Mara

No, numbnuts, no veterinarian is going to give you the canine coronavirus vaccine. I shouldn’t have to explain why....just Google it. The equine one won’t work either. Stop asking; your stupid is showing. ETA: one of my neighbors. I suspect there have been a few too many generations of cousin-marrying in his family.

I needed some alcohol swabs on hand for injectable meds both SO and I have prescribed. Stupid panicky f***ers have bought out all supplies.

My ex-husband is pushing the envelope and he's about to seriously regret it. As in "welcome to Hotel Graybar" regrets. He thinks he should be entitled to a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of MY house. The one that I got in the divorce settlement, the same house he never made a single mortgage payment on, the very abode he did his level best to trash with his hoarding behavior and general slobbishness. I put him on the deed a couple years after I bought it, hoping that a sense of ownership might spur him to (a) keep a job and (b) help maintain the place. Stupid me. So now that I have informed him "no go, you are NOT getting a windfall, so get that out of your head", he's dragging his feet on signing the quitclaim. I had to explain the difference between a deed and a mortgage - he thought being on the deed implied he'd contributed to mortgage payments. I paid off all of his back taxes, $6000 worth, and he was supposed to pay half that per the settlement. If he continues to be a dick, he's going to get hit with contempt of court charges....

Any word on whether country music survived? That's a death I would not mourn.

Going to have to postpone my Hellcat dream. I chose a rather inopportune time to total my Honda Element....just now looking to get my house on the market (the good news is I might actually make some money. I would've just been happy to get out of $900/mo in mortgage payments, but some extra cash is definitely welcome). Plus now I have an at-fault accident on my record, which won't do me any favors on insurance coverage. So....sigh, it's another couple of years of Sensible 4-Cylinder Japanese Car. Going with a Toyota C-HR. It looks like it's made out of Legos, but I am inexplicably drawn to really fugly little SUVs. Probably because no self-respecting car thief would go near one!

It's oddly comforting in a way to know that Americans aren't the only ones programmed to overreact on cue.

"if you're not hysterical you don't care" That's the new yardstick There's a long thread on this virus on another board I belong to, and Jesus F'in Christ, the level of panic in some people is not to be believed. One woman (she's retired and widowed, probably too much free time) is completely obsessed with it, posting all the links to all the latest reports and articles with her own lengthy commentary. You'd think we were under siege from nuclear fallout. Someone else started a "are you prepared" thread with advice on how to stock up in case you get quarantined, including recommendations for 55 gallon drums for water. Water? I told them, "um, quarantine doesn't mean all of your utilities and city services will be discontinued. You just won't be allowed out to mingle with the general populace until you are no longer infected." Calm down, people.

Have you tried Adequan for the hips? It gave Simon a couple of years of quality of life back. I get your meme, completely. Simon got expensive in his final year, well over $3K in just about 7 months. But I've often said I never regret money I spend on the dog. On people, yes - frequent regrets there. But never dogs.

I'm not wild about Nirvana, but HATE Green Day. Billy Joe Armstrong sounds like he has a perpetual sinus problem...."wage be ub, whed Septebber edds". As soon as one of their songs comes on, I get Ninja fingers and change the station before the 10th note is played.

One of those "I hate everybody and everything" days?

Nothing excites the media like the possibility of widespread pestilence, woe, and death. Today's news bureaus would have had a field day with the 1918 Spanish influenza. (Before anyone else can say it - "Nobody wants a Spanish influenza!" You're welcome).

The Dow was down 1000 points yesterday and it was blamed on fears about the Corona virus. Specifically, it was down due to fears about coronavirus disrupting manufacturing supply chains in South Korea (it already has done this) because of the virus being widespread in South Korea and affecting worker turnout (it already has.) South Korea manufactures a lot of medical supplies, devices, heavy industrial equipment, and many pharmaceuticals. These disruptions have already happened; I see that as being different than rumors floating around about this affecting elections. ( and I hope our washing machine holds out as it sounds like a new one might be expensive! ) In addition to the concerns about workers on the supply side, a surprising percentage of Chinese goods is shipped in the cargo holds of passenger jets.

Yes, ESPN had shows on about the 40th anniversary all weekend! We really enjoyed watching the Miracle movie again last night, the one with Kurt Russell. I totally agree with you. The Olympics was always supposed to be about sports and tries to be free of politics. I felt a little better when I read that the 1980 team was in Las Vegas mainly to be honored at a Knights game and got asked to appear at the last minute, but the rally was a partisan election event, not a US government event and I dont think they should have appeared there. Plus my dad is a retired Navy officer and the current president shows so little respect to that group, it upsets me. I re-watched Miracle as well. The scene where Brooks has them doing "herbies" (that's what they called the line-to-line sprints) to exhaustion, in the dark because the maintenance staff had left...."Who do you play for?" has got to be in the Top 10 scenes ever in any sports movie. That actually happened, btw. It wasn't a Hollywood embellishment.

Sorry to hear that, glad you are ok. Thanks. Glad we were all unscathed. And that the car I hit was less than $50k.

I'm choosing to exercise willful ignorance here and avoid that bit of drama. Politics aside, I hate the color red. ;) No red clothing, no red accessories, 400+ bottles of nail polish and not one of them is red.... Purple is acceptable.

Oh, I’m sorry. :( No one hurt, that is the most important thing. Unless you were chasing down a long-hated enemy who was really asking for it.... ;) Nah, the folks I hit were really nice people. If I am gonna run someone down, I want to avoid collateral damage. Also in the "first world problem but still sucks" category: I am probably going to have to put my Challenger Hellcat dream on hold for a bit. With a recent at-fault accident now on my record, insurance premiums on a Challenger would be stupid money. Sigh.

Totalled my car. My fault, no one hurt.

Agree here; your friend has replaced one mind-altering substance with another. (I'm approaching four years' sobriety myself after a rapid descent into full blown alcoholism brought on by an inability to cope with anxiety and depression). For a lot of people, I dare say the majority, early sobriety sucks copious quantities of ass. But it gets easier....if you let it. You do know there's not much you can do except be there to support your friend; the decision has to be his. I didn’t know about that, Mara, congratulations- good on you for all that you’ve done. And yes, it’s true, it does get better. My experience early in sobriety was that sometimes it gets even worse, before it gets better. But it does get better. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but it saved my life, literally. I am exceedingly happy that neither one of my sons has ever seen me drunk, and that they have no idea what I was like, back then. Congratulations yourself! My active period of alcoholism only lasted about 9 months total. But I have a tendency to go all in on everything and so it was with booze. In no time at all I was hiding bottles, changing stores where I bought wine....all the classic markers. And I KNEW I was an alcoholic and had no problem admitting it to myself or anyone else. I just couldn't stop. The end of that 9 month period came when I checked myself into the loony zoo for what turned out to be a 5 day stay. I haven't wanted to drink since. I am most grateful that the brakes were applied before I had a chance to do any real, lasting damage to myself or anyone else. No DUIs, never missed work due to a hangover (or drank on the job), wasn't skipping out on paying bills. Mainly what I had to make amends for was scaring the everloving hell out of my family and friends.

That is hilarious! That’s so sweet, really. Rush fans make themselves known in the most unexpected ways! I love it.

In one of those odd "full circle" twists of fate, the vet who came to release him from his pain was the vet who first saw him as a young guy, she did all of his well-doggy checkups and shots until we moved from the area. She remembered him too!

As hard as it was to let him go, seeing him diminished and suffering was worse. I'm grateful that he told me clearly it was time.

I keep waiting for some subtle tribute to show up in a South Park episode.

Agree here; your friend has replaced one mind-altering substance with another. (I'm approaching four years' sobriety myself after a rapid descent into full blown alcoholism brought on by an inability to cope with anxiety and depression). For a lot of people, I dare say the majority, early sobriety sucks copious quantities of ass. But it gets easier....if you let it. You do know there's not much you can do except be there to support your friend; the decision has to be his.

My 15 year old shepherd, Simon, went his way peacefully about 15 minutes ago. We had an in-home euthanasia service; I kept him settled and as pain free as possible with melatonin and pain medication until they got here. He'd hurt his back somehow, on top of a case of bronchitis. When they're this old it's like a house of cards. Tomorrow I should get his ashes back and they'll go next to those of his doggy buddy Lance, who passed 2 years ago.

Hmmmm . . . [reconsiders plan to move to coastal Georgia in retirement . . . .] Here, it's beautiful blue skies and about 33 degrees. Coastal Georgia is disappearing, or at least the sandy part is. Much marsh, little beachfront. The islands (Tybee, St. Simon's, etc.) got hit hard by a hurricane in 2016; not sure how well the beaches came out of it.