Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

Yesterday, Looney1 wanted to go out front so I attached his tether and let him go while I sat on the porch. Looney2 started pawing at the door saying he wanted to go outside too. I reminded him that he doesn't like it but he said he did. So I just opened the door for him figuring he'd step out and run back in. Instead, he checked out everything on the porch within 1-1/2 feet of the door and jumped up on the little wall to look out at the front garden. He spent a good five minutes out there.

Then Punx came to the front door thinking she wanted to go outside. I explained to her that phantom cats do not go outside and if she wants to go out she has to let me hold her whenever I want and not avoid me. She's been glaring at me ever since but still won't even let me pet her. Little brat. But she has stopped hiding as soon as I walk into her sight.

Last night Aunt C and I took the dogs for a walk in a local naturalized park. Cat-dog did really great. She enjoyed the walk - a bit nervous but not shaking in fear. At the end of the walk, we saw a few dogs coming into the park and she didn't freak. She's been on the 40mg of prosac for almost 2 weeks and it should take 4-6 weeks to start working, but I think it's already helping. She was definitely calmer than she has been in the past.

Tornado-dog saw squirrels and peacocks and magpies and there were so many smells. He was worn out when we got home. During the night, I heard him dreaming under the bed. He enjoyed it very much.

Today was Looney1's vet appointment. It appears when they made the appointments they switched the vet names. We saw the longtime vet this time.

I really liked her. She didn't push anything or come across as I was a less than perfect pet parent. She gave Looney1 a lot of compliments and fell for his "aren't I cute" ploy. He really is a ham. He's doing great. He does have a heart murmur still but his numbers last year were normal so we skipped the blood test this year while we spend the money to get Looney2 his echo done.

One thing both vets were impressed with is that my appointments were exactly one year to the day from last year. I told this vet "when people complain that they can't get an appointment or a med refill, I tell them 'you know when the meds will run out and you know the vet has to see the animal once a year in order to refill, so make a reminder and call for an appointment two months before everything is due. It's really easy." She mentioned that customers call at the last moment and get snotty about I need the meds right now and said "OK, but you don't have to be rude about it". Life is so much easier when you plan and people like you more...

On an unrelated topic, I paid for Disney+ to watch this season's Doctor Who. Second season and I'm still extremely disappointed. Here are my thoughts:

1. I watch for the Doctor. I want to see the Doctor save the day. I do not want to watch a companion without the Doctor - do a spin off for that like Torchwood or Sarah Jane. But a Doctor Who episode without the Doctor in it is NOT a Doctor Who episode. If you make the stories without the Doctor then why have a Doctor Who show? If he's not an integral part of the story, then it's not worth watching. They did this last season too and it fell flat for me.

2. Last season, everything was some sort of movie trope montage. The ET hiding in the stuffed animals, the Bette Midler witch, and so on. It got old very very quickly.

3. None of the episodes have that Doctor comes to the rescue climatic ending. Everything ends without him doing anything. Again, he's not needed for the storyline and that defeats the whole thing. It's like watching a James Bond movie without James Bond - it's not a James Bond movie.

4. Because the Doctor doesn't actively do anything, it's hard to connect with him. I read a lot of complaints about the weak stories with Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, but I sat in rapt attention to the entire episodes not wanting to miss that moment when she did her Doctor thing. Ncuti Gatwa never gets to do his Doctor thing so I'm not seeing him as the Doctor. I get that they wanted to make him more emotional, but they can do that without taking away that inherent Doctor playful arrogance and savior attitude.

5. The inclusiveness is great, but it seems to have become the focus of the show. The Doctor has always (well at least since Tom Baker) stressed getting along and not being prejudiced, etc. But it seems like every episode in the past two seasons has been a massive public service announcement. It seems to me that simply showing inclusitivity is more effective than shoving it down people's throats. And it's not even done consistently. There is that big moment of "we don't look like them, we have to be careful" and then they rush in and nothing untoward happens. If they want to make a big statement then make a full episode of the Doctor and companion trying to save the world while being attacked by humans because they aren't white. Don't talk about it and then not have anything happen. Like the letdown endings, it's an empty gesture.

6. The bad guys are just stupid. Not one bad guy has made me say "oh no". It's like watching Cujo and thinking this is stupid, a St Bernard is not scary. The musical episodes are horrid - The Buffy musical episode was genius, it enlightened us to the emotional dramas going on inside the characters and brought things to a head that had to be resolved in future episodes. The Doctor Who music episodes do none of that. They are flat and one dimensional. Their is no enlightenment, there is no evolution. It's just a big bunch of nothing. The last episode with the cartoon bad guy was worthless.

I'll finish watching this season since I've paid for it. But this may be the last season I watch. I have watched faithfully every episode since the Tom Baker era. I have loved some Doctors (Peter Davison, Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant), but I have enjoyed all of them. They all made me feel like I was watching the evolving of one character. They all had me on the edge of my seat wondering how the Doctor would save us this time. But now, I don't get that. It feels like they've given up on the Doctor and are slowly draining him of life. I don't know if this is Russell T Davies' idea or Disney, but it's losing this viewer's attention. Especially in the depressing world we're in right now, I need a Doctor who will take charge and save the day. I don't need an emotional sack of potatoes who can't even be the highlight of his own show.

Can't comment. I don't recall ever watching an episode of Dr. Who, but remember my daughter hiding behind the sofa to watch it. I suppose I was making a meal in that time slot.
glad that Looney1's murmur is no worse and that he had a happy experience at the vet's.

That first episode with the daleks had a lot of kids doing that. Over the years, it went from a straight children's program to a family program.

I was writing another long diatribe and had a revelation as to why I don't like the last two seasons. So I'll skip the diatribe and say this:

The problem with the last two seasons is that the Doctor has been written as a Baby Boomer's version of a Millennial - weak, overly sensitive and clueless. Millennials are much more than that. They CAN do things. They ARE capable. And they don't overfocus on gender identity, race, etc - they just don't see gender identity, race, etc, as a factor of a person's worth.

This Doctor should be portrayed as how Millennials see themselves not how Baby Boomers see them.

Looney1 always has a good time at the vet's. He snoops all over the exam room, watches everything going on, and even helps the tech and vet (because everybody needs a cat's help). He eats up the attention.

I'm going to do Looney2's follow up with the longterm vet. I felt more of a connection with her and I think she listens to me as a customer better.

Not sure with Panther yet. I'm inclined to try her with the third vet. I think she has a softer personality and that may be better for Panther.

Punx will get the longterm vet - she needs someone who's been around the block and won't fall for Punx's "I'm a sweet gentle shy cat" routine. She is an opinionated brat who refuses to play by the rules.

I got an email from chewy. Today is apparently International German Shepherd Day.

Cat-dog thanks everyone (very politely) for their accolades. Tornado-dog asks why there isn't an International Giant Jack Russell Terrier Day - I explained to him that EVERYDAY is his day whether we want it to be or not.

There is an International Beagle Day, April 23rd! It was created in 2018 when we took the Guiness World Record for the most dogs of a single breed walked together. The rules were quite strict and we had a few disallowed for missing the Start beam, (it was set low), having too long a lead, handler under permitted age, and failing to hand in their tag at the end! Nevertheless, we were granted the World Record for 1034 beagles! A fantastic memory for all that attended.
Of course two of them were mine! Over £10k was raised for Beagle Welfare and Unite to Care which is an anti-vivisection charity.

Details, photos and the official video can be found on page 2 of our Beagle forum. Thread posted as Beaglandia BWR2.

After several years of fussing with the gate to the backyard, we FINALLY got a new one installed.

The old one was chain link and there was a stationary panel next to my back steps and the gate opened inward and outward and latched to the stationary panel. Unfortunately, the people who installed it didn't actually attach the support post or poles to the concrete ground. So as things got blown into the space between the stationary panel and the steps, the post and pole got pushed out and the gate couldn't latch. And there was no way I was sticking my hand in that crevice to remove the debris (black widows are everywhere here). The gate opening also got in the way of the travel trailer (caravan) making it a pain.

So, I decided I wanted a sliding gate that could open up all the way from the garage to the house. That way I could easily sweep out debris, more easily bring in appliances, and not have to wrangle around the gate and trailer. To do this, we had to move the gate out about 10 inches so it would slide past the RV hookup. That left a huge gap that the dogs could go through, so we used a 2*10 to block it.

The result is a perfect viewing post for Tornado-dog. He can now see everything going on in the front of the driveway and road.


It's the perfect height so he can stand on the steps and see into the house AND the driveway without moving.

Aha I see his little nose!