Bastet

Thanks for the heads-up on the time change. Fortunately, I get the east coast feed on my satellite, so they'll both air at 6:00 and then repeat at 9:00; I can just watch Dr. Jeff at six and Dr. Pol at nine. (I'm weird about recording; I only do it when I'm out, and sometimes not even then - for some reason, if I'm not home when something is on, I tend to just skip it until a rerun.)

I don't have Hulu, and I have the show on DVD, but I'm excited by this anyway as it may introduce the show to a new audience. Pretty cool dropping it on Women's Equality Day, too.

I recently added the season six DVD to my collection (well, collection is a stretch, as it consists of season seven; I'm not sure if I'll buy the whole series, but I definitely want 5-7 so I have the Sharon Raydor years to add to my Major Crimes DVDs) and, wow, I had forgotten just how very much Fritz annoyed me in that short season. I love him, but I don't always like him, and my main issue is his “I knowingly married someone with a dangerous job – and have an identically-dangerous one myself – but will nevertheless commence complaining about and encouraging her to leave said job” tendency, and holy crap, does he do that a lot in season six. I also remembered why Sharon's presence was such an oasis for me that season; I don't particularly care for it other than getting to see her (although the "Living Proof" two-parter I like for many reasons in addition to Sharon, and I'm highly entertained by "Layover" even without her -- just, on the whole, I find myself a little tired with the show that season except when she's around). Anyway, the point of my posting is that there's a deleted scene from "Living Proof" when Clay and Willie Ray arrive to prepare Christmas dinner at the station. Gabriel, Andy, and Provenza are with them outside the elevators, and Gabriel has the list Willie Ray made of the "stolen" (by Fritz) Christmas presents -- we learn that they got Gabriel a Waterpik and Provenza The Clapper. Hee -- it goes with the adorably crappy gifts they bring the squad in season seven. And also to say I'd forgotten how much Chief Delk liked Brenda at first - before she got them hit with the Baylor lawsuit - and even wanted to make her Asst. Chief. It was good timing to make Fritz the FBI's LAPD liaison during season six; the suspicion (much to Fritz's consternation) that the Bureau had given him the promotion to have him in place should Brenda become Chief (obviously not knowing her, heh, as she wouldn't have suddenly started cooperating with him professionally any better than she did as Deputy Chief) creates a perfectly logical reason for the change. If they'd tacked it on at the end of the series or beginning of Major Crimes, it would have felt like a forced way of keeping him around for the new show. This way, by the time of the transition from The Closer to Major Crimes, we're used to him in that role and don't even think about it.

So Tia will be in an episode of the other show (which I've never seen), but has anyone seen word of when more episodes of this show will be coming? The Vet Life is already coming back, but I haven't seen any promos for this one and there's nothing on the show's page of Animal Planet's website. For those of you who follow Tia/VRC on social media, has there been anything mentioned? Me too, to both. There are significantly more cats than dogs euthanized in U.S. shelters each year, and I'd like to see at least one program dedicated to their rescue. But TV programming is just yet another way in which cats get less attention and resources than dogs.

I almost ran the first round again, but Dr. Who prevented me. I don’t watch it or Torchwood, so I didn’t know the connection, but that the titles are anagrams is a good little bit of trivia I’ll remember. (In that same category, I had forgotten until the clue reminded me about Mork & Mindy being a spin-off of Happy Days.) I didn’t know whether I needed to clean my ears or if they’d missed Eric saying if rather than ifs, so I was glad to see that corrected. I laughed at the soy milk clue, and was a bit surprised that was a TS. St. Patrick’s Day as an incorrect guess for the Labor Day was an odd one on every level; workers should have been enough, but there was also September, so where did St. Patrick’s Day come from? If the march had been in Boston, I guess I could see Eric jumping to Irish and fixating on that to the extent of ignoring works and September, but being in NYC, I’m oddly intrigued as to his thought process. I’m pretty good with music from the ‘60s through ‘90s, so I was reasonably confident going into FJ based on the category. It wound up taking me several moments, but it did come to me in plenty of time, and between the year, L.A., and the tone of the review excerpt, I predicted one of them would come up with it. Oops.

It depends on who is doing their version of the old vaudeville sketch what the trigger word is; "Niagara Falls" is often believed to be the first one, but origin of the sketch cannot be definitively traced, so who knows. The sketches that appeared on TV shows are probably the most well known; "Niagara Falls" was used as the trigger on Abbott and Costello and The Three Stooges (I don't watch either show, but I always associated the "Slowly I Turned" routine with "Niagara Falls" so I picked it up in the pop culture ether somewhere). On I Love Lucy, it was "Martha".

I found out while watching TV with my mom recently that she absolutely hates that guy. She doesn't often react that strongly, and it amuses me when she does. I don't share the same intensity, but I can't stand him either and absolutely do not understand the point of him, or how he could be conceived of/received as anything other than annoying. And yet he was and he is; those have been airing for a while now, so I guess we're stuck with the little shit.

That sounded like a Duluth Trading Co. commercial to me, but I couldn't place it, so I went looking and that's because it's not part of that series at all. It's a Hanes commercial I'd never seen: I like the Duluth ads much better.

Reba and Barbra Jean had my favorite relationship of the show, followed by Reba and Van. I like that Reba was happy not being in a relationship, and that - other than the time Lori Ann dragged her out to do so - she never went man hunting; if she happened to meet someone she found interesting, she was happy to go out with him, but she wasn't actively looking. It's refreshing on general principle, since TV rarely presents women as happily single, and realistic, as a lot of women who get divorced (or widowed) after long marriages that began when they were young do not get into another marriage/long-term relationship for quite some time, if ever. And Brian was a drip, but it nevertheless bothered me that they didn't sleep together, because they logically would have, and I'm sure the only reason they didn't was not to freak out the crazy-conservative faction of McEntire's fans. And I think that - probably even more than organic storytelling - was also behind the decision to never again have her date one man man long enough for sex to even be an issue. So I'm happy with the result, but salty about the reason behind it. Oh, and add me in as enjoying Sadie (I love Wendie Malick in everything I see her in). I'd have loved to at least heard reference in subsequent episodes to their friendship continuing, even if we never saw her again.

No, the 19th, per his agent's statement; the funeral was today, though, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, his family didn't want the news released until after the funeral.

It absolutely can be managed, so just return to that thought when you get overwhelmed. And you will get overwhelmed; there is a lot of information out there, which is immensely valuable, but also best digested slowly. Assuming he is in the early stages (blood tests for several kidney values will show what stage), this is a slow-progressing disease; you have plenty of time to do your research and make your decisions. Many vets simply recommend the prescription food. And, indeed, being low phosphorus, it works; they kidney values go down. But it's made with junk ingredients - for which they charge gourmet prices - and it's also low protein, which is not good for cats. So feeding it may very well handle one problem, yet cause others. This is why the modern approach is low phosphorus but not low protein. It sounds simple, but the drawback is commercial food is all higher in phosphorus than the Rx formula by law -- commercial food must contain a minimum level. This is where the phosphorus binder comes in, if you reach a point where the lowest-phosphorus food available without a prescription is not low enough to keep the kidney values where you want them. The reason some vets and feline nutrition experts revisited the CKD dietary issue was that the low phosphorus/low protein formula was developed back in the '60s, based on research done on rats with the resulting food then given to dogs. "Normal" cats have different dietary needs than "normal" dogs (a primary one being cats are obligate carnivores, thus needing more protein in their diet than dogs do), so there was increasing question as to why we'd just assume CKD cats needed the same food as CKD dogs. (This happens all.the.time. incidentally, that medicine or food is developed based on dogs, and then just given to cats too.) So, I recommend supplementing your conversation with your vet with reading what other vets who have looked into this, not just accepted what Hill's told them when selling them the food have to say in this old school vs. new school dietary debate, and reading what other owners of CKD cats have tried and experienced. Then, make the decision you think is best, and see how your cat does, adjusting along the way as necessary. Best of luck to you, and take heart -- if early stage CKD is all that's wrong with him, Griffin is likely to be with you for years to come no matter what you do. (And thank you, @Mindthinkr; I love cats, and understand science better than the average non-scientist bear, so I like to start with my vet's advice but also do my own research when an issue arises - and, living my whole life with cats, I have run into quite a few issues. My vet says I should have an honorary DVM degree.)

Here is the Variety obituary for Hauer; he died last week at home after a short illness (age 75). I need to go check all his credits on IMDb, because although I know his name and vaguely recognize him, I don't think I've ever actually seen him in anything. Seems odd, given the number of credits listed in the obit, but I'd never seen any of those films, so maybe. Updated to say odd, but true: 174 credits and I haven't seen any of them. Looking at IMDb, he was working recently, because he has multiple projects in post right now. So it seems like he was healthy and active right up until the short illness that took his life; hopefully that's of some comfort to his loved ones.

Yes. I switched her to a reduced phosphorus diet (but NOT also reduced protein, like the prescription food, as that it what dogs [and rats, apparently, as that's who got tested on to come up with this] with CKD need, not what cats need) and she lived another seven years before dying of something unrelated. She was stage two when I switched her diet, and had normal kidney values when she died; in between, they mostly went back and forth between normal and stage one, with an occasional rise to stage two. Based on this experience, friends who subsequently had their cats diagnosed with CKD (it's a common chronic illness in cats as they get older) did the same diet switch, with the same result of halting the disease's progression. Sometimes all you can do is delay it, but when you get on it in the early stages, you have good odds of delaying it for quite some time. If you want to check the phosphorus content of what you're feeding and consider lower-phosphorus alternatives, here is a chart (compiled by a vet) showing the phosphorus content (as well as protein, fat, and carb content, as cats should eat a low-carb diet) of a wide variety of cat food formulas (canned only). You can also, if necessary, add aluminum hydroxide (it's a powder) to food as a phosphorus binder, to effectively further reduce the phosphorus content of any food.

Okay, but there's older and then there's old. Those two are well past their sexual prime and into it's not even going to work no matter what you do half the time territory, and Roy is no spring chicken; fucking men his own age would mean experienced men. Having a sexual relationship with a man in his mid 70s you're in love with, that I buy. Seeking out men that age for the sole purpose of sex when you're about 25 years younger, I do not.

I only saw the first round last night, but I ran it, so maybe it was good I left while I was ahead. Tonight, I was not nearly so much on fire in the first round, but I did get two TS, both of which surprised me – knife was a surprising TS given the category spotted the silent K, and underwear was just surprising on general principle; what else would you strip down to other than your skin, and the color wearing part of the clue made clear it had to be a garment? DJ was another good but not great round for me. Declined was really surprising as a TS, and snub and slight in the same category were a bit surprising, too; I’m not sure why they had such trouble with that category. Diesel was a bit surprising at first, but then I looked at the close scoreboard at that point and figured no one was sure (which isn’t surprising) and thus didn’t want to take a guess. The Angela Merkel clue belonged in the first round. I got a good chuckle out of the incorrect guesses of Atlantis and Shangri-La being the answers to the next two clues. I wasn't immediately sure on FJ, but in short order "lexiko" brought to mind "lexicon" and then the answer was a total "duh!" moment - especially because I play Scrabble on my computer pretty much daily, and play it with my mom every Thanksgiving, so I'd have had to do the V8 head slap if I hadn't come up with it. I don't care that there was no consequence for violating the "don't write anything superfluous in FJ, really, we mean it" emphasis of the existing rule James's numerous shout-outs led to, since I've never seen anything stating what that consequence would be, but I do object to Alex reading it AND asking him who the recipient of the shout-out was. Don't reward it! I'm not sure there should be a punishment for it (because I don't think it should be invalidating the answer, and I don't know what lesser punishment - deduction of a dollar amount? - there should be instead), but I certainly think it should be thoroughly ignored by Alex, and possibly digitally erased to boot, to make it pointless for people to break the rule, leading contestants to knock that shit off.

He did "how people make things" segments about things kids were familiar with, so crayons, balls, towels, light bulbs, wagons, bicycles, erasers, etc. The wording - how people make things, rather than how things are made - was deliberate; his dad and grandfathers had all been factory workers, and he wanted to emphasize the importance of the people who make the machines work (back in the show's day, lots of kids in America had parents who worked in factories), and did it through showing kids how various items in their daily lives were manufactured.

I like the really thin cut chops, so I have to be careful to keep them soft and moist - I brine them for at least an hour (I'd do longer for thicker chops) and make sure not to let them get over 145 degrees. Rib-eye steak tonight, with roasted squash (zucchini and crookneck), and a salad of cucumber, tomato, and red onion with Italian dressing. Lunch was just a mixed greens salad with walnuts, feta cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette, so I'm going to be pretty hungry - thus, the big ol' steak sounding good. I may need to either eat early (unappealing, since it's pretty damn hot outside until the sun goes down) or make an appetizer to tide me over.

Not me, because I wondered the same thing. When this season dropped, the actor playing Roy had played a serial rapist on a multi-episode arc of Major Crimes just a month before, so first I had to erase that mental association, and then I was just left wondering why on earth in selecting partners for a purely sexual fling, he opted for two geezers.

The film is loosely based on Tom Junod's "that can't be the real him" cynicism giving way to "I'll be damned, it is" experience of being assigned to write a profile of Fred Rogers for Esquire in 1998 and becoming friends with him. The article was republished a couple of years ago; you can read it here. Junod said on Twitter: "I saw @ABeautifulDay a few weeks ago and was tremendously moved by it, while knowing at the same time that I was too close to be objective. So I am really happy about the response to the trailer. Thanks for all the kind words, everybody." And Joanne Rogers said last year, after Tom Hanks talked with her about her husband in preparation for filming, she thinks he's perfect for the role (she also said the first question he asked is if Fred really talked that slowly; yep). The film does seem a bit superfluous after the terrific documentary, but this will reach a much wider audience, and I'm all for even more people being reminded of Mr. Rogers's message. I'm not as moved by the trailer as many are, but it's Tom Hanks + Mr. Rogers, so I think it will be good.

Yep. Or maybe the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. I didn't dislike it, but I really only liked Daniel Striped Tiger -- because he was a cat, and I've loved cats since birth, and, even though I couldn't have articulated this at the time, because he was shy, and so was I. Although Lady Elaine could be fun, and I liked when she stood up to the king (another aspect of my personality). So I guess her too. But I barely remember the others, because the trips to the Land of Make-Believe weren't my jam; by far my favorite part of the show was when he'd use Picture Picture to show the factory tours he took - I loved seeing how things were made. Even as a kid, I was always more drawn to the real (or at least the realistic fiction).

I agree with the Country Universe folks that "The Window Up Above" should be ranked higher, and, unlike them, I think "Holding Her and Loving You" should be as well. I continue to be oddly fascinated by how awful this list is, especially now reading that Jason Aldean has 17 songs on it -- the same number as George Jones.

I wonder why they don't take it with them on farm calls where they know the reason they're being called out there is something that may need an x-ray for diagnosis. At least twice, Emily has lamented having to make an educated guess because she has no field x-ray machine (and it's not an animal the farmer is going to put in a trailer and drive to the clinic for x-ray), and that's ridiculous. I know it would be unrealistic to have multiple portables, so that mobiles one, two, and three (the vehicles Dr. Pol, Dr. Emily, and Dr. Brenda, respectively, use for farm calls) would all always have one just in case. But they could have ONE available for a vet going out on a call of a type that is likely to benefit from an x-ray to take with her/him.

When did they get that? Emily said last season that they didn't have a field x-ray machine, which I found ridiculous for a practice that spend so much time out on farms.

I hated her winding up with Randy. I think I recall they made him a little less dumb by the end, but it was so random - before she left, he only irritated her, and there wasn't enough time to explore why she'd feel any differently about him the second time around, so it was just sort of boom, they're together. Didn't they pair Natalie up with someone, too? And maybe Stottlemeyer? It seemed like, as they headed for the finish line, they went couple crazy, like that's the only happy ending there is. At least they didn't shove in a girlfriend for Monk. I can't remember how Trudy's murder mystery was finally resolved - wasn't there a kid? - just that I thought it was a letdown after all that time. I remember being quite disappointed with the finale.

I apparently didn't hit "submit" last night, heh. I love “Reality Check” so much; as always, they have a lot of fun mocking the entertainment industry, and anything that skewers reality television specifically is right up my alley -- the Cochrans/Cockroaches are “awful, hateful people with no redeeming qualities whatsoever” but they make Scavenger Hunt the network’s highest-rated show. Yep. (And I adore “they love that show in prison”.) The creator/host cracks me up, especially that he sold a pilot about an autistic kid who solves murders and that he told the contestants goat testicles were tater tots. I love that he wants to go to trial, believing if he introduces show footage into evidence, the jury will understand why he did it. I like Sharon saying, “Cut. Print. Moving on.” when he confesses again for camera. I also like her dismissing the PA and walking right into the shot at the hospital. And how deadpan she and Julio are when they see the husband running out of the hospital in his gown and undies. And two small, symmetrical moments of hers: turning Buzz back towards the monitors when he starts to respond to Provenza’s “Justin Who?” about Justin Bieber, and later putting a hand on Provenza’s arm to keep him from responding to Buzz’s mocking of “the Twitter, the Instagram”. My favorite line may be Julio telling the publicist/sister (who is as wonderfully awful as her brother and sister-in-law) “the world wants a break” when she objects he can’t cut her off from the world by taking her phone. But I’m also quite fond of all the jokes about a married couple in a car with two steering wheels being a recipe for disaster. And the good cop/good cop questioning of the husband. Andy makes me laugh a lot in this one, too, from calling Provenza to tease him about how he looks from behind on the news to getting yelling at the TV level of caught up in the reality show he was initially annoyed at having to watch (and I love that Sharon makes him do the watching, since he begged her for something to do). I love the way “Dickerhoof” sounds in his accent, and then it gets 20 times better when Provenza suggests that when he refers to them as a couple, it should be “Dickerhooves” – and Andy pauses to contemplate that. Sharon’s reaction to Colleen Dickerhoof calling Provenza a silver fox – and to learning Chip urinated on the other couple’s wood to keep them from lighting a fire - is fantastic. As is Slider’s lawyer telling Rusty he’s well up to debating the death penalty with him. (Not to mention him asking Rusty if he’s 14.) The bee Rusty has in his bonnet over the fact the lawyer’s practice is solely dedicated to death penalty cases makes no sense to me; trying to save people from being killed by the government is a cause, yes. But Rusty does a good job of identifying just the right angle to get the lawyer to help him interview Slider. This is the first time we hear Rusty call Sharon “Mom” for real; they did the “Beckon”/”Mom” thing first, and I like that the non-reaction suggests they eased into him saying it genuinely along the way (and that, for a while, he goes back and forth between “Mom” and “Sharon”). And, of course, “Everyone here knows was a spin-off is.” I like the twist on the we’re reluctant to throw the book at a victim who kills her abuser storyline in “Taking the Fall”, where they really want her to say something that lets them plead it way down, but instead she’s defiant about having planned it for financial gain. I love her spot on response to the typical (and annoying and, quite frankly, a bit out of character for Sharon) “Why didn’t you report him and leave?” question – why should she have to leave him in that gorgeous house while she's crammed into some shelter when he’s the one doing wrong? She’s a more multi-faceted take on the abused woman than we normally see on TV, and I like that, and that everyone’s reactions to her are largely in character (including Julio being all in for her actions, regardless of motive). I like the victim’s co-worker, too; “the nature of our disagreement is that he’s the biggest bully and asshole” is great, and I’m entertained by how she splits hairs when asked if she has a boyfriend or husband. Everything around Andy’s accident is nicely done – especially everyone’s reactions to Rusty’s call to Provenza (and I like that what he does in this one is exactly what Sharon told him to do last episode if something happened to Andy, call 911 first and then call her) and Sharon getting freaked out by Andy’s blood on Rusty’s clothes but then regrouping to comfort Rusty, ask the relevant questions, and make the necessary phone calls, but with the undercurrent of worry remaining clear. And, of course, Provenza exercising his medical power of attorney – hilarious from beginning to end! My favorite parts are “I’ve already missed most of Jeopardy. Let’s not have this spill over into the Wheel” and making Andy write out his love for Sharon as a confession, but I love the whole thing. Everyone – including Taylor, a nice touch given their history – coming to the hospital after their own Thanksgiving celebrations is sweet, and I try to let that keep me from getting irritated that NO ONE knows Andy shouldn’t be eating when they’re planning to take him into surgery as soon as the vitamin K adequately counteracts the blood thinner. Morales, who never can successfully pretend things are better than they are (I like that typical take on someone who spends their life in the morgue), awkwardly saying, “Good luck with that” when he learns how the clot has moved is so very Morales, and I always like seeing him outside of the morgue. I also like that Rusty and Andy have been playing chess; he’s been such a pill about Sharon and Andy’s relationship, and he’s not magically transformed, but taking care of Andy has visibly changed his attitude. And Provenza has an ugly Thanksgiving tie to go with his collection of ugly Christmas ties. Plus, the hand clasp between Sharon and Andrea as Andy is wheeled into surgery is the first confirmation of my longstanding head canon that those two are friends outside of work, so I have a real soft spot for it. Before the hospitalization, there’s a cute little moment where Sharon briefly touches the back of Andy’s empty chair as she walks from the Murder Board back to her office. Also back at that stage of things, I love the way Sharon handles Provenza asking if Julio wrote down any of the offensive jokes the victim told at work; humiliating him – by saying “Don’t lose your ham, Lieutenant” and causing everyone to laugh at him as he has to slink off to run his errand – is more effective than a lecture. Something I just noticed tonight: Provenza brings Sharon her coat and phone, but not her purse. He says he has a patrol car and driver to take her to the hospital if she needs, but when she arrives she doesn’t have her coat. So she couldn’t have driven, as she didn’t have keys or license (unless they were in her coat pockets, but that’s unlikely), so I guess she was driven and left her coat in the car -- and the car dropped her off somewhere other than in front of the ER doors, because there's no sign of it.