Rant for the Day (keep it clean)

[havasu]

So, I did all my chores today and figured I'd take a noon time 30 minute snooze. Just as I turned on Gunsmoke, season # 2, episode # 4, I get a call from my first wife's sister. Yes, it's been years. She asked if I had spoken to my son today, and I said no. She starts crying and tells me to turn on the TV.
Breaking news, a shooting accident occurred where my son works, 4 deputies have been rushed to the hospital, and two severely burned and critical.
Yes, I flipped! I obviously tried to call him, but no answer. I called his wife, a new Lieutenant for the same agency, but she didn't answer.
I'm sitting about a 2 hour drive time from his work. I sat, wondering where the nearest helicopter pad was. I called the hospital but they weren't any help, due to their rules.
I ran out of ideas, so I called the last Sheriff's station he worked at, and asked to talk to the watch commander, the job my son had before being promoted to range staff.
I spoke to a real nice Lieutenant, explained who I was, and asked if he could help me. In a very calm voice, he said he was aware of what happened, knew my son very well, and said my son was fine.
20 minutes later, I get a text from my son wanting to know who the idiot was to call his old station commander.
In 10 seconds, I went from fear to frustration.
Bottom line, they have a dozen range trailers for the deputies to shoot in, to keep them close to their work. One deputy had a negligent fire, and somehow caught the live ammo on fire. I guess swat had to deploy their bulletproof truck so the firemen would not get shot. Looks like the trailer burnt down to the ground. My son is fine, was never at the scene, and was 5 miles away teaching remedial shooting.
I'm not done yelling at him!

 

[Bacpacker]

Glad he's ok. Hope the others will be too

 

[Weedygarden]

So, I did all my chores today and figured I'd take a noon time 30 minute snooze. Just as I turned on Gunsmoke, season # 2, episode # 4, I get a call from my first wife's sister. Yes, it's been years. She asked if I had spoken to my son today, and I said no. She starts crying and tells me to turn on the TV.
Breaking news, a shooting accident occurred where my son works, 4 deputies have been rushed to the hospital, and two severely burned and critical.
Yes, I flipped! I obviously tried to call him, but no answer. I called his wife, a new Lieutenant for the same agency, but she didn't answer.
I'm sitting about a 2 hour drive time from his work. I sat, wondering where the nearest helicopter pad was. I called the hospital but they weren't any help, due to their rules.
I ran out of ideas, so I called the last Sheriff's station he worked at, and asked to talk to the watch commander, the job my son had before being promoted to range staff.
I spoke to a real nice Lieutenant, explained who I was, and asked if he could help me. In a very calm voice, he said he was aware of what happened, knew my son very well, and said my son was fine.
20 minutes later, I get a text from my son wanting to know who the idiot was to call his old station commander.
In 10 seconds, I went from fear to frustration.
Bottom line, they have a dozen range trailers for the deputies to shoot in, to keep them close to their work. One deputy had a negligent fire, and somehow caught the live ammo on fire. I guess swat had to deploy their bulletproof truck so the firemen would not get shot. Looks like the trailer burnt down to the ground. My son is fine, was never at the scene, and was 5 miles away teaching remedial shooting.
I'm not done yelling at him!

Sometimes life can be so scary in a heartbeat.

 

[havasu]

I guess we all just have to realize that tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone.

 

[zannej]

Havasu, I'm glad your son is OK and completely understand your frustration that he didn't reply. Sad to hear other cops were injured.

Things around the world are not looking good right now. I have a friend in Israel (we went to school together & used to hang out a lot). I checked in on him and he said he was "relatively safe" but his wife is terrified and wants to leave the country. Can't say I blame her.

Woke up with sore/swollen adenoid tissue on the right side of my throat. When my tonsils were taken out 20 yrs ago the doctor left some of the adenoid tissue behind because he was worried about burning through to a major artery. I have chronic recurring Epstein-Barr Virus and one of the signs is the swelling/soreness of that tissue. Coupled with fatigue and general malaise. I feel a bit like a zombie-- can't focus-- and am very tired.

I heard a crash in the kitchen earlier but didn't go out right away to inspect. Mom bought an ice maker that was still in the box but the cats shredded the top and parts of the sides of the box. It was up on a shelf. They knocked it down and when I was trying to pick it up, I discovered the clear plastic top part had shattered. So, un-used "new" machine is now broken. We do have another ice maker that is the same type sitting up on the same shelf. But we've had it for years and never used it. Now Mom is mad at me about it getting broken. I wonder if there is any way to repair it or replace that plastic-- probably not though. The other icemaker should work just fine so I don't even know why she bought this one. She buys a lot of stuff that we don't need and never use.

 

[Magus]

Welcome to my day from hell.
It started about 3:00 AM when my computer crapped itself again, its working for right now, but that's right now. I woke up to my foot swelled with gout and NOTHING I've done so far is helping, I find out I'm going to have some serious cash jerked out of my check for some crap I'm not clear on, probably to feed the new freeloaders, My Insurance company is hitting me three months in a row, so even if I could get to the computer store, I can't afford to replace this HPieceofCrap and I had a bunch of should have-could have-would have dreams, but my life screwed me out of that one too.
Someone is out to get me!

 

[Magpie]

Not so much a rant but recent happenings have all strangely exhausted me.
I'm not surprised it happened- I am surprised the fighters were so effective and organised. I'm not surprised that they are going to be wiped off the face of the earth for it..but there will be others, and all I see for the future is constant wars, growing underground then popping up -propped by richer countries until whatever installed regime steps out of their box and its time to install a new one.
The way the world works now means wars are no longer 'over there' - they affect us all. Oil price hikes, immigration, food and material shortages.
More children growing up without makes for angry adults.
For the first time in my life I'm almost sorry I had children; this is not the world I wanted them to inherit.

Though I'm just back from collecting a parcel, and I'm really mad at the *ecker who dumped black garbage bags along the road. They've busted open and as I drove by I could see something hairy hanging out of one - I'm hoping it is a coat or a rug, and not a dog or something. Our council will come and lift it quickly, but that's not the point. Some people are just a waste of oxygen.

 

[Magus]

Wendy's sucks.
Every time I go in there they screw up my order. how the 43ll do you f'K up a cheeseburger?! I got a piece of meat and sauce and it and the fries were 14$
If the next burger joint weren't halfway to town I'd write that hole off!

 

[Magpie]

Isn't it strange - and sad- that now that society has so many ways to express themselves, the minute you do so, regardless of the situation, you have to backtrack and apologise because someone is offended. This cancel culture is really beginning to annoy me. Two incidents this week -in Germany there was an awards ceremony for a prolific writer who happens to have been born in Palestine. Her writing had nothing to do with the invasion and has been organised for some time. It was cancelled totally. Not postponed.
And then, today I read some tech person tweets “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are.” He's had to apologise, and several companies have pulled out of an event. I would have thought it was a generic statement, it's not like he was inciting something.

 

[Magus]

It's like I told a Karen who attacked me on face book.
"You can't hurt me because I'm nobody, I don't care
what your cadre of ******* do, so why don't you have
a happy go and **** yourself, and hey! have a bleach
martini on me!"
She never got back to me... I'm so sad.

 

[Pearl]

Stupid poisonous things!! I am NOT moving to Alaska anytime soon, mostly because of bears, but....! Scorpions, more Black Widows, various snakes, everything that resembles a wasp!! They are all very overwhelming today, guess they know the weather pattern is changing!!

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I would move to Alaska if the daylight hours weren't so messed up. The bears don't bother me. We have plenty here. I like them a whole lot better than poisonous spiders in my bed and snakes in the grass.

 

[Magus]

Stupid poisonous things!! I am NOT moving to Alaska anytime soon, mostly because of bears, but....! Scorpions, more Black Widows, various snakes, everything that resembles a wasp!! They are all very overwhelming today, guess they know the weather pattern is changing!!

You're going to hate my new book...
ALIEN GIANT SPIDERWASP KARENS!

 

[zannej]

I just got up for a snack and found my youngest cat, Temjin, dead on the floor. She was lying on her side between a chest of drawers and the door to the living room with her back to the door. Her head was tucked up against her chest but her legs were stretched out. She seemed fine earlier. She was hanging out near that door a lot for some reason but wasn't trying to get in. Mom told me that she reached down to pet her and she didn't move but was still warm so she thought she was sleeping. By the time I found her, the neck/head & legs were stiff. No sign of injuries. Looked like she'd been drooling and she crapped-- which is normal upon death. The only thing I can think of is that she ingested some of the lamp oil that spilled on top of a bookcase earlier. She had been sitting up there and the thing was knocked over with lamp oil all over. I did my best to clean it up and didn't see any on her but maybe she'd already licked it off. And maybe I didn't do a good enough job cleaning bc I couldn't reach on top very well and I was exhausted so I didn't do it thoroughly. I'd planned to get on a ladder and clean it better today. I've put her in a bag in the freezer for now until I can bury her. I'll need to find a shovel. I think my friend has mine over at his house so I'll have to get it.

I really didn't want to lose any more pets. Especially not one so young. I'm kicking myself for not giving her a bath or cleaning that mess up more thoroughly. But she didn't show any of the symptoms associated with being poisoned by lamp oil.

 

[sonya123]

I'm stressed and there is nothing much I can do about any of it
Everything here is soooo much harder without that stupid Ranger. We use it to move hay , water buckets, animals and tools. Now all we have is a ATV with a bad tire you can just move yourself with. It's very difficult to hang a water bucket on the handlebar and move it. So husband has to carry it to the area where the bucks are which is probably 1\4 mile from the house. Or we can drive the truck, which works but is hard to turn around there plus we don't need the truck to break again by driving it up and down in 1st gear all the time.

Then there is the constant having to drive somewhere with that truck to get things. It's always something, son needs plywood, we need more sawdust, propane and gas ( cans) , I need to go shopping for some food which now I have to buy vegetables again at the store if I want something fresh.

Then I dread it everytime I call my daughter expecting to hear that her husband has been shipped off to fight in the stupid coming war in the middle east. She won't get deployed, since she now has a baby to take care of. But she is there by herself. I really wished they got out of the military, but even if they did, they could still be called back in if there is a war. But they signed up voluntary , there is no draft. So I can't blame anyone for that.

 

[joel]

Not to change the subject, but I lost 28.8 pounds in 2.5 months.
Yes I am bragging! Best time & most I have lost in a very looonnngggg
time. I feel much best too.

 

[Magus]

I just got up for a snack and found my youngest cat, Temjin, dead on the floor. She was lying on her side between a chest of drawers and the door to the living room with her back to the door. Her head was tucked up against her chest but her legs were stretched out. She seemed fine earlier. She was hanging out near that door a lot for some reason but wasn't trying to get in. Mom told me that she reached down to pet her and she didn't move but was still warm so she thought she was sleeping. By the time I found her, the neck/head & legs were stiff. No sign of injuries. Looked like she'd been drooling and she crapped-- which is normal upon death. The only thing I can think of is that she ingested some of the lamp oil that spilled on top of a bookcase earlier. She had been sitting up there and the thing was knocked over with lamp oil all over. I did my best to clean it up and didn't see any on her but maybe she'd already licked it off. And maybe I didn't do a good enough job cleaning bc I couldn't reach on top very well and I was exhausted so I didn't do it thoroughly. I'd planned to get on a ladder and clean it better today. I've put her in a bag in the freezer for now until I can bury her. I'll need to find a shovel. I think my friend has mine over at his house so I'll have to get it.

I really didn't want to lose any more pets. Especially not one so young. I'm kicking myself for not giving her a bath or cleaning that mess up more thoroughly. But she didn't show any of the symptoms associated with being poisoned by lamp oil.

I'm so sorry! My cats are like my kids, it sucks losing one.
She may have had congestive heart failure if she had been poisoned, there would be vomit.

 

[zannej]

Yeah, I really don't know. I've read that she would have had diarrhea but her stool was solid. She seemed perfectly fine in the day and hours leading up to it. She had been wanting to crawl in that corner and had been sitting near that area a lot, but I didn't think much of it. She was only 3yrs old.

 

[Pearl]

Yeah, I really don't know. I've read that she would have had diarrhea but her stool was solid. She seemed perfectly fine in the day and hours leading up to it. She had been wanting to crawl in that corner and had been sitting near that area a lot, but I didn't think much of it. She was only 3yrs old.

I'm so sorry you lost her! It will remain a mystery!!

 

[kenv1950]

I guess I have to quit .

$16.99 last week......

This week $37.99......... (Amazon)

 

[Cascadian]

Not to change the subject, but I lost 28.8 pounds in 2.5 months.
Yes I am bragging! Best time & most I have lost in a very looonnngggg
time. I feel much best too.

Congratulations! I wasn't going to say anything but thanks to getting the rona for probably the first time I am under 180. I used to call that the pound barrier.

 

[zannej]

Joel, I'm glad you've lost weight!

My whole body aches-- especially my hands. My brother refused to help me dig to bury Temjin. Then my friend noticed weird sounds when I was turning as I was driving with him in the truck. Power steering fluid was low- which means there must be a leak. He picked out the fluid and I bout it & he put it in for me. Later he had trouble opening the tailgate (a long-standing problem). I had some nearly empty jugs of motor oil in the trunk from past oil changes. He asked if he could use it on the hinges. I told him to go for it & it worked- except for the side release bc I think the part inside is broken.

Asked him to check transmission fluid but he couldn't find a way to check. I'll have to look it up later.

As expected, the mounting bracket for the computer doesn't fit. The front piece of the bracket bent when trying to remove some bolts (they were pressed in & had to be banged out with a mallet). Screws wouldn't hold on that one so had to go to TSC to get bolts & locknuts.

The straps that came with the bracket were too short so had to get bungee straps.

Internet wasn't working when I brought my friend over. Picked up the modem and bottom was crawling with roaches. I sprayed them off with canned air. DE doesn't seem to be killing them.

Sandy loam can suck for digging bc it keeps collapsing.

I haven't been able to sleep since I found Temjin.

 

[Old Whatshisname]

That vampire has risen from the tomb and is firing on all 8 cylinders, sending me 3 spams per day.
I have 3 different ways to vaporize them, just haven't picked one yet.
Lemme see now, sunlight, stake, or holy-water?

Why do you think we have an entire plot for our garlic?

 

[Supervisor42]

Why do you think we have an entire plot for our garlic?

Heck no!
I was just saying I might need your help in my fight with Bed Bath & Beyond.
I was able to put them back in the coffin with holy water but it took more than three shakes.

 

[sonya123]

Power steering fluid was low- which means there must be a leak. He picked out the fluid and I bout it & he put it in for me. Later he had trouble opening the tailgate (a long-standing problem).

Your life sounds a lot like mine sometimes....are we unlucky or were we bad people in our last life or something?

So the Ranger needs a new frame piece that will cost almost $900. ONE bolt broke off it. Here we thought if we buy something made in US it would be better than the cheaper made in China version.....NOT! Even the guy in the repair shop agreed, that this should not have broken. It holds the gear shifter in place. We did not do anything to cause it and its only a few years old but no longer under warranty

 

[Magus]

Your life sounds a lot like mine sometimes....are we unlucky or were we bad people in our last life or something?

I was told I was a Nazi officer recently, died in my second week in Vietnam and here I am. Funny thing. I hate Nazis and love Asian women.

 

[kenv1950]

I guess I have to quit . View attachment 118138 $16.99 last week......View attachment 118139This week $37.99......... (Amazon)

Must be they seen my review . Down to $15.74 today

 

[Haertig]

Coffee rant!

I must have my coffee every day, so this is very important to me!

Fired up the Keurig just like every other morning for the last umpteen years. As soon as the power button was pressed, water started pouring out. What the heck? It doesn't work like that. You have to choose you size, the brewing strength, etc, before any brewing starts. But not this day. And it wasn't just brewing a normal cup of coffee, it was going and going trying to empty the whole reservoir.

Oh well, it was old, and we had a new one as a spare. Opened that box and washed the bright new shiny one. Did it's "cleansing brew" to rinse out all the factory nasties. Put my cup in there, and it says "Add Water". The reservoir is full you dumb machine. Drained the water, unplugged/replugged it. Checked operation of reservoir (there's a spring loaded valve in the bottom - working perfectly). Filled to the top with water again. Still, "Add Water". That's all it would do. No brewing coffee. Called Keurig support and ran through all their diagnostics. Nothing worked. They said it was the reservoir and they'd send me a new one.

I would die if I had to wait the 5 or so days for the new reservoir to get here. So down to the basement to drag out the really really old first Keurig we ever bought (no reservoir on that one). Plugged it in, added the required water, and was staring at my cup waiting for the coffee to start coming out. Nada. You could hear the pump going, but nothing was coming out.

I was going to take the new (broken) one back to Costco, but I was a little hesitant since we had actually bought it two years ago. It had been sitting the the unopened box, never used. First time we tried to use it it was dead. So instead of running to Costco, I ran over to our storage locker where we put my moms stuff after she died. She had three Keurigs that we had inherited from mom. Her first one, her second one (why she replaced the first one is a mystery because it still worked fine - but NOW I'm starting to understand why). And one more, brand new in box, as her spare. I get to the storage locker, and my dang key wouldn't open it. The lock was screwed. At this storage place, you have to use their lock cores that are evidently specially made and only used in their kind of storage locker doors. The lock just plain wouldn't work. So I go to the office to get help, and nobody is there (this was about 10am on a weekday).

What the heck?! I want my coffee!!!

The above actually spanned a couple of days although my written description of it sounds compressed. I had been filling in for my missing coffee with black tea. OK, there's caffeine there, but it's not like coffee. The new reservoir from Keurig arrived! I excitedly put it on the brewer, and guess what? "Add Water" Friggin' stupid Keurig! I have to call and schedule a locksmith to drill out the storage locker core before I can get into the three others in there.

So what the heck, I headed to Costco with my brand new, but still two years old, Keurig in hand. I gotta say, Costco is great. No problem! They took the coffee maker right back and gave me a full refund. They don't do exchanges, they just do refunds and tell you to go buy another one. So I went and found the same one I had just returned (since by now, I have a spare reservoir for it). It was $21 more than the one I had just returned. Thank you Mr. Inflation Brandon! The model appears slightly upgraded. I got it home and ...

Ahhh, coffee!!! Yeah, it's almost 5pm now - I wouldn't normally be drinking coffee this late - but today is special!

Now I will go hire a locksmith for the storage locker to free the other Keurigs from their incarceration. I'm not going through this again!

FWIW, Keurig makes nice coffee machines. But their reliability is hit or miss. The expensive ones are no more reliable than the cheaper ones. The costly ones just have more features (and probably more failure points). The brain-damaged one that started this whole fiasco by pumping water immediately upon power on had worked flawlessly - making probably four cups of coffee every day for at least four years. I did everything I could to attempt to revive it - power cycle, unplug for 24 hours, empty all water, cleaned tubing and vent holes, turned it upside down and spanked its bottom hard - everything. But nothing would fix the stupid thing. The failure mode - immediately pumping water on power up - sure sounding like a logic (microprocessor) type error to me. But rebooting it, leaving the power disconnected for a full day, even doing it's secret forced reset "power button plus 12oz size button" push for five seconds didn't work.

 

[Pearl]

I buy Keurigs and old coffee makers at thrift stores and yard sales, you never know! I like and must have my one big cup of coffee (sometimes two) from my Keurig! Hubby has a whole pot throughout the day! We always have back up coffee makers! Test your Mom's in storage when you finally get in there, keep the ones that work! Glad you got coffee!!

 

[Neb]

Coffee rant!

I must have my coffee every day, so this is very important to me!

Fired up the Keurig just like every other morning for the last umpteen years. As soon as the power button was pressed, water started pouring out. What the heck? It doesn't work like that. You have to choose you size, the brewing strength, etc, before any brewing starts. But not this day. And it wasn't just brewing a normal cup of coffee, it was going and going trying to empty the whole reservoir.

Oh well, it was old, and we had a new one as a spare. Opened that box and washed the bright new shiny one. Did it's "cleansing brew" to rinse out all the factory nasties. Put my cup in there, and it says "Add Water". The reservoir is full you dumb machine. Drained the water, unplugged/replugged it. Checked operation of reservoir (there's a spring loaded valve in the bottom - working perfectly). Filled to the top with water again. Still, "Add Water". That's all it would do. No brewing coffee. Called Keurig support and ran through all their diagnostics. Nothing worked. They said it was the reservoir and they'd send me a new one.

I would die if I had to wait the 5 or so days for the new reservoir to get here. So down to the basement to drag out the really really old first Keurig we ever bought (no reservoir on that one). Plugged it in, added the required water, and was staring at my cup waiting for the coffee to start coming out. Nada. You could hear the pump going, but nothing was coming out.

I was going to take the new (broken) one back to Costco, but I was a little hesitant since we had actually bought it two years ago. It had been sitting the the unopened box, never used. First time we tried to use it it was dead. So instead of running to Costco, I ran over to our storage locker where we put my moms stuff after she died. She had three Keurigs that we had inherited from mom. Her first one, her second one (why she replaced the first one is a mystery because it still worked fine - but NOW I'm starting to understand why). And one more, brand new in box, as her spare. I get to the storage locker, and my dang key wouldn't open it. The lock was screwed. At this storage place, you have to use their lock cores that are evidently specially made and only used in their kind of storage locker doors. The lock just plain wouldn't work. So I go to the office to get help, and nobody is there (this was about 10am on a weekday).

What the heck?! I want my coffee!!!

The above actually spanned a couple of days although my written description of it sounds compressed. I had been filling in for my missing coffee with black tea. OK, there's caffeine there, but it's not like coffee. The new reservoir from Keurig arrived! I excitedly put it on the brewer, and guess what? "Add Water" Friggin' stupid Keurig! I have to call and schedule a locksmith to drill out the storage locker core before I can get into the three others in there.

So what the heck, I headed to Costco with my brand new, but still two years old, Keurig in hand. I gotta say, Costco is great. No problem! They took the coffee maker right back and gave me a full refund. They don't do exchanges, they just do refunds and tell you to go buy another one. So I went and found the same one I had just returned (since by now, I have a spare reservoir for it). It was $21 more than the one I had just returned. Thank you Mr. Inflation Brandon! The model appears slightly upgraded. I got it home and ...

Ahhh, coffee!!! Yeah, it's almost 5pm now - I wouldn't normally be drinking coffee this late - but today is special!

Now I will go hire a locksmith for the storage locker to free the other Keurigs from their incarceration. I'm not going through this again!

FWIW, Keurig makes nice coffee machines. But their reliability is hit or miss. The expensive ones are no more reliable than the cheaper ones. The costly ones just have more features (and probably more failure points). The brain-damaged one that started this whole fiasco by pumping water immediately upon power on had worked flawlessly - making probably four cups of coffee every day for at least four years. I did everything I could to attempt to revive it - power cycle, unplug for 24 hours, empty all water, cleaned tubing and vent holes, turned it upside down and spanked its bottom hard - everything. But nothing would fix the stupid thing. The failure mode - immediately pumping water on power up - sure sounding like a logic (microprocessor) type error to me. But rebooting it, leaving the power disconnected for a full day, even doing it's secret forced reset "power button plus 12oz size button" push for five seconds didn't work.

I would have been boiling water and dumping over grounds in a coffee filter.

Ben