Monday Musings ~ August 12, 2024

Good Monday Morning. In the words of John Oliver, welcome, welcome, welcome! We hope you had a good weekend and cheered for your team, be it during the Olympics (which thankfully have concluded) or your football team which started pre-season games. While I’ll admit to watching plenty of the Olympics, I missed 99% of the closing ceremonies. I did however regrettably saw Tom Cruise’s appearance surrounding the next Olympiad to be held in Los Angeles. Tom is looking a tad long in the tooth but I’m sure his Mission Impossible fans didn’t mind. I, however was a bit shocked at the spectacle. Call me cynical but I’m sure NBC will start promoting the games soon. The level of commercial advertising during the games was mind-numbing.

Before we share today’s smile, I want to take a moment to send positive thoughts to all those affected by the ungodly amount of rain that tropical storm Debby dumped all up and down the East Coast. We thank our friend, Ann at Zoolatry, who distilled all of our sincere thoughts for those impacted by sharing this badge to let folks know we’re keeping them in our thoughts and reminding them that we’re a community and continue to think of them. Kindness matters. Thanks Ann, for sharing your latest badge.

Blogville badge

And now let’s turn to today’s smile. We hope your teamwork makes ‘pawsitive’ strides this week.

Monday smileLive, love, bark! 🐾

67 thoughts on “Monday Musings ~ August 12, 2024

  1. Thank you so very very much for coming to visit us at Katie’s blog. We are both grateful for your kind and loving words. I know I am hoping as we all do when our pets are not well, hoping every moment that the Vet will solve the mystery XX. PEE ESS: LOVED that cartoon! Loved it.

    1. Many thanks, Carole. We’ve been there and know how much support means to us as we’re dealing with health concerns with our fur babies. Thank you for swinging by the Ranch and your kind comment. Glad you liked that cartoon; no matter what life hands us, when we can smile, we can handle anything. Doing it with friends who care is even better. Hugs and tails wags.

  2. Thank you for your condolences, it means so much to me. Cinnamon is missed terribly. Cinnamon arrived when Kozmo was about 6 months old and I did not know that cats and dogs could be bonded pairs until then. Those 2 were inseparable. Kozmo was always within sight of Cinnamon. He even followed us on our walks and for the last few months, when we knew she was really ill, he was sleeping with her (again). He is still sad.

    Love Barb (and Kozmo, Marv, Jo Jo, and Nutmeg)

    1. We know how hard it is to lose a beloved pet on the entire family and know pets absolutely grieve for their lost fur-pals. ❤️‍🩹 Hugs and tail wiggles.

  3. I agree 100 percent! I enjoy spirt competitions but they would talk about the friendly competition among athletes then gloat over the medal count. How embarrassing. Love the cartoon though!!

    1. It was shameless and underscored the ‘ugly American’ moniker by my way of thinking. Why couldn’t they focus on some of the remarkable sights in Paris if they weren’t going to focus on the athletes? Glad you enjoyed the cartoon. Here’s wishing you a great week sans the crummy TV coverage, floods, brutal heat and wildfires.

    1. Thanks, Frank. There were some remarkable performances by multiple athletes and I loved some of the underdog countries winning their first medals. That made for some very feel-good moments. Ann does fabulous badges in general but this one had quite the message with it. She’s great-we love her.

  4. We watched a lot of the sports during the Olympics and that was fun. Didn’t watch any ceremonies, so missed Tom. Love that cartoon, that is total Border Collie!

    1. Glad you enjoyed the cartoon. Herding dogs are so classic ADHD sometimes. 😆 Didn’t watch the opening and only caught about 90 seconds of the closing which I wish I had missed. I’m not a fan of shameless braggadocious behavior.

  5. Our puts go into that kind of crazy mode when they encounter some snake or other tiny rodent…and if they could corner a squirrel, well, lets not go there…
    Ann’s badge should get world recognition, for its simple way of letting us all know what we should (always) be doing.

    1. Ann’s badge nailed it in so many ways. Not only is Wilson obsessed with squirrels, he gets amped up with passing locations where there was one…3 months ago! LOL Goofball dog.

  6. MOL/BOL/LOL what a cute comick Miss Monika an Elsa an Wilson!
    Wee allso howled with laffutr an Mistur Tom….what sorta silly was that stunt at Closin Cerrymoniess?? An THE Chili peepurrss need to leern tos ing. Mistur Sn00p D0G was our fave purrfomer.
    An wee herd efurryone complanin about NBC. Wee got to watch on CBC Catnadian channel an wee did not miss anythin!
    ~~~head rubss~~~BellaDharma~~~ an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum

    1. So glad you liked today’s smile. I kept hoping the coverage would focus on the athletes, not weirdo commentators and advertising. It was embarrassing to me to see the co-opting of the closing ceremonies. While the US will host the 2028 games, there’s plenty of time to showcase that, not steal the thunder from host country, France. Thought that was bad form. Very bad.

  7. The meme and the cartoon are great. We watched a lot of the Olympics but (fortunately) missed the opening and closing ceremonies. I get it, it’s a big deal, but I think you could congratulate and thank everyone in under an hour.

    1. I hear ya. The reason to watch is to see the athletes, not some mega production from Hollywood. Hope it’s been a great Monday.

  8. I think I’d rather just keep the picture memories of all the shows Tom C. starred in…and maybe even go back and watch them!
    That meme is so very true!

    1. Thanks, Thomas. You didn’t miss much on the Tom Cruise front. A lot of flash, not much substance.

    1. Boy, you know it! Sheepdogs are definitely high energy at whatever they do. Happy Monday, guys.

  9. I did not watch the Olympics nor did I see Tom Cruse’s excesses. I did see an X feed of the event and agree Tom looks like he should be home watching the closing ceremony. Thank you for sharing Ann at Zoolatry’s lovely words. I hope you have a great week, Monika.

    1. Thanks, John. I almost felt bad for him trying to act like he was back in his 40’s. NBC gets a thump on the head for their coverage. It became how much money can we make on advertising rather than showcasing some amazing athletes. And I really hate the US’s co-opting from France. You’ll have your chance to showcase the next olympiad in 4 years. Unlax until then. Hope you have a great Monday!

  10. Yeah it was the closest we’ve gone to an evac. Glad things are getting under control out your way! And yeah, burn scars, flooding, the plague, locust…. It’s always something these days. The girls are partial to your special ear rubs. They thank you. 😊

    1. I know what you mean, Terry. I rooted against the men’s basketball team every time they stepped on the court. Collectively, their arrogance was only surpassed by their pomposity. It was embarrassing. Glad you enjoyed this week’s Monday smile. Despite everything going on, we still think a smile is a good way to start out the week. Have a great Monday!

  11. Love the SPARK and Ann’s beautiful badge too. As for the Olympics coverage – it was a lot like some kind of televised Las Vegas Extravaganza than coverage of the world of fabulous athletes. Too many commercials for one thing – at the most inopportune moments too. I did enjoy the competitions though and WOW on the extent of some of them in the “incredible feats” department but as for the coverage…..too much “show”. I must be getting old – I remember watching Olympics competitions when it was about them!

    Hugs, Pam

    1. Right there with you! The competition was inspirational but the coverage was abysmal. Happy Monday!

  12. The BBC coverage of the Olympics was dreadful…I know it was a problem when Discovery had the rights, but we had more talk in the studio than action!
    That badge is just so right….

    1. So right…and those folks in the studio were annoying as all get out and it became clear the broadcasts were about making a boatload of money for Discovery/NBC.

      Ann from Zoolatry has such amazing Adobe skills and is so generous sharing them. This online pet community is quite remarkable…lots of kind, caring people with their pets. Not all blog groups are as gracious and kind and I decided early on that I wanted no part of the ‘mean girls’ blogs (for example, interior design-yikes-some of those people were quite scary and nasty). We hope you have a great week, Helen. Ear rubs for all Thugs and hearty greetings for you and Leo.

      1. Thank you for putting me on to Zoolatry…. I too can do without the ‘mean girls’…you should see some of the expat groups both in France and Costa Rica for sheer bullying and nastiness.

        1. I just don’t get it…people say the most offensive, cruel comments online. I think (or at least hope) they would never say the same things to someone’s face. Ann and her kitty June are a bright spot in a nasty world. She’s always so upbeat and, (spoiler alert) she’s featuring Wilson later this month in her ongoing August friends posts.

  13. Ann does so much for our blogging community. We love June, too.

    Love the funny. I laughed out loud.

    I linked this post to Awww Mondays as always.

    Have a fabulous day and week, my friend. Big hug to you and scritches to the pups. ♥

    1. Ann is amazing and sweet June is so adorable. Glad you enjoyed today’s smile. With Wilson’s tendency for ‘vigorous squir-afari’ adventures, it seemed appropriate to share. Here’s to a pawsome week, Sandee. As always, thanks for hosting and including us in your Awww Monday blog hop. 💙

  14. A wonderful inspiring post about kindness. Yes, this weather has unfortunately affected so many in a bad way. We were fortunate. We badly needed rain and got a lot, but didn’t have to worry about flooding. My neice’s church got damaged from a tornado that struck down. We don’t typically hear of tornadoes around here, but it does happen. My niece is about an hour and a half away from us. My nephew and his family don’t have water back yet. and sewage was floating in the river nearby, due to flooding.

    Funny comic. I bet Wilson liked it. 🙂

    Happy Monday, my friend!

    1. Aww, thanks, Carolyn. We were gobsmacked by the amount of rain and other related weather conditions on the East Coast. Now that the 4 wildfires near Denver have all been contained, there is a lot of concern about flooding in the burn scars. The climate change hits just keep clobbering people everywhere.

      Glad you liked today’s smile. Wilson was definitely the inspiration for it! His squirrel hunting continues to make life interesting. 🤣 Have a super Monday!

        1. Thanks, Carolyn. Appreciate the prayers. While the fires are contained, they are still burning. So much damage and destruction. 😕

  15. Thanks M for the inspiration and chuckle to start off our week. We had some excitement late last week with a fire within a few miles of us. The roads across from us were evacuated, we were not but were on high alert for a couple of days while our local hero’s knocked the fire down and got some containment by yesterday. Looking forward to a cooler and less eventful week here aye the Golden K! Wising you and the Ranch hands the same.

    1. Thanks, Mike. Yikes, that’s scary when it hits so close to home. Glad everyone at the Golden K is safe. Hopefully things can calm down with the 4 fires near Denver now fully contained. Course, now there’s worry about flooding in the burn scar with potential afternoon showers forecast for the next couple of days. But the cooler temps are definitely a plus! Have a great week. Ear rubs for the Golden Girls.

  16. Man oh man. How can we NOT talk about the weather when it affects us in so many ways? I consider myself sorta lucky that the water that came in was less than last year’s July… I think of those who got up to 6 inches in their basements. Ugh.

    Love that wonderful badge. It’s printable and we should look at it on the regular when we start thinking negative thoughts.

    Love the Monday smile 🙂

    Happy Monday to you, my friend!

    1. Experts said weather was going to get more extreme and they were right. It’s been crazy, between obscene heat, wildfires, floods, hurricanes/tornados-it’s just been crazy.

      Ann from Zoolatry makes amazing badges and that one hit the nail on all kinds of heads that we should focus on. My only regret is we have to remind people to be kind. WTH?!

      Glad you enjoyed the smile. No matter what kind of chaos we’re facing, we still need to find a reason to smile. Have a ‘wagnificent’ Monday my friend.

      1. I definitely believe them because we are seeing it on the regular.

        She does. And yes. How sad that we have to remind people to be kind.

        I did! And yes, I think I always need to find a reason to smile 🙂

        1. Smiling makes the other stuff easier to deal with. Here’s to loads of smiles this week.

  17. We watched a lot of the Olympics (although I usually prefer the winter to the summer games). Most of the competition was truly awesome. I also liked that NBC condensed some of the sports into the final or just the winning piece. If one more newscaster asks someone “how does it feel,” I felt liked calling them to ask something more interesting. I’m glad they are over. I will need a Castle rerun or two to unwind from all that sports. Surprisingly my cat Gus was fascinated with the running competitions. He sit in front of the TV and watch them. As soon as it focused on gymnastics or swimming, he was in snooze city. He definitely has favs.

    1. Yes! Those beyond stupid “how does it feel” questions really rile up my backside. I hear more than a few commentators on ESPN during hockey games which is the equivalent to a fingernail down a chalkboard feeling whenever that happens (and why is it female commentators are the most guilty doing it, all the while batting long eyelashes at a player?). And stop breaking for {yet another} dumb commercial every 3 minutes. Ugh. Yes, Castle, Rizzoli and Midsommer Murders will be my soothing balm for the foreseeable future to remove that gross taste out of my mouth from NBC’s treatment of the Olympics.

        1. I love that classic British murder series. The characters are fabulous, the scenery is lovely and there are 20 some seasons. I think it’s on Amazon Prime if you’re into streaming, otherwise you can see it on PBS and Ovation if your provider has that channel.

  18. we hope we can win our world back… and flowers will grow tomrrow at places where people fight today…
    we know such dogs… we had two in our dog park… they circled around the boys like satellites and barked like crazy… nuclear meltdown at the boys… the owner meandered towards us after a longer while and said uhuh this two are unfriendly aren’t they? … aaargh they aren’t but their mama is! wwooooooooaaaah :o))))

    1. I sympathize with you. We encountered a woman this morning who had to be as dumb as a stump not to realize you just can’t run up to dogs with a dog who’s clearly over stimulated. Sadly stupidity is global. We hope you have a good Monday despite the morons who have no clue.

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