Cat beat up a skunk and didn't smell afterwards

Interesting thing happened yesterday afternoon. Our cat got into a fight with a skunk in our back yard and won. I was sure she would have been sprayed, like most of our dogs did getting even remotely close to a skunk but she never got sprayed. 

A little backstory. We recently fixed up our backyard so it is very hard for animals to get in and out of our backyard. We put barriers under the ground a bit so you can't even dig under easily and the fences are rather high in most places. Other cats and squirrels can get in if they want but for the most part, the bunnies and skunks don't get in so our garden is rather safe. 

Our cat, "Muska", loves being outside but also loves being close to the family. Also both myself and my wife have had cats before that met terrible fates in traffic so we setup the backyard as her territory which she loves. She could easily jump over if she wanted to but she has not decided to so far. She also defends her territory. As spring turned to summer she has greatly improved her hunting skills. She scared away several other cats bigger than her. She caught a few mice, then recently she moved up to birds. So far no birds have died as we got to them early enough.

Yesterday my wife saw our cat chasing what looked to be another cat. We went around the corner to a large narrow part of the side of the house with a dead end and was astonished to see that our cat had cornered a skunk about 25% larger than her. The skunk looked terrified in the corner desperately looking for a way out and our cat was just sitting there about 2 feet away from it giving it the "get out!" stare. 

Wife grabs the screaming kids and tells me to handle it. I watched in amazement while the skunk was panicking, showing their butt ready to spray and our cat just sits there with that same face. Muska doesn't move at all so the skunk gives up digging for a bit and goes up closer for a sniff and Muska gives it a right hook which sends the skunk back to the corner. Whole time I am watching trying to figure out what to do. 

Wife gave me a box of cat treats, I shake it about 20 feet away from the situation, cat comes over acting like everything was fine. I am thinking she is going to smell but nope, she smells fine?! Wife takes her inside and I am left with a terrified skunk with no way out. 

I grab a chair, lean it against part of the fence about 15 feet away from the black and white intruder and leave. We watch through the window the skunk eventually use the chair to get away. We'll figure out how they got in, tomorrow. 

tl;dr Cat defended our backyard against a skunks. smacked it around a few times and didn't get sprayed. 

Open letter to Netflix about how to improve it

I have not been part of this but I have seen several people's reactions to commercials during their Netflix routine. I understand what you are trying to do and agree with the idea of it but your execution is flawed.

There are two main modes of thought people go through then starting up Netflix;
1) Lets watch that movie that I picked out a while ago (and hope it is actually on Netflix)
2) I am not sure what I want but I feel like a *insert movie genre here* right now

Sounds like you are trying to appease group 2 but are pissing off group 1.

My suggestion? Here are a couple of random ideas to throw your way.

- you need a "not interested" section. Not a thumbs down, but specifically not interested. Thumbs down is saying, I saw at least part of it and I did not like it. Not interested is saying, I never saw it but judging by the cover, I would not probably like it.

- bring by the star rating system (not really related to this but I just really miss it.)

- have a icon, either at the top or along the side where someone can click to ask to look at random stuff. Either totally random, or specific to a genre they feel like watching.

- if you wanted to get crazy, you can find a way to check two different "watch later" lists for any common elements and point those out. When I go over to my friend's and after we have dinner we either chose board games or Netflix (or both) but when we try to find a movie we all would want to watch, we mostly end up with a list of movies they have not seen but ones we have.

We are fast growing into a new machine learning age, and we as your consumers are begging to give you more data so you can help us with what to watch but instead of embracing that, you are reducing it in favor or "figuring out" what we might actually want. You need to do both, not ignore and guess.

Let us all chill together. 

Graveyard Keeper Random Details

So far I am loving this odd game. It has the feel of Stardew Valley but has a very dark sense of humor around it. If it sounds interesting, take a look at several reviews popping up,

This is more of a random fact list of things that took me a while to learn that I sort of wish I learned earlier.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/599140/Graveyard_Keeper/

Build That Bridge
There is a bridge to the West of the graveyard. It will lead to a more open area with a swamp and a witch and more iron. A specific white small plant you might be looking for is there as well. Also, while there, there is another bridge in the swamp that you might want to build to make a shortcut. It costs 6 planks, 3 boards and 10 nails so bring those with you if you can.

Teleport anyone? 
A little bit in the game, the bartender will offer a teleport stone for 2 silver, get it. You can use it as many times as you want (it will need to recharge after each use) and you can have it send you to your house or to the pub.

Blue Experience?
That is the hardest to come by. It is not important for the first part of the game so don't worry about it until after you open the church. After that, get some cake, some faith and some science and learn about all the body parts you have been collecting and each will give you a one time huge amount of blue.

Science!
To get some science, after opening the church, you need to "decompose" books. Buy a good 15 science one from the astronomer for 2 silver to get you started.

Open That Church
Speaking of the church, to open it up, you need +5 prettiness from the graveyard. One essential unexplained part is each corpse has red and white skulls associated with it. You need to get rid of the red skulls to make any good difference. If there are more than one red skull after you autopsy it, then just throw it in the river (or cremate it later on with 8 circle wood just south of the graveyard). To get rid of 2 red no matter what (with the exception of making a "mistake") is to remove the blood and fat. The rest seems to be rather random but there is supposedly a pattern to them.

Moths
You need the skill to find them, then just pick flowers after dark

Improve That Chruch
You want to get at least 10 faith inside and outside the church. Easiest way inside it to make some benches.

Church Interior Improvement Cost
Candlelabra = 6 simple metal
Wall Candlelabra  = 6 simple metal
Church Bench = 8 board, 8 nails

Bees Among Us
There is a place to grow your own bees but it is a little out of the way north of the graveyard. You also need 4 boards, 4 simple metal, and 2 paper to get it working order. After that you still need the tech to actually make the beehives so don't bother until you have learned it. Beehives are 4 planks, 6 nails and 20 bees each.

Some Random Costs
Swamp
Swamp Bridge = 6 plank, 3 boards, 10 nails
Swamp North Blockage = 10 knobs, 2 boards, 4 simple metal

Under Church (study)
Study Blockage = 10 knobs, 1 block, 4 simple metal
Study Desk = 8 planks, 8 nails
Study Scrollshelf = 8 planks, 4 simple metal, 12 nails
Study Bookshelf = 8 planks, 4 simple metal, 12 nails
Study Alchemy Rack = 12 planks, 10 nails, 4 blocks
Study Desk II = 6 boards, 12 nails, 1 lens

Under Home (basement)
Trunk = 4 planks, 4 nails, 3 simple metal
Fermentation barrel = 8 planks, 4 simple metal
Brewing Stand = 24 stone, 4 simple metal

Joys of Fencing with Neighbours

During the early part of 2018 we had two very large windy storms. The first knocked down some rotten posts and fences between us and neighbour1. We left it until the ground thawed but fixed up the roof tiles that blew away because the tilers did not take the little plastic off the back of the tiles so they never adhered to the adjoining tiles. Then we had the second storm which knocked down a chunk of neighbour2's fence and posts. The long fence between us and neighbour3 was ok but one of the posts did break but the fence was pretty much ok. I decided that we should just scrap the 20+ year old fences and get some good new ones all around. Something that would last at least 20+ years.

The year before, neighbour1 had his other side fence replaced rather cheap, though every time we asked, the exact number seemed to change. He suggested we do the fence between us as well. We were low on cash so I said we could wait a few more years. I was wrong.

Back to 2018. I got the business card of the guys who installed neighbour1's other fence. Called and texted 7 times and they kept making a meeting and never showing up and then they just stopped responding to my text all together. I got my wife to call and they actually showed up for her and quoted around $2700. But when it came time to call back to confirm things, again, they never responded.

In the meantime. We got quotes from everyone we could. Home Depot ($6700), people on Homestars ($8700), all of them were either very high, wanted a pre-deposit, or never responded. Going for a walk with my daughter around the neighbourhood, we say one of the neighbours getting their fence done and it looked pretty good. We chatted it up a bit, he was very friendly and gave me the details of the guy doing the fence. I chatted with him a few times, brought him over, he said around $2700-$3000 and could start as soon as he was done with this house.

I told neighbour2 right away and they were fine with it. Wife spoke to neighbour1 and he kept saying he wanted cheaper and we kept saying, this included the gate and it would be more cement above the ground so the posts would not rot again. He was ok.

Wife and I tried several times to talk to neighbour3, whom is behind us, on a different street. Several times during our walks, we would stop buy and knock and no one would answer. So I decided to write a letter. It had my intensions as well as 3 different ways to contact me. I actually talked with the wife and elder son and they took the letter and said the husband makes these decisions so would give it to him when he got home as he was away. This was around the time we just got the quote from the $2700 guys and before they disappeared.

Soon after, I got an email from neighbour3 husband saying;
"Sorry, I was away and could not respond to your letter on time. Yes, I am willing to join the group in replacing the fence. Please let me know my portion to when its all done.

Thank you,"

Then those builders disappeared so I gave an update saying it was taking time to get this organized. He responded, "Thank you for the information."

When we finally got the contractor on board my wife went over their with our daughter and tried to contact them in person but no one answered. As she was walking away, an unmarked car rolled up, someone got out with a submarine sandwich sized package and knocked on neighbour3's door and someone took the package and the person drove away. My wife saw this, went back to the door and again, no one answered. This all happened around 9pm (dusk) on Friday.

Because of no response, I emailed (the only way we had access to them) saying;
"Just a quick update, we have a contractor coming in and should be starting work within a few days on the fence. He should have estimates for everyone available. 
They had a very good price compared to everyone else and the neighbour down the street just finished with them."

Sunday rolls by, the contractor say he spoke to all the neighbours and gave them estimates so he started tearing down the fences. We were out at a farm for the kids and on the way back we got a call from the non-english speaking in-laws whom were living with us. They said to my wife that the neighbour3 wife was freaking out yelling at the contractor for tearing down their fence. We rushed home and I went to their house.

She started relatively calm but quickly escalated with anger as I kept pointed out that the husband agreed to this via email which is sounds like she was not informed of. I pointed out we tried to contact them several times but it was very difficult and she just blasted saying they are very busy. Then the husband drove up and I started speaking to him while she stormed off saying they were not going to pay for a darn thing. (City by-law says otherwise).

Finally got to meet neighbour3 in person. He was fine, mostly but later said, in the email, he meant to let them know of the quote before starting. The email (above) did not sound at all like that intention to me. I empathized saying that I would be annoyed if someone started tearing down my fence without consent but he agreed there was a miscommunication and seemed ok with things. Sounds like he wanted to do the minimum amount as he showed the other fence he has with another neighbour and all they did was replace some of the posts. He seemed ok but wanted a offical quote from the contractor so I created an email between the contractor's wife and him to iron things out.

A few days later the posts are up and it sounds like neighbour1 has been badgering the contractor for over 4 hours while he was putting up the posts. I took a look when the fences were installed and noticed there was a lot of wiggle on the fences. The father-in-law said the neighbour not only talked the contractor out of raised cement (which would prevent rot on the posts) but also told him to put one less post and spread the posts out more. Thus the large wiggle. I had no idea this happened until the fence for that side was up. It wiggles a lot and to top it off, the largest area is exactly where the fence fell down in the first place. This quickly went from a 20+ year fence to a maybe 5 year fence. I fear someone just has to lean on it and it will break.

I'll update this as more happens (which I am sure it will). I spoke with my coworkers and the one that did their fence a few years back said he just paid for the whole thing himself. I am beginning to see why.

Peel Region Consiracy?

Questions to answer (or at least ask in more detail). If anyone knows, please post here.

- Why do no new houses have fireplaces?
- Why is there a natural gas monopoly?
- Why a gas prices impossible to understand
- Why does everyone have to pay $50 per month to rent a water heater that costs less than $800?
- Why can't we just pay for the gas we use at a standard rate?
- How can we get out of renting the hot water heater and buy our own?
- Was there some sort of agreement or kickback when the house were made to not have fireplaces and force the rental of the hot water units?
- Why do real estate agents force home buyers with the rental agreement? How is that legal?

Middle Aged Man Getting His Wisdom Teeth Pulled (A Journey)

DAY -370:
About a year ago I went to a dentist that decided to clean my wisdom teeth. He moved around my gums so he could properly get to them and unfortunately my gums never fully decided to go back to where they were so food would constantly get stuck and sure enough, a year later, I had a bad cavity.

DAY -30:
Was at a new dentist that had a lot of new equipment but they didn't need to use any of them to see that there was a bad cavity on my wisdom tooth. It is too far back and since my mouth is not big enough (physically, not verbally) they were going to have to pull it. They have a specialist that comes once a month and his next available time was almost a month away (Sept 12). So I booked it as well as a consultation time beforehand.

DAY -20:
About 2 weeks into the wait, It got inflamed. At one point, it felt like someone installed a large stick into my jaw which was not fun. I had to get antibiotics to reduce the swelling. After a week of light antibiotics, everything was fine again.

DAY -12:
Went to the consultation with still 2 weeks remaining and he said I need to take 2 out. The bottom which has the problem, but also the top because it will start growing out as there is no counter to prevent it. The right side was fine even though he did kinda suggest we do all 4 to make things easier in the long run since it would "be hard to continue to floss back there". I turned that idea down. He said most people don't even use their wisdom teeth to chew but I have smaller than normal teeth so I guess we'll find out.

As the weeks go by, my anxiety grows and grows. I wish they just did it when they found out. All this wait is making my mind go crazy.

DAY 0:
Here comes the day, September 12th. While most of my friends are watching the intro of the new iphone, I am getting my teeth pulled. Went into the dentist office, everyone was nice as usual. The specialist nurse came and got me, rather attractive but I decided that was not going to stop me from acting like a baby. Besides, I love my wife and she can't stop me from being a big baby either.

She put an IV in my arm. (First time for that too.) felt the pinch and then a constant prick which actually turned out to be the tape trying to pull my arm hair out. Dentist came in, chatted a bit, he gave me the type IV anesthetic which doesn't knock me out, but makes me really tired, lose my memory, and not care about anything. I was thinking it might partially work but it also might be because I just wanted this over with and didn't get much sleep the night before.

My worst fear came true. I still remembered things! I remember talking about elephants (don't remember why). I remember them drilling and it started hurting so I let them know. I remember them constantly putting in and taking out a big rubber thing on the right side so they could continue to work on my left. Other than that... I guess I don't remember anything else. It felt very quick. They told me later that I was talking also about rockets... I don't recall that. They also pointed out that my top tooth next to my wisdom tooth, the filling fell out so we will have to make an appointment to put that back at some point.

I was put on a wheel chair. I waited for my loving wife to move the car up and help me inside and we went home. I went straight to bed. Had some medication and passed out for several hours. Woke up to get a drink. Notice blood had been dripping out the side of my mouth. Opened my mouth and there was a fair bit of blood in there. Drank some water, seemed to look a lot better. Touched my gums where my teeth uses to be, felt very very soft and had a string. Wife said there might be gause but I could not feel it and I didn't want to agitate it as it tasted bloody over there too and a bit swollen on the top. It doesn't really hurt, it is just not comfortable.

Eventually went downstairs, had my daughter read a book to me, had some Campbell's chicken noodle soup  (which is mostly water and noodles which they said was ok) and had another pill (is was hurting a bit more and over 4 hours later). Not much else eaten. Rather hungry but don't want to risk messing things up today.

Day 1:
Looks like my face is not swollen but was told that might happen tomorrow. Ate some soggy pasta and some alphagetti. Wife made me a milkshake after my whining. Ran out of aloe juice. Food does feel like it goes to the hole and my tongue tries to grab it and freaks out when I feel the stitch string. Very soft and raw on the bottom, some weird bumps on the top.

Doctor called. Reminded me that I should wash my mouth with salt water after each meal and before going to bed starting today. Also told me that my top tooth had very long roots so it was harder to get out and it might make for a longer recovery up there. Good to know I guess.

Putting ice on it for 20 minutes every once in a while. Not as much as they say but so far it seems fine as far as not being swollen. I do feel random pain sometimes around the area but only quick ones. I also feel much stronger pain if I make any sort of facial expression or talk too much so I guess I will try and avoid that. Dinner was pasta with meat sauce. I managed without pain, food kept going into the gap which was annoying. Everyone had corn on the cob but me...

Day 2:
Last night was a bit rough. Had a phantom tooth bugging me most of the night and every once in a while I would get a sharp pain in my mouth. I was very tired all day. I find I need the medication to keep the pain mostly away. Also found that I was very sensitive to cold drinks now which I hope is not permanent. Only some swelling which I guess is good. Need to use the ice packs more than I do. hopefully I can work (from home) tomorrow. I am going to bed early.

Day 7:
My two teeth are still missing. The drugs they gave me wreaked havoc on my body but I never swelled up so I guess that is good. Went to the dentist for a follow up and on the way some of the stitches came out of my mouth (they were supposed to I guess). I still make sure to try and only eat food on my right side for now. Milk shakes and soup are good but I am starting more regular stuff now. Still kinda feel like I miss them. I know I can fit more peanuts in my mouth like I chipmunk now if I want. I guess life goes one.

The Markham Realtor Problem

We are trying to buy a house near Toronto. Now when I say near Toronto, since we aren't rich, that means, we are looking for a place where we can get downtown in less than 1.5 hours during rush hour in the morning. A place that is less than 1 million dollars. Sounds easy, nope.

We have been looking in several areas, Mississauga, Milton, Maple, but we like Markham. (wow that is a lot of Ms!) We started looking (again) a few months ago and we are serious this time, not just browsing, we are going to get a house if it kills us. Problem is, with Markham, it just might.

The standard in Markham, (luckily not anywhere else we have seen so far,) is that realtors will perform bait and switch tactics. They will price a house at, we'll say 800k. It will get a few bidders, start a bidding war hopefully and then they can say they sold it over asking. Problem is, (and this has happened 4 times in the last month to us,) if we are the only bidder, or if there are a few bidders that don't got about 100k above asking, they will reject all offers and close the sale only to open it a few days later for 60k - 80k more. Then they will sit on it for a bit and try their luck again.

This make no sense and it just evil. From a buyer's standpoint, we see a house barely in our price range, we go to all the trouble of a pre-inspection (because no one accepts conditional sales anymore), put in a bid, hear there are no other offers, get excited, then have the carpet grabbed from underneath when the realtor says, they changed their mind. Didn't even come back with a counter offer or anything like that. They just reject completely and close up shop for the day. The buyer is left scratching their heads wondering what went wrong.

From a seller perspective, they have a potential buyer but they piss them off, spit in their face, waste a week for everyone and then go to all the trouble and try again.

From what I understand about buying and selling, if you list a price on something, that is the minimum price that you are willing to part with it. Why is this not the case in Markham? Why are they above the barter system. Do they think the term "First one to say a price loses" so they just make up a number that has no real meaning? It is just wrong on so many levels. It is like going to a store, picking up some milk that is $3.99 and then when you get to the checkout, The cashier says "You need to pay more for it" and when you offer $4.50, they take the milk away from you and tell you to get out and try again in 3 days.

This needs to stop. This is immoral, unethical and just plain mean.

I am not one to say something needs to happen and not make an suggestion so here is mine. We want to stop this bait and switch tactic but don't want to punish people who legitimately change their minds about selling their house. Might I suggest a 3 month cooling period whereas if the realtor takes the house off the market, they cannot put the house back on the market for at least 3 months. If you changed your mind, this should not be an issue, but if you are trying to scam people, this will be a major headache. (at least I hope it will.) Also realtors themselves should be only allowed to do this at all twice a year. If they need to do that more than twice, then they are not very good at their job and should have to re-do their licence.

I understand the urge to get as much money as possible for a sale but only through legitimate, legal and ethical means. Doing otherwise is why people hate certain realtors and if it is not curbed, it will only get worse.