The Totally Radical Thread for Crotchety Old Bitches

At last, I've set foot on a glacier today.

The honours go to Morteratsch Glacier in the Grisons, the world-famous Bernina railway did not disappoint the expectations although I need to make another trip to the circular viaduct.

Oh, and remember to use proper hiking boots there! I did for a while walk behind a family with two children and the one with sneakers almost slipped a couple of times. Not the worst place to slip but you still don't want to.

I'm just picturing a giant ice cube and someone sliding right off it

Well, more like rocks since the lower part of Morteratsch is covered by boulders.

I think that yesterday and today I have spent so much time on the open cars of the Bernina Railway that my hands now smell of iron.

We've taken in a stray cat that befriended us a week ago with the intention of finding her a new home. The girl has almost no teeth, there's a spot on the back of her neck that looks like a burn mark and she looks like she's in first weeks of her pregnancy.

Took her to a vet today, she said she's mostly healthy except the teeth and that spot on the neck. She doesn't even have fleas (there was one long-dead tick in her ear, but that's it). We have an appointment at the dermatologist's and an ultrasound check to see if she's really pregnant and to rule out other illnesses. We'll also get her vaccinated after the check, since if she has some skin disease, we'd need to treat that first. Judging by the state of her teeth, the vet said she's around eight years old, though she also said she's been on the streets for a quite long time. She's also probably already given birth a couple of times.

Got her quarantined in our balcony. Gerrie (our own home cat) didn't quite like the new visitor. It's probably the first time for her to see another cat and her reaction was more in the lines of scared confusion at first, despite Gerrie being almost twice as large than the stray. Gerrie even growled and hissed at her ... from across the balcony window, from safe distance. The stray was purely indifferent.

So far the nickname we got for her in our household is the Tractor because of how loud the cat purrs despite her size. She's so small we've mistaken her for a kitten at first.

How does a cat have no teeth?

She only has her canines and a molar or two. They are also covered in calculus, so this is the main theory why she lost most of her teeth. The other theory is that she likes to chew on hard stuff, and her teeth shattered because of low calcium caused by malnutrition.

Poor critter. Glad you are able to help.

Speaking of critters we just had a baby bird on our front step,likely a fledgling

My wife finally left her toxic job of six years late last month, and as of today she is hired in something probably better, which is great, because this is the last week her pay from the old job is lasting through, so I'm going to need to cover some extra expenses the rest of the month.

Hey, congrats to her. Hopefully, things vastly improve.

~TParadox - congrats. I left a job back in 2020 because of a toxic boss - so tell your SO to enjoy her freedoms!

A note I found on reddit Anyone born on this date in 2001 in the US can now legally drink.....

...I need a moment.....

In other news - it's "RTO" (return to office) at m work - I have to go to the office at least twice a week^note As part of the deal I could negiotiate 10-90 percent work from home. I chose 90% so it's two days a week in cube-ville. So far I was reminded of the suck of pre-COVID cubical life (worse, the new ones have low glass walls, as if we need to be spied on or watched). I also caught a little bug - nothing bad just annoying enough that I had to have the Doc look at it during my latest appointment.

The result was pain and bloody arms as I gots a steroid AND anti-biotics. The plus side is the ability to breath without conscious thought or drinking lots of caffeine.

Edited by TairaMai on Jul 13th 2022 at 9:34:25 AM

Isn't two days a week in the office 40% of the week?

Enjoy validating your employer's expensive lease. I never got to work from home or shelter in place. The store where I was working at the time was just tangentially part of a certified Essential industry so we stayed open at reduced hours, and then the place I'm working now pretty much only ever let one person work from home, and that was because she couldn't get child care. Nevermind that 98% of my job is moving documents from the company email account into a network drive in another state so I can attach it to accounts in software that I already have to use a remote desktop to access, I've gotta slog to the far west side of town every day so I can scan the handful of physical documents that need to be digitized. I should probably use the provided coffee more often since it's the only reliable benefit to being in the office.

Edited by TParadox on Jul 14th 2022 at 8:49:40 AM

Corporate math.

Yeah, my company leases their building so they were big on trying to get people to come back to the office, but too many people want to work from home.

At that age where having to scroll to my birthyear is like that wheel on the Price Is Right (imgur link)....

Edited by TairaMai on Jul 16th 2022 at 3:18:02 AM

Update: that "hired in something probably better" didn't actually happen. She was told that she'd get a call on Thursday or Friday with her schedule for the new week to start on Saturday. On Friday afternoon, she got a text asking her if it would be okay if instead of 9-4 every day, she took two shifts a week at night. She said okay, and then didn't hear from that manager again.

Her sister's friend recommended her for a different job, she had an interview yesterday in the morning, and had her first shift today. But it's backbreaking work so she's continuing to look for another job.

So, turns out the other common reason for lack of teeth in cats is ... old age. Cats start losing teeth from 10 years on, and judging by the state of teeth of our new guest, she's an octogenarian (in cat years) at the very least.

One springy octogenarian, by the way. Two weeks ago she escaped her confinement on the balcony by climbing through the open window (inside the apartment). We woke up that day to Gerrie hissing at the Grandma who just stood there innocently.

Got her fixed for fleas and worms and on August 16 she'll get the second dose of the rabies vaccine. After that, we can find her a new home.

Unfortunately, due to her advanced age, getting her spayed has a risk of heart attack, so her new owners will have to deal with old cat lady in heat from time to time. Apparently, cats don't get menopause.

Edited by Millership on Aug 1st 2022 at 5:41:46 PM

So, for the first time ever I am seeing a wildfire in southern Switzerland. In a somewhat remoteish part of the valley I am currently in, but it's close to a village (albeit downwind from the village) and very visible from the other village I am in.

We've had wildfires in the UK for the first time this year,I really hope I don't encounter any because they are scary as hell

Stay safe out there.

So. It's been eight hours so far. Three separate bucket helicopters have been busy all day bringing water to the fire. They say it's mostly under control now but they want to be sure.

They have been passing over us all day long (we are on the other side of the valley) and while I typed this the helos passed over us several times with empty buckets, to a field where firefighters have set up an impromptu water pond.

Apparently they maxed out the valley's firefighting pond this morning, since the municipality issued a bulletin to conserve water so that it can be used for firefighting efforts.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Aug 4th 2022 at 7:23:54 PM

Hope you can stay safe! That sounds terrifying.

Hey Millership, regarding having an unfixed female cat, I remembered reading ages ago a way to, well, induce ovulation in female cats. Because that ends the heat cycle. And I just found it again. The article is about massage, but if you scroll down to "Acupressure", it talks about a technique breeders use with intact female cats. http://messybeast.com/catmassage.htm

Could be helpful? Or nauseating? At any rate, I hope things work out with your old lady cat!

I'll be safe. The fire is on the other side of the valley, was never particularly intense (there is almost no wind) and appears to be under control. Although one has to obviously wonder how we would manage if it occurred much closer - the forest around our village has some inhabited houses and I've seen power lines on my hikes.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Aug 5th 2022 at 11:57:11 AM

Hello. All of the actors from Friends are now older than the youngest member of The Golden Girls. Have a nice day.

I've never watched Golden Girls but I recall Friends was practically unavoidable

So I just finished playing the Steam game Stray, which was a lot of fun, and I'm now working on some of the achievements.

However, I'm frustrated that my 2 y/o non-gaming PC has such trouble with the graphics. I turned them way down, and I'm only playing on a small, ordinary monitor. So I decided to research graphics cards and how to choose them.

Which led to the discovery that my power supply is insufficient, so I started looking up upgrades.

Man, if I'm not careful, I'm going to end up building a new PC.

That might be the best way to go.