Chit Chat 2022

I just found out my poor old kitty cat has diabetes so now we have to give him insulin 2x a day. It costs $100 for a vial and it lasts 1 month. I was kind of leaning towards having him put down since he is 15 but hubby wouldn't hear of it. Fortunately he doesn't fight us about giving him the needle. My last cat would have shredded us.

Ida - I'm so sorry to hear about your poor cat. Shots twice a day? Ow! It's a hard decision to make, but I think I side with your husband - at least as long as the shots seem to work. There's always time to make other choices. Hopefully, the shots will work and your cat wil be with you a long time.

You're lucky he lets you give him the shots. My last cat had kidney problems and I had to give her saline infusions. She hated them and always fought me. Sadly, she finally became too weak and we had to let her go. I still miss her.

I'm sorry about your cat Ida, our cat had a few ailments and was 16, we also had to give him Iv's he hated it and it took two of us to give it to him. We decided in the end to let him go he was weak and we knew he wasn't going to get better.

To all our friends across the pond, I hope you're staying cool. It's been hot here, but we're used to it - and many of us have AC. I know that the UK is usually cooler than us in the summer, so the heat's probably bothering you more than it would bother us. And the poor people in Portugal and Spain! OMG! That kind of heat would flatten anyone! Please stay safe. Stay out of the sun and drink lots of water!

Just saw an article on keeping the house cool: Close the windows during the day. Close the blinds and curtains to keep out the sun. Run fans counter-clockwise. Open windows at night. - It's mostly common sense stuff.

Thank you Lizzy The government here have declared a national emergency which, given that there are nearly 70 million people on this tiny island, is no bad thing. Helpful advice like close the curtains etc, drink lots of water and try not to go out at the highest heat in the day - and the worst temperatures are due on Monday or Tuesday.

      It's important for the government to have done that because the wonderful NHS are now struggling with catch-up operations after covid and monkeypox too as well as a milder strain of covid. Ironic tho, isn't it, that because of the first wave of covid so many can now work at home.

      I am lucky enough to have a large garden with lots of trees and don't need airconditioning - which is lucky - given that ironically it's now more necessary but unfortunately it creates even more global warming through its use which is one of the reasons that we are where we are!
 thst

PAN - I hope it doesn't get too bad. I'm glad you have your garden to escape to. I'm sure it helps cool things down. I live on a street that is considered part of a "greenbelt", which means that we have lots of trees lining both sides of the street and benches line both sides of the street as well. It's amazing how much cooler it is under the trees.

I haven't used the AC yet. A couple of fans have been  fine for keeping the house cool so far, but it's supposed to heat up next week here, too, so the fans might not be enough. I'm just glad I don't live in Europe. I don't know how they can cope with that kind of heat.

Anyway, stay safe and keep as cool as you can.

(Just an aside, but I remember being in Madrid one summer and it was so hot that when I hand-washed a pair of jeans and hung them up on the balcony, they dried in less than an hour! (Obviously we weren''t traveling 1st class! )

It doesn't seem to matter where you are in the world now - Madrid, being close to North Africa has been used to heat, and they have the Mistral winds to contend with too. But clearly we are not doing enough to help the planet and I seem to be giving more and more gifts of trees and tree planting at birthdays and Christmas - either for homes or in designated forests or even a protected part of the Amazon.

A war isn't helping either - no matter where it is in the world - and blowing up the odd forest and fields of grain and buildings just contributes to the world's misery, doesn't it? Gosh,I need a drink!

:DPAN- Have one for me! I wish I could afford to donate to all the organizations that ask for help. I do what I can for reforestation and conservation organisations, but right now most of my disposable income is going to political candidates. We have mid-term elections coming up and it's more important than ever that we keep the fascists out of office. Some of the things these people are saying would make your head spin.

  WooHoo! Bennifer got married in Las Vegas! I hope it sticks.

I’ve been thinking about you PAN and hope you are managing the heat.  Sounds like you have a lovely garden to help cool your home a bit. Nice respite if you want to be outside.  We’re hot here in the DC area and also have that damn humidity to deal with.  It will be going strong all week according to weather forecasts.  To me the humidity is more stifling than the heat. Love to join you in a drink.  Thinking of a nicely chilled glass of white wine or a gin and tonic with a twist of lime.  It does help to temporarily numb the feeling that the world is in a very dark place right now.

Good for Ben and Jen Lizzy!  I hope that they can make this marriage thing work for them.

Donnamarie - Honestly, I don't really care about Bennifer getting married. I wish them well, but really it's just something to distract from the dismal news everywhere. Can't wait to see what the J6 committee comes up with Thursday.

PAN, it seems that we're just a couple of days behind you weatherwise. It's going to be in the mid-to-upper 90s for the rest of the week - and humid as hell, of course. I hope it's not as icky-sticky where you are. I agree with Donnamarie. The humidity is way worse than the heat alone. I've been using a couple of fans, but I think it's time to crank up the A/C - and watch my electric bill go through the roof. I HATE HOT WEATHER!!!

Stay as cool as you can and drink lots of water. I know the other stuff is more fun, but it's not as hydrating. (NY1 just reported that 1 -2 glasses of water an hour! are recommended, even if you're not thirsty. That seems a bit much to me, but I guess it makes sense when it's this hot.) Maybe I'll just take a long cold shower - one that lasts until this heat wave ends.

Thank you folks. Has been 104 degrees fahrenheit here for the last couple of days - and just read that when the rain clouds do turn up the air is so humid you won't see any rain land!

Drinking water - with ice -  has been consumed at least three times an hour here for the last couple of days so that we're not dehydrated and don't need to get to hospital...

However now consuming white wine - with stacks of ice - just for a change!

The garden is full of trees and perennial shrubs but is looking a bit like a hayfield in places at the moment. I have deliberately planted more and given trees as presents after I read that if 
all of us plant or donate trees (I think it was up to ten) each year we will be helping the planet
to survive........they're needed to absorb all the rubbish that we put into the atmosphere...........


ps not sure about Lopez - believe she was quite demeaning about our hero........but watch the publicity they get (said a cynic)

PAN - I'm glad you're keeping safe from the heat. Have you been able to keep your house cool enough to be bearable? Have you been able to sleep? Are there any air conditioned places you can go to cool off?

They tell us to open the windows at night to let in the cool night air - and then they say it won't cool down more than a few degrees at night! It's supposed to be like this at least until next week. Heat index at least in the upper 90s. Ugh! What are they predicting for you?

Living in a flat I don't have anywhere to plant trees, but the Parks Dept. added around a dozen trees to our street. (We're considered a greenbelt so there are lots of trees.) These new ones are just saplings - scrawny little things that wont give us much shade for quite a while. Still, they are cute little treelings and the birds seem to like them.

Re: Lopez - I remember that she and George didn't like each other much at the time, but I don't remember why. Do you?

Oh, lord! I was out shopping and got caught in the rain. Now I can't get that damn Pina Collada song out of my head! HELP!!!

     Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE STAY SAFE.

A Very Happy Christmas everyone. Stay safe please!

I hope that everybody who was celebrating over the last days enjoyed it.

And I really hope that nobody here was effected by the ice storm in the States.
Stay safe!

USA COH gang.... everybody okay from these awful storms?   Got electrical power and heat??   Het Lizzy- you and family okay?????  We got rain and winds at 60 mph, lots of downed tree, electrical outages, some folks still in the dark today.

Hi, PP! We're ok. Lots of rain over the weekend and freakin' freezing for the last few days.       Upstate got clobbered with over 3ft. of snow, but we got lucky this time.

It sounds like you had it worse than we did. Are you ok? Are you keeping warm? Keep safe.

My mom hated the weather, but visiting family got 'stuck' at her house after Christmas because of Southwest's meltdown, so she had her holiday happily extended by several days.

I bet your mom was thrilled to have the extended visit. How long did it take before everyone got to go home?

My friend's son & his wife got stuck on a cruise ship off Tampa because of fog. It was just overnight, but the crew broke out the booze and food and turned it into a big party. Nobody complained.