A year and a half ago, I could have eviscerated him with my thoughts. Now I can barely hurt his feelings. Things used to be so much simpler.

Anya ,'Dirty Girls'


Natter 78: I might need to watch some Buffy for inspiration

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Jessica - Aug 28, 2024 6:56:43 am PDT #2308 of 3468
If I want to become a cloud of bats, does each bat need a separate vaccination?

Cousin Explainer tea towel

My grandparents were cousins by marriage (there was another Ransohoff-Westheimer marriage in the generation above theirs) and so there is a whole branch of that side of the family where we are both third and fourth cousins.


dcp - Aug 28, 2024 7:20:17 am PDT #2309 of 3468
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

Going in the other direction, I have seen it asserted that one's grandparents' siblings should be called your grand-aunt or grand-uncle, not great-aunt or great-uncle, but they do not seem to be getting much traction.


-t - Aug 28, 2024 8:24:52 am PDT #2310 of 3468
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

we are both third and fourth cousins.

Whoa. And no time travel?


Toddson - Aug 28, 2024 8:57:33 am PDT #2311 of 3468
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

You'd be amazed at what shenanigans people get up to without time travel.

At one point we had custody of a family bible (my father's mother's mother's family). They kept marrying cousins and names kept repeating - keeping Columbus separate from Columbus F. On my mother's side, one great-great- grandmother of mine married, he died and she married his brother. Supposedly had 20 (!) children, including several sets of twins. My mother remembered Milton and Wilton,, Cordelia and Ophelia (someone was reading Shakespeare that year) as well as several others.


-t - Aug 28, 2024 9:14:14 am PDT #2312 of 3468
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

I think my most interesting genealogical tidbit along those lines is my great grandfather whose mother, first wife, and second wife (my great grandmother) were all named Emma


Laura - Aug 28, 2024 9:47:09 am PDT #2313 of 3468
Our wings are not tired.

Contact liaison for Matilda's Japanese abroad program and go over application requirements.

Brendon lived with a Japanese family on a rice farm when he was 9 in an exchange program when his dad was stationed there. He loved it. Also, best food ever. Fresh rice balls and noodles of yum.

This story is writing itself. What great character names!

Sounds like a delightful read to me.


DavidS - Aug 28, 2024 11:57:13 am PDT #2314 of 3468
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Jesu, I've gone down five times to tell them to take less off the front tree.

Stressful.

They took a lot off the back trees, which is okay. But I don't want to lose the shade and cover of the canopy of our front yard tree.


Laura - Aug 28, 2024 12:34:22 pm PDT #2315 of 3468
Our wings are not tired.

Pruning is always stressful to watch, but the results will be thicker healthier trees. You may remember the Florida pruning which is horrifying before the regrowth.


DavidS - Aug 28, 2024 12:36:45 pm PDT #2316 of 3468
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

JFC they didn't do what I wanted.

It's not a disaster but it's cut very high on the street side (higher than it needed to be) which diminishes the shade a lot. And they cut branches out of the canopy so there are more holes. Not a big deal but they were only supposed to cut deadwood.

And then because I went down there so many times they didn't cut it enough in front of the house, so it's still hanging down over the top of the garage.

I paid a shit ton of money for undesired results.

The tree will be fine and will probably benefit from the cut back but I'm disinclined to do this process again.

I'm thinking of the gardeners that went into Allyson's yard and did a hard cut back which was really upsetting to her.

I think their mindset is that people only do this every five or six years and they want their money's worth of chopping or something.


Laura - Aug 28, 2024 12:44:21 pm PDT #2317 of 3468
Our wings are not tired.

Ugh!! I am sorry, David. I'm confident you were clear on what you wanted.