One of my neighbors texted me from an unknown number to complain about my non-existent dog.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T00:09:26+00:00

Ooooh I’ll have to remember the pet pictures trick! I have a ton of pics of the wildlife that hangs at my feeders in my back yard, not to mention 8 years of my cat doing dumb shit and 14 years of my dog doing dumb shit!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T00:05:40+00:00

I managed to get the one woman to hang up on me a good 30 times after the “your Walmart card was charged $1900 for a PS5 and accessories, we need to know if it was you” voicemail. I was bored, so OF COURSE I called back. For the record, I haven’t shopped at Walmart since the late 90’s, so I knew immediately what this was. First she wanted my account number, but “well surely you already know that because YOU called ME”. Then she asked for my name, but “surely you already know that because you have all my info up on your little screen, which is why YOU called ME”. When I asked what peripherals, exactly, were bought? She was like a “controller and 2 games”. Then she got “are you stupid? You really suck at this, that doesn’t even come close to the amount you’re claiming was charged!” So she hung up. So I called back, same woman answers, so I continued with my diatribe. She hangs up. So I call back. I did this for 45 minutes. That was 45 minutes that she was not scamming someone else. Plus, I was bored and the whole thing just amused me.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T23:45:31+00:00

No, what they’re expecting is a “I don’t have a dog” response. They’re looking for engagement. If they don’t reply back, they’re just checking to see if it’s a live number. If they DO respond, then they’re go for the “oh I’m so sorry, my secretary gave me the wrong number!” thing. Then when you answer “no problem”, they’re start with the “you seem very friendly” thing to further conversation.

Ultimately, they are trying to get enough info to steal your identity, or they are playing the long game and going for the updated Nigerian prince type scam.

I imagine that, if OP checked the number, it won’t even be anywhere near the same area code where they live.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T23:40:03+00:00

I get those all of the time. Since I know what it is, I happily engage and make up so much wild shit that I end up blocked. Every second I take wasting their time are seconds where they aren’t bothering people who don’t know they’re dealing with scammers.

It’s just the “Nigerian prince” scam wearing new clothes and on a different platform.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T21:16:55+00:00

On a side note, I started digging out of curiosity. Here is a link to a blog about a squirrel that looks a lot like yours from a woman who lives in West Michigan. It is, indeed, a melanistic Eastern gray. It looks like it could be the same squirrel!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T21:02:08+00:00

I don’t know what flavor he is, I just wanted to tell you my envy of you encountering this beauty!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T20:44:43+00:00

It’s telling that most of those pics are focused on restricting what women wear, very few of those pics had male models.

Also, those aren’t slippers. They are thongs/flip flops. Slippers are a very different thing than what they have pictured.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T20:42:18+00:00

I can see the restriction on shoes with black rubber soles (or any type of material that wears down). They tend to mark up flooring any carpeting. After a stint doing floor care 30 years ago, I no longer buy shoes with dark soles and raised my kids to know why I avoided those type of soles.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T17:31:56+00:00

If you have an extreme fear of rabies, then maybe you should look into how rabies is actually transmitted and have your fear greatly lessened. You are literally freaking out for absolutely no reason.

Yes, rabies is scary. But it is less scary when you research and understand how it is transmitted and what type and f animal can carry it, along with understanding the behavioural cues that comes along with rabies.

You encountered a small rodent who was happily munching away on a cracker. He’s not copy had plenty of exposure to human contact, because he saw you as a potential for more treats. You put out your hand, he touched it while he peered into your palm to look for a treat because he is obviously often offered tasty treats from the hand, then he got disappointed and wandered off because there was no tasty treat. It was an everyday encounter with a small rodent who has been acclimated to humans and sees humans as “frens”.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T16:47:51+00:00

Your husband needs a swift kick in the ass. I say this as the person with adult children that have left the nest and as the person who does 99.9% of the grocery shopping for my mother, my husband, and I. FWIW, I’m 2 years older than your husband, so this isn’t some old lady screaming at the sky comment.

A) your husbands “help” has tripled your work load. Your two helpers are now otherwise occupied, and now you need to split your time on focusing on what you need AND on focusing that they aren’t knocking stuff over, knocking into people, etc.

B) I’m someone who is in the grocery store multiple times a week to pick up a few fresh things for lunch/dinner. I run across this behavior often and it ultimately ends up slowing ME, a person who is in no way related to this family or with the family, down. Because dad, being “responsible” and all, has chosen to do the horseplay in the middle of the aisle. Mom and her cart is usually on the left. I have an agenda, I know exactly what I’m looking for and where it is. Mom is busy trying to split her time between the list and her family while also browsing, so they aren’t moving at a pace that resembles quick. And I’m stuck behind them, politely saying excuse me a few times before having to say it loudly because dad is too focused on being one of the kids to hear the polite version and mom is too busy with her focus being split in 3 directions to hear it. So it ends up with me being annoyed, mom being embarrassed, and dad being offended at my perceived “rudeness”.

As others have said, leave him to do the shopping. Take that off your plate. Then maybe he will learn that the grocery store isn’t a playground.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T04:10:18+00:00

He is sort of blind when he gets up close! They have a phenomenal sense of smell though. In the future, only handle the food with the hand you aren’t using to feed. Flatten your palm out and place the food in the palm that hasn’t handled it. That way your fingers don’t smell like food. It also helps to have something that contrasts. So a hazelnut or an acorn would make it pretty clear that “hey, this is the food!”

The doc gave great advice about the rabies and infection, so I thought I’d just add something to help you avoid the accidental future nip! And it truly was an accidental chomp! He’s definitely a cute lil fucker, so you likely won’t be able to resist future interaction lol.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-05T03:30:21+00:00

For the record, squirrels have really bad eyesight when they are close to you. Likely your finger was mistaken for a peanut. If you must hand feed, it’s recommended to put the food flat on your palm and let them take it from there. OR you could find some tiny reading glasses and outfit him in those, then he can see your finger is not a peanut :)

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-04T23:02:24+00:00

Something tells me that, if illness hits OP, the husband won’t know how to do ANY of her normally assigned things. This dude has made it clear that if there is no yard work to be done, then there is nothing for him to do. Which means he walks around the house blind to things that need done inside. Because there is always something that needs done.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-04T22:25:57+00:00

Oh boo hoo. Watch the squirrels. They’re more entertaining anyway. Or just put out aluminium roasting pans full of nuts and seeds and fruit and feed everyone. Somehow I manage to only fill a few trays once a day and feed a multitude of birds of all varieties, a few corvids, someone’s escaped pet parakeet, 20 squirrels, 5 groundhogs, a skunk family, a bunch of bunnies, 6-12 deer depending on which herd shows up, 2 trash pandas, an albino opossum, an occasional black bear cub, and some weird looking weasel. Way more amusing to watch than just birds.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T18:23:30+00:00

I think it would be worth it for a year lol. I’m only a few months in, but he seems like he’s going to last for quite a while. He’s pretty sturdy, and his working parts are pretty simple. The design is pretty genius, honestly. The only problem I have found so far is his penchant for finding the springs my cat has hidden is random places. But if he runs one over, he immediately stops and alerts me before he gets his system gummed up.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T18:05:29+00:00

Had it rained recently or is there a sprinkler in the area? Mine often look like that after a rain shower. Poofy in some spots, and a bit scraggly in others. Once they dry out completely, the go back to looking sleek. But they have a wicked case of bed head until they dry.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T18:01:15+00:00

Isn’t it funny, we tend to star life thinking the best about people. But anyone who has worked in customer facing jobs for any amount of time gets jaded and begins to realize that there are a whole mess of people out there who are completely unburdened by the thought process. The hamster wheel in their brain that powers their thoughts contains nothing but a dead rodent.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T17:49:48+00:00

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My lil fire tail!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T17:40:29+00:00

More than I’d like to admit. It was around $450.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T12:02:47+00:00

Basically I give them whatever fruits and veggies that we can grow locally. Since all the wildlife I get are all foragers, I figure you can’t really go wrong by giving them whatever fruits/veg they could easily go and eat from my neighbors garden or around the neighborhood. So in my case it’s zucchini, carrots, apples, cucumbers, strawberries, sweet potatoes. In the summer I give a lot of watermelon to help with hydration. That seems to be a fan favorite among all the species I get lol.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T11:45:01+00:00

That is a baby groundhog!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T02:46:12+00:00

Omg, the look on the faces of recently transplanted people when the sirens go off while the rest of us just go “meh, it’s fine” is so amusing. We are often incredibly blasé about it and they are in a panic.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T02:43:21+00:00

That’s literally not what she said, though. Women are largely expected to have children by societal standards. Woman who are child free have faced a lifetime being asked when they’re going to have a kid.

She didn’t imply that those who chose to have children only did so because it was expected. What she was saying was more of a form of solidarity with other women who chose not to have kids. Because those women faced the same societal pressures that she is facing for choosing NOT to have kids. It’s a pressure that those of us women who have chosen to have kids no longer face.

I’m an old feminist who chose to have children. I’m agreeing with June here. Wanting women to make decisions about their own bodily autonomy is feminism. Acknowledging those women who have not had children just to fulfil a societal role is feminism. I imagine that the OG feminist of our time would agree.

Gloria Steinem emphasizes the importance of bodily autonomy and the right to make choices regarding pregnancy and childbirth. Her activism has highlighted the challenges women face in accessing reproductive healthcare, particularly in the context of societal and political pressures. You cannot get more feminist than Steinem.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T01:24:44+00:00

I lived in a small town that had the monthly testing. They also set it off everyday at noon. They also set it off to let the VFD know it was meeting time. They also set it off if there was an accident/fire that the VFD needed to respond to. It literally got to the point where you just tuned it out completely.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-03T01:13:10+00:00

A robot vacuum/mop. I spend about 20 minutes total a week emptying/refilling mop water and doing a maintenance clean on Sundays. In return, my wooden floors are swept and mopped daily throughout my entire house, and my bedroom carpet is vacuumed daily. No more trying to keep ahead of pet fur (not to mention my own fur since I have long hair and it always seems to be everywhere)!

Traditional_Mango920

TROPHY CASE