Sundays Dog Food Recall

Back with another long-form reflection while the thoughts are still fresh. This is my 8th Coachella spanning 2014 until now. For context, I had an artist-guest pass which allowed me to see a TON of music every day since I could zip between stages and then get to the front very quickly. I say this every year and want to repeat it: If you are ever given the chance at getting an artist or artist-guest pass, DO NOT HESITATE. Regardless of the price, it is worth it it's weight in gold. Coachella artist pass creates a whole different experience and I cannot recommend it enough if it is financially within reach. Ingress and Egress: This year was a god damn MESS given the size of the crowds. I have never seen crowds/traffic this big and this early in all my years. Even with a dedicated driver and using the artist lot 2C, Friday and Saturday were a mess getting out. I've said this before, but i urge large consistent groups to go with a dedicated driver and a van rental. We have a guy who we have been using for years and we get a very good deal with him. Do not fall for anyone that wants to charge you more than $500 per day roundtrip. If you are a large enough group and you rent a cheap van off Turo, this will end up equalling (or beating) Uber prices and be WAY more convenient with zero anxiety of how to get home. The friend and family pickup at the end of the green path is great for this type of setup. General: Crowds, crowds, crowds. Everywhere. Have never seen that many people on the grounds prior to 4pm in all my years of going. The weather helped given that it wasn't too hot during the day, but King Bieber really made Coachella the place to be these past few days (as we all could see given the second hand ticket prices) I saw 25-27 artists depending on how i count them, with daily mileage in the 10-12 range. The second hill by the Sahara...*chefs kiss*. Well done, Goldenvoice. Never went into the bunker though I can't believe there was a time when Coachella was not open container. Walking around with drinks and hitting bars all over the grounds is such an integral part of my experience now. Horrible for my wallet, excellent for my fun-meter We could not have experienced better weather, IMO As I have noted in my previous posts, the price of food has become beyond outrageous. However, I do not believe they inflated the prices since last year as i still ended up paying about $20-25 per meal per person New portos in VIP with the lounge area are GREAT! Given the line in the artist compound behind main stage, it was better to go to these new in VIP than go pee in the artist compound The women's clothing is getting so tiny that it's like a challenge for them. "Here is a belt, a shoelace, and a napkin...make an outfit." Production hiccups: Honestly, quite a few. A speaker falling at the Do Lab, the Anyma bullshit which sounds like a disagreement about allowing the stage to go up in the wind (correct me if i'm wrong), the microphone going out at Subtronics for his guest, and David Byrne starting 30 min late are a few that i remember but i definitely recall a few more sound issues than i normally notice. I imagine these will be fixed by W2. This was my third Coachella with my girlfriend fiance and I’m reminded that there is no love like music festival love. What a gift to be able to experience romance at such a great festival. Food Specifics (I think i love eating at Coachella as much as i do listening to music): Churros: FIRE. As always. Ask for extra sugar. I had 2 on Friday and 3 on Sunday lol Kogi burrito: Fast, good, reasonably priced Hot Dogs: I love these and will typically buy one per day and share it with someone in my group Aperol Spritz: Incredible as always. I think I had 2-3 per day Popsicle: They have the coachella version of a Big Stick and I love these things in the heat of the day Grilled cheese in the Indio Market: Was the shortest line. Not bad but not great. I got the one with bacon. It was a decent deal and very filling Dumplings: By the Do Lab. Old faithful. My crew and I will have like 4 plates total per day TKB (in the VIP): An Indio staple, I went with the pastrami sandwich. I would give it 5 stars bc it tasted great but it took 20 minutes to get and then gave me CRAZY gas...so bad i felt bad for people behind me for like 3 hours. Friday: Slayyyyter: I had to see what all the fuss was about so my crew and i showed up early and enjoyed her through the mid-day heat. Easily the most crowded pre-4pm show I have ever seen. It's not my kind of music, but she brought it and her energy was infectious. Groove Armada: A blessing to see these two, but would have preferred their live set and also it's just too early for this kind of party. Also, playing unremixed Fred Again on that big of a stage is not okay. Central Cee: Rap was my first love, so i figured I would check him out. I thought his energy and sound were great, but all of his songs sound the same: similar flow, similar beat, etc. I thought it was fun just bc of the energy, but wouldn't rush to see him unless youre a big fan. The XX: This may have been the set of the weekend for me. The nostalgia! If you're a millenial and went through a breakup in your late HS/college/early 20s days, this was for you/us. Outside of the headliner slot, i think the sunset slots (especially on the main stage) are the most important and i'm so happy they gave it to the XX. The emotion, the stage presence, the gratefulness of the artist and the respect they had for their crowd was moving. Lots of crying millennials here, and I may or may not have been one of them. Top 2-3 for sure. Moby: WOW. Coachella again killing it with an 90s/early 2000s electronic GOAT. This is by far my favorite trend in the bookings of the last few years. He is such a professional....a legend in our time. The Jacob Lusk feature was one of the coolest moments i've had on the Polo Fields. Excellent show top to bottom. Do NOT miss. Top 4 for me. I chose Levity over goin to Pawas because I honestly think Pawsa is boring and you either have to 1) be really fucked up or 2) want to be seen at Pawsa. I have this theory that people that go to Pawsa are just going so they can say they went to Pawsa because for 70% of the time the music is too boring to dance to. Even Twitter was calling it the mannequin challenge. On the other hand, I was very excited for Levity but left wanting more. I thought it was repetitive and lacked a bit of creativity. 10/10 stage production though. Joost: I left my group and went to Joost who i had discovered a few months ago. Wow, what energy. I was clear that he knew this was his big break and he went for it. Definitely recommend seeing him. I walked by Sabrina Carpenter on my way to Disclosure. Why was it so quiet? Felt low energy. Or that's just her? Disclosure: Way too crowded. It's Friday night at Coachella...we need more places for the people to party. I met my friends and we boogied but it was a bit too crowded even in the artist section. Additionally, I had wanted to see Ethel Cain by why are we putting her at 9pm on Friday night? Are they trying to put people to sleep? Weird Saturday: Jack White: We got to the grounds early to avoid traffic and got to see Jack White. A living legend, really. Another professional bringing the energy and a packed tent even though it was very early in the day. Highly recommend. Los Hermanos Flores: A fantastic set to watch from the Outdoor VIP area. In the shade on a chair with a cold beer and my shoes off...peak Coachella. I make a point to see some of the smaller central/south american acts every year and this one was excellent as they always are. I walked in with them from the artist parking lot and seeing/meeting the entire band was a great moment for me. Highly recommend. Caught the end of Zulan as my fiance wanted to check her out. I'm not her biggest fan but she has the kids GOIN. I find the "people on stage jumping and dancing" setup a bit odd but to each their own. Hamdi: Hamdi smashed the Sahara. I was a headbanger back in my prime and i think i threw my back out at this set. His song selection, pacing, and energy were so well done. Highly recommend. I caught Royal Otis on my way out of Hamdi from the Rose Garden and wish I had listened to more. Yousuke: I loved Yousuke's Boiler Room set but his Sahara set was not nearly as energetic as I thought. He is still an excellent DJ and it was still a really fun set, but going to him and missing Geese was my biggest regret of the weekend. A friend went to Geese and said it was insane and i did not have that experience at all at Yousuke. I would not recommend if you are making the choice between these two. Nine Inch Noize: I was so upset at the NIN v Sean Paul conflict but going to NIN's debut at Coachella is the reason you go to Coachella. I am not upset anymore as NIN was CRAZY. The darkness, the production, the pacing, and that scary ass voice from Reznor....do NOT miss. The Strokes: I went through a tiny Strokes phase back in the day so i had to go. I loved the Bieber trolls and the nostalgia. Hearing an artist adlib between songs and say stupid, awkward jokes is a lost art and found some of them hilarious. A great set really but dont feel bad missing it unless you are beginning to camp for Bieber. David Byrne is a living legend and although I was never a big Talking Heads fan, there was no way in hell I was going to blow an hour of Saturday night camping out for Bieber. When I arrived at the artist viewing area, it looked like a coffee shop in Silverlake with a real "your favorite artist's favorite artist" kind of vibe. There were TONs of acts from Days 1, 2, and 3 in the artist viewing section. Despite his 30 minutes of technical difficulties, he was absolutely incredible. The artistry, the crowd control, the band, and professionalism of the show was really incredible. I think this was a top 3 for me. If you're okay not camping out for Bieber, DO NOT MISS. I left a bit early which ended up being another big regret, but i needed to meet the crew before the Bieber crowd was impossible to get through I'm not a big Bieber fan - i really dont know more than 3 or 4 songs - but i do think he has one of the best voices in pop music of all time. Nevertheless, i was in the camp that thought the show was a let down. I wanted to see one of the greatest singers of all time show us how it's done, and what we got was lazy IMO. Sure, it could have been him taking back "control" from the labels and people who exploited him. It also could have been a social commentary watching the first and biggest internet music star culminate with the biggest show of his career by watching it on Youtube and signing along. It could also be seen as extremely creative, given that it was such an intimate experience going through the old videos and singing with his younger self via Youtube. But also, i found it objectively lazy, slow, and left those that are not die-hards very disappointed. Given the crowd's size and how slow the music was, I saw maybe 30 minutes of it and then decided to go to Prospa at the Do Lab to find some real energy. I ended up watching the rest of the set at home online which is where my opinions come from. Prospa surprise set at the Do Lab during Bieber was epic...might have been one of my favorite electronic sets of the weekend Sunday: We arrived kind of late so our first set of the day was Carlita x Josh Baker. These two had the Yuma MOVING and I really liked this set. Nonetheless, it was too early for this kind of party for me so we left after 30 minutes or so. We got a recommendation from a friend to go see Roz, an up-and-coming electronic act in the Sonora. What epic energy these guys had. It was all types of EDM genres - DnB, trap, house, and even hardstyle for a second. The crowd was insane too and I'm happy we checked these guys out. Highly recommend. We dipped into Foster the People for a bit of nostalgia (and to get to the main stage quicker), and were surprised at how packed it was. Only watched a couple of songs but I liked it. Young Thug was probably the best hip hop act I've seen in years on the Polo Fields. We watched from the back but the crowd was absolutely rocking. He sounded clear (which is hard for a squeaky rapper like him), played the bangers, and generally put on a great show. I imagine if you're under the age of 30 or are a big hip hop fan, it was your favorite set and I wouldn't blame you. The problem is i cant recommend going due to Tomora (see below I wish I would have left Young Thug sooner because Tomora was the real star of this day. Tomora is a collab between singer Aurora and Tom Rowlands of the Chemical Brothers. The last half of this show was SICK. If you are "meh" on hip hop or dont care to split Young Thug, DO NOT MISS. It's fast, emotional, unique, and just a great show. Top 3 for me Subtronics was another act who was really high on my list bc I hadn't seen him before and I loved his set. I'm a bass/trap/dubstep head at heart and miss my days of headbanging at the Thunder stage at LIB in the early/mid 2010s. Subtronics definitely scratched that itch and seeing his production up close was awesome. I'm not sure if it's just me, but his set felt like I was scrolling through TikTok with ideas only lasting 10-15 seconds at most...then it was on to the next sound. Dubstep to bass to trap to DnB to hardstyle...is that normal? My love affair for Kaskade spans 16 years or so. Whenever he plays one of his old school big-room house sets, I turn into the little rave girl that introduced me to him. I was at his 2015 set on the main stage and still put it on to sometimes while i run. Tonight was no different and I melted. The song choice, the pace, the production, I thought it was awesome. A bit short if you ask me and we also didnt need the Bunt cameo. Still HIGHLY recommend. Top 4 for me submitted by /u/issacson to r/Coachella [link] [comments]

1.Remember way back in October when the Stewart fam bought a million dollar mansion? Remember how at Christmas they said they had no trips at all planned? Do you recall how 6 weeks ago Carlin said to get ready for wall to wall house content? Pepperidge Farm and this sub remember… but the Stew Crew dang sure does not. They have traveled non-stop, the new house is barely mentioned and their current home is just a stop over for laundry and repacking. Izzy, the doodle dog is MIA, perhaps sharing a kennel with the other missing family sidekick… Travis Clark. Carlin and Evan can’t hang out with the Clarks because it is bad for business, so instead they high tail it to Augusta to brown nose their way into the Southern Belle Blogger Bunch. When they touch down at Sophie and Tyler Watts’ corner of the world, it is easy to see where Carlin is getting her “Old South” aesthetic that has suddenly replaced her boho waif vibe. Anyway, surprise, surprise this group of numbnuts has scored tickets to the practice round of the Masters Golf tourney. If you don’t know, it’s a storied event that has deep roots in all the terrible things you think of when you think of Georgia. It’s also known for how exclusive it… was. Augusta National decided to let in influencers this year and now the pimento cheese and the fabled gnome are pedestrian at best. The 5 couples have to split their tickets so the guys go for their photo op and then trade out with the girls. None of this content goes viral and Carlin would much rather just turn the camera on her baby’s feet and let the views rack up. She is never without her camera these days, and everything is content. Layla isn’t pulling in the numbers she once did, even when they film her coated in lipgloss, throwing faces for the masses. Navy Kate is almost exclusively paying the bills at this point. Well, along with breastfeeding, which Carlin has turned into pure fetish content. They are slowly moving away from long form filming, and the vlogs that used to come weekly are now more like every ten days to 2 weeks. They know it’s more work for less pay and there’s more to examine… more chances for the mask to fall. Carlin turns 28 to much fan fair from everyone in her family that she doles out left over PR packages to, and they all make it back home just in time to pack for their next adventure that requires passports for the kids. First grade and Kindergarten sure look differently when you have 2 mortgages to pay… and being a baby in charge of car payments means you better not learn to crawl too soon. 2.If you predicted that Travis Clark would return from his 78 day social media exile on the same day that the Lord and Savior arose from the dead… then you obviously have…. 2 working brain cells. Good gracious these folks are predictable. After 2 months of random Travis body parts, he’s back and he is… shirtless. Dammit. Just when the management company seems to have gotten Lawson Bates to keep a shirt on, here comes Travis Clark, all loved up on Katie with his bare chest and big nips shining. Put that mess away, sir. Katie is on a permanent beach trip, staying in an AirBnB so she can exploit her children in new scenery that hasn’t been sullied by her husband and his mistress. What she didn’t expect was the home’s owner to show up in her comments and Doxx her while offering her a free stay. Who knows how long the Clarks will frolick on the beach before real life comes knocking. Is Travis in school in Orlando? Is he the new apprentice with Webster Heating & Air? Will they return to YouTube? Nobody knows. What we do know is that Katie continues her scorned momma glow up… she’s posing in bathing suits, giving crotch shots with fruit and wearing more eye makeup than RuPaul on the runway. The lawyer is long gone, and has apparently been replaced by a fundie therapist who shows up on Zoom to encourage Katie to smile even if it hurts and to be available whenever and however Travis wants. While these 2 fight their way out of their self created mess, Haley’s Disney Princess reels have a combined 60 million views. It’s obvious who is paying for this lifestyle. Haley sells the God app, shows up in her mom’s razor ads, sleep powder ads and models clothes for a Florida boutique. Katie drops some information about her miscarriage over a necklace link, and it’s clear she wants everyone to know the correct timeline. She says she miscarried in January and the baby was due in August… you do the math. They also take pictures at a new Florida church. I believe part of their running away is because of the church. Travis was in a leadership position at Clear Springs Baptist and that has to be shot all to hell now. If they have to move every time Travis gets angsty, the Clarks will have lived in all 50 states in the first ten years of this doomed pairing. 3.Josie Balka finally broke out of her beige 3 bedroom prison. Alas, it was only to head to a local park to set up for Kelton’s brother’s engagement. Yet another pair of half baked, too young fundies with hormones in over drive headed to an altar. Anyway, Josie filmed the whole thing and seemed giddy with excitement to be doing something besides stirring coffee, changing diapers and pretending to read her Bible. Too soon it was over and she had to head back up the gravel drive to that white painted brick hellscape to shill $50 wipes, Khloe Kardashian athletic wear and post everything with the word “slow” in front of it. She’s all about romanticizing “slow” mornings, “slow” evenings, “slow” breakfasts and “slowing” down. Speaking of slow…. Kelton Balka continues his march to male influencer. Now he’s jumped on to Josie’s fancy baby bottle partnership and he’s doing the voice over work. Supposedly this is so Josie can “sleep in”, but she’s up and going before he’s finished feeding the baby. Something else odd is happening in Balka world… Willow and Hazel seem to be mostly in skirts/dresses these days. At the park, on their bikes, going for walks… the girls are in dresses. It’s no coincidence that Erin always comments on Josie’s content. No matter how much she tries to make us believe that it was her idea to let go of the dolled up sex kitten look and get back to her freckled face basics…. I’m not buying it. Ole KTron and those wooly worms squatting on his forehead rule the roost. He has benched Josie in favor of his own center stage dreams. Alyssa Webster showed up to give us a March wrap up and can you believe that it looked exactly like the January and February recap? They celebrated 2 birthdays with a trip to the coffee shop, a grocery store cake at the kitchen table and those deranged dates with Lurch. There’s no mention of Katie, even though Katie has posted numerous times with Alyssa. Rhett is still wearing the sad hat. Truly a fundie debacle not discussed enough. Those hats toppled the Webster empire and when Alyssa realized no one was giving her money for a dumb hat and that she had been scammed by an online MLM… that’s when she took her leave from social media. Of course the Webster kids are all decked out in matching outfits for Easter. Alyssa forces them to all sit in the dirt under a tree and plaster on that fake smile so she can get her shots. It seems cruel that Allie is 11 and forced to wear the exact same get up that 5 year old Maci has on. Speaking of Allie, her birthday came and went and her mom chose to shout out a fellow cult friend instead of her oldest daughter. I’m sure we will see her awkward date with daddy in the April recap. Hopefully Allie gets her very own trip to the coffee shop. Ellie Bates, meanwhile, has been babysitting up a storm. She’s practically living with Zach and Whit and shows off Josie’s kids and Trace’s kids. The biggest shocker was her posing with Warden’s latest new girlfriend on Easter Sunday. The family is really going hard on promoting this new squeaky clean Warden image… even pretending to like this recent girlfriend. 5.Zach Bates took a “work trip” to California way back in January, and now is when his management company decided he should drop his content. Could it be that Whitney is near delivery? He doesn’t tell us what brand sent him to California, but he shows the management company, shouts them out as the best in the business and then proceeds to absolutely troll the hell out of Lawson by eating at every restaurant in a 4 mile radius of Tiffy’s home. I always knew Zach wanted to be the fundie Guy Fieri and this trip proves it. While he huffs and puffs from one restaurant to the next, Lawson is SCREAMING in his comments “hey, I know that place…. Hey, that’s around the corner from where we stay…. Hey, I should have been with you”. Lawson, you missed the boat. You could have been showcasing California landmarks instead of pretending to be a cowboy and taking pictures of yourself. In any case, back at home, Zach continues to drop reels of the same old food over and over… wanna watch him burn a hot dog? Make a roast? A steak? Chicken salad? There’s about 8 reels for each of the 5 things he knows how to make. Over in his Bates Kitchen, things haven’t changed. He’s still screwing up the recipe, leaving things out and forgetting steps while slinging food all over the kitchen, licking his fingers and talking with his mouth full. He and Whitney both exploit their kids every chance they get… like when they go to Costco where they happily show that they spent $860. Jadon and Lilly are the youngest/cutest/most easy to exploit so they show up the most. Whitney continues to push the same old tired links for powders, teeth whiteners and deodorant and no matter how much Zach wants to be the star…. Folks are tuning in for the kids and Whitney. In that order. 6.Trace and Lydia continue their march to mediocrity. I honestly don’t know what is going on with these 2 but something seems… off. Trace never seems to be around when Lydia is making content, and when he does pop in, he just says the same things over and over. Lydia is constantly at the gym. She sits in the car to tell us that while she was pregnant, Trace decided to start working out and getting fit. She points out that he did this exactly when she couldn’t….and that now that she is working out, he isn’t. That seems to be a running theme. They are on different pages. We don’t see any Easter content beyond pictures at Gil’s church in front of the flowered cross. Their weekly vlogs are just a few minutes long because all of the editing is Lydia’s job. Of course, this gives her an excuse to sit in random coffee shops during the week while Aunt Ellie plays with the kids. Maybe Trace is working a secret job somewhere… bag boy at the local Kroger, perhaps? They do update their followers with big news… they aren’t moving. Shocking, isn’t it? As interest rates soar and their content gets minimal views, they’ve made the decision to stay right where they are. Of course to hear them tell it, it’s because they love where they are and Lydia is scared of building. Interesting… she isn’t scared of one more set of stackable storage bins, is she? They don’t say that staying in their tiny house means no more kids because Trace knows Warden can come over and whip up a triple decker crib, no problem. The highlight of their latest vlog is Ryker’s styrofoam plane getting stuck on yet another roof and Trace yells at Lydia while she attempts to knock it down. They go on a bike ride where she schleps the picnic basket, blanket and the baby and he films them as she leaves him in the dust. Lydia is scratching around looking for reasons to brag on Trace and she decides on…. Making her coffee. Trace stumbles through the recipe for the amazing coffee he makes Lydia while admitting that it isn’t usually sweet enough and then she jumps in to give the exact recipe and steps. You know, for the coffee that TRACE makes. Mmmmhmmm. Lydia turns 28 and that gives them reason to film a fake surprise get away to luxurious, exclusive Myrtle Beach. While in Dirty Myrtle they make lots of couples content and one would hope this vacation doesn’t lead to Trace fulfilling that promise of giving KJ grandbaby number 41. 7.Erin and Chad Paine have whipped enough beef fat to afford a little vacation to Jekyll Island…or maybe it’s the love offerings that paid for the trip. In any case… they went somewhere, and Addee is with them. I guess they couldn’t hitch their wagons to Tori and Bobby’s vacay this year what with the new Smith kid making his debut. For Easter, Erin forced all of the kids to stand around her keyboard and maul a hymn. Even Callie had to join in, and you realize that she could be Erin’s daughter….actually, KJ would be just fine with that. Speaking of Kelly, she helps Erin do a little marketing by filming herself using Erin’s skincare in some hovel of a bathroom that must be the big house. All of the siblings are being forced to coat themselves in Erin’s grease so Chad doesn’t have to get a real job. Erin returns to YouTube to purr about her perfect life and give advice to all of us less thans. She tells us she never raises her voice, keeps the spark alive by looking into Chad’s eyes and holding his hand and says the secret to being perfect is to read your Bible. She recites her lines like a good little Gothardist and flounces off to pretend educate her children in the Florida sun. 8.Michael and Brandon celebrate Easter with the foster boys. She shows off their Easter outfits and they are the same thing being worn by 85 year old men. Fundies do love to dress a baby up like a little old man. It’s been a while since Michael has said the exact same thing over and over on social media, so while they are on a short road trip, she puts out a question and answer box so people can harass her about adoption, conception and her family. The only thing new - Michael mentions the birth parents of the foster children. She says they are “getting the help they need”. She is planning the baby’s first birthday party, and also plans to make more blankets for her shop. She says if adoption was an option, they would adopt…. But it obviously isn’t an option now because she twice mentions the birth parents who are obviously still in the picture. 9.Lawson and Tiffy have decided to milk a solid month of content out of this one bedroom condo they purchased in San Diego. They haven’t been to the place in almost 4 months and Tiffy calls it a “longer term rental” so how much time could they possibly spend there? Lawson prances around while Warden and JebJud do all of the work and Tiffy seems to think it’s a flex that her home was remodeled by a 22 year old and his 16 year old helper. God help the renters. In real time, they seem to be all alone for Easter in Nashville. Her parents aren’t around, we don’t see Callie and they don’t travel to the big house. They must be lost without their keepers. Tiffy films Will running around half dressed a lot and they have to cut a knot out of Teddy’s long hair. Guess he spends a lot of time flat on his back. Of course Lawson Ai’s himself into another background so he can wail and warble that same old hymn for an Easter post. Also… he’s back at the pregnancy baiting. Theodore is 4 months old. It’s enough already. 10.Bits and Bytes…Kelly Joe doesn’t mention Allie’s 11th birthday making it a clean sweep of all 5 of Alyssa’s kids getting nothing from Granny on IG… In other Kelly news, she appears to babysit for Josie. It’s unheard of for KJ to keep her grandkids without a sister there to do the heavy lifting, Kelton must have had to payoff a credit card or something… Alyssa attempts to get Disney’s attention by tagging them and asking for a free cruise on Katie’s post…Erin’s daughter Everly turns 8 and her personality is “likes animals”…Zade asks Carlin to DRAW his family’s names for him. Heavy subtitles are needed and the reel doesn’t come close to matching Navy’s views… Gil completed the roof on the big house and KJ complimented him by telling everyone how it was rotted, leaking and how badly needed it was. Have a great week friends! Summer days are back in my part of the world, 90 and sunshine all week! submitted by /u/dixcgirl10 to r/BatesSnark [link] [comments]

1.Remember way back in October when the Stewart fam bought a million dollar mansion? Remember how at Christmas they said they had no trips at all planned? Do you recall how 6 weeks ago Carlin said to get ready for wall to wall house content? Pepperidge Farm and this sub remember… but the Stew Crew dang sure does not. They have traveled non-stop, the new house is barely mentioned and their current home is just a stop over for laundry and repacking. Izzy, the doodle dog is MIA, perhaps sharing a kennel with the other missing family sidekick… Travis Clark. Carlin and Evan can’t hang out with the Clarks because it is bad for business, so instead they high tail it to Augusta to brown nose their way into the Southern Belle Blogger Bunch. When they touch down at Sophie and Tyler Watts’ corner of the world, it is easy to see where Carlin is getting her “Old South” aesthetic that has suddenly replaced her boho waif vibe. Anyway, surprise, surprise this group of numbnuts has scored tickets to the practice round of the Masters Golf tourney. If you don’t know, it’s a storied event that has deep roots in all the terrible things you think of when you think of Georgia. It’s also known for how exclusive it… was. Augusta National decided to let in influencers this year and now the pimento cheese and the fabled gnome are pedestrian at best. The 5 couples have to split their tickets so the guys go for their photo op and then trade out with the girls. None of this content goes viral and Carlin would much rather just turn the camera on her baby’s feet and let the views rack up. She is never without her camera these days, and everything is content. Layla isn’t pulling in the numbers she once did, even when they film her coated in lipgloss, throwing faces for the masses. Navy Kate is almost exclusively paying the bills at this point. Well, along with breastfeeding, which Carlin has turned into pure fetish content. They are slowly moving away from long form filming, and the vlogs that used to come weekly are now more like every ten days to 2 weeks. They know it’s more work for less pay and there’s more to examine… more chances for the mask to fall. Carlin turns 28 to much fan fair from everyone in her family that she doles out left over PR packages to, and they all make it back home just in time to pack for their next adventure that requires passports for the kids. First grade and Kindergarten sure look differently when you have 2 mortgages to pay… and being a baby in charge of car payments means you better not learn to crawl too soon. 2.If you predicted that Travis Clark would return from his 78 day social media exile on the same day that the Lord and Savior arose from the dead… then you obviously have…. 2 working brain cells. Good gracious these folks are predictable. After 2 months of random Travis body parts, he’s back and he is… shirtless. Dammit. Just when the management company seems to have gotten Lawson Bates to keep a shirt on, here comes Travis Clark, all loved up on Katie with his bare chest and big nips shining. Put that mess away, sir. Katie is on a permanent beach trip, staying in an AirBnB so she can exploit her children in new scenery that hasn’t been sullied by her husband and his mistress. What she didn’t expect was the home’s owner to show up in her comments and Doxx her while offering her a free stay. Who knows how long the Clarks will frolick on the beach before real life comes knocking. Is Travis in school in Orlando? Is he the new apprentice with Webster Heating & Air? Will they return to YouTube? Nobody knows. What we do know is that Katie continues her scorned momma glow up… she’s posing in bathing suits, giving crotch shots with fruit and wearing more eye makeup than RuPaul on the runway. The lawyer is long gone, and has apparently been replaced by a fundie therapist who shows up on Zoom to encourage Katie to smile even if it hurts and to be available whenever and however Travis wants. While these 2 fight their way out of their self created mess, Haley’s Disney Princess reels have a combined 60 million views. It’s obvious who is paying for this lifestyle. Haley sells the God app, shows up in her mom’s razor ads, sleep powder ads and models clothes for a Florida boutique. Katie drops some information about her miscarriage over a necklace link, and it’s clear she wants everyone to know the correct timeline. She says she miscarried in January and the baby was due in August… you do the math. They also take pictures at a new Florida church. I believe part of their running away is because of the church. Travis was in a leadership position at Clear Springs Baptist and that has to be shot all to hell now. If they have to move every time Travis gets angsty, the Clarks will have lived in all 50 states in the first ten years of this doomed pairing. 3.Josie Balka finally broke out of her beige 3 bedroom prison. Alas, it was only to head to a local park to set up for Kelton’s brother’s engagement. Yet another pair of half baked, too young fundies with hormones in over drive headed to an altar. Anyway, Josie filmed the whole thing and seemed giddy with excitement to be doing something besides stirring coffee, changing diapers and pretending to read her Bible. Too soon it was over and she had to head back up the gravel drive to that white painted brick hellscape to shill $50 wipes, Khloe Kardashian athletic wear and post everything with the word “slow” in front of it. She’s all about romanticizing “slow” mornings, “slow” evenings, “slow” breakfasts and “slowing” down. Speaking of slow…. Kelton Balka continues his march to male influencer. Now he’s jumped on to Josie’s fancy baby bottle partnership and he’s doing the voice over work. Supposedly this is so Josie can “sleep in”, but she’s up and going before he’s finished feeding the baby. Something else odd is happening in Balka world… Willow and Hazel seem to be mostly in skirts/dresses these days. At the park, on their bikes, going for walks… the girls are in dresses. It’s no coincidence that Erin always comments on Josie’s content. No matter how much she tries to make us believe that it was her idea to let go of the dolled up sex kitten look and get back to her freckled face basics…. I’m not buying it. Ole KTron and those wooly worms squatting on his forehead rule the roost. He has benched Josie in favor of his own center stage dreams. Alyssa Webster showed up to give us a March wrap up and can you believe that it looked exactly like the January and February recap? They celebrated 2 birthdays with a trip to the coffee shop, a grocery store cake at the kitchen table and those deranged dates with Lurch. There’s no mention of Katie, even though Katie has posted numerous times with Alyssa. Rhett is still wearing the sad hat. Truly a fundie debacle not discussed enough. Those hats toppled the Webster empire and when Alyssa realized no one was giving her money for a dumb hat and that she had been scammed by an online MLM… that’s when she took her leave from social media. Of course the Webster kids are all decked out in matching outfits for Easter. Alyssa forces them to all sit in the dirt under a tree and plaster on that fake smile so she can get her shots. It seems cruel that Allie is 11 and forced to wear the exact same get up that 5 year old Maci has on. Speaking of Allie, her birthday came and went and her mom chose to shout out a fellow cult friend instead of her oldest daughter. I’m sure we will see her awkward date with daddy in the April recap. Hopefully Allie gets her very own trip to the coffee shop. Ellie Bates, meanwhile, has been babysitting up a storm. She’s practically living with Zach and Whit and shows off Josie’s kids and Trace’s kids. The biggest shocker was her posing with Warden’s latest new girlfriend on Easter Sunday. The family is really going hard on promoting this new squeaky clean Warden image… even pretending to like this recent girlfriend. 5.Zach Bates took a “work trip” to California way back in January, and now is when his management company decided he should drop his content. Could it be that Whitney is near delivery? He doesn’t tell us what brand sent him to California, but he shows the management company, shouts them out as the best in the business and then proceeds to absolutely troll the hell out of Lawson by eating at every restaurant in a 4 mile radius of Tiffy’s home. I always knew Zach wanted to be the fundie Guy Fieri and this trip proves it. While he huffs and puffs from one restaurant to the next, Lawson is SCREAMING in his comments “hey, I know that place…. Hey, that’s around the corner from where we stay…. Hey, I should have been with you”. Lawson, you missed the boat. You could have been showcasing California landmarks instead of pretending to be a cowboy and taking pictures of yourself. In any case, back at home, Zach continues to drop reels of the same old food over and over… wanna watch him burn a hot dog? Make a roast? A steak? Chicken salad? There’s about 8 reels for each of the 5 things he knows how to make. Over in his Bates Kitchen, things haven’t changed. He’s still screwing up the recipe, leaving things out and forgetting steps while slinging food all over the kitchen, licking his fingers and talking with his mouth full. He and Whitney both exploit their kids every chance they get… like when they go to Costco where they happily show that they spent $860. Jadon and Lilly are the youngest/cutest/most easy to exploit so they show up the most. Whitney continues to push the same old tired links for powders, teeth whiteners and deodorant and no matter how much Zach wants to be the star…. Folks are tuning in for the kids and Whitney. In that order. 6.Trace and Lydia continue their march to mediocrity. I honestly don’t know what is going on with these 2 but something seems… off. Trace never seems to be around when Lydia is making content, and when he does pop in, he just says the same things over and over. Lydia is constantly at the gym. She sits in the car to tell us that while she was pregnant, Trace decided to start working out and getting fit. She points out that he did this exactly when she couldn’t….and that now that she is working out, he isn’t. That seems to be a running theme. They are on different pages. We don’t see any Easter content beyond pictures at Gil’s church in front of the flowered cross. Their weekly vlogs are just a few minutes long because all of the editing is Lydia’s job. Of course, this gives her an excuse to sit in random coffee shops during the week while Aunt Ellie plays with the kids. Maybe Trace is working a secret job somewhere… bag boy at the local Kroger, perhaps? They do update their followers with big news… they aren’t moving. Shocking, isn’t it? As interest rates soar and their content gets minimal views, they’ve made the decision to stay right where they are. Of course to hear them tell it, it’s because they love where they are and Lydia is scared of building. Interesting… she isn’t scared of one more set of stackable storage bins, is she? They don’t say that staying in their tiny house means no more kids because Trace knows Warden can come over and whip up a triple decker crib, no problem. The highlight of their latest vlog is Ryker’s styrofoam plane getting stuck on yet another roof and Trace yells at Lydia while she attempts to knock it down. They go on a bike ride where she schleps the picnic basket, blanket and the baby and he films them as she leaves him in the dust. Lydia is scratching around looking for reasons to brag on Trace and she decides on…. Making her coffee. Trace stumbles through the recipe for the amazing coffee he makes Lydia while admitting that it isn’t usually sweet enough and then she jumps in to give the exact recipe and steps. You know, for the coffee that TRACE makes. Mmmmhmmm. Lydia turns 28 and that gives them reason to film a fake surprise get away to luxurious, exclusive Myrtle Beach. While in Dirty Myrtle they make lots of couples content and one would hope this vacation doesn’t lead to Trace fulfilling that promise of giving KJ grandbaby number 41. 7.Erin and Chad Paine have whipped enough beef fat to afford a little vacation to Jekyll Island…or maybe it’s the love offerings that paid for the trip. In any case… they went somewhere, and Addee is with them. I guess they couldn’t hitch their wagons to Tori and Bobby’s vacay this year what with the new Smith kid making his debut. For Easter, Erin forced all of the kids to stand around her keyboard and maul a hymn. Even Callie had to join in, and you realize that she could be Erin’s daughter….actually, KJ would be just fine with that. Speaking of Kelly, she helps Erin do a little marketing by filming herself using Erin’s skincare in some hovel of a bathroom that must be the big house. All of the siblings are being forced to coat themselves in Erin’s grease so Chad doesn’t have to get a real job. Erin returns to YouTube to purr about her perfect life and give advice to all of us less thans. She tells us she never raises her voice, keeps the spark alive by looking into Chad’s eyes and holding his hand and says the secret to being perfect is to read your Bible. She recites her lines like a good little Gothardist and flounces off to pretend educate her children in the Florida sun. 8.Michael and Brandon celebrate Easter with the foster boys. She shows off their Easter outfits and they are the same thing being worn by 85 year old men. Fundies do love to dress a baby up like a little old man. It’s been a while since Michael has said the exact same thing over and over on social media, so while they are on a short road trip, she puts out a question and answer box so people can harass her about adoption, conception and her family. The only thing new - Michael mentions the birth parents of the foster children. She says they are “getting the help they need”. She is planning the baby’s first birthday party, and also plans to make more blankets for her shop. She says if adoption was an option, they would adopt…. But it obviously isn’t an option now because she twice mentions the birth parents who are obviously still in the picture. 9.Lawson and Tiffy have decided to milk a solid month of content out of this one bedroom condo they purchased in San Diego. They haven’t been to the place in almost 4 months and Tiffy calls it a “longer term rental” so how much time could they possibly spend there? Lawson prances around while Warden and JebJud do all of the work and Tiffy seems to think it’s a flex that her home was remodeled by a 22 year old and his 16 year old helper. God help the renters. In real time, they seem to be all alone for Easter in Nashville. Her parents aren’t around, we don’t see Callie and they don’t travel to the big house. They must be lost without their keepers. Tiffy films Will running around half dressed a lot and they have to cut a knot out of Teddy’s long hair. Guess he spends a lot of time flat on his back. Of course Lawson Ai’s himself into another background so he can wail and warble that same old hymn for an Easter post. Also… he’s back at the pregnancy baiting. Theodore is 4 months old. It’s enough already. 10.Bits and Bytes…Kelly Joe doesn’t mention Allie’s 11th birthday making it a clean sweep of all 5 of Alyssa’s kids getting nothing from Granny on IG… In other Kelly news, she appears to babysit for Josie. It’s unheard of for KJ to keep her grandkids without a sister there to do the heavy lifting, Kelton must have had to payoff a credit card or something… Alyssa attempts to get Disney’s attention by tagging them and asking for a free cruise on Katie’s post…Erin’s daughter Everly turns 8 and her personality is “likes animals”…Zade asks Carlin to DRAW his family’s names for him. Heavy subtitles are needed and the reel doesn’t come close to matching Navy’s views… Gil completed the roof on the big house and KJ complimented him by telling everyone how it was rotted, leaking and how badly needed it was. Have a great week friends! Summer days are back in my part of the world, 90 and sunshine all week! submitted by /u/dixcgirl10 to r/BringingUpBates [link] [comments]

Our border collie puppy is 7 months old. We absolutely adore him, love him and have devoted our life to him. His routine is : 7:30 am - wakes up in his crate 7:30-8am - cuddle with us, stretch, chews on his fav toy water. 8am-10am - Goes for walk, poops, pees (Yes potty trained), training, herding games, ball playing 10-11:30am - Grooming, Play at home with us, snuffle balls, mental stimulation, breakfast 11:30am-2pm - Sleep inside the train 2pm-3pm - Afternoon walk, pee poop, sit with us in park and chills and watches birds etc, play ball. 3pm-4/4:30pm - Afternoon snacks (We feed him twice) usually lickmat or frozen vegetables, puzzels, cuddle, play time etc 4:30pm-7:30pm - evening nap inside the crate. 7:30-9pm - Evening walk, sniffing games, chase, runs with us, pees/poops, 9pm-11:15pm - Dinner, cuddles, we play with him, final pee poop in a designated area in balcony at home on a pee pad. 11:15pm-7:30am - Sleeps inside the crate That is - 12 hours of sleep inside the crate, 6 hours of outside walk/play time, 6 hours of home time. He is super active, never rushes out of crate, always eager for playing, walks etc, loves us more than anything, has amazing recall etc. Always active for food, walks. On sundays we take him for swimming and play dates with our other dog friends. I personally spend 30-40 mins every night making different kinds of food like fish, tuna, chicken mutton with other vegetables for him. Every detergent, floor cleaner etc is dog friendly. The only reason we make him sleep inside the crate is because he automatically switches off. If we don't then his sleep is disturbed and he keeps changing places, waking up and seems very overtired and at times irritated. He never rushes out of the crate. he is potty trained so if he ever wants to pee poop then he calls us and we take him out. he literally sleeps with his feet and paws up vertical while sleeping. We want to keep his crate open yes while sleeping and the training is ongoing. Ofcourse we are training him to sleep outside in the open because that is what we want as well. we are not monsters keeping him cages all day. We want him to sleep on our bed with us hugging us but we also want him to train so when we say off the bed he does. We want him to sleep peacefully have all the rest and grow healthy and big. He means everything to us and i joined this group because it said Dog Training and we are not perfect but calling us monsters and all sorts of names is something i never expected other dog parents to do. everywhere i read or consult with vets/behaviourists, they all say crate training is important so puppies know when to switch off because they dont on their own. we dont want to over tire him physically/mentally that they crash out of exhausation. Yes we will improve and yes i hope we are able to give the best life to our baby and i hope we get genuine tips for people who have been in our shoes and we would love to hear your opinion but some of you really feel so entitled and arrogant that you can say whatever you want. Someone mentioned i need sympathy? Bro i am worried because the internet and vets have such different opinions that i just want to know whats good or bad. submitted by /u/Then_Community_1766 to r/OpenDogTraining [link] [comments]

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/ManiacMadnessAntics Originally posted to r/OhNoConsequences Previous BoRUs: #1 [Final Update]: Aunt Doesn't Like Reaping What She Sows NEW UPDATE MARKED WITH ---- Thanks to u/soayherder for suggesting this BoRU. Thank you to u/LucyAriaRose for letting me know about the final update! Trigger Warnings: cancer, emotional abuse and manipulation, coercion, possible gaslighting, death of a loved one, house fire Mood Spoilers: sobering RECAP Original Post: September 16, 2024 So I (28NB) have an aunt who we’ll call Sam. She's always been an absolute fucked who goes into meltdown mode at the drop of a hat if things aren't going her way or if she's offended by the slightest thing. This almost 70 year old woman will throw tantrums that rivaled my unmedicated/improperly medicated bipolar episodes as a child and teen. I have plenty of stories about why she's a POS but this sub’s for consequences and she often didn't get any. This though, happened last Monday. Because Sam’s health is so shit, she gets disability and one of those super cheap apartments for low income people. For whatever reason, they dropped the amount of disability due to a clerical error that can be fixed if she just called them. But this woman is epically lazy (and it's not because of the disability, I can assure you, but again this is a completely different story on a sub about consequences) so just… never did it. Because she doesn't want her sister to be homeless and starving, my mother began funneling so much time and money into Sam. My parents are trying to save to retire but they're basically funding Sam’s whole life. Help with rent, gas for her car, power bill, food, cigarettes… basically everything. And every month Sam’s disability has been ‘gone’ sooner and sooner in the month. I could tell she was starting to take advantage of the help she knew my parents would give her and I did mention it to Mom but it was only a passing comment, not a discussion. Well last Monday Sam came to Mom's house with her tin can out, ready to beg more money off her sister. She needed cat food! She can't afford any. Could mom please help? My mother has mobility issues right now. Something is very wrong with her foot and she can barely walk around her house, never mind a store. So she couldn't go with Sam to the store. She also didn't have any cash on hand. So she gave my leech of an aunt her debit card. (The noise I made at this point in my mother's explanation is something I will never be able to describe or replicate.) So she told Sam, go to [Dollar Store]. Get food for your cat, a couple things for you to eat over the next few days, and one pack of cigarettes. This would have come out to about $20-$25. Sam being Sam, she did not do that. She went to [local chain grocery] where everything is INSANELY overpriced. Spent $55. Took an extra $20 in cash back. When she got back to my mom’s house and explained this, claiming she wasn't sure if the dollar store would have everything she needed, mom was pissed. Then she found out about the $20 that Sam had taken out without permission for ‘gas’ and she went from pissed to apoplectic. Sam has spent the whole week begging Mom for the favors she usually does, and claiming her feelings are hurt because mom won't talk to her. Mom just keeps responding that she's still mad, and Sam needs to leave her alone for a while to cool down. So Sam’s not getting any money, any errands run, or any attention, and she hates it. She's throwing an epic fit, but she bit the hand that was feeding her and drew blood. Edit: I see all the people in the comments worried about kitty. I promise she's fine. Sam adores her and has raised her up from a stray kitten her apartment complex found (a group of babies but no mama to be found :() to a lovely middle-aged cat. When (not if, my parents are going to make sure she gets to a care home because this situation is untenable) Sam gets moved into a care home, kitty is going to be moved into my parents' house. If for some reason they can't take her, I'm the backup. Kitty is and will be fine. Relevant Comments Commenter 1: God, I hope your mum cuts her out completely. OOP: We can only hope. Mom's been trying to shove her into a care home (she really needs it) for months but sam just refuses to go to the necessary appointments Commenter 2: Here's hoping your mom keeps adding those consequences until Sam gets the message. OOP: Cheers to that. I actually get the feeling that things are gonna start moving faster now because there's no way my stepdad isn't gonna get involved after this and he gets shit done when he's been wronged and he's the one working and paying for this stuff so... Yeah I'm expecting results. Has OOP's mother cut off money from Sam? OOP: My mother has completely cut off money and pretty much all errands. Including those involved with getting Sam into a home. Basically the only thing she's been doing is occasionally bringing Sam food. She's made it clear that it's up to Sam to get rides and find ways to pay her bills or get into a home because she's a grown adult It's actually working pretty well all things considered She also wasn't invited to thanksgiving but things had cooled down enough by Christmas that she came to Christmas and things were very calm compared to the usual + Yeah money is really tight for my parents right now and I have no idea what her debit has on it but I know they keep the majority of their money in the savings account I'd guess there was about a hundred in there, Sam spent $75 when Mom had essentially told her to take $25 max Commenter 3: let's just hope that Aunt Leach didn't have the intelligence necessary to think about saving the card info to her phone to use on online purchases later OOP: Oh nah she's barely capable of using a cell phone And my parents keep a close eye on their accounts so if she did she'd be caught instantly and the cars would go into canceled purgatory Has Sam been taking care of her cat? OOP: She does dote on her kitty. I will give her that. The cat's in a very happy environment for herself. And when Sam's moved into a care home my parents have already agreed to take her and if, for whatever reason, they can't, I have also agreed to be second choice. But I already have two cats and there's a pet limit of 3 at my trailer park and I don't really wanna give up that last slot if I don't have to. Plus it would probably upset my girls. I'll take her if I need to but mom and stepdad are the better choice. They have 1 pretty chill cat and a happy little yappy dog. Commenter 4: Your mom knew what would happen when she gave Sam the debit card (and PIN too!!!). Setting Sam up for a fall, then acting like a victim... Jerk move by your mom, tbh OOP: She is a victim. She has been nothing but generous and helpful towards her sister for months. Sam came for money for cat food and Mom said 'oh get some stuff to eat and a pack of cigarettes, too'. That was already going overboard in helping her. Just because I think she did something really stupid by giving Sam her debit card doesn't mean that it's okay that Sam stole upwards of fifty dollars from her. I've been leant her debit card before when I was in my late teens/early 20's and still living at home, and you know what I did? I bought the things I needed at the place where they were cheapest, and came home with a receipt for my mother. The fact that a 70ish year old lady can't have the same self-control as an ADHD bipolar young adult is not my mother's fault. OOP on their mother's foot OOP: There's currently no diagnosis but it's not that, this has been going on for months. Her whole foot is either numb or painful and I actually don't know when it started because mom only mentioned it to me when she said she got a new doctor Commenter 5: Wow. So why didn’t your mom tried to fix the disability checks? OOP: Because it has to be done by the person who actually got disability afaik I actually don't know much about what's wrong or how it works because I didn't ever really ask for details. All I know is they dropped the amount they gave her OOP's parents should focus on saving for retirement instead of helping Sam OOP: They're pretty prepared for moving on. There's actually a timeline for them and they are still saving. They'll be across the country by this time next year with stepdad's parents in Idaho. It's been mom's dream for decades to move out there. They have been saving for retirement still, which is why the belt is so tight for them right now. And they will be able to save a lot more once Sam is in a home. My stepdad has worked at the same company for decades and (I don't know the exact details) is getting a huge cash bonus in the beginning of the year which will really help their retirement account. They don't expect me to take care of them. My own health is really bad. If I was ever in their plans to help with their golden years, I was swiftly taken out of the running after my coma. Additional Information from OOP, giving an example regarding Sam's behaviors OOP: I'll tell you a few things that have happened to maybe paint a broader picture of her personality My 21st birthday party: started cracking just barely not homophobic jokes about me being gay until I literally left my own birthday party and went home Easter Sunday, about 8 years ago: My grampa started making jokes about the #metoo movement. I cut him off and pointed out that it's not funny to joke about victims of rape and sexual harassment. Sam started ranting extremely loudly about how 'People are going to disagree with you and you can't expect them to be so sensitive' for a good five-eight minutes. We were in a family restaurant. Easter Sunday, the next year (note that most interactions I have on here are from holidays because as previously stated, I am as no-contact as possible with this woman): my fiance and I were living in the basement apartment of my grandfather's house. One of our bosses at the time needed to pick some keys up from us. He was in the driveway for less than a minute, and as he left Sam was screaming insults at him-- grampa had gone to pick her up and she literally got out of the car while it was waiting to get in the driveway to screech at my fucking boss. Then she saw my partner, meeting them for the very first time, and started screaming abuse and insults at them, too. I came upstairs because my partner hadn't come back down and heard this and lost my absolute shit like I had never before, leading to a screaming match that just got worse and worse. At one point she got one of those heavy manual can openers from the kitchen and was holding it up like she was going to throw it at me while still screaming about how stupid and terrible I was and how I was 'making her act like this' and it was of course all my fault. I told her she was acting insane and she shrieked 'I TAKE MY MEDS!' in the most accusatory tone I've ever heard-- she was implying that I don't take my psych meds (which I do, and her taking her psych meds doesn't mean much when she's chasing me around the house yelling that she hates me and that I'm stupid and crazy). Christmas, a few years ago: some of Mom and Stepdad's friends come to Christmas dinner because most of the family has moved away or passed away and Mom gets sad that it's just me, partner, her, stepdad, and Sam. I introduced myself and my partner by our chosen names (we are both NB and do not like our deadname). Sam, who was in the same room as us, went on a rampage where she said that those were couple nicknames we call each other, and when I tried to very politely defuse the situation by firmly stating that no, these are the names we use and want to be called by, she freaked out and said that it wasn't my name because it wasn't on my birth certificate (btw my deadname is actually two deadname because i was given two first names at birth. I have exclusively gone by the first first name only, but apparently that's okay even though it also doesn't match up with the birth certificate.) I continued to firmly try and shut her down (I managed to keep from screaming myself this time even) and she just got more and more hysterical until she finally just fucking left because I had offended her so badly. She used to live with my grampa for free and all she was expected to do was keep the house clean. She never cleaned. There were always months worth of food stuck to the stove, the counters and floors were filthy, and she spent most of the time laying down and watching TV. She spent thousands of dollars of grampa's money on scratch off tickets-- when she finally got kicked out, they found hundreds of tickets in her bedroom. For two years during this decade the Christmas decorations were up year round because she refused to put them away. None of these issues were ever resolved until my mom stepped in and cleaned the house/put away the decorations because she hated watching her dad live in that filthy house, but it wasn't mom's job to do that, it was Sam's. She just... Didn't. Grampa FINALLY kicked her out after she did something really egregious that I don't recall, but I've seen this woman beat on the hood of a visitor's car with her fists in full blown hysteria. She sees a psychologist but IDK if that's even helping a little.   Update #1: September 8, 2025 (nearly a year later) Am OP: Aunt Doesn't Like reaping what she sows UPDATE So you may or may not remember my post regarding my aunt, who for the purposes of this post we will call Sam. https://www.reddit.com/r/OhNoConsequences/comments/1fiace5/am_oop_aunt_doesnt_like_reaping_what_she_sows/ Here is the initial post, but the TL;DR is that I, 29NB, was told by my mother about my bitch of an aunt stealing about $50 from my mother. I will address a couple points real quick for clarification. Anyone who was worried about my mother's leg issue (there were a few people in the comments), she had a clot or something that was cutting off blood flow to her foot and part of her calf. They managed to get rid of it before it ruined her leg badly enough to require amputation and she is fine now. Currently packing for my parents' move across the country when my stepdad retires in November, actually! Sam's cat is safe. She ended up being taken by the neighbor Sam got her from as a kitten. Now, onto the important bit: After Sam blatantly taking advantage of the fact that my mother had something wrong with her leg and couldn't walk around her own house let alone accompany her to the store, mom took a huge step back. No more rides, Sam's an adult. No more money, Sam's an adult. The only thing that Sam really got from anyone was the occasional box of food, mostly food from the food bank that my fiancé and I were not planning on eating. No more going above and beyond for a woman who refuses to get herself help and screams constant insults. I'd say it might be dementia except she's been this crazy my whole life. Despite this, Sam started getting more and more demanding, using her increasingly poor health and mobility to try to bludgeon my mother into helping her. To the point where (one of the examples mom gave me) she couldn't get up from the toilet without help so she called my mom, demanding that she drive 45 minutes to Sam's house to help Sam off the toilet, only for a neighbor to have already done it by the time mom got there. Sam ended up in the hospital (I think someone called an ambulance for her? I'm not sure as mom just said she went to the hospital.) and I am so proud of my mother. Sam called her and demanded she get some of her things from Sam's apartment for her hospital stay. Mom said 'okay', left the stuff at reception. Then she drove home. She told me that in the moment Sam called her, she knew this would be the last favor she did for Sam. The last time they would have contact. She didn't even bother bringing Sam's shit directly to Sam. Sam has lung cancer and will be going into hospice, and that is all we know and all I care to know. This all actually isn't new news, mom cut her off months ago. Sam could very well be dead by now, and I wouldn't know it. If there's a funeral, I ain't going. I hate this woman. She has made my life hell for two and a half decades and I severed any emotional attachment to her years and years ago. Since I finally, FINALLY don't have to keep any kind of cordial relationship with Sam to keep my mother out of the crossfire, I am free. I never have to speak to that woman again. I routed all her calls to voicemail and muted her text notifications. I'm never going to speak to her again. Mom and stepdad are never going to speak to her again. Hell even her brother who is a scumbag in a completely different way is never going to speak to her again. Her terrible behavior, hysterical tantrums, threats of harm, entitled attitude, and just generally being awful has led to the consequences of her inevitably dying alone from a terrible disease with no sympathy from me. TL;DR: The consequences stuck and Sam's gonna die alone in hospice from lung cancer. Relevant / Top Comments Commenter 1: Happy ending for all. Even Kitty! Commenter 2: I remembered the original post as soon as I started reading, and I'm so glad OP let us know kitty is safe! OP, I'm glad this woman's out of you and your family's lives. I hope you can all put her out of your minds altogether soon. She's not worth the mental energy it takes to think about her. OOP: Oh I totally agree, it's why I took so long to post the update. I literally just forgot about her for a while. Not my problem. Never again. OOP offers a peek of their own cats. They do not have a picture of Sam's cat OOP: Cat Tax 1, Cat Tax 2 + Yeah the blurring is mostly because I have pretty severe nerve damage in my hands and arms and my phone jiggles all over the place while I tremble tremble tremble Love how you said the second one is smart because I just had a conversation about her head being full of air. She makes a dial up noise in her head constantly. Commenter 3: That was an expensive $75 OOP: It's crazy to think that if she hadn't been so brazen about disregarding mom's instructions for what to do with mom's debit card, mom might have let her leech for so much longer. Commenter 4: Pour one out for the healthcare workers who have to deal with this bish during her lucid moments. The good drugs ... they're not for Sam ... they're for the CNAs. OOP: Cheers to the healthcare workers who do their best even to the people that do their worst.   ----FINAL NEW UPDATE--- Trigger Warnings: death of a loved one, house fire Update #2: October 18, 2025 (1.5 months later) I didn't plan on making this update. I didn't plan on updating again. BORU picked up my story shortly after I posted it and I got a person calling me out as if it was fake. Just that one person made my skin crawl, to be honest. It's not fake. This is real life, and real life can sometimes become a tragedy. I've debated whether or not I wanted to post this since I found out what happened. How it all ended. The consequences. Because BORU is likely to pick this up, and I don't mind them doing that, but this is my life. This is other people's lives. Here's my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/OhNoConsequences/comments/1fiace5/am_oop_aunt_doesnt_like_reaping_what_she_sows/ Last I heard of my aunt, who I have been calling Sam, she was in hospice with lung cancer. This turned out to only partially be true. She somehow managed to convince the people in charge of such things to release her to in-home hospice. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why. Smoking. She wanted to still be able to smoke, and a facility wouldn't let her do that. She had a neighbor helping her with basically everything. I don't have a clue why said neighbor agreed. I don't know. I don't understand. I don't think I ever will. On October 9th, there was a fire at her apartment. It started from inside her unit specifically. Smoking. There's not really any other possible cause. 10 people were displaced from their apartments around Sam's apartment but thankfully Sam was the only casualty. After everything that happened, she died in a fire because she was just so desperate to smoke, even while on oxygen. Consequences. Deadly ones. And because even in her last days she was so selfish, 10 people lost their homes until everything can be fixed. I didn't want to dox myself with this story. But she didn't live in the same town as me, she lived across state lines, and they didn't release her name, so I think it's safe to post this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ourquadcities.com/news/local-news/fire-damages-units-at-forest-grove-apartments-in-davenport/amp/ My aunt was a terrible person. My aunt was a damaged person. She died in a way none of us expected and almost harmed a lot more people in the process. I don't know how to feel about her death. I have previously said I had severed any emotional attachment I had to this woman years ago. I was excited to go no contact, and I knew I wouldn't be hearing from her ever again. So I don't know why I feel numb. I don't know why my eyes are wet. I'm not quite crying, just blinking water out of them. But there's nothing when I think about it. Just sorrow for the people she hurt in her final moments, and a little bit of sympathy for her because she died in such a horrible way. She's gone, and I'm confused as to why I'm feeling what I'm feeling. Relief? Maybe. Goodbye, Aunt Sue. I won't miss you, but I hope there's someone who will out there. Someone you had a positive impact on. And I hope you rest in peace. Edit: I hardly wanted to make a second post, so here we are. I feel a little better now, know the full story. She thankfully wasn't actively smoking while on oxygen. She (according to my mother) fell asleep while smoking a cigarette, which began to make her mattress smolder, which spread fire to the rest of the unit. She died in her sleep from smoke inhalation. A much less painful ending. I'm grateful. I really hated how much she could have suffered, so I am deeply glad she did not. I never wanted her to suffer, I just wanted to be left alone. Oddly enough, I feel like (in terms of her, obviously this was bad for the people displaced) this was kind of the best option. No blowing up her face, died in her sleep, didn't waste away painfully from cancer... It was still fucking stupid of her to be smoking, and it killed her in the end. There are consequences, and then there are consequences. I think Sue experienced both. I can only hope she's resting comfortably wherever she is, and isn't an asshole to anyone else. Relevant Comments What about Sam’s cat? OOP: Kitty was given to a neighbor (that wasn't displaced) when Sam found out she had lung cancer. OOP clarifies on the name “Sue” OOP: If you read the post you will see that I wrote Sue's actual name in my goodbye. Sam was a pseudonym. With her name revealed I have been making comments with her real first name. OOP on how her mother is doing, dealing with Sam/Sue’s death OOP: Mom is doing alright. She's still busy packing for the move out to Idaho, and she told me she was perfectly fine. When she called to tell me there were no tears or emotions, just 'hey my sister is dead in a way we didn't expect' They didn't even come in person like they did with the news when my brother was murdered, they were both (mom and stepdad) a mess. In comparison mom seemed perfectly fine when we talked.   DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7 THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP submitted by /u/Choice_Evidence1983 to r/BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/ManiacMadnessAntics Originally posted to r/OhNoConsequences Aunt Doesn't Like Reaping What She Sows Thanks to u/soayherder for suggesting this BoRU Trigger Warnings: cancer, emotional abuse and manipulation, coercion, possible gaslighting Mood Spoilers: relieved Original Post: September 16, 2024 So I (28NB) have an aunt who we’ll call Sam. She's always been an absolute fucked who goes into meltdown mode at the drop of a hat if things aren't going her way or if she's offended by the slightest thing. This almost 70 year old woman will throw tantrums that rivaled my unmedicated/improperly medicated bipolar episodes as a child and teen. I have plenty of stories about why she's a POS but this sub’s for consequences and she often didn't get any. This though, happened last Monday. Because Sam’s health is so shit, she gets disability and one of those super cheap apartments for low income people. For whatever reason, they dropped the amount of disability due to a clerical error that can be fixed if she just called them. But this woman is epically lazy (and it's not because of the disability, I can assure you, but again this is a completely different story on a sub about consequences) so just… never did it. Because she doesn't want her sister to be homeless and starving, my mother began funneling so much time and money into Sam. My parents are trying to save to retire but they're basically funding Sam’s whole life. Help with rent, gas for her car, power bill, food, cigarettes… basically everything. And every month Sam’s disability has been ‘gone’ sooner and sooner in the month. I could tell she was starting to take advantage of the help she knew my parents would give her and I did mention it to Mom but it was only a passing comment, not a discussion. Well last Monday Sam came to Mom's house with her tin can out, ready to beg more money off her sister. She needed cat food! She can't afford any. Could mom please help? My mother has mobility issues right now. Something is very wrong with her foot and she can barely walk around her house, never mind a store. So she couldn't go with Sam to the store. She also didn't have any cash on hand. So she gave my leech of an aunt her debit card. (The noise I made at this point in my mother's explanation is something I will never be able to describe or replicate.) So she told Sam, go to [Dollar Store]. Get food for your cat, a couple things for you to eat over the next few days, and one pack of cigarettes. This would have come out to about $20-$25. Sam being Sam, she did not do that. She went to [local chain grocery] where everything is INSANELY overpriced. Spent $55. Took an extra $20 in cash back. When she got back to my mom’s house and explained this, claiming she wasn't sure if the dollar store would have everything she needed, mom was pissed. Then she found out about the $20 that Sam had taken out without permission for ‘gas’ and she went from pissed to apoplectic. Sam has spent the whole week begging Mom for the favors she usually does, and claiming her feelings are hurt because mom won't talk to her. Mom just keeps responding that she's still mad, and Sam needs to leave her alone for a while to cool down. So Sam’s not getting any money, any errands run, or any attention, and she hates it. She's throwing an epic fit, but she bit the hand that was feeding her and drew blood. Edit: I see all the people in the comments worried about kitty. I promise she's fine. Sam adores her and has raised her up from a stray kitten her apartment complex found (a group of babies but no mama to be found :() to a lovely middle aged cat. When (not if, my parents are going to make sure she gets to a care home because this situation is untenable) Sam gets moved into a care home, kitty is going to be moved into my parents' house. If for some reason they can't take her, I'm the backup. Kitty is and will be fine. Relevant Comments Commenter 1: God, I hope your mum cuts her out completely. OOP: We can only hope. Mom's been trying to shove her into a care home (she really needs it) for months but sam just refuses to go to the necessary appointments Commenter 2: Here's hoping your mom keeps adding those consequences until Sam gets the message. OOP: Cheers to that. I actually get the feeling that things are gonna start moving faster now because there's no way my stepdad isn't gonna get involved after this and he gets shit done when he's been wronged and he's the one working and paying for this stuff so... Yeah I'm expecting results. Has OOP's mother cut off money from Sam? OOP: My mother has completely cut off money and pretty much all errands. Including those involved with getting Sam into a home. Basically the only thing she's been doing is occasionally bringing Sam food. She's made it clear that it's up to Sam to get rides and find ways to pay her bills or get into a home because she's a grown adult It's actually working pretty well all things considered She also wasn't invited to thanksgiving but things had cooled down enough by Christmas that she came to Christmas and things were very calm compared to the usual + Yeah money is really tight for my parents right now and I have no idea what her debit has on it but I know they keep the majority of their money in the savings account I'd guess there was about a hundred in there, Sam spent $75 when Mom had essentially told her to take $25 max Commenter 3: let's just hope that Aunt Leach didn't have the intelligence necessary to think about saving the card info to her phone to use on online purchases later OOP: Oh nah she's barely capable of using a cell phone And my parents keep a close eye on their accounts so if she did she'd be caught instantly and the cars would go into canceled purgatory Has Sam been taking care of her cat? OOP: She does dote on her kitty. I will give her that. The cat's in a very happy environment for herself. And when Sam's moved into a care home my parents have already agreed to take her and if, for whatever reason, they can't, I have also agreed to be second choice. But I already have two cats and there's a pet limit of 3 at my trailer park and I don't really wanna give up that last slot if I don't have to. Plus it would probably upset my girls. I'll take her if I need to but mom and stepdad are the better choice. They have 1 pretty chill cat and a happy little yappy dog. Commenter 4: Your mom knew what would happen when she gave Sam the debit card (and PIN too!!!). Setting Sam up for a fall, then acting like a victim... Jerk move by your mom, tbh OOP: She is a victim. She has been nothing but generous and helpful towards her sister for months. Sam came for money for cat food and Mom said 'oh get some stuff to eat and a pack of cigarettes, too'. That was already going overboard in helping her. Just because I think she did something really stupid by giving Sam her debit card doesn't mean that it's okay that Sam stole upwards of fifty dollars from her. I've been leant her debit card before when I was in my late teens/early 20's and still living at home, and you know what I did? I bought the things I needed at the place where they were cheapest, and came home with a receipt for my mother. The fact that a 70ish year old lady can't have the same self control as an ADHD bipolar young adult is not my mother's fault. OOP on their mother's foot OOP: There's currently no diagnosis but it's not that, this has been going on for months. Her whole foot is either numb or painful and I actually don't know when it started because mom only mentioned it to me when she said she got a new doctor Commenter 5: Wow. So why didn’t your mom tried to fix the disability checks? OOP: Because it has to be done by the person who actually got disability afaik I actually don't know much about what's wrong or how it works because I didn't ever really ask for details. All I know is they dropped the amount they gave her OOP's parents should focus on saving for retirement instead of helping Sam OOP: They're pretty prepared for moving on. There's actually a timeline for them and they are still saving. They'll be across the country by this time next year with stepdad's parents in Idaho. It's been mom's dream for decades to move out there. They have been saving for retirement still, which is why the belt is so tight for them right now. And they will be able to save a lot more once Sam is in a home. My stepdad has worked at the same company for decades and (I don't know the exact details) is getting a huge cash bonus in the beginning of the year which will really help their retirement account. They don't expect me to take care of them. My own health is really bad. If I was ever in their plans to help with their golden years, I was swiftly taken out of the running after my coma. Additional Information from OOP, giving an example regarding Sam's behaviors OOP: I'll tell you a few things that have happened to maybe paint a broader picture of her personality My 21st birthday party: started cracking just barely not homophobic jokes about me being gay until I literally left my own birthday party and went home Easter Sunday, about 8 years ago: My grampa started making jokes about the #metoo movement. I cut him off and pointed out that it's not funny to joke about victims of rape and sexual harassment. Sam started ranting extremely loudly about how 'People are going to disagree with you and you can't expect them to be so sensitive' for a good five-eight minutes. We were in a family restaurant. Easter Sunday, the next year (note that most interactions I have on here are from holidays because as previously stated, I am as no-contact as possible with this woman): my fiance and I were living in the basement apartment of my grandfather's house. One of our bosses at the time needed to pick some keys up from us. He was in the driveway for less than a minute, and as he left Sam was screaming insults at him-- grampa had gone to pick her up and she literally got out of the car while it was waiting to get in the driveway to screech at my fucking boss. Then she saw my partner, meeting them for the very first time, and started screaming abuse and insults at them, too. I came upstairs because my partner hadn't come back down and heard this and lost my absolute shit like I had never before, leading to a screaming match that just got worse and worse. At one point she got one of those heavy manual can openers from the kitchen and was holding it up like she was going to throw it at me while still screaming about how stupid and terrible I was and how I was 'making her act like this' and it was of course all my fault. I told her she was acting insane and she shrieked 'I TAKE MY MEDS!' in the most accusatory tone I've ever heard-- she was implying that I don't take my psych meds (which I do, and her taking her psych meds doesn't mean much when she's chasing me around the house yelling that she hates me and that I'm stupid and crazy). Christmas, a few years ago: some of Mom and Stepdad's friends come to Christmas dinner because most of the family has moved away or passed away and Mom gets sad that it's just me, partner, her, stepdad, and Sam. I introduced myself and my partner by our chosen names (we are both NB and do not like our deadname). Sam, who was in the same room as us, went on a rampage where she said that those were couple nicknames we call each other, and when I tried to very politely defuse the situation by firmly stating that no, these are the names we use and want to be called by, she freaked out and said that it wasn't my name because it wasn't on my birth certificate (btw my deadname is actually two deadname because i was given two first names at birth. I have exclusively gone by the first first name only, but apparently that's okay even though it also doesn't match up with the birth certificate.) I continued to firmly try and shut her down (I managed to keep from screaming myself this time even) and she just got more and more hysterical until she finally just fucking left because I had offended her so badly. She used to live with my grampa for free and all she was expected to do was keep the house clean. She never cleaned. There were always months worth of food stuck to the stove, the counters and floors were filthy, and she spent most of the time laying down and watching TV. She spent thousands of dollars of grampa's money on scratch off tickets-- when she finally got kicked out, they found hundreds of tickets in her bedroom. For two years during this decade the Christmas decorations were up year round because she refused to put them away. None of these issues were ever resolved until my mom stepped in and cleaned the house/put away the decorations because she hated watching her dad live in that filthy house, but it wasn't mom's job to do that, it was Sam's. She just... Didn't. Grampa FINALLY kicked her out after she did something really egregious that I don't recall, but I've seen this woman beat on the hood of a visitor's car with her fists in full blown hysteria. She sees a psychologist but IDK if that's even helping a little.   Update: September 8, 2025 (nearly a year later) Am OP: Aunt Doesn't Like reaping what she sows UPDATE So you may or may not remember my post regarding my aunt, who for the purposes of this post we will call Sam. https://www.reddit.com/r/OhNoConsequences/comments/1fiace5/am_oop_aunt_doesnt_like_reaping_what_she_sows/ Here is the initial post, but the TL;DR is that I, 29NB, was told by my mother about my bitch of an aunt stealing about $50 from my mother. I will address a couple points real quick for clarification. Anyone who was worried about my mother's leg issue (there were a few people in the comments), she had a clot or something that was cutting off blood flow to her foot and part of her calf. They managed to get rid of it before it ruined her leg badly enough to require amputation and she is fine now. Currently packing for my parents' move across the country when my stepdad retires in November, actually! Sam's cat is safe. She ended up being taken by the neighbor Sam got her from as a kitten. Now, onto the important bit: After Sam blatantly taking advantage of the fact that my mother had something wrong with her leg and couldn't walk around her own house let alone accompany her to the store, mom took a huge step back. No more rides, Sam's an adult. No more money, Sam's an adult. The only thing that Sam really got from anyone was the occasional box of food, mostly food from the food bank that my fiancé and I were not planning on eating. No more going above and beyond for a woman who refuses to get herself help and screams constant insults. I'd say it might be dementia except she's been this crazy my whole life. Despite this, Sam started getting more and more demanding, using her increasingly poor health and mobility to try to bludgeon my mother into helping her. To the point where (one of the examples mom gave me) she couldn't get up from the toilet without help so she called my mom, demanding that she drive 45 minutes to Sam's house to help Sam off the toilet, only for a neighbor to have already done it by the time mom got there. Sam ended up in the hospital (I think someone called an ambulance for her? I'm not sure as mom just said she went to the hospital.) and I am so proud of my mother. Sam called her and demanded she get some of her things from Sam's apartment for her hospital stay. Mom said 'okay', left the stuff at reception. Then she drove home. She told me that in the moment Sam called her, she knew this would be the last favor she did for Sam. The last time they would have contact. She didn't even bother bringing Sam's shit directly to Sam. Sam has lung cancer and will be going into hospice, and that is all we know and all I care to know. This all actually isn't new news, mom cut her off months ago. Sam could very well be dead by now, and I wouldn't know it. If there's a funeral, I ain't going. I hate this woman. She has made my life hell for two and a half decades and I severed any emotional attachment to her years and years ago. Since I finally, FINALLY don't have to keep any kind of cordial relationship with Sam to keep my mother out of the crossfire, I am free. I never have to speak to that woman again. I routed all her calls to voicemail and muted her text notifications. I'm never going to speak to her again. Mom and stepdad are never going to speak to her again. Hell even her brother who is a scumbag in a completely different way is never going to speak to her again. Her terrible behavior, hysterical tantrums, threats of harm, entitled attitude, and just generally being awful has led to the consequences of her inevitably dying alone from a terrible disease with no sympathy from me. TL;DR: The consequences stuck and Sam's gonna die alone in hospice from lung cancer. Relevant / Top Comments Commenter 1: Happy ending for all. Even Kitty! Commenter 2: I remembered the original post as soon as I started reading, and I'm so glad OP let us know kitty is safe! OP, I'm glad this woman's out of you and your family's lives. I hope you can all put her out of your minds altogether soon. She's not worth the mental energy it takes to think about her. OOP: Oh I totally agree, it's why I took so long to post the update. I literally just forgot about her for a while. Not my problem. Never again. OOP offers a peek of their own cats. They do not have a picture of Sam's cat OOP: Cat Tax 1, Cat Tax 2 + Yeah the blurring is mostly because I have pretty severe nerve damage in my hands and arms and my phone jiggles all over the place while I tremble tremble tremble Love how you said the second one is smart because I just had a conversation about her head being full of air. She makes a dial up noise in her head constantly. Commenter 3: That was an expensive $75 OOP: It's crazy to think that if she hadn't been so brazen about disregarding mom's instructions for what to do with mom's debit card, mom might have let her leech for so much longer. Commenter 4: Pour one out for the healthcare workers who have to deal with this bish during her lucid moments. The good drugs ... they're not for Sam ... they're for the CNAs. OOP: Cheers to the healthcare workers who do their best even to the people that do their worst.   Latest Update here: BoRU #2   DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7 THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP submitted by /u/Choice_Evidence1983 to r/BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]

After two and a half years of living here, I sadly have to say goodbye after being laid off. The city has a lot to offer and figured that someone out there would appreciate my favorite food spots - I hope you pay them a visit someday! I was thinking about listing out restaurants too, but I was worried the list would get too long or it would break some sort of rules. If people find this interesting enough, I'll write out the restaurant ones. Context: I'm not really an extremely high spender / trend-oriented food person. Also not a super fancy specialty food / coffee expert as well, just a person who likes their silly little snacks and beverages. Totally understand if you've had different opinions + experiences at some of these places! PART 1: CAFES Slowpokes: seasonal drinks are fun and nice snacks, great place especially to work or study. Coffee is usually nice but inconsistent quality since they started expanding to new locations. If you're getting a snack, I'm fond of the soft pretzels they have with all three dips. Anonymous Cafe: one of my all time favorite places to eat. The selection of loaf cakes is AMAZING and the barista is really sweet and makes the cutest doodles on your lattes. The food is really amazing too, I highly recommend their chicken souvlaki plate. Wifi spotty so not great for working. Pavon Coffee Den: lovely and comfortable place to work with nice drinks. Their brisket bear claw is one of the best pastries I've had if you get the chance to grab it. Croissant-Brioche: the cake selection is delicious, especially their tiramisu. Coffee is tasty and on the sweeter side + croque monsieur is nice. Gets super busy on the weekends and wifi is non-existent, so more of a leisure / people watching location. Sunday Press: beautiful interior and delicious food and coffees. That includes so many pastry options and lots of savory ones. I thought it'd just be a pretty place with mediocre food, but I was pleasantly surprised even if a little pricey. Grinder's Coffee Bar: nice croissants and coffees; wifi is spotty and seating is a little limited, so just be aware before trying to stay there. CBD offerings if that's your thing. Day 6 Coffee: the Texas latte is banger and so are the unique muffins. Good and comfy place to work downtown plus really kind staff + supplies in the bathroom if you need things. Tiny's Milk and Cookies: especially cute in the spring and summer. Amazing cookies and my favorite ice cream is amazing, such good flavors like Vanilla Caramel Crunch and I remember a dark chocolate peppermint flavor. Be aware these are like small counter-pick up spots so you usually sit outside. La La Land Kind Cafe: cute place to sit and work and the coffee is nice. I think it's a little pricey for what it is, but if you're loving a vibey place then this is good. Siphon Coffee: food and wifi is good, but be aware the kitchen closes at certain times and the place get filled up quickly on the weekdays by a lot of people working. Refuge: the coffee is nice and great place to co-work, but a bit pricey. Really beautiful spot if you wanna take someone on a date and chat. Bluestone Lane Rice Village Café: beautiful interior and great place to meet family and friends and dates. Bit pricey for what you get but the meals are nice and I love the Iced Milo drink. Fellini Caffè: good place to work and the coffee is fine. The time I went the pastry I got was stale, but hopefully that's not how it is all the time. Citizens Of Montrose, A Breakfast Restaurant & Cafe: food was nice and a fun place to hang with others. Parking is a nightmare though. Blacksmith: coffee is tasty, I feel like theirs is particularly strong and high on the caffeine side so just a heads up if you're sensitive like I am or someone who just REALLY needs that boost. Coffee Fellows: love the bagel sandwiches here, infinite charging spots and strong wifi. The peak place to work and super comfortable, just sometimes a fight for parking. Dandelion Cafe: a shame because I heard really good things about this place, but my food came out cold and my coffee tasted super bitter. Common Bond Bistro & Bakery: another Houston favorite, but I'm sad to say I find it just okay and don't really revisit the place. Not good not bad. Kona Reserve: I feel like this is a hidden gem. It's at the bottom of an office building but their coffees are lovely and milky and sweet, which is my preference. They also have spam musubis which I love having alongside a coffee. Luce Coffee Roasters: I found this place to be rather mid. Coffee tasted more like milk than anything. French Riviera: love the spot and the food is good, an even selection of both savory and sweet things to go alongside your choice of coffee. Pretty busy on the weekends but there's a cute plant shop next door that's fun to browse and shop around. Ella Coffee: inside of Mercto and Company. Absolutely beautiful place to get work done and they stock Love Croissants there. Good selection of fancy sandwiches from what I saw too. The star of the show though is the Tiramisu Latte - I cannot recommend this drink enough, I dream of it. Le’DRIP Coffee and Tea: love it and so do all my friends when I bring them here. My favorite is the egg coffee, which is so velvety and lucious. Pretty cramped and limited seating so I tend to grab + go with my drink. Bean & Bottle: super cute place and I enjoy the food and coffee. Kinda pricey but good place to work and they have wine options if you want to work in the day and drink in the evening. Sweet Paris: Chicken Florentine is my ride or die. Their coffee is fine but together with the crepe, it really is quite nice. Badolina: I think the coffee is okay but the pastries, especially the savory ones, are really unique and interesting. I remember some sort of sweet potato tart that I really enjoyed. Mainly it's the outdoor seating that was the strong selling point for me, really lovely. Tom N Toms Coffee: the coffees I find are quite sweet, even for me. The food options are really nice and interesting though and a good place to chill and work. The Morii Coffee: cute vibes, awful coffee. So bitter and watery even when ordering sweeter and milkier drinks. It's a shame because the interior is so nice. Previously named BLK Dog I believe. Cucharita: super duper cute place but expect a wait on the weekends. Coffee is not on the super sweet side and you can get some hefty meals there. I love when they bring around the bread basket for you to choose from - I had an amazing strawberries and cream croissant. Minuti Coffee: coffee is fine and dandy but for some reason, I just really really love the cookies there. On the thicker side and not too soft not too crumbly. The chocolate chips in them are just the perfect amount of chunky and melt so nicely if they heat it up for you. Agora: a pretty famous spot; I find the fight for parking and the hassle to not be worth it. Coffee is just okay and so are the food offerings. Koffeteria: the pastries there are so interesting. I recall having I think a guava and cream pastry that was lovely there and a nice coffee with butter. Ema: I was worried this was just an overhyped place, but the pastries really are amazing and interesting. In my opinion, worth the visit. The food is also quite nice and ambiance is lovely. However, parking is awful so try to visit on off-days and hours. Central Market: technically not a cafe, but the coffee there is genuinely so good and so are their matcha offerings. I had this cinnamon matcha in the winter that changed my brain chemistry; I will never forget her. PART 2: BAKERIES El Bolillo: I don't know if I'm in the position to say if it's super authentic or not, but it's been a childhood favorite of mine. They have this croissant looking bread filled with cream cheese and a flower shaped tart filled with cream cheese that I absolutely love. 85C Bakery: yes it's a chain but incase you haven't encountered one before, they're filled with a lot of different Asian-style breads and goods. I also love the Strawberry de Leche in the spring / summer. Love Croissant: the croissants are quite expensive but are one of my absolute favorites in the entire city. The goat cheese and turkey is my personal favorite. A hefty amount of turkey, delicious goat cheese, and a good blend of the flakey outside + pleasantly soft inside. Thanks for making it to the end + hope it's helpful! I have a little over a month left around here, so if there are any recommendations you have for final cafes + drinks to try, feel free to let me know! submitted by /u/Cerullie to r/houston [link] [comments]

This dog was incredible. She was my comfort through some of life’s sharpest turns. I was not in a good space mentally a little over 7 years ago now and I had not started my sobriety journey and I wanted something to love. Something that needed me, something that would keep me at home and out of trouble. I decided on a cat. 🐈 I QUICKLY learned that that asshole didn’t need me. As long as I left food out and scooped the litter box when I did come in the cat could care less if I was there or not. So it didn’t really solve any thing or fill the void I was feeling. Then one day while I was out and about (at a place I shouldn’t have been at realistically) I was blindly offered a puppy. I was told she was not house broken, chewed up everything and didn’t listen to a thing. I of course was very hesitant and resistant to the idea. That was until she was brought in and I laid my eyes on her. I was instantly in love. I took her home with me the same day. (Picture 1,2)She never once messed in my house. She never once chewed anything I didn’t give her to play with and she was the easiest dog I have ever trained in my life. I wouldn’t even call it training. She just did what I said from the start. Like she understood exactly what I was saying. First time ever putting down a puppy pad she used it, never any issues. The only time there was ever an “accident” indoors was we had went to someone’s house for the first time together and she went straight in and to their room and took a dump on their pillow. 😂😂But hey dogs are great judges of character and she ended up being right about this person so I wouldn’t call it an accident lol. When I say this dog was incredible it’s honestly a huge understatement. She followed me everywhere. If she couldn’t go I didn’t go. If I moved 2 inches on the couch she moved 3. If I went pee she stood guard. If someone came into my room while I was asleep she wouldn’t let them close to me. Not anyone. Not a friend a parent a stranger. She didn’t care because I wasn’t aware that they were approaching me while asleep. If I was awake she would wait for command to approach anything or anyone. I mean amazing listening skills for a “non listening” dog “trained” by an amateur. She was amazing and gentle with ALL children she was very jealous and protective of other dogs when it came to me but never a kid or person. She would chase a squirrel or a rabbit and loved to lunge at cats just to make them run but wouldn’t ever hurt them and if I called for her mid chase of anything she would stop on a dime and come back to me, great recall. she actually nursed/cleaned/cared for a baby kitten I had found abandoned outside once and treated like her own pup completely. (Cutest thing ever, picture 3) She slept with me every night, spent every moment of every day with me at home, if I left she would greet me at the door when I got home. We went fishing together, floating down the river, kayaking. She loved laying in the hammock with me and swinging at the park. I was so very blessed. She’s only been gone for 10 days today. But it feels like the longest 10 days of my life. A few days after her 7th birthday 🎉 12/27/24 She started feeling weak and not wanting to eat or drink. We spoke with the vet and come the first week of Jan had both decided it was best to bring her in. I got the second worst news of my entire life that day. Her kidneys were failing. I was told to take her home and make her comfortable and told it would be no more then a day or two worth of time that I had left with my goodest girl. 💔 They told me not to worry about feeding her and if I WANTED to syringe water/Pedialyte into her I could, just keep her warm and comfortable. I of course didn’t want to hear that and I didn’t give up on my girl. I held her and stayed by her side and kept putting fluids into her because dehydration hurts and I’m not doing that to her. Well after about 8 days of this there had been no improvement and I had convinced/talked myself into it being the time to take her in and have her put down. We had a huge snow storm in the forecast for the next 4 days (10-14inches) our car was broken down and I didn’t want her to take a turn for the worst and be suffering and me not be able to get her to her vet which is over an hour away from my home in the direction of the worsening storm and needing a ride since I had no vehicle. So stressed. Such a hard decision and I didn’t want to let her go. I asked God and I begged God to show me if I was making the wrong choice. We went to the car rental company to pick up the car we had reserved to take her on her last ride before the storm. The storm was supposed to start at 4pm. It was 8:15AM Once we got to the rental place our reservation was not held, they had a different vehicle that wasn’t 4x4 so we agreed to that, when we went to pay the price difference in the two vehicles the system kept declining our card? The money was definitely there. They sent us to try our card else where and come back, we did. Card worked fine in two other places. They tried again. Nothing. We moved money over to another card tried it again still nothing. Then the system went down. At this point it’s almost 9:30AM. The system comes back up about 30 mins later we tried again with the second card and nothing. They tell us they aren’t sure if the second card is accepted there and to move funds back to first card that maybe the system was already the problem the first time so we go and do this and FINALLY the payment goes through and we’re ready to go out the door. YAY! We get to the car and low and behold, the rental they replaced our reservation with has a flat tire. As if anything else could go wrong. They get this straightened out and we make it back to the house to pick up my girl for her last ride at 12pm. 3.5 hours to pick up a car. Anyways we get my girl carried outside and into the car and before we make it one mile away from home the ground is WHITE it wasn’t even snowing when we put her in the car. the storm has hit 4 hours earlier then predicted. It’s snowing so hard that there is no way we could safely make it the hour drive (kids with us too) in this 2WD car. When I finally got a moment to just stop and think about it I told myself that God had given me EVERY SINGLE sign possible and I just hadn’t realized it in the stress of it all. We went back home and I carried my girl back into the house and I just sat and cried about the day for a moment. When I started crying my girl got up from next to me and come closer licked my face and laid her head in my lap. Mind you she hadn’t moved on her own in over a week. It gave me so much hope, and I felt more okay with not being able to take her and that she could outlast this storm. That very night she ate some wet food on her own and started drinking water. For the next week she continued drinking water on her own and eating small bits of food mostly scraps but eating non the less. She went another week after that eating a little more and drinking normally but hadn’t pooped in over 2 weeks at this point and I was getting super concerned then she pooped and picked up on her eating some more. We have a large set of steps to get into our upstairs living space and I wouldn’t let her walk them for fear of her falling but I would carry her outside to do her business daily and she would walk around outside. I would bring her to the porch with me of the mornings to drink my coffee like she always joined me for everyday for years. She was getting around pretty good but only if I had her get up. Then she started moving around on the bed on her own and even getting off of the bed and coming to find me throughout the house it was such and up and down experience. The vet told me she wouldn’t make it even a week but my girl fought for 2 months. She never seemed to be in pain and wasn’t suffering but I was. I fought with myself deciding if taking her to the vet and putting her down would be harder or if having her pass at home and having to transport her lifeless to the vet would be harder. I didn’t know. This was my first time making this decision myself. I didn’t know what to do. Once March hit I knew I had to figure it out because her eating and drinking was slowing again. I get up early every morning but never before my alarm clock(6am). But the morning of March 5th I set straight up in the bed at 5:24am and found that my girl had passed away in her sleep right next to me. I hope that she went as peacefully as it seemed she had. And I fully believe I was awoken right after her last breath. She made the choice for me in the end and I believe it was the best way. I miss her so much but I’m so thankful that all those things stopped me from taking her and that I had that extra time to love on my girl. ❤️ I’m sorry this was so long. I just needed to get it out and brag on my girl a little. Bonus story: (picture 4) Me and the family had went on a weekend trip leaving Friday and retuning Sunday morning and when we had come back home this is how my girl was found. She had one item of each of ours all piled around her on the couch my shoe, one of each of my kids stuffed animals(their favorite at the time) and my partners pillow). She never cared much for toys but if we were away she would sometimes gather some up but never damaging anything. It was super cute. I guess she missed us and our things smelled like us and kept her comfort? I don’t really know but it’s adorable. I’d you have read this far thank you! And give your babies some extra love today. No matter how long we have them it’s never enough. I’m thankful for the 7 years and 3ish months with my girl but like everyone else I wanted forever with her. She was my soul dog and there will never be another Laylah Marie Puppers. ❤️❤️❤️ submitted by /u/Ornery-Security-9458 to r/AustralianCattleDog [link] [comments]

I am not OP. That is u/Constant_Barnacle992 who posted to r/TrueOffMyChest TW: neglect Big thanks to u/LucyAriaRose for letting me know about the update Original Boru 2nd Boru New post will be marked with 🛑🛑🛑. Original Post April 22nd, 2024 TL;DR skip to the bottom. I (m43) try to do my best to provide for my wife (f38) and 2 kids (3,5) as well as my MIL and would like to think I am doing a decent job. Over the years, I worked to improve our family’s living situation, not only did I complete another bachelors and recently masters in a STEM related degree, I at the same time worked 2 full time jobs (while completing my 2nd bachelors) and put my wife through school as well. She completed a degree where she could make good money (~60-70k/yr) in a healthcare field that always has jobs available. But with the birth of our 2 kids, she has since “gave up” on her career to be a SAHM for the time being. At first it was a struggle while I was finishing up my masters. Once I completed it, after our youngest turned 3 my career took a jump up and we are now able to afford our single income household in a more feasible manner. We’re far from rich but do ok for a single income family of 4 (a little north of 150k base+ bonuses). The past year life was overwhelming per my wife, so even though I now work 75% from home, I budgeted to hire a daytime nanny to help her around the house with 1 child while the other is in school now My day starts everyday around 530-6am. I get the house ready for the day before the nanny comes at 8am, I get our oldest up and ready for school, breakfast made, and plan out my day, bring our oldest to drop off, and be home in time to let the nanny in. My most recent task at work has me grounded for the next 2 months meaning I am now 100% WFH, while this is nice, I am busy in meetings all day as my role manages teams on a global scale as I oversee projects from my industry. For the past 1 ½ months, I realized… my wife as much as she says her life is stressful at home… starts at 10am. I asked my MIL and nanny if this was always the case after a week or so of wfh, and they both responded more or less… sometimes earlier sometimes later. My wife literally wakes up and cooks and then scrolls through her phone or shops from home… which brings me to my gripe. I am glad I am able to provide her that sort of life since we both grew up lacking in means. I get the possibility of postpartum depression, the stress of having kids, the feeling of being unfulfilled, the fact that I probably am a shitty husband… but for what it’s worth… everything is taken care of and then some. I manage the houses finances (she claimed she was too busy to do so), pay all the household bills, I pay my own personal bills, I pay her bills, track and perform all the upkeep of our house appliances/cars/pets/etc., and I also “help” pay for my MIL’s medical bills and car note. …but apparently my life is on easy street compared to hers. I can't decompress to her because it seems like she always feels the need to 1 up me. I had a bad day… but she had it worse cause I’m lucky I got to go away and work… My feet hurt from walking all day during work travel, which is nothing compared to her standing and cooking with a child clinging to her. For the past 2 or so years… I’ve been told I ruined her life, her opportunities, etc… but when I reminded her of what she says, she denies and dodges accountability. My MIL has brought me aside and stated she’s noticed a change in both myself and my wife. I have a greater attachment to my kids and hell… I’ve hugged the dogs and talked to them more about my life than to my wife. I honestly feel like I am in emotional survival mode as I’m one step from moving up the career ladder and one step away from finding love and comfort from the bottom of a whiskey bottle. I’m sure I’ll be hearing from the manly men of reddit about how I’m simping… but I’m not a machine. I just want to know and feel that someone I prioritize aside from my kids appreciates and loves me for what I do… I’m sure I’ll hear from the stay at home moms of reddit… which is fine. I grew up in a single parent/mother household. It’s not easy… and honestly with the help of her mother and a nanny Mon-Fri, for one toddler while another child is at school… Can you honestly tell me she’s having the typical SAHM experience? Because neither my friends or colleagues who are single parents can say she is. I’m sure the masses of holier than thou redditors will consider this a poorly written fanfic, but it is what it is. TL;DR Long story short, It feels as if my wife has checked out of our marriage… we’re only roommates where she can still reap the marriage benefits. I’m not asking for her to throw herself at me all the time and let me do whatever I want… I really just want to be told I’m doing good and just offer me some form of emotional comfort as simple as a hug, but I guess as the man who ruined her life, I deserve it. *Thank you for the replies. To add more context: Never cheated. I do work in an industry that has a large female population, but I’m literally an open book with work, name colleagues and staff under me, she has access to my work agendas and correspondence if she really wanted to snoop, but on that note she still doesn’t know what exactly I do for a living at this time… We as whole family her parents and mine have tried to get her to go to therapy but she refuses or skirts around the issue. Aside from my coming from a single mother household perse, my biological dad was present in my life. She has had both parents in a reportedly monogamous marriage for over 40 years. I have tried to talk to her about everything and my own feelings but again… 1 upmanship tends to be the trend here. What I am getting out of the marriage was asked… now, aside from my 2 beautiful kids, I’ve been asking myself that same question. We have a near nonexistent sex life mainly since last year. I always figured maybe it’s part of depression or whatever she may be going through… maybe I’m just not attractive enough or just horrible in bed because of my health conditions… I’m not some super model husband but temptation and opportunity does knock and I can perform still but I never give in, because as cliche as it sounds I honestly do love my wife and want to only be with her. I’ll give credit where credit is due as I don’t want to sound biased: when I say she wakes up and cooks she cooks for everyone in the house. Myself, kids, MIL, and even nanny. Aside from breakfast she cooks all meals and snacks. I typically fast until lunch time and our oldest tends to eat a small simple breakfast incase they don’t like what school serves that morning. She does load both the kids and her laundry… but seldomly folds and puts them up. I typically do my own and the rest of my clothes I dry clean because they’re work clothes. She does keep track of our pantry and fridge? But after she makes the list I’m the one who goes out and buys everything if not delivered. She does clean our bathrooms and house 50% of the time, the other 50 is done by either MIL or myself or sometime nanny if she feels like being extra helpful. Prior to nanny, my MIL was the main help for my wife up until she had unexpected medical needs. So I opted to hire a nanny to help them both, more so when MIL is having treatments and recovering. UPDATE 06May2024. Not sure if anyone would read this, but thank you for those who have reached out and chit chatted. While I know I’ve kept my newfound friends here updated, I figured I just update my post and keep it short. I showed my wife my post the following weekend and she read it and all the comments. Long story short, argument, she left our house to stay with her sister, and I’ve been a “single parent” since. It’s sad to say, aside from the goodnights to our kids it’s all pretty much the same routine. Nothing much else to say other than thank you for all the kind words of encouragement. ***just need to add, this post got bigger than I expected from a venting post but I’ve responded to a few comments. Nonetheless, thank you for the comments and DMs… and more so for the offers to let me ruin your life ha. It’s been the highlight of my day/night as I sit here drinking with my dog while everyone else is asleep. It feels depressingly sad that I feel that I have to turn to random internet strangers for some sort of validation in my rant. My apologies in advance as I try to keep this as vague as possible. I ruined my wife’s life… again June 3rd, 2024 I just wanted to update those who have been kind enough to check up via DM and comments. Apologies in advance for the lengthy post. It’s a bit of irony and coincidence that I made a follow up from the update on 06May2024 I made on my original post during men’s mental health awareness month but I could really use another outlet outside of my therapist. My apologies if this isn’t the story book ending/destroying of a relationship people were hoping for… To save you a read. Wife left. Came back like nothing happened. She made it about her. Nothings changed. I’m continuing to be suffering mentally knowing nothing will change while trying to keep it together for our kids. Lots of take out. The day after she packed up and left, my wife attempted to come back and take the kids with her to her sister’s. Naturally I was against this and thankfully so was her whole family including said sister. Not only was it not fair to our kids for her to sweep them away into a home that’s not theirs but to put that financial and housing stress on the rest of her family since she doesn’t work and her sister and her family (husband and 3 kids) stays with their dad in the house they grew up in. After a little over a week of being away, I guess she cooled off so she just decided that it would be fine if she walked in the door with her bags as if she just came back from Target. She came into my office while I was working and angrily stared at me while I sat on a conference call meeting with my team and I couldn't just jump off as this is a busy time of the quarter for us. I guess that didn’t sit well with her because once I took off my headset and closed my laptop she started yelling at me about how much I really don’t care about her and her well being overall. At that moment I couldn't do anything more than look at her and just shake my head. Mother in law came in after hearing my wife yelling and pulled her away, telling her to not bother me, while our nanny kept our youngest away from it all on the other side of the house. That night after the kids were put to bed, I sat in my office by myself with a drink as I have been doing for the past nights and my wife came in. We talked. We argued. We cried. We drank. One thing led to another and we were in bed. I wish I could say that was our making up but the next sobering morning as we laid there, she went on about how hard it was for her the time she was gone. Literally… it was about her struggles staying at her family house in her old room with her dad and sister’s family. How lucky I am to be able to stay here and do this and that and buy this or do that and not stress as much as they did. How easy MY and everyone else's in our family lives are compared to hers even though we had similar upbringings… My mind and heart broke that morning. I’ve been spiraling down since then and this last week I made another attempt to reconcile and talk things out, but I was met with a shouting match while trying to express my current stress and anxieties with life and work in general: Wife: ”... well do you know how hard this is all for me? You’re supposed to help me be happy.” Me: “So when it comes to my happiness, stress, needs, and overall well being… fk me get over it right? ” Wife: “ We all have our own problems, you need to figure it out and get over them.” I don't know who the woman I am at home with is but that wasn’t the woman I married and vowed to spend my life with and raise our kids together. Since that conversation, I’ve been noticeably distant with her. I’ve been sleeping in my office or on the couch or with my kids in their bed after putting either one of them to sleep. Still doesn't change her starting her day at 10am… and sitting on her phone talking to her mom groups between cooking meals with the kids in both mother in law and nanny’s care. Nothing has changed and I doubt that anything will change. Sadly, I think even if we got a divorce, nothing would change or feel different anyway since during my wife’s leaving the days seemed like any other day except with a little more take out than usual. My main fear there isn’t that I wouldn’t just lose my wife, I’d lose my kids in the process. So I guess it’s sad to say the grand finale to my story with like alot of men and some women I’ve talked to here, I’ll just continue to smile and suffer in silence. *First off, thank you for all the comments and DMs.Some context and clarification since admittingly my post was emotionally charged since I typed it up after another argument. * Post birth, our kids pediatrician’s office gave my wife those PostPartum Depression screening forms and during the time of both she scored pretty high and was suggested to see a therapist. With our second child she scored significantly higher and we or I should say I made an effort to get her the help she needs. She refused, so entered mother-in-law and nanny for support… I know what people will say/think, but this is one of the reasons I am not 100% ready to just give up and file our life together away. Also, I know silently suffering in the near and long run of our kids' future will not add to a healthy atmosphere, but neither would a bitter and hate filled divorce. I know some have compared it to the ripping off a bandage, saying it’ll hurt at first but that pain goes away but I’d rather try to spare my kids thinking that their parents ended up hating each other because of them or something along those lines. I’ve told a few ppl I talk to in DM since my last post, a little more insight on my personal life, prior to my promotion I was a PM managing teams and budgets so out of habit I plan for a lot of “what ifs.”. That being said, I made a number of contingency plans if sadly things went south. So, yes I: Have talked to a lawyer, 3 actually. Know our rights and what each of us are entitled to. Have a draft settlement created and on hold until I feel I need to use it. I know what I want and am willing to offer more than what is fair for our kids' well being, but also have a plan if we end up going to court. It’s 100% on me that I’m suffering in silence, but I’m too stubborn to just give up so while I am venting, I don't expect anyone to “feel sorry for me”. I endure it to keep the norm our kids know, ensure my MIL’s treatments go uninterrupted, and of course the hope my wife would finally be open to give therapy a shot and climb together to a better place. Thank you all again. I ruined my wife’s life… so I ruined everyone else’s too July 1st, 2024 First and foremost TL;DR: I’m done. Wife said I don't do and am not shit in front of the therapist and family fathers day dinner. She got served. She mad. She is trying to act perfect and I’m just waiting while taking care of my family (kids, my mom, and MIL). Oh well, I’ll just ruin everyone else's life too in my family Secondly,to clear some confusion… I did NOT get 2 bachelors and a masters while working 2 jobs at the same time as some readers are assuming. Bachelors #1 graduated in the early 2000s. Bachelors #2 via online years (2 classes a semester) later while working 2 full time jobs (job #1 hospital 36/48 schedule job #2 big box store 32-40hrs spread out 7 days a week) to pay for both my and my wife's tuition because she decided to go back to school before we had kids… After graduating from Bachelor’s #2 and entering the industry I am in now, I was able to work 1 job and get my masters. So no I did not get 3 degrees at the same time or in that close succession… and I am surprised that I actually have to spell this out as someone working 2 jobs while going to school isn't that uncommon, or at least that’s what I thought? My wife chooses not to work. She DOES technically have a job. She just barely works it to the point we forget she has a job, as in she worked 1 day 4-5 months ago for 8 hours on a Tuesday kind of barely works. Her job and manager is really supportive (Flex PRN model) and gives her a list of days they need coverage and she can choose to pick up a shift or not. While she can work more and only does just enough to keep up her license, she complains to our family of her career being on hold for one reason or the other although she has the opportunity to work more if she opted to. All things considered she has an available supportive circle around her for either decision she falls on. Our family, her job, and I have made multiple offers and taken many steps to open that door for her to go back to work, i.e. Nanny, MIL moved in to help, I work from home, her crazy flex prn schedule, etc. etc… but here we are. I am and have been in therapy for myself already. Aside from what I deal with at home, my work can be very debilitating in regard to my mental health as well as physical at times. Since I can't find the support I need mentally and physically at home with my wife, I’ve opted to attend therapy rather than find comfort with someone outside of the home or at the bottom of a bottle. I’ve tried to express this to my wife and as mentioned in my previous post...she has a habit of 1 upping me… and here we are. My Inlaws are still married, given the circumstances in our home, my MIL moved in to help out my wife, while my SIL and her family moved back into their parent’s house due to their own reasons. SIL and her family can save money while getting back on their feet, and my wife and I benefit from MIL’s help and we can keep a closer eye on her while she undergoes bi monthly treatments . My wife by means of questionnaires is highly suspected to have PPD alongside with a history of symptomatic OCD, ADHD, amongst other ailments that over the years she refused to get evaluated for or refused to accept results given. I knew what I was getting into and I love and accepted my wife for these flaws as she did mine at the time… Spare me your “ i don't feel sorry for you” or pity. I am like every other man who fell in love and wanted to give my person the best of me and the world I can offer… but again, here we are. There’s a lot of manly men/redpill nation guys out there complaining and saying I’m “simping” over my wife. While I respect your own opinions and perspectives, I will outright say, if this situation was only affecting my life… I would’ve left a long time ago. As one redditor said in a past comment that stuck to me, “I am the kind of person that will take a bullet for his kids…” maybe it’s in a different context intended, but to protect my children from any harm physically or mentally… I’ll take the proverbial bullet if and as needed. I’d like to think other dad’s out there would respond to the duty to protect their children, and that’s why I endured as much as I have. For the time being I would rather my wife use me as an outlet for whatever her problems were vs. our kids. Thank you all for the comments and reaching out. I’ve met many strangers who have become great reddit pen pals and some who have been in the know of every step that has been progressing to this point. I am surprised at how far this has gone, from other subreddits, other platforms, and even YouTube. Love me, hate me, say it’s all fake, no matter where you stand thank you for all the constructive comments and DMs to check in. Our kids and myself are going to be alright moving forward. Now for the update. The end of an era. This will be shorter than some expected, as really there’s not much to say but just satiate the questions some of you may have had and give people the satisfaction of the “I told you so” moment on Reddit. After a hard push from our family via an “intervention,” my wife and I finally attempted to go to marriage counseling. I’m sure many of you can guess how well that went. Blame. Tears. Regrets. Gas lighting. With a side of I am the reason for her life being ruined and horrible. Again. Just this time in front of a licensed therapist instead of reddit or mom groups. In the end, everything the therapist suggested and noted went over her head and ignored as it was against the grain of her status quo. One thing I guess worth saying was the therapist asked if she could recall when she last truly felt happy. Her response was about 12 or so years ago. Please note, 12 years ago she was still in her 20’s. Childless. Living with her ex. A vastly different time and position in life. I know it’s petty of me but I guess if that’s when she was last happy, it wouldn’t be that far of a stretch for her to find that happiness again since her ex is in the same apartment, job, and place in life that he was 12 years ago. Which is fine, if that’s how you want to live life, I try not to judge but in my 40s with kids, going clubbing 3-4 days a week is not my jam anymore. And of course… I don't want my kids around a mom and company who drowns themselves in Whiteclaws. To add, I know some will ask, I know and can confirm she hasn’t physically cheated on me but can’t confirm if she did emotionally (if that’s the right term?). After said therapy session I checked all her phone record’s and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but I also didn’t bother to check apps like IG or Snapchat. I know I'm probably boring, but shout out to all the Costco dad’s who’s Sunday Funday includes making rounds with kids for samples. The following weekend was Father’s day, and this year as expected not that big of a celebration as it is for many dads out there. Our family got together to celebrate with a BBQ and just simple family time, and my wife treated it like any other day. Sleep in. Get up. Cook. Phone. Shop. Attempt to play with kids. Phone. During said family BBQ my wife said she felt ill, so she sat around most of the day while the rest of the family as a whole made the experience enjoyable. When everything was set up and the family all sat at the table, her parents and sister’s family, my mother, our kids, admittingly it was a great spread, nothing extravagant but just a great meal for everyone. I was conversing with my brother in law about both of our kids' school Father’s day activities and I assume my wife overheard when I mentioned that it was a little sad to see some kids sit alone without their fathers during the Breakfast with Dad event I attended. She blurted out with a laugh loud enough for the whole room to hear, “ It’s not like you do anything anyway, I could’ve gone instead…” At that moment I was red and at a loss for words sitting there processing what she said in my head, while the dining room went dead silent. My MIL broke the awkwardness and in response said,” Well… maybe if you feel that way, one of you should divorce the other.” My wife looked at my MIL confused that she would respond with that and laughed mockingly in my direction and with her hand pointing at me said, “ …as if another woman would want a man like him? Just look at you.” while the room sat silent. I was angry, heart broken, confused, and embarrassed all at the same time. In manly man fashion, I just nodded my head in silence, stood up, and picked up my keys and got in my truck and drove off to get a drink while trying to ignore the cries of the rest of the family and our kids telling me to stay. I don’t know what was said or done while I was out of the house the rest of Sunday, because I couldn't bring myself to check our house cameras, but when I returned early Monday morning, the house had a completely different feel. As usual, I woke up around 6, got the house and our oldest ready for school drop off. Checked emails. Checked messages, nothing out of the ordinary. As I was getting dressed to leave, my wife laid in our bed snoring lightly. All i could do was look at her and think of what we had… and now lost. I’ve decided. I’m done. I can't do this anymore. I texted my lawyer that morning to move forward with serving her. Fast forward to last week, she was served at our home (reminder to people I had no choice but to be there because I work from home). She had, I guess what you could call a mini meltdown and came into my office screaming how could I do this to her? Her mother intervened, and that was met with me supposedly turning her whole family against her. But I digress, I probably would’ve felt bad if it wasn’t immediately followed by the rest of her week acting as if she’s been this active and attentive wife and mother the past few years. Sure people can say she’s making an attempt.. but she’s made many “attempts” and historically we fall back to where we’ve been. For those curious, I am aiming for full or at least majority custody of our kids. I already and will continue to cover all the expenses for our kids, insurance, tuition (both of our kids are/will be attending private schools come fall), medical bills, etc. My MIL has given me the courage and strength that helped supplement my own mother’s support throughout this. Basically she is what I hoped the kind of mother/wife my wife would have been to our kids and me. Out of respect for my MIL as well as per my own mother’s shared wishes, I will continue to help oversee and contribute financial help if needed during her treatments. While some may feel I should cut their whole family off, I know the hardships pushed onto a family while dealing with cancer and have dealt with it first hand as a family member and care provider on both sides of the desk. All in all, I’m prepared to go to “war” if needed but I just want a clean no fuss divorce. My wife has no alimony coming, so sorry for the redditors and mommy gang facebook groups saying she needs to divorce me first and get that “sweet sweet alimony money.” 1. We live in a state that does not typically enforce alimony 2.she has a means of gainful employment immediately 3. To help curb any possible problems I will cover her insurance and bills until either divorce is finalized or when she gains full employment. So that’s that. I’m done and waiting for the steps to be taken for everything to be finalized. Sorry it wasn’t as exciting of a story with plot twist as some may have hoped for but that’s life. Not sure I’ll update this once it's all finalized, which probably won't be for a few more months depending if we go to “war” or not. 🛑🛑🛑. I ruined my wife’s life… and I don’t care anymore. Feb 19th, 2025 In respect to the subreddit, I guess I should get it off my chest that as much as I don’t want to care anymore, I still do to some degree. Thank you for all the comments, messages, and to the handful of people who have become reddit pen pals throughout my journey in this matter. It took some time for me to update as between adjusting to my new life and slowly cutting ties with the past and moving forward for our children, family, and work has been my priority. With that I wanted to provide an update for those who may have been curious. TL;DR Divorced finalized. She took the money and seemed to have spent dam near all of it. Kids are good. MIL is doing good. Promotion, salary increase, and new home to start new life in the new year for me. Overtime, taking household items from my house, and combining incomes with her bf to make 1/4 of what I make a month for her (Yes, shameless plug. Don’t judge me). I am moving on. I have no interest currently in romance and want to primarily focus on our kids. THE UPDATE Since my last update, I’ve been under the scrutiny of our social circles and labeled every typical “toxic man/husband” stereotype that Facebook, Tiktok, and Instagram has to offer. As much as I hate the saying I kind of understand the, “you know my name but not my story” posts now. With that said, these strangers or alienated family and friends can take their opinions and go fk themselves because in the end, if our kids are happy, healthy, and flourishing under my “toxic household,” what’s it to you? The more important updates: We’re divorced. I have majority custody, and even though my ex is now trying to be the present mother whenever her now busy schedule allows, it is too little too late. My MIL continues to be responding well to treatments and SIL has now taken over where my ex was supposed to be in helping oversee her care. Post divorce, I recently moved homes and jobs and accepted the next step forward career wise which my company has been kind enough to slowly transition me into the role as leadership understands what I am going through at home. Interestingly it’s amazing how “common” my story is amongst my colleagues and network, I am sad/happy(?) to say I am now one of the newer members of the fellowship of divorced Directors and Execs. As sad as it may sound, it is nice to know that many understand and are willing to offer a high degree of support, advice, assistance, and guidance as needed. The divorce itself was quick, but it still had it’s sad and angry moments and many of the people in my camp think my ex got away with robbery. But the fact that I was awarded majority custody and per agreement have our kids (almost) every day and know they’re safe under my roof is worth every cent. While I had no say or real cares how my ex moved forward with mediation as long as she agreed to terms, I think the biggest slap in the face to me was how she delegated her boyfriend as someone to “advise” her throughout this process, because “his opinion is more important than any lawyer who isn’t looking out for my best interest.” At this point, the holidays were around the corner, and I didn’t want this to disrupt the holidays for our kids and family. While I was prepared to go to court, my ex did not want to diminish her “payout” and I just wanted things over and done with. I’ll leave out the finer details of the terms, but in exchange for having majority custody and taking care of all expenses related to our children, I would give her that lump sum she was aiming for with no request of child support on my end. She kept all her tangible possessions i.e. car, bags, clothes, jewelry, I had to sell the home and split the profits from the sale and foot the bill on taxes, gave her almost all our joint bank accounts after legal fees and to top it off laughably she argued rights to alimony, which she’s not getting. As a PSA, don’t rely on your legal advice from Facebook groups. IN THE END REALITY SINKS IN I’d like to think overall I’m a simple man, all I wanted to do was get married, have a family, and provide. With that goal in mind, I somehow got into a position where my spouse was able to choose if she wanted to work or not and not worry about anything outside of our family. How it turned out like this, I can’t pinpoint. I’ll admit I am a bit oblivious of what I did, but maybe it’s my own fault as some ppl stated and I brought this onto myself. Post settlement, I ended up downsizing and closed on a smaller but spacious house for the 3 of us and our dog, with a separate generational suite in our backyard for my MIL to stay as she wished to stay involved in our kids care regardless of if I was married to her daughter or not. Honestly, I made sure that addition to the home was available for her because I hoped she would be able and open to help until the kids were a little bit older. For what it’s worth, it seems my ex found her happiness. Luxury trips in a short time frame she wanted, her bf and her moved to a bigger place to stay (luxury high rise studio but still no place for our kids to stay), her bf got his dream car, and a long list of expenses and shopping sprees that kind of benefited our kids if at all in any way sprinkled in her social media accounts. She’s rocking Cartier while our kids are sportin Carters. My ex came to visit our “cute little house” to visit our kids and MIL and complimented me on my choice of home and that I was able to keep up the status quo of our home without her. I’m sure many will see the irony in this. I’m not entirely sure her motive or if I’m just reading too deep into it, but she dropped lines about how stressful and expensive their living expenses (rent, utilities, cell/internet service, and insurance) are groceries are now and how surprised it cost to feed her, her bf, and whoever the hell else comes to their home. I’m not sure why but she initially was under the impression the generational suite was meant for her use when she has the time and wants to co-parent. She is even more tired and struggling with her schedule now because she works a total of 48hrs a week and forced to work overtime at times and her bf works but I didn’t dig or care about the details. But I do care that I think she thinks I don’t notice that she takes some of our usual household staples and items with her before she left. Mainly bottles of soap she always bought for our home, Sonicare replacement brush heads and other toiletries, a new unopened bottle of the Mountain Valley water from the fridge when she visits, and I may be reading too deep into something again but sometimes I find some of the Instax pics from the fridge missing. Usually its just of the kids or MIL and the kids, but a few were of the 4 of us in the past. Although her Whiteclaw fund takes precedence over their home’s Charmin 2 ply supply, I try to be as accommodating as possible so that she can still be involved with our kids, allowing her to drop by our home whenever (if ever) she can (still work primarily from home so I’m always here) and keeping her in the loop about their activities and such. It was nice to see she was able to make it to our youngest’s first Christmas school assembly, where our eldest’s had speaking parts in the play before work. Later that week, I brought our kids to bring her a plate of food on Christmas day at the hospital because she has holidays to work. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t hurt or that I didn’t feel uncomfortable with the stares and whispers from her co-workers while I waited for the kids to excitedly give her their presents and wish their mom a Merry Christmas. Even though she was trying to be welcoming, all I could do was say Merry Christmas and wave goodbye from the distance as we left. This past Christmas, with as many blessings I have to be thankful for, it all felt so hollow at the same time. During New Year eve, I embraced my inner Pinterest dad trying to make everything as festive and fun possible and copied ideas of doing a count down at 9PM for the kids with a balloon drop in our living room and popping some fireworks as soon as the sun set. On that note, I should mention that I re-discovered my love of cooking, something I did for years while a bachelor with my roommates and the stress of a 4- and 6-year-old insisting that they’re mini versions of Gorden Ramsey and can provide Michelin level sous chef services. With the kids tucked away and asleep, I rang in the new year with my dog and a drink. Scrolling on my phone with the sounds of fireworks popping in the distance, I saw that my ex was living her best life in her new life snap after snap after snap... So, I made a mental checklist for the end of 2024: - self-esteem – almost gone. - confidence – hanging by a thread. - ability to open and trust anyone outside of my current inner circle and dog – nonexistent. - Hatred towards my ex and her newfound life – surprisingly gone. All I could do is just laugh a little at the snap on my phone. She left me, she hurt me, but she did not destroy me. We’re now 2 different people with 2 different lives and I must move forward for the ones I owe it to. Other than the connection of our kids and some immediate family we have no more connections and I really have no interest in acting like I was in my 20’s in my 40’s and spending half my paycheck on liquor because its Tuesday and New Years Eve. Maybe I’m just boring, but I can and only want to focus on my kids and ensure that their lives and future is the best that I can provide. Ensure the people and projects I oversee stay afloat and going in this economy. And last, but not least, make sure both my mother and (ex-?) MIL are taken care of in the future moving forward. ADVICE FROM WHAT I LEARNED. To the men out there, if you’re in a similar situation, don’t give up hope. But keep in mind, actions, records, and overall proof speaks louder than your words. It’s an uphill battle, but no man has to fight it alone. Plan, Prepare, seek reputable counsel and advice, and in the end execute. As hard as it may be, stay focused and be as objective as possible in these times, and most importantly follow through with what you say and promise to your kids. To the women, stay off social media and comparing your life to others. Just kidding. The first piece of advice applies to anyone regardless of how you identify. I don’t think I’ll be updating anymore but I do plan to keep this alt just for my reddit pen pals so please feel free to say hi cause it’s nice to have new friends. I am not the original poster. Please don't contact or comment on linked posts submitted by /u/secure-raspberry-763 to r/BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]

Greetings from the road through Central America! Our journey is just kicking off, and like Javier leaving El Salvador, we’re stepping onto the first stretch of the adventure, packed with excitement, questions, and a few unexpected bumps along the way. You can find the reading schedule here, the Marginalia post here, chapter summaries below, and discussion questions are waiting for you in the comments. Friendly reminder about spoilers: if you need to share them, please wrap them with the spoiler tag like this: >!type spoiler here! submitted by

This is all about your first year of building food stores. This is the year you'll go to the store the most and the most frequently; once you have your food stores relatively stable, you'll stock up only when you see that you're below your comfort level on items. Don't worry that this lifestyle is going to turn into constant shopping; it's really only when you're building your store. DAY ONE: Map out grocery stores and stores that carry food (like CVS, etc.) according to where you are comfortable going relatively frequently (weekly, generally) and what is cheap to get to. Obviously, this is going to vary enormously by location and your ability to travel, your level of disability, family situation, etc. One note: I have found the big bulk food stores like Costco to be much less useful than regular neighborhood supermarkets. If you shop specials and loss leaders you can almost always undercut Costco. We go to the bulk food stores maybe once a year for things like dish soap; otherwise it's not worth it. Now, for whatever stores you found that you can put in your regular rotation, figure out where the weekly circulars get posted and (most important) when they renew. Most of them are online now, but the sales dates vary a lot by the store. Some start on Wednesdays, some on Sundays, etc. DAY TWO TO WHENEVER THE WEEKLY SALES CIRCULAR RENEWS: Make an honest, realistic list of about 25 meals you and your family like and will willingly eat. Don't try to be cheapest or use the fewest ingredients or whatever; this whole project will fail if you and your family don't like what you (the collective you) cook. Make sure you list some meals that come together in under 30 minutes and use convenience items, because it's just unrealistic to think that you're going to be making pancakes from scratch every time. Admit to yourself that you do need chocolate. Admit to yourself that you do need some sugary drinks. It's OK. Once you have that list, group your ingredients together and try to see the big picture of what kinds of foods your family likes and will eat. Are you a big beef-and-potatoes group? Or are you more into smoothies and baked beans? Do you eat a lot of masa or a lot of flour? And so on. Start a pacman-style "high score" table somewhere (like on your fridge or a wall somewhere) where you can keep track of the lowest price of the year on the your family's preferred staples. We raise our own pork, so ours has chicken, turkey, beef, lots of fruit, tomato paste, ice cream, and gluten-free pasta. Yours may be wildly different. Next, assuming you are not a vegetarian or vegan family, you need to research how to cut meat up. One thing most people don't realize is that most of the cost of meat is in human labor, not in the quality of the meat. The absolute cheapest cut of beef, which is either chuck roast on special or brisket on sale, is cheap because it's minimally processed and doesn't have a lot of demand because it's a big chunk of meat and it's not well marbled. People avoid it because they figure they're not going to have a huge beef roast more than once or twice a year, and they know it's not tender. But that chuck roast is ALSO ground beef, beef sausage, marinated tips, a lovely steak if you have a sous vide, shaved steak, tenders, stir fry, and on and on. Chicken, turkey, and pork are the same way. You can often buy an entire chicken for the cost of chicken breast. Butcher it out as boneless breasts, thighs, drums, and then put the carcass in water for thick soup. You can easily get three or four big meals instead of just one. Turkey is an INSANELY good deal around the holidays, and pork shoulder/butt often goes well under a dollar a pound. So get yourself ready to USE meat, not just buy meat. Finally, dig out that vacuum sealer or buy a cheap one. This is the one tool that I really can't do without, because preventing freezer burn is absolutely key to stored food that still tastes good in nine months or a year. Oh, and gather some sharpies. IT'S CIRCULAR DAY: You are going to use the first page of the circular as your high-priority list. Look for loss leaders (the foods the store is pricing under its own purchase cost to get people in the store); look for seasonal specials. Loss leaders often have a limit on number you can purchase; that's a good way to find them. Make your list. Do not put items on your list that you do not eat or enjoy as a family. I cannot emphasize this enough. The number of people who end up with dusty cans of expired Progresso cream of celery soup or a bag of mouldering turnips is huge. If you don't already eat it, now is not the time to experiment or convince yourself that you'd eat it if you got hungry enough. The whole point of this is to have food you like, so you're never in the situation of needing to eat like it's an emergency. So buy food you eat. Your list should look like your regular weekly shopping, except that you will DOUBLE OR TRIPLE the number you buy of loss leaders and specials. That's really it. Just get two or three of the things that are the cheapest they're going to be for several months. As you get really into this and get an idea of the rhythm of your local prices, it's very likely that you'll end up getting more like six months or even a year's worth of certain items at once, but that time is not now. Right now you just need to get two or three. SHOPPING DAY: Go with a buddy if at all possible. The first time you do this is going to feel weird and take a long time, so having somebody to keep you motivated and sane is really helpful. They can also buy the limit on the loss leaders for you, letting you double those. Your buddy's biggest job, besides keeping you calm, is checking expiration dates and making sure you are buying the furthest out. Come home with your food. Stare at it for a while. Yeah, it looks weird to have bought that much butter. It's OK. Grab your sharpies (remember from your prep time?) and write the expiration date of every item (except wet stuff like meat, obviously) on its top in big letters. This is not an optional step - trust me, this is going to save you later. Before you lose motivation, cut up anything you bought in large portions and get it vacuum sealed, labeled, and checked off the list. Take your canned goods and get them lined up from oldest (fronts of the shelves) to newest (backs of the shelves). Always pull from the front and load into the back. Collapse and look at the ceiling for a while. It's OK. After this, it's just lather-rinse-repeat every week. BUILD A COMMUNITY when you're doing this. My young-adult kids are my right and left hands in this effort; they can recall prices fast and (even more important) they can tell me if they are excited about cooking or eating something. Other family members will grab a few things for me if they're in a store I can't get to that day. If you don't have family old enough or willing to help, a "Weekly shop and save club" is the kind of thing your local library would be thrilled to host, or an online group can form. You're not alone, and this is the kind of thing that was absolutely normal until late-stage capitalism did its best to ruin it for us. Normalizing it again is good for everybody. WHAT DO I SHOP FOR AND WHEN? Do not take my word as gospel; these are the sales in my area and in my stores. But in general, look for these yearly rhythms: THANKSGIVING- Get halloween chocolate at the beginning of the month. Stock up on whole turkey, look for deals on beef roasts, look for deals on ham. Chocolate chips, nuts, cake mixes will be very low. Canned soups, gravy, boxed potatoes, jello are often the cheapest of the year. DECEMBER - Look for beef roasts, pork shoulder, boston butt, ham, turkey again, and restaurant gift cards. JANUARY - Get oranges, blood oranges, pineapples, cold and flu remedies, oatmeal, low-calorie snacks, healthy cereals, batteries; Super Bowl will bring very low prices on dips, snacks, sodas. FEBRUARY - Canned veggies, pie filling, canned meat, chocolate; Chinese New Year may have sales on sauces and ingredients. Asparagus starts to come in, as do strawberries and spinach. Winter clothing sales. MARCH - Frozen vegetables, waffles, pizza; snacks around March Madness; corned beef. Lemons and limes are often cheap, and look for the first radishes and greens. APRIL - Ham, pork, chocolate, Earth day items; sometimes eggs. Grapefruit, avocado, peas. MAY - Salad dressing, ground beef, often Memorial Day condiments and salsas, often home improvement like soil and mulch. Local peas, blackberries, possibly green beans, new potatoes. JUNE - Dairy is usually cheapest now. Men's clothing and kids' summer clothes are often quite low. Watch for 4th sales at the end of the month for ground beef, charcoal, dips. Cherries, cucumber, eggplant, melons, strawberries are usually cheapest now. JULY - Any meat that can be grilled, hot dogs, ice cream, often home improvement again. Corn starts to come in; look also for Asian pears, green beans, cucumber, grapes, peppers. AUGUST - Last-gasp summer clothing sales, look for specials on freezer bags, paper towels, disinfectant, etc. If you are in the northern half of the country, start scouting for seasonal just-harvested produce of all kinds. Ask local producers about seconds and drops. SEPTEMBER - Labor Day usually has the last yearly sales on ground beef; there will be loss leaders on school supplies. Keep buying produce, and make a plan for getting bulk apples, peaches, pears, and other tree fruit if you're canning this year. As you buy these things, LABEL, SORT, and LOAD BACK TO FRONT. If you end up with enough that you need shelves, great! Buy those infrastructure items as you need them; don't invest until you need to. This is a marathon, not a sprint. And remember - it is OK. It really is. submitted by /u/Accomplished_Fun7609 to r/TwoXPreppers [link] [comments]

Posted this on the pitbull community, but it's pending approval. I need someone to read this screed, so I'm posting it here too since I'm unironically seething and some of you get it. So, I live in a rural/farm community in Indiana. Our specific "town", and nearby unincorporated communities have a grand total of less than 6-7k people. Town itself is

18-minute read. (չկարդացողը վատ տղայա, քֆուր ա դրած) parliament greenlights the pro-LGBT law The ruling party's new bill on domestic violence will expand protections to include unmarried couples, including LGBT couples, as opposed to the narrowly defined "spouses". Context in February 1 news. It includes protections for children and stalking victims as well. On Wednesday the parliament discussed the bill in the first hearing. A debate ensued between the ruling MPs and opposition MPs from Kocharyan's "Armenia" faction. OPPOSITION MP: The bill doesn't specify who the "couple" is. Sadly, we live in times when a couple can be same-sex. I propose amending the language to explicitly state "male and female". Otherwise, this will take us to the next stage, if you know what I mean. // MPs start chatting from their seats. The Speaker interrupts. ALEN SIMONYAN: Hold on. What is going on in the room? Silence. Please continue. OPPOSITION MP: ... Amend the language to clarify that it pertains to men and women. RULING MP (author): We are not allowed to decide who our citizens choose as their mates. Regardless of who the partner is, domestic violence should be illegal. We won't discriminate. Moreover, the government will soon introduce another bill on "equality" to prohibit discrimination under any context. People are free to choose their partners. This is non-debatable. OPPOSITION MP: If a person is free to choose a partner and chooses someone of the same sex, we should not protect them under this law. They are not couples, they are something else, I won't use the word. We must protect the traditional family members. We should not protect a group [LGBT] that destabilizes the foundations of our state, reduces the birthrate, and contributes to the use of narcotics. Armenia is neither California nor Amsterdam. [Speaker Alen Simonyan interjects, saying it might have been better if Armenia was more like California and Amsterdam.] RULING MP: Our current laws do not prohibit citizens from choosing a same-sex partner. We are not and cannot discuss it. This law is about preventing violence at home regardless of whether they are formally married or not. RULING MP: This law does not (re)define what a "family" is. Besides, if we don't include same-sex couples, that means a gay or a lesbian can commit domestic violence without the envisaged punishment. The law on domestic violence envisages not only protections but also punishments. OPPOSITION MP: The amendment will also criminalize the "virginity checks". I don't support virginity checks but this is a sensitive cultural issue. I care more about the legal language. How are the parties of a legal process going to provide evidence that a virginity was checked or not? RULING MP: This is turning into one of those TV5 episodes, lol. We will be giving legal tools to parties. How they do their job is up to them, there are methods. RULING MP: Today, a domestic violence victim doesn't qualify for certain protections if they are not married. This amendment will change that. It will also give police the authority to take action against stalkers, who often end up committing crimes. OPPOSITION MP: The language of this bill resembles the terminologies used in the Istanbul Convention. Is this where it's headed to? GOVERNMENT: Reforms in domestic violence law are part of our agenda. This bill is an outcome of a monitoring mission by state agencies and NGOs. We urge MPs to vote in favor. // The parliament voted 63-32 to advance the bill. The opposition voted against it. A second vote is necessary before it can be sent to the President's desk. source, source, parliament advances bill to criminalize illegal use of artesian waters in Ararat Valley and illegal fishing of large quantities of sig in Lake Sevan GOVERNMENT: Punishment will increase for unauthorized water withdrawal and illegal fishing of whitefish from Lake Sevan. Criminal liability is envisaged in cases where illegal water use leads to significant damage. Catching whitefish worth more than ֏150,000 will be considered major damage and entail criminal prosecution. // The parliament voted 62-0-32 to advance the bill to a second hearing. The opposition abstained. source, source, source, Yerevan Council votes to terminate ex-mayor Hayk Marutyan and 2 others for being absent from most (or all) sessions The leader (Vahagn Avagyan) and deputy leader of the Public Voice faction ignored the threats made by Dog and attended the Wednesday session. Yesterday Dog threatened to go after their family members if they showed up. Context. The faction leader shrugged off the threats and said Dog was initially supportive of holding today's session but later supposedly joined the ex-regime and attempted to sabotage this session, all future sessions, and the administration in general. He urged authorities to investigate Dog's personal threats against "non-compliant" members of Public Voice, such as himself. Mayor Avinyan referred to Dog's behavior as "garbage". Hayk Marutyan and his faction also showed up. There were more than enough members to secure a quorum. The session began. RULING MEMBER: Under Yerevan's Article 20.2, if a Council member is absent from over half of the voting sessions, or half of the discussion sessions, or half of the committee meetings, the Council has the right to hold a vote to terminate the member. (1) The Council held 42 voting sessions. Hayk Marutyan was present in 0. (2) Marutyan was absent from almost all discussion sessions. (3) Being a member of the urban development committee, Marutyan was also absent from all committee-level sessions. This is not a "power grab". The opposition factions have the right to replace their terminated members with other persons on their lists. // Marutyan's faction accused the ruling faction of corruption, raising the price of public transport, and "unfair" termination of the "boycotting members". They explained that absence in the session was their way to boycott topics that they believed were harmful to the city. The ruling faction reminded that then-Mayor Marutyan signed the decision that specified which absences are considered unexcused and excused. Public Voice faction leader took the opportunity to advertise his tiny party and took credit for proposing amendments to the Red Line parking regulations (free Sunday parking) that will be discussed today. He welcomed the organization of today's session to terminate Marutyan and others, calling them "showmen" with "unconstructive behavior" who "don't work". He accused Marutyan of giving building construction permits in Yerevan's parks while publicly positioning himself as a defender of parks. However, he said his faction would vote to terminate only 3 out of 5 members proposed by the ruling coalition. His reasoning is that the 4th one is a "hard worker" while the 5th one, Zaruhi Postanjyan, "is not attending sessions because she is prohibited from doing so by her own faction due to internal conflicts", said the Public Voice leader. Zaruhi Postanjyan, a member of the ex-regime faction led by Andranik Tevanyan, later dismissed the claim about being "blocked" by Tevanyan from attending sessions. Tevanyan also denied blocking Postanjyan and said he doesn't know the "real reason" why Public Voice wants to spare Postanjyan from termination. HAYK MARUTYAN: I didn't attend Council sessions but I did attend party meetings to discuss topics and plans for the benefit of the city. MAYOR AVINYAN: Then why are you upset about being terminated from Council? After your termination, you can continue not to attend sessions and attend party meetings. // Hayk Marutyan criticized the ruling faction for the new plan to raise the cost of transit fare. He will organize public protests and urge the residents not to pay the fare. In 2019, then-Mayor Marutyan did not rule out the possibility of raising the prices after transport reforms. This is when Pashinyan had appointed Deputy PM Avinyan to assist Mayor Marutyan with city reforms. Mayor Avinyan accused Hayk Marutyan of manipulations when Marutyan claimed the residents would pay ~֏300 for 1 ticket. The city plans to offer packages with the price of each ticket ranging from ֏93 to ֏260 if purchased in bulk. For the 1000-ticket plan, the price will be ֏106 per ticket, against today's ֏100. Unused tickets in that plan will be lost after a year, so for example, if you used only 900 tickets, the price per ticket would translate into ֏118. Residents are expected to pick one of the 7 proposed packages based on their riding frequency. The longer the plan, the cheaper the ticket. There will be discounts for seniors, students, and low-income residents. Mayor Avinyan implied that the proposed 7 packages could be amended to lower the price per ticket at the expense of reducing discounts to disadvantaged groups. They are still debating which direction to go. They have time to think because the changes won't be implemented until September when 170 additional buses will arrive to address the complaints about the frequency of bus arrivals. There is currently a shortage of buses because the old purple ones are out of service because of a lack of spare parts. A city official said yesterday that they have to contact the bus manufacturer to initiate a factory production of spare components if there is a need to repair a bus. The new 170 buses are meant to replace them. Regarding the recent increase in parking fees in small Kentron with the primary goal of reducing parking load. The deputy mayor says the residents are reporting that the changes have resulted in fewer cars and that they are able to find parking more easily. During today's session, the Public Voice faction proposed making red line parking free across Yerevan on Sundays. The ruling faction supports it. The reason, as they mentioned, is their observation that there are fewer parked cars on Sundays so there is "room to grow" if they make parking free. Mayor Avinyan also noted fewer parked cars in small Kentron but said the official stats will be available in spring. ... the vote to terminate Marutyan and ex-regime factions left the room before the vote. Hayk Marutyan was terminated with a 34-0 vote. Narine Hayrapetyan was terminated with a 34-0 vote. Sona Aghekyan was terminated with a 34-0 vote. Gevorg Stepanyan ("hard worker") was spared with a 32-2 vote. Zaruhi Posatanjyan ("blocked by her own faction") was spared with a 31-2 vote. 💖 Sunday parking will become free with a 34-0 vote. source, flashback, source, source, source, source, source, source, source, source, source, source, source, source, Parliament summoned the Executive branch for Q&A QUESTION: You recently said we might need a fourth republic. What did you mean? PASHINYAN: It's a French terminology, as far as I know. They call it a new republic when a new constitution is adopted. QUESTION: Will you charge Aliyev personally with war crimes after finalizing the Rome Statute? MINISTER: We will invite international legal experts who will analyze the available evidence against everyone and help us make appropriate decisions. QUESTION: Armenia and Georgia recently signed an agreement on strategic cooperation. What was the topic of your discussion with the Georgian PM during your trip? PASHINYAN: Cooperation in all directions. Georgia was granted an EU candidate status. This changes our region. Two of our neighbors have it now. The EU is no longer a distant thing, it's in our region, and we must take this into account. This is why I find it important to launch a strategic cooperation with Georgia. Armenia clearly recognized Georgia's territorial integrity, and Georgia said the same for Armenia. This may seem banal at first, but it gives impetus to the strengthening of relations. QUESTION: What's the connection between the peace agreement and the need to change the constitution? PASHINYAN: There is no need to change our constitution in order to sign a peace agreement. Every condition already exists for the agreement: The document states that parties cannot cite their internal laws to avoid responsibilities imposed by the agreement (Vienna Convention requirement). The need to change our constitution, besides internal reforms, stems from the general need for us to control our foreign relations. The constitution has an impact on our foreign policy, too. The whole world has changed since the adoption of the current constitution. The constitution must help defend Armenia by ensuring that Armenia's army and foreign policy are working for the protection of our Republic on its internationally recognized territories. This is another self-defense tool in our arsenal. None of our foreign relations are the same today since the adoption of the current constitution; this is true for most countries. None of our constitutions were adopted through a legitimate referendum voted by the people. QUESTION: In other words, the goal of the constitutional change is to strengthen the legitimacy of Armenia's aspirations and intentions? PASHINYAN: The Republic of Armenia must build its policies within the logic of its sovereignty and legitimacy. Not a millimeter forward, not a millimeter back. QUESTION: What's the difference between հայ ժողովուրդ (Armenian people) and Հայաստանի ժողովուրդ (people of Armenia)? Why is there a discussion around this? PASHINYAN: We have dual citizenship in Armenia. Is everyone who resides in Armenia an ethnic Armenian or an Armenian citizen? TOPIC: Armenia's 1992 ratification of the Almaty declaration and the recognition of Armenian and Azerbaijan territories came with "reservations" to recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity without Nagorno-Karabakh. PASHINYAN: This has been brought up so much that I have to respond, now that it's ethically acceptable. The law and Vienna Convention require that in the event of a reservation, it has to be submitted to the depository (ավանդապահ). We have researched this and learned that Armenia never contacted the depository about these reservations. From the perspective of international law, those reservations are invalid. I have instructed this to be quadruple-checked. Therefore, the Almaty Declaration very clearly defined what Armenia's territories are. OPPOSITION MP: It is your job as the government to find out why the reservations never reached the depository and who the responsible parties are. This does not negate parliament's reservations. Efforts are necessary to send it to the depository. QUESTION: How do you keep "nationalizing" shares of mining and telecom giants? The latest one is [now-formerly Russian] MTS. This practice began in 2021 with the Zangezur copper combine, then the Lydian gold miner. What are the benefits and risks? Is the government taking over company shares in exchange for ignoring their past crimes? PASHINYAN: There was a time when the government would give away state properties without compensation. Now it's the opposite. But it doesn't happen to every company. It only happens to those with legitimacy problems. Did you forget who and how privatized the Zangezur combine decades ago? Every time I mention the Zangezur mine, some MPs in this room hide under a table [coincidentally someone was leaving the room at that moment, causing the room to burst in laughter]. We don't do "payater" plunder. We were able to receive shares from all these companies because their new leaders acknowledged the past legal controversies surrounding these businesses and didn't want it to harm their reputation and didn't want to inherit the "bad past". They wanted to cooperate with the government to show the public that they weren't "taking from Armenia" but in fact providing a benefit. In reality, there is nothing "secret" there. No secret obligations that the public is unaware of. About Amulsar mining. We were facing a dilemma between public perception and legitimacy, and foreign investments. Lydian has agreed to pay an additional $7 million per year to nearby communities. Do you remember the Golden Palace Hotel in Tsakhkadzor? One of the [ex-regime] MPs sitting here was invited to its opening ceremony [years ago] and bragged that it was a "foreign investment". It turned out HE was the real owner of the hotel, through offshore schemes. Watch the video. It's funny. QUESTION: Aren't you scaring potential investors? PASHINYAN: We've never knocked on a random business's door to demand 20% of their shares. In the instances when we received the shares, the companies had new owners, new investors, who knowingly and after assessing the background of the situation and past controversies, decided to invest in those companies and to donate some of the shares to Armenia. The investors had analyzed everything in advance. No one forced them to invest and then donate 20% to us. In the case of Zangezur, we did not approach them [but did fine the shit out of them]. An investor purchased the shares from others and decided to invest 4 billion in Armenia. He wanted the government to be "present and see" the activities for transparency. He understood that Zangezur had a highly controversial past surrounding its shares, so he wanted the government to be "present" to verify their legitimacy and ensure public support of their activities. In some instances, we actively negotiated with various partners to make the investment conditions more favorable for these new investors. We are taking steps to ensure competition in the telecom market because there are people who want to own everything. // source, source, source, source, Samvel Babayan: Russia allowed ethnic cleansing to happen in Nagorno-Karabakh; Russia owes the people of Nagorno-Karabakh long article with historical events, Azerbaijan holds presidential "elections" amid arrests of opposition figures and falsifications reported by independent observers Independent outlets have reported instances of falsifications and double voting. Some of them reported being blocked from observing the process. An opposition outlet caught an instance of the same man voting twice in different polling stations. There were widespread reports of busing and forcing people to vote. Ilham Aliyev himself violated the law by voting from occupied Stepanakert despite not being registered in that area, noted Ambassador-At-Large Marukyan. There were also reports of the regime throttling the internet near polling stations. Media outlets said they were unable to stream the process. Aliyev was declared the winner with 92% vote and 77% turnout. He received congratulations from Uzbekistan and Belarus. ... interview with Arif Yunusov, an Azerbaijani analyst-activist in exile YUNUSOV: Sham elections. It's unserious. The authorities draw the necessary numbers. Azeri public, by in large, has already moved on from Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. The main topic that concerns the population are the economy, inflation, wages, and the future. There is apathy. The turnout is around 25%. The regime will claim it's over 70%. The information I receive from Azerbaijan suggests a lack of interest. Aliyev didn't have to falsify the numbers because his rating is already high. If the actual ballot casting was honest, he would receive 80%. He has no real opponents; he authorized a few handpicked opponents to compete against him. It's absurd. These opponents were praising him. It's the same picture every time, the same group of teachers being taken from one polling station to another. Aliyev's real rating is quite high after the capture of Nagorno-Karabakh but the need to falsify with primitive tactics has become pathological. You don't have real opponents on the ballot, why do you need the clownery? REPORTER: Now that Nagorno-Karabakh is captured, if the economy worsens in Azerbaijan, how does Aliyev plan to stay in power? YUNUSOV: (1) By maintaining Armenia as the enemy, (2) by taking PR trips to Nagorno-Karabakh to show off the new buildings and infrastructure. He once cut a red tape for a newly built sewer hole in Baku. Imagine how much he'll milk off of the new infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh. Big money, big propaganda. He will successfully feed this to the Azeri public for a while, until a sharp worsening of socio-economic conditions. I always pay attention to energy prices. Even during our time in jail in Azerbaijan, my wife and I were waiting for news on oil prices to predict Aliyev's next move. Lower price meant we had a greater chance of being released [under Western pressure]. [A while ago] there were strikes (uprisings) in rural Azerbaijan because the sharp drop in oil prices meant people had difficulty repaying their debt to banks. This wave was in villages. That was the first time. This would normally happen in the capital. REPORTER: Why hasn't Aliyev plundered the properties of Armenian residents of Stepanakert yet? It was left untouched after the exodus. YUNUSOV: No matter how much he pretends to be tough, Aliyev is still afraid of the West. It is true that Stepanakert is left untouched. It's different in other settlements. They are demolishing Armenian houses and building new ones in place: Shushi, Fizuli, etc. They need a "new Karabakh". REPORTER: You've stated that Aliyev can be removed only through an uprising, which is why he'll do everything possible to prevent its fermentation. Is there a foreign force that can stimulate an uprising? Would it be Russia or the US? YUNUSOV: Russia has no interest in doing that today. Aliyev is Putin's man. It is obvious that any figure who comes after Aliyev is going to be anti-Russian. Moreover, the worsening of the situation in Russia and the removal of Putin would negatively affect the Aliyev regime. There is a Putin-Aliyev tandem. REPORTER: I recall how Russian media repeatedly bragged during the 2020 war that Aliyev was "one of them" because he graduated from Russia's MGIMO University (foreign affairs university). What about the West? YUNUSOV: The West will apply pressure now. The repressions in Azerbaijan that began last fall were no coincidence. It targets pro-Western figures. The regime refers to them as "Sorosites". Aliyev is afraid of them. There is also Iran and the Islamic factor. But there could also be an implosion caused by socio-economic problems separate from foreign pressure. I was in Tunisia a year before their revolution and it was so much better than Azerbaijan today. In Tunisia I was also told that it's "stable", but I saw the signs of trouble. A generation of young unemployed residents formed, resulting in an explosion. Everything seems good, then boom. Azerbaijan heavily depends on energy prices. Most revenues come from there; other sectors are small. Aliyev clan pockets a lot of the gold and energy profits. A drop in energy prices will have an immediate impact. If that happens and the refrigerators are empty, Aliyev won't be able to hold on to his chair even by telling the population that "Armenians are coming!". REPORTER: Is the refrigerator currently full? YUNUSOV: Mmmm, it has some food. REPORTER: Does Aliyev's decision to keep the land borders closed stem from his concerns about losing power? It's laughable that COVID is still used as an excuse. YUNUSOV: Honestly I don't know exactly why he keeps it closed. Possibly he doesn't want a wave of Russian-Azeris entering Azerbaijan. Possibly to boost his airline's business; airfare prices have skyrocketed with borders locked. I'm skeptical about the airline theory because the entire Azerbaijan is his cash cow so why would he need to go to such lengths for airline cash? I don't have any serious explanations. I don't think he is doing that out of fear of losing power, because every dictator always believes they are forever. They are convinced they are there for many years. Aliyev will give the chair to his son, he thinks. If you tell him his rule is in danger, he won't take you seriously. This is why if an internal explosion happens, he will blame it on a foreign intervention by the CIA. source, source, source, source, source, source, source, anti-corruption: ranking police officer is charged with stealing 8,000 liters of gasoline through state-issued coupons source, this dude had more explosives than the average Armenian battalion during the war After receiving a tip, authorities arrested a Colonel, a former defense ministry official, after allegedly discovering in his home large quantities of explosives, detonators, bullets, and other items related to explosives. Cops had to call sappers from the emergency service to neutralize the explosives. source, food became cheaper in Armenia: January YoY Pasta -12% Rice -3% Lentil -16% Buckwheat -23% Flour -20% Peas -17% Bulgur -6% Bread -7% Meat -1% Pork -10% Mutton -2% Poultry +0.2% Fish -6% Cheese -7% Sour cream +1% Milk +3% Eggs +1% Margarine -25% Butter -7% Sunflower oil -31% Fruits -1% Vegetables -12% Sugar -6% Chocolate -6% Coffee, tea +0.3% Bottled water +3% Alcohol +6% Vodka +9% Whine +2% Beer +3% Tobacco +9% Other food -6% source, agricultural stats in 2023 Agriculture -0.3% Crop production +2.7%, livestock production -3.4%, forestry +22.3%, fisheries +3.6%. Production of... Poultry -3.5% Milk -5.2% Eggs -2.3% Cereals and legumes +20.1% Potatoes +3.7% Vegetables -0.5% Melon -6.3% Fruits & berries +4.3% Grapes -5.5% source, gasoline prices +38% in January YoY source, renewable energy generation exploded in Europe last year; unprecedented collapse in coal and gas This is where the electricity came from... Fossil: 1/3rd Renewables and nuclear: 2/3rd Renewables: 44% (growing) Nuclear: ~24% (declining) Wind: 18% (growing) Hydro: ~12% (stable) Solar: 9% (growing) Coal was on the decline until Europe cut off Russian gas and had to rely on coal again, but that was brief, it's plummeting again. The electricity demand fell by 3.4% in part thanks to efficiency improvements. The EU has committed to reaching net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. full, Russian pilot with a 4-hour flying experience crashed a small aircraft in Armenia in 2022 Two Russian pilots were supposed to fly a Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron from Armenia to Russia on December 1, 2022. The captain had a 20-minute experience on double-engine aircraft like the one he was asked to fly, and a 4-hour experience on single-engine aircraft. They were only trained to fly under clear visual conditions. The day was foggy and the mountains were poorly visible but they decided to fly anyway, against the protocols. 1300 LOGS: Aircraft takes off from Zvartnots. 1300 TOWER: Climb to 5800m. 1305 PILOT: Requesting permission to fly at 3950m. 1305 TOWER: Negative. Stay over 4550m on that route. 1307 TOWER: Why are you flying at 2712m? Climb to 3950m. 1308 LOGS: It's flying at 2895m. 1309 TOWER: You are still too low. Climb to 3950m. 1309 LOGS: It's flying at 2987m. 1309 TOWER: You're not climbing fast enough. Before you continue, turn right and make a 360 spin while increasing altitude. 1310 LOGS: It's flying at 3048m, still too low. The pilot turns right as instructed but doesn't make a 360. He turns left again after a minute. 1311 TOWER: (sees something is wrong) Are you following the instructions to turn right and make 360? 1312 PILOT: Yes. 1312 LOGS: The aircraft is turning left, not right, and its altitude is only 2316m. 1313 TOWER: You are losing altitude. The minimum safe altitude in that area is 3109m. Do not descend. 1313 LOGS: Altitude drops to 2133m. Signal stops. The mountains in that area are 1700m high. The remnants were discovered near a sand mine. No illegal substances were found in the pilots' systems. It was determined that the pilots lost spatial orientation, lacked experience with the equipment, and the weather risks weren't properly analyzed. The UN investigators submitted a set of recommendations to Russia. source, source, NASA's rover captures the image of the broken Ingenuity helicopter lounging on boring Mars after it performed beyond expectations and died heroically during a mission: VIDEO RIP king, submitted by /u/ar_david_hh to r/armenia [link] [comments]

Welcome to week 13 of the official r/NFL Power Rankings! Amid a week of quarterbacking chaos, Brady is the youngest, most consistent that he's ever going to be. Mayfield released, Rodgers holding off Love, Ridder on the way. Jimmy G, Stafford, Lamar, and Lawrence all broken, Hurts unhurt. Outside of the blurb are the Broncos even worth discussion? Discuss! 30/32 reporting # Team Δ Record Comment 1. Eagles +1 11-1 "This was magic. Absolute magic from the 24-year-old Hurts, and he’s playing at such a consistently dazzling level even the grumpiest, most miserable Carson Wentz backer has to admit that this kid is a flat-out star and the Eagles have one of the most exciting young quarterbacks the league has seen in years. You want 150 rushing yards? Check. You want 380 passing yards and three touchdowns? Check. What can’t he do? Hurts was 29-for-39 for 380 yards, three TDs passing, one rushing, no interceptions again and a 130.3 passer rating Sunday. He’s now 214-for-318 for 2,560 yards this year with 20 touchdowns and three interceptions and nine rushing touchdowns, and the team he so brilliantly leads is 11-1 and on top of the NFL world. And if you don’t like it, then go become a Cowboys fan or a Commanders fan or something, because if you’re not 100 percent on board with Hurts at this point there’s no hope for you and you’re not a real Eagles fan and you never were." - Reuben Frank 2. Bills +1 9-3 Talk about a perfect week of football, everything that could’ve broke the Bills’ way did. The 24-10 final doesn’t quite paint the picture of how far apart the Thursday Night matchup was. The Patriots just looked like they were in over their heads, and the Bills were pretty much icing the game the entire second half. Then on Sunday, BillsMafia got to watch the Jets lose, the Dolphins drop one to Mr. Irrelevant and the 49ers, and the Bengals beat the Chiefs. All of the sudden, the Bills are catapulted back to the top of the AFC. Once again, Buffalo is in control of their own playoff destiny, and they’ve got the Jets and Dolphins back-to-back —a chance to put some cushion in the division race. 3. Chiefs -2 9-3 For a game that the Chiefs should have been incredibly motivated for, it sure did seem like the Bengals were the more motivated team. The main issue for the Chiefs in this game was the tackling on defense which was an atrocious effort by every player involved. It is a bad sign when the players who played the best on defense were the rookie cornerbacks who held up pretty well against the Bengals ridiculous trio of wide receivers. The offense found its way to beat rush three, drop eight by rushing the ball which led to the Chiefs offense having a very productive day. However, the Travis Kelce fumble and an inexplicable punt by Andy Reid late in the game were too much to overcome. With the Chiefs losing to the Bills and Bengals (while also going to OT against the Malik Willis Titans) is the floor for this team too low to make another deep playoff run? 4. Cowboys -- 9-3 I hate SNF, because I'm old. All I want is a shitty blowout of a game so I can go to bed at halftime. This week, we saw that Indy has the grit to hang with anyone for a little while, and that Dallas still likes to play with their food. Oh, but that fourth quarter, though. If we only look at the fourth quarter, the Cowboys were tied for the third highest scoring total of the week. It’s the Cowboys third 50+ points and 8th 40+ point game since the beginning of the 2021 season. 5. Bengals +3 8-4 The Bengals have now won six of their last seven games, and have won four games against teams currently in the AFC playoff field. The one thing they haven't done in a while, is beat the Browns. On paper is looks like the Bengals should win this game easily, but Stefanski has had Zac Taylor's number lately, so breaking that streak may not be an easy task. 6. Vikings -- 10-2 If you've seen one Vikings win, you've seen them all: again the Vikings got up to a seemingly-comfortable lead early, proceeded to sleepwalk for a couple quarters, then woke up at the very last second for a butthole-clenching photo finish. The Vikings run blocked well against a stout Jets front while Kirk was very efficient on third downs, and while the defense gave up a ton of explosives, they were effective where it mattered most, holding the Jets to 3/16 on third downs and 1/6 in the red zone. Sure, these aren't pretty wins, but a win is a win, and a tautology is a tautology. Vegas may have the 5-7 Lions favored to beat the 10-2 Vikings this week — and looking at advanced stats you can't exactly blame them — but despite the advanced stats, this roster is just as talented as its record suggests, with the fourth-highest team grade in football. And as they get healthier returning Darrisaw, Dantlzer and Tomlinson, the Vikings are hoping their best football is still ahead. 7. 49ers -- 8-4 The number 1 defense in the entire NFL. Playmakers at every position. YAC brothers. Trent Williams. Christian McCaffrey. Deebo Samuel. Brandon Aiyuk. George Kittle. One of the best run games in the NFL, doesn't matter the RB. This is the system we were told all season Jimmy G only had to manage, stay calm, get it to a playmaker, don't make mistakes. Now, that falls to "Mr. Irrelevant" Brock Purdy. Is he up to the task? Its a sports movie in the making. Will the 49ers get the storybook ending, or will they fall short yet again, despite all the talent? 8. Dolphins -3 8-4 Sunday was a rough one. In a game where a win would've put us as the #1 seed in the AFC, we got beat up by a vicious defense and our own defense couldn't do anything to rattle 2022's Mr. Irrelevant. Going into the game missing 3 starting offensive linemen, we thought Tua would be in for a very long day running for his life, but our OL did a fine job all things considered. The OL only gave up pressure on 30% of their drop backs. We had receivers that were running open every other play. The 49ers starting QB got injured early in the first quarter. If you were tell someone prior to the game that these three things happened, they would've predicted a massive blowout in the Dolphins favor. Instead, the 49ers blew out the Dolphins 33-17 in a game where Tua was very shaky from the get-go. Fortunately it was just one loss and it was to an NFC opponent, so it doesn't hurt us much for playoff tiebreakers. We still control our own destiny for the division, and we have a critical SNF game against a struggling Chargers team that is desperate to stay alive in the Wild Card race. 9. Ravens -- 8-4 It's pretty baffling that Huntley can get to the line with 20 seconds left on the play clock and actually scan the defense, whereas Lamar cannot. The blame lies with an ancient republic. This blurb was extremely close to being "Ravens flock, let's die" and nothing else, but thanks to heroics from Trent Green's favorite QB Tyler Humphrey, it wasn't. Anyway, Lamar has played the Steelers 3 times in his career, a number that will not be going up next Sunday. 10. Titans -- 7-5 The Titans were thoroughly outmatched on Sunday in Philadelphia. The Titans fall to 7-5 and are now 1-5 against teams with a winning record. The only saving grace to the 2022 season for the Titans is the ineptitude of the other AFC South teams (all 4 lost this week). The Titans move into a stretch of 5 games with 3 AFC South games to end the year. If the Titans are able to control the below .500 teams they should be able to wrap up the AFC South and lose in the first round of the playoffs. 11. Seahawks +3 7-5 It may not have been pretty, but the Seahawks snuck out a W in Sofi. The game may have been geographically in Los Angeles, but there were Seahawks chants throughout the game. Not too shabby. Unfortunately, the running back room got even more decimated this game, with Ken Walker going down with what Pete is calling "an unusual ankle thing," which, knowing Pete, could mean ANYTHING! Geno looked pretty damn awesome despite one phantom interception, supporting both Lockett and DK on their way to 100 yard 1 touchdown games. Tariq Woolen intercepted another pass, setting a Seahawks rookie franchise record with 6 interceptions on the season! This game was also Geno's 6th straight with a passer rating of 100 or better, tying Russell Wilson's franchise record. Go Hawks. 12. Jets -1 7-5 The Jets lost a tough one, and will think back to Braxton Berrios dropping a touchdown on 4th and goal on the 1 if they end up missing the playoffs. Still, Jets fans should be optimistic. The defense was excellent in the second half, and Mike White continued to grease the wheels of the offense. The Jets outgained the Vikings 486 yards to 287. The difference in this one was that the Jets only got one touchdown on six trips to the red zone, whereas the Vikings scored touchdowns on all three trips to the redzone. At 7-5, the Jets still control their own playoff destiny, but they have next to no room for error with the Pats and Chargers nipping at their heels. If the Jets can pull out three wins in their final five, (@BUF, DET, JAX, @SEA, @MIA), that could be enough to end the longest playoff drought in the NFL. One final note: if it wasn’t obvious already, it is now – Garrett Wilson is a superstar. He’s the best Jets player on offense since Curtis Martin. 13. Giants -1 7-4-1 For the first time in many Giants' fans football-watching lives, a game involving the NYG has ended in a tie. Until the clock hit 0:00 in overtime, this game remained extremely stressful to watch for both sides. Coach Daboll and co. had plenty of chances to put this one away, but blundered it away each time. Kicker Graham Gano missed the final kick, which stings a bit extra when you realize his kick to beat the Giants in Carolina was longer than the one he missed in OT. Putting the blame for this one squarely on any one person's shoulders isn't really possible. Hard to imagine anyone rooting for a tie at the end there; I know I spent the entire overtime period hoping for literally any other outcome. It's just so ugly to see on the record, after all. Looking ahead, Big Blue hosts the rat-pigeons from the City of Brotherly Hate in another NFC East matchup next week. Luckily for the Giants, their offensive superweapons such as Isaiah Hodgins and Richie James Jr should be problematic even for a secondary as talented as Philly's. You can decode a special, super secret message by stringing together the first letter of each sentence in this blurb! 14. Commanders +1 7-5-1 So The Commanders and The Giants tied. Fucking gross. Washington played not to lose and well… they didn’t so there’s that. Multiple penalties, bad turnovers, a missed FG and generally sloppy play could have and should have lost this game so in hindsight, forcing OT and settling for a tie was better than the alternative but it still leaves a bitter taste and makes the road to the playoffs considerably more difficult as the other NFC wildcard contenders came away with wins this week. Washington now has to sit back on their bye-week watching their paths to the playoffs continue to shrink BUT… they get NY again after the bye at home in what may very well be an elimination game. In fact, the NFL went ahead and flexed NY @ Washington to Sunday Night Football. Here’s hoping they don’t fucking tie again. 15. Buccaneers +2 6-6 After an amazing last second come from behind win against the Saints, Bucs fans have a little bit to celebrate as the team got back to a .500 record. The Bucs face a tough 49ers team this week, and while the 9ers will be starting a 7th round rookie, the Bucs have shown that backup and rookie QB's can often be their kryptonite (loss to Pickett, loss to PJ Walker, loss to Jacoby Brissett this season). A strong finish in the remaining five games is a must to guarantee a playoff appearance, and perhaps the future of Todd Bowles as Head Coach. 16. Patriots -- 6-6 There’s blood in the water, and the sharks are in a feeding frenzy! You ever hear a fan say “If we could just win one championship, I’d be happy for a decade”? If it’s true, then I say it is better for the health of a fan base to have one magical year here or there than it is to have a dynasty. Don’t root for your team to run it back. Don’t try to bottle the magic. It may be wonderful while it lasts, but when the ride ends you will pay the price in karma for steeper than you can imagine. You will know no mercy. You will know no patience. You will know no grace. Your tears will be harvested and sold by the same folks who celebrated your rise. We are the reason we can’t have nice things. We forget gratitude. We turn on those who gave us their best. We hate them for being mortal. We slaughter the golden goose for laying a normal egg. We have turned to the dark angry gods to alleviate our fears, and these gods demand a sacrifice. We will feed them Patricia. We will feed them Mac. We will even feed them Bill. Anything to lessen the pain for just a moment. We couldn’t possibly just feel our sadness with dignity. We are too spoiled. What's that you say? 5 more games can swing the season? Where is the Christmas spirit of redemption through generosity of spirit? Bah! Humbug! 17. Chargers -4 6-6 The Chargers rolled into Vegas short-handed, missing 3 offensive line starters and plus Mike Williams, but the coaching staff did little to mitigate this playcalling, instead opting straight dropbacks 47 times. As a result, Herbert was under constant pressure all game and multiple Raiders starters hit season-high numbers in pressures and sacks. If not for some 4th and 12 heroics by Herbert, the offense would have scored fewer touchdowns than the defense. On the other side of the ball, the defense had moments of brilliance, but also couldn't lay a finger on Carr and gave up multiple deep passes to Devante Adams that decided this game. It feels like the staff should be coaching for their jobs, but that's probably not the case. You still want to see something from a team that is still in the playoff mix. Onward and upward to the Emmanuel Acho Bowl this Sunday! 18. Lions +1 5-7 Five games remain in the season. The last several years, for Lions fans, this has meant that we're already knee deep in draft prep. Well, we still are, thanks to the Rams (seriously, hope Stafford heals up well), but we're also watching games that are still meaningful. Coming into the season, the question for Goff was: Could he do well enough to earn the starting spot after the season was over? First few games of the season, no doubt. Then injuries took their toll and the wheels fell off - and it didn't help that the defense was of absolutely no help whatsoever the first half of the season, magnifying Goff's errors. And yet. Goff is a system QB - which isn't really all that bad of a thing, if the system works as designed. Just how much of this system is OC Ben Johnson's, and how much of it is Goff's own input and design, we may never know. But, give credit where it's due, this offense works, and works well. Every team is going to have an off day - look no further than the Eagles' lone loss to Washington. Overall though, this offense is doing what it's supposed to - score. Only three games this season has this teams scored fewer than 24 points - in losses to NE and then DAL back-to-back when it seemed the entire offense was injured, then again to GB just two weeks after that in a win. Once they got even a handful of their offense back on the field though, it's been a steady clip - the Lions have put up 31, 31, 25, and now 40 points as a team the last four games. If you remove that injury-burdened stretch of four games (where, even then, they put up 31 on CHI in a wacky win), the Lions are averaging well over 33 points per game. So, back to the draft, do I want a QB with the Rams' pick (possibly #2 by season end)? The jury is still out, but...I'm beginning to think the answer to that is "No." Hey, who knows, there's still an outside chance that the Lions end up in the playoffs this season, and if they do, it'll be because Goff led them there - in his own humble way. 19. Packers +2 5-8 Aaron Rodgers still owns the Bears. In the last four games, Christian Watson scores a touchdown on 47% of his touches. Jaire had the Trevon Diggs statline of giving up two huge completions and then the game saving pick. Winning is fun, we should do more of that 20. Browns -2 5-7 If you take $230,000,000 and divide it by the seventy four regular season games Watson is expected to play over his contract he made $3,108,108 for his, frankly, dog crap play during this past weeks game. Hooray! After no having played for 700 days Watson returned to boos and lack luster performance. The Browns managed a win on the back of the defense who scored two TD's of their own. The Browns will face the Bengals at home in the battle of Ohio next week. 21. Raiders +3 5-7 BBQ Chicken 22. Steelers +3 5-7 Steelers football is starting to come into focus. The team is going to run. The pass is going to look like the run. Pickett is averaging just under 200 yards per game in the air, and it's starting to look intentional by the coaches to just keep him making easy throws. During the game, the announcers were surprised by the lack of involvement by George Pickens, but he was involved: he was doing his best to keep the Falcons honest so that the offense could run, dink, and dunk it's way down the field. On one hand, it could be viewed as a pedestrian offense. On the other hand, it's at least giving Pittsburgh a fighting chance to win some games. In Pickett's 4 wins, they've all been under 200 yards passing. It's an odd statistic, but enough of a trend to not be ignored. They've lost games where he's been unleashed and also not thrown for much. The difference now is that he's taking sacks rather than throwing INTs. If viewed from a sober lens, they're just building fundamentals for him to manage the NFL game and take care of the football. 23. Falcons -3 5-8 Chris Lindstrom led all Atlanta Falcons NFL offensive linemen with a 95.8 PFF grade on Sunday. Kaleb McGary posted the second highest grade, allowing one pressure against TJ Watt all day. Drake London has been proving his effectiveness on each and every target, with a career high 6 catches. Overall, Sunday wasn't more than an NFL films repeat, an outcome more obvious than 2009's overtime opener. Because of how they're built, Atlanta might be the most predictable team in the league...until after the bye. Arthur Smith might as well be warming the bus up, Mariota's checking the stove one last time before he locks up. AS has thrown every cookie-cutter coaching phrase out there to prepare us peasants for a Ridder start, that time looks to finally be here. A 3rd round rookie in a draft class that collectively hasn't seen more action than Kenny Pickett, all he needs is a "14/25, 150 yards, 1TD 1INT" statline to succeed. Time will tell. 24. Cardinals -2 4-8 The Cardinals didn’t play this week, and thank sweet baby Jesus for that. Since I don’t really have anything to be upset at this week, I guess I’ll inform you that the Cards are set to have 28 UFAs this coming offseason, and really only two players are worth keeping; Byron Murphy Jr (Cornerback) and Zach Allen (Defensive End). So if Sean Payton comes around next year, he’s basically gonna have a whole new team. 25. Jaguars -2 4-8 Recall last week this column spoke of impressive play and the potential for future expectations. Worry not, dear reader, as the Jacksonville squad put those nasty rumors to rest nearly as quickly as they were printed. Detroit put a wholloping on the Jaguars, showing definitively who the better 4-7 team was. Perhaps next week the Jags will surprise everyone and thump the Titans. Perhaps this author will find a lucky pot of gold and buy an island to retire on. 26. Bears +2 3-10 27. Saints -1 4-9 The New Orleans Saints football we love is back baby! Efficient pass completion % to a range of targets, two RBs used in different roles but ending up with a low YPC, and losing a lead late! Let’s go! 28. Panthers +1 4-8 Schrödinger’s Cat is a thought experiment where there is a cat that exists in a sealed box. This cat has poison in the box that will release when a certain condition is met. The poison will kill the cat. This shows that in a state of unobserved activities, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. We’re at week 13 and I still don’t know how to rank this football team. Going into the bye week, we were within 2 games of the first pick overall pick and within 2 games of leading the division and hosting a playoff game. We’re the perfect example of Schrödinger’s Cat. We’re somehow both alive and very much dead. 29. Colts -2 4-8-1 "We are here, now, in the world over. It's euphoric, isn't it? Empty, idle space; desolate and quiet, spacious and soft. Swimming inside of white noise, like waves crashing against each other. There is nothing that can happen anymore. I cannot feel my face change its expression. I do not know if I smile; I am alone, and nobody can observe. But through this numbness, fear dissipates. And for the first time in my life, I know that nothing can hurt me. 30. Rams -- 3-9 If you didn't watch this game, you didn't miss anything. What you would have seen was the Rams practice squad hanging tough for a good portion of the game (unsurprisingly on the back of Bobby Wagner this time) before giving it all away at the end with horrible defense. I fell asleep during the 3rd quarter and still didn't miss anything because I've already seen that happen several times this season. Next. 31. Broncos -- 3-9 The sun is obstinant. Do not make eye contact with the sun, you will only encourage it. Welcome to Broncos Country; I'm your rapidly aging correspondent, u/Alex_Demote. This morning, an ear-splitting howl emanated from the copse of Aspen behind the practice field. Those in the know will recall that Aspen trees employ a connected root system that sprouts and grows from underground, essentially meaning that an Aspen forest can be considered a single tree system. Those even further in the know will recognize the sound they made as they grabbed six of the Broncos practice squad players and dragged them underneath the soil to nourish their shared roots. Coach Hackett noted the occurrence at the podium this afternoon, stating that "those guys weren't going to make the team anyway" and "I bet those trees could block better than our O-Line." Today marks the fourth week of the sun's refusal to set. Dove Valley has not experienced a sunset in almost a month, and when asked for any potential reason for this, groundskeepers explained that sunsets are orange and blue - The sun god, they said, is a Broncos fan and has become so thoroughly disgusted by the team's performance that he has halted any further display of the team's colors on the evening sky until they, quote, "get it together, man." This item of today's Broncos Report is a reminder from the Dove Valley janitorial staff. They ask players to ensure they have taken their required medications prior to entering the facility in order to avoid any additional accidents. Earlier this week, K.J. Hamler reportedly forgot his dose and experienced an 'event' in the film room, resulting in the room becoming incorporeal. Management has run out of discretionary funds for correcting these accidents, leaving janitors to take the alternative route to their storage closet through the Bleeding room. This has been a major inconvenience for the staff, though one janitor remarked that running blindly across the gore-soaked carpet was helping him "get his steps in." Lastly, the game report: A life-force sacrifice was performed on fans during the game by two wide, acrid smelling men wearing only horse masks and orange singlets. This appeared to have no effect on the performance of either team or the outcome of the game. One of the horse-masked men addressed the newly anemic crowd, loudly proclaiming "Broncos Country, Curse Applied" but was met only with groans and quiet sobbing. That's all for this week from Dove Valley. Keep your eyes peeled for next week's special report, wherein yours truly will finally interview the Broncos' hotly contested next head coaching prospect, Vance Joseph. 32. Texans -- 1-10-1 No game has challenged my continued Texans fandom quite like the one from this past weekend. The Texans sucked, and that was expected. I, personally, can stomach awful play from a mediocre team (otherwise I wouldn't be a Texans fan). But to have to listen to announcers try to dance around the fact that they (and the fans) were really intrigued by the whole contrived situation of a rapist coming back to the team he'd abandoned, and then winning. It made me a little sick. All the photo ops with owners, all the happy signing of jerseys, everyone (except the fans who showed up to boo) really did just welcome Watson back as though nothing had happened. As though we hadn't heard and read the graphic testimony of what he'd done. It's really made me question why I continue to give my time and attention to this sport, and to the Texans org specifically. I hope others in Harris county are having the same thoughts, but I doubt it. We all have that thing that we can't really come back from, and I think this one is mine. Time to put the 'ol Arian Foster jersey in the attic I think. I think it's time to stop playing fantasy football, time to stop doing these rankings (after the season is over). I think this one was it for me, this was my bridge too far. And though my lack of time and attention will be less than a drop in an ocean of fandom, it will mean something to me. Congrats to the McNair family, Deshaun Watson, and the NFL organization in general, you've ruined professional football for one person at least. submitted by /u/NFLPowerRankers to r/nfl [link] [comments]

I AM NOT OOP This is a repost. The original was posted by u/throwRAaway263 on r/relationship_advice in October of 2020. The OOP hasnt posted since then. Please let me know if this has been posted before, I couldnt find this Update on BoRu so far. TW: Potential Animal Abuse _____________ Original Post I (23F) think my boyfriend (24M) of 3 years let my dog escape 5 months ago and wasn’t hoping he’d be found I apologize for the huge wall of text, but I’m very angry and upset right now and I don’t know who to ask about this because it’s 3 in the morning. Tl;dr at the bottom. 5 months ago, I was out shopping for groceries when I got a text from my boyfriend asking if I let my dog out before I left. I told him I didn’t and that he was asleep on the couch when I left and I’d appreciate if he let him out while he was over. He said of course and that was the end of the conversation until I got home. My apartment has a slider that leads out onto a small yard where my dog does his business. There’s one gate fence that leads out into the parking lot that has to be unlocked from the inside. When I came home, my boyfriend was in the kitchen waiting for me and said that my dog accidentally got out. He was very apologetic and said he opened the slider to let him out and somehow the gate was open and my dog ran out and he couldn’t catch him. I spent two months calling around to shelters, humane societies, rescues, animal control, putting up fliers, going to these places to look, asked my neighbors, I looked everywhere for him. I was heart broken and I basically haven’t stoped crying. My dog has never been one to run even if the gate was open, he loves to be around people and if his people are around, he stays put. I adopted him when he was 3 years old when I got an apartment and he’s my first dog I’m responsible for on my own, not a family dog. He’s now an older guy, going on 7, he doesn’t have it in him to run away. He knows he has it good and sees running away wouldn’t have any benefits. And beyond that, when I rescued him, he went through training and has very good recall! Not perfect, but he comes 8/10 when he’s called! And then two days ago I get a call from a vet hospital two hours away saying that they scanned a stray dog and found his microchip matched my information! I may have broken a few speed limits getting to him but he was there! My little man was at the freaking vet hospital! I cried and asked a thousand questions. He was found in that town wandering the day prior by an amazing woman who brought him to the vet. They said when he was dropped off, he didn’t have a collar on and they asked the woman and she said he was found as is. But he was a little malnourished and dehydrated so the vet put him on a drip and got some food into him and scanned him today when they opened. And then they found me! I was so overwhelmed and happy and couldn’t even start my car once I got in with him because I couldn’t stop crying for a good 10 minutes. I drove him home, gave him a bath, and called/texted everyone he was home safe! My boyfriend’s response was “Really? Cool 👍” Then he came over yesterday and obviously all I wanted to do was tell him what happened, but he didn’t even seem like he cared. He just nodded along as I talked. I asked him if something was wrong, but he said he was fine. My dog wouldn’t go near him which was weird considering my dog loved him before. I just figured he was scared to be home with other people at the moment and needed time to adjust. After my boyfriend left, I couldn’t help but start maybe overthinking which has led to this post. First: My dog wore a martingale collar with his tags on it and the collar had my information stitched into it. And he had his rabies tag, dog license, and an ID tag with his name, address, phone number, and said “I am microchipped!” For those that don’t know, martingale collars (the one I had on him) are not buckle or break away collars. They have to be physically tightened or loosened to be taken off. Not something my dog could have just slipped when he ran off. At least, not easily. (Don’t come for me for having this collar on him, I now know the risks but I didn’t at the time! He’s now wearing a break away collar!) Second: He won’t go near my boyfriend. My boyfriend did try to lean down and pet him when he came over yesterday and as soon as my dog noticed, he ran into my bedroom and didn’t leave until my boyfriend left. Yet, he’s said a very excitable hi to a few of his favorite neighbors, both male and female, young and older. Usually my dog would be walking over to my boyfriend and sitting by him until he acknowledges him with a few pets or a treat. Third: The gate. It’s a very rare occasion I use that gate. Usually I use my front door, walk down the hallway, and get the mail or leave my apartment that way through the lobby. I almost never go around the building because that means I have to open the door with my keys and it’s a longer route. I don’t remember even using it the week my dog went missing. It only opens from the inside. And I’ve never once before had an issue with it opening on its own. There’s no damage to it and you can bet I fiddled with it when he first went missing to see if it was broken or there was something wrong with it. Nothing was. It latched fine and closed fine. Forth: When my dog went missing, my boyfriend, now that I look back on it, wasn’t invested. When I made the first round of fliers to put up, he actually asked “Do you really think these will help?” Looking back, I don’t think he cared one way or another if my dog was found. Never once before did my boyfriend say anything negative about my dog. He was never overly affectionate or excited that I had a dog, but he would throw the ball and pet him when he came over. They were never best friends cuddling up on the couch, but my dog did see him as someone to play with and hang out with. Now I feel like I’m going crazy. I think I might be overthinking this? Maybe it was a freak accident and he just ran out the yard because it was open for some reason? Or the alternative is my boyfriend willingly let my dog leave the yard and somehow got him to go away. Because I know my dog and he would never just run unless he thought it was a game or something. Is this something I ask him about? How do I even bring this up? “Hey, um, did you make my dog run away?” Or is this just something I’m just over exaggerating in my head because I’m happy my dogs home but I’m looking for answers? tl;dr: My dog went missing 5 months ago from my yard when my boyfriend let him out and I found him two days ago. Now I think I might be overthinking that my boyfriend is the reason my dog ran away because the collar he was wearing isn’t one that a dog could easily get off but wasn’t found wearing it, my boyfriend was never very affectionate with my dog to begin with, the gate he apparently ran out of wasn’t even opened the week he went missing, and now that I look back on it, my boyfriend seemed like he didn’t care one way or another if my dog was found. 1st UPDATE: (provided in the same post) First off, thank you all for the support, I can’t express how much I appreciate it! I’m so freaking happy he’s home safe! I have not spoken to my boyfriend yet today about this, other than to ask if he was free tonight to talk. He is, so I’m going to talk to him tonight. I apologize for not replying to people, I’ve had a very busy morning. I’ll try to answer people as I go. I brought him to his usual vet to get checked out this morning. He’s still a little dehydrated and he needs to eat more food, but spread throughout the day. He’s lost weight and needs to get it back on. He’s also exhausted. Otherwise, except for a few scrapes and spots, he’s doing really good! To put into perspective how far away from home he was, I googled how far my apartment is from the vet office he was found, set it to a walking human speed, and it’s 34 hours away and 99.2 miles away. It may not seem far because of a car or any form of transportation, but for a dog, that’s a long ways to go. As for motives as to why he would do it, I don’t know. I really don’t. I got my dog a two months after I started dating my boyfriend, but we had been friends for a few months before and he knew I really wanted a dog. When I finally did get my dog, he wasn’t exactly happy about it. He was asking questions like “can you actually afford a dog? And an apartment? What about when you go to class and work?” He tried to convince me not to adopt him, but I was dead set on it. That said, he wasn’t the only one who was saying these things. My dad was very upset with me for getting a dog until I showed him my entire plan and expenses of it. And then he was fine with it. However, even though I said I was getting a dog and there were no issues about it, my boyfriend was still saying I was making a mistake. It took him a few weeks to finally get around to even play with him. I did speak to my landlord about any cameras in the area and he said that he would take a look, but he wasn’t sure if there was one facing near the yard to see if the gate really was open and my dog ran through. That being said, I’ve never had an issue with that gate for as long as I’ve lived here and no one ever uses it. If maintenance needs to come in, they go in through the front door. And if they needed to be in the yard, they would alert me to let me know they needed, again, to go through my apartment to get there. They don’t use the gates to any of the first floor apartments. I will update when I have more information, but this is all I have right now, I’m sorry it’s not exactly exciting. And just a reminder: please, please microchip your animals if you can! And give them some love! I made a new post with an update. I apologize for not adding it here, this was getting long and I thought it would be easier for people. _____________ 2nd Update (Removed but preserved in the comments) UPDATE: I (23F) think my boyfriend (24M) of 3 years let my dog escape 5 months ago and wasn’t hoping he’d be found I apologize for my silence since my last update. I appreciate the well-wishes and those who were checking in on me. It’s been a rough few days and I honestly just feel drained and didn’t have it in me to say anything to anyone, I just wanted to be here with Remy. I talked to my now ex-boyfriend Friday night. I asked again how Remy got out. His story didn’t change, he let him out through the slider into the yard, and Remy ran through the gate that my ex didn’t notice was open. He chased him through the parking lot, but Remy got away and he couldn’t catch him. And then he went back to my apartment to wait for me. I asked why he didn’t keep looking and he got defensive and asked why I was bringing this up. I laid out every issue I had with his story: the collar, where he was found, the gate somehow being open, how he didn’t want me to get Remy in the first place, how Remy wouldn’t go near him the other night, how he didn’t want to help me find him when Remy first went missing, trying to tell me it wouldn't help to look for him, and didn’t seem to care when I brought him home. We started arguing about it and he kept saying the gate was open and he must have just gotten lost on his way home. He was adamant he didn’t have anything to do with Remy running away, saying it was just a freak accident. I didn’t believe him and I still don’t. I told him the trust between us was gone. The fact that he wasn’t there trying to help me when it was his fault Remy got out and that I had to practically beg him to help me look for him. I broke up with him, telling him that even if he didn’t have something to do with Remy going missing, he wasn’t there to be supportive and we just weren’t working and it was better now that we ended it. And I should've seen this before, I knew there were issues and I didn’t want to acknowledge them or see them and there’s no one to blame for that but me. My landlord talked to me Sunday about the camera. Outside my gate is part of the parking lot that wraps around to the back of the building where other residents park. There’s a camera that faces the entrance where the cars come in parallel to the residents’ yards, where my ex said they ran through. My landlord didn’t see Remy running or my ex chasing him on the tape the day he went missing. I’m not saying it’s definitive proof. Could they both have somehow ran in the blind spot of the camera? I don’t know, I didn't see the tape. It's anyone’s guess at this point. But I’m going with my instinct here. I got a few common questions and I just wanted to address them here: I was gone for maybe 45-50 minutes after he sent me the text about letting Remy out the day he went missing. My ex was at my apartment because we were going to cook dinner together for date night. We did not live together. He didn’t usually ask if I let Remy out, but he knew I had a few things to do that day and had been in and out of the apartment. Remy had been home alone for a few hours already and went out about an hour before I left to shop so he probably needed to pee by the time my ex got there after work. I don’t know what happened to Remy for those 5 months. I don’t know if he was dropped off with a new owner or someone left food out for him and that’s how he’s in relatively good shape. Did my ex hurt Remy to make him run away or drop him off somewhere? Did nothing happen and my ex just startle him awake which is why he ran away and hid from him the other night? I don’t know. But I wasn’t about to put my dog back in that situation in case he is legitimately now terrified of my ex. That’s not an answer I need. And for those of you who decided to inbox me and say I’m personifying my dog and that I’m an idiot for thinking he wouldn’t run away or that there’s hundreds of other possibilities and I’m crazy for blaming my ex? Yeah, maybe I am. Maybe I’m reading too much into the fact that my dog, who used to run up and demand to be pet, barked at my ex, backed up to the end of the couch and then ran away from him, and hid in my bedroom the entire time he was here. Maybe it was just a coincidence that this totally new behavior, in an almost 7-year-old dog, that didn’t have an issue with anyone else he saw after coming home, was just that, a coincidence. Maybe I am a “nut case” or a “crazy dog person” for “ruining my relationship over a fucking dog.” But either way, I’m happy my dog’s home safe with me. TL;DR: I broke up with my boyfriend when we talked. He denied everything which wasn’t unexpected. My landlord checked the cameras and the one that is facing parallel to my yard doesn’t show Remy or my ex on it the day he went missing which doesn’t go with my ex’s story. Not definitive proof, but makes me more suspicious. PS: Please microchip your animals if you can, it's so important. _____________ Reminder: I AM NOT OOP!! Note: I personally think that OOP had every reason to suspect her BF of letting the dog run away. I just cant believe cruel people like this exist. submitted by /u/Puzzleheaded_Rate_12 to r/BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]

My father, who loved so much, recently passed. It was hard on both me and my mother, it damn near killed her. He was 75 when he passed away, and my mother is now 70 so she’s too old to go through his things herself. She’s also disabled, hasn’t been able to walk since the age of 62. so as the only child, and really only contact with the world I decided to take it upon myself. It was a big task, sure, but I thought maybe going through his things would be one last way to bond with him. I begin sorting through dusty boxes, figuring out what should be kept, what should be thrown out and what should be donated. It’s pretty cool to see all the vintage, antique things from decades past that my parents kept with them throughout the years. As I move things around, I come across an old trunk with a lock on it. This isn’t surprising because my parents have always been somewhat secretive. I grab and inspect the lock, it’s old and rusted, I bet with a good wack if a hammer it could come off. I could have taken the time to hunt for a key, but god knows dad would hide something like that in a place where no one would ever find it. Plus truthfully, I wasn’t in the mood for a scavenger hunt. I dig around and find my dads old tool set and grab the heaviest hammer I have and bust the old lock off. I sift through the contents of the trunk, video tapes, a baby book, some old clothes that my mother probably wore in the 80s, and some other things that didn’t really catch my eye. I was very interested in the VHS tapes. I pick a tape up and read the label “Evan’s birthday. ‘88.” I smile and chuckle to myself. I remember they always had that old video camera out. He always said he loved to relive his best moments over and over. I decide to take a few of the tapes to the Tv in my dads office just below. I’m glad he never listened to me when I told him to toss out that old VHS player. I pop the black tape into the player and turn my focus to the distorted video, slowly sorting itself out on the screen. There I am, just two years old splashing in a little puddle at a park in my tiny blue rain boots, my mother is holding my hand and laughing, and you can hear my father say “big jump” every time I splash in the puddle. My mother lovingly tussles my dark brown hair. Just a serene moment of time captured on this tape like a firefly in a mason jar. I smile to myself remembering my dad and hearing his voice. It didn’t sound how it did before he passed. Less raspy, and more energy, but none the less that’s dad alright. I sit and smile at the screen, and im then snatched out of the moment when I see something that doesn’t fit quite right. Off in the distance of the park about 100 yards away maybe less. Out by the tree line, there’s a woman facing away from the camera, just standing still all by herself. Her long black hair clings to her emaciated form and her skin looks pale, at least from what I can make out. It seems like she doesn’t have any clothes on but some beige under garments. My dad zooms in on the big smile my mother had on her face, and when he zoomed back out to show the entire landscape again, the woman was gone. “Ew what a freak.” I mutter to myself as I push the eject button. I look through my options and I next choose the one labeled ‘Fourth of July ‘89’ Fourth of July was always one of my favorite holidays. I insert the tape and as the image adjusts itself, I’m met with a moment swear I almost remember. It’s me and my paternal grandma. I’m sitting on her lap, and she’s helping me eat some steamed clams. Those were my favorite food on earth at the time I recall. I remember I could eat piles and piles of them. I found it comforting that my dad and grandma got to be together now. I watch as she wiped the stream of melted butter that dripped from my mouth as I chewed, reveling in the bliss of care free child life. My dad pans the camera around at the party shooting my grandparents huge yard. the hustle and bustle of the extravagant cookouts they had all summer long, kids running with sparklers, adults talking while eating their grilled meats, and their big glorious home they were always so proud of. The perfect life, my grandparents were the embodiment of perfection. It’s probably why my parents strived for it so hard as well. As my dad pans the scenery, I get a sense of dread when the shot passes the sliding glass window. “No fucking way.” I mutter to myself as I lurch forward and slam the rewind button. The scene backs up to the window and I hit pause. She’s there again, inside the house this time. The same woman with the black hair, facing away from the camera and leaning against the sliding glass door. She’s closer this time, maybe 20 yards or so. Standing perfectly still. Almost like a statue. The weirdest part is no one acknowledges her. They act as if she’s supposed to e there and fits right in, or as if she isn’t even there at all. Something about this gives me a feeling I can’t shake, like a fight or flight. I take the tape out and grab the one closest to me. “Easter ‘91” I put it in and quickly press play as I feel sweat beginning to coat my palms. The scene opens to me in my Sunday best with my candy in a basket, though this time I’m not so interested in reminiscing as I am in looking for this woman. And without fail, there she is. She’s right outside the dining room window, still facing away. She’s close enough now that I can see she’s soaked to the bone. And her arms are bent at an unnatural angle, so that her palms are behind her, pressed against the glass, and her fingers are bent as if she were trying to claw through with her nails. As the scene moves around her, with my mother helping me open a piece of chocolate, and little our family dog running around hoping for scraps, she just stands there. Still like a photograph. My breathing quickens and i grab the last of the tapes i grabbed, “Christmas 91’” it says. I take a deep inhale and carefully put the last tape in. The scene comes up on the screen and it’s how I always remembered our Christmases. The tree in the corner of the living room, the slightly dim bit warm lighting of our lamp reflects so beautifully off the ornaments in the wee hours in the morning. I watch as my past self opens presents and holds them up with glee. My mom stands next to me in her fuzzy pink robe, blonde hair still in rollers, holding her coffee And watching my excitement. I sigh a breath of relief not seeing that wretched woman. But just then, my heart skips and my breath gets caught in my throat. There she is, I see her. In the corner just behind the tree. Standing there, facing away from the camera again. She’s just feet away from me this time. I watch this woman in paralyzing terror, almost completely blocking out the joy of Christmas Day going on around her. I can feel the anger and evil radiating off of her from the video. Standing there, unnoticed in a scene where she doesn’t belong. Then I notice movement. She’s painstakingly slowly turning her head. Just before I get a glimpse of her face, I push the eject button so hard that it nearly knocks the VHS tape off the shelf. I cannot catch my breath and my body is numb. Something about this feels so wrong, terrible, heartbreaking and evil at the same time. When I’m able to feel my legs. I grab the tapes and run back to the attic. I dig through the box some more. There has to be answers in here. Who is that woman? Why is she always around? There a tape, one in particular I feel drawn to. I hesitantly pick it up and take it down stairs. I walk to the VHS player and read the label one last time. “Evans birth.” I take a deep breath in and gently place in the video. The scenery before me is my mother holding me as a baby, swaddled and serene. they’re at home, I recognize the bathroom from my childhood house. This must be after they brought me back. After a few seconds the tape ends. It must have been watched and not rewinded. I rewind the tape, unable to look at the screen until it’s at the beginning. “It’s time, John.” My mother says to the camera with a warm grin as the tape starts. “I can’t believe it’s finally here. Our baby boy is going to come home.” He says from behind the image. You can hear the giddiness in his soul escape through his words. My mother begins walking up stairs. Her full body comes into view I’m taken aback by how thin she is. My mother says she hardly showed when she was pregnant with me but she looks as thin as I always remember her being. As they both get up the stairs, she gives my dad a kiss and he says “after you.” With a chuckle and you can see his hand gesture towards the door. She opens it slowly, and nothing could prepare me for the scene ahead. In the bathtub there’s a woman, she’s sickly pale. Her face is black and blue with bruising and she’s undressed except for those beige bra and panties. I can see that her face is the only area with injury, but it looked horrible. Her nose is purple and crooked, From what i can see if her lips beyond the gag they look cracked and swollen. She’s quietly groaning in pain. Her arms are underneath her body, they seem stuck there. You can see the water is pink with blood, and worst of all, she’s heavily pregnant. “It’s time Emily, he’s coming.” My mother says to the woman. You can see the woman begin to sob as she shakes her head quickly, and you can hear her saying “uh uh. Uh uh!” From behind the gag covering her mouth. I for some reason am unable to turn my head from the horror on screen, no matter how bad I try to look away. It’s as if my eyes are magnetized to the screen. My mind is screaming at me to shut it off, but I can’t. Out from my mothers waist band, she pulls out a large carving knife. “Be careful Maryann.” My father warns her. You can hear the smile on his face in the way he speaks. “Don’t worry John. Protecting our baby it’s of the utmost importance. He’s going to be absolutely perfect.” She says while tracing the edge of the blade with her finger. She then places one hand over the woman’s mouth, and says to her “thank you for this Emily, it’s the right thing. We can give this baby the life he deserves. One someone like you never could.” And before I knew what was happening, she slowly and methodically begins cutting at the woman’s abdomen. A thin red line opens and blood spills out as my mother cuts across this womans belly. She screams and writhes in pain. “Should we shut her up?” My dad asks my mom. “Why bother? The closest neighbors are a mile away and what are the odds someone will be walking outside in February?” She says nonchalantly with a shrug. God I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. The woman is crying and screaming, or at least trying. Between the gag and my mothers tight grip hardly any noise is getting through. The knife cut through her skin like hot butter. My mother was so focused on her task, that the woman crying and rolling around to get away hardly phased her attention. She started to roll onto her side and my mother smacked her in the face. “Knock it off. Do you want me to hurt this baby? If he get cut that’s on you.” As my mother cuts through the next layer, and let’s to go the woman’s face to reach around inside. You can hear the sickening squelch as her arms move around. the woman screams louder and smashes her head on the tile, hard. Maybe to put herself out of her own misery. It didn’t work, however. She’s still alive, but her screams of anguish become more and more lulled and become a weak groan, but you can see crimson blood on the white tile where her skull made contact. “There he is.” I hear my mother say in the tape, it draws my attention back to her. From the abdomen of this woman, my mother pulls a baby. Blood covers my mothers arms up to her elbows. In her stained arm is A little boy, lightly crying. “We agreed on Evan, right? After my dad?” My father asks, of course honey. My mom says as she washes the gore off the baby and her own arms in the sink. She then wraps me up in a little blue blanket. “What are we to do with her?” My father asks pointing the camera at the weak, disemboweled woman. She’s looking in the direction of the camera, but she looks so out of it she probably can’t see anything anymore. Her eyes look bloodshot and empty. My mother looks at her and with a tsk tsk tsk as she thinks. “There’s no point in her suffering more.” She says. She hands me off to my dad just then she walks to the woman, and pushes her head under water, face down. You can see the woman struggling the best she can, but due to blood loss she had no strength and quickly succumbed to her water grave. Left to drown in a pool of her own bodily fluids. My mother then takes me back from my dad and holds me for the camera, and kissing my head. showing me the scene I was greeted with when I put the tape in. I sit there for a moment. My breathing ragged and my body feels frozen. There’s no way this isn’t a prank. I want to move but I can’t. I look up at the black screen to see my own reflection. I look pale, and then I see her. Just behind me. That woman, lurking right over my shoulder, illuminated by the dim light of the table lamp. I quickly turn around and see nothing there. I run upstairs as fast as I can and sift through the box once again. My baby book. I open it and I am greeted with posed photos of my mother, who appears to be pregnant at, and photos of myself as an infant. There’s a photo of my mother and several other pregnant women labeled ‘birthing class’ I flip the page, a piece of hair from my first hair cut, a stamp of my foot print. I turn the page again and was shocked by what I found. News paper clippings. “Young, expecting, Fresno woman still missing.” The headline read. Emily Jean, 19, went missing from Fresno California in September of last year. She would be 6 months pregnant by now. Was reported to be last seen hitchhiking on the side of the interstate. Her whereabouts are unknown. Her family begs her to call home, if she is able and is offering a 25,000 reward for her safe return. Underneath there was a photo of this young woman, and I see my own green eyes looking back at me from her, and the same nose I’ve always hated. She had my dark Brown hair I remember I thought it was odd because neither of my parents had it. My mother, or the woman whom i thought was my mother had told me her parents had my color, they passed before I was born so how would I know. I feel the knot in my stomach tighten and I turn the page. The headline read “Body of missing woman Emily Jean, found in local pond” emily Jean, 19, who had been missing since September, remains have been found this Monday. Her body was heavily. Fresno PD says they have no comments at this time. My heart has never pounded so hard. I can feel sweat dripping from my forehead. Is this woman my mother? Are my parents killers? Do I turn her in? My mind is racing over this situation that feels like a fever dream. It doesn’t feel like real life. I feel like my heart could give out at any second. How could my parents be such monsters. My racing mind is interrupted by the quick, heavy thuds of running up the stairs. “You weren’t supposed to see that, Evan.” I hear an old creaky voice from behind me. I turn around, and there, is the woman who I had been told is my mother, standing in the doorframe backlit by the hall light. As far as I knew she couldn’t stand, let alone speed run up the stairs. And worst of all In her hand, she held the carving knife from the old home videos. submitted by /u/Mrs_steaks to r/nosleep [link] [comments]

This happened when I was 13 or 14. I don't remember specifically my age on this one since it stretched out over a good number of months. But I do remember it was one of the dumbest things EMB tried as a power play with neighbors. As many of you know my mother EMB loved nothing more than to lord herself over others. And then acted like you were the bad person for not doing as she says. When I was a teenager EMB started a small feud with some next door neighbors. The same neighbors who enthusiastically let me put gnomes in their trees. Now you'll know why. This all started when the neighbor had guests for a party and several cars filled the street. Some weren't properly parked, so EMB secretly called a tow service. If I recall one car was parked next to a fire hydrant, and a couple others were too far from the curb or something. The two trucks came in and started hooking up cars. Somebody in the party saw this and flipped out. And one person nearly got in a fight with one of the tow drivers. In the end the trucks let their cars go for a fee and made them move their vehicles somewhere else. The neighbor's party was ruined and they packed it up. They knew it was EMB who called them because she was dumb enough to gloat about it. Then said if she saw any illegally parked cars on the street, she'd have them towed no matter what time of day or night it was. From then on it was war. They exchanged a few petty things back and forth. EMB still tried to quote old HOA stuff regarding parking even though the HOA was a decade dead. The neighbors responded playing the most obnoxious music they had really loudly, which made EMB go nuts while she was trying to watch TV. EMB countered by throwing spoiled leftover food out of the fridge to their dog. And the dog got sick for a few days. The neighbors responded by spraying EMB full blast with a super soaker right in the face when she was caught trying to feed the dog more bad food. That knocked her off the fence and she fell right on her ass in the grass. EMB threatened to call police, they countered by threatening a lawsuit for her making their dog sick. EMB wanted to slash the tires on the neighbor's car and was actually looking for a knife she could use to do it. I knew this wasn't gonna end well and got my dad on the phone. He told her that if she did slash any tires, then she'd be paying for the new tires on the neighbor's car and any other vandalism she does. EMB fumed and called my dad unsupportive of her feelings before plopping herself down on the couch to brood. She hated losing at anything, no matter how petty it was. Unless the thing she was losing at was something she just didn't care about. The war with the neighbors seemed to end apart from some insults traded back and forth here and there. Until one day EMB slipped up. She parked in one of those spots in a parking lot that's not actually a spot. But rather a no parking zone right next to the handicap spaces with the diagonal yellow lines. Well a friend of our neighbor's worked at that store back then. And he recognized EMB when she pulled in because he visited often, and yes, his car was one of the ones that was nearly carted off by a tow truck on the party day. He should have told her not to park there. Instead he just waited for her to enter the store. Then he radioed his manager. They had a virtually zero tolerance policy regarding that space because people kept trying to park there. Anything from sub-compacts to big trucks would get parked there by idiot drivers like once a week,. (Or so I was told) So they kept watch over that spot like a hawk daily. A cop was called in and they ticketed EMB's car, then it was towed because it was considered an obstruction. EMB came out just in time with a cart load of groceries to see them hauling her car away. I wasn't there to see this. But the neighbor's friend told me she screamed like a maniac, then (You guessed it) demanded the manager. But the manager was already there and told her no parking was allowed in that zone at any time. EMB threw a huge fit and said it was an unused space, and people should be able to use it for quick run-ins. But it wasn't a quick stop at the store, she was in there for like an hour. And there was CCTV to prove it. Either way the manager said that it didn't matter. You park there for any amount of time and you'll be ticketed and possibly towed too. EMB had to back down under threat of arrest by the police that were there. And since her car was gone, she had to take a cab home. Later that evening my dad roasted her like a Cornish game hen for the illegal parking. I heard him call her a hypocrite for thinking she can park however she wants and other people can't. Dad also made sure EMB paid to get her car out of impound entirely on her own. Again she was a cheapskate, so this irked her to no end. The neighbors were waiting on their front porch when EMB brought her car home. Someone tipped them off that she was heading home. (I wonder who did that?) They laughed at her that now she was the one getting towed for illegal parking. EMB just about stormed their house. But they had that super soaker at the ready again. EMB yelled that she'd get them back for that. And they laughed and said they didn't do anything, and it was just her comeuppance for getting their friends towed. Then they laughed at her for being the HOA Boss Wannabe who couldn't even follow basic parking rules when she expect everyone else to. EMB nearly had a meltdown until my sister came outside and asked what was wrong. EMB played it off, then went to go pound a bottle of wine. That basically ended the war she had with those neighbors. But their relationship was and still is far from amicable. This also wasn't the last time EMB was ticketed and towed for bad parking. My sister told me she was ticketed at the same store for parking across two spaces almost sideways. Apparently it was a Sunday and the parking lot was almost empty. So she thought she could get away with it. But the manager and cops had other ideas. submitted by /u/Kragle-Tom to r/entitledparents [link] [comments]

Welcome, dear readers, to my coronavirus roundup. I'm posting these every Friday in addition to Lost in the Sauce on Mondays (for non-coronavirus news). The previous coronavirus response edition can be found here. The title refers to the sections below titled "McConnell the Grim Reaper" and "Forced reopening." TLDR pinned at top of comments. Housekeeping: HOW TO SUPPORT: I know we are all facing unprecedented financial hardships right now. If you are in the position to support my work, I have a patreon, venmo, and a paypal set up. No pressure though, I will keep posting these pieces no matter what. NOTIFICATIONS: You can signup to receive notifications when these coronavirus-centric posts are done and/or the weekly political-legal posts (Lost in the Sauce) are done. The lost months The WHO was prepared Contradicting Trump’s recent criticism of the World Health Organization (WHO) - saying they “minimized the threat” and “could have called it months earlier” - the Washington Post reported that Americans working with WHO provided real-time information about the virus when it first emerged last year: More than a dozen U.S. researchers, physicians and public health experts, many of them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were working full time at the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization as the novel coronavirus emerged late last year and transmitted real-time information about its discovery and spread in China to the Trump administration, according to U.S. and international officials. A number of CDC staff members are regularly detailed to work at the WHO in Geneva as part of a rotation that has operated for years. Senior Trump-appointed health officials also consulted regularly at the highest levels with the WHO as the crisis unfolded, the officials said. ...Caitlin B. Oakley, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed that in January, HHS had 17 staff members, including 16 from the CDC, at the WHO, “working on a variety of programs, including covid-19 and Ebola.” Not only did the Trump administration have insiders within WHO, the chief of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, held near-daily media briefings on the virus starting on Jan. 22, warning the world to take the threat seriously. Every day he repeated a mantra: “We have a window of opportunity to stop this virus. But that window is rapidly closing.” But a close look at the record shows that the W.H.O. acted with greater foresight and speed than many national governments, and more than it had shown in previous epidemics. And while it made mistakes, there is little evidence that the W.H.O. is responsible for the disasters that have unfolded in Europe and then the United States. (NYT) Further reading: “Why Trump Deserves More Blame for the U.S. Coronavirus Crisis Than the WHO or China,” an interview by NY Mag with Jeremy Konyndyk, a policy fellow at the Center for Global Development who previously served as the director of USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance Azar’s missteps Conflicting reporting has emerged about the role Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar played in the early days of the coronavirus spread in the U.S. Previously, the New York Times reported that Azar directly warned President Trump of the possibility of a pandemic two different times in January, but Trump dismissed his concerns as “alarmist.” This past week, the Wall Street Journal has painted a different picture of Azar’s performance: ...interviews with more than two dozen administration officials and others involved in the government’s coronavirus effort show that Mr. Azar waited for weeks to brief the president on the threat, oversold his agency’s progress in the early days and didn’t coordinate effectively across the health-care divisions under his purview. This matches public statements Azar made at the time, such as a Jan. 21 appearance on Fox News when he bragged about the botched CDC test and assured viewers that America had “a playbook” for responding to pandemics. It would take the CDC and FDA (both under Azar’s purview) five and half weeks to fix the test kits and begin distributing them around the country. Shortly after that appearance, Azar hired “a trusted aide with minimal public health experience to lead the agency’s day-to-day response to COVID-19.” That aide, Brian Harrison, worked as a dog breeder for six years before joining HHS. Five sources say some officials in the White House derisively called him “the dog breeder.” The following month, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, publicly announced that the CDC was preparing for a pandemic to spread through communities in the U.S. Trump threatened to fire her in response. On Feb. 25, Nancy Messonnier, a CDC official, said the agency was preparing for a potential pandemic and that community spread of the virus was likely. The stock market plunged. At a media briefing later that day, Mr. Azar sought to quell concerns, saying the virus was “contained.” But it was too late. A furious Mr. Trump, flying back to Washington from India, called Mr. Azar and threatened to oust Dr. Messonnier. The next day, the president announced he was putting Vice President Pence in charge of the federal response—news Mr. Azar learned a few hours before the announcement. (emphasis mine) Who is Trump listening to? The Washington Post reports that an internal White House "Covid Mail" email exists to receive queries and suggestions from "friends and family" as well as random individuals who have reached out to administration officials. Some inside the administration have privately worried these missives receive priority over expert advice. Vaccine chief removed Dr. Rick Bright, director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), announced (non-paywalled) that he was removed from his position leading the development of a coronavirus vaccine for opposing the administration’s push to use hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. “I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit,” he said in his statement. “I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way.” Following Bright’s statement, five current and former administration officials came forward to accuse him of mismanagement of his office and failing to consult with his superiors on important decisions. These sources report that Bright’s ouster was over a year in the making. Attorneys for Bright intend to file a whistleblower complaint with the Office of Special Counsel and the HHS Inspector General alleging retaliatory treatment by “HHS political leadership.” Rep. Anna Eshoo, the chairwoman of the House's Health subcommittee, plans to call in Dr. Rick Bright to testify before her panel: “"I think the American people deserve to hear Dr. Bright's story.” Eshoo said she also wants to call Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Bob Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response, to testify. Hydroxychloroquine After weeks of pushing anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19, both Trump and conservative media have suddenly gone silent on the matter. From March 23 to April 6, Fox News personalities and guests mentioned hydroxychloroquine nearly 300 times. But that's changed in recent days. Media Matters found that between April 16 to April 20 mentions of the drug dropped 77% compared to the previous five-day period. In the past two weeks, numerous studies have been published that indicate the drug is not only ineffective for treating the virus, it is also dangerous. A study of 368 male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at Veterans Health Administration medical centers determined that patients treated with hydroxychloroquine received no health benefits. Additionally, there were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care. A panel of National Institutes of Health experts released new treatment guidelines advising medical personnel that hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin should not be used to treat COVID-19. A French study reviewed the medical records of COVID-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and compared their outcomes to those not treated with the drug. The team concluded that hydroxychloroquine didn't help hospitalized patients with coronavirus and was associated with heart complications. Earlier this month, a Brazil study was halted after 11 patients died of fatal arrhythmias or heart muscle damage resulting from a high chloroquine dosage. Yesterday, when asked why he stopped promoting hydroxychloroquine, Trump falsely claimed that he “hasn’t at all.” The president continued: “We had some very good results and some results that perhaps aren’t so good, I don’t know.” Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker pressed him on if he has looked at the VA study showing more deaths occurred in patients treated with the drug, to which Trump responded that he has not seen it. (video) More details from inside Trump’s hydroxychloroquine push The night of April 4, following a briefing in which Trump touted the government’s collection of “millions and millions of doses” of hydroxychloroquine, a Trump official summarized a White House call in the following email: “WH call. Really want to flood Ny and NJ with treatment courses. Hospitals have it. Sick out patients don’t. And can’t get. So go through distribution channels as we discussed. If we have 29 million perhaps send a few million ASAP? WH wants follow up in AM. We can get a lot more of this. Right Bob? Millions per week?” In other words, ignoring expert advice, administration officials were willing to “flood”New York and New Jersey with a dangerous, unproven drug. By the way, that email was sent by Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, who is in charge of coronavirus testing in the country. He has been at many briefings, here is a picture of him. Giroir claims he is the right person for the job because he has extensive experience working on vaccine development projects at Texas A&M University. However, Giroir was essentially fired from the position in 2015 - told he had to resign immediately or be terminated. His annual performance evaluation at Texas A&M, the local newspaper reported, said he was “more interested in promoting yourself” than the health science center where he worked. He got low marks on being a “team player.” ...Robin Robinson, who as the director of the federal Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority oversaw a major grant for the Texas vaccine project, said in an interview that Giroir “over-promised and under-delivered.” He said, “I always had a good relationship with Brett. I know he has a temper and he sometimes has a very difficult time controlling it.” Trump’s new miracle cure is more likely to kill you In yesterday’s rally coronavirus task force briefing, Trump suggested that “we hit the body with a tremendous…ultraviolet or just a very powerful light” to treat COVID-19. The president asked HHS official Bill Bryan to test it, then went on to posit that HHS should also tes introducing “the light inside the body - which you can do, either through the skin or in some other way.” “Then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute...and is there a way we can do something like that? By injection inside or-or almost a cleaning because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it’d be interesting to check that.” (video) Fact check: FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on CNN: “I certainly wouldn’t recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant.” Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and global health policy expert, told NBC News: "This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible, and it's dangerous… even in small amounts. Small amounts are deadly.” Trump’s suggestion followed a presentation by Bryan in which he spoke about an “emerging result” from HHS’s research tha UV light, heat, and humidity could have a detrimental effect on the virus on surfaces and in the air. In other words, to disinfect a living or working environment, not for use in or on living beings. However, even HHS’s research has been criticized: Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University: “Everything that this scientist talked about from Homeland Security was basically incoherent, nonsensical, not really supported by evidence and really quite contrary to a lot of things we do know,” Redlener said. Finishing out the unproven and dangerous pseudoscience segment, Trump offered a disclaimer: “I’m not a doctor. I’m like a person who has a good you-know-what.” Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker pushed back. “Respectfully, sir, you’re the president, and people tuning into the briefings, they want to get information and guidance and want to know what to do. They’re not looking for rumor.” “Hey Phil,” Trump replied. “I’m the president and you’re fake news.” (video) Leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus 'cure' wrote to Trump this week The leader of the most prominent group in the US peddling potentially lethal industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for coronavirus wrote to Donald Trump at the White House this week In his letter, Mark Grenon told Trump that chlorine dioxide – a powerful bleach used in industrial processes such as textile manufacturing that can have fatal side-effects when drunk – is “a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body”. He added that it “can rid the body of Covid-19”. A few days after Grenon dispatched his letter, Trump went on national TV at his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House on Thursday and promoted the idea that disinfectant could be used as a treatment for the virus. (Guardian) McConnell the Grim Reaper As Trump tweets calls to “liberate” states run by Democratic governors, Sen. Mitch McConnell has refused to assist states and local governments with additional funding. During an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday, McConnell said he wants states to declare bankruptcy rather than receive federal assistance for coronavirus expenses and shortfalls. "I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of," McConnell said. His comments faced bipartisan backlash, with Republican Rep. Pete King of New York deriding McConnell as the “Marie Antoinette of the Senate.” McConnell didn’t stop there, however. Shortly after the interview, his office released a statement calling for an end to “blue state bailouts.” In response, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo accurately captured the facts of the situation: ”This is one of the really dumb ideas of all time. ...how do you not fund police, and fire, and teachers, and schools in the midst of this crisis? ...If there was ever a time for you to put aside your pettiness and your partisanship and this political lens that you see the world through - Democrat and Republican, and we help Republicans but we don’t help Democrats - now is the time. (video) In another clip, Cuomo pointed out that red states are more federally dependent than blue states: "New York puts in more money into the federal pot than it takes out. His state takes out more than it puts in. Sen. McConnell, who's getting bailed out here? It's your state that is living on the money that we generate. Your state is getting bailed out. Not my state." "Forced" reopening McConnell’s statements have provided a fuller picture of the Trump administration’s strategy to “reopen” the country - no matter the cost. Tactic 1: Task force to reopen the country filled with prominent business leaders to pressure governors to lift mitigation measures. Tactic 2: Mobilization of protests to give the appearance of a public revolting against mitigation measures. Tactic 3: Starve the states into reopening. Politico reports that the White House opposes aid to states because it believes “if Congress keeps cutting checks for state and local governments, they will be disincentivized to open up their economies.” As we know, the president cannot order states to magicall “reopen,” but he can fiscally “starve” states into doing so. McConnell and other Republican lawmakers will be key to this strategy’s success. As a key corollary to the three-prong strategy, Trump can shift blame for an increase in sickness and death to the task force, to Republicans in Congress, and to the governors. NY Mag outlined this plan in more detail. How to reopen Until a vaccine or another protective measure emerges, there is no scenario, epidemiologists agreed, in which it is safe for that many people to suddenly come out of hiding. If Americans pour back out in force, all will appear quiet for perhaps three weeks. Then the emergency rooms will get busy again. ...The next two years will proceed in fits and starts, experts said. As more immune people get back to work, more of the economy will recover. But if too many people get infected at once, new lockdowns will become inevitable. To avoid that, widespread testing will be imperative. (NYT) Experts agree that the U.S. cannot open until we have tripled the number of tests performed each day. Regardless of Trump’s false boast that “we’ve tested more than every other country in the world even put together” (video), the facts are that the U.S. is far behind the per capita testing rates of other nations. National Governors Association: "Currently, the U.S. is able to test approximately 12.1 per 1,000 people. Germany has tested 20.9 per 1,000 people, Italy is testing 23.6 per 1,000, and Iceland is testing 125.6 per 1,000." At the end of last week, VP Mike Pence and members of the coronavirus task force held a call with Senate Democrats that exploded onto social media. A source on the call said “almost every question is about testing and Dems not getting answers.” The normally mild-mannered Senator Angus King (I-Maine) called the lack of answers a “dereliction of duty,” adding “I have never been so mad about a phone call in my life.” The call reportedly ended with Senators Schumer and Kaine asking Pence why the president was trying to incite division by tweeting “LIBERATE” Virginia, Minnesota, and Michigan. Pence defended Trump’s right to communicate with the people as he always has. When asked about Sen. King’s recollection of the phone call, Trump said: “He’s not an independent, okay. Angus King is worse than any Democrat… that was totally staged.” (video) Reminder: On March 21, the administration claimed that by the end of March “well over 28 million” tests would be available. In reality, it is nearing the end of April and Pence brags about 4 million tests having been conducted overall. Other danger in reopening Not only will reopening states too early put lives at danger, it will also push people afraid to work off unemployment, making them choose between their lives or their livelihood. The Department of Labor’s website explicitly states that “voluntarily deciding to quit your job out of a general concern about exposure to COVID-19 does not make you eligible for [Pandemic Unemployment Assistance].” A Department of Labor spokesperson confirmed to VICE that employees cannot continue to collect pandemic unemployment insurance if they refuse to “return to work out of general safety concerns.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) confirmed this is a major concern: “Republican governors are casting public health aside and forcing their states to ‘reopen’. The effects of these reckless decisions will trickle down to vulnerable workers, making them ineligible for pandemic unemployment assistance even though businesses may remain closed and customers may stay home because they’re afraid of getting sick. Everyone wants to find a new normal and get back to our lives, but pretending the crisis is over when it’s not over will make it much harder to contain the virus and for workers to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.” When asked about the danger of employees and customers catching coronavirus from returning to work too early, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said he’s not worried about it but companies should not be held responsible for any sickness and/or death: “Businesses, particularly small businesses that don’t have massive resources, should not be held liable — should not be held to trial lawyers putting on false lawsuits that will probably be thrown out of court,” Kudlow told CNBC. “You have to give the businesses some confidence here that if something happens, and it may not be their fault — I mean, the disease is an infectious disease.” More supply problems Trump and the coronavirus task force have spent weeks avoiding responsibility for medical supply shortages by saying it is up to hospitals and governors to obtain the equipment on their own. Behind the scenes, however, the federal government has been seizing orders placed by local entities, stymying attempts to protect their frontline workers. I have covered these seizures in previous editions of this newsletter. To save time and space, I won’t recount those again. The following are instances of seizures and general difficulties obtaining medical supplies that we learned of in the past week: USA Today: George Gianforcaro, owner of Delaware-based Indutex USA, told the Daily News that the Federal Emergency Management Agency confiscated 400,000 masks in two imported shipments meant for his U.S. customers. He said the masks, which arrived in separate shipments on April 6 and April 19, are still being held at JFK Airport, apparently stranded in limbo as federal officials work out what to do next. “The product is just sitting on a loading dock at JFK. They want to charge me $3,000 a day to store it there. I said, ‘I’ll just come pick it up then.’ They said, ‘No, it’s not released.’” Why is it taking so long to get the product released? Perhaps a clue is where Gianforcaro is sending the PPE: Michigan, whose governor Trump has publicly criticized. Earlier this month, the president even suggested that he wouldn’t approve Michigan’s request for a state of emergency declaration - unlocking crucial funds - because Gov. Whitmer wasn’t grateful enough. TPM As a shipment of millions of KN95 protective masks were on their way to [a hospital system in] New Jersey from China in early April, federal agents were hatching a plan. The government deemed the mask shipment to be “critical supplies,” necessary for treating the COVID-19 crisis that was rapidly approaching its peak. HHS officials worked to get a Defense Production Act order which would give the government the authority to take possession of the materials… It was only after a seven-hour visit to the importer’s facility that the feds backed off. It is not confirmed, but the above shipment aligns with the account of Dr. Andrew Artenstein, the chief physician executive of Baystate Health in Massachusetts, who had the same masks seized in the same way: After paying five-times the normal price for a shipment of KN95 respirator masks from China, he and four others met a dealer at a small airport “in the mid-Atlantic region,” where they executed their plan. “Two semi-trailer trucks, cleverly marked as food-service vehicles, met us at the warehouse. When fully loaded, the trucks would take two distinct routes back to Massachusetts to minimize the chances that their contents would be detained or redirected.” CNN: Even inside nursing homes -- deemed a ground zero for the spread of coronavirus -- health care workers still don't have enough personal protective gear and the facilities can't get testing done quickly enough to effectively fight the virus… elderly care facilities continue to be hit so hard because testing, among other things, wasn't available. The entire state of Virginia had access to only 300 test kits at the start of March, he said. WaPo: Nearly one-third of governors over the past week have said they lack sufficient coronavirus testing supplies to reopen their states… Among the testing supplies governors have said they are lacking are swabs and reagents. Some governors have called for the federal government to acquire and distribute testing supplies to the states amid a global shortage. “We have the capacity to double or triple the number of tests that we are doing, but we need some of these supplies,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said Sunday. “The reagents and the swabs are absolutely essential. … And so while our capabilities are there, these important supplies are not.” The rightwing media A new study from economists at the University of Chicago found that Sean Hannity helped spread the coronavirus: “Hannity’s viewers changed behavior in response to the virus later than other Fox News viewers… greater viewership of Hannity...is strongly associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic.” Forbes: Conservative and right-wing voices play an outsized role in spreading mis- and disinformation online about the coronavirus pandemic worldwide… The report also highlights a substantial overlap between right-wing voices promoting conspiracy theories and health misinformation. WaPo: Unknown activists have posted nearly 25,000 email addresses and passwords allegedly belonging to the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation and other groups working to combat the coronavirus pandemic… unable to verify whether the email addresses and passwords were authentic… [the information was] almost immediately used to foment attempts at hacking and harassment by far-right extremists. Vice News: [The information] is circulating within a network of neo-Nazi extremists… The data dump and circulation appears to be an attempt at intimidating several of the leading government and non-governmental groups currently leading the fight against the worldwide coronavirus pandemic States and protests WaPo: The states that Trump wants to ‘liberate’ don’t pass the benchmarks he himself set Video of Gov. Inslee’s reaction: "To have a president of the United States basically encourage insubordination, to encourage illegal activity — these orders actually are the law of these states… It is dangerous because it can inspire people to ignore things that actually can save their lives. And I don't know that there's another way to characterize it." CNN: Georgia is reopening hair salons, gyms and bowling alleys despite a rise in coronavirus deaths statewide… Georgia should not even begin to reopen until June 22, according to the model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, which assumes states will implement aggressive testing, contact tracing, isolation and crowd-size limits to prevent more infections. Trump originally agreed with Gov. Kemp’s decision to reopen Georgia immediately. Task force members, including Dr. Fauci, tried to convince Trump that it was too early for the state to lift mitigation measures, but Trump did not listen. They then sent Dr. Deborah Birx, the panel's coordinator, to try to convince Trump to oppose Kemp’s move - which apparently was successful. WaPo: On April 17, Florida reported a spike in new coronavirus cases: 1,413, the highest daily number yet, along with 58 deaths. That same day, Gov. Ron DeSantis told mayors and municipalities it was cool with him if they wanted to open a beach or two. Milwaukee local news: Republican leaders of the Wisconsin Legislature asked the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday to block an order from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' administration extending the safer-at-home order until May 26. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald...said the order is eroding the economy and liberty of people in the state. Bloomberg: Liz Uihlein, who along with her husband rivals the Adelsons as GOP megadonors, emailed her employees to sign a petition to recall the governor of Wisconsin for violating their “constitutional right to work” with Covid-19 public health measures. The request bothered some staffers, in part because they consider Uihlein insufficiently supportive of work-from-home policies...The Uihleins, who are in their 70s, oppose unions and support small government... ABC News: State health officials in Wisconsin said Tuesday that 19 people who have either voted in-person or worked at a polling site on election day have so far tested positive for COVID-19 WaPo: The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping… it is also being amplified, and in some cases coordinated, by longtime conservative activists, whose robust operations were initially set up with help from Republican megadonors. submitted by /u/rusticgorilla to r/Keep_Track [link] [comments]

Tl;dr Em gets butted by a pissed off goat for trying to steal his new born. I'm a happily single 39 year old male. I live in a nice neighborhood just outside of town. My neighborhood is a single street with about 2 acres per household. I still look like I'm 18 if I shave. Baby goats are called kids. A little background for ya. Players: EM(entitled mom/kid thief); ME(hmm); D(deputy); CN(Cool neighbors); S(sheriff). Two weeks ago my goats had two kids. I don't know if you've ever seen baby goats in person but they are adorable. My male goat Bruce is an Nubian goat and the female Lily is a fainting goat. They had a male and a female. The male is Sir Flopsalot and the female is Esmeralda. If I knew how to post pictures I would. I obviously love my animals. My neighbors love my animals as well. They feed my dog leftover steak any chance they see him outside. Their daughter visits with the goats everyday and has been so excited for the two new baby goats, she named them. Yesterday was like any normal Sunday. I usually take my dog for a car ride and then we walk in a local park for an hour or so. My cell phone rang and it was my cool neighbors alerting me to a random minivan sitting in my driveway by the garage. I live in eastern Tennessee, minivans are not too popular. My neighbors were just letting me know that someone was sitting in my driveway. I wasn't expecting anyone and I don't know anyone with a minivan. So I told them that I didn't know anyone with a minivan and that I would be on my way back. I was about 30 minutes away. They rang back and said some lady got out and ran down to where I have my goat pen. I have my goat pen split at the moment to separate Bruce from the kids and Lily. Male goats sometimes play too rough with their kids out of jealousy. When I arrived home and pulled down into my driveway I was met by Bruce standing on the hood of a beat up looking minivan. Also the sheriff and some police from the town were in my upper driveway/parking area talking with some fat lady. I parked in my driveway behind the minivan and asked Bruce what he was doing out. Obviously he didn't answer. But the fat lady came running over screaming at me that she was going to sue my parents and I needed to get them there right away. The sheriff and police officers were right on her heels and caught her before she made it to me. This may not be verbatim but it's what I recall. Em: You are in so much trouble. That goat attacked me. Then it destroyed my minivan. Get your parents here this instance. Me: What the fuck are you doing on my property? S: Sir, is that your goat? Me: yes, that's Bruce. S: This lady claims it attacked her and her car when she pulled into the driveway to turn around. My neighbors came out when they heard the commotion. CN: She didn't pull in to turn around, she went down to the goat pen. We have it on video. S: I'll need to see that video. Me:. If she did go down to the pen I'll also have it on video from the pen and from the house. Fat lady was sweating and started to back up like she was gonna make a break for it. Backed right up into the deputy. The look on her face was of absolute horror. S: could you put your goat away. Me: No problem, give me a few minutes and I'll get the video recording from the pen while I'm down there. I put Bruce away and noticed that he had destroyed the fencing right by the gate to his side. I also noticed that the gate to the kids side was unchained and Esmeralda was missing. I grabbed the SD card and ran up the hill screaming that I'm missing a baby goat. Me: Where's my baby goat you dog faced bitch? Em: how dare you talk to me like that. S: mam, if you know, now's the Time to tell. Em: I don't know what you are talking about. Look at my van, it's ruined. I need an ambulance after what that gosh darn (not what she said) goat did to me. Bruce got out again and came charging back up the hill and climbed back on the hood of the van. Screaming his head off. It dawned on me that maybe she put Esmeralda in her van. But the police officers were quicker. D: Mam, open your van. Sir, control your goat. Me: I'll try but his fencing looks like he beat it all up in anger. I put my dogs harness on him and clipped him to the dog run. She kept giving excuses why she won't open her van but we all knew the real reason. She opened her van finally and the stench just rolled out of it. Em:. Oh my God what is that smell Me: scared baby goat shit, dumbass. You're lucky there are cops here. Em: your goats ruined my new van, you'll be hearing from my lawyer. S: you'll get to speak to him after we get you back to the station. Cuff her. I took Esmeralda back and checked to see if she was hurt. She wasn't, just scared. My neighbors daughter carried her back down to the pen and I grabbed another panel to fix where Bruce broke out. The deputy took the crazy lady away. The sheriff and my cool neighbors came in to watch the security footage. Apparently she snagged Esmeralda and was coming back for Sir Flopsalot when Bruce broke out. You could see her turn around and start waddling up the hill and Bruce charging right for her. She got nailed right in the hips. He got her again in the shoulder as she got up. She shoved Bruce down and tried to get in her van but Bruce rammed her driver's side door. He then jumped/climbed on her hood and was tap dancing his anger out. We replayed her getting nailed in the hip many times. The sheriff was laughing, we were all laughing. Edited: Bruce is a Nubian not Arabian; thanks r/angrybaldcat. Bruce https://imgur.com/gallery/y7OhZBH Lily and the kids https://imgur.com/gallery/sNsS64r I will post the video when I get it back from the sheriff. Update:. The criminal trial is in April. If they decide to sue I have to wait for a civil trial. It won't be available til at least after the criminal trial. Reminding yourselves in a few days it's somewhat pointless. Update (3/14/20) Here's an update for the people wanting updates. See previous update. Update (4/3/20) hope everyone is staying safe during this Corona virus thing. I don't know when the trial will be as our local government is closed. All trials have been suspended. The goats and I are fine. Sadly I'm essential and don't get to stay home to play with them. Update (5/8/20) finally got a day off to get business done. So I've been having to think about a dilemma. I'll share a small story and let you all decide the outcome. I already know what I plan to do once the courts open back up, but are you on the same page? A woman who think she is entitled to things her family wants and if people have many she should get a few. She hatches a plan, observes that target. Young looking guy in big house with bunch of goats. It's not fair she said to herself. He won't even miss them. I'm doing him a favor as he can't support 4 goats. Why does he have goats on a suburban street anyhow? Those little goats would be much happier back at my families double wide. My kids will give them so much more love and time than he probably does. So she waits for the young fella to leave for work. She attacks. And goes crazy with her entitlement. My gooooaaaatssss she whispers deviously to herself. She gets one of the babies, kinda squirmy but she's got this. Her adrenaline carries her down the hill for the second. Her gaze locks on to the eyes of Super Bruce. Her life flashes in front of her eyes. Fight or flight kicks in. She makes a break for it. The massive goat gives chase and t-bones her like she is a smart car and he is the legendary Bronco she has seen in the young working man's garage. Her body falls like Shaq to the ground. She flops around like a fish out of water for a few moments then hastily tries to get to her feet. Super Bruce is waiting and eyes her up for another headbutt maybe a goring. She gets up nimbly and with all her fear let's out a wail and rushes to her van. Oh fiddlesticks, the goat is not stopping. He knows, he knows she says to herself . She sits there watching this glorious beast just tap dance an Irish jig on the hood of her van. Snarling and drooling as he performed his dance moves. You guys know the rest. What you don't know or maybe don't care about is the aftermath and the shit sliding way way down hill. You spend a few nights in jail. Your husband levarages all the money he can squeeze out of his ass to bail you out. Then a pandemic hits. Your husband can't find work because everything is closed. People are going crazy and don't want some random guy to come now their lawn for cheap. You have to stay at home because of the cooties. But you are in luck as your 5 crotch goblins are home from school because of the cooties. Yay family time. Your trailer payments start to slide so you can provide food for your family. The doom and gloom of one stupid actions consequences haunt you to the core. You've been shamed by a town that you live in. Your family is ashamed and pissed they gave their nest egg to help your family weather the aftermath. So what should the young man do when he knows this is all going on because small town equals big time gossip. Should this ladys family be completely gutted because she made an idiotic decision. Oh God what if someone sees that footage she probably says to herself in the shower everyday. Can things get any worse for this lady? Once the courts open back up I'm going to be dropping the charges. Yes she did something so rotten and despicable that she should be punished. But should she really be sent to jail. I don't think that punishment would fit the crime. So much shit has rolled down hill upon her. Karma has officially shit on her head. She needs compassion and forgiveness. So I may or may not release the video. I'll have to check with my lawyer if it would be a character jab to release it and would I be liable in any way. What would you all do? submitted by /u/toolazytoghink to r/entitledparents [link] [comments]

I'll admit that this doesn't quite rise to ProRevenge levels, but it is an addition to my previous post here as requested in the comments. --- Background --- At this point in the saga, having lost the custody battle, Vee is moving to NH to be with her then primary lover, now husband #5. A detail that amuses me to this day is that he shares the same first name as the FB lover from CA as mentioned in my first post. I always refer to them as Paul#1 and Paul#2 when talking about them. Yes, I'm easily amused. --- The Incident --- About a month after the custody hearing at which I got full physical custody of Rebekah, Vee and I had an email exchange in which we agreed that I would go to her apartment and take Rebekah's captain's bed and some of Rebekah's belongings the day before movers arrived to pack up Voldemort's stuff. She was moving 75 miles away to central NH, having burned pretty much every bridge in the area. As Sam drives a truck, he graciously agreed to come along to both help and to be a witness. So we get there around 7:20 PM and knock at the door. After a brief wait, Vee opens the door, iPhone glued to her ear. She sullenly mumbles something about "her stuff is upstairs" and then heads off to her second floor bedroom, weaving and mumbling something that made me stop and think. I didn't quite get it, but I recall thinking, "I really cannot go in here at all without a witness." I stick my head out the door, "Sam, come on. You need to come in with me." So we go in. Holy crap. It's a tip. It's not quite filthy, but it's beyond cluttered. By now Vee has disappeared into her room (complete with slamming the door), so it takes me a bit of wandering to find Rebekah's room. It's not just that she's in the middle of packing, but there is crap everywhere. Dust, cobwebs, tracked-in dirt, unwashed dishes, empty boxes of wine, dry dog food scattered and trampled underfoot. I could see that it's quite a nice place. An open living area with a balcony overlooking it, and lovely woodwork and exposed beams and inset shelves in the walls. An antique wood-stove on a hearth is blazing away. Really, lots of potential. But a tip nonetheless. So Sam and I start gathering up Rebekah's stuff, and take some stuff out to the car. I realize we need an Allen wrench to take apart the bed, so I go out to the car to get one and come back in. In the lull in activity, she had come back into the living area, but went right back into her bedroom as we climbed the stairs, phone still glued to her ear. It takes a bit, but we finally get the bed taken apart and have moved most of the stuff in Rebekah's room out to the front lawn. Without conferring, it's clear Sam and I both decided to get the stuff to the front lawn and worry about packing the vehicles after we're completely out of the house. It's at this point that it starts to get weird. Sam is carrying out the second to last load when Vee pops out of her bedroom door, looks out from the balcony and says "Why are you taking stuff out of my house?" Sam drops what he's carrying and exits the house. He knew what was up instantly. I come out of Rebekah's room (and Vee clearly didn't realize I was still there) and say, "You agreed via email that we would take Rebekah's bed tonight." She looks startled and says, "Is that Rebekah's stuff?" "Of course it is. You said her stuff was in her room." "Fine." She goes back into her bedroom. I take what I'm carrying and go outside. Sam says, "Dude, that's not right. We need to call the police." "You're absolutely right." I could tell that Sam was expecting me to object, and he does a double-take when he realized he wasn't going to have to convince me. "Crowwsville Police Department, you're on a recorded line." "Yes, hi; my name is Jack Croww, and I live at 321 Main Street here in Crowwsville." While I'm talking to the police on the phone, I'm aware of Vee coming to the door and opening it, and becoming quite agitated as she realizes I'm talking to the police. By the time I finish the following explanation, she has slammed the door and is tromping around inside the living area, heatedly talking on her phone. "I'm at my ex-wife's apartment getting some of my daughter's belongings as we had agreed to via email, and while I'm getting the last of the stuff out of the house, she suddenly asks, 'Why are you taking stuff out of my house?', so in order to protect all parties, I'm asking that a police officer come by to verify with Ms. Croww that she agreed to this and that she is fine with what we have removed from the house." "An officer will be right there Mr. Croww." As I'm waiting for the officer to arrive, leaning nonchalantly against the front of Sam's truck, Sam is standing there next to me, just shaking his head. "I'm going to call Marie and let her know what's going on." Right about here, Vee throws open the front door, muttering something about having not gotten all of Rebekah's stuff, and proceeds to deposit another laundry basket piled high with clothes and other items on the front stoop and then disappears back inside. I start to whistle "Pop goes the Weasel." Most of the stuff we moved is still sitting on the front lawn. We leave it there. After about five minutes the officer arrives. He steps out of the patrol SUV and I slowly approach him, arm extended to shake his hand. "Good evening officer, I'm Jack Croww." "Evening, Mr. Croww, Ali Johnson." We shake hands. I give him a brief explanation of the situation, and he comments that I was right to call him, and that he'll go speak to Vee. He's up there for about 2 minutes, and then he comes back down. "You guys are good to go." We briefly chat with him, apologizing for having to get him involved, and he replies, "No, you did the right thing. If a woman in MA says something bad about you and you've got stuff dangling between your legs, you're going to be in trouble." I liked him a lot after that. We start loading the rest of the stuff, and he asks, "How much more is in the house?" "Nothing; it's all out here, except that last laundry basket on the stoop that Ms. Croww brought out while we were waiting for you." "Oh good. I can't sit here all night. If you guys are good to go, I'll take off... wait, what's that?" "What's what?" "I think I saw a phone in that basket." He shines his flashlight on laundry basket on the front stoop. I walk up to the basket. An iPhone is sitting on the top of it. I pick it up, and it looks like Rebekah's old iPhone 4. "It's my daughter's old phone. I'll just take it with us." I carry the basket down to my car and put it in the back seat. Just as I'm walking away, it rings. Incoming call from Vee's landline. I realize it's Vee's phone. I pick it up and answer it. "Hello?" Click. I look at the front. There's a text from Paul#2 on the lock screen: "Is he gone yet?" Yup; it's her phone. "Wait officer; I was wrong. It's Ms. Croww's phone. Could you return it to her?" He takes it from me and returns it to Vee at the front door and walks back down to us. "Okay, you are still good to go. I'm going to go now." "If you could, swing by again in 15 to 20 minutes; if we're still here, you might want to pull in and make sure we're still okay." "Sounds good. You two take care." Not five minutes after he pulls out and while we're still loading stuff, Vee again pops out of the front door, phone glued to her ear. "Is the officer still here?" "No." "Get him back." "Why?" "I want him back. Get him." And back inside she goes. I'm briefly tempted to tell her, "If you want the cop back, you call for him." but that little voice in my head says "you call", so I re-dial Crowwsville's Finest and request that Officer Johnson return to the address. Again, Sam and I assume our waiting positions at the front of the truck. "This is why I didn't want Rebekah here tonight." "Good call." A few minutes later Officer Johnson arrives. "Hey, Officer Johnson; long time no see." He grins at me. "She just came out the front door just after you left asking for the police to be called." "I'll go see what she wants." He goes up there and Vee hands him her phone. He talks for a few minutes, hangs up the phone, continues speaking with Vee for 20 more seconds and then returns to us. I look at him quizzically. "No worries guys, you're still good to go. But I'm going to stay here until you're done." I continue to give him the raised eyebrow. "She wanted to accuse you of trying to steal her phone, but I pointed out to her that I was the one to notice it in the basket you hadn't touched yet, and that you were the one to ask me to return it to her. Her boyfriend asked if you could be made to wait until Sunday, but I told him 'No, they've got three more things to load and they're out of here.' Just finish up guys; we all want to get home where it's warm." We finished up and we all shook hands and got out of there. --- EDITS --- Thanks for the gold kind stranger! submitted by /u/jackcroww to r/ProRevenge [link] [comments]

I’d like to share with you all an incident that actually happened in my little home town. When it first happened, I was pretty young, so I just picked up bits and pieces from hearing adults talk. But that was rare. It’s like they thought, whatever happened, there was something in it that had to be shameful. It always scared the heck out of me when they did whisper about it. Now, after what happened here and knowing more, it’s even scarier. For me, it started when I was nearly ending my shift at the clinic one night. It was a gloomy evening. We’d had a hunting accident earlier, but otherwise it was quiet. Mitch Lemieux, this guy who owns a garage on Cartier Blvd, five-time arm-wrestling champ down at the Caribou bar, comes in panicking, looks spooked out of his mind. Never seen him so much as flinch before that. So I’m expecting some serious carnage. He’s shouting for help, so I call two EMTs to go out with him. They come back with a half-naked girl. Her clothes are torn to ribbons and what’s left of them is soiled. She has cuts, bruises, and like pond scum or something over her. She has this deadness in her eyes like nothing I’ve ever seen. They get her in a blanket, a stretcher and take her away. Everyone in the waiting room is standing now and the only sound is Mitch panting. Because everyone knew that girl was Chantal Norman. The same Chantal who’s been missing for twelve years. Since then, I’ve found out a lot more details about her disappearance. I had to. I got specifics wherever possible. I’m going to lay them out here. The Girls Who Went Away I may have heard more talk than some as a kid because my big sister, Virginia, was friends with Chantal and the other two, Jenna and Lise. She was supposed to hang out with them one weekend. I remember she was talking about it all week. I guess Chantal’s parents were out of town, so she was excited. When Thursday came around, she starts saying she doesn’t feel like going anymore. My Mom questions her, asks if she’s had a fight with the girls, that sort of thing. Even if she’s pregnant. Virginia got upset and left the table, saying, “You don’t understand.” By Saturday, she was starting to cry all the time for no good reason. She finally told my parents she knew something bad was going to happen that weekend. “They’re going to die, Mom!” she said. That sticks in my memory like it was yesterday. She was so certain it gave me chills. But nobody believed her. On Monday, Virginia came home from school hyperventilating. My Mom could hardly get a word out of her. When she did, it was, “They’re gone!” Soon the story was all the town could talk about. The three girls disappeared that Saturday night. Had Virginia gone, she would’ve been the fourth. The night of the disappearance, Maestro’s Pizza had a call from Chantal’s phone at 8:47pm for pizza. The driver recorded the delivery at 9:20pm. He said the girls looked ok when he delivered the pizza. All three were at the door. He said it seemed like one of them kept looking behind her, like someone else was there. He couldn’t see anyone. A receipt from a nearby liquor store was timestamped 9:39pm. The clerk recalls only seeing Jenna and Lise. (Chantal was not yet 18, so that may have been why.) They did not seem distressed to him, although one kept checking her watch. At 10:14pm and 10:17pm, two calls were found in Chantal’s phone records. Neither call was local. One was to a law office three-hundred miles away. The recorded voicemail was one minute and sixteen seconds of breathing. The second call was to a residence on Prince Edward Island. The woman who answered the phone said the caller asked, “Is he there?” and hung up before she could get clarification. She’d never heard of Chantal and had no idea why Chantal would be calling her. The law office said the same. That was the last confirmed time anyone heard from Chantal, Jenna, and Lise. At 11:29pm a 911 call was placed from an unknown phone. A woman is heard whispering, “Send someone, please.” And when the dispatcher asks where, she says, “We don’t know” and the call drops. None of the girls’ parents could say it was their daughter. It may have been a coincidence. The next day, after not being able to reach her daughter or Chantal, Lise’s mother calls for a wellness check. At 5:45pm on Sunday, police arrive. Chantal’s home is locked up. No signs of a break-in or a struggle. The alarm system was in ‘Home’ mode. The cars were still parked outside. The girls’ phones had been left on the table, one was even left charging. Nothing had been stolen. Slices of pizza were out on the coffee table, partially eaten. Half-drunk drinks were beside the plates. It’s like they’d just been in the middle of having a good time, drinking, listening to music, when they suddenly dropped everything and ran off. It’s not even clear how they locked up, because the house keys were found on the kitchen counter. Nobody could understand it. But there was a bad feeling about the whole thing. Even the cops say they felt “dread” when they approached the home. They felt what Virginia had felt before: that something terrible happened. The usual events that surround missing girls followed. Much of the community helped search surrounding wooded areas. Signs were put up everywhere, all the way to Montreal. It must’ve cost a ton. The bay was searched and a body was found. It turned out to be someone else. In fact, I believe that body was never positively identified. Police questioned everyone who knew the girls. Family, friends, neighbors. Nobody saw anything, heard anything particularly suspicious. They questioned Virginia a few times about why she didn’t spend the weekend with them as planned and why she wasn’t helping with the searches. To the latter, she said, “It’s too late.” The Case Gets Stranger That’s when the weird stuff started to come out. I think every case that’s low on leads like this is going to have some degree of strange tips that go nowhere. But these strange tips went somewhere. This is the stuff that made people not so keen to talk about it. The first strange report was from an old man, an ex-cop, in a town an hour away. The night the girls disappeared, he was having trouble sleeping. This was around 1 am, he says. While he’s taking a leak, he thinks he hears someone in his yard. It sounded like it might’ve been giggling. Figuring it was kids, he ran out with a bat just to scare them. When he got to his backyard, which backs up to the tree line, he saw three girls holding hands and running single file into the woods. He ran after them, because there’s a lot of woods back there. He was afraid they’d get lost or hurt. When he got to the woods, he couldn’t find them. They were just gone. He felt stupid about the whole thing, so he kept it to himself. Until he heard three girls had gone missing. A search was conducted in the area, dogs brought in, but nothing was ever found to say the girls were actually there. It creeps me out thinking about it, because, if it was them, why would they be there? It’s a long walk from Chantal’s home to this town. Why would they walk all that way to wander into the woods? Chantal’s parents were questioned repeatedly if they’d received demands. Someone said they’d seen Chantal’s father meeting with some men in black suits the week before the girls disappeared. They were getting into a black car when he’d been spotted. Chantal’s dad was a roofing contractor, so top secret meetings wouldn’t have been his thing. He denied it at first. Later he said they were hardware salesmen. So why’d he start by lying? What hardware salesmen act like that? It didn’t help their case that Chantal’s mother believed the girls were dead. She said it was because of something that happened while she was out of town. At the hotel where she was staying, three birds got into the lobby the same night the girls disappeared. Staff got a 40 foot ladder to get the birds down, but when they got up there, the birds were nowhere to be seen. “Why exactly three birds? That was their spirits. They’re with God now.” That’s what she used to tell people. I guess that brought her comfort. Someone told Virginia about it once and she said, “They’re nowhere near God…” Some people shared that opinion because, when police went through their search history, there was a lot of odd stuff you wouldn’t expect popular, cheerleader types to be into. There was a lot of occulty stuff and conspiracy theories. One weird search phrase stood out on the report, “can a TV signal make you do things” and variants on it. The last item in Chantal’s history, at 10:01pm, was for a mountain cottage in Arkansas. They were in contact with someone with the handle ThePrince. Not many details of those interactions came out. I heard from someone in the police department that he was telling them to do things. There was only one of those he felt he could tell me: this guy had asked them to do something to Virginia. He wanted them to bring her out to this old woodshed back behind the yellow house on Nelson Rd. That was supposed to happen the night they disappeared. “Think about it,” he told me. “What do you think would’ve happened to your sister if she went that night? What would’ve happened?” His look told me this was something that kept him up at night thinking about it. I know the feeling. They were never able to track down who this ThePrince was, from what I understand. Efforts to contact him online failed. One of their mutual friends heard Chantal talking about some guy named ‘Vincenzo.’ How Vincenzo knew everything and told them things nobody’s supposed to know. She said Chantal told her Vincenzo took them out to a secret place. Another friend said while sitting with some other friends he saw Chantal talking on her phone at school. She was talking for five minutes or so. She came back and said it was Vincenzo. But everyone at the table swore she didn’t even have a phone in her hand. She was just facing the wall, talking. Whether real or made up, Vincenzo was another dead end. And there were sightings of the girls everywhere. Sometimes locally, but some claims came from as far as Vancouver and even Australia. Sometimes in the woods, sometimes walking along the street, at the beach. Someone said he was sure it was Chantal who begged him for money in Toronto. Someone else said they saw the girls along the street on a vacation to Mexico. She said the girls retreated into the crowd when she called to them. “Why would they run away like that?” she asked. Maybe the strangest was a guy who could point to some photos he and his wife had taken at a party. In the background, two girls and part of a third that looked just like them. The thing is, the photos were at a watch party for the fall of the Berlin Wall. The girls were infants at the time those pictures had been taken. There was a lot mysterious about this case. Why’d they disappear? How’d they get where they were going? Was someone else involved? Where’d they go? Were they dead? The odds of them still being alive were extremely low. Nobody believed we’d ever see them again. With the reappearance of Chantal, the question now was: Where have they been for the past twelve years? And where are the others? Chantal Mitch told me, officers, everyone who’d listen, how he found her. He’d been out on his own land—his father’s land, technically, acres and acres of it going way back into the woods—hunting deer. He was up in his stand, way back there, having a few beers. He saw some movement far off in the trees. He was ready to take a shot, but something made him hold on. Just the way it’s moving. Too slow and unsteady for a deer, even a wounded one. It’s a sickly walk. He keeps watching as it comes closer. It’s a person, he’s sure. He’d normally be furious someone was trespassing. But this is too weird. She’s slowly walking straight toward the tree where his stand is and he can now see it’s this half-naked, beaten girl. “Wherever she’s been, I don’t ever wanna go there,” he told me that night. Sent a shudder right through me. He reeked of something, like a scorched tar smell. And all I could think was that she’d been to hell and back. The ER docs concluded she was physically ok. She needed food and warmth, but otherwise just bruised up. What she needed was psychological evaluation. Whatever peace and quiet she had in her room ended quick. Police arrived to question her, her parents (now divorced) were called, and they all wanted to know where she’d been, if she was ok. She still had that dazed, mindless look, even with her mother caressing her. When she finally spoke, she gave an address. They tried to get her to say more, but that’s all she’d tell them. Just the address. It was a local one, on the other side of town past the old drive-in. Not many people live out that way anymore. Police sent someone to the address immediately, hoping the other girls would be there. I found out from a friend that they had trouble finding it because the yard was so overgrown that the house number was covered. The house itself was sagging, a rotten old house with busted out windows. Two cops were checking it out and even with two of them, both armed, the place made them nervous. They go inside and find an old mattress and a bunch of dolls on the floor. They heard a thudding sound from upstairs. One of them went up to check it out, while the other looked around downstairs. The one upstairs went room to room looking for the source of the noise. He comes to one room where he sees the window shutters are open. He thinks he’s seen this in the movies before: it’s just the wind. What next, a cat jumps out? So he goes and closes the shutters. Then it occurs to him. There isn’t any wind. He searches the upstairs and finds no-one there. He runs downstairs and asks his partner if he’s seen anyone. He hasn’t. He’s been flipping through a book he found. It’s a book about the Nazis with polaroids of children between the pages. They decide to get out of the creepy place and come back in daylight. On the way out, they both notice the back door’s been opened. They were sure it was shut when they’d arrived. Investigators looked all over the property the next few days. One of the upstairs rooms has a lot of bloodstains. They’re tested and come back inconclusive. The polaroids are reviewed, but no-one recognizes the children. There wasn’t even a hint that Chantal or the others had been in that house. They can’t figure out why Chantal was so fixated on that address. The owner of the house, according to records, made the purchase in 1974. Nobody in town had ever seen or heard of this person. More, as far as police could determine, this person didn’t exist. Others still living in the area say they’ve seen vehicles at the home before, years back. Never the same vehicle twice. But they never met anyone. Hospital staff left Chantal’s mother stay with her the rest of the night. She didn’t want to leave her side. She was afraid of losing her again, perhaps. One of the nurses heard her mother asking her, “Where were you all that time, Chantal?” and saying things like, “You don’t look a day older.” And Chantal said, “I wasn’t anywhere.” Technically my shift was over, but with what happened, I stayed on to help. And I was nosey. I didn’t try to go visit Chantal. I never really knew my sister’s friends. So I was surprised when I heard Chantal wanted to see me. I figured it would have to do with Virginia and I was right. She asked me if Virginia could come see her. I just imagined how much she missed her friends and family after all this time, so I was quick to promise I’d try my best. Virginia had left town eleven years ago. She rarely even called. Something about the incident changed her. But I had her number, of course, so I called and told her everything that happened. Up to, “She’s been asking to see you, V. Maybe she’ll tell you more.” I was sure she would say she’s hopping on a plane. Instead, she said, “Chantal is dead. They’re all dead. They’ve been dead all this time.” I said, “V, I was looking right at her. She spoke to me. She’s on an IV drip. She’s alive.” “I don’t know who or what that is. All I know is if I come home, I’ll never be seen again.” And she hung up. I called back a few times. She wouldn’t answer. My parents couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t answer for them either. I couldn’t go face Chantal with that news, so I just went home. I spent the night beating myself up about it. I could hardly sleep. Around 3am I heard faint knocking on my front door. All sorts of ideas went through my mind. What if Virginia decided to fly in after all? Before I could go to the door to look, my phone rang. It was Virginia. I answered and asked right away if that was her at the front door. She told me she had a bad feeling and woke up in tears, sure something had happened to me. “Don’t answer the door,” she said. “Please.” I didn’t. I heard the knock again and I didn’t answer. V and I weren’t close. But I trusted her. I spent the rest of the night hiding in my own home, because she really freaked the shit out of me. I found out the next day that Chantal had gotten out of her bed during the night, around 2:45am, while her mother slept. Hospital cameras show her walking out calmly, nobody notices. And just like that, she disappeared again. Nobody’s seen her since. No idea where she went after leaving the hospital, and still no idea where she’d been for the past twelve years. There’ve been searches, but I’m sure it’ll be all dead ends again. submitted by /u/nazisharks to r/nosleep [link] [comments]

Note: English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes made. This case happened in Mexico and I write this in hope that more people will know about her death, and that maybe someday we will know the truth of what happened to Paulette Gebara. The case of 4 year old Paulette has always been one that I’ve been interested in, and the fact the official cause of death was ruled accidental kills me on the inside. Paulette was, without a doubt, murdered. Most articles and videos linked are in spanish, but I did link some English articles at the bottom. I hope this post isn't too long. “Help me find my way home. My name is Paulette, I’m 4 years old. I have a walking disability and speech impairment, I have a scar on the left side of my back. I can’t survive on my own, I need my parents.” If Paulette Gebara was alive today she would be 11 years old, perhaps a 6th grader at her local elementary school with a passion for drawing or reading. Instead, 4 year old Paulette Gebara was found dead under mysterious circumstances on the 30th of March 2010. Hidden beneath her mattress, still wearing her blue and purple pajamas and covered by blood-stained blankets, the investigators on the case ruled her death an accident: the little girl, they said, had died of asphyxiation. Video - finding the body GRAPHIC Paulette's bedroom on the morning of her disappearance The last time Paulette was seen alive was on the 21st of March, on a Sunday night. The girl, alongside her father and 7 year old sister, had just returned from a weekend trip to Valle de Bravo (located in the state of Mexico, approx. 3 hours away from the capital), arriving at their apartment in Huixquilucan, state of Mexico around 9pm. Her mother, Lizette Farah, had not gone with them, going instead on a trip to Los Cabos with her friend Amanda and returning home on the same day as her family. Lizette vividly remembered putting her daughter to sleep that night, kissing her one last time before leaving the room. The next morning, Paulette’s nanny would alert the girl’s parents of her disappearance: "I looked for her in the bathroom, under the bed and in the closet. I couldn’t find her and decided to search the parent’s bedroom as well, then her sister’s room. And then I searched her room once more.” Ericka Casimiro and her sister Martha were in charge of keeping the luxurious two-story apartment clean and of taking care of the girls. That morning they made sure that Paulette’s elder sister was ready for school and then waited with her until the school bus picked her up around 7am. Later, at 8am, they went to prepare little Paulette for kindergarten. After finding the room empty, they notified Paulette’s parents Lizette Farah and Mauricio Gebara. They looked everywhere for the girl, not only in their apartment but in the entire building: inside the elevators, in the garden, the pool, the playground and even the parking lot but Paulette was nowhere to be found. After speaking with the neighbors and the security guards, who had not seen the girl, the police was finally called. Assisting in the investigation were Alfredo Castillo, the then deputy attorney, and Alberto Bazbaz, the then attorney general for the state of Mexico. Immediately, a forensics team was called to aid in the investigation and soon the entire apartment was filled with police officers and detectives. Inside the apartment, however, they found nothing: there were no signs of forced entry, no signs of a struggle, and most importantly, no signs of Paulette. The girl's parents (specially her mother) did countless of interviews where they pleaded for their daughter’s safe return: “She is an angel, she is a beautiful little girl; she never cries, never throws tantrums, she’s the sweetest”, Lizette was quoted saying. In record time, Paulette’s picture was everywhere, with every single news outlet following the case closely: was Paulette kidnapped? Had she perhaps wondered out on her own? Could she be still alive?, an entire nation wondered and for the time Paulette was missing she was what everyone talked about. On the 27th of March, several news crews were allowed into the apartment as Lizette, sitting on her daughter’s bed, recalled what had happened that fateful night: she put her daughter to bed, kissed her goodnight and then she left the room. That night she didn’t hear any weird noises, the dogs didn’t bark and everything seemed fine. It would be nine days, on the 31st of March, until Paulette’s body was found:“The girl was found suffocated, wedged at the foot of her own bed, nine days after she went missing, and her death declared an accident.”, the BBC reported “Yes, I know where Paulette is, and I’ll tell you everything only if you help me, because I don’t want to get into any trouble with the law… I’m scared of going to jail.. I’m desperate…” This was the statement Mauricio Gebara gave to the police before his daughter’s body was found. Lizette Farah Farah and Mauricio Gebara Rahal were married in 2001, accompanied by 600 guests they exchanged vows in the church Madre de Dios de Ceztochowa, in the small community of Lomas de Tecamachalco, Naucalpan, state of Mexico. Lizette Farah was the daughter of Lidia Farah Morales and Bechara Naim Farah, a Lebanese immigrant and prominent businessman. Ever since a young age, Lizette enjoyed the privileges of being born into a wealthy family, she went to the best private schools in Mexico and soon became a lawyer. Mauricio, on the other hand, had become a successful businessman himself, exceeding in real state alongside his brothers. Eventually, the pair had their first child, whom they called Lizette, and started their life together as a family. On the 20th of July 2005, Paulette Gebara Farah came into the world. The girl was born at only 25 weeks old, weighing 800 grams and measuring 35 cm. She was so small doctors didn’t think she could survive, but, strong as she was, she proved them all wrong. Her miraculous birth did, however, caused her to suffer from disabilities: Paulette had trouble speaking and doctors said she would never be able to walk. Paulette proved them wrong once again, and she learned how to walk with the help of horse theraphy. After that, the girl fell in love with horses. For Lizette and Mauricio, the upbringing of their second child was not as easy as what they had experienced with their firstborn. Paulette required constant visits to the pediatrician, expensive medications and therapy sessions. Their girl couldn’t formulate full sentences and could only pronounce words such as “mom”, “dad”, “water” and “food”; and although she was able to attend school as other kids her age, she still required special attention. As they pleaded on national television, an entire country sympathised with the heartbroken parents of the 4 year old; not realizing that they would become the prime suspects in the murder of Paulette Gebara Farah. Ericka Casimiro, Paulette’s nanny, would later testify: “After looking everywhere for Paulette I found her mother sitting there, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette, all while the father was calmly looking in a closet for the girl.” Paulette’s mysterious disappearance and murder soon sparked one of the biggest publicity campaigns in Mexico. Her mother, over and over again, talked of that Sunday night, of how her beautiful daughter had disappeared without a trace, leaving the family devastated. But, how could this be a kidnapping when no ransom call was ever placed?, she wondered. “Maybe she was taken by aliens”, she was heard joking at some point, “or perhaps even Harry Potter.” The police would claim that in the week they spent at the Gebara’s home they had searched every single room, followed all the proceedings as supposed to and interviewed as many people as they could. At last, they finally reached a conclusion: the parents or the live-in nannies had something to do with the murder of Paulette. After all, they were the only ones there when the crime occurred. The parents, they discovered, had been lying since the beginning. It wasn’t them who searched everywhere for their daughter, it was the nannies that had searched every floor of the building hoping to find the girl; and it wasn’t them who called the police, it was Mauricio’s sister who after receiving a call from her brother called the emergency line. They were also having financial problems and were sometimes forced to ask the Casimiro sisters for money. Their marriage, too, was falling apart. Lizette had gone to Los Cabos to meet with her lover there and spent the weekend partying and drinking. Soon, the married couple turned against each other; Lizette claimed it was Mauricio who had planned everything; Mauricio said that Lizette, and the nannies, had something to do with Paulette’s disappearance. On the 30th of March, both parents and nannies were placed in detention. They were taken to a nearby hotel and interrogated there by the police. The investigators concluded that Lizette showed no signs of being affected by her daughter’s disappearance: she was defensive, anxious and angry, had an impulsive character and felt little empathy for others. Mauricio was also anxious, didn’t show any signs of depression, and was evasive and insecure. They were hiding something, but never told the truth on what they knew or specified the details of how Paulette was killed. On March 23rd, it was revealed that Lizette had gone out with her other daughter and not come back until 7 hours later. What she did during that time, no one knows. Alberto Bazbaz, supported by the opinion of a psychologist, was certain that it had been Lizette who killed her own daughter. He did everything he could to put the blame on her, but failed to come up with enough evidence. The public too, had seen the image of a cold mother, one who had probably ‘disposed’ of her special needs child in order to be free again. After all, she was quoted saying, “even if I lose Paulette, I still have another daughter.” What the investigators in the case never told the public was just how poorly they had handled the investigation; they had tried to hide their own inconsistencies behind their accusations against Lizette. Arriving at the crime scene, the forensics team was only allowed to look for signs of forced entry but nothing more. Alfredo Castillo, they said, had ordered them to stop almost as soon as they got there. The crime scene was never closed off; hundreds of people walked in and out, leaving dirty footprints behind; a friend of Lizette had stayed at the Gebara’s place, sleeping on Paulette’s bed; and the police officers working on the case were even allowed to pee in the girl’s bathroom. The crime scene was slowly and carelessly contaminated, and any evidence remaining was now useless. The came more questions: was the dead girl hidden under the mattress this whole time? Bazbaz would claim that the girl had probably rolled over while she slept, got stuck in between the mattress and the wooden structure of the bed and died of suffocation. Paulette, he said, had been death from 5 to 9 days (probably on the day she went missing). If the apartment had been searched extensively by detectives, how could they have missed Paulette’s body? And if the girl had been dead for so long, how come no odour of putrefaction was ever detected? The blankets covering Paulette, according to the official version, not only concealed her body but also prevented the putrid smell from leaking. Nonetheless, the forensic experts working on the case would later testify that the girl could have only been death 3 days prior to her discovery; her body, then, couldn’t have been hidden under the bed the entire time and her death was most likely a homicide. The nannies had also made the bed in several reconstructions with the police, and found no trace of the girl. Even Bazbaz himself had checked under the bed while looking for the girl, lifting up the mattress and pulling the blankets, yet found nothing. Video - the nannies making the bad during a reconsutruction Then, of course, they failed to mention that Mauricio Gebara had close ties with Bazbaz and both got along pretty well. Bazbaz, ‘surprisingly’, believed Mauricio’s story and never stopped blaming Lizette. Lizette would testify in a interview two years after the fact that she had been constantly threatened by the police, and the detectives in the case had placed a gun in her head at some point. Nonetheless, Bazbaz’s plan had worked to some extent and everyone in Mexico believed (and still does) that Lizette, that cold and sick woman they had seen on tv, had murdered her innocent daughter. At the end, the most common theories surrounding Paulette’s death are the following: Lizette killed her daughter: having a child with disabilities might have been too much for a woman with a lack of empathy and that was clearly not very affectionate. Lizette could have killed her daughter shortly after her disappearance and then hid her body somewhere in the house, perhaps in the elevator shaft (one neighbour complained that one of the elevators was acting strange and bumping into something) or an air duct. Most people in Mexico believe she is the killer. Staged kidnapping: Mauricio and Lizette were having financial problems and could barely afford the apartment they were living in. Because of this, they might staged the kidnapping of her daughter Paulett in hopes of getting money from the girl’s grandparents or the public. They hid their daughter in an air duct somewhere in the apartment and told her to wait there. After realizing how much attention the case had gotten, they panicked and couldn't come back for the girl. She then suffocated to death. Paulette’s elder sister, then 7 years old, might have killed her. The girl, experts said, felt superior to her sister but was also jealous of the attention her parents were giving her. Some speculate that Mauricio and Lizette might have been fighting that night. Paulette, scared, started crying and her sister tried to shut her up, killing her in the process. Of course, the nannies might have had something to do too but little to no evidence has been found, and from their interviews it does not seem that they’re guilty (although I might be wrong). I do believe that they know more than what they're saying, but might have been threatened to not speak out. I always thought Lizette wa guilty, but after reading several news articles and Martin Moreno’s book ,Paulette. Lo que no se dijo, I’m not so sure anymore. I realize her behaviour is extremely weird, and she does come off as being crazy in the interviews, but that does not necessarily make her guilty. Was she relieved after her daughter’s death? Could be, yes. But I do feel that Bazbaz started a campaign against Lizette, perhaps trying to cover something else. It seems to me that the dad might have had something to do too (some people say that Paulette was dead by the time she got home from their trip to Valle de Bravo) and that Bazbaz, being his friend, covered up for him. I don’t want to exclude any theories, though, and I believe that anyone involved could have been the killer. What do you guys think of the case? Which theory seems more likely to you and why? I would love to hear some of your opinions. Sources in Spanish: Chronology of the crime The Gebara-Farah family Interview with the nannies Sources in English: L.A Times CNN CBS News Edit Added a link to a video that shows the nannies making the bed during one of the reconsutructions and clearly not finding any traces of the girl. VIDEO submitted by /u/blueliar to r/UnresolvedMysteries [link] [comments]