61 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread

  1. AJ September 16, 2017 / 8:46 am

    Loving kitty in the hammock, looks so relaxed. Not much to discuss at my end today. Got my new volunteer orientation for our local historical society. Should be interesting to find out what I’ll be doing, whether I’ll be a docent, working in the gift shop or behind the scenes. Then hanging out with some friends later today. Kitty might be asleep after listing to my plans, lol.

    My friends’ daughter is having a baby girl in a few months and someone posted on a neighborhood website having free bags of clothes to give away so I snagged them for her. Now I’m quite literally knee deep in baby clothes – everything from newborn to a few toddler sizes. What amazes me is everything is pretty good condition and usable. A lot of times when people give away baby clothes, 90% is just so worn and stained it’s better to throw it out.

    Happy weekend everyone!

    • Laura September 16, 2017 / 1:57 pm

      Hi, all! Good to be back!

      We moved to Maryland from New Orleans 30 days before Katrina, and after Katrina, I heard from an acquaintance, whose company had moved her and her two toddlers (with a dad who wouldn’t pay a penny of child support, the creep) to Houston, where they gave her a job and fixed her up with an apartment. But she had NO clothes for the kids, so she asked for my help.

      I got on the local Freecycle list (where people give away stuff to other people who can use it instead of tossing it into the dump) and asked for toddler clothes, and in 2 days I had enough to fill two 3′ x 3′ boxes! (A meter square, basically!) She and I were both shocked at the LOVELY quality of the clothes, too; people gave their kids’ nicest outgrown stuff, not the junk. It was a really heartwarming event!

      We’re getting back to normal. We had no power from Saturday to Wednesday evening, so it was HOT. We had complete cell coverage the whole time, go figure, but the small solar panel I’d gotten to charge our phones and other small electronics died after one day of use. I was not a happy camper! So I didn’t dare use my phone for anything except a little bit of texting. Getting power back was a lovely relief, though — and oddly, we got TV and internet back at the same time as power.

      My friend in Miami had the exact opposite problem. She never lost power, but had no cell coverage; and when her cell service came back on Thursday, they still had no TV or internet! It’s very strange how patchwork it is.

      We’re just glad to not be so hot, though!

      • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 3:29 pm

        Glad you’re back (and cooled off!)! We had the opposite problem after Sandy. It happened on Monday and by Wednesday I had to go to my parents’ because it was too cold. They have a gas fireplace and had stocked a cooler with lots of ice and some frozen foods that could be cooked on the grill. We had chicken and veggies and played Scrabble by oil lamp. They got power on Friday and I got mine back on Saturday night, so I went home Sunday. Went back to work on Thursday, though, so I was able to charge my phone and stuff.

      • AJ September 16, 2017 / 3:59 pm

        Glad you made it through all right. Storms are no fun especially when you lose power, went through a few storms living back East and I’m kinda glad the only things I have to worry about out here is the (very) occasional earthquake and fire season.

  2. Catlander September 16, 2017 / 9:43 am

    I’ve had three emergency foster kitties for a couple of weeks, evacuated from their sanctuary because of wildfires. I took two back yesterday because the danger seems to have passed but the third, who’s semi-feral, dove into the closet into a totally inaccessible place. Well, I probably could have eventually dragged her out but didn’t want to traumatize her further. Sweet kitty but scared of humans. My two know she’s in there, but I’ve kept them separated. I’m pondering the possibility of keeping her but trying to think how I could introduce her to the resident kitties with the least amount of stress for all. Mine are such spoiled, protected prima donnasβ€”and not young at 13. Miss Foster is three but not at all aggressive with other kitties. Loves other kitties, in fact. I shall ponder it over the weekend. Wish us luck!

    • Kar September 16, 2017 / 6:24 pm

      thank you though for rounding up miss Feral 2018. Herding cats is never easy.

  3. N. Fritz September 16, 2017 / 9:46 am

    I have tickets for the Rolling Stones tonight! But it is going to be a goat rodeo to get there and my friend who actually has the tickets should have been here 15 minutes ago!

    • Dubravkamcvmd September 16, 2017 / 9:52 am

      A friend saw them a couple of years ago in Las Vegas and said they were still great. I saw them a few times in the 70s and have never forgotten those concerts . They really were The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.

    • Gigi the cat lady September 16, 2017 / 1:27 pm

      The only concert I’ve ever been to was an Elton John concert and I hated it. Not the music but the crowd, we were in the middle of the arena and everybody stood up when the concert started and I stayed seated with my eyes closed so I wouldn’t see all the people around me, that’s when I realized I had a touch of agoraphobia.

    • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 4:14 pm

      Goat Rodeo?




      • N. Fritz September 16, 2017 / 8:39 pm

        Allein, you always find the greatest videos and memes! Thank you for the link!

        • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 9:30 pm

          πŸ™‚

  4. Puddleglum September 16, 2017 / 11:41 am

    It’s been a glorious few rainy and cold days in Billings lately! First rain in months, and further west where all the fires are they’re actually getting snow. Woohoo! I fully intend to stay costly at home with my cat and my books and my paints all day, enjoying the gloom. *happy sigh*

    • Rachel September 16, 2017 / 5:06 pm

      Same here, next door in south-central Idaho. In the mountains. LOVE IT. One day it was 85F and the next it was 65F and raining, down to about 50 and raining yesterday and 50 and sunny today. Fall tends to arrive very suddenly up here. Besides a nice snowy day when I don’t HAVE to go anywhere, this is my favorite kind of weather. And my kitty has noticeably fluffed up in the last few weeks, so winter is definitely coming.

      My dad’s birthday would have been on Monday – he’s been gone for a long time, but I like to notice. I must pick an MST3K to watch after work. We looooved watching that together.

  5. debg September 16, 2017 / 11:44 am

    Decompressing after an emotional week. I had a very nice birthday on Thursday, but birthdays get bittersweet as you age–you think about people you’ve lost, etc. I was especially swept up in memories of friends back in Kansas, where I worked for 15 years. They still go out to dinner on my birthday at my fave restaurant in town, then send me a picture of their celebration. But I can’t be there with them. My friends are easily the thing I miss most from those years in Kansas.

    Also my wonderful, spectacular, best-ever boss told us on Monday that she’s leaving in a few weeks. Everybody was wandering around work looking shell-shocked all week. I suspect most of us are still hoping we can change her mind somehow! Fortunately, we’re dealing with it by pulling together and looking for ways to support each other.

    So a quiet weekend will be just the ticket! I will emulate this sweet kitty and take it easy!

  6. Duckie ? September 16, 2017 / 12:11 pm

    I foresee a few wonderfully busy weeks ahead, full of small things to do.
    Sewing, letter writing, going through boxes, small bits of cleaning, visiting Grampa in his new place and coming up with ways to make his room more cheery, pulling out fall clothes and putting summer ones away.
    The only cloud in my next few weeks of cheer is looking after a cat that absolutely refuses to be loveable. It sits and watches while I go about my duties, and becomes invisible when I have to give it its medicine. I cannot chase it, so I must wait until it comes into my reach. There is no one else the owners trust, so it falls to me.
    Tomorrow it is supposed to rain again, and hubby and I plan to spend the afternoon doing absolutely nothing. I may even put the fire DVD on and have that crackling in the background.
    I wish all Cutetropolitans a quiet, happy weekend.

  7. Patty September 16, 2017 / 1:07 pm

    I want a hammock like that, and the time to lay in it. I figured when I got old, I’d have lots of time to read and crochet. Nope! Being the caretaker in the family only gets busier when you don’t work.
    I spent the week helping my daughter, because her husband had to work out of town. It’s hard going anywhere with 4 kids in car seats, it takes an hour to get ready to go across town to pick a kid up from school. Instead, I just took her van (with car seats installed) and went to do the fetching for her. Drop off at 8am, pick up preschooler at 11:30, and pick up 1st grader at 3pm. They go to a private Christian school, so no bus system. It’s good to spend time with them, and they like it too. I stuck around after school to help with homework, let mom have a shower, and play with them all.
    My brother got a phone for his grandson’s birthday in November, he will be making a trip to CO to visit him. It’s not an expensive phone, but he is determined to learn how it works so he can show Aiden how to use it. I told him Aiden probably already knows how to use it, and if he doesn’t, he will figure it out. Larry is one who, once he gets an idea into his head, won’t let go until it’s accomplished. He has texted me a dozen times already today asking me if I would come show him how it works. No patience at all, so I guess I’ll just go do it and get it done.

  8. Gigi the cat lady September 16, 2017 / 1:40 pm

    Nothing much happening here so I’m living vicariously through you guys, love reading what everyone is doing.

  9. Jan September 16, 2017 / 2:13 pm

    Lily is sure going to miss my mom…

    “This tuna is relevant to my interests.”

    • debg September 16, 2017 / 2:19 pm

      Imagine, a cat getting everything handed to her on a plate! That NEVER happens at my house. Except every day.

      • Patty September 16, 2017 / 2:58 pm

        I went to DQ last night, and one of my purchases was a small dish of vanilla ice cream, so all 7 critters could have a small spoonful. They aren’t spoiled at all.

        • AJ September 16, 2017 / 4:07 pm

          I got one that I think that tops all “my pet is soooo spoiled” stories. Once I had to take my dog Amber to the vet and she behaved pretty well so off we went to McDougals drive thru and got her a cheeseburger happy meal. And typical of them, they asked boy or girl so said girl. You should have seen the worker’s face when we pulled up with our “girl”. Oh and she got a tiara out of the deal along with the burger. Somewhere I had a picture with her wearing her tiara. Just image a 75 lb german shepherd doberman mix wearing a little pink tiara.

          • dubravkamcvmd September 16, 2017 / 4:15 pm

            Oh please find the picture!

          • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 4:30 pm

            You say that like it’s a strange thing…

            Speaking of spoiled pets: Pablo used to eat his dinner on the footrest of the recliner with someone (usually me, but my mom started it) sitting with him. Every night.

            • Kar September 16, 2017 / 6:25 pm

              She wears it so naturally!

              Remember though, its Wrist-Wrist, Elbow Elbow when waving to the peasants

  10. allein ? September 16, 2017 / 3:18 pm

    Hi all.
    The Cassini mission to study Saturn ended yesterday. Today NASA posted the final image it took before crashing into the planet. For some reason it makes me sad…
    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170916.html

    No plans for the day. I’d like to spend the rest of it playing with kitty’s tail, if kitty won’t mind.

    Here’s a pictographic earworm for your Saturday. You’re welcome.

    • dubravkamcvmd September 16, 2017 / 4:18 pm

      The story made me sad too. Our current government is unlikely to fund more space explorations since they don’t believe in science.

      • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 4:35 pm

        Hopefully people will wake up and start voting these idiots out. Though I’m often not overly optimistic. The past week or so I’ve barely been reading the one blog I’ve been reading for years and rarely missed a post. It’s an atheist blogger and he touches on a lot of political topics because so many intersect with religion. It’s just gotten depressing lately. Mostly I’ve skimmed the headlines and only clicked on a select few.

        And that is my political whine for the day. Here’s a sad Chihuahua.

        • Alice Shortcake September 16, 2017 / 5:09 pm

          If you’re referring to the blog of the Bearded Tentacled One, I too am a regular visitor but also find it an increasingly depressing place.

          On a more personal note, earlier today l lost my purse somewhere beween my house and the shop round the corner. Mercifully it only contained about Β£8 in cash and I stopped my credit cards immediately, but the purse itself was much nicer than anything I can afford to buy now!

          • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 5:12 pm

            (It’s the Friendly Atheist.)

        • dubravkamcvmd September 17, 2017 / 12:11 pm

          Gee, I never thought that dogs might feel bad that we don’t lick hem back. I guess feeling bad about that makes me officially crazy.

          • allein ? September 17, 2017 / 12:21 pm

            Not around here, it doesn’t. πŸ˜›

    • Kar September 16, 2017 / 6:28 pm

      I feel the need to play Space Oddity now in salute.




      • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 6:46 pm

        I approve.

      • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 6:49 pm

        Awesome! Will check out later. ?

      • Laura September 16, 2017 / 9:31 pm

        Isn’t that wonderful? I spent far too long on it myself. I’ve loved space exploration since I was a kid; I remember seeing Alan Shepherd going on his suborbital flight, so I’ve been interested since the very beginning. It was such an exciting thing for us to be doing. It wasn’t until years later that I realized just how *incredibly* dangerous and risky it was for the early astronauts! Those guys had nerves of steel!

        • fkaWaldenPond September 16, 2017 / 9:46 pm

          I get vertigo just watching this ‘rinky-dink’ simulation. I gather the ‘nerves of steel’ are years and years of training, flying and well most importantly, personality. Have you read or looked into any of Chris Hatfield’s work? He brings the ‘human character’ into space flight. Of course they all have human character but I think the ‘nerve of steel’ traits keep most astronauts from expressing, emoting; whereas Hatfield has uniquely both strengths. If you are on fb and haven’t yet, start following him as his posts have such great photos, information etc. πŸ™‚

          • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 9:54 pm



          • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 9:56 pm



            • fkaWaldenPond September 16, 2017 / 11:19 pm

              πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ !

              • fkaWaldenPond September 16, 2017 / 11:36 pm

                So, these videos get me all verklempt. A couple of things, the story goes that Chris Hatfield’s son was all you have to do ‘Space Oddity’ while you are up there and Chris was all ‘Well, I don’t want to as the spaceman dies.’ So, with David Bowie’s absolute blessing they were allowed to change the lyrics so he could make it home alive. Secondly, apparently when David Bowie saw this he said with his distinct Bowie accent, full grin, ‘Ellow Space Boy’ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ How f’n cool beans is that.
                P.s: If I were to ever have a daughter, I would call her Cassini.

                • allein ? September 16, 2017 / 11:56 pm

                  I kinda like Cassini as a girl name. πŸ™‚

                  There was an episode of Star Talk Radio which featured a (pretaped) interview with Chris Hadfield and had Mike Massimino as the in-studio relevant sciency-person. Someone commented on how he brought the guitar up there and Mike said they keep it up there. Apparently a lot of astronauts are musically-inclined.

                  • Laura September 17, 2017 / 2:37 pm

                    Apparently they have a number of instruments on the ISS. I approve!

                    • allein ? September 17, 2017 / 3:34 pm

                      Yup!

    • Duckie ? September 16, 2017 / 6:42 pm

      Comma comma comma comma comma chameleon, ewe kum&go ewe kum&go
      ? Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon, you come and go, you come and go?

  11. murkle46 September 16, 2017 / 6:14 pm

    Vicious mauling ends in horror!

    • fkaWaldenPond September 16, 2017 / 9:48 pm

      I’m still waiting for the horror part! πŸ˜€ πŸ˜‰ I like how puppish doesn’t even miss a chewing beat throughout the mauling.

  12. allein ? September 16, 2017 / 9:49 pm

    So I have a question for all you crafty types. I have an older iPod that and finding a new case for it is pretty much not going to happen at this point. The one I have is getting pretty tattered. My mom does plastic canvas crafts and I was thinking of seeing if she could take mine and use it as a pattern to make one with that, but I thought I’d see if anyone had any better ideas for materials to use.

    I can’t find a picture of my actual case but it’s similar to this, made of pink leather with a plastic window over the screen.

    • debg September 17, 2017 / 11:20 am

      Are you looking for waterproofness or just general protection? Felt is always a good option, as it’s really tough, padded, and hard to get soaking wet.

      • allein ? September 17, 2017 / 11:27 am

        Just general protection. My main concern with my idea is the yarn getting all fuzzed out. I’m always tossing it in my bag and I keep it in my pocket a lot during the day (I often listen to it at work). My mom uses felt to line a lot of her crafts so I thought maybe we’d do that. I don’t know how she is with sewing with it, though.

      • tara September 17, 2017 / 11:27 am

        ooooh yeah, great idea! Plus it would provide some cushion. πŸ™‚

    • tara September 17, 2017 / 11:25 am

      Hi Allein, I have some suggestions for you. First, have you looked on Esty? Sometimes you can find a vendor that already has the materials and will make you a custom case. Probably pricey though… My next suggestion is too look at book binding suppliers. I just discovered LBS (Library Binding Supplies) http://www.lbsbind.com. This might be a good bet because library books (circulating library books that is) need to be covered in materials that are practically bomb-proof. They might even have some “pleather” that can be sewn with a machine or glued. The other place to try is Talas. http://www.talasonline.com They have a line called Bonded Leather I’ve used for spines of books. It looks good but they don’t have that fabulous bubblegum pink. And of course, none of the above suggestions are cheap. πŸ™ An iPod case is so small you don’t need very much fabric. So my last suggestion is to visit Fabric Row in Philly on 4th and Fitzwater. Fleishman’s still has tons of crazy materials including scraps of stuff they sell by the pound. They might have something you could use that you wouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for.
      Let us know how it goes? πŸ™‚
      tara

      • allein ? September 17, 2017 / 11:35 am

        I didn’t find anything on Etsy that would work with my particular ipod (a 5th generation Nano) that actually lets me do stuff without taking it out. I found one that’s like a little pouch, but you can’t control it without removing it and that kinda defeats the purpose for me.

        (And I didn’t really want pink. When I bought it my options were either that or black and I figured pink would be more visible when it inevitably got buried in my bag. πŸ˜‰ If I get my mom to make one it’ll probably be a darker blue. The iPod itself is gray.)

    • Faye September 17, 2017 / 7:57 am

      Sooo me and Millie!

    • Rachel September 17, 2017 / 3:15 pm

      That entire website is a favorite of mine. Introverts for the win!

      • allein ? September 17, 2017 / 3:35 pm

        I haven’t read much of it; someone on my company’s (unofficial) employee facebook group posted about reading the author’s book, which I am contemplating ordering, and I found the blog when I looked her up.

        • Rachel September 17, 2017 / 3:38 pm

          I’m more or less a classic introvert. I’ve known that for years, but it’s always good to learn about it.

          • allein ? September 17, 2017 / 4:29 pm

            Me too.

  13. murkle46 September 17, 2017 / 4:27 pm

    “You want giraffes?Because that’s how you get giraffes!”

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