So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Harp]

Fair enough. After doing a Google news search on “inflation”, the consensus seems to be that, although it is something to keep an eye on (rightly so), it is hardly a DEFCON 1 existential danger at the moment. Nowhere near.

Sorry to play the gadfly pest, but read around the Net last nite.
Economic time is relative in these waters. Mercurial markets and current administration ideological hold,
VID, computer hacks Astronomic American debt threatens the global reserve currency.
If Washington Irving were alive today he might rescind his The Almighty Dollar quip.

 

[Tiki Tom]

That’s okay, Harp. My wife and I call those “the 3:00am worries.” So much to worry about in this world. It’s Sunday afternoon. I’m enjoying the caramel flavors of a Scottish whiskey and watching stray cats slink through the yard. Not much we can do about all the simmering troubles in the world. Don’t worry, be happy.

 

[Touchofevil]

A GREAT annoyance this evening! - The cat, since she was deathly ill recently, has taken to sleeping in an upstairs linen closet. This afternoon we had to kick her out of it to shut the door so our Roomba could do the upstairs bedrooms, study, music room and lobby. After a while we paused Roomba so my son could video chat and play minecraft with a friend, and in the meantime our friend showed up for dinner. We re-started the Roomba while we ate dinner so it could finish the upstairs. Well another thing that cat has taken to since her illness is pooping outside the box when she's miffed with us (among other excuses- She's old and frail so we cut her a lot of slack where that's concerned). You probably can see where this is going. We didn't even think to check the upstairs, and when Roomba restarted it smeared cat $hit all over the rug in the study and left a trail across the lobby and back to it's home base in the music room. It took us more than an hour to pull the Roomba apart and clean it! And we still have to steam clean the rug tomorrow. Heavy sigh...

I don’t know that a “like” is really appropriate, but I do somewhat understand your annoyance having stepped (barefoot) in cat crap in the dark early morning on my way to the restroom.

 

[Touchofevil]

The lovely missus and I have assumed custody of a neutered male cat of indeterminate age (somewhere between 3 or 4 and 10 or 11, depending on what evidence and whose recollections you might find credible; I’ll ask the vet’s opinion when I take the cat in for a going-over on the 17th).

I didn’t want another cat. I was saddened by our last cat’s departure from this life, going on a year ago. But I didn’t miss the cat box, or the clawing on door trim and upholstered furniture, or the occasional urination outside the box (once is more than enough).

And these days a person is all but commanded to keep the cat indoors, which means I can’t just throw open the doors and let God’s own air-conditioning blow through. The fence that keeps the dogs in the yard is but an irresistible temptation to a cat. And I am torn on which is more inhumane — keeping a cat fat but otherwise healthy (but bored) indoors, or letting it out to do what a cat really wants to do, even if it results in a significantly shortened life.

I had an exceptionally affectionate female cat going back 40 years or more — a short-haired tuxedo, a onetime stray. I would have had no difficulty finding a new home for that cat had circumstances ever called for it. That cat loved people. People loved that cat.

Mister Mittens here (he came with that name), a long-haired tuxedo, is even more affectionate. Wherever the humans are is where he wants to be.

There’s a chance, albeit a small one, that the man from whom we adopted Mister Mittens will again be able to tend to the animal’s needs. I hope that for that fellow. I have no doubt that he loves his cat. He has become increasingly disabled over the past few years, his longtime woman friend up and died on him last year, and now he’s living in what is somewhat euphemistically (or optimistically) called a rehab facility. (I’d bet that few residents there are ever sufficiently rehabilitated to move out of the facility.)

I wish he could have his cat there. His furry little companion would do him good. It could be like those prisons that allow cats. It softens the inmates. It brings at least a small measure of love and affection to a mostly dismal set of circumstances.

We have a cat that adopted us a number of years ago. She lived in the bushes in front of our house one winter. She woul not leave us alone; very friendly from the get-go. She does dislike all other cats. We ended up putting out a little home for her on the front porch. She took to it right away.
Now, she sleeps in a bed in the laundry room. We let her out when she wants and in when she tells us. She seems pretty happy and that makes us happy too.

 

[tonyb]

... Not sure who actually “owns” him. Probably an alien concept, that.

One of our dogs, the more elderly of the two, has been a regular visitor to the vet of late. On one recent visit I was asked if I was Sandy’s owner. No, I said, Sandifer is an autonomous soul, no one “owns” him. I’m the human who sees to it he has decent food and shelter and affection. (And who pays these obscenely high bills you all charge for his veterinary care; that part went unsaid, but not unthought.) That’s my end of the deal. His job is to be our sweet little companion. He’s exceptionally good at his work.

The 17th of this month marks a full year that the lovely missus and I have been working from home. The animals have made it much more tolerable.

 

[Hercule]

...
The 17th of this month marks a full year that the lovely missus and I have been working from home. The animals have made it much more tolerable.

I'd be willing to bet they don't see it that way. Animals, dogs especially, are funny that way. They tend to love their humans but when they encroach on their routine the adjustment is hard.

 

[Harp]

That’s okay, Harp. My wife and I call those “the 3:00am worries.” So much to worry about in this world. It’s Sunday afternoon. I’m enjoying the caramel flavors of a Scottish whiskey and watching stray cats slink through the yard. Not much we can do about all the simmering troubles in the world. Don’t worry, be happy.

It is 11.30 CST (Chicago Street Time) Sunday morning. Still swilling joe. Vienna is lovely in the snow.
Lovely any time, but especially draped with snow. Wild Turkey 101 is a rye caramel flavored Kentucky bourbon.
Too early but tempting. Haven't seen any feral or stray cats around but a raccoon skitted across the street.

 

[tonyb]

We have a cat that adopted us a number of years ago. She lived in the bushes in front of our house one winter. She woul not leave us alone; very friendly from the get-go. She does dislike all other cats. We ended up putting out a little home for her on the front porch. She took to it right away.
Now, she sleeps in a bed in the laundry room. We let her out when she wants and in when she tells us. She seems pretty happy and that makes us happy too.

Local code bans cats running loose off their “owners’” property. If there’s any enforcement, I’ve yet to see it. But then, in the five-plus years we’ve been in this house, I’ve seen but one cat routinely patrolling the block — an all-white one who lives (I think) around the corner. I’d like for this new cat of “ours” to be freer to roam. I’d prefer he tend to certain bodily functions outdoors, rather than in that cat box I have to clean.

But then, we have coyotes around here, and foxes. And speeding drivers.

 

[Touchofevil]

Local code bans cats running loose off their “owners’” property. If there’s any enforcement, I’ve yet to see it. But then, in the five-plus years we’ve been in this house, I’ve seen but one cat routinely patrolling the block — an all-white one who lives (I think) around the corner. I’d like for this new cat of “ours” to be freer to roam. I’d prefer he tend to certain bodily functions outdoors, rather than in that cat box I have to clean.

But then, we have coyotes around here, and foxes. And speeding drivers.

if we have such a code, I would be very surprised. We have raccoons, skunk, and opossums, but no foxes running around here. We do have the neighbors’s Australian Shepherd in our backyard on occasion. Actually, quite a bit the past few months. He jumps the six-foot fence with ease.
Anyway, we have three cats who hang out in the backyard or the garage. Fortunately, they do not leave the property. Well, at least I have never seen them off of the property. They all let us know when they want to be wherever it is they want to be which is usually with us.

 

[Hercule]

My in laws live out in the Pennsylvania countryside on the remnants of what was the family's 120 acre veal farm: no neighbors and surrounded by hay fields. Anyway, they've always had cats - domesticated former barn cats with lots of attitude. I remember one cat they had gave everybody quite a fright when one day they looked out the window to see the young cat (barely older than a kitten) playing with a young skunk in the yard. They were out there tumbling around and chasing each other. Fast forward a few years and just as my wife and I are getting ready to leave there for points east, the cat got sprayed. Apparently the cat had fonder memories of playing with a skunk than the skunk had playing with the cat! (of course it wasn't likely it was the same skunk.) On our way out, heading to CT, we passed my father-in-law on his way back from taking the skunked cat the vet to have its eyes washed out. The look on his face as we passed him was priceless. Convenient as it may be, the trouble with indoor/outdoor animals is that they tend to bring the outdoors in with them, which can be very unpleasant.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Interdental brushes.

I'm using them since January. But I needed a smaller, so I went to drugstore, today and found them. I found out, that my old one is size 2. They got size 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. So I bought size 0.

But size 5 and 6, really??

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Interdental brushes.

I'm using them since January. But I needed a smaller, so I went to drugstore, today and found them. I found out, that my old one is size 2. They got size 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. So I bought size 0.

But size 5 and 6, really??

Sounds like there's a "Larry the Cable Guy" joke in there somewhere.
(apologies to those who don't like in the U.S. The reference will be lost on you.)

 

[GHT]

Are other countries experiencing Harry & Meghan overload? It's in every newspaper, on every TV channel in the UK and is taking up much of the internet. I'm no royalist and I find it surprising the amount of interest, or would that be fascination, that this pathetic little soap Oprah has generated.

 

[Trenchfriend]

soap Oprah.

Buddy, please don't trigger head game. I'm having noodles and Bolognese sauce, right now.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Sounds like there's a "Larry the Cable Guy" joke in there somewhere.
(apologies to those who don't like in the U.S. The reference will be lost on you.)

Questioning the other way. Who needs interdental brushes size 5 or 6?

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Are other countries experiencing Harry & Meghan overload? It's in every newspaper, on every TV channel in the UK and is taking up much of the internet. I'm no royalist and I find it surprising the amount of interest, or would that be fascination, that this pathetic little soap Oprah has generated.

Yes, in spades. I've never met the woman, so I can't speak with any degree of authority, but is the stereotype of an insecure, narcissistic actress so far removed from that drama?

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Questioning the other way. Who needs interdental brushes size 5 or 6?

So, to explain Larry the Cable Guy to a German, Larry is an American comedian. He does "stand-up" before large audiences. His act is to portray an Ozark hillbilly redneck, unsophisticated, uneducated. He appears on stage in a plaid work shirt with the sleeves cut off at the shoulder, old blue jeans and work boots.

The butt of his jokes are other people like him. For example, one gag involves the a new service offered at Wallmart (for those outside North America, a huge discount retail chain with hundreds of stores), dentistry services.

In this joke, Larry observes how there is a new service at his local Wallmart, dentistry. In fact, says Larry, they have two dentist offices there. One is an "Express Lane" for people with "10 teeth or less". The joke being that poor hillbillies have poor dental hygiene and little opportunity to have dental services, resulting in a loss of teeth.

So, to completely wring the humor out of my remark, a person who has lost many of his or her teeth would have large gaps between the remaining ones, hence, the efficacy of a size 5 brush.

 

[Edward]

Questioning the other way. Who needs interdental brushes size 5 or 6?

My understanding is that Larry the Cable guy is a character-based stand-up comedy act, riffing off certain stereotypes of the Southern US hillbillies and rednecks. I'm guessing the point is that someone with "hillbilly teeth" for want of a better way of putting it - wide gaps between them, many teeth lost, could use that particular size!

 

[Edward]

Are other countries experiencing Harry & Meghan overload? It's in every newspaper, on every TV channel in the UK and is taking up much of the internet. I'm no royalist and I find it surprising the amount of interest, or would that be fascination, that this pathetic little soap Oprah has generated.

Big coverage globally; royalty, after all, are the original celebrities.

 

[GHT]

Yes, in spades. I've never met the woman, so I can't speak with any degree of authority, but is the stereotype of an insecure, narcissistic actress so far removed from that drama?

That gave me a good chuckle.