All still the same

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

Against all expectation my FIL still lingers.

And I was sixty years old when I learned a high fever won’t let you sleep.

Anyway, it seems I’m too tired to do anything but can’t sleep…

So….

118 thoughts on “All still the same”

  1. Rest as much as you can and get better. You know this crowd can amuse itself.

    4. On the topic of entertaining ourselves…

      Earlier this week, I found out that Lori and Corey Cole, who made the “Quest for Glory” series for Sierra back in the day, had formed their own software company (TranSolar Games) and released a spiritual successor to that series.

      It’s titled “Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption” , and came out about four years ago.
      If you’re of a certain age, and have nostalgia for point & click adventure games, I highly recommend it.

      It’s bittersweet, though.
      It didn’t sell all that well, so they’ve moved to producing visual novels instead. (The first of those released a bit over a week ago, and it running across my feed clued me into the existence of the game I’m hyping.)

  2. Take care.

    Right now, I’m fighting an extremely Pissed Off Mood.

      1. I am debating, should I ever get asked by some pollster (an unlikely thing, but not outside possibility) if I should tell the rat I’ll be voting straight D, or that I’ll be writing in Donald J. Trump, indictments and convictions be damned, or really mess them and say straight D except for that write-in.

        VOTE CENTAUR: YOU’RE GETTING A HORSE’S REAR END ANYWAY

        1. As my sainted grandmother always said, “The dear Lord, in His infinite wisdom, made more horse’s a s s es than He made horses to attach them to.

      3. And the Trans garbage.

        Oh, apparently the Trans Activists “got smart”.

        They canceled the “Day of Trans Vengeance” apparently for concerns about “Others Shooting First”.

        1. Going with a “Day of Visibility” at least on Twitter, for today.

          It’s… really not a good idea, some of these folks need advice on not feeding into uncharitable stereotypes.

          1. It has been said that some gays enjoyed “shocking the mundanes”.

            I suspect that some of these so-called Trans enjoy doing the same. 😡

            1. There is irony (and not a little bit of ever so slightly perverse joy) in the reverse. Certain rabid opponents of traditional marriage, traditional families, Christianity, proper child rearing, and common decency tend to be shocked- shocked I tell you! When presented with evidence of same, and that such persons tend to be, by and large, happier, healither in mind and body, more sane, and in general content with life.

              Trad marriage as counter culture? Imagine the shock if a teenage girl professed her desire to be a stay at home mom with a dozen kids today. Or a man who wanted such a wife to mother his kids.

            2. Except I’m only shocked that someone has worse PR judgement than I do– some of it is bad enough that it comes across as a predator trying to use the “abuse good manners” tactic, but doing it in a completely public place that’s on video, which is a HORRIBLE idea just on a tactical level!

              1. Oh, I agree with you about this but I see them as idiots more concerned about “shocking mundanes” than about convincing people that “Trans Are Nice People”.

                    1. Once when I was young and had few friends, I read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Friends and Influence People”. Well, adopting what advice I agreed with I still didn’t get me very many friends, but I did get over being young. Funny, I don’t recall any advice there about threatening vengeance on people who don’t like you.

                  2. Hint for the public:
                    Suggestions that you are going after their kids? Or that you will kill them?

                    Very bad idea.

                    No matter how much you “feel” it is justified.

            3. Known in the SCA as, “freaking the mundies.”
              But yes, shocking the squares goes back a long way.

              1. Well, I always took it as an opportunity to explain the hobby and brighten people’s day. And the same with a lot of people in the SCA.

                The people who want to go out in public without explaining — they are the ones who seemed to want to scare or bewilder somebody. And I never saw the point.

                1. Since my beloved the Baron wanted to run a healthy, growing group, we explained. (Founding Baron. Since a good friend won the vote for Baroness, after I married him I was unofficially his mistress).
                  We also observed the journalistic tradition of “ignore the people who want to explain and find the one genuine crackpot in the group and quote him.” Which isn’t totally fair to Eric the Enslaver, since he actually mellowed out, eventually, and became a useful fellow.

          2. And the President (or his handlers) put out a statement of support, citing their “bravery,” and their being made “in the image of God.”
            Still not word one of any kind about the victims.

              1. I keep thinking about Larry Correia’s on/off switch. How close are we to having it flipped?
                The other thing I wonder is how long until the long knives come out.

                1. Keep in mind that the True Believer Marxist believes that conflict, any conflict that is violent will breed amongst the Proletariat the Revolutionaries that will bring Revolution, thus Communism.

                  They are counting on that violence. They are convinced it destroys us and our ways, leaving them to build Utopia.

                  They forget that they and their fellow “Marxists” are solidly Bourgeois, thus doomed.

                  Popcorn?

                    1. Folks in the comments:
                      “NY Post said gunned down, too!”
                      Thsi one: former student gunned down, suspect
                      NY Post article: video as heroic police gun down shooter in school

            1. Nobody is Perfect.

              Even as snarky as ox might be…
              With all ox doubts about the sanity of humans…
              Even ox cannot be Perfectly Cynical.

              Ox have only ox-like powers.
              Ox NOT have god-like powers.

              Moo.

          2. I severely doubt it. An orange cat with the time shared brain cell has a higher density of brain matter than any of these brahmandarin types.

        3. A “Day of Trans Vengeance” held within two weeks of a multiple homicide by a transgender person requires a high level of cluelessness. As did the tweet by the (former) Arizona Governor’s press secretary Josselyn Berry just after the shooting which featured a woman waving guns above the caption “Us when we see transphobes”. Not that transgender activists are well connected to reality anyway, but this is on the level of “open mouth, insert gun barrel”.

          1. If you stay alert, you can likely get the second shot and win, since I’m not very impressed with the shooting skills of any of these leftists.

              2. That’s disappointing. I was hoping they’d take yet another opportunity to show off their stupidity. Although if the Normies haven’t caught on by now, I have to wonder what it will take. I mean, eight months of rioting, looting, murdering mobs didn’t wake them up.
                ———————————
                If you use violence and brutality to bring about social change, your cause will be taken over by violent brutes.

            2. Ah. perhaps not quite as clueless as I had supposed. But a wilful denial of reality is foolish, and persecution of those who don’t accede to their folly is evil.

  3. There’s nothing wrong with laying with your eyes closed with a cat nearby when you’re too tired to do anything, but can’t sleep. I’ve spent days like that when autoimmune issues kicked up harder than usual.

    1. Cats are sleep emitters, as least for me. Miz Kitty has a broadcast power rivaling KDKA.

      1. You ain’t kidding. I have a “go get the kids” alarm set ten minutes before I have to leave to give me time to wake up if they’ve ambushed me during the afternoon.

      2. Yup Kitties emit sleep wavelengths at 50+ megawatts of power. But sometimes if you’re sufficiently uncomfortable even that doesn’t seem to help.

      3. That they are, especially R and C on my end! L’s been exercising that power a lot more lately, too.

        1. AKA “Special K” is amazing. I am a light sleeper, as any number of dorm and barracks pranksters learned to their woe. Reliably, I awaken to the alarm to find Special K perched on my hip. She never wakes me up unless the is trying.

          (Bat bat bat)

          Bzzrrrrrowwlrrrrrt! MOWWWWW!

          Fuzzy thug.

    2. It’s not common, but from time to time cramps/sleep debt/sickness knock me down to the point where I end up lying in my bed with the lights off, listening to ‘Father Brown’ radio plays.

      (Colonial Radio Theatre: On the Air does very well for this. Voice acting, sound effects, and they still manage to keep in many of Chesterton’s best descriptive lines by putting them in characters’ mouths. I don’t know if you have energy enough for an audiobook, and those are annoyingly difficult to get hold of, but I would recommend them.)

  4. Rest, please Sarah. There’s a nasty cough going around down here (not the dust cough, the virus one) that leaves people feeling lousy for weeks if they don’t take it seriously. The dust. . . .I smelled it when it hit, and we’ve got really, really good filters at Day Job.

    The morning meditation was Marcus Aurelius about don’t fret over what you cannot touch or deal with, followed by Matthew’s verse “Sufficient unto the day is the evil therein.” Rest, recover, build under, build around. That’s all most of us can or should do. Prayer for those so inclined is always good.

    2. Whatever it is it’s up here in the northeast. Elder daughter had bronchitis so bad it earned her a taper of prednisone and a nebulizer and albuterol for it. Wife seems to have something like it. I’m trying to avoid it as my lungs are almost as good as our Dear Hostess’ immune system… There are people hacking all over the place when I’m out, probably exacerbated by the fact we had a relatively mild winter this year.

      1. There’s an old saying about “Green winter, full graveyard, White winter, empty graveyard.” Now that we have medications that work for more people, the graveyard is less of a problem than the urgent care clinic waiting room. (And anywhere else people gather and cough!)

        1. I have had two different forms of tonsillitis. Not recommended. And I have been full up with vitamins and healthy foods the whole time, so it’s very annoying.

  6. What everybody else said. Rest when possible. Don’t worry about us, we won’t make much of a mess here. I mean, nothing that you’d really notice after we get the cleaning crew in. (Hey guys – any idea why the previous cleaners quit?)

  9. Sometimes you have to choke back the crying and tell your loved one it’s OK to let go.

  11. Rest, Sarah! The advice in the first post is excellent, my cats are experts in purrnosis. Sometimes its all you can do besides prayer. Still praying for you and all your family. Rest!

  12. Human beings are so fragile. Human beings are so resilient. And sometimes, Sarah, like your father-in-law, we are both at once. I’m not sure about embracing all the contradictions in human nature, but we have to acknowledge them.

    Hold yourself together, at least for Dan’s sake. And don’t mind leaving us alone here. If we haven’t wrecked the place in previous absences, it’s not going to happen now.

    I’m almost certain of that.

    1. I’m fine, except for being very ill. Dan is being New England stoic, but his voice broke while talking of his dad today.
      Those of you from New England know what that means.

      1. Yup we’re tough SOB’s, except when we’re not. Stiff upper lip and all that left over from long ago and our English forbears. It is both a strength and a weakness of the traditional New England archetype.

  13. Guys, what if Joe Biden is really Hitler?

    So, there are crazies talking about immortality as a near term technical achievement. If now, why not eighty years ago?

    Joe Biden famously has that body double.

    Why can’t that body double be an unnaturally vigorous Adolph Hitler?

    The haircut and the mustache are probably what most people remember as Hitler’s features, and I’m not sure how many people have strong opinions on how closely Biden physically resembles Hitler.

    1. To give the Devil His Due, Hitler was smarter than Biden has ever been.

    4. Not Hitler

      Pietro Badoglio, the guy who was the successor of Mussolini.
      (I’ve always considered Barry the O to be the political descendant of Benny the Moose.)

    5. Compare the two men giving speeches. Der Fuhrer would have a carefully organized affair with his followers organized in neat ranks, all laid out for the camera.

      Biden delivers his speech looking like it’s being delivered amidst the fires of Hell.

      There’s more than just the funny mustache.

      😛

      On a slightly more serious note, their speech delivery styles are quite different. Der Fuhrer would practice at length before he gave a speech to ensure he got the delivery right. Biden (even before the dementia) has always been known for delivering nonsensical and stupid comments off the cuff.

      2. Idea in mind is that some tiem, maybe the 1970s, Hitler cut a deal with a physically similar Senator Joe Biden, and Joe Biden’s first wife had an accident to cover it up.

        Joe Biden would have still been behaving normally for him and driving the public persona.

        Hitler would be 139 years old, and even if remarkably youthful could still be quite senile, in addition.

      3. Biden is a mentally incapacitated puppet. It is his handlers who share Hitler’s ideology and lust for power.

        1. They’re the same ventriloquists that had their arms up 0bama’s backside for 8 years.

          How were they planning to control Queen Hillary, though? It’s like they didn’t think that one through. Would there have been a rash of ‘mysterious deaths’ among the White House staff? “Off with their heads!”
          ———————————
          The U.S. Capitol is OUR house. Congresscritters are just the help.

          1. Hillary is one of the ringleaders; she shares the same ideology. She was the one who actively pushed nationalizing healthcare during Bill’s first year as POTUS, and she absolutely loved the Jew-hating terrorist Arafat and his wife). Her operatives worked hand in hand with Obama’s in 2016 and after in the effort to destroy Trump and she has been very active in seeking to impose censorship and ban guns.

  16. Me and the kitties both insist you rest, take care of yourself, and do what you need to do. Same for your family of course.

  17. The old damp cloth on the forehead thing can help. Also the Vicks/menthol rub on the feet.

    My personal fever theory is to wrap up everything but my head like a burrito, and maybe take nice showers every so often. Or sponge bath with a facecloth.

    Also, stay hydrated.

  18. Rest, take time and just relax. All of the advice here is sound and helpful. While cats do indeed help the sleeping process – I’ve got a little dog (cat sized so maybe something there) who is a wonderful nap buddy for me and/or the wife person. Just got up a bit ago after a nice snooze with the little fur ball.

    She (the doggo, not the wife person) will wake me up if I’m needed by licking my nose. The dog knows when evil is afoot and is a great warning system too. However, any type of thunder storm fits in the “Get up Dad! It’s a storm!” and we must sit together to be sure it passes by.

    1. got a little dog
      ……

      Got the cats too, but it is the dog that cuddles.

      The dog knows when evil is afoot and is a great warning system too.
      …..

      Ditto. Also with the thunder/lightening storms.

      In addition she wakes me up if I stop breathing or gasp loudly (I really should not nap w/o the mandibular device in), and if my BS drops below 82-ish, and if it is dropping rapidly. She is rather insistent. I not only get lots of kisses, she tries to push under me.

    2. Special K wakes me from nightmares. Kinda cool.

      But one rumble of thunder, and she is under the couch (the Fur-her-bunker) for hours.

      1. Ours will first try to get into bed with us, then bury himself in the closet farthest from the windows.

        1. Subscription libraries stayed alive in the US into the 1940’s, but I think mostly they died off in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. They were a big thing for people who wanted to keep up with all the Golden Age mystery novels, and Anthony Boucher’s old reviews talk a lot about what they should buy.

          I suspect that people moving to the suburbs made the difference. Or maybe everybody got married and had kids.

            1. Book of the Month clubs went well into the 1990s. I got suckered in by the SFBC my own self in high school. (It was the only way to get copies of certain SF classics, before Amazon, when living in the sticks.)

    3. Full thirty foot she towered from waterline to rail.
      It cost a watch to steer her, and a week to shorten sail;
      But, spite all modern notions, I found her first and best—
      The only certain packet for the Islands of the Blest.

      Fair held the breeze behind us—’twas warm with lovers’ prayers.
      We’d stolen wills for ballast and a crew of missing heirs.
      They shipped as Able Bastards till the Wicked Nurse confessed,
      And they worked the old three-decker to the Islands of the Blest.

      By ways no gaze could follow, a course unspoiled of Cook,
      Per Fancy, fleetest in man, our titled berths we took
      With maids of matchless beauty and parentage unguessed,
      And a Church of England parson for the Islands of the Blest.

      We asked no social questions—we pumped no hidden shame—
      We never talked obstetrics when the Little Stranger came:
      We left the Lord in Heaven, we left the fiends in Hell.
      We weren’t exactly Yussufs, but—Zuleika didn’t tell.

      No moral doubt assailed us, so when the port we neared,
      The villain had his flogging at the gangway, and we cheered.
      ’Twas fiddle in the forc’s’le—’twas garlands on the mast,
      For every one got married, and I went ashore at last.

      I left ’em all in couples a-kissing on the decks.
      I left the lovers loving and the parents signing cheques.
      In endless English comfort by county-folk caressed,
      I left the old three-decker at the Islands of the Blest!

      That route is barred to steamers: you’ll never lift again
      Our purple-painted headlands or the lordly keeps of Spain.
      They’re just beyond your skyline, howe’er so far you cruise
      In a ram-you-damn-you liner with a brace of bucking screws.

      Swing round your aching search-light—’twill show no haven’s peace.
      Ay, blow your shrieking sirens to the deaf, gray-bearded seas!
      Boom out the dripping oil-bags to skin the deep’s unrest—
      And you aren’t one knot the nearer to the Islands of the Blest!

      But when you’re threshing, crippled, with broken bridge and rail,
      At a drogue of dead convictions to hold you head to gale,
      Calm as the Flying Dutchman, from truck to taffrail dressed,
      You’ll see the old three-decker for the Islands of the Blest.

      You’ll see her tiering canvas in sheeted silver spread;
      You’ll hear the long-drawn thunder ’neath her leaping figure-head;
      While far, so far above you, her tall poop-lanterns shine
      Unvexed by wind or weather like the candles round a shrine!

      Hull down—hull down and under—she dwindles to a speck,
      With noise of pleasant music and dancing on her deck.
      All’s well—all’s well aboard her—she’s left you far behind,
      With a scent of old-world roses through the fog that ties you blind.

      Her crew are babes or madmen? Her port is all to make?
      You’re manned by Truth and Science, and you steam for steaming’s sake?
      Well, tinker up your engines—you know your business best—
      She’s taking tired people to the Islands of the Blest!

    4. Coming from up here in the Northeast I saw triple decker and thought house. Many of these three story three family homes were of the late Victorian or early Edwardian period. They show up because many cities with strong industrial sectors needed homes but there were height (usually 3 stories) and residency limits that meant NY or Bostan style tenements could not be built. They usually had the owner living on the first floor which was slightly nicer than the upper two floors. Sometimes they are painted in fairly ornate styles often in contrasting colors for the various levels. Almost always have rear exits to be used as fire escapes and often with porches where laundry was hung to dry.

  25. The people down the way, who were very white but had a BLM sign, and who got to keep their political tchotchkes outside when all the pretty things were banned by the landlord, are finally moving out.

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