self explanatory.

BREN---Have a very good time and kiss the PacificOcean for me!

BLUE---YOU really look the same now as you did then, so very pretty. The ONLY difference is your hair. Get a wig and post a sidexside and you will see the same young girl!

LOVE TO ALL-------kad2kar

Blue,

You were, are, and always will be beautiful!

Jackie - thanks for the encouraging words on the cat nutrition. I've always heard a cat without food for 2 days could suffer lipodosis and it would hurt their liver. Had to leave Boo at the "big" kitty hospital over night - needs more dx; ultrasounds, more IV - fluids and possibly nutrition. Probably pancreatitis, but could be something else too. Cancer was the other thing mentioned and I never thought I'd welcome pancreatitis. I'll know more later today.

E - I must have missed your trip to Boston? A clinical trial? Things are just flashing by at the moment. Are you going to Dana Farber?

Bren - have a wonderful trip. It is beautiful right now in California - everywhere!!

Kam, so hoping your baby gets well soon. I'm taking mine by the vet on Monday. We found a lump on her neck. :-(

E - it's "Bawstaan" - hope you get in!

Bren - happy CA Dreamin'

Blue - the only thing that kept my skin from flaking off during my 5 A years: coconut oil. Whole Foods has a good own brand in a joar, so does Trader Joe's - and sometimes melting cocoa butter ( during winter) and slathering that on, helps too. You're STILL beautiful.

Hugs to all who need them and healing thoughts going out to Kam's and Yorkie's furbabies. I know how terrifying it is when they don't feel well - it is hard to know what to do when they can't tell you what hurts!

Have a great time in San Diego, Bren! I know how much you love your son and his family - you are SuperGrandma!

DH and I are leaving tomorrow morning for a week in Cancun. We come back and a week later we go to Wisconsin on family business for four days. 10 days after we return from that, we go back to Cancun for a week. That trip has been planned since March. The one we are going on tomorrow was planned just a couple weeks ago when DH decided to cancel what he had planned for the October vacation and go to Cancun again. And the trip to WI came up last week for family reasons. I hate to fly (must be drugged to get on an airplane anymore) and will be flying three times in a month. UGH! I have been irritable all week just anticipating the flights.

So I could still use a to-go bag of sorts for the airplane. And if anyone has any fearlessness of flying to spare, I could use some of that, too!

I do believe I have some flying sorts to spare, RL! Won't be flying again for awhile.

Hugs to the fur babies - mine is hiding somewhere in the house

Off for a hair cut, library and grocery shopping - what fun.

Quite humid here this morning - we had a hot one yesterday, but no rain in sight - hoping for a storm some time this weekend.

Yes, RR - I actually tried to use Reader from the IPad (which is how I broke the site before) but that didn't work either. I am on the PC now and am trying again, because it is a good article! Trying below:

The Atlantic Monthly

Friday Shutdown Reader—Yes, It's Still Going On

"In essence, the shutdown has created a hiring freeze in [an entire] industry."

James Fallows Oct 11 2013, 9:00 AM ET

From a reader in California:

I have a black sheep brother on food stamps and social security disability in Arizona. The welfare offices in Arizona, he reports, are jam-packed. Old ladies in wheelchairs are being told no food stamps for them.

That's predictable, I guess. This surprised me, although it made sense in retrospect: when I tried to send my brother some money over Western Union online, the payment couldn't be processed. I waited more than half an hour for customer service. They processed my order, but told me that the website keeps crashing because so many people are in the same boat as my brother, and Western Union is overwhelmed.

From a reader hoping for a career in aviation:

I have recently graduated with a degree in the aviation field. Starting a few weeks ago, when the threat of a shutdown was becoming more and more real, I noticed a decided downturn in new job postings. The ones I have applied for, there have been significant delays in processing. Today I called one HR department as one should do, and was informed of the general reason for this; The only jobs I qualify for are jobs requiring ramp clearance to access the secure areas of the airport. As I'm sure you know, obtaining this clearance involves a federal-level background check. With the shutdown, the E-Verify system is completely offline.

This seemingly minor facet is going to shut down all hiring of new employees in the aviation industry. Pilots, mechanics, even clerical work requires this clearance. In essence, the shutdown has created a hiring freeze in the industry. This is just my experience, but its causing me to contemplate returning to school for an advanced degree, especially in the event of a prolonged shutdown.

From a reader in Missouri:

Just wanted to speak as one of possibly one of the largest groups of people who are not employed by the federal government but will be hurt by the shutdown: those millions of us who have infants or small children (under age five) and receive WIC benefits.

In a coincidental inverse of Romney's "47 percent" remarks, 53 percent of infants born in the U.S. are on WIC, per Wikipedia (their citation points to the USDA's WIC website, but it currently reads "Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available"). And my wife and I count on WIC vouchers to make our tight grocery budget stretch a little further.

If the shutdown is not resolved soon, word is that WIC here in Missouri only has enough funding to last "a few more weeks". Not good.

From a reader in Asia:

Currently traveling in Seoul and twice I have been embarrassed by the shutdown:

1) While traveling to visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) yesterday the tour bus drove past the National Assembly of Korea (equivalent to our Capitol), without missing a beat, after pointing out the building, the tour guide went on to add "it is working, unlike the Congress in US. "



2) I am also meeting up, on this trip, with college friends who are visiting from Australia. I lost many arguments of our government action during the Bush years, and just when I thought I was in the clear to make fun of their recent election and their newly elected Prime Minister, again I had a loss of words to explain the shutdown.



Like it or not, the world watches what we do, or say. That's expected of a global leader, unfortunately, we are not acting very leader-ly.

And finally for now, from a reader (and longtime journalist) who has a constructive suggestion:

When I was in college and sporadically involved in campus politics, my closest friend of that era came up with this piece of deathless political wisdom: "Beware of those who burn with a pure gemlike flame."... Over the more than 50 years since then I have found that an unfailingly valuable guide to sound political judgments....

Here's the fantasy: I see the Republicans are going into paroxysms of self-righteous fury because they want the Democrats to negotiate with them. My solution: the Senate should pass a continuing budget resolution and attach the immigration bill they've already passed (with a good many Republican votes, by the way) and send it over to the House. That would be the exact counterpart to the House Republicans' tactic: take a piece of legislation that you can't get the votes to pass and tie it to an unrelated action that has to be taken to avoid serious economic damage.

Then, Harry Reid can say: OK, Republicans, you want to negotiate? Fine. We'll drop our immigration rider, you drop your various demands, and we'll pass the bill. Voila, a negotiated compromise, just what you're asking for, with an equal and opposite concession from each side.

It looks as if this might be over soon. What a waste it has been.

Healing thoughts to Kam and Yorkie's furbabies. Healing thoughts to the mom's as well. I know how upsetting it is when our babies are ill.

So happy to see the Repugs going down the toilet.

Agree with both of you, Alexandria and GG!

But it was ever thus - here is a really good blog post from Adam Gopnik at the New Yorker on the strong resemblance between the baggers of today and the Birchers of yesteryear. So depressing that racism and evil have no expiration date ....

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/10/the-john-birchers-tea-party.html?utm_source=tny&utm_campaign=generalsocial&utm_medium=facebook

Back on the iPad so cut-and-paste not working.