Bastet

Quoting our old conversation to say this episode aired again tonight, and the youngest kid that was present during the footage of Creepy's vet visit (with no "baby bump" visible on the female owner in what she's wearing) but missing from the update footage when the female owner was obviously pregnant is significantly older than an infant. I'm terrible with kid ages, but that kid is unequivocally more toddler than infant. So that he's missing in the update seems to simply be a function of him being unavailable (sick, throwing a fit, at his grandparents' house, whatever) at the time they filmed it - by which point the owner's pregnancy is visible - rather than any timeline editing shenanigans. The only oddity is that the owner speaks about the older kid, by name, only when talking about the lesson this imparts, rather than saying "the kids," but maybe she figures the younger one is so young he won't get any of this.

Unless I am mistaken, @Prevailing Wind is referring to the "actors' trick" @Jamoche referred to above. If you spray vodka (chosen for its high alcohol content and mild smell) on a piece of clothing you want to deodorize, as the alcohol evaporates it, in simplified terms, takes the odor with it. It's a common theatre trick; they don't want to dry clean costumes after every performance, but actors sweat under stage lights, so they spritz the costumes with cheap vodka and the show goes on.

When my vet retired and I had to find a replacement, one of my interview questions (yes, after getting recommendations and researching, I interviewed my short list) was to ask if they did the declawing surgery. All said no, so I didn't have to cross anyone off the list.

Yes. Thus the first part of my statement, that I understand her desire to believe they have the time to wait until St. Louis to discuss it.

Jed's MS - because the specific MS-related stories I like were mostly enumerated separately, so if this is just him having MS, it's about time for it to go off my list Tie-breaker: Zoey's kidnapping (started out great, and then - not)

And if they do, it's not the end of the world. I've trained all my cats the same (and provided them with plenty of play time), and it worked on everyone but Maddie, who believed the world was her scratching post. She dutifully used all the different posts, the cardboard scratchers, and the cat tree. (Not to mention actual trees, plus the fireplace brick.) She also used the seats of several of my dining room chairs and the side of one of my couches. And I wish she hadn't. But I certainly wasn't going to mutilate her over it.

I didn't watch it in its entirety because I'm watching football, but I caught the important parts of Orion today. I cried. I love that Mark just left, sharing a look with Susan, "Don't let your work become your life" with Kerry, and Morganstern's "You set the tone" with Carter, but not telling anyone he wasn't coming back. I also liked the salute with his recurring patient. His conversation with Jen was a mixed bag. A doctor and a lawyer don't yet have a college fund set up for the kid who's only a few years away from entering college? And, while I certainly understand her desire to believe they can discuss this all when he brings Rachel to St. Louis, I have very little patience for people who refuse to accept reality, so she bugs me in that respect. This isn't some hypochondriac fretting, "Oh, I'm going to die" for no reason, this is a doctor with a terminal illness saying, "I am probably going to die before then; we need to talk about some things for our daughter." But, when she said she was sorry they had such a rough go of things, he said they both made choices, she said they were pretty good together for a while, and he said he wouldn't change a thing - that part was very nice.

There's a thread for the CMA Awards here (but no one has posted about this year's show yet).

Oh yeah, I vaguely remember that now. (I remember their visit, but had forgotten about the horse painting - I probably just heard them rather than actually saw it, because "Marigold" is what triggered my memory.)

EWW - she has a kid with that guy? (And names it Cosmo? Sorry, that only works for Kramer.) His helicopter crash was the one that killed Romano, wasn't it? That's why I was sad to see him show up - beyond the fact I find him gross, and want him the hell away from Susan - because it means we're getting close to that storyline.

Since I have a full fruit bowl, buy carrots with the leafy green tops and baguettes, and use canvas grocery bags (no jaunty hat, though), I guess I'm happy not to share the TV cliché of eating Chinese food out of the little white carton. I do eat ice cream right out of the container, though.

Leonard Roberts; I love his voice. Last week, I forgot the show was starting again, and this week I was gone and didn't think to record. I'll have to get back in the swing of things.

It was a drunken marriage from that trip to Vegas (Susan, Chen, and a bunch of hospital/hospital-adjacent people went on a Vegas weekend) - they hooked up, went for burgers, realized the drive-thru was a wedding chapel, and in their booze-soaked minds thought, hey, why not. So now they're trying to get it annulled, but still hooking up (which makes me want to puke just thinking about it), and I can't remember if they get it annulled or stay married.

Jed's MS isn't even close to my number one, and not just because I'm not even sure what "Jed's MS" is supposed to be beyond him having it since so many MS-related storylines were listed on their own; for me it's the shooting (and its aftermath) out in front by a mile and then I'm not sure about the next few slots on my list.

Romano asking, in his way, Elizabeth to be in the OR during his surgery -- he's always at his most human with her, and I love it every time. When Luka and Abby first started dating, I didn't think they had good chemistry together, but I slowly came around and now I think they have nice chemistry. And when Abby and Carter first started dating, I thought they did have good chemistry together, and in fairly short order I didn't. Opposite trajectories. Even though I'm not working today, I've still had this on largely as background noise, so I haven't paid much attention to the patients. I never warmed to Pratt, so I was happy to hear this was his last day, but then I thought he was around a lot longer and checked IMDb -- he's there through the season fifteen premiere (so, if he's only in that first episode of the season, let me guess - he dies in something dramatic that happens in the season 14 finale?). Ugh; I hope he improves, because now he's just one step up from Malucci.

I don't eat rice (other than with something like curry, or another dish with a lot of sauce), so I don't need to mix it in with my kung pao or whatever, but I still don't tend to eat Chinese food out of the carton. Those little cartons from TV, anyway; when I have food delivered that way, it's usually a half order of a couple of different things, so I put some of each on a plate.

Ha – the huge painting of Carter on horseback is fantastic. If we've seen that during previous trips to Gamma's house, I've somehow missed it.

Yay! And, yes, with kittens, it's best to get a pair (or, you know, three). It's better for their socialization - and usually easier on any older cat(s) in the home. You are going to be so busy - and so entertained. I can't wait for stories.

Sorry, folks, these are not residents from an assisted living facility out on a slow-speed excursion, these are people who happen to be seniors but are out getting their daily exercise just like me. They're rude for the same reason anyone else doing it is rude; if you're too busy talking to your walking companion, or just think you two are entitled to take up the entire sidewalk because you're out together, I don't care whether you're 25 or 70.

Budget Crisis/Shutdown Zoey's kidnapping Well, shit, it gets hard after that. Okay, my tie-breaker is Congressional censure I should have complained about this at the beginning of the game, I know, but I wish the shooting and its aftermath were one option rather than split into two. And Jed's MS is a tricky option, since there have been specific stories resulting from his MS as their own options, so what is this one to represent: simply that he has MS?

It may have been a situation where he, as Four Aces Construction, was a jack of all trades, someone who'd bid on anything he could do, maybe even as a general contractor but on small jobs. Then as his connections expanded, he could get hired onto bigger jobs, not as the general contractor, but as the drywall subcontractor, and that's how he wound up transitioning to the focus on drywall. So, not a continuity error to me.

As I've shared before, Maddie was in terrible shape when I adopted her, and while I was able to stay home with her for a while, by the time I went back to work she was still on one medication - eye drops. She needed them several times a day, including a dose during the day. She took medication like a dream, and was incredibly friendly with my parents, so I asked my mom to go do the mid-day dose rather than me leaving work. Well. Completely different cat when it came to getting medication from Grandma versus from Mommy. Little stinker. She did it, but it wasn't worth the hassle for either of them; I just came home at lunch for however many more days she needed the drops. Little Momma will feel better, and forgive - after you offer suitable penance, of course.

First world problem: While walking from the restaurant to the theatre last night, I stumbled on an uneven sidewalk (no, I won't be suing), twisting my ankle and breaking the heel off my shoe. Thankfully, the heel held on and didn't truly break until the end of the night. And I saw Hamilton, so I could have broken my ankle instead and still had a great night. But I liked those shoes (although they're not worth fixing, as I have plenty of other black heels to take their place), and now I'm going to walk funny for a few days. I elevated and iced overnight, and this morning there is bruising but no swelling and the pain when I walk is minimal (which is a sharp contrast to the pain I was in as I hobbled into the house), I'm just quite slow and rather stiff. If I was like the tacky twits who wear flip flops everywhere around here, including to the Pantages, I'd be good right now. As for people who walk side by side, I experience that a lot on my local sidewalks when I go for an evening walk; it's often old folks, but if you're able to be out on a walk in the first place, you're able to step to the side in front of/behind your companion when someone is coming from the opposite direction. I often, especially with young people, play a game of chicken; I just keep walking where I am entitled to walk, forcing the interloper to move.

Well, y'all can write me off as just as heartless and selfish as Abby, because if my newly-diagnosed brother (which is a completely different scenario than if she'd gone chasing after Maggie for the hundredth time) who'd been missing - and, for a while, feared dead - suddenly called me up and I had a window of opportunity to respond to him and try to get him help, damn right I'd be doing that for a few hours rather than skipping it, and risking him running off in his state, because my boyfriend's grandma died. Horrible timing for the two things to coincide. But: My family versus his, and time sensitive versus not. It's a simple equation for me just as it was for Abby -- go get the brother, and rejoin the boyfriend that night. (The funeral shenanigans that are to come, no, I would not do. But as things existed in the episode being discussed, I am completely supportive of Abby's actions, even though I also completely understand the emotion behind Carter's reaction to it; he's not obligated to be rational in that moment.)

The scene between Romano and Elizabeth, when he acknowledges he's probably going to have to lose his arm, is so well done. I know from postings here that Abby is ultimately going to screw up, big time, at Gamma's funeral, but for now she's right -- her family situation is more time-sensitive (and, you know, her family) than Carter's. If she doesn't go to her brother now, he may take off again. If she goes to get him, she can be back tonight; Carter can handle things without her for a few hours, and he has to go pick up his dad and start making arrangements anyway. I know they wind up missing the plane, and his dad takes a later flight, too, he can't get a hold of his mom, he winds up being alone with the body because the funeral home is as behind schedule as everyone else, etc. but at the time Carter is snapping at her, what he says is anger is actually the truth of the situation: Go get your brother, my grandmother will still be dead when you get back. Poor Carter, though; he didn't have the relationship he wanted with any of his parents or grandparents, but he came closest with her, and now she's gone.