Good luck, Calli.

Dear jerk on some other forum: In debate, saying "Nuh-uh, prove it!" while offering zero evidence of your own is a less effective rebuttal than you might like to think. You kind of don't get to call me out for vicious sarcasm if the chief reason for doubting my claim to have been swayed by your arguments is other than sincere is that you in fact made none.

Congratulations, Bonny! It's richly deserved.

Thanks, y'all.

And congratulations, Bonny!

We had an awesome thunderstorm roll through here around 4 am. One of those where each round of thunder comes in before the previous has faded, and the sky hardly has time to go dark between lightning flashes. Now everything's cool and sweet smelling. Love it!

Can I just complain for a minute?

The dog has been gastrointestinally unwell for over a week; Tim took him to the vet 10 days ago and he's been on antibiotics, but he's still having problems. So I called the vet this morning and they can see Kato at 4:00 today.

Relevant backstory: my dad has been having really bad stomach problems for months, and finally saw a gastroenterologist recently, but he needs more tests to figure out what is going on.*

Dad had a checkup with his cardiologist this morning, and because stomach pain often accompanies heart problems (at least, it does for Dad), the cardiologist sent him to the hospital to get tested right away.

I don't know whether to cancel the vet appointment and go to the hospital, or just keep the vet appointment and go to the hospital later, or go to the hospital NOW and then leave and come home for the dog and take him to the vet.

And I have a lot of work to do today, so that's an additional complication.

Also the weather forecast for today is using the phrase "strong tornados".

So I'd like to re-start this fucking day, please, without the nasty dog poo and paternal heart problems and potential tornados.

*(IANAD, but Dad's stomach problems have been going on for months, which doesn't seem related to his heart. When he has had a heart attack, he has indeed had some stomach issues, but for a really short time period before the heart attack, like a day or two. Not months. I really don't think this is his heart, so part of me is REALLY annoyed the cardiologist is turning it into a heart thing. But the other part of me totally understands that when your 73-year-old patient who's had 5 heart attacks shows up with familiar symptoms, you don't ignore them. I do get that.) (I would just rather be frustrated than worried. It's how I cope.)

Yay, bonny!!

Today is Harvey's 17th birthday! As he does not seem to have reactions to freshly cooked chicken, he shall feast upon (unbreaded) chicken tenders all day.

Steph, that is a lot for one day.

bonny, YAY!!!!!

And, to add insult to injury, my husband, who doesn't even care about baseball, is going to the Reds game today with his co-workers. UNFAIR.

Congrats, Bonnie!

Ugh, Steph. I guess it depends on your dad -- if you go to the hospital now, will it be a problem to leave? I mean, I think it's reasonable to pop by for a bit but not commit to the whole day, but can imagine other people disagreeing. (Also, I thought it was going to turn out that your father and dog have the same thing wrong with them -- I guess that could still happen?)

I have a sore throat. I really hope I'm not getting sick, but am also somewhat interested in taking a sick day tomorrow!

Since your dad is going to the hospital for tests relating to something that's been going on for months, I vote 1. work, 2. vet, 3. hospital.

Happy birthday to a great cat!