Bastet

Exactly; you don't need to request anymore, because it's a thread rather than a forum, so you just create a topic in the appropriate genre (which I guess would be whichever one this, The Vet Life, etc. are in).

No, it was Hildi's team who picked the succulent bowl for the room. They fretted over finding anything in the Overstock tent that fit the color scheme, and decided that since the female homeowner liked plants, they should pick greenery so she'd have something she liked - as a peace offering - and skipped, with some prodding from Paige, any of the larger options in favor of the succulent bowl. It wound up being placed in the green section of the room (but I think it was placed on a piece of furniture, not on the floor - although since the floor looked like everything else, maybe I'm wrong).

I'm annoying even myself with the repetition, so in future seasons, let's just assume a standard "damn these breeders" sentiment in each of my posts. So I'll move on to: Two years old and no vaccinations. Four days of not keeping anything down and pooping blood before Pedro gets to a vet. Sigh. That poor little lethargic doggy was cute in the midst of his illness, and I hope he indeed recovered thanks to that burst of broad-spectrum treatment. Chloe the kitten made me nervous with her crackling sounds. She seemed way too young for congestive heart failure, so I'm glad an extended course of antibiotics for a stubborn case of pneumonia seemed to be all that was indicated; I hope it worked out. (I wish we got updates on everyone.) Poor little thing, starting out life so sick. Buckwheat the horse so filled with pus it was running out his nose was one crazy sinus infection. The thick stuff that came out of the bone was gnarly; what relief he must have felt having that pressure relieved and the infection cleared up. I feel bad for the farmer calling for a castration of what turned out to be a heifer being showcased, but Charles made the same mistake, so hopefully he's not too embarrassed by it making air. The fish hook dog draped over his owner's shoulder while still groggy was a sweet sight, but if he'd had a more-experienced vet, he probably wouldn't have been knocked out to begin with. No harm, no foul, though. Laura the llama's distress with choke was hard to watch, especially knowing she'd been suffering overnight, and for her to just die like that made me cry. "Enough is enough" is probably what precipitates most everyone's decision to have a joint replaced. It was definitely the case with my mom's knee replacements. You're out of commission a while, and the physical therapy necessary to make it worthwhile hurts, but it's a whole new world afterward. I'm glad Dr. Pol had the ankle surgery, and wish him well in his recovery. And wish Diane well dealing with him during recovery, because that's not fun, either. I wonder what the real-life timing of her back surgery in relation to his ankle surgery was. And that was quite a posse he had with him entering the hospital at 5:40 in the morning, so even though we mostly see Charles, it's obviously a close family.

I enjoyed this update episode to close out the season. And we got to see Perry again, which was nice. I liked getting an update on Renegade; I remember that rescue so well (Tania handled herself perfectly for her first time without Tia) and the two of them adopting him, so it's nice seeing a little of the family dynamic. I laughed at him dragging stuff into his crate. Marcel bringing Pastor home and being ticked that he turned into Mariah’s dog is hilarious, too. Lucky and Tia's relationship is great; I so enjoyed all the pictures and videos my friend would send me from Facebook during Tia's recuperation -- after he eluded her for weeks when she tried to catch him, wouldn't let anyone in the kennel with him, that dog wound up stuck to her like glue. It's certainly not anything I didn't know, but it was still sad to see how many dogs whose rescues were featured on the show - who thus have a greater chance of someone wanting to adopt them - are still waiting for their home years later. Like Mr. Wilson being back there; he had such a rough life and was so excited to get off that awful chain, and even though he didn't turn out to be a candidate for life as a service dog he's now well trained. And Rock has made such progress, I’d love it if someone adopted him and one of his confidence-building buddies together. I really hope this update on Wanda prompts someone to adopt her – the way she just falls over to roll around on her walks is something someone out there has to want in her/his life! Same with Xena invading Tania’s space as they drive down the road. It always makes me sad when puppies/kittens all get homes but momma gets overlooked for years.

I remember watching “Curve Ball” for the first time. When it opened with jaunty Christmas music and a Venice Beach Christmas tree, I got giddy, and when I realized Provenza had dragged Andy to a head shop, I practically drooled – Christmas episodes and Flynn-Provenza capers are two of my favorite things in the franchise, so add them together and … bliss. I love that, while Provenza is the reason they were there in the first place, the reason they wind up with jurisdiction over a murder is that Andy can’t just do the “I’m off-duty, let patrol handle it” routine, he has to check to make sure no one is hurt. We see it again with the return of Dick Tracy – Andy refuses Provenza’s order to drive away, because there may actually be something wrong. Sharon smacking Andy on the arm with the folder is right up there with her poking Julio with the clipboard at the beginning of the season. I love when she does stuff like that when she's annoyed. Even better is when she tries to get information out of Dr. Joe; her face when it doesn’t work is fabulous – that forced smile that falls as soon as he’s out the door. And I love her little it might work shrug as she heads into her office in the first place. And of course I love Dr. Joe shutting her down so perfectly. Rusty’s conflicting feelings at this stage regarding the two Sharons in his life are quite touching, and I’m glad he has Dr. Joe to give him food for thought. He still misses his mom, and feels guilty enjoying his life with Sharon, but he’s confronting just how bad it was with his mom for years, not just at the end with Gary, and he no longer knows what he’d do if she came back for him. Mike being suspicious because Hunt arrived in town the morning after his father’s murder is rather misplaced, given the timing – plenty of people’s family members (including Amy's) just arrived, for, duh, Christmas. But I love his reaction when Hunt says helping his dad set up his Cloudsaver account was a 40-minute conversation. Hunt is a good character, and well performed. Especially when he realizes the last thing his dad was watching was home movies of Christmases past. I like the little pat of comfort Sharon gives him when he’s relieved she suggests pulling up the most-recently-created file instead. I also really like how the actor plays Hunt’s reaction to the fact Cassie and Rory will be reunited; his dad made this happen, but he died for it, and that’s telegraphed so clearly. Rory is a sympathetic character, too – his head is going to be messed up for quite some time to come – and I like that he’s also a typical snotty teenager. The only thing that bugs me about this episode is casting the kid version of Rory with a straight-haired actor and the teen version with a curly-haired actor. Natural curl is noticeable (so it’s not as he perms his hair as part of looking different in his new identity), so it’s distracting for him to have fine stick-straight hair as a kid and a thick head of curls as a teen. I have a hard time watching the asshole congressperson in “Risk Assessment,” because I have never hated a non-rapist/non-murderer character more on this show (and I’ve liked quite a few of the killers a hell of a lot better than him). I like everyone’s reactions to him – like in Electronics when he does his “those people” routine and then opens up his Racist’s Handbook to quote the “I’m sorry if I was misunderstood” apology when called on it – but, holy crap, I find myself filled with rage whenever he’s on the screen. I mean, I love Sharon trying to get the pissing contest going on in Taylor’s office redirected; it's an interesting dynamic with just one woman in the room, especially one whose leadership style combines "feminine" and "masculine" traits. And Taylor saying, “You want to make this about race? Here we have two white guys who withheld vital information from a black supervisor.” But then Congressman Asshole walks in and opens his mouth, and my blood pressure spikes about 60 seconds later. Which is what continues to happen throughout the episode. But it has another funny Christmas opening – I love one of the rug dudes telling the other the police will think they killed this guy because their DNA is on it, and we cut to Julio asking, “So why did you kill this guy?” And then Provenza telling them bah humbug, they have to get drunk somewhere else, when they protest that their Christmas party is tonight. My best laugh comes courtesy of the smirk on Julio’s face when the gang member in the interview room asks, “Do you think I’m stupid?” and Julio responds, “We are sitting here, aren’t we?” And, while I don’t like Buzz, I do laugh – and maybe cheer - when he says Rusty expects them to be fascinated by his life, but doesn’t take any interest in other people. I excuse the obvious set-up for exposition, because I love learning everyone's backstory on becoming a cop. They’re all perfectly suited to the characters, especially Sharon’s (she would have made a great lawyer, and why she didn’t wind up becoming one is a familiar story to women, especially women of her generation), Julio’s (I love the avenging his cat’s death addition to the usual grew up in gang territory and wanted to make it better story), and Andy’s (troublemaker deciding it would be more fun to put people in jail than wind up there absolutely works for young Flynn -- and I love that Provenza has obviously heard this story many times). The other big thing I love about this episode is how Robert Keller’s actions in the community are treated – he had good intentions, but zero understanding of the reality he was inserting himself into, and his White Savior attempts only made things worse. He effectively got Tyler killed, which is why Mrs. Rhodes turned around and killed him. She nicely articulates the balance the moms had to strike, raising their kids to be tough but not hard, teaching them to be aware of the rules they had to live by to survive in that neighborhood without taking away all sense of hope, and how that “crazy fool” - who thought he could transform gang neighborhoods into “enriched habitats” one garden at a time and who paid kids to paint over gang graffiti, putting targets on their backs – came in and undid everything because he thought they needed saving. It’s admirable that Robert was willing to be a witness (and protected the cousin by not telling police the Rounders had him with them when they killed Tyler), and of course he didn’t deserve to die, but I really appreciate that the show acknowledges (explicitly, in fact, in a deleted scene near the end) he was no hero and gives Mrs. Rhodes her say, including about the difference in police response to her son’s murder and the rich white guy’s.

I came away from the introduction wondering why any of these people went on the show. You want a "vintage Americana" vibe? Only Frank would do anything in that style. And the contemporary couple had a "before" bedroom that looks better than a lot of the "after"s on this show, so I don't know why they don't just change the color scheme and a few furniture pieces themselves rather than risking saying "I like color" on a show where some of the designers are certifiable. Which brings me to ... Hildi's color scheme sounded so crazy, I wondered if it would be one of those things that wound up coming together into something surprisingly interesting. Not so much. I think with different colors, I actually would have liked the concept, but in something other than a bedroom. I did like the color-coordinated art work. The couch was hideous, and too much furniture for the room. I don't love the same color from floor to ceiling walls in Laurie's room, and I find the room overall boring with a few nice touches (I like the fabric and the headboard). But I knew they'd really like it, and agree it's pretty. Not my style, but pretty.

Heads up: Tonight's new episode airs at 8:00 EDT instead of 9:00, because that new Animal ER show premieres from 9:00-11:00 (and then the Dr. Pol episode repeats at 11:00).

Heads up for anyone else who watches the syndicated episodes in Los Angeles - because ch. 13 is airing tonight's Angels game, the episodes will air at 3:00 and 4:00 this afternoon instead. I'm glad I checked!

Well, that's Brenda in a nutshell; she never bothered to learn anything about what Fritz dealt with as an addict in recovery, and the one time she expressed an interest in the AA aspect of his life it had nothing to do with him, but as research for a case.

That was me too -- I knew she'd said it wrong, but I couldn't manage to say it right.

I don't normally do very well with children's literature; it was a very long time ago that I was a kid, and I avoid children like the plague as an adult. And I've never read the book, and don't remember if I ever saw the film. But the whole wanting to be a "real boy" thing is such a part of pop culture, that seeing "boy" in the quote made it an insta-guess, and then I couldn't think of anything else from that era that would have being a "well-behaved little boy" as its conclusion. I'm a bit surprised it was a TS. The TS that really surprised me was loess. I wonder if none of them had ever heard of it, because even though I wouldn't expect one of any given three contestants to know the fact at hand, if any of them learned along the way that loess was some sort of sedimentary deposit, the “more or …” clue within the clue (which was pretty much a neon sign within the clue) should lead them right to it. So what surprised me was that the "more or ..." hint didn't trigger an, "Oh - loess" response in at least one contestant.

Oh my gods, and now I've seen the cakes. Bobby's is something you wouldn't serve to a bunch of five-year-olds at an Easy-Bake Oven party, let alone at a restaurant. If the challenger had major flavor issues, I could see giving it to Bobby even despite the sloppy presentation and lack of textural variety because the flavors were good. And they all did have complaints about the challenger's flavors, but it just didn't seem to add up to worse than Bobby's. Alas, I guess that's what comes from only being able to see, not taste, the food. But I still think the round one decision is bullshit.

I just watched that round, and am flabbergasted. I have no trouble believing the losing contestant had so many flavors going on that cocoa nibs were not the star of the dish (lamb, coriander, and carrot probably all came through more than cocoa) But holy crap. The winning contestant left out the nuts and his candied lemons. So he had a cocktail - which I don't believe had any cocoa in it - with some ground cocoa nibs rimming the glass. He surely did have the most "cocoa forward" offering, and might have had a really nice cocktail and nuts offering had he finished it. But giving him the win after he showed such abysmal time-management skills blows my mind. The other chef's dish was more involved and came out well, but didn't properly showcase the featured ingredient. In the round against Bobby Flay, making a single ingredient the star of a dish isn't part of the challenge. So the chef who can properly season and cook multiple components and plate on time is someone I'm going to have more faith in nailing his own signature dish than the dude who can only manage to pour a cocktail in twenty minutes because he couldn't even get roasted nuts and candied lemons dished up.

That episode is filled to the brim with funny lines, but my favorite thing is Brenda's face when she realizes why Provenza won't get off the couch.

I loved Alex's "What are feathers? Birds have feathers!" reaction to that TS. Because, yeah.

I suspect that's why they specified primary location in describing the category (since Pittsburgh seems to indeed be the primary location if the show is half flashbacks and all flashbacks take place in Pittsburgh while present-day scenes are spread out among several cities), and included the clue within the clue since just saying, effectively, "This is Us is primarily set here" would be different than saying that about the other shows. But, yes, with all the shows set in one city with only occasional sojourns to others, perhaps it should have been left out altogether rather than taking additional steps to fit the category.

That's interesting. I don't watch the show, but I got it right because, as a football fan, the "terrible towel" part of the clue made it an instaget. Alex's explanation of the category when it was revealed was "You have to identify the primary city in which the TV show is set," so if that show is primarily set someplace else, that's a little wonky that only the clue within the clue will get you to the right answer. But I just read the Wikipedia article about the series, and it made it sound like Pittsburgh is the primary location - that episodes contain both present-day events and flashbacks to the past, and present-day is spread out among several cities (as are the characters in real time) while the flashbacks generally take place in Pittsburgh (where the family grew up). Is that not true?

The Harding TS surprised me in that no one even guessed one of the eight options to choose from (since the clue specified he died in office). Same with the Air Force Academy clue, with only five options and not a single one of them guessed. Alex was funny with his yes, we went there reaction to Phil O'Dendron.

Or at least park in your driveway. In my immediate neighborhood, everyone has garages. The overwhelming majority choose to use them for storage instead of parking their car(s) in them. Fine. I don't understand this in most situations, but it's neither my car nor my stuff. Except, if you're not going to park in your garage, park in your driveway. Have more than one car and don't want to deal with tandem parking (the driveways are almost all narrow)? There is room for two cars on the street in front of your house. But no. I somehow always have at least one neighbor's car in front of my house, and often two. It's a public street, so I don't own the part of it that's in front of my house; anyone is entitled to park there for 72 hours at a time. My car goes in my garage, and a guest can park in my driveway. It's not a situation like you're describing, where the whole block is routinely jockeying for street parking, but it does irritate me a bit. In the case of a neighborhood where many residents and their guests have to park on the street (which is the case with a friend I visit weekly), it drives me bananas when people don't park in a way that maximizes curb space and lets as many cars as possible fit. Leave room for people to get in and out of their driveways and for you to maneuver out of the space, of course, but pull up! (I know there are situations where it looks like a person parked like an asshole, but it's possible that another car's driver parked like an asshole, necessitating the second car's placement, and now the first car is gone. I'm not talking about those.) My other residential parking peeve happens on garbage day -- in my neighborhood, it's people parking in front of someone else's house without leaving that resident enough room to put the bins out, and in neighborhoods like my friend's, it's people putting out their bins spread apart far more than the truck's mechanism requires, thus taking up more of what should be parking space.

I third this. She should have found a nicer way to say it than, basically, "We all hate it," but perhaps not saying anything about it had been her nice way, since it was only once you offered up, based on her unenthusiastic confirmation it was still there, "You don't like it," that she said it.

So did I (I always like vocabulary categories). I fumbled a bit before coming up with counterattack, so if that hadn't stumped the contestants, I'd have probably still been thinking when someone rang in. The others were IGs, but that one took some thought.

He did, and it irked me as it did you for him to get away with it. Casper was a surprising TS, and retina was close to stunning. I can't decide if I'm surprised FJ was a TS; I'm leaning towards no. The One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest DD was ridiculously easy for DJ. So was the entire body language category.

There are quite a few lots with signs saying backing into spaces is prohibited (especially, but not only, in lots requiring permits which are displayed in front windshields/on rear view mirrors), and I know there are cities and possibly even states where it's illegal. That last one seems excessive to me, but I guess it makes sense in places where there are only rear license plates.

Oh my. They all qualified to be there, so they’re not dumb, but it was really not any of the contestants’ day. There were at least ten TS, many of them surprising, two of three DDs were answered incorrectly, and there were several mind-boggling wrong answers (JFK was the worst, but not the only). I swear Ryan looked surprised to land upon the DD at the end of the first round – even though that was the last clue remaining, and they hadn’t previously uncovered the one DD in that round. Any other episode, I’d credit him with just being caught up in the game, but he didn't exactly come off as the brightest bulb. He has a great sense of humor about himself and his performance, though. If I'd shit the bed like that, I'd be standing there in full grumpy face, so good for him. FJ was an insta-guess for me -- it immediately sprang to mind (pulled directly out of my ass), and I had no other answer, so I went with it.

I love them as the old married couple of the group (who, as Tony Denison said, love each other dearly but are always on each other's nerves) because the bickering his hilarious, and even though, as Provenza told Sykes, they have not stayed friends all these years by talking about their feelings, they do support each other. When Andy won't take hypertension medication and is focused on natural methods, primarily reducing his stress, in order to control his blood pressure, Provenza gives him all manner of shit about the cleanses and walking like a clown, but also runs interference to try to reduce his stress. When Provenza is concerned about dating Patrice, he uses it as an opportunity to further needle Andy about "dating" Sharon, but also to ask for advice, and Andy tells him it's apples to oranges, but then, even though he's snapping at him as he does it, he counsels that you don't deny a relationship that's going well its future because you've screwed up in the past. I love the end of the first episode when Sharon takes Rusty home, and tells him that he's not the only adolescent to have graced her with his presence, and, having raised two teenagers herself, she has tremendous capacity for ingratitude. Ha! She'd already done the terrible teen thing twice, so she was a lot of fun dealing with those typical aspects of him, and then she was also incredibly touching dealing with his atypical circumstances and resulting issues.