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Our Daily Thread 1-28-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1521 the Diet of Worms began, at which Protestant reformer Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic church.

In 1878 the first telephone switchboard was installed in New Haven, CT.  

In 1915 the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea. 

In 1980 six Americans who had fled the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, left Iran using false Canadian diplomatic passports. The Americans had been hidden at the Canadian embassy in Tehran.

And in 1986 the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff. All seven of its crew members were killed.

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Quote of the Day

“Logic, sometimes has very little to do with political action.”

Alexander Mackenzie

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Today is the birthday of composer Johann Ernst Bach. From Ria Brezova

It’s also Arthur Rubenstein’s. So here he is from 1964, in Moscow. via SProkofieff

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Anyone have a QoD for us today?

114 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-28-14”

  3. I’ll bet none of you here remember going through an operator to make a telephone call.
    Jack Benny used to have the telephone operator in one of his routines.
    I used to go through an operator to make a long distance call.when I was in the AF. I usually called collect. The operator would say, “Will you accept a call from Mr. Shull in Holyoke, Mass?” They always did.

    Worms was a town in Germany. Pronounced in English as Voorms. That’s what started the Protestant reformation. Luther wouldn’t recant and became an outlaw. His friends kidnapped him and hid him in Wartburg Castle for three years. There he wrote “A Mighty Fortress” and translated the Bible from Latin to German. That stabalized the German language for centuries.

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  4. must be time for a nap for you, kbells. I am ready for bed. Just finished covering a window with a double layer of felt and duct taping the seams on my back door. They are renovating my neighbors bathroom tomorrow, which is right outside my inside, back door. Trying to keep all the dust out that I can. I am thinking that I need to move all my bedding into the livingroom before I leave in the morning. Glad I won’t be home to listen to them work.

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  5. My parent’s “where were you moment” was when Kennedy was shot. My “where were you moment” was when the Challenger blew up. I don’t know why we were watching it, but I was in class. It was stunning in the other sense of the word. At first we weren’t sure what we saw and then as it dawned on us it was numbing. President Reagan’s speech that night …

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  6. I notice that “Greenville, Spartanburg, Asheville” are #11 on Ricky’s list of Bible believing cities. I’m not at all surprised. This is part of the “Bible Belt.” Nashville claims to be the “buckel in the Bible belt.” That may be true.

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  7. Kim, are you going into work at your new job today?
    Things are expected to get bad just south of us. In that part of the country, you need to stay in as much as possible. Catch up on your reading today.

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  8. Oh My Goodness. The news is on. They are giving us driving safety tips for driving in this “blizzard” we are expecting. Don’t get out. Stay home. Winter Updates at the top and bottom of the hour all day long today to keep us on top of things. They have been to the beach to interview the snowbirds on what we should expect and the absolute WORST thing they just showed is that they went to a Kindergarten class to film the teacher telling the students they would not have school today, because it MIGHT snow. You know those babies didn’t process the word might and what are the parents going to do today when their children think they are going to be able to go out and build Frosty the Snowman and they will be lucky if they can make a snowball. Yes, it was cute to see the children’s reaction, but as a mother I would want to just surprise my child with it.
    On the plus side one of the women on our morning news is obviouslly multi-racial. She has the most beautiful eyes I have seen lately. I think it is the conrast of her darker skin and lighter eyes but even the shape of them is pretty. I doubt she is with us long.

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  9. Oh, it is even better! They just suggested that we
    1. Stay home
    2. Drink cocoa
    3, Watch a movie.

    Sorry I don’t have time for this. I have to get dressed and be at work at 8 am

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  11. Kim, I’m a generation behind you. iI remember the Kennedy assassination. I was in the first grade and my teacher cried and took the flag down. My mom’s was Pearl Harbor.

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  13. Good morning! School is closed again here and it’s 35 degrees!!! They’d predicted 27 and snow, but it didn’t happen. Supposedly, there is still a 60% chance of snow, but I seriously doubt it.

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  14. The Hendersonvile Times-News takes a survey every day. Today’s question was, “Are you going to watch the President’s speech tonight?” 81% have said “NO” so far.
    Count me in that group. I know now that he’s not going to say anything he hasn’t said before.
    Sameol sameol.

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  15. Mine, KBells, was Hitler’s invasion of Poland. I was just a 9 year old kid, but I knew that this wasn’t good. I’ve told you ths before, but we were living in Spartanburg, SC at the time. Camp Croft was being built there as a training camp. Some men were worried that Hitler would bomb Spartanburg if they built the camp here.
    As a kid, I wondered about that logic, that Hitler would come all the way over here to bomb a training camp.
    Events I remember well:
    Pearl Harbor
    Battle of Midway
    Guadacanal I was in the fifth grade and we would stand by our desk and pray for the “boys” in Guadacanal.
    The Bomb. This made a greater impression than the end of the war.
    Invasion of South Korea. I was standing in formation on the ramp at Keesler AFB in Biloxi. I thought I would be in that before it ended. I never got to Korea.
    Kennedy’s assasination. I was at work, we all stood around listing to the reports on the speaker system. They sent us home because nothing was getting done. “Just go home.”
    The Moon landing.
    Apollo 13
    and. The Challenger.
    I also remember Roosevelt running for a third term. That had never happened before. He campaigned on “Don’t change horses in the middle of the stream”. I thought it was a bad thing (remember, I’m just a kid.). But, looking back, Windell Wilkie wouldn’t have been good either.
    Roosevelt was a sick man and no match for Churchill and Stalin.

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  18. For most of the younger generation it would have to be 9/11.

    Chas, I remember operstors. We had a party line in my esrly days. I had not thought about that in a long time. I am sure younger people today would have their own version of a party line.

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  19. I was never on a party line. Elvera’s family was.
    I was in high school before we got a telephone in our house. When we lived in downtown Charleston for about a year and a half, there was a community phone in the hall on the second floor.

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  20. Bosley is some brilliant kitty. She knows the word toy so if she gets too rough with attacking our hands we can say, “Go get your TOY.” Not 100 % consistent, but often she will find her toy and bring it over to us. I made her favorite toy out of some old stockings. I made a fat knot at the top that looks like a head with bad hair and then there is another knot halfway down for the mid section. From there the two legs branch out and I put knots near the end of each so it is similar to ankle bones with feet. It is the purrfect kitten toy because it is soft and stretchy and grest to sink claws and teeth into.

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  22. One other question. Audible books offers the first one for free. Does anyone have a recommendation of a Christian book that is particularily good in that format?

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  23. Today is my final day facilitating Lifelight Bible studies, after 12 years. We finished studying all the books of the Bible and for some reason these ladies want something different rather than starting all over again like I wanted to!

    I’ve been grieving–I learned so much from this study–but I’m also chagrinned I didn’t realize how much a burden all the homework had become for these precious women. Even if you don’t have to do homework if you’re over 85, it still caused issues. (Some of which, they complained, was they weren’t 85 yet!)

    We’re now shifting over to a much simpler IVPress Women of the Old Testament, and several former students are returning and we’re getting a couple new ones.

    I guess I should have lowered the homework level to 80, sooner . . .

    Anyway, we finish Matthew today. It’s been so good for me, personally, but God can use something else to his glory. I’m not sure, though, it will be particularly spiritually healthy for ME to have less homework . . . I’ll be fine. Eve is up for next week.

    So, here’s my QOD (having never intentionally made a toy for a pet): is there a particular type of Bible study series that has been most helpful to you?

    Bonus points if you can explain why! 🙂

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  24. I am reading a column by Ben Stein in Newsmax magazine. He tells about a friend who committed suicide. A page long article, but he sums up the problem in one sentence in the middle of the article”
    “In a word, his life was about envy, not gratitude.”

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  25. Chas, that is exactly why God gave us that commandment about coveting. Two weeks ago we were covering the Ten Commandments in Sunday School and I told one of the children that if we have our eyes on what others have we aren’t paying attention to what God has given us and telling Him thanks. God knows best and He gave us rules to take care of us.

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  26. Michelle, when I was often sitting in my car waiting while my son had classes with other homeschoolers during his high school years I was going through some Bible studies. I treasured that alone with God time.

    One book I went through was the Words and Works of Jesus Christ by Dwight Pentecost who was a professor at Dallas Theological. The book may be a textbook. I did not have a workbook with that.

    I also did a workbook, Hard to Believe by John MacArthur along with reading the book. During the Easter season I did another workbook by him, Experiencing the Passion of Christ. I loved doing these for the good teaching anx grounding in the faith along with drawing closer to the Lord.

    I did a Women of Faith workbook on Hope (may have a subtitle something like The Anchor of Your Life). That was helpful. Also more recently I have benefitted from some small Cynthia Heald workbooks.

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  27. Hope:The Anchor for You Soul
    The older ladies might enjoy that, but you’d have to consider the amount of homework.

    At church we sre using the Gospel Project for most levels of Sunday School. It goes through the whole Bible and relates how Jesus is found throughout the whole Bible and not just in the New Testament. It is helping to give a more connected feel to the Old and New Testaments.

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  28. I was in 7th grade when JFK was killed. In high school when RFK, MLK were killed, protestors at the Democratic convention in Chicago erupted in street fights, and Vietnam looked like it would be the war that would never end. And out here, where it was all not so far away from us, the Manson killings were huge. It seemed like the country was about to implode.

    I was in college when Watergate became a household word and suddenly everyone was watching the story unfold in day-long Senate hearings.

    I was working as a reporter when the Challenger explosion occurred, we had it on TV in the newsroom live and had pretty much the same reaction as Kim mention — what in the world just happened? Was that something normal … or … did everything just go terribly wrong somehow? It was all very surreal.

    I spent the day interviewing kids and teachers at the local junior high (where one of our hometown heroes, a female astronaut from a few years earlier, attended).

    9/11, still working as a reporter but at a different/former-sister paper — we actually came out with a “special edition” at noon that day (since our regular morning edition obviously had nothing about the attacks). The Internet was still somewhat new to many people when it came to spreading and getting breaking news.

    The defining moment for my parents, hands down, was Pearl Harbor. My dad (still a single guy who had moved from Iowa to California by then) enlisted in the Navy after the attack. My parents met and married after the war.

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  29. Chas mentioned the moon landing. I was spending the night with a friend who had a tv in her room so we were watching that. Heard about Kennedy while at school, I believe over the intercom. Saw Challenger explode while working in the accounting office of the Georgia State Patrol. We had a tiny tv in one of the secretaries or admin assistant’s offices. For 9/11 I was at home because I was not working every morning at the preschool. Remember that it was hard to be at the school and worry about being responsible for the children if more attacks took place. Can’t remember if son was still going with me to the school or if he was old enough to stay home and sleep while I worked in the mornings.

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  30. Michelle, there is a new Bible, ESV Gospel Transformation Bible, that “helps you see Christ in all of Scripture.” It sounds so similar to what we are doing for Sunday School at church. I have thought of trying to read through that new Bible. I think it would be good to use for a group study.

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  31. JaniceG, I have the Gospel Transformation Bible, pre-ordered it at half price when it was about to be released last fall. I’m still poking around and getting familiar with it, but it looks to be very good. I love (and trust) Crossway, they publish some very good things.

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  32. Got home from the airport, slept a little longer, took the kid to school, Came home had breakfast, tried to take a nap, school called, “come get your kids, it’s snowing”.

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  33. On a different note, Mumsee, I have a question for you.

    I thought of you when I came back in with the dog after our 11 PM walk. It was about five degrees F with wind chill -10 or so. The dog usually wants to stay out and sniff everything longer than I want to stay out, but when it’s this cold he does his business right away and tries to drag me back into the house.

    Do outdoor dogs do okay outside when it’s that cold? Or do you have some way for them to keep warm?

    This may sound like an ignorant question, but living in suburbia most of the pets I’ve known have been indoor/outdoor. And having grown up in LA, there was no cold to make you worry about pets outside.

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  34. I think when I was a kid (1960’s) my parents had to go through an operator to call my grandfather on the other end of the country (which was expensive and rare). By the time I was old enough to make phone calls, operators weren’t needed for regular calls, but you still used an operator for collect and “person-to-person” calls.

    Long distance was so expensive that you didn’t want to get billed if the person you were calling wasn’t at the other end. So you’d tell the operator you wanted to make a person-to-person call and give her the person’s name and number. The operator would call the number. If someone answered, the operator would explain that it was a person-to-person call and ask if such-and-such was there. If so, the operator put the call through and got off the line. If not, the operator disconnected the call and you didn’t pay for it.

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  35. Snowing here.
    Sounds of delight from children next door.
    Kevin, we had an outdoor Lab who loved the cold. We put lots of cedar chips in her house for insulation. She had a very thick winter coat snd did not want to stsy in the basement where she might have gotten too warm. It probably depends on the breed and the climate where the breed originated.

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  37. Kevin, we’ve had outside dogs. We gave them an insulated kennel with straw for a bed (straw doesn’t hold moisture or mat down like other materials) and, if it gets very cold, a simple lightbulb hung in the doghouse gives them more than enough warmth. Plus, outdoor dogs usually are able to grow a nice thick undercoat which keeps them toasty warm. Keva, our standard poodle Afghan hound cross, does not have this undercoat, but his hair keeps growing keeping him warmer in winter. He seems to get very cold as he is mostly an inside dog. He does run with my husband at very cold temps (-31F) and he does just fine, but he wants to come in and warm up afterwards. I’m not sure how he would do outside. Also, at Mumsee’s they have other animals (I’m assuming in sheds/barns) where the body heat from them all would keep them warm too.

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  38. I remember a lot of world events from my childhood: the end of the Soviet Union, the first Gulf War and the bombardment of Israel, the Bosnian conflict, the signing of NAFTA, the Rwandan civil war – they all happened in my first decade. I have vivid memories of hearing radio broadcasts from correspondents on location. I was reading my high school history textbook (BJU Press) when my mother called up the stairs to say we should turn our radios on, and we listened to the events of 9/11 unfold.

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  41. Janice’s QoD: I drew the designs for my first niece’s dollhouse, which my father then made; and I helped to finish and decorate it. The funny part is she never played much with it – she is an inventor and probably would rather have designed and built the house herself.

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  42. There are some rich people in SC and NC ain’t cheap.
    How did Oregon become “Good”? Illinois is considereed as “Corrupt”, but I suspect it’s only Chicago.

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  43. I remember Vietnam near it’s end, but only because I remember a conversation with my brother. He told me if we lost we would be their slaves. My dad set us straight on that.

    I remember Reagan getting shot. I was at home.

    I remember the shuttle. I was making a delivery and heard it on the radio.

    I remember the Gulf War starting. I was making a delivery and heard it on the radio. I was in an Army reserve unit at that time, so that one stands out.

    I remember “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Looked me right in the eye on the TV and lied.

    I remember election day and the days after Bush/Gore and the nonsense in Florida.

    I remember 9-11. I was home watching TV when they interrupted. I was supposed to have back surgery in NJ the next day but it was immediately canceled because at that time they were still expecting survivors to fill hospitals all over. Sadly it didn’t turn out that way.

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  44. I gave one of the Kid’s school friends a ride home His mother asked if I would take him to my house instead of his. She and her husband are stranded in different parts of the city. Good part of this, At least they don’t have to worry about their son in all this. Bad part, he keeps telling me all these things he’s not suppose to eat, (wheat, sugar, milk) and then asks for it. I am giving him very limited amounts of what I have, but I have had to tell him he can’t have anymore. Also he and the Kid are starting to get on each others nerves.

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  45. I can only imagine how drill would answer the QoD about making children’s toys. I sure miss him around here.

    I was in first grade when JFK was shot. And I remember distinctly when RFK died.

    I also remember the operator calls. Kevin mentioned person-to-person. If I have it right, that was a lot more expensive than direct dialing.

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  46. On the state map Georgia is backwards. Today they got that right as people in vehicles try to go up hills and slide backwards My brother just spent two hours at a stop light. He’s seeing abandoned cars. He is not really dressed to spend the night in his car. He has about 15 miles to go and hopefully can continue at his 4 miles per hour.

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  47. Alabama is good. 🙂 I suspect when people google “Why is Alabama so….” and it comes up “good’. They are talking about the football team. I saw another one like this where Alabama kept coming up “overrated”. Also probably the football team. 🙂

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  48. Michelle’s QoD: My answer is negative. I have never had a Bible study program that I liked, much less loved: from those 40-day church-wide programs where everyone got little booklets in their Sunday school level to fill out; to the arduous scripture meditation worksheets, complete with Greek word studies, of the ultra-conservative homeschooling program.

    The thing that I really didn’t like, or perhaps the better words are, didn’t find beneficial in all of them was that little question at the end: ‘How can you apply this concept in your life?” It was a bit like attending a lecture on brain surgery; and then walking straight out of class into the operating room to be handed a scalpel and told to apply what you just learned today.

    I know very well how important it is to apply scripture to our daily lives, as laid out in places like Matthew 5 and James 1. However, as I have matured in my faith, I discovered that meaningful application comes gradually as I listen to the Spirit’s guidance, as passages like Romans 5:3-5 and II Peter 1:5-8 suggest. I now look back at some of the applications I scribbled in those spaces to realize how much I misunderstood and misapplied. I also can see the amazing way God gently changed or enlarged my understanding before I was able to apply the verse correctly. The answer to the last question can take years.

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  49. Well, I have icicles hanging from the eaves and bird feeder. I worked from 8-12 today. I brought home a lot of information to read. We are probably closed tomorrow.
    I would have to work on it now, but I have made the button and string toy for BG’s 4th grade class. This is an old fashioned toy and Chas is probably the only one here who will know what I am talking about–if the rest of you do, please let me know. You have to use a four hole button. The button travels up and down the string. It was an history lesson for her class.

    Donna, you asked the other day if the job was with the same company. It isn’t. It is with another company but they run things a lot like the company I was with.

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  50. On FoxNews, Shep Smith is talking about a girl/woman (she is 16) who fell 3500 feet and lived, though she is injured badly. He said, “How can you fall half a mile and live to tell about it?” The answer is that half a mile has no significance. Five hundred feet would be just as bad.
    In the Air Force they told us that a man has a terminal velocity of aboutj 110 mph which varies of couse, wth density, etc.
    Everything has a terminal velocity. The point at which it won’t accelerate past.
    That’s why a squirrel can fall from the top of a tree and not be hurt. It has a small terminal velocity.

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  52. Kim, I know exactly what you are talking about. We made and played with them. My father had one that was made of rope and a button that could have been used on a giant’s coat. It was supposed to be used as an exercise device. Every once in a while, we children would attempt to get it going but we never had enough muscle to do it.

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  53. Good videos today, and yesterday for Mozart’s birthday also.

    I’ve mentioned before that a few months after the Challenger explosion, I met a teacher who had been one of the five finalists in the Teacher in Space program that Christa McAuliffe was eventually chosen for.

    As far as the day of the explosion goes, I didn’t hear about it until I got home from student teaching that day and turned on the news. A year later, on the first anniversary of the explosion, I remember the school where I was teaching had a moment of silence at the time of day the disaster had happened.

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  55. I was in high school when the Challenger exploded. We had a party line when we first moved to Bandera in 1979. My parents quickly had a private line installed! I was in college when the grisly TCBY murders occurred. The first president I remember is Carter. I was at home with eldest daughter when 9/11 happened. Hubby called from the office and told me to turn on the news. I remember watching as the second plane hit. It was surreal. It was the day before eldest’s second birthday…

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  56. so tired. off to school, but I will be skipping the weight room today. Just took most everything out of my bedroom or covered it to guard against dust from the remodel behind my inside door.

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  57. Mail truck went backward before it crept forward on our hill. Looks like it will be bad. Neighbor from up north is shoveling snow. Must be in the genes! Actually, I should do the same before it packs into ice. Smart neighbors. Obviously forward folks since not originally from these backward parts.

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  59. Recod=Record

    That sounds like quite a job. Jo! Glad you got it taken care of. The effort will be worth it, and it may even give you a few ideas of different ways to arrange your space.

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  61. Janice: We had a good time! We met Hubby for lunch after the museum. We met him at the office and Becca enjoyed seeing pictures she’s made him hanging in his office! I did see your recommendation, but haven’t had the opportunity to look into it yet. Thanks !

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  62. Chas, someone on FB suggested that Oregon is “good” because it’s populated by lots of old hippies. “Groovy” may have been a better word.

    California is, indeed, expensive. But we are also broke. Go figure.

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  63. Have any of you ladies here read Good Girls Don’t Have To Dress Bad? Opinions? (I haven’t read it, but the review I read sounded interesting, and I like that the book is from a Christian perspective.)

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  64. I have not seen that book, 6 Arrows. Since I did not have a girl it is not a book I would have needed, although I do pass along some titles to people at church. But I guess that is one that I would not suggest because of the possibility of making any parent feel I was being judgemental about their family’s choices or style. But if something was a drastic issue I would use a book of that nature to give a big hint.

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  65. While 6Arrows book might be good, sometimes you need something a little more direct and to the point. This you can disguise as Southern Humor and if anyone takes offense you can say, “Well, I thought it was funny”,

    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cecilia%20rivenbark&sprefix=cecilia+ri%2Caps%2C299#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=stop+dressing+your+six+year+old+like+a+skank&sprefix=stop+dress%2Caps%2C197&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Astop+dressing+your+six+year+old+like+a+skank

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  66. This is so funny, my own personal Yankee is outside taking pictures with his phone of the ice and “snow” to post on FB for his friends. He hasn’t seen weather like this since 2002.

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  67. We had snow last night….and a gloriously beautiful sun shiny day today…but it is a tad bit cold
    Sometimes it is best not to shovel snow unless it’s going to melt rather quickly….you could be just exposing slick ice underneath….snowpack gives you better traction….
    I remember JFK’s assassination…I was in 4th grade…I remember telephone operators…you had to call them for a long distance call…and to get information if you didn’t know someone’s number…it was an expensive service!
    I am one who doesn’t particularly like “Bible Studies” written by someone…I love to study the Bible…and have joined with friends in doing so…
    I have agreed to attend a study at our church for the next 3 months with a dear friend…it is Journey to Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz…facilitated by a younger gal….I am asking The Lord to give me a right attitude…..and listening heart…..
    Many years ago I attended a study “You Can be the Wife of a Happy Husband” at our church in FL. The sister of the author attended our church….it was hands down the worst book/study ever. I’m not much of a “ladies ministry” type person….

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  68. LOL, Kim (your link at 6:27)!

    The title I mentioned above is a little misleading, as it uses the word “girls”, when the book is actually written to women. The premise is that since the Bible addresses both inward and outward beauty, then Christian women should be attentive to both, also, accepting and embracing the unique body our Creator gave us, and accentuating our beauty in a way that reflects God’s creativity. Christian women place a lot of emphasis on inward beauty (and rightly so), but sometimes do it to the exclusion of outward beauty.

    The author (from what I understand from the review I read and from a short excerpt at Amazon) emphasizes that since the Bible addresses both inward and outward beauty, Christian women should also be concerned about dressing well and in a way that accentuates our beauty and reflects the creativity of our Creator.

    I read the book Color Me Beautiful a couple years ago and enjoyed that book. This one sounds like it has some similarities, but goes beyond CMB in that it’s written from a Christian perspective, getting into heart issues, and not merely focusing on externals. It sounded like something I would like to read, but it’s not at any library in my area, so I thought I’d ask here if anyone read and liked it, before I go buy my own copy.

    Or maybe I’ll try interlibrary loan.

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  69. I signed up for a webinar on GMOs (genetically modified organisms). It is airing four days this week, with five sessions (most about 40-45 minutes in length) on Monday-Wednesday, and four on Thursday. Ten sessions done, nine to go. I’ve read a fair amount about GMOs already, so a lot of what is being discussed I’m already familiar with, but there have been some new things I’ve learned (like the negative impact consuming food with GMOs can have on the gut lining, similar to what gluten does to celiac disease sufferers). Some of the speakers have been quite interesting and informative.

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  70. Kevin B, to your question: the animals do very well outside. Because they are outside all of the time, they develop very good winter coats early in the winter and lose it to the summer coat by the time it begins to get hot. As for accomodations, we don’t have a warm barn or anything but we do have doghouses. Three of the dogs share a nice insulated two door house with lots of hay and straw. Only one of the dogs has too short a coat, the rat terrier, but he sleeps on top of a very large very warm dog so he is fine. Jake has her own home, a retired chicken house but she rarely sleeps in it. I open the gate to her run in the evening so she can go wherever she wants (after the chickens and guinea fowl have gone to roost in the trees). She runs around a bit, chases off a few coyotes and deer and the cats and then tends to sleep in the same place as the daytime: on the ground in front of her house. It has an awning to keep some of the rain and snow and sun off. If it is raining, she does sleep inside the house. She found a bear chair some child left outside and made it her own. She took the stuffing out and sleeps on it on her veranda. We do see that they have access to plenty of warm water to keep them hydrated. She could sleep in the hay barn where it is warmer but she really likes to sleep out under the stars. I have gone out in the early morning, before sunup and sometimes she does not go in her run but sleeps out by my garden. Apparently she believes she is quite comfortable.

    To further our argument for outdoor dogs, we just had four new kids born. Within twenty four hours, the first one was scampering around the pasture with her mama. It has been cold with a heavy fog for weeks. The little one just scampers around through wind and snow (but not rain, they don’t like rain). They all have two good sturdy sheds to sleep in as well as a summer shelter with just one wall. All four kids were born inside of one or another but the goats all sleep outside unless it is raining. Once the kids are born, they quickly acclimate if left where they drop. We do help to towel dry them if it is especially cold, but moms just leave them in the hay until they are ready. Then they don’t seem bothered by the weather at all.

    As for the cows and horses, like most around here, they don’t have much in the line of man made shelter. They have a tree they stand under, they do like a wind break. Well, they have a shelter but I have only seen them use it when it is really hot out and they want to get out of the sun. None of the animals appear to be uncomfortable.

    That is why I argue for keeping dogs and cats outside if you can. It seems so hard on the ones who have not acclimated to have to go out for their potty breaks. But ours just curl up and tuck in and they are good.

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  71. 6 Arrows,

    You will like tomorrow’s selections too. 🙂

    Kevin,

    My neighbor had a Samoyed that they had to drag inside in the winter. He would lay in the snow all day long. Didn’t bother him at all. In the summer he didn’t want to be out and would howl when he was done to get back in the AC. Some just love it.

    My rat terrier on the other hand was a total wuss. Out, go, run back to the door. But he’d want to be outside all spring and summer.

    My cat/cats never go out except in a carrier to the vet.

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  73. Hi mumsee!

    Birthin’ day at The Nest?

    My border collies like to sleep outside at night, but I pull them in now. Got too tired of cleaning up skunk spray. 😉 Plus they don’t bug the neighbors that way with their barking whenever a critter passes through.

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  79. The speech of the campaigner in chief. He’ll probably just repeat (or is repeating) what he has been saying all along. “The mess we are in is not my fault. The Republicans won’t do anything I want. I want this, that, and the other, and they’d better give them to me or I’ll go around the Constitution.”

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  80. I was on the Forensics team in high school, and my category the first year was Significant Speeches.

    I can’t see any of Obama’s speeches ending up in that category.

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  82. Thanks, y’all, for all the loving talk about your animals. I just got off the phone with my brother and he said he wished I did not have that cat in the house. Of course he would say that on one of the coldest nights we’ve seen this year when our ground is frozen and covered with snow. I asked if he wanted me to put her out right now (not serious, of course). I told him I did not feel he should tell me what to do about the cat and he said he was just telling me for my own good. For some reason I am feeling quite sad about our conversation.

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  83. People who like to have animals in there homes ought to have as many as they want and can care for. I love my animals but I want them outside. Partly for their own health and partly for the health of my family and visitors. I know how my husband gets when he walks into a home with a cat and it is very uncomfortable for him. But that is okay, he can meet the people for coffee at a restaurant.

    On the other hand, I have people who visit me who insist on bringing their indoor animals with them and insisting on keeping them indoors or letting them out to chase the chickens. Annoying. One relative, we finally convinced that we did not allow dogs in the house (she has always had black labs, not a small dog) and she stopped coming to visit about ten years ago. She goes other places and leaves her dog at home, but not here. Interesting.

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  86. Mumsee, I totally agree that it is best for grown cats to be outside if possible. The last two we had stayed inside for a year and then they were totally outdoor cats. I feel like cats can more be living the life God designed for them to live if they are outside. But with that thought is another that in the more urban area where we live there are fewer dangers for the cat inside except for obesity if overfed and under exercised. Not sure if Bosley will eventually be an indoor or outdoor cat. I told husband it will later be s difficult decision.

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  87. Out here it’s considered politically incorrect to let cats go outdoors at all anymore. But Annie was running with a bunch of feral cats when I adopted her, she was very accustomed (and savvy) about being outside. When I’ve had to keep her in for long periods — recovering or for some other reason — she’s miserable.

    Even my vet privately told me that all the cats he and his wife (also a vet) have had through the years have never been happy as indoor-only cats, they’ve all been allowed outside.

    There are risks — out here, that comes in the form of traffic (if I lived on a busy street I might have reconsidered) and other dangers like the occasional loose dog, raccoons & even coyotes.

    When she’s older and slower, I may decide to keep her indoors most or all the time. But for now, she’s very well adapted and sticks fairly close to home. And it just seems more natural for an animal like a cat to be outdoors at least some of the time.

    I do lock her in at night, though, along with the dogs.

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  88. Another big issue with us having an outdoor cat is neighbors. I use to hear complaints from a neighbor that my cats used the bathroom in the bushes underneath her bedroom window and that they got on her car. Then the other neighbor was concerned about the chipmunk populzfion and the gay guy down the street wrote the threatening letter about the cats killing birds and how there might be some sad children when their pets died (our son was the only child around so it felt like being singled out). So with that background it seems pruddnt to have an indoor cat. But she will miss the joy of being fully a cat in her element.

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  89. I’ve been lucky to have neighbors who either like or don’t mind cats — and both also have dogs so I think that keeps Annie mostly on our side of either fence line, where she at least “knows” the resident dogs. I think she goes to the bathroom in my backyard (or in the litter box during the night) — and she spends a lot of time lounging on my sheltered front porch which is set substantially up above and back from the sidewalk and street.

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  96. 96. Not that anyone’s left to care.

    Thanks, all, for your thoughts on indoor/outdoor pets.

    Donna, interesting what you said about it being un-PC now to let cats wander. I grew up with in LA suburbia when there were lots of free-roaming cats in the neighborhood. I don’t remember anyone ever complaining.

    Our cat was usually content to be in our own yard – I don’t remember her wandering much. Come to think of it, all our nearest neighbors had dogs, so I don’t suppose our cat ventured into their back yards much. We started keeping her in at night because she kept getting into fights. Somewhere between ages 10 and 15 she became an indoor-only cat, and lived to 20.

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  97. 97 We had two acres so all of our animals were outdoor animals. Our dog certainly had a thick coat and was not really interested in sleeping in his dog house.

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  99. Of course 99 is an interesting number don’t you think. But a week or so ago Aj said that he had to go back and make comments to reach 100 before he could post for the next day. Just couldn’t leave it so close.

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  100. Wow!!! I got 100! What a surprise!
    Waiting to hear about the State of the Union from you all. Not that anyone actually watched it. I guess the responses might be more interesting than the actual speech.

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  101. Jo, I can’t comment on it because I did not watch it. I take others word for it, sameole, sameole. I use to try to always watch when Bush did the SOTU. . And I enjoy watching speeches during the conventions at election time. But it gets to the point when one had heard enough lies. Our God is truth so the lies are a totally unappealing form of communication. I supposd for whatever reason, maybe the fact of being elected through such deception as to not even show his birth certicicate, that he feels lies give him traction. It is a sad and tragic state of the union and I did not even have to watch to know that!

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  102. 102, and I helped get us there.

    Congrats, Jo, for getting 100. I am glad to see no one was sneaking in to grab the honor from you! 🙂

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