Larstrup

lol...but I also wonder how many "CRYING" Brett Kavanaugh costumes there will be?

Late to this, but my deepest sympathy. It hurts so much because there was great love present. That's the gift.

Late to this, but my deepest sympathy. It hurts so much because there was great love present. That's the gift.

Bonehead. As soon as people hear his name, they laugh and immediately loVe him. How could you not loVe such a sweet and gentle animal and such a goof.
He was born in a puppy mill and sold at a reprehensible pet shop to a family who found out that both his hips were dysplastic and that without surgery he would not see the end of the year. They returned him to the pet shop, which had a policy of euthanizing animals which were returned for medical conditions. One of the temporary employees of the store was a patient of mine and asked me if I would take him in. I was reluctant, but told her to bring him into the office. One look at him, Buddy as he was then known, and it was clear that he did not need to be taken in, because he was already in.
He was impossibly cute, eVen by the high cuteness standards of yellow lab puppies. His dysplastic hips did not slow him down at all and they led to a pronounced sashay when he walked.
I took him home that night and upon entry, he picked up a meat bone which was on the floor, threw it in the air and hit himself in the head.
I was already considering new "B" names, as I did not want him to carry the name bestowed on him at the pet store and as a result of his misguided juggling attempts, Bonehead he became and from then on, he did his best to show why he earned that name.
His first time at the Vet I was told his hips were the terrible. Worst the surgeon had seen and needed almost immediate attention. When I said that he did not appear in pain, I was told that Bonehead probably had just adjusted to the pain but that it was likely intense.
At three months he had the right femoral head, the ball of the ball and socket joint of the hip, remoVed. The next day he was running around as though he ruled the world.
Two weeks later, the left femoral head was taken. Again it took one day until he was running headlong through the house. His surgically altered hips lent his gait a comic quality. His right buttock would nearly hit his head with one step and then the entire rear half of his body would pendulum such that his left buttock would nearly strike the left side of the head.
At the dog park, he was always the star. He befriended other dogs immediately and the people in the park were enchanted by his disposition, his good looks and that walk which could out Giselle, Giselle, out Tyra, Tyra and could make Ru Paul gasp with jealousy.
His puppy mill genetics reared its ugly head during his lifetime. Cancer surgery for mast cell cancer at 6 and at 7. Always a trooper, he rocked the surgical collar with style and flare. A chronically displaced left elbow tolerated with barely a whimper. Then six months ago, a ligament in his rear right knee, the ACL, tore and he needed surgery again.
Again he trooped on through.
After the surgery, I was able to take his to work with me and he was a star. He befriended each person he met. He was greeted by the patients and the staff each day. Bonehead would sidle up to a demented person who was sitting alone and he would place in his head in that person's lap and slowly coax a head rub or an ear massage and then, without fail, he would coax a smile. Frail hands massaged his head.
After he was rehabilitated and he could stay home with the rest of the pack, patient's would ask how he was doing.
Two weeks ago, as I went to run an errand, he refused a treat and then he refused some liVerwurst. I immediately took him to the be seen and I was told he needed emergency surgery.
Again, trooper that he is, he was home and being a Bonehead the next day. The biopsy came back as a hemangiosarcoma which had bled into his abdomen. The prognosis was grim, six to nine months, if he was lucky.
He was not. This afternoon he refused a treat and turned his nose up at liVerwurst. Back to the hospital and as I feared, he had bled into the abdomen again.
I decided to take him home and as I waited, they walked him across the hospital waiting room. He sashayed slowly but with style and grace and I walked him out to the car.
So now, as I write this, he is lying at my feet. Hours, maybe days if he is lucky. He still gets up to follow me as I go around the house. I miss him already.

I wish I could think of something comforting to say, but I'm crying too much.

I think that it always rains on Mondays, except when it doesn't.

Yes I pay attention. I don’t buy farm raised seafood unless I can identify and research the source. Over farmed salmon has to have artificial color added back into make it salmon colored..it goes white if over farmed. No thanks...Tilapia one of the most over farmed here in SoCal.
 
Wild caught for me...

Absolutely. I only buy wild caught, and I don't really care about the cost. There are plenty areas of my life where I can cut costs, what I eat is not one of them....

Congratulations! You’re no longer just a commenter.

Congratulations! You’re no longer just a commenter.

You've never looked better! Happy Birthday!
 

Enjoy your day!......I expect a full, lengthy discussion on the history, merits, and future ramifications of birthday celebrations
 

I'll take my cut in Snausages®

How do you keep Trump from tweeting?
 
Give him a piece of paper with the word "flip" written on both sides.

Those few people from time to time at the grocery checkout who wait for all the scanning of their items to be completed, then suddenly make that move and reach into their purse/wallet and search for a personal check which is neither filled out to the payee, nor dated, nor signed. Then they have to search for their drivers license, which takes more time, then the processing of the check, both manually and electronically by the clerk. :mad:

Those few people from time to time at the grocery checkout who wait for all the scanning of their items to be completed, then suddenly make that move and reach into their purse/wallet and search for a personal check which is neither filled out to the payee, nor dated, nor signed. Then they have to search for their drivers license, which takes more time, then the processing of the check, both manually and electronically by the clerk. :mad:

This...
 
Eat good, live good, and have a good outlook on life, and everything else, let the chips fall where they may.

Yes, because too much information about STI/STD transmission and infection in the USA, in too many places, will lead to confusion in others about how they're transmitted to others. I never thought I'd live to see the day where the suffocation of sexual health protection and information could be so blatantly disregarded.

Thanks putting the stats out there. People need to know, to make decisions for themselves.

Oh, it's likely that PrEP availability plays a role in lower condom use. This significant decline in condom use leads to increases in every other STI.
 
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/06/rapid-rise-in-anti-hiv-prep-pills-linked-to-drop-in-condom-use
 
But, it's more than just PrEP. People don't fear HIV anymore. They think it's totally fine to live with it and "there'll be a cure soon anyway" so who cares? We've seen this attitude for over a decade now. Younger people in North America and Europe--the areas where other STIs are skyrocketing--think HIV is no big deal so don't use condoms.
 
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/hiv-rise-being-man-enough-to-stay-safe-1.1441217
 
Florida in particular is very dangerous right now for new HIV infections. Miami is an incredibly risky area to have anal, oral, or vaginal sex with strangers without condoms.
 
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-miami-is-the-epicenter-of-new-hiv-cases-in-the-u-s
 
Plus, people continue to stupidly believe oral sex is safe sex, when it's an incredibly easy way to catch every STI except HIV. There's no such thing as safe sex! Only degrees of risk and safer sex.
 
https://www.verywellhealth.com/is-oral-sex-safe-sex-3133091

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/25/welcome-to-the-next-deadly-aids-pandemic/
 
The 22nd International AIDS Conference was on July 25th in Amsterdam and the reports coming out should give us all something to think about.
 
Thanks to the flawed global strategy using tier 1 drugs to control the spread of HIV, we now have treatment-resistant strains spreading very quickly in certain parts of the world. These resistant strains are becoming a sizable percent of all new infections in LIMICs (Low Income Middle Income Countries), like much of Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
 
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(17)30702-8/fulltext
 
Infection rates for syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, and various forms of hepatitis are "skyrocketing," especially in young men who have sex with men in Europe and North America. And to make things even more challenging, there is now an effectively incurable form of gonorrhea spreading in Australia and the UK.
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/syphilis-rise-sexual-health-crisis-nhs-government-cuts-warning-a8383901.html
 
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(18)30225-1/fulltext
 
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/06/14/why-stds-are-soaring-in-america
 
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(18)30276-7/fulltext
 
https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/rapid-risk-assessment-extensively-drug-resistant-xdr-neisseria-gonorrhoeae-united
 
There is no such thing as 100% safe sex. All we can do is have safer sex. It's a question of risk factors and what each of us is willing to live with based on our choices.
 
1. Get informed.
2. Get tested (regularly, at least annually and every 3 or 6 months is better depending on your sexual activity).
3. Recognize that Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are a high-risk category for infection & transmission.
4. Understand that socioeconomic, racial, and geographic risk factors exist. Know how risky your partners may be so you can assess your decisions/choices/risks.
5. Understand your options. (Condoms are still the best tool for reducing risk of transmission during anal, oral, & vaginal sex).
6. Know about the vaccines (HPV, Hep A/B, and Meningitis) and decide which ones make sense for you.
7. Know about PrEP, it's pluses and minuses, and the reality that resistant strains exist, though these strains are currently a small percent of the infected population. (That will change.)

I do not think @Larstrup is talking about your Prime membership, but about the extras. You will notice that you start receiving offers for additional services attached yo your Prime membership. The Channels in Prime Video are an example, Amazon Fresh is another. Being a Prime member is a pre-requisite to access those services, for a few extra dollars.

Not until your 7 day trial for the above programming expires and your cc gets hit for the monthly subscription fees for those channels. Best to understand the terms of your Prime membership channels before you get too excited.