| Author |
Message |
    
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
834
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 12:11 pm: |   |
I know that Saturday mornings are busy and everything, but usually someone posts something about stuff. Where is everyone at? No posts at all and it is 11:00 am here on the PST time table. That is really unusual. Come on out and play guys and gals.
Claudia |
Olen Armstrong
Wandering Member
Post Number:
144
Registered: 06-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 12:36 pm: | |
I'm lurking from work...
but I'm not sure that counts.
LAter,
Olen A.
some went down like heros
in that Pensylvnia field |
Dragon Protector
Awareness Member
Post Number:
13
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 12:44 pm: | |
doin the ucky....taxes and bills  |
Jennifer Lynn
Unity Member
Post Number:
1025
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 02:27 pm: | |
I was doing my usual routine.. Saturday morning Star Trek. Three different series in a row...lol Next Generation, Deep Space 9 and Voyager. Finished that and now I have to clean up after the fat bastard cat I have, who likes to claw his scratching post all over the place, and spread catnip everywhere.
Jenn |
John Laurence Robinson
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
489
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 02:54 pm: | |
Funny story I have about catnip...years ago, we had a coal-black cat named Middy. Middy was a weird sort, hated regular cat food but loved people food, cold cereal with milk being a personal favorite (especially Capn Crunch; he would fight you for Capn Crunch).
Anyway, one day we bought him a catnip mouse. Did he like it? No. Did he even play with it? Uh-uh. He did, however, hiss at it, smack it with his paw, and knock it under the fridge. So there we left it.
One fine day, I came in sore from shoveling snow, and my wife, caring creature that she is, generously slathered my back with Ben-Gay. I was laying on my stomach, nearly asleep, when Middy lunged onto me and started rubbing his face on me, purring and moaning. I jerked awaked with a "WHAT the-?" and threw him off. Immediately he leaped back into my lap, now trying to burrow behind me, making weird noises as his pupils expanded. Strings of drool were hanging from both sides of his mouth as he began to pant. I sincerely thought the little beggar was about to stroke out.
Again I threw him to the floor and AGAIN he tried to chew my back. By now I'm yelling for my wife to come and get the razzin-frazzin feline off. We finally got him locked in the basement, but it took the two of us doing it and he continued to whine the rest of the night.
All I can say is, back in my BC days I did my fair share of drugs, and take it from me, that was one STONED cat! Needless to say, if the Ben-Gay tube ever came back out, it was only after Middy was secured in another room. And that's my catnip story.
John |
LaurieAnne
Unity Member
Post Number:
1193
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 03:26 pm: | |
Now that is a fairly funny story there, John.
Me? I spent last night out to the bars with my Mom, Dad, Sister and her husband, and my husband. We all had a really good time playing ladies against the men with "SlamFest". The ladies won, of course. We left the waitress a nice tip, as well as 7 different handwritten "tips" on a napkin. (Such as Tip #1: God's last name isn't dammit; Tip #4: Don't listen to anything Dad tells you; etc. She was going to hang it up for all to see.)
This morning, we picked my sister up and took her to the department store to get the rest of her Christmas gifts and her birthday gifts. She came home with basically a new wardrobe, all purchased from the clearance racks (  ) because we rarely, if ever, make it to looking through the normally priced items. Then we went to lunch before heading to the really cheap store and stocking our kitchen cupboards. I love walking into my entryway and seeing my pantry shelves there completely packed with boxes.
Oh, and I leave shopping for me up to my husband...so I have several new additions to my own wardrobe, courtesy of the clearance rack.
We have just finished putting away all of the groceries. The clothing is still sitting beside me on the floor in the bags. We will be making dinner soon, then taking the last of the children (the oldest 3 left for their mom's for the weekend) to my sister. She is going to keep them overnight, and my husband is going to help me with my weekend job tonight. I will be giving my boss my official notice by Monday that I am done as of the end of February. (Halleluja!) I am soon to have actual weekends once again, and it is the best thing that has happened in 2 years.
So, I've had a very busy day going. It's almost dinner time here (going on 5:30pm) and I have 2 children who are BEGGING to open some of the little applesauce cups that I brought home with me.
LA
www.authorsinkbooks.com
LaurieAnne
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Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
835
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 03:42 pm: | |
Well,
Glad to see some of you are alive, anyway. I was beginning to think that maybe the site wasn't working or everyone evacuated your respective homes and went overseas or something.
Take care all, and have a wonderful weekend.
Claudia |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2584
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 05:12 pm: | |
WEll I spent the whole entire live long day sorting through all my writing related stuff. Shredded some things, sorted others, filed things in their proper places. By the time I finished, I could barely walk from sitting cross legged on the floor but things were considerably better organized. Then I started on my bookshelf. Sorted books. Put some in the box for the library and rearranged others. So now it is the end of the day and that is my report. |
Todd Hunter
Unity Member
Post Number:
1115
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 09:04 pm: | |
Lots of errands to run today...finished up the taxes, and mailed them off...then it was off to the bookstores to hassle them some more about getting paid for my last signings...took a gander at some new cars (as I explained to the salesman, wishful dreaming on my part)...headed to the store for some meds (wife's migraines)...then came home to clean a bathroom (toilets get pretty nasty)...
The remainder of the afternoon was spent messing around with Visual C++ programming...oooooh, baby!
Funny story, John...though our cats act that way without assistance...
;-)
(this, and the small psychotic one will only allow you to scratch her neck/pet her while you're sitting on the toilet in the master bathroom...anywhere else, and you might lose a finger or two (or three)...very odd) |
Perry Comer
Unity Member
Post Number:
1149
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 10:05 pm: | |
PEOPLE WHO HAVE CATS AS PETS ARE PEOPLE WHO ENJOY PAIN.
People who have vicious dogs as pets are people with serious mental problems.
People who have no pets are people who feel they are missing something in life.
And, people who talk about people's pets are people who have had pets and know what people with pets are going through.
My wife wanted a dog because I spend some much time at the computer. So off to the pound we go. A Lapsa Alpso (whatever) looked up at her with those big brown eyes and we took HER home. Attendant said, "today was her last day." The wife felt real good going home. The vet checked her over and said to come back in thirty days for the "no babies" operation. The little dog got real fat real quick and it was not because we were feeding her that great. Back to the vet to discover she is due in about three weeks but the problem is the father was some HUGE dog and this little dog would die if she went full term. Have any idea the cost for this type of operation? It was not cheap!! A month later the sizures began. The first trip (on a Saturday night) to the emergency animal hospital was the cost of a new computer with a few bells and whistles. And then their were the fleas. Ever had a dog with a flea allergy? No flea collars, flea soaps etc. because she is allelgic to those products. Yikes - this pooch is costing me a bundle. But the wife sits and talks to her baby named "Sugar" while I type stupid stuff on the computer. I could live with it all if the pooch would not sit beside my comptuer chair with those big brown eyes whenever "Mama" is doing something else. What does she think I am - "Daddy?"
give-me-a-break
http://www.pacwriter.netfirms.com/ |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
528
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 10:26 pm: | |
The house was filthy so I did the laundry and vacuumed the floors. Then I took the dogs for a long walk, one at a time, which consumed the better part of an hour. As part of an ongoing effort to eradicate bugs from the kitchen, I removed the caulking from around the kitchen sink and applied a new silicone bead. All in all, a productive, albeit pedestrian, Saturday. If my life was being produced as a series, the BBC would make me "sex it up" before letting it air.
http://www.fdungan.com/ |
LaurieAnne
Unity Member
Post Number:
1194
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 09:17 am: | |
Pets are so much fun.
I dropped off Princess Nefertiti to the vet this morning to have that same "no babies" operation. If she didn't quit yowling soon, my husband was likely to fix her to cheap way..with a .22 calibur.
Now, Nefertiti does not travel well. She wanted very much to climb my face (she was in my lap the entire trip). However, having experienced the difficulty of transporting Philbert to the vet a couple of months ago, and from bringing Nefertiti home (and taking her with me a couple of times to pick the kids up from school), I knew what to expect.
So, I wrapped her up in my son's blue baby blanket and held her tightly. With part of the blanket covering her eyes until she calmed down, she wasn't too bad. Once I felt her start to relax some (driving with one hand, holding her tightly with the other...I just have a problem with those tiny cages they want you to use), I uncovered her head at the next stop. She did quite well after that.
Though I think she is going to take revenge upon me when I pick her up tomorrow. She had "that look" in her eyes when the assistant was carrying her back for surgery. I'm in trouble now.
he he he...that's what she gets for teasing Philbert when he came home walking funny for a while.
I don't even want to think about the look I'll get from Moose when I have to take him in. Though, he does LOVE to ride in the van, so he won't be hard to transport. I'll just get drug around the office a few times while I fill out the paperwork. Labradors tend to get VERY excited. And once he hears the kitties mewing in the neighboring room, he's gonna knock me to the ground trying to go lick them...he's a strange sort of dog...likes cats...likes to catch them and bring them to "mommy" to care for.
Now, if I can just train him to stay out of the garbage...
Anyhow, it's back to work for me.
LA
p.s. One of these days, my son is going to wear me down and convince me to get him a fish...then I'll have to retrain the kitties, too.
LaurieAnne
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Kevin P. Grover
Unity Member
Post Number:
1043
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 11:26 am: | |
LOL...I had a wild incident this weekend with pets...
Rhiannon has a hamster. Well, I managed to get the toothy critter (he still thinks...after a year...that fingers and bars are chew toys) into his exercise ball so I could clean out the cages. Well, he's downstairs rolling around and generally having a ball. (No pun intended)
About an hour after I finished the cage - there was no hurry to put him back - Rhiannon went out to the kitchen. She came back in crying...the lid to the ball was gone and "Squeaky Michael Grover" had escaped!
I managed to find him under the stove. He came out and was quite happy to sit right in front of me...chewing on the small rug in front of the sink. However, the minute I tried to grab him...he decided to have a "hand" lunch.
Finally, I had enough, grabbed him, and slipped him back in the ball for transport upstairs. Of course, this was AFTER grabbing my work gloves!
Gee people...we could have a contest for the funniest pet story!
(Message edited by kevingrover on February 09, 2004)
www.winterwolfpublishing.com |
Gloria Marlow
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
565
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 11:50 am: | |
I have such bad luck with pets that my dad says he'd rather be a "Cartwright bride" than one of my pets. We have a dog now that we've had the longest of any we've ever had, about six years. I don't know exactly what he is, I think some sort of australian sheep dog. He is a good dog, but he works sooo hard. We don't have any animals for him to herd, so he herds all the cars in the neighborhood. Luckily, we live in a really rural neighborhood with mostly my relatives around, so I've only had words with one person (and that person is someone I just don't like and everyone in the neighborhood has had words with him at one time or another). I don't know where the dog came from, one morning when my youngest son was four, he appeared in the yard. He's gray and speckled (I think they call the color merle) anyway, he has gold eyes. I told Curtis, "get in the house and don't you mess with that dog. He looks mean." I got in the shower and when I came out, the dog and the kid were on my bed rolling around playing. We named him Dingo, and he's been ours ever since. He has this internal time clock and one morning my brother-in-law was running late. The crazy dog just stood at his truck barking until he came out to go to work, then he led the truck to the hard road and pointed him in the right direction like always. He doesn't do this on weekends so I guess he's got the pattern memorized. He runs just a little ahead of the car, clearing the path of all animals, kids, other cars, etc. When the cars are parked, he just lays out beside them watching them, chasing away any birds or squirrels that get too close. I told my husband if I believed in reincarnation as animals, that is one I would not want to come back as. The dog cannot just relax. I think this spring we're going to get him some goats, at least they won't run over him.
Other than that, I'm forbidden to bring any more pets into the house. The last one I brought in was something called a Dego that was like a tiny little chincilla. He escaped and chewed up half the house, including the electric wire from the television, so we had to buy a new one. He chewed a whole through his cage and everything else I tried to keep him in. He was so fast we couldn't catch him so I put tomatoes in his cage, propped it open with a stick that I had tied a string to and sat there for hours like Elmar Fudd trying to catch a rabbit. The last time he escaped we never saw him again. I got new furniture that weekend and I think he went out with the old furniture. I don't know though, he may still be in the house somewhere.
That's my animal story.
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Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
838
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 08:31 pm: | |
Well,
I have a pound dog that I fell in love with at the pound. They said he was about 3-4 years old and two of the main reasons that I wanted him were: a) he was cute as a bug and b) he was supposed to be older......
Anyway, I couldn't pick him up on the day that they were going to release him or put him down, so I asked my girlfriend to go get him and take him to her place until I got off of work that evening. Only about a half hour later. My girlfriend took he granddaughter in with her and when this dog saw her, he scampered up a 6 foot chain link fence, all the way to the top. Well, Melissa, the Granddaughter, said "Gramma, we better tell Claudia that he can climb tall fences", but alas, that was forgotten when I got there to get him. I took him home, went out into the yard with him to make sure that he didn't get into any trouble while he was familiarizing himself with the yard and neighbors. All was well that night, but I had to take him to the Vet's the next day to get nuetered, and I took him in and left him and picked him up later that afternoon....
We got home from the Vet's about 5 PM or so, and I let him out into the yard to go do his thing, and he went up and over my fence, GONE!!!!! He didn't know where he lived, I hadn't really gotten him used to his new name, which was supposed to be Bumper or Bubba, and he was in a totally unfamiliar neighborhood. Oh, the Vet said that he was most likely only about 9 months old. GONE for 5 days, I am driving all around the valley hollering for a little doggie, who didn't know his name, asking everyone if they had seen him, or heard him, and generally getting very exasperated and upset that I had lost such a little cutie. On the first day that I really had him. Poor puppy!!!! I was afraid for him also, because in our valley, we have coyotes and a few mountain lions that regularly patrol all the streets, looking for scraps and little dogs and kitties to munch on.
I caught my neighbor on the last evening that I was going to continue trying to find this little guy, and asked him if he had seen a lost dog, he said "you mean a little black and brown guy about soooo high", I said YESSSSSSS, that's the one I am looking for. He was in their back yard all the time, for the past 5 days, playing and loving up this guy's Rotwiellers (2) and just in general, making himself at home... The house that he was at was only around the corner. I got him home, and then had to take almost 3 years to keep him from going over the fence almost every day. Finally, I filled him up with Milk Bones and got him tooooo FAT to hoist his rear end up and over the top of the fence. I named him Bummer, cause I was so bummed about losing him those 5 days, and he is the dearest little guy in the world. Follows me everywhere in the house from room to room and always when I go outside, never lets me out of his sight. Right now, he is laying right by my feet. I have had him in my family since 1995.
He loves kids, kitties, other dogs, and especially Rotwiellers. He is a cocker-mix that is like a chia pet on steroids as far as his fur goes, it grows so fast and thick and he changes his haristyle every time he gets shaved. The kitties that I have now, he lets them crawl all over him and sleep next to him and groom him. He will let them eat out of his dish but won't hare his milk bones with them. When Dave (my son that lived here for almost a year) got his kitty, Bummer carried it around with him in his mouth all over the yard and house just to make sure that it was safe.
By the way, I now have a raccoon. He comes onto the deck almost every nite to eat left over cat food. I am almost positive that he is living under my house, maybe he has a mate and if so, they will be having babies soon. He is grey, with a totally beautiful mask and rings on his tail. And he is not scared of me. Nor of the dogs, and the kitties don't mind him at all. Saw him for the first time about 2 weeks ago.
My amusing pet stories.
Claudia
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Olen Armstrong
Wandering Member
Post Number:
145
Registered: 06-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - 12:47 pm: | |
Guess I can't resist this thread. The dog in question passed on last year, shortly after HER boy got married and moved away. I wrote this several years prior. Enjoy.
Olen A
***************************
The Great Christmas Puppy Paradox
A Recollection by Olen Armstrong
After getting out of the service, we struggled to make ends meet. One year at Christmas, we could only afford one special present for the kids. We only had $50 or $60 for it. Our little old house was filled with kids and one stray dog, but we decided we could squeeze in one more. We decided to get our kids a puppy.
According to everything I'd ever heard, to get a great family pet you get a female puppy and raise her along with the kids. Then she'll adopt your kids as HERS, and protect them against all comers, just like Lassie. I decided to include my oldest boy in the hunt, a real Dad/Son thing.
And that was when we ran into the great Christmas-Puppy-Paradox. It seems that puppies, kids, and Christmas make for perfect Kodak moments. Some parents rush to get a puppy in December, only to dump it in January after the pictures come back. Shelters simply won't talk to you in December. They fight the problem by not being a part of it. So our inexpensive puppy-hunt immediately ran into an roadblock.
The shelters were out. The pet stores were out, too expensive. We were ready to give up. Then a friend pointed me to a private shelter that might help. I called and, yes, they had two puppies on hand. One was a wire-haired terrier.(YEESS!) The other was a mutt whose Mom was a German Shepherd ("Poppa" it seems was a travelin' man.) We men headed out with final instructions from Mom: be sure and make it a small dog, to fit our home and family. A terrier would be perfect.
We were greeted by a nice lady who could easily have been Aunt Bea from Mayberry. She very politely began our inquisition. Did we currently have a dog? (One point for us) Was it kept in a fenced yard? (Hooray again!) How many kids did I have? (Ooo lost points here.) Hours and a zillion questions later (well, it seemed like that), she smiled and said to my son, "Let's go take a look". (Wait a minute! When did I get left out of this?) She led us to a room where the puppies were just getting a bath. Two other Aunt Bea clones were drying the shepherd and washing the terrier.
"Would you like to dry her off?" one of the Beas said to my boy. She handed him a towel-covered bundle with legs, tongue, and a tree-limb tail sticking out. Nothing else could be seen. I paid them no mind as I waited for my terrier. Finally, we'd found what we were looking for. Little did I know!
"Dad," I heard a sound off in the distance. My dog was almost ready and the kids would just love her.
"Daaa-aaad," there it was again like an itch.
"What is it, buddy?"
"I want this one." .....................WHAT! What was that? What had happened while my back was turned? I'd been preoccupied, looking beyond him, watching MY new lady-love at her bath. I looked down and was amazed at what I saw. That dog could keep continuous circles going in that tree-limb tail AND the tongue at the same time, in opposite directions. The tongue was busy scrubbing my boy's face. The tail was thumping softly against his chest. Nothing else could be seen. Nothing else mattered.
"But.....but, don't you want to look at the terrier?"
"Sure, I'll look at it. But I want THIS one."
That long-legged hussie had captured my son's heart in an instant. What was a dad to do?
I was sure at that moment of three things: (1) God does exist; (2) God has a great sense of humor; and (3) God was laughing his keister off at me and shouting "Gotcha". My "little" house dog had turned out to be a German Shepherd's daughter. And any doubts I had about it being His prank disappeared when the Aunt-Beas gave me bill: $25 donation to the shelter and $25 to prepay for neutering. I'd been set up by a Master, and gotten a heavenly pie right in the face. (And I still had to explain it to Mom!) We'd been lead to EXACTLY the right place with EXACTLY the right money to find EXACTLY the right dog.
We gathered up the bundle and headed for home. The Aunt-Beas had called her Jingle Bells, for the season. After a heated family debate, we couldn't agree on a new name, so Jingle Bells it was. Today "HER" boy is rushing between work, college, and his current girlfriend (sorry Jingles). His brothers are 15 and heavily into high school, off and gone. But Jingles is still there, waiting patiently. She patrols our home as she always has, and watches over "her kids". And she would, I'm absolutely sure, protect them with her own life.
Best $50 I ever spent.
Olen Armstrong
some went down like heros
in that Pensylvnia field |
Mary Gibbs
Hunger Member
Post Number:
95
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - 03:15 pm: | |
Funny...I've been dealing with male egos for the past week. I think they'd both be opposed to the "no babies" surgery, though...but I have threatened it to both of them if they couldn't work out their differences.
I think I'm finally getting through to them.  |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
531
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - 11:37 pm: | |
A while back, I got a similar deal on a black part Labrador, part mutt pound puppy for my 13 year old son. The lady at the pound gave us a voucher for a free examination by a local vet. It turned out the puppy had parvo and the vet told us to take him back to the pound and get our money back before he died. We figured that the puppy, who my son named Speedo, would be happier if he died at home. My son went to sleep that night with Speedo clutched in his arms and the next morning his bed sheets were soaked in blood. Speedo was bleeding from both ends and I figured he was a goner. But Speedo, having finally found a home, wasn't about to give it up. The second night he went to bed with me. I awoke the next morning with him barking in my face, wanting me to get up and make him breakfast. Thirteen years later, he's still telling me what to do. Sixty pounds of lean, mean dog curled up on the futon watching me with one eye while getting some sleep with the other.
Of course, there's a happy ending. My son went on to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, served two combat tours piloting recon helicopters in the Balkans, and is now in his second year at UCLA School of Law, courtesy of JAG. As for Speedo, I forfeited the neuter fee because it would have been a grievous sin for me to have done to him what I wouldn't allow my two ex-wives to do to me. Two years ago, I got Speedo a trophy wife -a prissy pedigree black Labrador named Chrissie. It must be true love because he doesn't complain when she eats out of his bowl. She's cheated on him once or twice, but she somehow manages to make certain that he's the father of the puppies. I bought the two of them (and me) a queen sized bed with the money I made from selling the cute little bundles of fur.
Evidently, Speedo did something wrong tonight, because Chrissie is sprawled on the bed and Speedo had to settle for the futon. Kind of reminds me of what is was like to be married. Of course, being a male, I never learn. The first thing I'm going to get when I write a bestseller is a trophy wife. I imagine it will be great for the first month or so. Then, I'll be joining Speedo on the futon, which, to my way of thinking, goes to prove you can't be too lean or too mean in this dog-eat-dog world.
http://www.fdungan.com/bushwhacked.htm (9/11, Enron, and then some)
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Perry Comer
Unity Member
Post Number:
1152
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - 12:25 am: | |
Maybe we can add the pet stories to the anthology
http://www.pacwriter.netfirms.com/ |
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