0
Today is the late Muddy Waters' 100th birthday.
desdmonia:
Thank you. The doctors have a more positive outlook today.. hopefully she continues to improve!
0
So my weekend involves driving 170 miles to stay at my sister's house to babysit her 5mo old kitten, while I leave my own cat at home alone.

The big event of the weekend has been *finally* figuring out that the woman I date over here, and who I've been seeing off and on for like....15 years....has a drinking problem. I am *so* stupid about...
Read More
mydogfarted:
Taurine is an important ingredient in cat food. Want to know what also has a lot of taurine in it? Red Bull. wink

One of my close friends is an alcoholic, and it is a similar pattern. She never gets angry with me, but she gets angry. I've learned to identify the stages of drunk, and know when I need to get out of there - usually about the "You're such a great guy. khoos is so lucky to have you. I need someone like you in my life." which is about 5 minutes from "My {insert ex-husband or ex-boyfriend} is a lying asshole. They did this and that...". Which is usually where I try and exit.
0
My new cat Buddy, for the first time today I saw him have some interactions with a couple of cats in the front yard (his territory) where he *didnt* get in a big fight with them.

They just touched noses, and then laid about on the lawn together.

They were girl cats, of course. wink
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
meteora:
Awwww
neeeeon:
cute!
0
In Portland, attending the regional meeting of the American Peony Society. smile
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
andthen:
LOL...Our chapter is mostly made up of commercial nurserymen, rather than "home gardeners" , so we always have our meeting at the end of winter, when they are not busy out in their fields. The peonies are mostly still underground at this time of year, so no pictures to show.

The show's presentation was on hybridizing, and I'm still the only person out here on the West coast that's doing any of that. Now that I've been hybridizing for about 12 years, my seedlings are just getting big enough to flower, and I *am* getting some interesting things. The word that I'm getting some good results is slowly leaking out, but since there's still only one existing plant of most of them, and they are only in bloom for 10 days or so....it's still this kind of mysterious rumor. Some people have seen pictures...some people have heard about the pictures....

It's all pretty fun, I must admit. wink

This spring I'll be seeing a whole new batch of things for the very first time, so I'll try and post some pictures here.

As I'm finding, a lot of people tend to keep mum about what they have ( until they've officially named and registered them, been able to propagate them to the point where they have a bunch of plants of them) so it will be an SG horticultural exclusive ! wink

desdmonia:
Thank you for your words of support.. as always wink

I can't wait to see the photos!! I'd love to see the progression of how they grow... but you may not want to divulge your secret talent tongue wink

I need to get into gardening again... this past year has just been so rough I haven't been able to. Although I love it, it kind of brings back bad memories of when I would garden all day and night after work on massive amounts of adderall and rum. I can get past that mental block if I try hard enough. But then theres still the money! Rawr! I am going to move to Mars.
0



You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him."

Attributed to Goethe and various others.
0
OK, I don't know how many weeks it's been now, but I was finally able to threaten and browbeat my friend into going to the hospital. Running 103* temp for two weeks or more, then having blood show up in your urine, and still refusing to go ? All the while wanting to chat on the computer with me for hours every day ?

As...
Read More
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
surreal______:
Here's hoping she finally wakes up and realizes what she's doing to herself, deciding it's not worth it anymore to do that.
desdmonia:
Oh I bet that is draining.. you put up with it for quite a while. I am glad you got her to go. I think she will end up thanking you smile
0
The cops showed up at my friend's door this morning, and arrested her abusive BF, on what charges no one knows.

Her temperature from pneumonia continues at over 103*, with no abatement. No meds, and she resolutely refuses to go back to the hospital.

" I hate the hospital. "

I suppose the "rock bottom" thing is getting closer, as with him gone, now she's...
Read More
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
desdmonia:
frown Keeping you and your friend in my thoughts.
andthen:
Abruptly no word from her in the last couple of days, so hopefully she's come to her senses, and has made it to the hospital.

Made her promise to leave my contact info in a note to her father, in case things go bad.

It seemed like the least I could request for myself.

0
The saga of my friend continues, but I don't know for how much longer.

She has pneumonia, and has had it for weeks, was on an IV antibiotic drip in the hospital, checked herself out before the course of antibiotics were done ( "I just hate hospitals") thus assuring that only the most drug-resistant were left in her body, and was *not* able to fill...
Read More
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
andthen:


I've dealt with people who are in abusive relationships before, and that part of things can be just about as frustrating as anything I know. If she were to give this guy the dump, her situation would be *so* much better, but like so many other abused women, she just can't give the guy up.

Even when the guy is in jail for long stretches, he finds ways to manipulate her from there, and his thug "friends" on the outside manage to keep her terrorized.

While she's without the meds she needs now, the suggestion that I pay for them did not come up this time, and I didn't offer either. Mostly because I know it's to late for oral meds to help her, and the only thing that will actually get her to the hospital and back on IV antibiotics ( Which I believe are the only thing that will save her life now ) is if someone around her panics at her condition and drags her there.

She's a mess in a bunch of other different medical and psychological ways too.

It's hard to be harsh with someone when they are at death's door, so right now all I'm doing is chatting when she wants to chat, and then waiting to see what happens.

I suppose she could somehow spontaneously get better, but I've read enough about drug-resistant pneumonia to doubt that that's going to happen.

So all I can really do now is wait.
surreal______:
Speaking as a woman who has been in abusive relationships before, I know that my ex starting to lay hands on me in front of my son was my wake-up call. And hitting my son. Part of the problem though in an abusive relationship is that the abuser makes her think that she's not worth it without them. (And a lot of the time, not worth it with.) I hope that things get better, but even if they don't, I'm here if you want to talk.
0
I don't rant often, but this one's going to be a long one, I fear.

I have a web friend who is in an abusive relationship. She and I have IMed for probably 7 years now, and she has a condition where she throws up a lot. Bulimia and Gastroparesis.

She ends up in the hospital because of electrolite issues, but once she gets out,...
Read More
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
lior:
Its an awful situation she's in but she got herself in it and in the end she'll have to get herself out. Helping her with money, even though she resists at first, is just enabling her and she's not getting the boot up the ass she needs to wake up.

It's hard but sometimes we need to step back and say nothing, I've had to do it with family and it sucks but with some people the only way to be there is by not being there.
andthen:
Yes, I understand about letting her suffer the consequences of her actions. There's absolutely no talking sense into her, so what else is there to do ?

It's just that the particular sorts of consequences she is looking at (medical ones) generally seem to involve her dying.

Which is a harsh way to ask someone to get the message.

Sigh...
0
Damn, we just got over a big string of nights when it was in the single digits, and barely broke the teens in the daytime for a few days, and then today I saw a honey bee in my front yard !

How it can go from how it was, to almost 60* that quickly....it keeps winter interesting at least.
desdmonia:
The weather is quite crazy this year.
meteora:
That's one determined honey bee!