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Mrs Whiggins

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Posts posted by Mrs Whiggins

  1. 12 minutes ago, tchookem said:
    7 hours ago, 'stache said:
    She thinks that Uncle Ruckus is the protagonist in Boon Docks, doesn’t she.

    Pardon my serious reply, but I don't think she does. I don't think she believes in any of it. She's a nihilist that's found a way to monetize her lack of decency.

    I concur. Her past would indicate that she is an apt pupil of geometry and an acute observer of all the angles.

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  2. ^^^This^^^^

    Our children have 529 plans and thus far the oldest ended up with the fortunate situation of scholarships rendering much of it unused but will pass it along to the next generation (that's the plan anyway). Next oldest had a mix of scholarships and then whatever that did not cover then we pulled out the remainder each year via the fund directly paying the school through the portal (first time was a simple phone call until we got electronic set up). Will still have some left over and IIRC will have some time before a decision will be necessary as to naming another bene or transferring $$ to another type of account. We determined that the funds were each theirs and left the decision with them as opposed to passing it down to the next in line.

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  3. Almost finished with The Shadow Docket. It's been a solid read thus far although I wish Vladeck had provided a glossary for the legal terms. Although I believe he wrote the book for the general reader, I'm one who will look up the meanings of terms I don't know as well as pronunciations as I go.Took me forever to read certiorari over and over again before my brain finally decided on one of the *six different ways various SCOTUS judges pronounce(d) it. FTR I settled on the pronunciation ser-shee-or-RAHR-ee, (rhyming with Ferrari) because I adopted the accent of Luigi from the movie Cars. Jokes aside, it's a book worth reading. I'm considering reading The Nine: Inside The Secret World Of The Supreme Court by Jeffery Toobin next as I never got around to reading it and although it would be somewhat out of order considering this last tome, might be a good supplement to what I've just finished. Anyone else read that? Thoughts?

    Or I may switch to fiction for awhile as I've been on a long nonfiction run.

     

    *Article here regarding law professor James Duane and the variances: https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/how_is_certiorari_pronounced_even_supreme_court_justices_disagree

  4. 19 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

    Welp, got back this afternoon after helping w/ the MIL's move Fri - Sun. The "turnkey" place she bought is, umm...interesting.

    You and Mrs. GOTJ are saints. Just know this.

    It's funny because all I can think about (with our children growing up and moving far away) is how to rid ourselves of a lifetime of possessions and flotsam and jetsam so that we can transition into less care for "things" as our need for care for ourselves increases. Some of these "things" hold a lot of memories and yet when it comes down to it...it's just extra trouble for those we care about. Sorry you've got this on your plate. Maybe it will go better than you think but regardless, vent here because it's a rocky road to navigate with those we love.

  5. I understand. The peat is for a couple of spot that are very likely TAAR in our St. Augustine. We were gone for the early part of the summer last year and it took hold before we returned. It wasn't cinch bugs as we checked via the usual methods and the spanghum is one of the least invasive ways to enrich the soil/benefit of the doubt with respect to that IMO.

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  6. 7 hours ago, statsman said:

    You’re recommending they handle her medical situation the same way as King Charles’, and that went fine for him. Why wouldn’t/couldn’t they do the same for her?

    I see your point, and yet it is slightly different. His children, William and Harry, are grown. William and Kate have a young family and for all their position and issues, when this type of situation hits your family if you're a parent of young children, it's tough. Our own family had to figure out ( away from ANY of the extraneous things that being a royal would bring) how to handle this. It's not an easy road to travel regardless. That mistakes were made with respect to communicating with their citizenry that were exacerbated by certain media sectors is of no small consequence but what a maelstrom of emotion to endure. Sure, they've got wealth, power, and prestige, but they face death as surely as the least of these.

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  7. Part of our lawn is trash because we have a new fence install but I'm kinda ambivalent about the effort thus far (i.e. I'm getting some blowback about overdoing with resodding, etc due to the surgery and I get that because it's coming from concern that I'm going to actually overdo which is not inaccurate with me). I'm leaning towards the prudent which is to spread some spanghum peat over the worst spots and perhaps a few strips of new sod and call it a day until, as you point out, the April/May grass flex and reassess. Already dropped some fertilizer last weekend because we had that rain forecast and trying to work around the doctor stuff.

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  8. Made beef/hash soup with leftover roast beef, onions, potato and beef broth. It's a family thing I grew up with and dirty Gibson's with cocktail onions seem to work well during the dinner prep so uh yeah, I'm a little wooooozy right now.

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  9. 4 hours ago, troph said:

     

    Not sure I can swing it but I might try in April. Right now it’s still emerging. 

    I had surgery this week so I haven't done twice weekly mows yet either. Normally I really get it going in April through the summer months and then if we get that awful awful heat then adjust accordingly. Last year was brutal on lawns.

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  10. On 3/22/2024 at 10:24 AM, Tex Long said:

    Is there something about not having a dick, that makes them think it's a Good Idea to put trash in the kitchen sink instead of taking three steps and tossing it in the trash bin? I mean, we're talking plastic bags, tin can lids, wadded up  aluminum foil, plastic bottle tops... why?

    That isn't gender, that's just weird, like @tigol mentioned. I put a trash can, sized appropriately in every room, it's changed out when full or during the regular cleaning each week.

  11. 1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

    I'm heading over to the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays next Saturday.  They usually have some pretty good college teams at it on top of the HS teams.  Last year UGA with Matthew Boling were there.

    Our district has its meet split between Tuesday April 2 and Thursday April 4... not sure why they aren't doing anything on Wednesday, but that's their schedule.  UIL finals are the weekend of May 4.  I'll be there for the Saturday 6A/1A finals.

    Definitely. Texas Tech is scheduled and coming off their indoor championship win; TCU is also slated to show but I think A&M and Baylor are not (heading to LSU). Heat sheets are not yet released, but should be within the next day or so. It's a weekend with a lot of meets where the weather is amenable (LSU is hosting, Florida as well).

     

    Also--spot on with the third leg on the relay, and he had a very nice hand off from leg #2 that helped.

  12. Had to pass last night; driving and drinking a no-no.

    Did pick up some apricot liqueur with which we've started experimenting so may check in this week with some more cocktail shenanigans.

  13. 13 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    I choose a single squirrel. Each bite should be painful, and it would be a slow death but not so slow that it takes years and he can do more stuff.  This assumes the squirrel is eating nonstop until the job is done. 

    This is outstanding. Even better is that squirrels are so stupid in some regards that the squirrel is likely to stop eating, bury the victim for awhile and then forget where he left said victim thus prolonging the eventual outcome.

  14. That meet has produced some great results over the years. Several years ago I thought the Fort Bend Marshall 4x100 team might break the record (that was the FB team with Achane IIRC) and then last year Fort Bend had yet another great group pulled together (there were a few other schools over the last couple of years--Katy Seven Lakes, PA Memorial) so congratulations to the athletes for getting after it and succeeding.

    I believe Watkins is a LSU recruit (football/track)? Shame (as several Texas unis would've loved his talent), but it's his call.

    We won't be attending the Relays next week, and I don't believe the HA squad is entered but then again the Relays is coming up very close to a lot of HS District Meets this year. I've got various conflicts but hope to catch some of the meet via web and post the uni results in the UT track thread.

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  15. Late mother's birthday today so cooked a nice beef roast with potatoes and carrots and raised a couple of glasses of wine (Bordeaux)  and had a few cocktails (*Green Deacon & Wibble)  in honor of her life and the grace with which she lived it. A votre santé.

     

    *Recipes:

    Green Deacon: absinthe, 1 1/2 oz gin, 3/4 oz sloe gin, 1 oz grapefruit juice. Rinse glass with absinthe, add other ingredients into cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled, strain and serve in cocktail glass.

    Wibble (as in Weebles Wobble but they don't fall down): 1 oz Hayman's Dry Gin, 1 oz Hayman's Sloe Gin, 1 oz Grapefruit juice (recipe calls for pink grapefruit but we use white because it's less sweet), 1/3 oz fresh lemon juice, 1/3 oz créme de mure (we used créme de cassis because that's what we had on hand), 1/6 oz simple syrup (we omit this because again, we prefer things that are less sweet). Add ingredients in cocktail shaker with ice, shake strain and serve.

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  16. I suppose KateGate is short and catchy, but I'd like to see them branch out with Royally Gone Girl (to tie in with the side eye everyone's giving Wills) or The Princess Vanishes (to go with a Hitchcock theme) or does no one watch older movies anymore?

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  17. 21 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    Ummmm.....I don't think you've been paying attention to the dominant social and political strain in our country.

    Our children participated in team and individual sports, we understand the situation only too well. However, our time on this planet is short, sometimes shorter than we realize.

  18. 24 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

    So this is a Monterey Oak planted spring 2021 in Austin and who had a rough go of it during last year’s drought.  It’s irrigated weekly but it’s a rental so I can only do it one day automatically.  Any opinion on if it’s salvageable?

    IMG_4804.jpeg

    I'm not an arborist, but is the green towards the bottom new growth sprouting on the tree or something else growing up the trunk? If that was my tree, first thing I'd be tempted to do is climb a ladder and take a very small cutting in that top third to see if the inside of a tiny branch is still green and alive. If not, then I'd likely not keep the tree because 'topping' a tree is normally not great. People do it, however, so that would be your call. It has/had a nice fairly straight trunk. The issue with topping is that it can expose the tree to stress, insect and disease damage, and sometimes requires more returning to the site to prune it up to get to a nice shape. If the upper part is dead (the branches snap easily) then cutting on it may not do it much harm but again I'm not an expert. As it is not at your home property, you may wish to check the status (living wood vs dead) and if you decide to keep it, give it some fertilizer (at least a foot away from the trunk) as it is not a mature tree and could probably benefit. I don't know what your ratio needs to be, but I'm guessing something that has some nitrogen for certain. Now is a decent time to add nutrients because the soil is warming up and the things are growing.

    Good luck!

    *Also, if that's a bird nest in the tree, check for eggs before you start cutting!

  19. 14 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

    aq0dxi0m44utdqwfnji2.gif?quality=75&w=64

    This has strong to very strong vibes of the scene in Hitch (2005) where Will Smith tells Kevin James to stay in his lane. (clip below for laughs)

    32 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

    This is exactly what Swisher and Lemon blew him up in that video about. "I just want ____" He speaks in these vague generalities. But provides no substance to them.

    Exactly. Don Huffines did that with his mantra of eliminating property taxes in Texas when he was a candidate; a common refrain among those that have zero understanding of how the sausage gets made.

    Clip from Hitch:

     

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  20. 28 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

    Man, what can you glean from this map?

    That sailing away to Key Largo is not the paradise that Bogie and Bacall made it out to be?

     

    With respect to dialogue concerning effort, acquisition, contentment, happiness, personal growth, gender, and species progression--there is IMO, if one choose to see it, room for nuance here.

    Many variables here and even with attempts to remove personal biases and experiences, it's not going to be easy because we're talking about a generation(s) that is not us and we aren't living it in the same way. It's not uncommon for those that study "happiness" to discuss the short-lived high that certain activities bring (such as a purchase, etc) but for overall well-being, there is almost always an element of "doing for others" that can elevate our own emotions; that social interaction of caring and nurturing triggers something in our brains that smooths out the worst of our anxieties, fears, and doubts. Too much and we, ourselves, may feel burdened but overall the acts of kindness that became a movement (for awhile anyway) are one of the ways our species was able to progress and develop and grow. Any parent who beamed with pride while watching their child learn to share or behave this way toward others may understand why this is preferable to the stress of watching their child push others to the ground in order to be first in line for the free ice cream cone. One of the nuances here is that one child received and happily consumed an ice cream cone but is now the asshole of the kindergarten class while the child who helped the other to their feet and consoled them for their pain has probably made a connection that is much longer lasting. The rule of kindergarten is always don't be the asshole.

    Many many years of individual accomplishments have been written in history, but I still like Admiral (ret) William McRaven's Ten Things to Change the world speech he gave in 2014 and two of those: Success in Life Requires Teamwork (find someone to help you paddle) and It's What's Inside That Counts (measure a person by the size of their heart not the size of their flippers) are good places to start. For all we Americans brag about doing it alone and individualism (not in and of themselves bad things), we have a bad habit of forgetting we were not left on a mountain top alone as a baby. The comments by @956 Worldwide about the younger cohorts and how the adults in the room didn't exactly behave like adults when it came to the pandemic has a harsh truth to it. Even when children have to face hardship, stress, and the reality of a situation--they will always look to others to see what society expects for behaviors and we were atrocious--to each other and in many different ways. And then we rationalized it and blamed everyone but ourselves. Not our finest moment in a nation that has had some shining ones and some horrible ones and some that are more than a little tarnished upon reflection.

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