Except the first night the winds in the Palisades were too strong and erratically gusty to fly anything, especially the kind of daredevil flying necessary to drop water into a fiery maelstrom, in the thick smoke and rugged terrain. So they were limited to a ground attack, which is why so many homes and acres burned. The fact so few people died is a testament to much of the work they did accomplish, saving lives rather than property.

I was referring to the rat’s nest of pubes on his head

Insurance CEOs are immoral.

Billionaires are garbage.

“Pædo” under Kavanaugh

Donald’s a dickhead, complete with pubes.

Meta’s a bog, and Zuck is its boggart.

Free enough?

(Too bad I don’t have an account to test it out.)

Hey, WE didn’t vote for him!

We’re just lucky these fires happened while Biden is still President or we wouldn’t have gotten a penny.

From a purely “medical necessity” viewpoint even, having a properly-functioning prosthetic helps him keep the rest of his body healthy! (Although I suppose they’d figure on denying claims for hospital treatment when his unhealthy heart caved in!)

And then throw out your back or fall and break a hip because of the unnatural motion required to walk with said broomstick.

Oh I guess that makes sense, since the vehicle is the collateral on the loan. Hard to repo a wreck.

Isn’t the required car insurance the part that covers the OTHER cars, property and people you might harm with your car?

I don’t think it’s required that you carry enough insurance to be able to replace your own car. Might depend on your state, though?

All that counter space for the kitchen appliances you can’t plug in! Refrigerator?

Having random superb owls appear in my feed is very cheerful!

Separately, bird flu has egg prices up again. Which may or may not affect you.

Feeling very fortunate to live in SoCal where avocados are a local crop, even grow in backyards.

Bird flu, too.

That’s all good! From experience, owning vs. renting doesn’t help much to make cleaning any more enjoyable, at least not after the first week. But at least if you decide you just can’t deal with some aspect, you can change it.

Four cats and your jobs, you guys are definitely doing this on Hard Mode!

Maybe you could figure out some sort of rewards system, like cleaning the home => delivery dinner. And of course if you notice something is clean and you didn’t do it, voice your joy!

I would like to say I use a heavy-duty dry swiffer on the floor (wood) every other day, but honestly maybe twice a week. It gets tons of dust and cat hair and it’s quiet and fast. I have an old fashioned feather duster that does a decent job on shelves of books and knickknacks without moving them, and fascinates the cat. I have a wet mop but don’t use it often. I put MERV13 filters in my HVAC, but I realized the suction was lifting the nearby ceiling tiles instead, so I taped them down.

Consider what contributes to dust in your home: I don’t go out much, and can’t track in mud, but I live over the garage in my apartment building, over a very busy street, and have sliding-glass balcony doors for windows, so a lot of my dust is tires and exhaust. Also pollen year-round because SoCal, and of course cat and myself shedding. Litterbox dust too, at least she’s not a big digger. I don’t have laundry machines in my unit but I imagine they’d make lint dust. You might not be able to change things that add grime, but it helps you feel less like it’s your fault.

When I worked in a china shop, we wiped down every item on every shelf with Windex (spray your paper towels, not what you’re cleaning) every day. But I was getting paid for that. It makes a huge difference, along with knowing someone else will notice.

I remember reading this and thinking it didn’t qualify as good news, and it doesn’t, but I guess it’s better than the US as a whole:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/28/los-angeles-number-unhoused-homeless

The thing with gifts is to thank them for their intent, even if you tell them why you’re not going to keep the item.

If you don’t succeed in returning it, you might also consider giving it to someone with a movement disability, for whom the assistance might outweigh the privacy issue.

Most of the time I don’t get bothered by typing/autofill errors in others’ posts. (My own often get edited several times.)

But some bring out my inner schoolmarm. I try to restrict my corrections to times when the error is confusing, or if I have a mnemonic that might be helpful. I bear in mind that this is an informal forum, but someone might want to be able to get it right when it matters.

Since you won’t be offended, I’ll just point out that in English it’s usual to say “… someone points out a mistake to me.” (The rest is correct.)