What's on your mind?

[navybsn]

Had to put our 23 year old cat down today. Feeling pretty bummed. He came into our lives on Christmas eve and went out on Christmas Eve. Not the hardest thing I've ever done, but pretty damn close. He was just suffering and we couldn't stand to see him continue. Such a good little guy and the only cat I've ever given two shits about. He had a good life. Will be missed.

[FatherAlabaster]

So sorry for your loss man. It's extra hard under those circumstances. 23 is a grand old age for a feline, I hope you can be happy knowing you gave him a good life. 

[Dead1]

Sorry for your loss.  Though 23 years is an epic age for a cat.  He obviously led a good life.

 

29 December is 1 year anniversary  of my old dog passing away.

[navybsn]

6 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Sorry for your loss.  Though 23 years is an epic age for a cat.  He obviously led a good life.

 

29 December is 1 year anniversary  of my old dog passing away.

Yeah, he was extraordinarily lucky to live so long. Certainly not what you expect, but he was pampered. I don't feel bad that he had to go, he was in pain and wasn't eating. Kidney failure and arthritis were really getting him. Just sucks to have to do it on Christmas Eve. At least I got to be with him. As miserable as that was, I'm sure it made it a bit easier on him.

[FatherAlabaster]

Kidney failure gets so many of them... Our cat that passed in September, two of my friends' cats recently. Sucks to see them suffer and after a certain point there isn't anything else you can do about it, aside from painkillers. We're fairly sure our other older cat has cancer, so we're just trying to make her comfortable and give her lots of love.

My son is already asking for another cat, telling us that he can't live in an apartment with less than three and more is preferable.

[navybsn]

I don't think we will have another one. 4 dogs are enough.

[FatherAlabaster]

My wife and son are both perfectly fine with the place being a zoo as far as I can tell. Four dogs sounds like way more than enough though, wow. I love dogs but even two can be a handful. Or just one, depending on the dog... What kind of dogs do you have?

[navybsn]

4 dachshunds. The oldest we've had for 12 years. The other 3 are 2.5 years old. They are a handful, but being small they are manageable. I didn't want this many dogs. I was overruled by the Chief Marital Officer however. She's a bit of a Dr Doolittle herself.

[MacabreEternal]

On 12/25/2021 at 2:16 AM, navybsn said:

Had to put our 23 year old cat down today. Feeling pretty bummed. He came into our lives on Christmas eve and went out on Christmas Eve. Not the hardest thing I've ever done, but pretty damn close. He was just suffering and we couldn't stand to see him continue. Such a good little guy and the only cat I've ever given two shits about. He had a good life. Will be missed.

I had this earlier in the year, we had to have one of our cats put to sleep due to a suspected brain tumour.  It's fucking agonising and I miss him everyday.  Sorry for your loss.

23 is a fucking mental age though. 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

I know I was pretty fucking mental at 23. 

The downside of having pets. We love them to death but they don't live long enough so we go into our pet relationships knowing that we will inevitably suffer their loss and be gutted.

We just got a cat over this past summer, Smudgey, she's about 3. She's claimed my crusty old ass as her human and even just 6 months into our time together I know if we were to lose her it'd leave an unfillable void. So I feel for all your losses. 

[navybsn]

He was a pretty fucking metal cat. Full of misanthropy and malice on the outside, tolerant and warm on the inside. He acted like he would rip your face off but just didn't want to expend the energy, but when no one else was around, he liked his attention and scratches. Stone cold killer in his youth. Nothing under 5 lbs was safe from eviceration. Last few years though, he had accepted his role as old man of the house. 23 cat years is like 160 in human years or something. I was beginning to think he was immortal.

I've withdrawn care from dozens of people in my career. Just one of the things you have to do as an ICU nurse. You develop a sort of immunity after a while or put up a wall so it doesn't get to you. I'm telling you though, holding the little guy as they euthanized him brought me to tears. Tough fucking day for sure.

[AlSymerz]

As a farmer it's pretty much expected that we have at least one working dog with any extras being optional but I can't do it. I don't have a problem with other people bringing dogs around and letting them run all over the place but I was ruined at an early age. We had a couple of Heelers over the years but the creatively named Red a big Red Heeler I had until I was 17 was different, he was my dog, he was placid and friendly, he had a head like a basketball and he was a great dog. His death was probably what prompted me to leave home and start touring, I don't remember having any solid intentions of being on the road for 30 years before that, but I just didn't feel like coming home to the same house every night if Red wasn't there. Mum and Dad had a couple of dogs after Red but it was never the same for them either. I suppose it's less a case of can't have pets and more a case of don't want to but I couldn't replace Red if I wanted too.

 

[markm]

On 12/24/2021 at 9:16 PM, navybsn said:

Had to put our 23 year old cat down today. Feeling pretty bummed. He came into our lives on Christmas eve and went out on Christmas Eve. Not the hardest thing I've ever done, but pretty damn close. He was just suffering and we couldn't stand to see him continue. Such a good little guy and the only cat I've ever given two shits about. He had a good life. Will be missed.

Just saw this.  Sorry for your loss my . The bond we have with our pets almost makes this life bearable.  That's a huge hole in your heart. Our Norwich terrier is going on 17 and we know the "the sands of time are running running low "  He might be our last. My condolences.

1 minute ago, markm said:

Just saw this.  Sorry for your loss my . The bond we have with our pets almost makes this life bearable.  That's a huge hole in your heart. Our Norwich terrier is going on 17 and we know the "the sands of time are running running low "  He might be our last. My condolences.

 Inadvertently cut off "My friend "

I'm a dog person.  We've had 5 over the years, as many as 3 at a time,  I've sat with 2 of them while they were euthanized .  You can't really hold a Newfoundland   - haha.  Yeah no 2 ways around it,  Taking your pet to the vet and having  your best friend put to sleep just fucking sucks.

[AlSymerz]

Easter demand for 2022 started even earlier than usual this year. Usually our major bakeries (the ones owned by overseas companies who ship country wide and still have the nerve to call it fresh bread) wait until Jan 1 to put Hot Cross buns on the shelf, but they were in the major supermarkets yesterday. Boxing day sales and Hot Cross Buns, what more could people want to follow up Christmas?

Back when I was delivering the stuff, 15 years ago, we'd put 12 packets on the shelf at each major supermarket on Jan 1 and return 8 of them a week later. By mid Feb that number had gone up to maybe 30 packets with 15 returns, then Easter week that would rise to 400 packets with no returns, but it was always 'consumer demand' that had them on the shelf on Jan 1. A mate of mine still delivers for one of the big 2 companies and he was just telling me they put them out yesterday and they have a shelf life on 9 days this year before being returned to the bakery. He put a total of 20 packets in 4 supermarkets yesterday.

 

[Thatguy]

8 hours ago, navybsn said:

He was a pretty fucking metal cat. Full of misanthropy and malice on the outside, tolerant and warm on the inside. He acted like he would rip your face off but just didn't want to expend the energy, but when no one else was around, he liked his attention and scratches. Stone cold killer in his youth. Nothing under 5 lbs was safe from eviceration. Last few years though, he had accepted his role as old man of the house. 23 cat years is like 160 in human years or something. I was beginning to think he was immortal.

I've withdrawn care from dozens of people in my career. Just one of the things you have to do as an ICU nurse. You develop a sort of immunity after a while or put up a wall so it doesn't get to you. I'm telling you though, holding the little guy as they euthanized him brought me to tears. Tough fucking day for sure.

We had a cat like that. He was a bad boy and I think killed at least one neighbourhood cat that encroached on his territory. In his dotage he lay in the garden in the sun and the magpies came back to our yard and would walk past him and look at him in contempt. I did love him.

[MacabreEternal]

16 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

I know I was pretty fucking mental at 23. 

The downside of having pets. We love them to death but they don't live long enough so we go into our pet relationships knowing that we will inevitably suffer their loss and be gutted.

We just got a cat over this past summer, Smudgey, she's about 3. She's claimed my crusty old ass as her human and even just 6 months into our time together I know if we were to lose her it'd leave an unfillable void. So I feel for all your losses. 

I dread ever having to say goodbye to any pet, I have done it enough times but still can't cope any better with it.  I cope better with the thought that I am around to see them off this mortal coil as opposed to me (or worse both the fiancée and me) going first and them not having anywhere to go or even the event of having to go anywhere else.  A tad stupid in my methodology perhaps but the latter thought is horrifying.

[Parker]

Hey, I know, I haven't been around in a while, but I had to tell you guys about this. The other day I was listening to A Grand Declaration of War by Mayhem when my wife said, "Is this The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack?" 

"What?" I said, confused.

"That's Dr. Frankenfurter, isn't it?" she replied. And then it hit me: Maniac's "political rally voice" (for lack of a better descriptor) on that album DOES sound pretty much just like Tim Curry's character's voice in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Definitely not what Maniac intended, and this is seriously fucking with my ability to appreciate that awesome album without laughing my ass off.

[FatherAlabaster]

13 minutes ago, Parker said:

Hey, I know, I haven't been around in a while, but I had to tell you guys about this. The other day I was listening to A Grand Declaration of War by Mayhem when my wife said, "Is this The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack?" 

"What?" I said, confused.

"That's Dr. Frankenfurter, isn't it?" she replied. And then it hit me: Maniac's "political rally voice" (for lack of a better descriptor) on that album DOES sound pretty much just like Tim Curry's character's voice in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Definitely not what Maniac intended, and this is seriously fucking with my ability to appreciate that awesome album without laughing my ass off.

The spoken vocals on Grand Declaration always hit me as silly. I love Maniac's screams, wish it had more of that and less declaiming.

[Parker]

1 hour ago, FatherAlabaster said:

The spoken vocals on Grand Declaration always hit me as silly. I love Maniac's screams, wish it had more of that and less declaiming.

They never really hit me as silly until now. I really liked those vocals, and they are MUCH better than the boring delivery of those lines on the demos. I thought they gave those parts a really dramatic/theatrical feel. I'm afraid that feel is gone for ever for me now . . .

[Sheol]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:43 PM, Parker said:

Hey, I know, I haven't been around in a while, but I had to tell you guys about this. The other day I was listening to A Grand Declaration of War by Mayhem when my wife said, "Is this The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack?" 

"What?" I said, confused.

"That's Dr. Frankenfurter, isn't it?" she replied. And then it hit me: Maniac's "political rally voice" (for lack of a better descriptor) on that album DOES sound pretty much just like Tim Curry's character's voice in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Definitely not what Maniac intended, and this is seriously fucking with my ability to appreciate that awesome album without laughing my ass off.

Hahaha this is awesome! I'd rather listen to Rocky Horror any day than Grand declaration tbh. That album has not aged well. Though the production did improve with the recent remaster.

[FatherAlabaster]

Finally our first real snow of the season. Looks like we have a couple days to enjoy it, and then we get the classic "just enough rain to melt the top layer before the deep freeze hits". Maybe my son will be able to ice skate to school on Tuesday.

[markm]

1 hour ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Finally our first real snow of the season. Looks like we have a couple days to enjoy it, and then we get the classic "just enough rain to melt the top layer before the deep freeze hits". Maybe my son will be able to ice skate to school on Tuesday.

Yep, time to take a long walk in the woods with your favorite misanthropic BM album and contemplate the cosmos.  

[FatherAlabaster]

37 minutes ago, markm said:

Yep, time to take a long walk in the woods with your favorite misanthropic BM album and contemplate the cosmos.  

Hell yeah. I hope I get the time. Blut Aus Nord, DSO, Ad Nauseam, and Abigor are my big "walk in the woods" bands this past year. Maybe Enslaved if I'm in need of good vibes... what would you be playing?

[GoatmasterGeneral]

They told us we'd get 3" to 6" overnight 1am til 1pm but from looking out the window this morning I'd say we only got maybe 1.5" to 2". They still cancelled school today (Friday) so we have ourselves a little 3 day weekend. Storm's gone sun is shining now at 1:30 I should really go out and shovel that long driveway a little so the residue can melt but I can't be fucked. Black metal calls and we don't have anywhere we need to go today. I could probably just drive right through it if I really needed to get out. Kid's happy playing with his army men and doesn't seem to mind the black metal, but I never turn it up real loud and the speakers are facing away from him. 

I love the woods. I sometimes fantasize about taking a walk in the snowy woods with atmospheric black metal playing through the earbuds, and the AT is right up the road here we have plenty of woods to choose from. But sadly while the kid loves to play outdoors he is not in any way interested in hiking which he sees as drudgery, and I can't just leave him home alone so it will have to remain a fantasy for the time being.

[markm]

2 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Hell yeah. I hope I get the time. Blut Aus Nord, DSO, Ad Nauseam, and Abigor are my big "walk in the woods" bands this past year. Maybe Enslaved if I'm in need of good vibes... what would you be playing?

BAN is perfect. In fact, last year Last year when I was teaching distance learning and working from home and recovering from a bicep tear surgery which is all good now, I would take this 2-3 mile walk on trails around a lake about 20 minutes away from my  house and I was listening to a lot of Hallucinogen, Spectral Lore & Mare Cognitum and Im Wald. Hey, you know what-I've got another snow day from teaching today. I'm going to go back to the lake and walk the wood trails and listen to the new Paysage D'Hiver with fresh Maryland snow on the ground. We don't get it that much especially with these warmer global temps in the winter with 50-60 degree days, so I need to take advantage of a good cold atmoblack day when I've got one.