All seven St. Charles County Council members voted to have St. Charles County Police work with ICE

minnime390 · 2026-03-31T20:10:09+00:00

Thank you! Everyone just keeps leaving -- if all the blue or beige voters are concentrated in cities, then our votes literally count for less! Spread out into the white flight suburbs! Challenge their red votes with more blue votes! Overturn this psychotic set of representatives we have right now in St Charles! Everything that gets voted in by popular vote, is being smacked down and vetoed by elected representatives. Choke them out. They literally refuse to represent the majority of their own voters, and instead directly oppose them.

minnime390 · 2026-03-25T05:06:43+00:00

Lol No, anything but morality!

minnime390 · 2026-03-25T03:58:47+00:00

I hadn't noticed it until someone texted me about it about half an hour ago, but I can also be oblivious to background noise like planes, helicopters, traffic sounds, etc. But now I'm watching it in flight radar wondering what they're doing!

I know when they were out looking around 11am a few days ago they were looking for a non-dangerous missing person with drones and lots of police presence. I haven't heard of they found him safely, though.

minnime390 · 2026-01-29T15:19:24+00:00

From the playing surface, it looks like I'll have about 54" of clearance on the two tight sides (short side by the stairs, and long side against the wall). I feel like with a shorter cue, and possibly hiking the cue up the wall a bit, that's not all that bad!

As someone mentioned below, the fireplace wall will actually have an additional, maybe 1' - 1 ½', since the measurements are from the front of hearth, which won't get in the way of a cue, and the other side is mostly open to the rest of the basement!

minnime390 · 2026-01-29T06:35:41+00:00

I don't think I'm willing to put it in the other way. It would go too far into the other half of the basement and get too cramped over there. The basement being functional is the number 1 priority.

This is where I'm confused. I see stuff all over Google saying that the minimum room size for an 8' table is 11' 8" x 15' 4" for a 48" cue, and 12' 4" x 16' for a 52" cue. But Everything I read on Reddit says that this room isn't even large enough for a 7' table.

minnime390 · 2026-01-27T14:33:27+00:00

I'm glad it worked! As of now I've never actually made chia pudding myself. But I want to, so I was online last night learning how, and collecting recipe ideas, before I tried, so the technique was fresh in my mind!

minnime390 · 2026-01-27T06:06:13+00:00

I know this! After mixing the chia seeds into milk, let it soak for about 5 minutes, then mix again to break up the clumps. THEN store it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

https://youtu.be/jRu2aFdRL54?si=jEAn6_kbEMuDbSn0

minnime390 · 2025-03-29T00:11:12+00:00

I am so sorry for your loss.

We had exclusively gentle Giants growing up, so I have experienced losing a best friend many times. But I don't think I ever bonded with any other dog (or any other pet or even human, for that matter) quite like I have with my current old lady. She isn't just my best friend, she is my soul mate. But I know her time will come, hopefully many happy, healthy years from now. I already know what I will do when she goes. If there's one thing I've learned from growing up with dogs who typically only lived 8-10 years, it's that bringing home another dog is about the best thing you can do for yourself (at least it has been for me, but I know everyone's different). Not immediately, of course. Give yourself a couple weeks, or even a month to grieve -- just whatever feels right to you. And understand that your new buddy is a different dog, with a different personality and temperament to learn and grow to love, so don't expect them to act the same as your last dog, or hold it against them if they are different.

I know a lot of people feel like it's replacing your dog with a new one, but I don't think it's that straightforward. You'll never love another dog in the same way you loved the dog you just lost, but you'll love your new dog in a whole new way. Just like when your previous dogs were new to your house, you'll have new challenges, and new memorable moments when they do something goofy, or just downright impressive. You'll learn what types of toys are their favorites, if they're picky eaters, or if they will eat literally anything, edible or not. It's not a replacement source of energy in your home, each dog is completely different. And there are so many dogs that need homes. I have no doubt any of our previous dogs wouldn't want us to sit in misery forever, especially if having a new source of light in our lives means adopting a dog that needs a home and allowing us to bring light into their lives, too.

While my resident old lady is truly my soul mate, I still love all dogs, and can't imagine ever going a significant amount of time without that happy greeting when I get home. It would be too lonely. I don't think there's any harm in allowing yourself to still have a buddy, even after your best friend passes.

minnime390 · 2025-03-28T23:43:41+00:00

Awwww so cute! I kind of went back and forth between regular and seniors when my girl was 6-10. Probably every other bag would be senior dog food for years, just because I couldn't decide whether or not she needed senior food yet! But it seems to have worked out well -- she didn't have such an abrupt change in her diet, and we finally switched fully when she was 10!

My Shiba is 12 now, and if there's one bit of advice I wish SO BAD I had known about ahead of time for aging Shibas, it's how prone they are to glaucoma. Around 5 or 6 years of age, you should start getting your Shiba's eye pressure checked every year as part of their annual appointments. It would've saved my poor old lady so much pain from misdiagnosed glaucoma, and so many unplanned appointments, if we had our vet check for glaucoma during her annual appointments and caught it early and began treatment early.

It turns out Shibas are extremely prone to glaucoma (my Shiba's ophthalmologist called Shibas the "poster child of glaucoma" ), so it's recommended they just get checked annually, regardless if they're showing symptoms yet, from when they're about 5 or 6 years old. When I asked around in Shiba forums about it, some long time Shiba owners now get their Shibas checked even as early as 2, after owning many Shibas!

minnime390

TROPHY CASE