Random Stuff & Nonsense

**Arawis** · 4 Weeks Ago

(double post) I looked back and saw y'all talking about making a Discord thing... I recently started watching Twitch streams and kept seeing people talk about Discord on there so I finally downloaded it. I don't know what I'm doing yet, but if there's one for the Quill then I'll join!

**Malcor Sylverwood** · 4 Weeks Ago

There is indeed!

https://discord.gg/5Xt3YYUT

The link will expire in a day, if you miss the window I can grab another.

Cheers!

**Mike** · 4 Weeks Ago

Originally Posted by Arawis

Hi folks, how is everyone? I've been out of the loop for a long time again...

Arawis! Welcome back!

Damn, we need a hugging smiley. And so many more. How is it possible that in all those years we still have the same ones. Who's responsible?!

But.... ARAWIS! WOOHOOO

**Cypher** · 4 Weeks Ago

I'm irresponsible, does that count?

**Anita Blake** · 1 Week Ago

I hope all the Texan quillers are staying warm.

**Cypher** · 1 Week Ago

I had to make a blanket fort for the 5 hours I was powerless, let my body heat and kindle paperwhite's heat keep me warm.... and the kindle paperwhite doesn't give off much heat

**Malcor Sylverwood** · 1 Week Ago

Glad you made it through. Mine was only out for 3 hours...

**Anita Blake** · 5 Days Ago

Story time! My mom (aged 61, a fully grown and intelligent woman), decided that the middle of a pandemic was a good time to rent out her home to some workers who were building a local infrastructure project. She stayed with my brother for a while, but as she is in The North and it is winter and therefore Very Cold (a fact that she, as a resident of The North for well over 30 years is very well aware of and experienced with.) My brother rented out the room she was staying in because I guess mortgages don't pay themselves? So my mom thought "This is a good time to jet off to Mexico for 2 months with my dog while I wait for the workers to finish their contract and leave my home.

People, I tried my best to lovingly judge her and let her know that this was a terrible idea, but as a fully grown and intelligent woman, she makes her own choices, and none of her 5 kids are gonna stop her.

So of course the pandemic, in accordance with the prophecy, just kept going, and suddenly all Canadian airlines were told to stop taking people to sunny warm countries, and people, THEY COMPLIED. No Canadian airlines flying in or out of Mexico. So now my mom has to take a connecting flight and spend god only knows how many hours in Arizona (?!). Fine. Whatever. But the government, in a move I sort of support in theory, has said "if you come back from a non-essential trip, you have to stay in one of 18 quarantine hotels across the country until a covid test comes back negative." So far, so predictable, and it sucks, but meh, she's a grown woman who went into this with her eyes open. She is not poor, she can afford a few days in a hotel.

BUT. (and here's where my support of the quarantine hotel thing starts to falter because in theory, sure, but the practice is intensely stupid) She can't book her hotel. Like, she calls the approved hotel and they're like "nah, you have to call the government hotline". FINE. But there's no answer. She gets put on hold, and disconnected after 30 minutes. She literally can't even do the thing. She's trying to play by the rules, but the rules are playing her. Whatever. Her flight is today, and she's been trying all week to book her hotel, she's going to have to figure it out when she's back in the country.

EXCEPT, remember that dog she took? Turns out the Canadian airline regulations were a little more chill than the American airline regulations which say that her dog (a miniature Schnauzer) has to be able to stand up fully in his kennel, which is cozy for him, but not stand-upable. He can't go in cargo, so people, what must she do? She must stay in Mexico for 2 more nights, and make an appointment with a mental health practitioner to certify that she needs her dog with her, and have the dog certified as a service animal so he can go on the plan. I CAN NOT MAKE THIS UP. She has an appointment tomorrow to be certified as kinda just a little crazy, which I mean, she decided to travel to Mexico during the height of the pandemic, so I guess she's got that locked in.

Honestly, I don't even know what to think about all this at this point. Is my mom a monster? Maybe, a little. Is the system completely bonkers? Definitely. Anyway, I'm sure it's all going to end up well, meanwhile the daily updates we're getting on What'sApp are kind of hilarious.

/storytime

**Mike** · 4 Days Ago

Bet it's cheaper to buy a house in Mexico and stay there until travel is normalized again. Seems like a lot less trouble...

Storytime

**night faerie** · 3 Days Ago

OMG ARAWIS! ~tacklehugs~

And wow, Anita! So okay I will tell you this... I flew with my (14lb Large) cat to California last summer and I checked and triple checked the requirements on all the airlines. Some had a height limit of 8 inches and yes, they all require the animal to be able to "stand and comfortably turn around" within the carrier. In the end it turned out to be a whole bunch of hooey. No one ever checked to see how the cat fit in the carrier (like the dog, he was comfy but could not have stood up. He's TALL there's no way he could have stood up under the seat regardless of the carrier size). I did get a carrier that had sides that zipped down to expand so he'd have a bit more room (which you can do in the airport or during the flight if he's on your lap or on the seat next to you, he only has to be under the seat for take off and landing. Other than that he just has to stay in the carrier.) In the end he did NOT want additional room he was cozy/safe in the smaller space. All they cared about was that the carrier fit under the seat (which it didn't really but didn't block the aisle). They'll be more lenient with the under the seat space if she's in a window seat because if it sticks out a bit it won't be in a position to trip anyone trying to get in or out of the row.

Also, I'm interested in the mental health thing because I was gonna have Nova certified as my ESA (which he really is, he eases my anxiety greatly) so I wouldn't have to pay the $135 each way to fly with him, but I read an article just a couple weeks ago about how the Feds took the whole ESA thing off the table and directed all airlines to stop allowing it except for service animals becauase so many people were utilizing it. The problem was really only that people were taking their animals out of the carriers. So cats were running & hiding, dogs were biting people... I mean, people are idiots but I'm surprised your mom was able to capitalize on it at all. LMK how it goes!!!

**Anita Blake** · 1 Day Ago

Wellllllll... it got more dramatic On Friday. She got her dog certified as an ESA, and they told her to call the airline number and they'd make the notation on her ticket. Cool. She called the airline, and they were like "Yeah, we don't allow ESAs anymore. Only trained certified service animals."

My mom is understandably freaked out at this point. She's looking into driving - a 5300km (3300 mile) drive. Some lady needed her car driven from Mexico to Colorado, and she figured she could use an airline that accepted ESAs from there to get the rest of the way home. I am looking at the map and thinking "wow, that's a lot of cartel territory for an old rich white lady to drive alone through, I do not like this idea at all". The only other option if she can't board the plane is to abandon her dog, so she's crying and completely freaking out (understandable).

So Saturday morning, she gets her negative covid test results, goes to the airport - this time with the dog inside his carrier - lets the check in people know that she got a new carrier, they're like, oh yeah, that's so much better, all good, no problem, have a nice flight. Friends, she did not get a new carrier. She made it to her destination city, got the quarantine hotel situation sorted out, and today she's free to continue on to get back home to finish her 2 week isolation there (after yet another negative covid test). All's well that ends well, but man, was that ever dramatic for a couple days.

**night faerie** · 1 Day Ago

From what I read, the federal gov't directed all airlines to cease accepting ESA, but that just means you have to pay for them, not that they can't fly at all. ~shurgs~
Glad it all worked out for her. I can't imagine.

**Anita Blake** · 1 Day Ago

Yeah, she had to pay for the dog's "seat", but because someone decided his carrier was too small for him, they made it into a big deal. No one is putting dogs in the cargo hold right now because of Covid - which they shouldn't do anyway, because it's awful, but it means that if you travelled with a pet that's just a little bigger than expected, all bets are off. In her defense, she flew there on a Canadian airline in early January, and the ESA rules changed in the USA at the end of January, she never really planned on flying through the USA on an American carrier. I guess our rules are more flexible? I don't think they are, actually, I think she just showed up at the airport with the dog settled in and cozy and no one thought to double check.

By comparison, I have a friend who flew with her dog to Japan a couple years ago... she read the regulations to the letter and bought different carriers and put her dog on a diet to make sure he'd be within regulation. Hers was a 6-month-long ordeal of planning and weighing and vet visits. Tho to be fair, Japan's rules are a little bit a lot more stringent than Mexico's.