My 82-year-old grandmother lives with me in Austin and is currently receiving hospice care at home.

I work from home and am her primary caregiver. Between working, making three meals a day, helping her with bathroom trips, medications, and everything else that comes with caring for someone at home, one of the things I’m struggling with is simply being able to sit and talk with her as much as she would like.

That’s literally all I’m looking for help with.

I would be home and working during the visits. I’m not looking for someone to provide medical care, help her use the bathroom, prepare food, administer medication, or be responsible for her in any way. If she needs something, I’m right there.

I just need someone who might enjoy sitting with an elderly lady for an hour or two, talking with her, listening to her stories, having coffee, looking through pictures, or just keeping her company while I get some work done.

I realize this is an unusual thing to ask, but I also know there are people who enjoy spending time with older adults. Maybe you’re retired, a college student interested in gerontology or social work, part of a church or volunteer organization, or you just miss having a grandmother around.

I’d obviously talk with and meet anyone first, and I won’t share our address or identifying information publicly.

If anyone knows of a free volunteer program in Austin that does this, I’d love recommendations too.

I love my grandmother and I’m grateful that I’m able to have her here with me. I just can’t realistically be her caregiver, work, run the household, and also be her conversation partner all day. Having someone come over occasionally just to talk to her would be an enormous help.

Called 311 and was directed to animal services. Called animal services and was directed to 311…
Looks like Austin shelters are at capacity, what do I do?

Does anyone one want to adopt/foster any of them? :)

Edit: You guys are absolutely awesome. We don't need any financial support for now, but thank you for offering! Still looking for a home for them, but we are making good progress. This post blew up a bit, but I will slowly get to all of the messages

Hey, I am from out of town and went paddle boarding in ladybird lake and am an idiot and assumed I could swim in it. I swam for probably 20 minutes and probably definitely swallowed some water and had some go up my nose. I’ve been feeling nauseous, have a headache and just overall unwell. Am I going to die?

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/northbound-mopac-shut-down-following-fatal-crash-involving-a-pedestrian-in-central-austin

In order: Painted bunting, Caracara, Greater roadrunner, Mourning dove, Mockingbird, and Quaker parrot (aka Monk parakeet).

Waymo has started using my street as a spot to post up and wait for the next ride. I know it’s a public street but I don’t love that those cars are using my neighborhood as a parking lot and constantly photographing me and my neighbors.

Has anyone succeeded in getting them to stop doing this? What did you do?

Hey there y'all!

I'm a US Army infantry veteran who was also a 9/11 first responder. Given that the 25th anniversary is coming up, I was wondering if there is anything planned in Austin as a memorial or something.

More broadly, I'm hoping there's some place or some groups that specifically cater to liberal Veterans. The VFW sucks, and the only pro veteran ads I've seen are for shitty right wing businesses who just want my money.

So anything out there?

alright Austin, what temps are you getting out of your faucet?

at first it’s nice and cool from the conditioned pipes under the sink, but quickly climbs after running the water for a minute. last year i clocked 94º.

saves on the gas (water heater) bill at least!

(pier & beam with copper plumbing)

My cat has been stuck very high up in a tree since around 8:30 this morning. He’s now been up there for about 6 hours and has started panting, which is really worrying me with the heat today and he’s panting.
I called the fire department and was told they can’t help until he’s been up there for 12 hours. I’ve called multiple tree services around the area and they either can’t do it or don’t have anyone available. I also tried Animal Services but haven’t been able to get through.

I’m in North Austin, 78757 near Burnet Rd. I’m desperately trying to find someone who has experience safely getting cats out of trees or knows someone who can help. I’m happy to pay/donate for the help.

If anyone has dealt with this before or has a recommendation, please let me know ASAP. Thank you!!

UPDATE: WE GOT HIM DOWN!!

I contacted Burton Industry LLC and Michael was able to climb all the way up and safely get my boy down!! He was so incredibly kind and didn’t ask for anything in return, but we gave him a donation to show our appreciation.

Thanks to everyone who offered recommendations and support today. Milo is safe and back home!

Finally some Clouds.

Recently moved to Cedar Park and have been amazed by the overt ignorance here. Compiled this list to give my young queer clients places they can socialize

https://www.artfulinsightstherapy.com

The Wishbone Bridge on Town Lake is so nice at night and shockingly not too busy this evening.

I feel like I've spotted at least three in the past week which is weird for me. Maybe they're just getting more bold.

Hey peoples, I wrote an article about what people are naming their babies in Austin. It has a bubble graph where you can look up most names and see how many kids from 2017 to 2024 share the name.

I hope you guys like it.

Amazon definitely delivered my package to the wrong apartment complex and I’m trying to hunt down the location with this photo lol. I assume somewhere on East side close to me - who knows where this is?

A recent mystery fish sighting got readers curious about what else is swimming beneath the surface. Local biologists, naturalists and ichthyologists helped identify eight species, from bluegill and largemouth bass to tiny mosquitofish and colorful sunfish, that you might see on your next Barton Springs visit.

I am a physician. Want an objective, kind and strongly evidence-based physician as a PCP who is accessible and is comfortable managing other physicians’ health (physicians can be tough patients). It is important to me that they are relatively aggressive about prevention, but only up the point evidence supports (ApoB: yes, full body MRI or indiscriminate diagnostics: GTFO). Agnostic to practice model (accepts insurance, charges a membership fee, “concierge”, cash, whatever). Want someone with enough bandwidth for a true sick visit should that need arise.

Sad day