Mom and Dad went to Coney Island on their first date pre-WWII. It was a blind date. Brooklyn girl and the Midwest sailor. Got a photograph of them in the rollercoaster’s lead car.
Ta, Martini. Some years back, I went to Governor's Island for a bee walk (I thought about it yesterday because of Shy's post). There's an urban farm, and I asked one of the volunteers what the goats liked best. She answered mugwort, so I picked a big bunch of it and fed the babby goats. That was a fun day.
Now I miss working with Sonia, the nurse who lived on the farm in Idaho and raised pygmy goats. When those wee hoofers had their bebes the pictures and videos Sonia brought to work up at the hospital were SO adorbs!
Friends that I don't see often enough retired to northern California and got some goats "as a hobby", now they are in the angora and cashmere trade "as a hobby"...
Pretty lucrative hobby, as they have to hire seasonal hobbyists to help with the shearing...
Jealousy is so ugly, but sometimes I can't help myself.
They also have watch-geese. No sneaking up on the goats.
Geese and peacocks are the assholes of the bird world. When I was little'un, my aunt and uncle's peacocks used to terrorize my young ass when we'd visit their farm.
Why is everyone in the GOP party (actually the Dems too) studiously avoiding the cost of Trump's stroke me it's my birthday! parade, you know, with a price tag of 45 million.
A reporter might ask Trump how he can justify this when ordinary people are hurting.
You know what he'd say..."That's a stupid question!" No, it isn't.
Oh Lord, I just read the Independent link and that's the Trump I know and hate. Rambling incoherently about disconnected subjects, lying merrily, and wearing that stupid hat.
I read the Times story about Trump's speech at West Point's commencement and the story itself was ok until this passage:
“The job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures,” he continued, before seeming to misspeak by adding, “but to spread democracy to everybody around the world, at the point of a gun.”
Cue up Jacque Barzun's essay, "Is Democratic Theory for Export?"
(First rule of headlines: if it's asking a question, the answer is No, usually found at least five paragraphs in, or foreshadowed no later than the third chapter.)
It'll pass MAGA censors, because we'll tell them it's Democratic Party theory.
I've seen the quote from PAB about "exporting democracy at the point of a gun" in 3 places so far. Heather Cox Richardson quotes "not to spread DEI OR to spread democracy at the point of a gun" while Tiedrich and the Independent quote as "... BUT to spread democracy at the point of a gun".
"OR" makes more sense to me as something PAB would say. He don't give a shit about no democracy, guns or otherwise. Using American resources (which he thinks all belong to him) to improve anyone else's life is just not something I see him going with.
I was pretty rattled when I read the Independent quote, but I think "OR" is more likely and marginally better.
Strong support for "everyone should have a hand fan." You open up the most ridiculous of gestures and motions you can make. "Loud snap open FLAP-FLAP-FLAP" to indicate you're not happy. "Loud snap close into POINTING BATON" when you want to focus things. "Hide your face." "Gentle flaps in time with the music." It's a fidget spinner for the opera!
You think maybe the reason Whitest Guy was abducted by ICE is not so much his "missed paperwork" but his coming from Denmark, the country that owns Greenland? It'd be pretty par for the course for President Grudge.
Re Michael Wolff's article: Mrs DV became fully acquainted with long-term care facilities when she was a primary-care provider at one of our nicer ones in town. By nicer I mean the food was surprisingly good and the building didn't smell like pee. It was notoriously expensive. She befriended a patient who in her prime was a 50s-era ad executive--an attractive, vibrant woman among Mad Men. I went along with Mrs DV to visit her several times. She was still mentally sharp but her body had failed her and she was completely immobile. In barely more than a whisper she told tales of cocktail parties, international travel, exotic suitors, and at least one occasion where she discovered she could run in high heels. Her money ran out. Her memory disintegrated. Her son couldn't take her in as she was and she was transfered another facility. By facility I mean someone's modest house out in the country, a woman who took in a handful of patients and accepted whatever Medicare paid. A hospital bed was crammed into the laundry room and this is where we saw her last.
Mrs DV lasted one year in long-term care. Soon after she went back to full-time hospital medicine we bought a digital picture frame, the consummate old person gift, because we know that at some point our entire lives will be reduced to what can hang on one wall. Hopefully that wall will be in our own house but in my heart of hearts I know that probably won't be the case.
The key mistake made in the Micheal Wolfe story was heart surgery on an 80+ year. old patient. My dad at a AAA operation before 80 that wound him up in ICU and a LTAC facility. What should have taken 4 hours took 6 hours to accomplish. As the cardiologist said, "He would have died if he hadn't had a strong heart". The surgeon like in Wolfe's case said that the surgery was successful. So why is he in the ICU? Anyway, my dad made a great recovery and never wanted to talk about what had happened during his "lost" six weeks. He couldn't remember it and so it hadn't happened.
Skip forward 10 years and my dad had gone back to his old bad eating habits and whatnot. Showing signs of dementia, he fell down and died suddenly one day. Could have been a heart attack, who knows? Despite having a DNR, like Wolfe's mom, my mom had the EMTs who showed up with the ambulance perform CPR on my dad and approved his intubation at the hospital. That is my last memory of my dad, his body lying in a hospital bed with the tube down this throat. Well, not the last because I saw him cleaned up in his casket.
Anyway, my mom has come out ok. She had been trying to get my dad to move to continuous living - where you start out with an apartment for independent living, then move to assisted living or memory care if needed, then to nursing home all in the same set of buildings. She's in independent living now and she hopes to die before she needs assisted living, where they do more than Wolfe describes. They'll help you bathe and dress and stuff but you need to be all there mentally.
So not all elderly people linger but for those that do, it's hell. I have friends whose parents are in memory care, not for Alzheimer's and their lives are difficult.
Here's to Shypixel, who seems to make some effort to make himself look put together, even on vacation. I see so many guys his age wearing baggy t-shirts and floppy shorts it's pathetic. (FWIW, I'm about 15 years his senior.)
That Michael Wolff essay is brutal. And as usual when reading about protracted death, I am very determined not to end up like that, by any means necessary. But, before I get that old, I bet something will have to give. With all the boomers getting to be that age, we simply won't be able to spend hundred of thousands per patient to keep them minimally and miserably alive.
He cleared traffic for me on a bad bridge trip into town. Steadily saying his Name did, in fact, result in other cars pulling away or dropping behind... even the drag racer playing with my bumper. At 60mph.
That’s a great point Nova! My response would be this: first off, there was a time when God was more physically present in the world, and that was in the old testament and during the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Second off, I believe God is still active today. Even searching it up online provides countless stories of real miracles helping to prove the existence of God and the truth of Jesus Christ. Does that make any sense?
I love and understand you and your viewpoint, but I respectfully disagree with the attitude of "whatever gives you peace". If God and Jesus are true, it has profound implications on the lives of all of us, and we need to follow them.
I've gotten to the point of being so cynical about the New York Times that whenever they do something allegedly good, like "begging people to pay attention to Trump's corruption," my only thought is "what are they trying to hide this time?"
Robert Reich: "A hidden measure in the Republican budget bill would crown Trump king"
It seems that a line in the budget forbids the entire Federal judiciary from using any money to enforce contempt charges or findings against administration officials.
It also seems that Robert Reich is persona non-grata at the Times, he had to publish that in the Guardian. Despite claiming him as one of their columnists, the New York Times has not published a goddamn thing by Reich since January 4. I wonder why?.
I’ve always felt a special connection with Stroke1 and wish all the comforts for his family and friends - I think we were close in age - and we both were connected with the hills - as much as any other Wonketteer I enjoyed my interactions with Stroke1 - our exchanges still fill my heart - RIP dude.
Hi sweet thangs, I have your header gif info: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/goat-kissed
And a meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/f0887c2d-81f5-4a97-8216-04b3eb8bce25
Mom and Dad went to Coney Island on their first date pre-WWII. It was a blind date. Brooklyn girl and the Midwest sailor. Got a photograph of them in the rollercoaster’s lead car.
Damn! Missed the post I was aiming for.
Babby goats are always a good way to start the day.
I think I must have had that same look each morning when my mother plastered my cowlick
down before sending me off to school. The damn thing would pop right back up before I ever even got close to my neighborhood school.
BTW : Extra credit for use of "thangs".
✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Buckwheat? I thought you were dead!
Babby goat head skritches!
Meanwhile in Maine...
https://youtu.be/2ChVegf2Vc0?si=ivcAMTTAUXiWr3bc
I love the Sunflower Farm kids!
They are SO damned adorable!
Ta, Martini. Some years back, I went to Governor's Island for a bee walk (I thought about it yesterday because of Shy's post). There's an urban farm, and I asked one of the volunteers what the goats liked best. She answered mugwort, so I picked a big bunch of it and fed the babby goats. That was a fun day.
Can I borrow some goats? Our suburban wilderness is over run with mugwort.
Now I miss working with Sonia, the nurse who lived on the farm in Idaho and raised pygmy goats. When those wee hoofers had their bebes the pictures and videos Sonia brought to work up at the hospital were SO adorbs!
Friends that I don't see often enough retired to northern California and got some goats "as a hobby", now they are in the angora and cashmere trade "as a hobby"...
Pretty lucrative hobby, as they have to hire seasonal hobbyists to help with the shearing...
Jealousy is so ugly, but sometimes I can't help myself.
They also have watch-geese. No sneaking up on the goats.
You know who else had watch geese?
Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam that's who!
The guy on the tour said they make more racket than a dog when they're upset.
Geese and Goats, the assholes of the farm.
Goats are misunderstood! Geese on the other hand, well...
Geese and peacocks are the assholes of the bird world. When I was little'un, my aunt and uncle's peacocks used to terrorize my young ass when we'd visit their farm.
Don't forget swans. Nasty buggers they are.
Peacocks are terrifying
When I was young, I had a formative experience, trying to walk past several peacocks and their peahens...
Saw some goslings in the park yesterday. So cute, before they fully develop their evil.
Guardians of the barnyard.
Mommmm....
Tastes like chikin
You taste funny kid!
Here’s lickin at you, kid.
"Of all the goat pens in all the farms in all the world..."
Babby goats and Mama!
This really gets my goat, exploiting these cute creatures and their hygiene for cheap clicks—— awwwwwww.
Goats are the GOAT!
I tied lychee fruit today (the nut is inside). Pretty damn good. Consultancy is a little off, but worth it.
Why is everyone in the GOP party (actually the Dems too) studiously avoiding the cost of Trump's stroke me it's my birthday! parade, you know, with a price tag of 45 million.
A reporter might ask Trump how he can justify this when ordinary people are hurting.
You know what he'd say..."That's a stupid question!" No, it isn't.
Oh Lord, I just read the Independent link and that's the Trump I know and hate. Rambling incoherently about disconnected subjects, lying merrily, and wearing that stupid hat.
His bald spot must be getting out of control.
I read the Times story about Trump's speech at West Point's commencement and the story itself was ok until this passage:
“The job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures,” he continued, before seeming to misspeak by adding, “but to spread democracy to everybody around the world, at the point of a gun.”
Misspoke my ass. He meant that shit.
Cue up Jacque Barzun's essay, "Is Democratic Theory for Export?"
(First rule of headlines: if it's asking a question, the answer is No, usually found at least five paragraphs in, or foreshadowed no later than the third chapter.)
It'll pass MAGA censors, because we'll tell them it's Democratic Party theory.
I've seen the quote from PAB about "exporting democracy at the point of a gun" in 3 places so far. Heather Cox Richardson quotes "not to spread DEI OR to spread democracy at the point of a gun" while Tiedrich and the Independent quote as "... BUT to spread democracy at the point of a gun".
"OR" makes more sense to me as something PAB would say. He don't give a shit about no democracy, guns or otherwise. Using American resources (which he thinks all belong to him) to improve anyone else's life is just not something I see him going with.
I was pretty rattled when I read the Independent quote, but I think "OR" is more likely and marginally better.
Strong support for "everyone should have a hand fan." You open up the most ridiculous of gestures and motions you can make. "Loud snap open FLAP-FLAP-FLAP" to indicate you're not happy. "Loud snap close into POINTING BATON" when you want to focus things. "Hide your face." "Gentle flaps in time with the music." It's a fidget spinner for the opera!
Cheers to Stroke. He'll be missed by me and by many.
You think maybe the reason Whitest Guy was abducted by ICE is not so much his "missed paperwork" but his coming from Denmark, the country that owns Greenland? It'd be pretty par for the course for President Grudge.
Re Michael Wolff's article: Mrs DV became fully acquainted with long-term care facilities when she was a primary-care provider at one of our nicer ones in town. By nicer I mean the food was surprisingly good and the building didn't smell like pee. It was notoriously expensive. She befriended a patient who in her prime was a 50s-era ad executive--an attractive, vibrant woman among Mad Men. I went along with Mrs DV to visit her several times. She was still mentally sharp but her body had failed her and she was completely immobile. In barely more than a whisper she told tales of cocktail parties, international travel, exotic suitors, and at least one occasion where she discovered she could run in high heels. Her money ran out. Her memory disintegrated. Her son couldn't take her in as she was and she was transfered another facility. By facility I mean someone's modest house out in the country, a woman who took in a handful of patients and accepted whatever Medicare paid. A hospital bed was crammed into the laundry room and this is where we saw her last.
Mrs DV lasted one year in long-term care. Soon after she went back to full-time hospital medicine we bought a digital picture frame, the consummate old person gift, because we know that at some point our entire lives will be reduced to what can hang on one wall. Hopefully that wall will be in our own house but in my heart of hearts I know that probably won't be the case.
The key mistake made in the Micheal Wolfe story was heart surgery on an 80+ year. old patient. My dad at a AAA operation before 80 that wound him up in ICU and a LTAC facility. What should have taken 4 hours took 6 hours to accomplish. As the cardiologist said, "He would have died if he hadn't had a strong heart". The surgeon like in Wolfe's case said that the surgery was successful. So why is he in the ICU? Anyway, my dad made a great recovery and never wanted to talk about what had happened during his "lost" six weeks. He couldn't remember it and so it hadn't happened.
Skip forward 10 years and my dad had gone back to his old bad eating habits and whatnot. Showing signs of dementia, he fell down and died suddenly one day. Could have been a heart attack, who knows? Despite having a DNR, like Wolfe's mom, my mom had the EMTs who showed up with the ambulance perform CPR on my dad and approved his intubation at the hospital. That is my last memory of my dad, his body lying in a hospital bed with the tube down this throat. Well, not the last because I saw him cleaned up in his casket.
Anyway, my mom has come out ok. She had been trying to get my dad to move to continuous living - where you start out with an apartment for independent living, then move to assisted living or memory care if needed, then to nursing home all in the same set of buildings. She's in independent living now and she hopes to die before she needs assisted living, where they do more than Wolfe describes. They'll help you bathe and dress and stuff but you need to be all there mentally.
So not all elderly people linger but for those that do, it's hell. I have friends whose parents are in memory care, not for Alzheimer's and their lives are difficult.
Yours is such a common story. The nation really needs to be sat down for a sober conversation about what quality of life is at any stage.
Here's to Shypixel, who seems to make some effort to make himself look put together, even on vacation. I see so many guys his age wearing baggy t-shirts and floppy shorts it's pathetic. (FWIW, I'm about 15 years his senior.)
Stroke1 was commenting on my posts just a couple of days ago, can't believe he's gone. Much sympathy to the family, I will miss him.
That Michael Wolff essay is brutal. And as usual when reading about protracted death, I am very determined not to end up like that, by any means necessary. But, before I get that old, I bet something will have to give. With all the boomers getting to be that age, we simply won't be able to spend hundred of thousands per patient to keep them minimally and miserably alive.
Hey guys, hope everyone's having a great day. Just wanted to say that Jesus loves y'all :)
He cleared traffic for me on a bad bridge trip into town. Steadily saying his Name did, in fact, result in other cars pulling away or dropping behind... even the drag racer playing with my bumper. At 60mph.
If he loved me he'd call from time to time.
That’s a great point Nova! My response would be this: first off, there was a time when God was more physically present in the world, and that was in the old testament and during the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Second off, I believe God is still active today. Even searching it up online provides countless stories of real miracles helping to prove the existence of God and the truth of Jesus Christ. Does that make any sense?
I've got a theology degree and a fair grasp of the material. Whatever gives you peace is what I want for you. I follow a different path.
I love and understand you and your viewpoint, but I respectfully disagree with the attitude of "whatever gives you peace". If God and Jesus are true, it has profound implications on the lives of all of us, and we need to follow them.
Why thank you! Jesus loves you too but everybody else thinks you are an asshole!
What do you mean by that? Sorry I'm bad at understanding
I've gotten to the point of being so cynical about the New York Times that whenever they do something allegedly good, like "begging people to pay attention to Trump's corruption," my only thought is "what are they trying to hide this time?"
Robert Reich: "A hidden measure in the Republican budget bill would crown Trump king"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/27/a-hidden-measure-in-the-republican-budget-bill-would-crown-trump-king
It seems that a line in the budget forbids the entire Federal judiciary from using any money to enforce contempt charges or findings against administration officials.
It also seems that Robert Reich is persona non-grata at the Times, he had to publish that in the Guardian. Despite claiming him as one of their columnists, the New York Times has not published a goddamn thing by Reich since January 4. I wonder why?.
I’ve always felt a special connection with Stroke1 and wish all the comforts for his family and friends - I think we were close in age - and we both were connected with the hills - as much as any other Wonketteer I enjoyed my interactions with Stroke1 - our exchanges still fill my heart - RIP dude.