69 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-1-16”

  2. God morning Aj. I’m just sitting here drinking coffee and waiting.
    When you see those cute little kittens, you don’t think about them being predators.
    They will kill anything they can just because they can.

    Some people are like that.

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  3. Good evening Jo. We showed up at the same time. But you? At the end of the day.
    😦 I have to make a trip to the DMV. I can’t change the address on the registration of my Mercury on-line. I did it for the truck, but it doesn’t work for the car.
    Something’s wrong.

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  6. August. I look forward to it but dread it at the same time. Mrs L turns 55 in a few days. D2 will be 29 on the 17th. But I go back to school on the 18th. And it’s supposed to be hot the rest of the week. Better mow today.

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  7. Good morning, evening, and middle of the day to all who are awake! It’s been raining so the grass will soon need to be mowed again.

    I have not yet gone back to read yesterday’s thread. When you miss a day on here, you usually miss some things of importance that are life enhancing to know.

    You know how it is a small world? Well, it may turn out that the guy who is in the media center with me on Sunday mornings is a cousin. His mom’s last name is the same as my grandmother’s last name and they were from the same vicinity. He is the character who owns 27+ old cars. I got some info from my brother about my grandmother’s people to see if I can figure out the connection.

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  9. Brother called to tell me that Clinton and Obama will be in town today and may cause traffic snarls. Of course there may be snarls unrelated to traffic that they cause, too. And rolling of eyes, barfings, etc. It would be terrible to pay $33,000.00 for a plate of food at a fundraiser and then barf it all up. Just blame it on Bush.

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  11. Happy Birthday to Elizabeth. Mr. P will be having a birthday this month too. I am doing the thing I hate. My father was always convince that my birthday was January 7th. It is NOT. It is January 6th. Mr. P’s is either August 23 or 26. I can’t keep it straight. I am leaving to the 26th but would hate to miss it on the 23rd.

    Legitimate QUESTION here for those of you who know these types of things. Down in the Deep South we have heat pumps for heating and cooling. Our unit is in the attic with a kill switch if water starts backing up so it won’t ruin the ceilings. (The trick is to pour some bleach through the pipe once a month to kill the algae). There is a pipe that comes down right outside the kitchen door that should go underneath the patio and drain out somewhere else, but someone cut it, so there is a pipe coming out of the wall and the stub of a pipe in the patio. It was dripping water and leaving a puddle in the corner, then leaking out to keep that side of the patio wet. I called on my many years of watching my dad “engineer” solutions to problems and bought a black flexible hose that is used to connect your washing machine to the drain in the wall because it was the only flexible thing I could find long enough. I duct taped one end to the stub coming out of the wall and ran the other end to a flower bed. It isn’t quite long enough and has been keeping the flower bed wet and is killing the grass on the side of the patio from staying well all the time. Over the weekend I got a gallon bucket and put the end of the tube in the bucket. Saturday I emptied it 2 or 3 times. Yesterday the same. I went out to check it this morning and there was another gallon of water that needed to be emptied.
    How much is too much? Should I call an HVAC guy to come check it? I know the unit was checked in June when I was in California.

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  13. The bird with the tonsure grooming itself? It’s a sandwich tern. We saw multiple species of tern in Florida, but this one is easy to identify as long as you see the one part it isn’t showing in this photo: the tip of its beak. Just the tip is pale yellow, which my bird book referred to as “mustard” and our tour guide referred to as “mayonnaise.” Whichever it is, the Sandwich tern is ready with a condiment . . . though apparently it was actually named for the Sandwich islands. (I think I sent AJ another cute one of this species, with three of them, and in that one the mustard tip is clearly visible.)

    In Florida we also saw royal terns, Foster’s terns, least terns (only in the area about two months), and the tour guide made mention of Caspian terns so I’m assuming we saw some, but I see nothing in my photos that is identifiably that species. I had seen terns in Alabama, flying, a couple of times, but terns fly very quickly and they look at lot alike even perched, so I don’t know which species I’d seen and am counting all of these as new species to me.

    At some points in the day, every wooden post held a bird. Terns, gulls, pelicans, and cormorants all liked to stand on them. The blue in the background is water.

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  14. Head’s up to the Wandering Mafia. Karen has posted just the thing YF would love to comment on. I have posted my comment and will wait. I do have work to do today. LOL

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  15. Woohoo, mafia go. 🙂

    Terns! We have Least terns out here that are endangered — the port some years ago set aside a whole area next to one of its newer terminals as a sanctuary for them.

    I did a story on it some years ago, maybe it’s time to catch up on how it’s coming along, I believe the numbers were dropping again a few years ago.

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  16. That picture looks like one that could have been taken here (the post with the bird — you’re right, seabirds love perching on those)

    Can’t believe it’s August already.

    I didn’t get as much done this weekend as I’d hoped, of course. But I do think it’s getting a bit cooler and less humid, at long last.

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  17. Donna, when we went on the island boat tour, the captain’s wife was our narrator/guide (though he also added a lot), and she told us that people come to that region specifically to see the least tern. So she made sure to point it out. But it was so much smaller than the other terns that it was pretty easy to identify once you knew what it was. It was the tern that fit on the post with room for others on the same post, should they choose to be that close together.

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  19. Recently Karen introduced us to the term “slut shaming”. I am no fan of Donald Trump, but let’s face it folks, his wife came from a from and impoverished background and clawed her way to the top. Yes there are pornographic photos of her floating around out there, but let’s not use them against him. There is enough dirt on him as it is without slut shaming her.

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  20. I agree with Kim on the Trump issue. Mrs Trump posed long before she met him, so it should not affect (effect?) him. Everything else should. I wish someone would muzzle him so he doesn’t make any more stupid blunders. Still, I won’t vote for a guy who makes false claims about another candidate’s family and then refuses to apologize when the claims are proven false. No character, no integrity means an awful president. “Vote your conscience.”

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  21. Late Happy Birthday wishes to Elizabeth!!

    Cheryl, your bird looks like a ballerina! Very nice.

    Wandering Mafia: makes me chuckle. I have a relative who is along the same lines. Is very certain he is more intelligent than anyone else, and an opinion on everything. I post very little on facebook. One day he was on the attack and this was my response: Are you a. attempting to start a fight, b. purposely being rude, or c. respectfully expressing an alternate point of view.

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  22. Note to the Wandering Mafia: If you choose to comment to YF in the future, please don’t overdo it. YF told me in a private message that she is about ready to block Kim. She blocked Tammy a while back.

    She will not take the hint from anyone she considers rude to her. Instead of realizing how rude she was, she saw herself as the victim of rudeness. Any comments to her need to be calmly & politely made, & maybe she’ll learn something.

    BTW, Kim, your comment alluding to her not working nor paying taxes, etc. tipped her off to the fact that I had told you about her. Oops.

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  24. 😦 Due to Heidi chewing through the power cord for my laptop (she’s never done anything like that before), I am on my old desktop computer that is exceedingly slow. It had been a long while since I’ve been on it, so I had some updating to do first.

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  25. Trump discussion ongoing on the political thread today (specifically regarding his comments about the Muslim father who spoke at the DNC).

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  27. Karen I would have said that to anyone. She can dish it but she can’t take it. I will refrain from speaking personally to her in the future and will take the tactic I took this morning.
    Spoiled little brat is what she is. The ONLY reason I give a plugged nickle about her is because of her rudeness to you. Otherwise I would follow some wise advice. “Don’t pay attention to (cow pies) unless you step in it, then just wipe your feet and keep moving”

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  30. I just searched for Australian shepherds online. Wow! They are expensive. Checking into rescue. Sent an email on a couple of crossbred. It is hard for us to get from a shelter, as we live so far from all of them, and they require an inspection of the yard fence.

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  31. Rkessler. I have two of the most pampered pooches on earth. I was turned down by our local shelter because I had a small HUMAN (my child) living with me. These shelters and rescue sites need to get over themselves. Oh and I was turned down by another because they asked which vet I would use. Not having an animal at the time I gave them the name of my friend’s husband who is a vet. They called his office and the women at the front desk didn’t know who I was. Well of course they didn’t.
    These people will never get another dime from me because of their voice mail selection. I think you have to get all the way to #5 before they mention adopting a pet.
    https://www.havenforanimals.org/

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  32. Kim, I do wonder how adults who probably grew up with pets and have loved dogs (or cats) ever since have decided that a family isn’t a good environment for a pet! It depends on the animal. Misten thrived with foster kids even though they weren’t always kind to her. She wouldn’t now, but that’s because she’s old. (I don’t think she’d snap or anything, but they’d wear her out if they wanted to play with her, and she wouldn’t like being kicked in the face now that she’s old and achy.) But if we had young children of our own, they’d be supervised and would be required to treat her gently.

    If a particular dog doesn’t like children, say so. But to require child-free houses for all pets is just stupid.

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  33. Flipping the calendar page this morning showed up an appointment made a year ago, and one I’d forgotten about: a dentist appointment Wednesday. We really probably have enough going on this week! Oh well.

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  34. I’ve also heard of rescue groups who don’t like single households where no one is home for long hours.

    The groups (some of them) have become really picky, unfortunately. I used Australian Shepherd Rescue (of SoCal) before, they were good but that was a number of years ago now (and it was a dog they’d gotten out of the shelter when their family left him there due to a move).

    I have enough personal contacts in rescue in my area that I think I’d be able to get another dog someday, but if I went to a group cold I’d probably be turned down, too. 😦

    Our shelters have a way where you can sign up for alerts if a particular breed you want comes in.

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  36. Well, let’s see. Husband quit the last trucking company as he was not getting any time at home. So far, in the past two or three weeks, he has been home for twelve hours. Now he is off to Canada. And they assure him, after this he will get as much time off as he wants. I chuckle. He is paying the bills.

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  37. Donna, I actually “get” the reluctance to put a dog in a home where no one is home during the day, although I would think that having two dogs (and a doggie door) would make it OK. But knowing that collies are people dogs, it was a combination of going freelance (being home all day) and having my own house that made it time to get the collie I’d always wanted. And she’s happier with more than one person being in the household, though having a second dog would probably also have some of the same effect. She just isn’t a “one-man dog” but a social creature. I would not have gotten just one collie in the days when I was gone all day, even if I had my own home with a doggie door.

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  38. The new photo is, of course, the trio of sandwich terns I mentioned. The bird at left is an adult in summer plumage, and the one in the middle (with less black on its head) is either a juvenile or a bird that has molted into its non-breeding plumage. But they’re the same species. A royal tern has a similar hairdo, but its beak is orange and it doesn’t have the yellowish “mustard” tip to it. I think this is my favorite tern photo from Florida.

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  39. Well I’ll just have to adopt some kids and stay home. 🙂

    Cheryl, it depends — there are nuances and circumstances unique to each situation. So all I’m saying is rescue groups tend to make blanket rules when, in fact, they should be more flexible. That’s all.

    Cowboy and Tess, btw, are quite happy. The cat, not so much.

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  41. Dogs, also, are amazingly adaptable. I remember lamenting to my vet that I was worried about leaving my mom’s dogs alone after she died and I took them in — they weren’t used to that.

    As long as they’re loved, he said, they’ll adjust fine — it’s like a “new game” for dogs, they quickly figure it out and adapt to your schedule.

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  42. I don’t have a problem with rescue groups being careful and screening people, but it has reached a rather draconian point with some of them. I hear stories …

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  43. I too think it’s stupid for rescue organizations to have multiple rules. And they go on and on about how you should “rescue” a dog instead of buying it from even a reputable breeder, and how there are so many dogs needing homes, and then they refuse to accept good homes that come along. So I have little sympathy and am inclined to prefer a reputable breeder who knows her breed well, and who can know such things as whether this dog will be good with children, good in a small backyard, OK left alone all day, or whatever. But my next dog probably won’t be a puppy, so who knows how I’ll get her when the time comes, or if she’ll be a purebred.

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  44. Oh, and Donna, don’t adopt any children–they’ll reject you then. Get a roommate or a husband and stay home.

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  45. You may remember an American Bulldog named Kane we took in a few years ago after 1st Daughter came back home. (He was hers & R’s dog.) Kane had been used to his people being at work all day but then coming home. Then 1st Dtr moved back with us, but we learned that R was rarely home, going out “partying” after work, & staying at a friend’s house most of the weekends, too.

    We took Kane in when he needed to heal from a severe ear infection (the worst our vet had seen in 30 years of practicing, since R had not taken him in when he should have), & also had an infection in his outer ear (the floppy part we all see & pet) from shaking his head so violently from the pain. That outer part needed to be treated & bandaged each day. Poor dog. (You can imagine how difficult it was to bandage the ear well enough that he couldn’t paw it off. Took lots of attempts.)

    Kane loved being here, as there was always somebody around to give him plenty of love & attention. He quickly became “mine” to some degree, following me when I went to the bathroom, & sleeping on my bed next to me. Then R took him back, & we were all heartbroken.

    Happily for us, he ended up bringing him back after several days. Sometime after that, we learned Kane had cancer in his right front leg. He lived the last year of his life with us, reveling in the company of his loving humans. I’m so glad he could spend his last year (plus a little more) like that.

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  47. Here’s the answer to the mystery of why Heidi chewed through the adapter power cord: She had been chewing on a toy, which Forrest slipped away from her somehow, & the cord was right there, so she must have thought she was still chewing on the toy. Dumb dog.

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  48. For several days before Kane died (we had him put to sleep when he stopped eating, & we knew it was time), he had not been strong enough to jump on my bed, & he was too heavy for me to lift him up (& L would be asleep before I went to bed).

    But the night before the appointment to put him to sleep, he managed to get on the bed, & slept his last night pressed against me. I have been so thankful for that.

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  51. If anyone watched my 4:19, the Jimmy Snow he mentions is Hank Snow’s son.

    I went to the DMV license plate division this morning because I couldn’t change the address on the registration of my car. I changed it for the truck on-line, but it wouldn’t let me change it for the car.
    So I told the lady about it.
    She said, “Doesn’t matter, when you change for one, it changes for all your vehicles.”
    Makes sense. Automatically change all at one time.
    But nobody told me that and I still don’t have a registration for my car.
    “I can print one for you now. It cost $20.00.”
    So! I am going to have to pay $20:00 to get a registration when I should have one through the mail already. But I drove all the way over here and waited in line for fifteen minutes to talk to her.
    You can guess what I did.
    I have the registration with the correct address.
    Case closed.

    My truck registration expires this month. It is registered through 8-16. I got a bill from DMV in Henderson County. In NC, you pay for the license plate and tax on your vehicle at the same time.
    On 18 July, I got a notice from Henderson County that my registration is up for renewal. Tag and tax comes to $51.04. So I sent them a check.
    Today, I received mail from Raleigh. It contained my check for $51.04 and a bill for $80.39. There was no explanation nor a return address on the correspondence.
    I retrieved the envelope it came in and sent a check for $80.39 to the address in Raleigh.
    I need a””17″ to put on my license plate.

    It is very frustrating. There must be a better way of doing this.

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  52. Well BG got in a few hours at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore today. 28 more to go until August 19th. She is off tomorrow and Thursday. She can knock out a few more.

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  53. I am back. Just had words with my son and a business in town. We told son not to go to a particular business to work as they do lots of heavy equipment and it is against the law for him to work there. Child labor laws. He keeps going there. He went there today instead of to his regular job, that pays him to do all sorts of cool boy things. I spoke to the owner and he and I came to an agreement.

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  54. Kim–Our family can come up with a song to sing in a whole lot of situations. 🙂 So, I enjoy your song contributions.

    Chas–That was a great clip, too. Our God is such a loving, wonderful God!

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  58. When you see Kris Kristofferson it’s hard to realize that he used to be a helicoptor pilot and instructed at West Point..

    There is a Public Radio station in Washington. WAMU, that used to carry the Jerry Gray show on Saturday afternoons. Jerry played old country music “from the Gray gallery of gramophone greats”. He often related stories about the performers. He once told about Connie Smith. Essentially his words, I forgotten the exact words.
    “Connie had a hard life. Divorced twice, attempted suicide. She trusted Christ under the ministry of Jimmy Snow. Hank Snow’s son who ministers to the Opry stars. She turned her life around and puts a gospel song on every album she makes”.

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  63. I know some will be upset by this, but I cannot understand why some cities have laws against leaving dogs and cats outside in extreme weather. Excuse me, but if an animal is used to it, it has adapted to it. Now, I wouldn’t own a warm climate dog in Missouri, so I understand one like a chihuahua needing to be inside in winter. But in summer? Their from a desert region in Mexico, so I would get a ticket if I left it outside in the heat. Ridiculous. Now, when we had a dog, we made sure it had plenty of water and shade in summer, and put it on the South side of the house in Winter so it would have the sun all day. If it got below 10° we pout it in the basement. I don’t think we’ll get another dog, especially because we moved to a city with stricter laws than where we lived.

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  65. We had dogs that we left out in the snow. Of course it wasa a husky and usually didn’t even go in the doghouse. Two of our dogs just loved the snow.

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