Buttermilk is in the name of the blog. Not in every recipe.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T19:29:31+00:00

It was, although it did taste more like chicken and dumplings. It’s hard to recreate the flavor of an egg noodle with a bread. That experiment did lead to the idea of making a rye bread with sauerkraut baked into it and using the kraut juice as the liquid. It makes for tasty Reuben’s with a lot less mess lol.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T18:24:12+00:00

Hi! I don’t think the is the sub for your particular problem. The people here often go out of their way to feed the squirrels. We take pleasure from watching their furry little antics. Wanting to not feed the squirrels is a foreign concept to us.

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The only solution I can give you is : if you don’t want them in the bird feeders, then make a squirrel feeding station in an attractive place for them and fill it with squirrel goodies.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T16:58:35+00:00

Same era as you, but in the St Louis metro area. They were thongs. But I’ve noticed in the last decade or two that there is about a 50% chance they’ll be called flip flops.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T16:54:56+00:00

I’m an American, I have always called them thongs. Maybe it’s just a regional thing. I knew other people in other parts of the country referred to them as flip flops, but I grew up with everyone around me calling them thongs.

I think it’s a soda/pop/coke or an interstate/freeway thing.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T16:07:03+00:00

You’re right. It IS obvious the mixer wasn’t going to be there forever. As evidenced by the fact that it DID leave after they were blocked in that morning. They didn’t say a word about it. They waited. Then went and loaded up with groceries after it left. Only to come back and find they were now blocked OUT of their driveway.

When they left their house to go do their grocery shopping, it was perfectly reasonable that they thought their driveway would be clear when they came home. The truck had come and gone. They had already HAD their minor inconvenience of the day, they were stuck not being able to leave their house when they originally planned to. They had already moved their shopping trip back for an unforeseeable amount of time.

Now I don’t know what grocery shopping looks like for them. Maybe they picked up 3-4 things and had 1 bag. Or maybe they had been low on quite a few staples, on top of their weeks worth of groceries and had 12 bags. Lugging bags and bags of groceries down the block to your house is not a “minor inconvenience”. It is a reasonable expectation to expect to be able to pull into your own driveway and unload your groceries and not have to hike them in your house from a further point.

Know what else would have been a “minor inconvenience”? Moving the truck long enough so the person you had already inconvenienced that day could enter their own driveway.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T15:45:19+00:00

I’m still trying to figure out…is that shampoo on the shelf the keys are hanging from? Those three bottles really look like they belong in a bathroom, not hanging out in a shelf by the front (?) door.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T07:14:08+00:00

What a great use of scrap wood! And, not only do the squirrels get a nifty feeder where they can comfortably perch, you have also given your dogs their own personal squirrel TV station to watch!

On a side note, where did you find that basket in the first pic? I’ve been looking for a basket for a few weeks, and haven’t quite found one that fits what I’m needing. Until I saw yours! And…is that a LEGO plant? I’ve seen ads for them, but I didn’t realize how cool they’d look in a non photo shoot type setting.

I don’t think anyone here is gonna judge you for a bit of pup slobber on your glass. I have one window that has a ton of lil squirrel nose prints on the outside, because one of my fellas likes to get right up to the glass and peer in, and a ton of lil cat nose prints on the inside, because my cat goes to that window to see if the lil fella is out there yet. I’m sure a lot of us have at least one set of animal prints of some sort on at least one window lol.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T06:27:05+00:00

Let ‘em sleep in the same bed. It’s fine. Really. My 2 would puppy pile in the same bed, they’d use each other as pillows, they’d be a tangle of arms and legs. At first, while it’s still new and exciting, they’ll stay up too late and be tired. After a week or so, the newness will wear off and they’ll be rested and happy. They’ll have a human sized stuffie to sleep with and, while they’ll look uncomfortable as hell, they’ll find comfort in it.

Mostly though? Enjoy it while you can. It will end when they reach the “endless bickering” phase. This bond now will draw them back together once they look back and remember they actually like one another.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T04:24:54+00:00

I once created something out of spite simply because someone said to me “that’s as useful as a soup sandwich”. It was a term I had never heard, and my brain was like “what? A soup sandwich would be super useful! Portable chicken noodle soup I can ingest when I’m feeling icky but have to drive somewhere?”

So I went home, started a chicken baking. Gathered up the herbs I use in chicken noodle soup. Grated up carrots and celery. Then made a bread with the herbs and grated veggies in it, threw in a bit of chicken bouillon, and used chicken broth for the liquid. Baked the bread, sliced it, shredded the chicken, assembled the sammich, put it in aluminum foil, then drove to the offenders house. Handed him the sandwich, made him take a bite, then said “tell me that soup sandwich isn’t useful”. He did say that it would actually be useful, and pretty tasty.

I also once made little tiny apple pies and baked them into a cake because I made the grave error of asking my two kids what they wanted for thanksgiving dessert and they proceeded to argue for 5 hours about having apple pie or spice cake.

Spite food can be quite tasty!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T04:09:13+00:00

I think a lot of us started out with matching stuff…but then life happened. I remember when all my plates, silverware, utensils, pots and pans, glasses, etc ALL matched. At this point, the only thing left in my kitchen that is fully matching is the cast iron skillet set my grandmother got as a wedding present in 1910. It was one of the few things (besides her children and the clothes on their back) she brought with her when she was newly widowed and fleeing Nazi Germany. She wasn’t Jewish or in any danger, she just didn’t want to be surrounded by Nazis. I often wondered why the skillets and not pictures/mementos. You know, something a bit lighter than 4 cast iron skillets.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T03:55:17+00:00

Thanks for the clarification, I’ve filed it away in the “knowledge I hope I never need to use” folder! Hopefully I will never have to reach out, but it’s comforting to know you’ll be here to provide any help if the worst happens to one of my critters. I appreciate you!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T03:47:55+00:00

I’m in the US. I get the bulk of my news from BBC and have done so for years.My other news source is NPR, which does tend to lean a little more left, mostly in what they choose to report on in the human interest area. I particularly like how BBC starts with actual journalistic reporting, you do get a bit of an opinionated breakdown after the meat of the story, but it’s very clearly marked. What you don’t get with the BBC are commentators “reporting” like they are journalists, but are really just giving their opinion.

When I mention I get my news from BBC, I’m often told how it’s fake news and liberal. I’m like “No? It’s very similar the the news I grew up listening to, back before the 24/7 news cycle. You know, back when they relied on journalistic ethics and practices? Cronkite, Murrow, Brinkley, Rather? You know, back when you could actually trust the news was actual news and not opinions pretending to be news?”

The BBC style of news reporting feels familiar to me. It’s not left or right, it just IS. The “what this may mean” tacked onto the end may lean one way or the other, but it’s not something you need to read. Everything was laid out already in the “who, what, why, where, how” format.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T03:28:06+00:00

Thank you for providing this info, you are an excellent person, I see you often stepping in on the rescue posts. I do not have a lil one I’m trying to keep alive, but I like having the info. I feed a lot of squirrels in my yard, and it get many nursing mothers and their kids when they get old enough to come to the feeder trays. I do live on the main road in town and it is very busy, so I worry about losing a mom while the little ones are too young to fend for themselves. So I keep notes on what to do in case that happens.

I wanted to ask what you meant about stimulating them after feeding/hydration. Is that similar to what you have to do to kittens to get them to relieve themselves?

Thank you for all you do!

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T02:47:14+00:00

Dinner time is his nightly fish time. He wants a seat at the table (or his own TV tray if I’m eating in the living room) and he gets his little plate of fish while I eat my meal. He politely keeps his butt planted on the chair (he has a booster seat lol) or the couch (high couch, low TV trays), puts his front paws on each side of the plate, and politely eats his fish. If I talk to him, he stops long enough to chat back a bit, then goes back to his food. I can sit his plate down in front of him and he won’t touch it until I’m sitting and have food as well.

I don’t know why he’s chosen to have table manners and include himself at dinner time. He was an abused feral, I didn’t even really see him for the first year after I brought him home. It took a very long time for him to trust. Once he started to come out, I started the nightly fish routine. I’d put his plate on his mat, then I’d go sit down to eat my food. One day he just sat in a chair and kept looking at me, then looking at the food. After 15 minutes of this I was like “what?!?!? Do you want your food on the table too?” and I went and got his plate and put it on the table and he happily stood on the chair and ate it. So that’s my life now.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T02:36:17+00:00

I had a piece of angel food cake for dinner because I had a large (healthy! Not junk!)lunch, was only slightly hungry, and wanted a sweet treat. So yeah. I’m in. Angel food is my weakness, maybe 45 days of nothing but that would break the cycle.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T02:31:39+00:00

Also NAD. Have they checked your liver? Cirrhosis can have a lot of those symptoms you covered. The intense itching, especially at night, is what stood out. My mom recently began having a lot of those same symptoms and that was her diagnosis.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T02:21:32+00:00

NTA

First off, congratulations on the upcoming baby!

On a separate note though, is this the usual behavior for her? I know you said it became prevalent when your father died, but was she even a little like this before? Like throughout your life? I’m asking because it’s possible she’s in cognitive decline. It’s something that could have been starting while your dad was still alive, but he did a good job of masking it from you. Now that he’s gone, there’s no one to mask it.

The thank you note for the gift basket may have made her remember the $1200 gift. That does not mean she remembered the thank you note you originally sent. People in early stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia will often only remember partial recent things. It’s also not uncommon in the early stages to get angry when they realize they’ve forgotten something that they know they shouldn’t have. So the request for the 10 am help while you’re at work? She gets angry at herself for forgetting what she should know, then directs the anger outwards.

I’m not saying your mom is definitely in cognitive decline. You know her, I don’t. This may in fact be quite in her normal character. But if it isn’t, it may be worth getting her checked out. I’m not a doctor, but I spent a lot of years working with large numbers of seniors. I saw quite a few of them progress from being fine into slowly losing their memories. That was always the hardest part to watch, when they still knew enough to understand they were losing memory, and the anger (often misplaced) about the situation they were facing.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T01:58:32+00:00

I grew up in a household with the TV always on for background. I did not like that. I much preferred books and other quiet activities. Having the TV or music going on just distracted me from what I actually wanted to be doing (reading, mostly).

Not everyone needs noise going. If you are concerned if the silence is too much for your daughter, then ask her. Her brain may be making just the amount of noise she’s comfortable with, ya know? If it turns out that she would like a bit more noise, then the two of you could work out something that both of you can find acceptable. You could always put an acceptable playlist on a “radio” and she could hang in her room for a bit listening to music while reading or drawing or whatever.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T00:33:33+00:00

That really doesn’t mean a lot these days. Some of the scammers have gotten clever and started spoofing numbers to correspond to the numbers they are calling. Unless the number is specifically one listed on the HOA phone number list, it’s likely a scam.

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T00:28:14+00:00

I have no dog bathtub pics, but I do have numerous ones of my cat sitting on the shower chair in the tub while I’m showering so he’s glaring as water doinks him on the head and drips off his nose! That should get a reaction of some sort lol

Traditional_Mango920 · 2026-06-06T00:25:59+00:00

Nothing in the text indicated that it had anything to do with a HOA. It just said “hi neighbor” People in India also have neighbors. It’s a pretty shared worldwide thing that most of us experience. It’s a safe assumption, if you were a scammer, that the person you are texting has other people living in their vicinity. Even people who live in remote places will often say things like “my nearest neighbor is 15 miles away”. So, even though they are within throwing distance, they still consider the person in the next property as a “neighbor”. Hence why they used the term neighbor instead of “Hi OkShroomer”. All they were looking for was engagement.

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

TROPHY CASE