chowmama
chowmama's JournalRadar the dog is getting a dental tomorrow
And I'm scared to death.
His teeth are shamefully bad. However, he's been fragile since we adopted him. Elderly, heart condition, skinny...He arrived at the humane society emaciated, matted, with his nails grown in circles, not neutered and with bad teeth. When they went to deal with the neutering and the teeth, they listened to his heart and skidded to a stop. No way was he getting anesthesia until he was more stable. Once they achieved that, he did have the bare minimum done, but we knew his remaining teeth were still on borrowed time going in.
Ok, it's years later. We've avoided anesthesia because he's still fragile. His appetite and GI system are still delicate, he's on heart meds, he's got a collapsing trachea and he has intermittent episodes of shaking, from head-only to enough to make him stumble or fall over. But we're at the point where if the teeth don't kill him, the anesthetic might. The anesthetic is better odds, but not by much. I can't even discuss this with DH because they're completely bonded and losing Radar will break him.
I do have the same vet who handled Belle's, a seizure risk, spay doing the procedure. The vet and other personnel are damned good. I'll be at work and available. We have everything we need, equipment and meds, available to make this as safe and successful as possible.
This is going to be an interesting 24 hours.
Trump is lying again? What a surprise.
At this point, I don't know if he expects us to believe him or just doesn't think anybody will dare call him on it. I'm not sure he always knows he's lying - when it comes to his (completely unjustified) self-esteem, he seems to be working hardest to convince himself. The Big Beautiful Stable Genius who looks like ripped Sylvester Stallone that exists only in his own mind. He's trying as hard as he can not to know better.
He always admitted to lying and claimed it was 'smart'. That only works till your mark knows you're a liar. And now everybody knows. He thinks this latest act will make the officials at the NATO meeting consider him an equal. He wants no repeat of the latest G7. He's not going to get a repeat. It's going to be a lot worse. He isn't worth their time or attention. They have things to do.
He's destroyed the U.S. as any kind of a diplomatic player on the world stage. He announced that Iran had 2 weeks to make up its mind and then attacked after only a couple days. The next time he announces, '2 weeks', the world will hear 'better make a preemptive strike now, before the U.S attacks'. So that'll work well. He can announce non-existent agreements all he wants; the other parties aren't playing. He has nothing to offer.
And it doesn't even matter that we'll eventually elect a real leader with brains and ethics, who can make legitimate treaties. A new Trump can come in at any moment and break every one of them. Our word is no good, forever.
Are we great yet?
I just finished the worst part of the tree trimming that the city demands
I'm not sure it's gardening, but it's as close as I can get.
The city let me know last Wednesday night (when the letter arrived) that the trees above the alley had to be cut back up to 14 feet before next Wednesday. So - six days, out of which I work four. Temps in the mid to high nineties. Terrific.
So we went out and got the tall ladder and a new tree lopper. I've now trimmed it as high as is safe, as far as I'm concerned. Anywhere near the existing wires is 14 feet, as far as I'm concerned, and trimmed back towards the garage/carport as far as it needs to be. If they want my 71-year-old ass on a metal ladder and playing around wires with a lopper and a saw, I have three words for them. You Go First.
The last time I smelled this bad was the day in vet tech school when we all had to go out to the university farm site and castrate pigs. Radar the dog took one sniff and gave me the most horrified look - I think I've got a tub of cool water in my near future.
I'll go out after work tomorrow and clear the low vegetation.
Belle Furball update
Tear production is normal in her injured eye; no more AM/PM ointment for now. (We'll have to check after a little while to make sure.) And she got her blood tests today for her spay next week.
My little girl is growing up.
What they're hell we going to do
When we have to deal with all this crap of inflation and shortages. similar to WWII.
And there's no rationing. Rationing was designing to make sure the rich only got their fair share of what was available. That goes against everything this administration stands for.
And we're the Nazis.
Clearing out the last available storage space in the pantry.
This is one of my weekend tasks and I'm not looking forward to it.
It's the lowest cabinet on one side (I cleaned out the other side's counterpart a few months ago). It's cobwebby and buggy, probably holds a few mouse carcasses, and has been a place to shove things we don't want to face. I haven't opened the doors for years. The Black Hole of Calcutta.
I opened it this morning. Some random thoughts - Well, that can't go in the trash, it'll need special disposal. I didn't know we had a flashlight down here. I wonder if it'll work, once I replace the batteries. That needs to go in the garage. And the biggest one...
When the fuck did somebody give us a bread machine?
I saw a Tesla today being driven by an older woman with a handicapped tag on the mirror.
I wonder if she's going to regret it, once she finds out what Apartheid Clyde and the rest of the adminiswreckers think of women, the elderly and the handicapped.
Changing relationships
We had a thunderstorm last evening and it's the first one I've been home and awake for since Audrey and the Furballs arrived. There have been daytime and middle-of-the-night storms and I assume Audrey hid for those. (None of the other three beasts care.)
So, I was watching tv, knowing there's a storm outside, and suddenly got hit in the chest with a flying Audrey. She scrambled and tumbled around, unable to get sufficiently into my arms to feel secure, even though both surrounded her. I began stroking and cooing, trying to calm her down, while trying to avoid being gutted by her back claws. (I have to remember to trim those. Today.)
She finally settled into a reasonably upright position. I kept soothing her and she eventually fell asleep. I don't know if the storm was far enough away by then, or if she was just exhausted. She stayed there for an hour and a half. It's important to note that her previous record for lap time was about 5 minutes. She'd just hop up for a quick cuddle and then get down again. She likes to be in the same area, but not touching. A couch across the room was her usual location.
She's jumped on me three times today for naptimes. Meanwhile, Belle has been spending hours every morning in the bed, watching tv and/or sleeping in her new favored position between DH's legs. I'm still Nanny, but he's her new big deal.
Fast Eddie is still learning to play with the other cats, less frequently getting it wrong - too rough or losing his temper. Everybody's able to escape or argue back and I only have to come over once in a while to threaten Nanny Mayhem if they don't cut it out. But Belle is learning to fight by cat rules and now starts it as often as not. Eddie is going to regret these lessons - Grasshopper is getting bigger all the time and will be a force to be reckoned with. She's already as long as Audrey and nearly as tall; still a string bean, but she'll bulk up into a big girl by the time she's an adult.
He came over to start something the other morning and pinned her to the floor. Then he got a funny look on his face and started licking her head and the back of her neck. I don't think he had any idea why he was doing that; he's never done anything like that before and, as a previous half-feral, I'm not sure it was ever done to him. She was equally confused. But I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Bird's Custard Powder
I was thinking about trying Nanaimo bars, so I found out the required custard powder was available at World Market, which we have one of in Edina - not too far. So I picked one up for around $7.
I got it home and looked at the ingredient list. It's 99.9% cornstarch, give or take 0.1%. Seriously, a little salt, some annatto for coloring and flavoring. I haven't tasted it yet, but will bet right now that it's vanilla or vanillin powder. You even have to add the sugar yourself.
I'm laughing at myself. I'll use this, but when it's gone, I can just use cornstarch. A little salt, something for coloring - achiote is the same as annatto and I'd probably get the right color long before I added enough to taste it. Turmeric would work, too. Or a tiny bit of yellow food coloring, or just accept that it's white instead of cream color. Vanilla powder is white, but adding liquid vanilla with the milk would color it nicely, too.
I also noted that the Bird's was a little short-dated, expiring in December. I don't think cornstarch actually expires, so I'm comfortable blowing right past this limit.
And you can get a lot of cornstarch for $7. The label's fun to look at, though. I think I'll keep the package, once empty. No regrets.
Nothing left to lose
Once you've given the other side left nothing left to lose, you've lost.
It's a basic martial art principle. It's a matter of how much one side can deploy against the other.
If the other side has nothing to lose, they'll throw everything they have, holding nothing back. Whereas, you have to have something to protect, to continue your existence.
It doesn't matter how much one side has, it matters how much they can use.
This gave us our very country - England grave us nothing to lose. The fascists are going to do the same - give us nothing to lose.
We're going to win. It's just a matter of time and effort.
Fight. We have nothing to lose.
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Member since: Sat Apr 9, 2022, 09:43 PMNumber of posts: 855