If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
1. I am grieved to hear that your friend Flaccus is dead, but I would not have you sorrow more than is fitting. That you should not mourn at all I shall hardly dare to insist; and yet I know that it is the better way. But what man will ever be so blessed with that ideal steadfastness of soul, unless he has already risen far above the reach of Fortune? Even such a man will be stung by an event like this, but it will be only a sting. We, however, may be forgiven for bursting into tears, if only our tears have not flowed to excess, and if we have checked them by our own efforts. Let not the eyes be dry when we have lost a friend, nor let them overflow. We may weep, but we must not wail.
My dog Smoke died last week and although he’s not human, it hit me hard. He was 100% my dog, I was the one he would lay next to, it was my job to play fetch with him (he was a world class athlete at that) and then he would sit right on top of me and wait for “pet me time”. It happened Sunday night after a mystery illness started on Tuesday. My son and I dug the hole for him Monday and that was very difficult for me to do. He was only 5 and in perfect health before this, so the unexpectedness added to the misery. I gave myself that day to mope and told myself Tuesday I would go back to normal. It still hits me sometimes, but I never let the sorrow get out of hand.
2. Do you think that the law which I lay down for you is harsh, when the greatest of Greek poets has extended the privilege of weeping to one day only, in the lines where he tells us that even Niobe took thought of food?[1] Do you wish to know the reason for lamentations and excessive weeping? It is because we seek the proofs of our bereavement in our tears, and do not give way to sorrow, but merely parade it. No man goes into mourning for his own sake. Shame on our ill-timed folly! There is an element of self-seeking even in our sorrow.
When Tuesday came around, I couldn’t go to work and have people ask me about my weekend without breaking down, so I called off. My wife and I spent a lot of time reminiscing about him and feeling sorry for our other dog, an Australian Shepard named Daisy.
3. “What,” you say, “am I to forget my friend?” It is surely a short-lived memory that you vouchsafe to him, if it is to endure only as long as your grief; presently that brow of yours will be smoothed out in laughter by some circumstance, however casual. It is to a time no more distant than this that I put off the soothing of every regret, the quieting of even the bitterest grief. As soon as you cease to observe yourself, the picture of sorrow which you have contemplated will fade away; at present you are keeping watch over your own suffering. But even while you keep watch it slips away from you, and the sharper it is, the more speedily it comes to an end.
I try not to think about Smoke too often, but little things get to me. When I sleep, I relax my body for 30 seconds and then picture myself in my favorite place relaxing. When I did that Monday and Tuesday, it hit me again, because my mental image was always me sitting on the deck with Smoke in my lap. He loved to do that so he could get a good view of the lake. He also liked to sit on our little hill and look at the lake when it was cool outside.
4. Let us see to it that the recollection of those whom we have lost becomes a pleasant memory to us. No man reverts with pleasure to any subject which he will not be able to reflect upon without pain. So too it cannot but be that the names of those whom we have loved and lost come back to us with a sort of sting; but there is a pleasure even in this sting.
Last night, I was able to use that mental image with Smoke and enjoy it for the memories instead of feeling it all over again. He was such a fun dog to have, his joy in life definitely added to mine.
5. For, as my friend Attalus[2] used to say: “The remembrance of lost friends is pleasant in the same way that certain fruits have an agreeably acid taste, or as in extremely old wines it is their very bitterness that pleases us. Indeed, after a certain lapse of time, every thought that gave pain is quenched, and the pleasure comes to us unalloyed.” 6. If we take the word of Attalus for it, “to think of friends who are alive and well is like enjoying a meal of cakes and honey; the recollection of friends who have passed away gives a pleasure that is not without a touch of bitterness. Yet who will deny that even these things, which are bitter and contain an element of sourness, do serve to arouse the stomach?” 7. For my part, I do not agree with him. To me, the thought of my dead friends is sweet and appealing. For I have had them as if I should one day lose them; I have lost them as if I have them still.
For me, it is still mostly bitter when I remember him and all the stupid things he used to do. Like sitting beside me on the couch and when I would purposefully ignore him, he would jump at me with a half bark so I would play with him. Typing this now put a smile on my face while a tear rolls down my cheek.
Therefore, Lucilius, act as befits your own serenity of mind, and cease to put a wrong interpretation on the gifts of Fortune. Fortune has taken away, but Fortune has given. 8. Let us greedily enjoy our friends, because we do not know how long this privilege will be ours. Let us think how often we shall leave them when we go upon distant journeys, and how often we shall fail to see them when we tarry together in the same place; we shall thus understand that we have lost too much of their time while they were alive. 9. But will you tolerate men who are most careless of their friends, and then mourn them most abjectly, and do not love anyone unless they have lost him? The reason why they lament too unrestrainedly at such times is that they are afraid lest men doubt whether they really have loved; all too late they seek for proofs of their emotions. 10. If we have other friends, we surely deserve ill at their hands and think ill of them, if they are of so little account that they fail to console us for the loss of one. If, on the other hand, we have no other friends, we have injured ourselves more than Fortune has injured us; since Fortune has robbed us of one friend, but we have robbed ourselves of every friend whom we have failed to make. 11. Again, he who has been unable to love more than one, has had none too much love even for that one.[3] If a man who has lost his one and only tunic through robbery chooses to bewail his plight rather than look about him for some way to escape the cold, or for something with which to cover his shoulders, would you not think him an utter fool?
“Fortune has taken away, but Fortune has given”
This is very true right now. We had 5 very happy years and even knowing what I know, I would still have picked him that day in the pet shop when we had no intention of buying a dog.
My wife always said that I picked him in the pet shop and he picked me in the house.
You have buried one whom you loved; look about for someone to love. It is better to replace your friend than to weep for him.
Turns out sitting around the now quiet house wasn’t good for my sanity either. Before I went for my morning run, I was looking at puppy pictures to get an idea of when we would get a puppy. I found one I liked and during the run talked myself into getting him. Maximus, or Max for short.
12. What I am about to add is, I know, a very hackneyed remark, but I shall not omit it simply because it is a common phrase: A man ends his grief by the mere passing of time, even if he has not ended it of his own accord. But the most shameful cure for sorrow, in the case of a sensible man, is to grow weary of sorrowing. I should prefer you to abandon grief, rather than have grief abandon you; and you should stop grieving as soon as possible, since, even if you wish to do so, it is impossible to keep it up for a long time. 13. Our forefathers[4] have enacted that, in the case of women, a year should be the limit for mourning; not that they needed to mourn for so long, but that they should mourn no longer. In the case of men, no rules are laid down, because to mourn at all is not regarded as honorable. For all that, what woman can you show me, of all the pathetic females that could scarcely be dragged away from the funeral-pile or torn from the corpse, whose tears have lasted a whole month? Nothing becomes offensive so quickly as grief; when fresh, it finds someone to console it and attracts one or another to itself; but after becoming chronic, it is ridiculed, and rightly. For it is either assumed or foolish.
Mourning is a natural part of life and if I didn’t do it for a couple of days, I would have questioned my own humanity. I know it’s stupid, but when we had to put his body somewhere, I put him in the guest room because he loved to go in there. I also buried him in his favorite blanket and put his favorite ball inside the blanket.
14. He who writes these words to you is no other than I, who wept so excessively for my dear friend Annaeus Serenus[5] that, in spite of my wishes, I must be included among the examples of men who have been overcome by grief. To-day, however, I condemn this act of mine, and I understand that the reason why I lamented so greatly was chiefly that I had never imagined it possible for his death to precede mine. The only thought which occurred to my mind was that he was the younger, and much younger, too, – as if the Fates kept to the order of our ages!
As with Seneca’s friend, when someone’s death comes out of nowhere, the sadness is more intense. I have lost friends and family as well as other dogs before, but none of them were ever really a shock like this one was. When he was sick and we took him to the vet, nowhere in my thoughts was any possibility that he would be dead in 3 days. We gave him the pills the vet gave us, but there was never any improvement and I was pretty sure on Sunday that he was dying.
15. Therefore let us continually think as much about our own mortality as about that of all those we love. In former days I ought to have said: “My friend Serenus is younger than I; but what does that matter? He would naturally die after me, but he may precede me.” It was just because I did not do this that I was unprepared when Fortune dealt me the sudden blow. Now is the time for you to reflect, not only that all things are mortal, but also that their mortality is subject to no fixed law. Whatever can happen at any time can happen to-day. 16. Let us therefore reflect, my beloved Lucilius, that we shall soon come to the goal which this friend, to our own sorrow, has reached. And perhaps, if only the tale told by wise men is true[6] and there is a bourne to welcome us, then he whom we think we have lost has only been sent on ahead. Farewell.
I am mostly OK now and happy the poor dog isn’t suffering anymore, his last few days were horrible. It is a reminder that nothing is promised to us and things that can happen to anybody can happen to me. My wife says he is waiting for us with our other dogs and although I don’t believe it, it makes for an amazing mental image.
Music this week is Smoke and Daisy’s favorite band, The Dead South.
They would love to stand by the speakers and sing along.
If you listen close you can hear Smoke in the background.
Another one they really liked.
Miss you Smoke.
I’m sorry, Ron. He looks like he was a good dog, one of the best.
To me, he was amazing.
Stupid in a lot of ways, but also a thinker in his own way.
If Daisy was blocking him from greeting me when I got home, he would grab a ball and drop it so she would chase it and chew on it while he was getting petted by me.
I want no part of any afterlife that doesn’t include critters.
P.S. Hope Max is no longer singing his nocturnal “siren song.”
Oh yeah, but he didn’t do it as long last night.
My wife is happy that he seems to have attached himself to me.
This morning she let him out and he wagged his tail at her, but as soon as he saw me he ran and started jumping like an idiot.
🙂
Fabulous.
Yeah, Little Black Cat glommed onto me from the git-go in the cat room at the local Humane Society. I’m flattered, but have found it to be a bit of a mixed blessing. ::checks in mirror, notes puncture wounds from LBC blissfully “kneading” my collar bone this morning::
A dog-like cat! I know one of those. How can you not adopt a kitty pawing at you through the cage bars?
Inorite?? In retrospect, though, both of our cats could stand to be a little more aloof.
Nice. That warms my cold heart.
RIP Smoke.
Let us greedily enjoy our friends, because we do not know how long this privilege will be ours. Let us think how often we shall leave them when we go upon distant journeys, and how often we shall fail to see them when we tarry together in the same place; we shall thus understand that we have lost too much of their time while they were alive.
The most important words in the chapter. Thanks, Ron.
Imma be a wreck in about a decade.
I reckon I’ve got a few years. I was thinking about this yesterday while I was bored at work, and I had to take a minute to compose myself.
We adopted Kiki in October of 2020. Kidney disease, dental disease, thyroid tumor, arthritis – a mess. My vet thought she was on her last legs. She’s still here somehow and one of the best dogs I’ve ever had. At 13 1/2, though, I know our time together is coming to a close. Not a day goes by that I don’t tell her that I wish we would have met 10 years earlier.
Little shits bury pretty deep into your soul.
I’m not sure than 10 more years makes it any easier.
We lost our cat two weeks ago after 20 years. It doesn’t, really.
I might have to agree with Gustave’s point just above, but I understand wanting more time, nonetheless.
Nah. She’s just such a wonderful dog it would have been fun to see her as a puppy! I was at peace with a month or two. Every day is a blessing
She sounds like a good one.
It would have been great to know her longer, I’m sure, but the time together is what counts.
Me too.
Here’s hoping for a long time before that happens.
Ours are 12, pushing 13. Most Staffordshire Bull Terriers call it a day at around 10 years. Ours are doing amazingly well, but I know it won’t be long now.
And I knew the minute they arrived that one day they would break my heart. Ah, well, easily worth it, although it is hard when they leave. Really hard.
Eff that rainbow bridge crap.
I told the vet not to send condolence cards anymore.
And I don’t know how they do it. Not just emotionally, but all that lifting.
I know I went through this letter in the past.
I figured that:
a) nobody really reads these
b) it really fit my circumstances
c) I write these things more for my own education and improvement than for you guys
d) I don’t get paid enough jk
With that logic, you could do the links, too 😉
But seriously, thank you for doing these. I doubt anyone minds a repeat; you never know when a message is going to be very suddenly apropos.
A worthy repeat.
And I heartily dispute a)
Thanks, I know a few of you actually read what I write.
More than a few Ron.
This hits close after prematurely losing our big lovable black cat in June. I still miss him.
I read it every week. Look forward to it! Your reasons for writing it are your own, but realize many of us enjoy it.
I know and appreciate the kind words.
That was more of a joke on No one reading the articles than it was an actual complaint.
The only real reason I redid this letter was b.
Although there is some truth to c.
#metoo
a) nobody really reads these
There are a few posts I’ve had to skip due to travel or other stuff. Otherwise, I read these and look forward to reading them.
Ditto. They are read and enjoyed
I’m sorry Ron. Thank you for sharing.
Seneca has taken the sympathy card to a whole new level. Wish I was 1/100th as eloquent in these situations.
“Now is the time for you to reflect, not only that all things are mortal, but also that their mortality is subject to no fixed law. Whatever can happen at any time can happen to-day.”
One thing I remember from the Dalai Lama’s writings is that in Eastern cultures, they are surprised at how overcome with grief we can get in the West. It’s as if we never considered the death of a loved one might happen, even though it’s the only thing that’s guaranteed. In Buddhism you are encouraged to reflect and meditate on the impermanence of all things, even our loved ones.
Like most things you post from the Buddhists, Stoicism has a similar belief.
Easier said than done.
When Smoke would sit on our little hill and look at the lake, I joked that we would bury him there.
I had no idea it would be so soon., and I honestly thought I was more mentally prepared than I was.
I think it’s a fairly recent thing in the West. Christianity also teaches how fleeting mortal life is. I think we’ve lost the plot a little and assume there is a manmade, tech solution for everything.
Part of it is that we’re just way better at keeping people alive. People used to have a bunch of kids because you could expect to lose at least some of them to disease. People dying of disease and injury was something you’d see every day.
Nearly a 100 men died in the construction of Hoover Dam. Can you imagine any large scale project having that many fatalities? Golden Gate Bridge had 11 and that was low at the time.
When my parents started having children in their twenties, they purchased two cemetery plots for themselves and one extra due to potential kid attrition (this was in the late 1940s).
I could have died several times if not for antibiotics.
I would absolutely have died at 18 months old if not for modern (circa 1964) medicine. Even then, it was a close run thing.
Happy 60th birthday, belatedly!
If I see something from multiple, different sources that have been around a while that’s usually a good indication there is something to this piece of wisdom. But yes, like many other things in Stoicism, it can be hard to follow this teaching and it requires a very rare level of discipline.
c) I write these things more for my own education and improvement than for you guys
Pray continue.
My dog Smoke died last week
Sorry Ron.
Thanks
I grew up with dogs. I love them.
We’ve had dogs in our house for the last 38 years or so (my wife and I got our first dog together a few months after I graduated in 85).
We’ve had dog continuously since then, except for a few months in 2020. Our last dog passed in June of 2020. He was getting old, and we knew it was coming. We talked many times about whether or not to get another dog after he passed. We decided not to get more dogs.
That lasted about two months. The house was way to quiet and empty (our kids have been gone for more than 20 years). Yes, it was nice to not have to coordinate our schedules around feeding dogs and letting them out of the house. But it was a much greater loss than we originally thought.
We started looking for new puppies within a couple of months. And we picked up a brother and sister from the same litter in October.
I posted this photo in April 2021 when they were half a year old. They are three now.
Already, I think about losing them in 8 to 9 years.
Beauties!
One of Siobhan’s socks has fallen down around her ankle!
Yes, that little asymmetry is endearing.
They are gorgeous, my first dog as a kid was a massive black tri color collie.
My Dad was 6 feet tall, and that dog could stand on his hind legs with his fore arms on my Dad’s shoulders and look him in the eye.
That dog would sleep with me and one night he broke the bed.
Most people don’t realize how big collies are.
For us, shelties have been the perfect dog. The are bright and intelligent. Very loyal and generally very obedient. The big enough to be sturdy, but small enough to live comfortably in the house with more than one of them at a time.
These are the 7th and 8th shelties we have had since around ’93.
Had a sheltie when I was a kid. Great little dog.
Pater Dean, and now Bro Dean, have miniature Australian Shepards. Quiet, gentle, smart, companionable, and a great size for house dogs.
Mrs. Dean and I joke about, how drunk were they when they decided to cross a terrier and bulldog? Stubborn, not too bright, a weird mix of athletic and clumsy. But great companions, and like a lot of dogs, natural comedians, so they’ll do. We’ll see if we make the same mistake again* when its time.
*spoiler: we will.
We had a German Shepard when I was growing up. She was awesome.
When she was a puppy, we would play tug of war with an old bathroom towel.
When she was full grown, all five of us would grab one end of an old blanket and then she would drag all of us around the yard.
I’d love to get another one, but they are way to much dog for an aging couple to deal with.
My daughter has a Blue Heeler. Awesome dog, But my daughter has to run mile and miles with the dog every day to keep the dog sane and happy.
We had a GSD that was an amazing pupper. We didn’t get another because we she was so perfect.
Come to think of it, all my dogs have been perfect!
Sorry for your loss, and happy for your new acquisition. The photo the other day was adorable.
Who gives a fuck what “the people” think?
“These numbers are not good, and they’re consistent with most of the other polling that we’ve seen. The country is in a sour mood. He’s not getting credit for what I think is a fairly substantial list of achievements,” David Axelrod, a former Obama White House and campaign strategist, said on CNN.
“And the reality is, if this were a referendum, he would be in deep, deep trouble,” he added. “There’s an expression in sports that, you know, sometimes you have to win ugly. And I think that’s what lies ahead here for this president and this White House.”
All we care about is TEAM TEAM TEAM.
I wonder if any of those surveys explicitly dig into that pesky issue of succession.
You know- “Joe is like really old and feeble. Are you comfortable with Vice President Harris stepping into the Presidency if he leaves office for any reason?”
Call me old fashioned, but I think an incumbent should strive to do a really good job and not worry about who’s running against him. Remember when Reagan won in a landslide because sent the DOJ after Mondale? Neither do I.
“sometimes you have to win ugly”
Screw what’s best for the country, we need to cheat!
Our schnauzer/Scottish terrier is gonna be turning 10. Here he is calling to his god – the Fire Truck
That’s great.
Schnauzers are great. Although I knew one who would drag cats and sofa cushions outside.
🎵 God loves a terrier
Haha! That’s awesome!
What a good boy!
It’s been a little over a month and a half since my wife and I lost out dog of 14 years, Lemmy. I’m just now starting to not expect seeing the dude when i get home. I still am reluctant to leave food out on the coffee table, get a pang of anxiety when I hear the UPS truck or the mail man, and still look to his place on my old chair every time i am thinking of going outside. Familiarity and loss are something that fade with time, but they don’t go away.
It’s amazing how habitual it becomes to hang out with the dogs.
I steeped on a squeaky toy yesterday and was honestly surprised when Smoke didn’t come running to grab it.
“The country is in a sour mood.”
Why? No one knows. It’s inexplicable.
Everything is fine. It’s those MAGAt terrorists that are the problem.
I’m the opposite. Had a dog as a kid and loved him, but when he died (on New Year’s Day), I was crushed and had no desire to go down that path again for awhile. To this day I don’t feel like partying for New year’s. It was roughly 15 years before I decided to get another pet (couple of cats this time) and I know I’ll be done with pets for awhile when they kick off.
When my Rottweiler died, we waited 5 years because of the pain, but we had kids and other things going on, so the house wasn’t as quiet as after this one.
And?
Former President Donald Trump’s net worth was inflated by billions of dollars more than what the New York attorney general’s office initially found to be the case, the AG said in a new court filing Friday.
Citing an extensive analysis by valuation and accounting experts, the AG’s office found that Trump’s net worth in any given year between 2011 and 2021 was overstated by $1.9 billion to $3.6 billion.
This new, larger number is “still a conservative estimate,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote in the Friday filing, because those experts accepted at face value many of the elements of Trump’s financial statements “that would otherwise be rejected in a full-blown appraisal review.”
Lock him up and throw away the key I guess.
The issue is you are pledging inflated values for collateral.
The collateral was never called, but it’s not something you want legal if you’d like a functional society.
Problem is valuation on highly illiquid assets is quite variable and not something you want to entrust to the state to determine its veracity.
So why is this being litigated by the state and not the banks issuing the loans?
If I ran a verifiable Ponzi scheme that hasn’t been “called” by the remaining participants who won’t get paid out, should the state stop it or wait for the remaining investors to loose all their money or just some?
For me a valid use of the state is criminal penalties for criminal fraud in a contract.
Because the banks did their own due diligence on the property securing their loans, and have no claim? And if they didn’t do any due diligence, they will have trouble proving they reasonably relied on the claimed values, because reasonable banks don’t take your word for it.
Unless he was personally guaranteeing the loans, his net worth is utterly irrelevant.
An essential element of fraud is reasonable reliance on the false claims by the victims. If I’m telling whoppers and you don’t fall for them, you don’t have a claim. If nobody with a half a brain would fall for them nobody has a claim. Sounds like Trump’s net worth was at least plausible, so claims would likely pass this test.
I wonder how many NY wheeler-dealers have overstated their net worth, and how many have been the target of a years-long criminal investigation. The only thing worse than not prosecuting something, is selectively prosecuting something.
However, damages are also an essential element of fraud. Doesn’t sound like anyone was harmed, so there’s no civil suit, at least. And likely no criminal case, although I’m not familiar with NY law.
I welcome our newly found interest in the compete accuracy and integrity of loan applications and elimination of stated income and asset values. Can’t wait to get my next credit card app notarized next to the penalty of perjury signature block.
This is a problem, but career politicians becoming multi millionaires while doing “public service” is just fine.
“Do you wish to know the reason for lamentations and excessive weeping? It is because we seek the proofs of our bereavement in our tears, and do not give way to sorrow, but merely parade it. No man goes into mourning for his own sake. Shame on our ill-timed folly! There is an element of self-seeking even in our sorrow.”
Define excessive weeping, Greek dude. I cried quite a bit when I lost a friend in 2019, I knew him for 45 years. When another friend died recently, I cried again for a fair bit. I only cried in public once. They were my tears. I am glad I shed them. It helped me to overcome the loss and move on the the happy memories.
I believe excess weeping is weeping done for the benefit of others and to gain sympathy.
Nowhere does he say not to mourn, although he does say it would be nice if we could control ourselves to that extent.
I think the weeping and mourning helps but had no desire to add to it or do it in public, that’s why I stayed home on Tuesday.
Well you don’t want to pay too much for your professional mourner.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/professional-mourners-0017605
Citing an extensive analysis by valuation and accounting experts, the AG’s office found that Trump’s net worth in any given year between 2011 and 2021 was overstated by $1.9 billion to $3.6 billion.
Who was harmed, other than a bunch of TDS-afflicted retards like Letitia James?
See my comment above.
You can bet your ass Letitia James Would be investigating Trump for illegally concealing assets if New York had a wealth tax.
RIP Smoke.
The bitch will never relinquish power.
The San Francisco Democrat and first female speaker of the House told volunteers on Friday that she would seek reelection in 2024, extending a 36-year House career and freezing her would-be California successors in a long-standing holding pattern.
“Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery. Our country needs America to show the world that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for ALL. That is why I am running for reelection — and respectfully ask for your vote,” Pelosi tweeted shortly after on Friday.
SanFran values like homelessness, sidewalk feces, drug addiction, transing/grooming children, etc. Pucker up, America!
That is why I am running for reelection — and respectfully ask for your vote,” Pelosi tweeted shortly after on Friday.
She left out continuing to add to her husband’s portfolio by insider trading.
To quote Patsy Stone: “Oh, for God’s sake, just die!”
One of Trump’s bankers said they barely looked at the stuff he gave them.
Why did my Monocle suddenly stop hiding read threads?
Just for this article, it would appear.
Same, but just this post.
Ron might just be special!
Oh yeah, I’m “special” alright.
Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery.
One foot in the grave and both hands in the till.
Outrage mob, assemble!
Promoting the CLT as an alternative to the SAT or ACT could be another way to further marginalize traditionally underrepresented voices, given its focus on Western ideals.
The Miami Herald describes the CLT’s curriculum as one that has existed for decades and “emphasizes a return to ‘core virtues’ and subjects like math, science, civics and classical texts. It puts a strong emphasis on the ‘centrality of the Western tradition’ — or a historical focus on white, Western European and Judeo-Christian foundations — and ‘demands moral virtue of its adherents.’”
The New York Times describes the curriculum as one that places “emphasis on the Western canon and Christian thought.”
OH
MY
GOD!
BECKY!
LOOK
AT
HER
BUTT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X53ZSxkQ3Ho
No doubt the NYT would prefer a curriculum that includes trannys flopping their junk around to 5 year old children.
When you have the dude that wants a uterus for the sole purpose of having an abortion it is pretty clear that this movement is made up of lunatics and unadulterated evil. Who needs demons when. you have humans like that. In fact, I would go so far as to say that dude is not human. Empathy and at least a semblance of self-awareness are necessary ingredients for a human being.
I’m sorry about the aminal, Ron. I’m a cat person, but you know, I’ve always had fairly aloof cats, which is okay. None of them have been cuddlers. And when they die, I’m pretty stoic. In fact, I have to make the decision to put them down when they’re suffering because I’m somewhat of a pragmatic utilitarian. Also, I’ll see them again when I die.
HOWEVER
I canNOT stand living in a house without a kitty soul. I have gone without cats about 4 weeks in the past almost 30 years. I say, “No more after this; I can’t do it again.” But as soon as there is no kitty soul, I go looking. I MUST have a meowy aminal in the house even if they don’t cuddle.
Thanks Moj.
Aminal, heh.
Thanks for the aspirin explanation, BTW.
Welcome. Had to google it, tho. I was happy to have a treat.
I don’t know what I’d do with a husky, though. They sass back.
Smoke was quiet, but Daisy taught him to bark at everything.
The new puppy might be a talker.
YT suggests this one often. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i82528KGDdo
Smoke was more cat than dog.
I’ve heard Huskies described as either the perfect dog for a cat person or the perfect cat for a dog person.
¿por qué no…?
I had a starving husky show up at my house and couldn’t find an owner so we took her in even though we had two other dogs. They can be very cat-like. Aloof, self-sufficient. They don’t bark in the traditional sense (at the doorbell, other dogs, etc.), but rely on the woo-woo talky thing. She got a little chunky so we put her on a diet. She responded by killing and eating critters in the yard. She could catch a bird out of the air. They need exercise. It helped that I ran 5-7 miles a day at the time.
They are beautiful dogs. And the YT videos of them talking back are cute.
But I don’t think I could live with one.
lol
Try grooming them. Whiney little bitches! Don’t dare touch their feet!
Actually they are a delight. They talk to you the whole time letting you know the woes of their predicament. They dance and love to be hair dried and brushed
Smoke would get mad at me when I touched his feet, so I would purposefully grab them while he was sitting next to me so he would be used to it.
https://www.ammoland.com/2023/09/school-suspends-1st-grade-students-finger-guns-playing-copsrobbers/
The public education system is so broken.
I don’t know how dogs put up with humans. They must get frustrated that we don’t speak their language.
Is this what Max is going to turn into?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWEpSfc12k8
Better get the dryer!
That was pretty interesting. Thanks!
That was like watching a sheep shearing!
So sorry for your loss. The puppy is adorable, he looks ready to play fetch already. Hope you have many years with him.
Fuck you, they explained
The Biden administration announced Wednesday it was canceling seven oil drilling leases sold by the Trump administration in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
“As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” President Biden said in a statement.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the cancellation of the leases, issued under former President Donald Trump, was legally justified because the environmental review conducted under the previous administration was inadequate.
“With today’s action, no one will have rights to drill for oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on Earth,” Haaland said on a press call.
The Alaska congressional delegation and the fossil fuel industry blasted the decision, which they argue will harm the local economy and increase energy costs.
Under pressure from climate activists, Biden pledged in 2020 to ban new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.
Continued oil drilling greatly increases the chances that the world will exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming that studies have shown will cause catastrophic consequences.
They claimed, without evidence.
They should be able to generate a lot of power with all that goal-post-moving.
Alaska should push ahead and let them enforce the ruling. Fuck em.
Alaska should push ahead and let them enforce the ruling.
Good start to an Animal series…
“Continued oil drilling greatly increases the chances that the world will exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming that studies have shown will cause catastrophic consequences.”
Geeez. Now there is a whopper.
“…greatly increase the chances…”
In other words they dont know but wish to imply it is a fact, so….no.
I do know. The chances of continued warming is 99.9%. We did not cause it and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
Never mind that there is no such thing as “global average temperature.”
All of the purported premises for the AGW theory are horse shit. In fact, being unfalsifiable (biggest sin in science) means that this assertion doesn’t even deserve consideration by any real scientist. Why bother looking further? I have watched their claims evolve from falsifiable to unfalsifiable in real time as it kept being falsified over and over. You cant kick the legs out from under something that docent have legs. The grifters think they have scored a ‘check mate’. The whole scam is absurd.
I’m not even willing to concede the premise of warming given the already revealed number fudging.
legally justified because the environmental review conducted under the previous administration was inadequate.
Prolly the same “justification” for stopping Keystone XL.
Good day to practice stoicism. The kidney stone I’ve had since last Thursday has moved ever so slightly and is blocking my ureter. Can’t pee and combo of morphine and tramadol has reduced the pain from 8 to 6 on the ouch-o-meter. I am sitting in a hospital bed and will be undergoing a procedure later today; I may wind up spending the night.
On the plus side, this is a “boutique” hospital featuring single rooms so
I don’t have to put up with asshole roommatesnobody but staff has to deal with me. Great view of a t-storm featuring hail and outstanding lightning, too.I wish you well on that. Stones are a bitch.
Man. Just think of the relief when it is done. See you soon on the Zooms with a smiling face again.
Hopefully tonight. Smiling or not.
Good luck! I’m rooting for YOU this time.
Thanks!
*ponders the idea of a hat trick in the context of a hospital stay* *checks out cute nurses* *ponders Mrs.Patzer emulating Lorena Bobbitt*
Hope you’re more comfortable ASAP, ‘patzie! 😟
Godspeed!
Patzer,
I hope you get fixed up soon.
Good luck brother.
Sorry. Best wishes to you.
will be undergoing a procedure later today
Sonic pulveriser?
STEVE SMITH PULVERIZE STONE. BY PULVERIZE MEAN….
I will continue my tradition of posting a music link to any random topic, because my brain is wired that way.
“Sonic pulveriser?”
I believe the medical term is Sonic Reducer
https://youtu.be/-3YbedLa5I0
Urethroscope, and stent
Thanks to all for kind thoughts. Now if these tstorms make a right turn maybe my basement won’t flood.
The storms are going through my area. Some power flickers, rain, lightening, noise.
Mrs. Patzer reports that floodwaters have reached back patio. I instructed her earlier to put towels against back door to absorb any water that makes it that far. This has worked in the past, fingers crossed.
Best wishes.
Ouch.