Buzzfeed has great set of pictures of best protest signs from the Wisconsin demos. [link]

One of the people in those pictures (#28, I think?) was my neighbor across the street for many years . Rose is just the awesomest. She has to be in her 90s, maybe late 90s by now. She's been a dedicated progressive activist as long as I've known her (which is 30 years now) and such an inspiration. I was so excited to see her in that set.

So, for a variety of reasons (starting with googling "Jaycee Dugard" to make sure I was spelling her name correctly) I'm looking at Steven Stayner's Wikipedia entry.

And it's just the most horrible, shitty, complicated, messy story ever. It's like five L&O episodes mashed into one except none of the resolutions are satisfying.

To recap: Steven Stayner, third child of five, was kidnapped at age 7 and sexually abused until he was 14. At which point, his kidnapper, Charles Parnell, kidnaps a new young child, Timmy White as his new sexual victim. Steven, quite heroically, decides not to let Timmy suffer as he did. He escapes with Timmy turning themselves into the police.

Then it gets complicated.

First there's a miniseries titled "I Know My Name Is Steven" starring Parker Lewis (aka, Corin Nemec).

Then Steven's brother Cary commits kidnapping and murder in a fairly horrific case in Yosemite.

Then Steven himself, after marrying and having two children, dies tragically young in a motorcycle accident.

Then Tim White, who grew up, married and had kids and became a Sheriff in the Los Angeles County Sherrif's Department died of a pulmonary embolism at age 35.

I mean...that's a depressing and fucked up narrative.

But borrowing them when they are being cute?

Do they need food, cleaning up after, or attention? Also, are there bodily fluids or any sort of odour involved?

Pictures of cats can be very cute. Stories can be endearing. But I really like my distance.

Do you have a popper by any chance?

No, ma'am. I use a saucepan. I coat the bottom with a thin layer of high heat oil. I put in three kernels and apply high heat until they pop.

Then I add more popcorn and shake vigorously.

It all pops in a hurry.

I dump it into a bowl.

I put butter into the saucepan until it melts and pour it over the bowl of popcorn.

Then I pour half the popcorn back into the saucepan and salt both the popcorn in the pan and in the bowl.

Then I pour the saucepan popcorn back into the bowl and salt it some more.

Buttery and salty and popcorny. Ta da!

I'm definitely a dog person who somehow has two cats.

Heh. I've had a cat for a year now. She's a family cat - was my sister's, then my father's, now, apparently, mine. I'm not even quite sure why - he and my sister decided she should come live here and I guess I didn't really have a reason why not.

I've known her all her life (I picked her out as a kitten at the HS) and I do love her. It's nice (mostly) to have a warm body curled up at night, and I sure don't have that on any regular basis from human types. So I'm glad in a way to have her around. But man, I am so not a cat person. I did fully not realize that before.

Do they need food, cleaning up after, or attention? Also, are there bodily fluids or any sort of odour involved?

Maybe I'm just not an indoor cat person. None of our cats were - Gracie wasn't until she came here, when she's like 17. The constant attention and god, the litter, were never an issue before now.

But man, I am so not a cat person. I did fully not realize that before.

Heh. It's funny, because they're a lot easier than dogs in a lot of ways -- no barking, and mine either use the litter or happily go outside, and they're happy with dry food and water, and don't beg at the table. And they are loves, and very sweet, often pretty funny, and I love to take pictures of them, but ... they don't come when I call. I can't imagine trying to take them for a walk, unlike Loki.

Very different species. I'm missing the wagging tail and the welcome home and even the slobbery kisses.

I like outside pets with thriving social lives. I'm not ready for a committed relationship.

I never understood people who insist they are cat people because dogs are so needy. Our cat would come inside and sit with us or on us. Our dogs...would come to us for food or if they wanted something to hump. Difference is, we could find the dogs when we wanted to play. Who the hell knows what the cat got up to in her spare time.

Do they need food, cleaning up after, or attention? Also, are there bodily fluids or any sort of odour involved?

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Is this why you didn't borrow Noah for pictures in cranberry delicto?

Also, Grace has double ear infections. Sigh. No wonder she had a fever.

The cats sleep about seventeen hours a day on our bed/the sofa/the kids' bed, and then have noisy, thumping all over the place cat wars when we're ready to go to sleep, and/or come sleep on our feet.