my sister is running anyway.

so, since i have gotten a good response to my posts about my sister, sheila rutledge's campaign, i guess i have to post this sad update-

saturday she received the terrible shock of losing her husband.
he had had several medical miracles in his life, and some everyday miracles, too. after a long battle w hepC, he received the new drugs which cleared the virus, which allowed him to have a liver transplant, a gift from his son.
he had a couple other joint surgeries, and had just had a hip replacement days before. he appears to have had a brain aneurism. we dont know right now if it was related to the surgery, or possibly was just something random.
the irony is thick.

sheila will be okay, because her family is surrounding her, we are all made of tough stuff, and this was a possibility that had been faced many times.
tho life has a lot of moving parts right now, there are no planned changes to her status as a candidate.

hey friends, give my old friend a listen.

i had a crush on this guy in h.s., but he doesnt remember me.
we hooked up on fb. his old band, the boyzz, helped me misspend a chuck of my youth.
he is trying to get into the game, build a new band and all that.

i know some of you will enjoy him. ladies and gentlemen, and those inbetween, mike tafoya.

https://www.reverbnation.com/tafoyaslostboyzzii/song/23643286-please-please?

i may have to do something i never thought i would do.

so, i got this crazy puppy in november. the shelter said he was a wheaton terrier mix. i was really looking for a smaller terrier, but figured a wheaton would do. i was looking for a varmint dog for my little urban farm.
turns out, according to his dna, he is half great pyrenees.
well, he has the makings of a great guard dog, and he does have a taste for mice, and loves to chase bunnies. maybe i can make this work, i figured.

he is a huge pup, 65 lbs at 8 months. no prob. but he is also sorta thick as a brick.
the other dogs dislike him rather intensely. especially my 2 very old rat terriers. they snap and bark at him, and he thinks they want to play. le sigh. sometimes it seems like they might be playing, taking him on when they could easily get away. but if he gives it back, it gets out of control pretty fast.
even my cool and calm biff doesnt like him.
i figured they would get used to him, but so far not so much.

but the real problem is that i dont think i am ever gonna be able to trust him around my chickens. at first i just watched him chase them around, not being able to decide if he was herding or chasing.
but he got ahold of a couple that were not as fast as the rest, and he didnt hurt them, but did grab them.
he can be fine w me around, but if he gets out in the yard by himself, it takes him about 5 minutes to get bored and start chasing them.
he also stalks the parrots. they are fully flighted and easily get away. one of them seems to enjoy playing w him. he knows what that beak is for, but i still worry.

i sent him for some training and he came back more manageable, but no less nutso. i have yet to find an effective way to correct him. everything i do comes off as play to him. he will def need an electric collar.
the trouble w the other dogs is making it hard for me to forge a solid relationship w him. we spend too much time sitting on the bed, surfing the net, watching teevee. but it is a chore to keep the peace to let him up on the bed.

i just think this is not the dog for me, and he should maybe go back to the shelter. (it is no kill) i know that the more time goes by, the less adoptable he is. he IS a good dog. i just keep thinking he is not a good dog for me.
damn this is hard.

your guess about the contents of the safe deposit box?

me- an atomic bomb.

thermocouple on a fridge

so, my fridge is running w/o stop. everything is frozen.
it has been kinda hinky for a while, running very cold while set on 2.

so i got a replacement for the thermostat. but it didnt include the thermocouple. i did put the old one on the new stat, but still no go.

i vaguely understand the concept of a thermocouple, but mostly what i know is that when they go bad, you replace them.
so, my immediate question, while i wait for an answer from parts town, is-
are they repairable when they fail? is it corrosion that can be cleaned up, or (i think this is what happens) the bimetal connection fails and it is dead.
is the thermocouple for a fridge the same as one for an oven/furnace?

imma hit my fave hardware store and see if they carry one. they have a ton of such parts.
but any info is welcome, even just to shore up my knowledge of how this stuff works.

i hate when you spend $100 for a part that should cost $10 max and it still isnt fixed. grrrr.

i notice the judge in cohen's case is someone we know-

In the Nannygate matter of 1993, Wood was Bill Clinton's second unsuccessful choice for United States Attorney General.[7] Like Clinton's previous nominee, Zoë Baird, Wood had hired an illegal immigrant as a nanny, but unlike Baird, she had paid the required taxes on the employee. Wood employed the illegal immigrant at a time when it was legal to do so, before the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 made the hiring of illegal immigrants unlawful.[8] The threat of a repetition of the same controversy nevertheless led to the hasty withdrawal of Wood from consideration.[9][10] Janet Reno was later nominated and confirmed for the post.[9] White House officials said they were angry at Judge Wood because she had not told Clinton and other officials about the nanny, even when she had been directly asked. In her statement, however, Judge Wood said she had not misled the White House

my sister is running. but just how big will the wave be?

so, for those not following along, my sister is running for the dupage, IL county board. i am managing her campaign. formerly solid red county, now quite purple, the center of IL 6th, one of the most flippable seats in the country.

she won her primary, as did the other woman up for the 2 seats. (it is a vote for 2 situation, 2 dems, 2 thugs for 2 seats. there were 3 dem candidates, the 2 women won.)
the local party had a strategy of running someone for all 12 of 18 seats up this term, and many folks stepped up. there were more candidates than seats. they encouraged all of them to run, but also asked them all to pledge to drop out if they werent the top vote getters, to avoid losing to ticket splitting. they all signed a pledge.

w the blue wave cranking up, the second place candidates are mostly all refusing to drop out and a bit of infighting in the local party is muddying the waters. the local indivisible group thinks all 12 can win. in my heart, i think they may be right, but i try to be aware of my bubble.
the #2 candidate is not as good as sheila. she is a true heart who stepped up, like so many others. but she has not been very political in the past, and does not have a lot of time to be out there doing retail politicking.

so we are left w the political version of the prisoners dilemma, i guess.
anybody have a crystal ball out there?
what would you do? lean on #2 to drop out, or try to carry the ticket and hope for high water.
i'm at a bit of a loss this minute, tho the wheels are turning.
really want to hear from the brain trust here before i act.

what say you du?

damn it. i love this place.

in the whole time i have been here, i have had a post at the top of the greatest all of twice. once was last month when my sister won her primary, now this-https://www.democraticunderground.com/11518491

i really didnt expect this, since it was posted in here.
but there you have it. this is my home. and i am so happy to be here.

tears of joy today.

my middle kid was just here for a 2 hour visit. we havent talked in a few years, except at my sister's memorial in january.
she is moving out of state, and wanted to tie up loose ends. i was a loose end.

being a good mom means just sweeping that all away, embracing her, telling her how much i love her.

since my divorce, the most crushing loneliness has been the rift w my kids. especially this one.

not only mended fences, but listened to her tell me about how she has made use of the things she got from me. and how much she is like me.
of course, there is also some mental illness that runs hard in this family. but she is coping, getting meds, getting help, and growing up anyway.

sad that this had to happen as she is moving away, but glad i get to be a part of her grand adventure.

happy tears feel so good.

what's the thing about the insurance policy?

watching spanky's rant for the billionth time. he is talking about rosenstein, and looking into fbi? i think. looking into all that stuff, he sez. about the insurance policy.

wtf is he talking about?

i'm off to bed, so i wont reply till am. but this is bugging me, and no one is picking up on it.