Yeesh, what a day. When fair September debuted, I told Alan, “one of these days it’ll be cold and rainy, and on that day I intend to give the kitchen a deep, deep cleaning. It’ll take the better part of a day.” Then this happened and that happened, and it became October, but finally, the cold and rainy day dawned and to be sure, it took the better part of Sunday.
But goddamn, that room is clean. I could have served dinner off the floor if I felt like cleaning it again, but plates will do. We cooked eye-talion sausages on the grill, and the stove still looks like it just came out of the showroom.
Our trip up north was lovely. Alan got to go fishing, I got to do some reading and Wendy fully became a woods dog. It’s funny: When we go for walks around here, she won’t even walk through a puddle and get her paws wet, but put her in the drippy, rainy woods and she’s bolting through the ferns and sniffing the ground like a bloodhound. She loved the woodpile outside the cabin, because periodically there’d be a squeak coming from it, and she’d shove her nose in every crevice and wag her tail enthusiastically. Never caught anything, but she certainly got in touch with her inner terrier.
And now we’re home. But it’s lovely up there:
I know some people look at that and see gray skies and bare pine boughs and a lot of mess on the ground, but to me, it’s paradise. Except during bug season.
Now, the usual nonfunctional government and Middle East turmoil and all the rest of it. As I said a couple hundred words back: Yeesh. Let’s all have a week.
brian stouder said on October 15, 2023 at 10:15 pm
Well, contrary to our proprietress’s spotless kitchen, my fine young son and I ventured to Kokomo Speedway, and took in some dirt-track racin’ (and a fair amount of Kokomo dirt), and it was quite the entertaining day. Seemingly obvious tip ( but which I learned first-hand, some years ago): don’t eat a hotdog (or whatever) during the races, unless you really desire to partake of Indiana soil (and/or pebble-sized bits of racin’ tire rubber, or pebble-sized clumps of clay, or pebble-sized pebbles, etc). An altogether fun and entertaining Sunday, indeed
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Basset said on October 15, 2023 at 11:29 pm
Racing the way it was before big money came in, back when it was fun… I don’t even watch NASCAR on tv any more.
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Dexter Friend said on October 16, 2023 at 3:46 am
I took a break from war coverage to watch the Wolverines fall behind 7-0 to the Hoosiers and then unleash 52 straight points for the big win in A2. Then the amazing Dee-troit Lions (ROAR !) went into Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and crushed the Bucs. The Lions have won 13 of their last 16 games…whaaat? Yes. Super Bowl bound, ain’t no stoppin’ us now!
Suzanne Somers, presente. She sold a million or 10 thigh master gadgets to poor fatsos. Ah…she was so damn great on “Three’s Company” and other sitcoms. She was 76. Breast cancer.
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Dexter Friend said on October 16, 2023 at 3:59 am
The Giants of MLB are considering something here…
https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/alyssa-nakken-manager-interview-barrier-breaking-18427463.php
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alex said on October 16, 2023 at 8:00 am
I remember when Playboy scandalized Suzanne Somers. Before her star turn, she had done a prospective spread for Playboy that didn’t make the cut, but they were more than happy to publish it without her consent after she became famous. She might have been fired from the cast of “Three’s Company” were it not for the big ratings bump the show got. Instead, she got fired for demanding a steep pay increase.
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alex said on October 16, 2023 at 8:09 am
So what’s going on with our gravatars on this site? Anyone else notice this happening lately? Sometimes they appear, sometimes they don’t.
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Jeff Borden said on October 16, 2023 at 10:04 am
The train wreck in the House just seems so stupidly trivial. . .pre-schoolers whining and crying and holding their breath . . .while the real world flashes red with conflict and danger. Breathes there a soul who thinks our QOP-led House is equal to the tasks it faces when the morons cannot even agree on a speaker? When a handful of right-wing vandals can hijack a nation of 332 million and hold it hostage to their absurd and impossible demands? When a degenerate former college wrestling coach whose 16 years in Congress have produced exactly ZERO legislation is a contender to be two heartbeats away from the president?
Man, how far we have fallen.
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brian stouder said on October 16, 2023 at 12:35 pm
Jeff, I take some (very cold) comfort from the disarray, in that our burn-down-the-house (of Representatives) moron coalition couldn’t poor piss out of a boot, even with the instructions on the heel (as my dad used to say). In this case, ignorant disarray is our friend
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Sherri said on October 16, 2023 at 1:38 pm
Who could have guessed that decades of talk of how the government is the problem and of drowning government in a bathtub would have resulted in a party that is incapable of even governing itself? I’m shocked at this inevitable outcome!
On a different topic, I’ve been following the SBF trial, which is totally bonkers. My priors are that anybody involved with crypto is, at best, a grifter, and that SBF is a criminal, but the revelations in the trial so far have far exceeded even my low expectations. My other reaction, after reading some of SBF’s internal emails, is that we finally caught one of these guys before he got too big to catch. His writing is the same kind of amoral nonsense masquerading as amazing insight as we see come out of Musk, Andreesen, Thiel, Zuckerberg, et al.
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David C said on October 16, 2023 at 2:20 pm
I was reading about the jury selection for SBF’s trial. One question they asked was if the potential jurors could explain how crypto worked. According to the reporter, nobody could. If anyone could explain crypto, would they have asked if anyone could explain how bored apes could be worth anything?
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FDChief said on October 16, 2023 at 2:57 pm
Weird thing is that when you think about it currency-period is kind of hard to explain. Why is a “dollar” worth a dollar? Well, pretty much because the US government says it is and it beats lugging around a goat to trade for a six-pack of Cokes.
But crypto? How the hell was that even supposed to work? It was so obviously tulip bulbs! I mean…if you got that early and rode Bitcoin up, fine, I guess. But you had to be either gullible or naive or a true believer to think of that stuff as “currency” like a dollar (or a goat…)
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Julie Robinson said on October 16, 2023 at 4:01 pm
The very first time I heard of crypto I knew it was a scam but I’m sad for how many people got sucked in and lost their money. Hope he gets a long sentence.
We are back home after close to 24 hours traveling. We didn’t want to make the drive from Tucson to Phoenix in the dark so we ended up getting to the airport four hours early, then our flight was delayed and got in at 7 am. Between time changes, being sick, and an overnight flight, now we just feel confused. I’m still testing negative, D is miserable, and we’re hearing about others in the wedding party who had it earlier. It seems this is the price of having gatherings these days.
How ever do people sleep on airplanes? I’ve never been good at it but I was falling asleep in the airport and thought for sure I would drop off. Nope. Maybe 10 minutes twice. Perhaps the sleepers all took drugs.
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jcburns said on October 16, 2023 at 4:16 pm
The Gravatars actually aren’t connected to this site at all…Alex, your browser may have had trouble connecting to the Gravatar site to display the teeny images.
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David C said on October 16, 2023 at 4:47 pm
I’m so envious of people who can sleep on a plane. I’ve never been able to pull it off. Last time I flew to Florida, I started off at 7:00 AM and because of weather delays I didn’t get to Orlando until 4:30 AM. I didn’t sleep a wink the whole day.
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Sherri said on October 16, 2023 at 6:19 pm
Currency works because we collectively agree to accept it. Yes, our currency is backed by the full faith and credit of the US government, but that’s why we have agreed to accept it. Gold or silver as currency doesn’t really make a lot of sense, either, if you think about it. Preppers hoarding gold so they’ll have some when civilization collapses always strikes me as strange, because why would gold have any value in the absence of civilization?
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alex said on October 16, 2023 at 10:03 pm
Tell that to Rand Paul. Evidently he thinks you can eat gold, burn it for heat, drink it for potable water (if you melt it, I suppose). And he believed that shit before his neighbor pounded his brains into his esophagus for trespassing with his riding mower.
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Brandon said on October 17, 2023 at 1:04 am
“Why Gold Has Always Had Value”
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Jeff Gill said on October 17, 2023 at 10:17 am
Posting for Deborah:
https://www.facebook.com/100064777448247/posts/pfbid02ikCyTM67iVEGNzCfiQHA723iWhdADPXaaW6YdEqtyzFTZhXv6UKVkE39zB7sEYebl/?mibextid=oUgV5P
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Dorothy said on October 17, 2023 at 10:20 am
I’m seeing little question marks instead of the usual Gravatars for Alex, Dexter and Basset. Now I’m wondering if mine will turn up as a question mark, too, nice I submit my comment.
I was treated for a UTI last week – five days of antibiotics. Then I woke up at 3:15 this morning and it hurt like bloody hell to pee. Went to the ER and got some new meds including the good one that makes it stop hurting when you pee. Whew, what a relief. I’ve never had a kidney stone, and this was not that, but if that’s what they feel like I’m going to be an absolutely miserable person if I ever get one. Here’s hoping the new antibiotics chase this infection away once and for all.
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4dbirds said on October 17, 2023 at 11:42 am
I buy crypto regularly. I buy it to play internet poker. The sites that I play on make it easy to deposit and to withdraw. I am probably in a murky legality zone doing this as there is still an argument that Poker is or isn’t gambling. I say it is not, that it is a game of skill. I study it and my game, and my winnings have increased substantially since I’ve discovered game theory optimal play. If that makes me a grifter, well….
When I fly, I always take a Xanax and I sleep.
God, I hope that insurrectionist from Ohio doesn’t become Speaker. I think we are probably done as a democracy. I mean how can Trump be doing so well in the polls?
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4dbirds said on October 17, 2023 at 11:54 am
Dorothy, I suffer from kidney stones. I develop large staghorn stones that have to be removed by the urologist. The last time they tried to remove one, they couldn’t get it all and during the period between the first and second procedure, I developed a kidney infection that turned septic. I was hospitalized for three weeks with sepsis. I hallucinated, was in incredible pain and they treated with IV antibiotics and once I recovered, they went in and removed the rest of the stone. My sister told me that while I was in the hospital, I called and begged her to come get me and take me to California as my husband couldn’t be trusted to keep me alive. I have no memory of that. I currently have a stone in my left kidney that the urologist says has to be addressed as it will one day consume all of my kidney but my experience with the last stone makes me reluctant to have it done. My stone was analyzed, and I take a calcium citrate tablet every day to avoid the build-up of the current stone and new stones. I also have to avoid spinach (easy), almonds and tea. It must be working; I have had an attack since I’ve worked on preventing them. I hope you never experience passing a stone. Worse than labor.
Also, try the OTC medication AZO. I take it regularly and it helps immensely with
cystitis, and all the yucky situations we get into in that nether region.
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FDChief said on October 17, 2023 at 12:16 pm
Yeah, I kinda get that currency is a form of social contract designed to make our lives simpler in a more complex economy and because nobody wants to have to pay your podiatrist in bushels of wheat.
But that also makes crypto appear less sketchy than it is if you don’t think about the priors. That’s the “logic” behind the Rand-Paul-nitwit-grade-goldbuggery over “fiat currency”; if the USG can insist a buck is a buck, why can’t I with my painstakingly “mined” dogecoin?
Again, yeah, it’s kind of ridiculous…but it’s the sort of thing that I can see appealing to people who, like Paul, want simple answers to complicated questions.
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Sherri said on October 17, 2023 at 1:12 pm
It doesn’t work with those dogecoins precisely because the nitwit goldbuggery is trying to avoid the whole social contract aspect of the thing. That was the point of the blockchain, that it enabled trustless transactions. But nothing about currency or finance works without a degree of trust and a social contract.
So, the blockchain is really just an extremely high overhead version of a log, without a compelling use case. Crypto is what happens when a bunch of libertarian type techies think they can solve problems they know nothing about beyond “fiat currency is bad” and don’t bother to learn anything else first.
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Sherri said on October 17, 2023 at 1:21 pm
4dbirds, you are taking advantage of the only use case for crypto: legally questionable or outright illegal transactions, for which credit cards are not available for use. Poker, whether it is luck or skill, is universally recognized as gambling, and not legal everywhere. I don’t disagree with you that it is a skilled game, and game theory will make you a much better player. No judgement from here!
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Dexter Friend said on October 17, 2023 at 1:24 pm
Jim Jordan worming his way up to the gavel-grab, that parasitic Constitution shredder-lover. Trump’s confidant, election stealer adviser. Yeah, he’s what the country needs…3rd in succession to The White House. Yea rah. The repuggs are in good hands. What has the nation come to?
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Deborah said on October 17, 2023 at 1:46 pm
OMG, Jeff G, I just saw your link. That’s very close to our land, our road is off of 554, that cat was across 554 from us and up a little towards El Rito. We’re not in NM but I wonder if our neighbors out there know about it? Every once in a while one of those will be seen out there, they are very shy and stay out of sight most of time. I wonder what kind of animal it is exactly? Mountain lion?
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Julie Robinson said on October 17, 2023 at 2:03 pm
4dbirds, everyone I’ve talked to says kidney stones are much worse than childbirth. They seem to run in my family but knock wood I haven’t experienced them. UTI’s I’ve had several times but never get the pain while peeing, so usually D diagnoses me by noticing I’m not thinking straight. Dorothy, that might be why you were having trouble memorizing lines.
Covid report is D feeling much better, me feeling much better, but everyone is masking and windows are open. I’ve read this variant produces more falsse negatives so still presuming I have it. DIL tested positive also.
Yesterday my energy level went like this: I’ll unpack and run laundry!!! I’ll unpack and sort laundry!! I’ll unpack my backpack! I’ll dump out my backpack to find my charger and cords. I slept until noon.
Xanax for plane sleeping, hmm. Not sure my doc would prescribe that as it’s now considered habit-forming. All we had was some Nyquil without the good drugs, since the pharmacy was closed at the grocery store we visited. We guzzled it down before we went through security and threw away the rest of the bottle. Obviously it didn’t help.
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4dbirds said on October 17, 2023 at 2:19 pm
Sherri, I totally agree. I have no other use for bitcoin besides playing poker online. The bitcoin is never in my possession for more than a few days. I can use a credit card, but you have to wait 10 days to withdraw any winnings. Bitcoin is available immediately and I transfer from my wallet to an exchange such as Coinbase and in a day or two it is in my bank account. Real life poker is legal in almost every state. I would never play blackjack or roulette because to me that is gambling. I have no control over the outcome. That isn’t true in poker. A good player doesn’t even have to have a winning hand to take down the pot. All you need is to know your opponent’s range and if you can make them believe you have a better hand. I’ve had several five-figure wins but am still waiting on that life changing money win.
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4dbirds said on October 17, 2023 at 2:27 pm
Xanax. I have a prescription for anxiety and panic attacks. I probably am addicted to them.
Knowing this, I don’t care. Xanax helps me live a normal life. I no longer stay awake for hours trying to figure out how I can go back in time and fix everything my angry, alcoholic father and my bipolar mother used to fight about, blame on the kids and why every single one of us was miserable and left home as soon as we legally could.
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Dorothy said on October 17, 2023 at 2:28 pm
Yeah the one refrain I hear all the time from women about kidney stones and the pain is the ‘it’s more painful than childbirth’ line. Well I had an emergency C-section followed two years later by a by-choice C section. I’ve never had one labor pain. So I can’t compare with that example. I’m a little worried cuz I’ve taken 2 Pyridium so far today and still uncomfortable when I go. I can take 3 a day. So I’ll take the third when I come home from rehearsal.
Speaking of which, Julie, I am having trouble learning lines cuz I keep reaching for my device(s) – I need to just buckle down! The lines are coming. I just have to really push myself. Concentration isn’t great today since I’m fretting about the medical situation.
I’m relieved that abject excuse for a congressman Jim Jordan didn’t get elected as Speaker. Yet. Time will tell. This country is so badly f’ed up due to that pus-filled fleabag of a person getting elected 7 years ago. I think eventually we’re going to be okay as a nation, but I doubt I’ll live long enough to see it.
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Julie Robinson said on October 17, 2023 at 2:50 pm
So I am really getting into the land of TMI today but I’m searching for travel undies that can be washed in a sink and will dry overnight. The first ones I tried left me all itchy after two days. Anyone have recommendations?
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LAMARY said on October 17, 2023 at 3:26 pm
There are multiples of very cheap undies on amazon. They dry very fast. They’re actually nice too
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Jeff Gill said on October 17, 2023 at 4:36 pm
Or, get cheap enough while comfortable to just pitch them after use. It’s a travel expense. I’ve gone on work trips where I preferred to toss some stuff rather than put in a plastic bag, pack it, fly with it, and then (arrggghh) take it out to wash at home. I keep a few almost ready to toss tshirts, boxers, socks aside for that kind of one-way journey.
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Jenine said on October 17, 2023 at 4:48 pm
As we’re discussing treating women’s UTIs, I’ll put a word in for vaginal estrogen. Recommended esp. for recurrent infections and/or dryness, by the very online urologist Dr. Ashley Winter.
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Julie Robinson said on October 17, 2023 at 5:00 pm
The problem with the cheapies is my personal, umm, ecology seems to prefer cotton. The ones I tried were from Amazon and were nylon with elastane. Not sure what else is out there.
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Sherri said on October 17, 2023 at 6:04 pm
I’m not sure “cotton” and “dries overnight” are compatible. The best quick-drying underwear I’ve seen is Ex Officio, but it is nylon and elastane. I prefer quick-drying because I work out a lot and sweat a lot, so wicking and quick drying matter, but that generally means nylon. I current wear cheapo Amazon one, Balanced Tech is the particular brand, they’re quite comfortable, but definitely nylon and elastane.
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Dorothy said on October 17, 2023 at 6:17 pm
It goes against my thrifty grain to consider something like this, but what about the possibility of buying cheap undies and not washing them out in the sink, but tossing them in the trash instead? OR buy new nice ones to keep at home, and bring old ones along to throw out after you wear them for the last time? (OOOPS. I see several of you already beat me to this idea!)
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Sherri said on October 17, 2023 at 7:55 pm
I just saw a picture with George Santos, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz together, and it almost made me nostalgic for the days when it was easy to know who the dumbest member of Congress was, Louie Gohmert, and the dumbest Senator, Ron Johnson. There’s so much competition these days!
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Deborah said on October 17, 2023 at 8:39 pm
They used to make disposable undies for travel, I haven’t seen them for years though, they were some kind of soft, thin, paper material that was actually comfortable. I got them at a travel store many years ago, I haven’t seen a travel store in years either, they mainly sold maps and nobody uses print maps anymore.
I’ve had kidney stones and I’ve been through labor pains, I can say for sure that kidney stone pain is worse.
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Julie Robinson said on October 17, 2023 at 9:30 pm
Paper seems like it would have the same issues to me. After an hour’s search I’ve found a couple of styles that are part cotton so we’ll see how they do. It has been a distraction from the world on fire filling too much of my brain.
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Dexter Friend said on October 18, 2023 at 3:14 am
I used to travel with one pair of Jockeys packed and wearing one pair. At night I’d wash them in the shower and dry them overnight on a lampshade. This plan lasted just one trip. My wife said only deplorables did stuff like that.
My brother was a traveling sign salesman for many years. He would accumulated a few days of dirty undies and shirts and pants and find a box somewhere and mail the items home.
At home Mom did our laundry, nice. When I left at age 18 to go play baseball for 2 years I had to do my laundry at laundromats. I mean I hated that, but had no choice; we didn’t stay at hotels that had valet services. Stateside army days, we sent out laundry once a week and it was returned and I never lost even a sock.
In Vietnam, when back at the main camp, mamasans did our laundry for just a few dollars a week, by hand.
Moving to an apartment for my stab at higher education, it was back to the goddam laundromat. For the last 46 years I have had washers and dryers at my command. When one conked out, it was immediately replaced. The best ones we had were Maytags.
Sadly, controversy abounds: who bombed the Gaza City hospital, killing mostly children and women, patients and shelter-seekers alike, blown away. Israeli air-bombs, or Hamas/Palestinian rocket gone astray. No need politicizing yet, but the proof will emerge, and there will be hell to pay.
At least when US bombers destroyed Bach Mai Children’s Hospital in Vietnam in a targeted attack 51 year ago, they admitted it, calling it a mistake…then they (we the US) bombed it 3 more times. You could look it up.
Today, Bach Mai Children’s Hospital is a world-class facility, all rebuilt and expanded over the decades. Because everybody has to move on.
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FDChief said on October 18, 2023 at 10:43 am
There’s nobody involved in the Gaza shitshow I’d trust to provide an honest BDA, so I’m doubtful that any actual proof will emerge or that anyone will be genuinely convinced by “proof”. Both Hamas and the IDF will do what they can to score propaganda points.
Meanwhile here in the People’s Republic of Portland a bankster blew away some poor schmoe who had the temerity to get angry at the finance bro’s driving, then shot another guy who was taking camera-phone photos.
(Again, no link because I don’t want to end up in comment moderation limbo. Google “Portland road rage shooting Gomez photo” and it’ll be in the top ten responses…)
I ran across this story somewhere on Xitter, and it was a perfect distillation of infotainment; the link led to a digital piece from the “local newspaper” (The Oregonian) that dragged in 1) “downtown violence”, 2) “drug use”, and 3) “homeless”. In the comments, 1) “Democrat city” and 2) “gun control”.
Not mentioned at all specifically? That – a 1) rich asshole in luxury car, with what was probably a 2) legal handgun – was what killed another person and tried to kill another.
No wonder we can’t have nice things.
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alex said on October 18, 2023 at 12:03 pm
Xitter…
Say, is that pronounced like shitter?
On edit, I googled the story and I see that the banker perp changed his name and has a history of violent behavior.
What a Karen. And a Killer Karen at that.
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Scout said on October 18, 2023 at 6:36 pm
alex, yes. It is my understanding that ‘Shitter’ is the correct pronunciation for the rolling dysfunction that platform has become.
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