In my neighborhood, I've seen a ton of dogs being allowed to hang out supervised in unfenced front yards (often zipping up and down the block and across the street), walked along bayous with no leash ("it's okay, he's friendly), even a neighbor who believed in having a" free range" dog who just came and went from her open front door to visit neighbors.

I've walked my parents' dogs and neighbors with unleashed pets will allow theirs to approach ours saying "mine's friendly" (to which I'll reply honestly: "mine isn't")

Also lately we've seen a lot of articles about packs of dogs attacking people and pets with limited repercussions for owners.

It's gotten to the point where I'm wondering if popular support is in favor of repealing leash laws and embracing a more relaxed dog culture (enforcing only in cases of bites) or cracking down on these owners. I'd like to get some feedback on this to see where everyone's thoughts are these days.

Hey, guys-- it's me, your local RN working at one of our city's bigger hospitals. The title is a reflection of an e-mail I was sent today by our executive vice president. We have almost 800 COVID inpatients today, yet I've seen comments on this sub suggesting "if you're gonna get COVID, this is the strain to get" since the death rate is lower.

I'd like to set the record straight: it is not at all recommended to "try" to get omicron or to "give up" and get omicron. Doesn't matter if you're vaxxed, or "tired of all this" (Of what? Not being sick?), even if you're young and healthy, the odds of you ending up intubated on a ventilator increase.

Perhaps you have a friend who caught it and it wasn't that bad. Maybe you have no friends and you only care about yourself. Either way, my message is simple: keep your mask on in public (yes, even at HEB), get vaxxed and/or boosted, or I'll see you in ICU.

Let me add this on behalf of my fellow nurses who have to listen to abuse from COVID experts-turned-patients: if you're a skeptic or anti-vaxxer or ivermectin enthusiast reading this, consider seeking help from someone who holds your beliefs when you start dying, because you won't find them in the hospital.

Again: I will see you in the ICU.

Now that the weather is cooler, I've had my window open more. I can always tell when the window has been left open because I'll enter the room and encounter a certain smell. A kind of wet dog/sour milk smell that could be anything from clay soil to oak pollen to leaf blower exhaust.

I think Bill Burr once said that Philadelphia smells like piss and fresh flowers. How would you describe the scent of Houston?

I pronounce it "san fell-EE-pay" though I've heard some say "san fell-EEP." My wife considers my mother's pronunciation to be so far off the mark that it's ruining her life.

Mom is from Ohio, and folks up north favor Americanized pronunciations. She says her way is old-fashioned, and accepts that it is not proper Spanish, but is/was the "historic" pronunciation favored by older generations.

Does anyone else in Houston pronounce it my mother's way?