)