Random Thoughts

[elSicomoro]

I've seen a lot of foxes in my neck of the woods recently. Not sure if they're more comfortable around humans or what.

Also popping up in this part of the world: armadillos. 4 years ago, they were 150 miles south of here...now they're just outside of the metro area. And getting killed...and fucking up cars.

[sexobon]

I think foxes are among the few natural predators of armadillos. Perhaps some cause and affect going on there.

Texas speed bumps.

[elSicomoro]

When I lived in Springfield, MO, I had a 2-week period where two of my drivers totaled their cars by hitting deer, and a third tore up a fender running over an armadillo.

[Razzmatazz13]

I've seen a handfull of them since moving to NC but never had one interested in me before. It was young and I had Tim, who was roughly the same size as the fox, with me so I wonder if that had something to do with it? Either way it was spooky for me. All the non docile animals just leave me be, k? Lol

[Snakeadelic]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Why are they prescribed then, instead of being available otc?

Why do I have to pay a middle man a hundred damn dollars to write me a prescription for 'not a controlled substance'.

If you drive down the road with ANY prescription pills not in their proper container, [and get stopped by the popo] you will go to jail.

If I can't walk into Wally World and buy it without a prescription, that is a controlled substance. In circumstance, if not on an official list.

A prescription drug may not be a narcotic, or a recreational drug, but I still think that it would be a controlled substance.

Then again, I'm not a doctor. Or a cop.

I know this is an old post, but I can answer part of it for you.

I take a generic that is available OTC to combat massive acid reflux. I survive on $725 a month BEFORE I pay rent, which is almost half that amount. My OTC medication, at the cheapest local pharmacy, is $56 a month. When my 'scrip was originally written by a doctor who actually understood the nightmare that is fixed-income budgeting, it was given to me because on 'scrip the exact same month's supply cost $1.05. One dollar and one nickel.

I still take it, but changes in my insurance coverage have removed all my medication copays. If not for the prescription and the insurance actually covering it, I'd have had to skip many months, possibly leading to gastric and esophageal damage that could have required tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in hospital visits and surgeries. I am profoundly grateful to the taxpayers who fund my quiet little life and I have a strong preference for minimizing my use of community resources and avoiding any spending beyond my means. This includes keeping myself out of the ER and off the surgical table whenever possible.

Added detail bonus I found out the hard way: if you do something stupid like leave the state without your tranquilizers, it is against USPS regulations to have them mailed to you in the bottle with the correct label unless NONE of the meds have been taken.

[Snakeadelic]

Originally Posted by orthodoc

Canadian customs officers are FAR more hostile than American ones.

Weirdly, in my days of occasionally crossing over from Washington to British Columbia, the one and only time I ever got hostile treatment at a border station was when a Canadian friend was driving me home! It was the Americans who flipped out on us. They looked at my driver's license (but not his, although he was driving), then proceeded to ask me things like where I was born, where my mother was born, what was her maiden name, where did I live, why had I been to Canada...and they asked everything twice. They only asked him if he was Canadian and planning to stay in the US after dropping me off. He said no and they went right back to grilling me! It was so strange...

[Snakeadelic]

Originally Posted by Lola Bunny

Do you think I'd get sick from eating fuzzed-ridden corn? I was sooo hungry and half a sandwich just didn't do it for me. I raided the fridge and found some corn. It tasted a little funky, so I looked at it closer. Hmmm....some white fuzz. My mom would kill me if I throw away food, especially good food since she won't be able to see the fuzz without her glasses and she refuses to wear her glasses unless she's reading. I washed it real good and ate it. But hey, it killed my appetite and I stopped eating. :-D

Fuzz = mold = probably a bad idea. I recently did something similar with a loaf of bread that didn't show the mold until the day after a sandwich made me sick.

On a more disgusting note, I once knew a blind woman who insisted all her leftovers go into a semi-permanently simmering pot of "soup". She would get super pissed at me when I threw it out from time to time, insisting that I was (look away if you have a tetchy stomach...) lying about the DROWNED HOUSEFLIES floating in it. I did not enjoy my time living in that household!

[Snakeadelic]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

I mean, they know their financial situation but just keep popping them out? I would rather give to a family who recently lost income they depended on or who had unexpected medical bills or something like that, not one more Catholic family who feels the need to just keep on having kids no matter what. And yes, that WAS the situation.

I'm with the bumper sticker on this one. Can't feed 'em? DON'T breed 'em! Good for dogs, cats, horses, and humans. All the other livestock I can think of is things we already do eat widely in the US, and the other popular home-breeding-friendly pets oftentimes can go to local pet stores--rodents, small reptiles, things like that.

I "adopted" a brother & sister 10 years ago who were born into a feral cat colony. By "adopted" I mean "stole from their mother when she started teaching them to be wild". I did this when I had no money and no immediate prospects for making money, which ordinarily I would regard as a hideously irresponsible act. The one thing that I did that many people do not is that I made a deal with my landlord, who already owned indoor cats. Her lazy kid claimed ownership of 3 cats but refused under any circumstances to clean their 4 catboxes. So in trade for cat food and litter from their household supply, I cleaned those 4 boxes every morning for almost a year and a half, missing a grand total of 4 days when I was super sick. I think we made a fair deal, and since I got put on lifetime disability back in '08 those cats have never missed a meal or had to go more than 48 hours without a freshly scooped-out litterbox.

And I had myself spayed (well, tubal ligation anyway) WAY before I could accidentally ruin a child's life by being its mother. Cats are about as much toddler as I can stand!

[Snakeadelic]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Attachment 56387

Hopefully that shows the one about someone from the 50s suddenly encountering modern technology.

Bland Marvel Headcanon (which I found on Pinterest) and other Marvel Cinematic Universe headcanons address exactly that, largely picking on Captain America. I have many favorites, including:

"When Steve Rogers gets upset and starts yelling, Tony Stark fondly calls him Capslock."

There's a longer Texts from Avengers one about him texting Stark because "the robot next to the refrigerator hissed at me again." Reply: "That's the coffeemaker. Thank God you're pretty."

There are SO MANY more, but I gotta leave to pack up the truck for the trip out of state in like 18 minutes .

[Snakeadelic]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Attachment 57425

So is tilting/twisting your head to crack your neck. Try it sometime when you're in the first car in line at a stop light, then watch in the rearview. My record was 7 ppl cracking their necks in succession before I could no longer see drivers behind me!

[Snakeadelic]

Originally Posted by elSicomoro

I've seen a lot of foxes in my neck of the woods recently. Not sure if they're more comfortable around humans or what.

Also popping up in this part of the world: armadillos. 4 years ago, they were 150 miles south of here...now they're just outside of the metro area. And getting killed...and fucking up cars.

Foxes are urbanizing like crazy all over the world. So are coyotes (Central Park in NY, downtown Tucson, San Diego, just to name a few), raccoons, bears (Google for stories about bears up trees in places like Washington, DC), and cougars (someone got a pic of one on a backyard fence with the Hollywood sign in the background recently). All are good reasons to keep cats indoors and small dogs & kids under careful supervision!

[elSicomoro]

We don't have many deer here in KC, but they are a regular problem in STL (where I'm from)...they're hanging out in the City now on occasion.

[monster]

BBC Headline Trump urges extreme vetting of migrants

.....and extreme migranting of Vets? :/

[John Sellers]

Originally Posted by @ericarhodes

The best things in life are free, 'cause someone else paid for theqm.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by monster

BBC Headline Trump urges extreme vetting of migrants

.....and extreme migranting of Vets? :/

headline's interesting, link is not a link