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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Difficult relatives
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I always wonder about doctors like that. We had a vet of the same persuasion--recommended extremely expensive treatment that would certainly not benefit the dog in the least, but might--MIGHT--give us a clue about the cause of death afterward. Meh.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Huia:
If I ever get to such an age I want to be like her. I'm practising - just in case.
Then, perhaps, you should start by wearing purple?
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
There is an unpleasant tendency to push treatments onto people, especially at the end of life, without fully considering the patient's likely benefit. My aunt also argues that she would rather drop dead of a heart attack than to live hitched up to her cardiologist's machines for an extra six months.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
Isn't "spit in the eye" just a phrase? When Bowie used it in "Life on Mars" I didn't think that the girl with the mousy hair was literally spitting in the eye of fools.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Shhh, NEQ. The tempest doesn't brew properly if you lift the teapot lid.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
There is an unpleasant tendency to push treatments onto people.
I remember reading somewhere: "Beware of doctors who want to sell you something."
This same doctor who was pushing the osteoporosis medication on my father also recommended a vitamin D supplement that could, of course, be bought only from her office. When we informed her that our father would not be subjecting himself to the treatment she recommended, she became very defensive and told us she didn't make any money off the drugs in question. We had not raised the topic with her, but of course I remembered the warning and immediately became very suspicious.
Needless to say, my father made no more appointments with her.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Take my mother in law - please, take my mother in law!
Her latest ploy is to sell her trees so the men are here today merrily cutting down jackfruit trees [she'll have no jackfruit to sell next year], mango trees [she'll have no mangoes to sell next year] and cashew trees [she'll have no cashews to sell next year]. On top of this all the pepper vines that grow up said trees have also gone so she'll have no peppercorns to sell next year.
In fact as a result of a quick bit of profiteering she'll have sweet fuck-all to sell next year.
She's crazy and vicious and vindictive and completely removed from reality - and we are helpless as it is her land. I feel particularly helpless as Himself and Herself are away today
If, next year, she comes to me pleading poverty I think she may get short shrift.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
After vast machinations, cunning phone calls, and deviousity indescribable, the sisters' visit is on again. My aunt has once again consented to fly coast to coast and visit my mother. Actually the excuse is visiting the cousin, but with luck, presented with the fact, my father will forget or ignore his opposition and all will be well. My sister immediately went in and booked all the airline seats, so we are now locked in. If only nobody has a major health crisis within the next two months, we are golden. After all this excitement, the actual visit will be not such a much! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Heheheh. And if it should arise again before that day, I've found that a blank stare and "Was there some sort of problem, Dad?" coupled with a case of amnesia does wonders. Sometimes the difficult person just decides it's too much trouble to refresh your memory on the whole issue, and subsides into sulks instead.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The up side of this entire circus has been that everyone in my generation (my siblings, cousins, etc.) were unanimous in what should happen. With all our relatively younger horsepower behind the issue, my father has no real chance.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
quote:
Originally posted by Huia:
If I ever get to such an age I want to be like her. I'm practising - just in case.
Then, perhaps, you should start by wearing purple?
I'm already onto it, so much so that when I was planning what to wear into a wasp infested area* I had to reorganise all my clothing and my day pack. Only my knickers were blue in an act of defiance.
* Received wisdom from trampers and Department of Conservation staff is that wasps are attracted to shades of blue, but I wasn't taking chances.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I have been in a state of subdued terror since last night, when my friend pointed out what the change in the weather means in their home, where there is no power in any but the lighting circuits.
I am slightly responsibly for this. They lost power in one of the circuits, and had no fuse wire, so I went over with mine and the tools, went into the fuse box, eventually. It was hidden away a bit. Found a melted fuse. Replaced it with the appropriate thickness, whereupon all three power circuits ceased to function. With a bang.
Aged and difficult parent rang the supplying company and found they wouldn't come to do anything as it was inside.
Since then she has done nothing. Including clearing out the access to the fuse box. She is a hoarder. I did try to bag up some waste paper, but apparently intruded on 'her' stuff. My friend has been banned from touching anything of hers as well.
She keeps reminding him that it's all my fault. And his for remembering where the fuses were when we had only found the lighting circuits to start with.
I don't live near, and certainly not in the area of her doctor - she needs to visit the surgery frequently, and has been working to prevent them making a house call. But I have been thinking about putting them up over the winter, and it terrifies me.
She is not an easy person. She despises me because I don't watch the soaps - so I'd be going to lose my living room. I'd have to move a lot of things into the garage. I'd be going to lose all my privacy. She's brilliant at doing people down all the time - she gets her son into a serious state. Weird, as she also needs him around to give her a purpose in life. I'd lose my kitchen, and the freedom to eat when I want to, and what I want to. She once went on at me for an hour on the telephone and I had to ring Samaritans after to wind myself down in order to sleep. In the small hours. She has turned up at someone's party like Carabosse, or Eris at Thetis' wedding.
She wouldn't know the area round here, and wouldn't have anywhere to go. I'd have to be a taxi. I find it very difficult driving her while she talks non-stop. (Sometimes it's interesting.)
I am writing, offering to pay for the repair to the fuse box if she makes the arrangements. Not sending it without the sayso of her son.
She has cousins, but I can't see her letting them know of her situation.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I too would hesitate. When you have someone in to live with you, it may not be just 'for the season'. It may be forever.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
No, Penny, no. In addition to all the very good reasons you listed she would quickly hoard up your home with clutter, as hoarders never stop, and she would want to surround herself with her own stuff (piled to the ceiling) in order to feel comfortable.
You would have a nervous breakdown and she wouldn't be happy either, what with you in the kitchen eating something she doesn't approve of and moving her things out of the way to vacuum.
I'm almost in tears just thinking of it. Just no.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Helen-Eva
Shipmate
# 15025
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Posted
What Twilight said. Martyrdom by difficult relative is not called for and will do no-one any good. You have to preserve your own sanity.
[ 12. October 2016, 16:17: Message edited by: Helen-Eva ]
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I thought the radio 3 announcer said "Weber" but it turned out to be Webern. Story of my life.
Posts: 637 | From: London, hopefully in a theatre or concert hall, more likely at work | Registered: Aug 2009
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Thank you. I forgot to mention that she does not go to bed until 4 or 5 am (and has followed this pattern since I have known the family in 1984) and goes to sleep on the loo.
She's somewhere in the 90s years old, but of a long lived family,
Major moving things about would be required.
So thank you again.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
They lost power in one of the circuits, and had no fuse wire, so I went over with mine and the tools, went into the fuse box, eventually. It was hidden away a bit. Found a melted fuse. Replaced it with the appropriate thickness, whereupon all three power circuits ceased to function. With a bang. . . . She keeps reminding him that it's all my fault.
Fuses blow for a reason. Only a licensed electrician can determine why and can fix the problem.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I do think that getting the electrical issue dealt with is a good idea and worth the money. The place sounds like a firetrap as it is.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Well, I'm quite capable of identifying a cause, if it is a bit of equipment plugged in, or happens when a particular switch is turned on. And we would have moved on to testing the TV and the heater. But it's obviously something more serious and electrician worthy.
They have a gas cooker so aren't completely third world.
But, yes, fire risk. And then some. But when my friend raises that issue, there's ructions.
He's the martyr, unchosen.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
Posting to add another loud "No!".
I was fortunate to have good friends who backed up my decision of not offering a home to a difficult family member.
We subsequently found a much better option so everyone is sorted.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Thanks all. I've been kicking myself over being selfish. (She isn't even my relly.) You've relieved me of that.
I ran my offer of funding for the electrician as far as the fuses past my friend and he wants me to hold on it until we've talked.
[ 12. October 2016, 19:28: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
I don't know where you live or what the laws are, but is there any way to have the Fire Department intervene? Between the electrical problem and the hoarding, this is a hazard for them if there were a fire, which sounds like a real possibility. (I would hope they could do this without bringing your name into it.)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
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Posted
Penny S - you are a wonderful friend, but it is the son whose responsibility it is. Not that he can do a lot without his mother's say-so.
I'm glad that Samaritans were there for you. ![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
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But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by jacobsen:
Penny S - you are a wonderful friend, but it is the son whose responsibility it is. Not that he can do a lot without his mother's say-so.
I'm glad that Samaritans were there for you.
Actually I would say that it’s the mother’s responsibly. Penny S provided a short term fix. But a long term one involves getting an electrician in and tidying stuff up so s/he can access the fuse box and the wiring. She doesn’t want too. Assuming the house belongs to her, then it’s her choice but it’s also her responsibility.
One of the most difficult things in these situations is accepting that people have agency. There may be things that seem obvious to an outside observer, but if they don’t want to do them, you can’t actually force them!
Another vote for not having them to live with you.
Tubbs
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
Posts: 12701 | From: Someplace strange | Registered: Jun 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
You are absolutely right about her having agency. She is, apart from the hoarding, capable of being very compos mentis. Especially when visiting the doctor.
Her son has no power to enforce things (despite the nurse when she had CO poisoning telling him about her father going into her grandmother's house and making alterations without permission). It's her house.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
You are absolutely right about her having agency. She is, apart from the hoarding, capable of being very compos mentis. Especially when visiting the doctor.
Her son has no power to enforce things (despite the nurse when she had CO poisoning telling him about her father going into her grandmother's house and making alterations without permission). It's her house.
I can see why the suggestion would be tempting. Get Monster Dearest out of the house for a day or so, move the crap and get the electrics fixed and then move it all back and claim it all miraculously fixed itself. But as she's a total horror, I can see why the son decided it wasn't worth it.
You're doing a sterling job btw. It sounds like he needs all the help he can get!
Tubbs
[ 13. October 2016, 11:51: Message edited by: Tubbs ]
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
Posts: 12701 | From: Someplace strange | Registered: Jun 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I like the idea of getting the electrical code people, or the fire department, in on it. Let some larger entity bear the onus.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Some day I may be free to post more. Currently, she is in the habit of going out in the evening, sometimes to local groups, sometimes shopping, and then going home later than expected.
Son rings me up, expecting who knows what, and I lie there waiting to have to get up and drive over, as I did the night of the CO.
He tries to work out which route she will be on and goes out to search, meanwhile planning to ring round hospitals, the police and so on, in a state of utter dread.
Then she turns up, asking why he hasn't got a cup of tea ready.
Last night she asked him to thank me when he called to let me know she was back. She has times when she is fine.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Is there anything you could do to get your friend into counseling or something? Sounds like he needs to take self-protective action before he simply explodes from the stress.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
He is actually amazing at dealing with it, and has been as long as I have known him. He gets depressed, but usually something turns up to arrest it developing into anything serious*. He also has a chaplain he can talk to, who knows the situation, and various church services.
*He does seem to be looked after - as in 'someone up there likes him'.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Latest. I gave them a battery operated radio. It came back yesterday because it couldn't get the right radio station. A brief twiddle and there it was. But it appears she will not, under any circumstances, have the aerial extended. Stuck it in. Reception still fine, even though I am much further from the transmitter. But this probably will not do, because it seems that I have graduated from being "that woman" to "that awful woman" and being beholden to me is not going to happen.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Belle Ringer
Shipmate
# 13379
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Latest. I gave them a battery operated radio. It came back ...Reception still fine...this probably will not do...
A gift from you is not acceptable because you are not. Whether the reasons are simple or complex, they aren't really about you, but something much deeper. So take your eye off the given.
Buy something knowing it will be ignored or rejected, and shrug. Move on. Don't let this hole trap you, hold you, pull you down into the other persons misery. Step lightly to avoid the trap. Always lightly. Takes practice. You can do it.
Posts: 5830 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2008
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
If you (gen.) want to try another kind of gift, one that'll do some good, whether or not your DR accepts it, you might try a charity donation in your DR's name that provides a card and explanation.
Just a few possibilities: Mercy Corps; The Hunger Site and its related sites (which also sell crafts from around the world);, Seva; the Heifer Project; and the Nature Conservancy (you can adopt an acre or a coral reef!).
Basically, you pick an item from the organization's list. E.g., Seva provides eye care to people in the Himalayas. You can choose one of their pre-priced gifts (e.g., $15.00 US for vision screening and glasses for one person), and have a gift card sent directly to your DR or to yourself. You can also buy (from the "Thoughtful Gifts" category) a set of gift cards. Or calendars, or...
Don't forget to check with some kind of charity rating place, like Charity Navigator. Seva has links to such sites at the bottom of the page.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
Move on. Don't let this hole trap you, hold you, pull you down into the other persons misery. Step lightly to avoid the trap. Always lightly. Takes practice. You can do it.
Story that made its rounds in the recovery community, back in the early '90s:
--I walk down the street. There is a hole. I don't see it. I fall in.
--I walk down the street again. There is a hole. I don't see it. I fall in again.
--I walk down the street. I see a hole. I fall in.
----I walk down the street. There is a hole. I see it. I walk around it. I don't fall in.
--I walk down another street.
(From memory. I don't know the source, but it's probably online.)
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
DR: Election Edition: the worst part of last night was when I left the woebegone party I went to last night, climbed behind the wheel, and sat there sobbing,"I don't want to go home, I don't want to go home!" For like five full minutes.
Reason: when Bush II won his four more years, I came home from work to find every TV and radio in the house blaring out the GOP celebrations, and my mom with her hands on her hips, smiling and waiting for me, aiming cheery gloats at me as I put my stuff away and got my dinner together.
This time she'd already told me she wasn't voting for either candidate, but I still didn't know what to expect when I got home. Luckily she left me alone. I have no idea what she was watching on the one TV I had on because I didn't look.
I'm saving to move out. Like GK said, I need to get to a place where I can walk down a different street. Yeah, nothing happened, but the fact that the first thing that comes to my mind when I am that vulnerable is, "I need to stay away from my mother ..."
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
If you (gen.) want to try another kind of gift, one that'll do some good, whether or not your DR accepts it, you might try a charity donation in your DR's name that provides a card and explanation.
Just a few possibilities: Mercy Corps; The Hunger Site and its related sites (which also sell crafts from around the world);, Seva; the Heifer Project; and the Nature Conservancy (you can adopt an acre or a coral reef!).
Basically, you pick an item from the organization's list. E.g., Seva provides eye care to people in the Himalayas. You can choose one of their pre-priced gifts (e.g., $15.00 US for vision screening and glasses for one person), and have a gift card sent directly to your DR or to yourself. You can also buy (from the "Thoughtful Gifts" category) a set of gift cards. Or calendars, or...
Don't forget to check with some kind of charity rating place, like Charity Navigator. Seva has links to such sites at the bottom of the page.
This works if you keep Belle Ringer's cautions in mind. It can't be about pleasing your unpleasable DR because that will never happen. You have to build a life where you can disengage from that.
And the charitable gift can help with that. Because you did give a gift-- and one that can't be returned or exchanged-- although it certainly can and no doubt will be critiqued. But no matter. You will have done some good. A kid will get a vaccine or a family will get a cow or a library will get some books. The world will be a little bit better. And that's always a good side to be on.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
(((((Kelly)))))
echoing ((((Kelly))))
The one lovely thing on this long, dark day has been the coming together of so many people to just mourn together. It is a time for lament. Standing with you Kelly.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
If the Ship was an actual location, I would have moved there long ago. Some chance at family.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
And the charitable gift can help with that. Because you did give a gift-- and one that can't be returned or exchanged-- although it certainly can and no doubt will be critiqued. But no matter. You will have done some good. A kid will get a vaccine or a family will get a cow or a library will get some books. The world will be a little bit better. And that's always a good side to be on.
Quoting myself
![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif) to point out, too, that places like Heifer Int'l allow you to give things like, oh, perhaps a turkey or a half a... well, let's say, donkey. You don't have to specify which half of the donkey you're intending...
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
This gift suggestion has been mentioned on the Ship before.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
there you go. You could wrap up the gift card with a roll of toilet paper and a note saying "all my gifts are crap anyway, so..."
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Last year someone suggested donating to a charity that builds toilets in third world countries.
[ 10. November 2016, 14:11: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Last year someone suggested donating to a charity that builds toilets in third world countries.
See my post above.
![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
There was a time when I thought Kelly's mother was funny, a real life sit-com character, too extreme to be taken seriously, but these days, when I hear about Kelly being afraid to go home when she's miserable, to what should be her soft place to fall, well it's just not even the slightest bit amusing anymore.
Yes, we need berths on the ship.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
(hugs)
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
I never thought that I would post on this thread, but my surviving brother has nailed his redneck opinions to the Republican mast:
Trumps views on women? Well, we will just have to live with it.
and many other gems.
I unfriended him on FB many months ago, he does not have my phone number (He sent me a message asking what it was, and I chose not to give it to him. He has my address, and my email, but, so help me, I am on the verge of blocking him as spam.
His adult daughters are just as appalled as I am, and I am on good, loving terms with them.
Him and his fourth (or is it fifth, or sixth?) wife, not so much. We have not had a real conversation (unless you count me say NO a lot) since 2009 when my brother Dave died.
I know he is my biological brother, but I have many other brothers (and sisters)-in-spirit here in Canada.
I cannot declare him dead, in fact, but may I declare him dead-to-me? PS He's 72 going on 90, health-wise, but I still wonder what he will be like when he grows up. Thank you for listening to this rant.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
His adult daughters have my prayers. Good God.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
... I have many other brothers (and sisters)-in-spirit here in Canada.
And not just in Canada.
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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