quietann

J called me this afternoon, while I was waiting for Dad's prescription, to tell me she had to have Trump euthanized this morning. He had some unknown issue that seemed like colic but wasn't, and he was in a lot of pain. I had not seen him in a while and now I regret it.

Trump let me fly:

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I miss him....

No one has probably noticed, but for someone who is expressly (and sometimes expressively) pro-reproductive rights, I've been silent about the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

I've not said anything because others said it better. And I'd be preaching to the choir here. And because, frankly, in case there are any "non choir members" reading this, I gave up having the abortion debate years ago, so don't even try.

I didn't attend the vigil in downtown Boston, either. I bought a bathing suit instead, no disrespect meant, but I am also more or less done with vigils/protests/rallies/whatever. I did a lot when I was younger.

And good for all of you who have stood up in public. Carry on!

I am also on dreamwidth, same user name. I have not (yet) set up cross-posting or anything else.

Ben and I were heading out tonight and I found this guy behind my car in the driveway:




This was one pissed-off turkey! He did NOT want to move. He did NOT want to let us move, either.

I backed the car out of the driveway very slowly, while he, behind us, moved back and forth and even pecked the car a couple of times! He kept up a loud series of fowl curses. I finally got the car into the street, where another car kindly waited for us to *very* slowly get turned in the correct direction. (Actually, I suspect the other driver was dying of the giggles!) Mr. Turkey was last seen crossing to the other side of the street.

(I have a feeling I know why he's pissed off. I've been seeing a hen turkey with two toms in close pursuit, and I think this guy finally lost the fight to Imprezz Teh Gurl. So he's sexually frustrated and taking it out on my car...)

Just so everyone starts on the same page, I'm a lifelong democrat, one of those relatively well-off socially liberal sorts. Small-d democrat because every once in a great while, I'll vote for someone from another party. And I will admit to not being 100% on-board with Obama, though I *never* would have voted for McCain (because of pesky things like his record on reproductive rights). And especially with Sarah Palin as his running mate; I view a vote for McCain as likely a vote for Palin, and there is No Way No How I want That Woman sitting in the Oval Office with her finger on the nuclear button.

So anyway, I'm sure anyone who's been listening to the news has heard recordings of some of the scary (IMHO) crowds at McCain/Palin rallies. It started at the RNC on the night of Giuliani's and Palin's speeches... The utter hatred expressed scared the cr*p out of me (because I am a member of several groups the Far Right would just as soon erase off the face of the Earth, as far as I can tell.) The fact that, with the exception of a couple of half-hearted attempts on McCain's part, no one's trying to stop the haters scares me even more. (And I do think McCain tried, but he just sounds so... old and tired, and he's given up I think. Palin doesn't even bother to try. She revels in the hate.)

In contrast... I heard a little piece on NPR yesterday... a very brief recording of what happened when some folks at an Obama rally in Ohio started booing when he mentioned McCain. Obama Shut. Them. Down. In about 3 seconds, using a voice I know well -- my mom's School-Teacher voice, the "You have just blown it, kid, and you'd better stop" voice. I don't remember what he said exactly, but it was something along the lines of "Now I don't want to hear any of that." There was a moment of deafening silence, and then he said something really inspiring, and the crowd was cheering.

Wow. Just... wow.

My friend cz_unit made a post on Hope versus Hate, back in September. Here is an excerpt.

[Palin]'s all the things we're ashamed of, embarrassed by, or loathing of our selves. And instead of doing something we can channel it into hatred of others.

Contrast that with hope. With hope, you have to take responsibility for what you have done and take steps towards making it better. With hope there is no outlet for your fury other than your own self for being stupid enough to get yourself into a hole. With hope you have to take action to make things better instead of sitting on your couch in front of your repossessed house, curing the "government" or "liberals" or "blacks", or "wetbacks, slopes, wimps, gimps..." and so forth and so on.

With hope you become the change.


There were things about the post I didn't like, but if you want to, you can go read.

This little radio snippet was the perfect demonstration of Hope over Hate.

Sam is out and about, climbing all over the place and mewing. He really wants to play with Naku, but she is Not Amused by this.

I can get the cats engaged in parallel play, chasing the red dot (laser pointer). Naku will hiss if the kitten catches the dot, but they do seem to be tolerating each other. Tomorrow morning, I'll let the little guy out of his cage in the morning and let him have a full day with Naku. He'll still be in his cage at night, so he can eat his special kitten food.

As he's getting out and exploring, he's becoming somewhat less cuddly, but I think it's simply that he knows I am the person who puts him in "Jail."

The kitten is doing great. I keep changing my mind about whether he is Sam or Whit, though. In any case, he's discovered that while Naku can hiss at him all she wants, she cannot actually get to him, so his attitude towards her is pretty mellow:



ETA: wren13 predicts that he will top out at 12 to 13 pounds, which is twice what Naku weighs.... but I suspect that she will still be top cat.

He loves being a lap cat, and puts up with things that no self-respecting cat should:

My favorite of the day -- at the end of cross-country:


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