103 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 7-26-16”

  2. Happiness to see that AJ was able to get the blog posted by 7 a.m. and that the header is a gorgeous Cheryl photo. It’s such a nice way to start the day after Bible and devotional reading, and coffee consumption. I’ve been up since about 5 a.m. and also have done a load of laundry.

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  4. Good morning, all.

    We are on vacation this week at Wildwood, New Jersey and picked a great week for it due to the heat. So it’s a good thing I didn’t have to go track down The Real the other day. The beach here is very deep – when you stand on the boardwalk, you can just barely see the shore line. This year they put in a dog park on the beach near where we stay, including a small pavilion so owners can get out of the hot sun. Thought that would interest you doggy people.

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  5. morning all
    I hope to actually have a computer soon. It is at the help desk getting all set up. He found the key for my office 2010 program, but said it didn’t work so I am supposed to call Microsoft. What a pain that will be using Skype

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  6. Last night my wife and I watched The Long Gray Line on TCM. She knew how great it was, but somehow I had never seen it before. It is a tribute to West Point, patriotism, honor, morality and the Irish. John Ford was at his best with old hands Maureen O’Hara, Donald Crisp and Ward Bond.

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  7. My morning surprise was to find my name added on Facebook to a closed group for a high school combined classes reunion. There was a listing of social groups people could check off that they were a part of, with Cheerleaders and Jocks at the top. I checked on Shy and French Club and then added Library Assistant. So, haha, the Library Assistant appeared above the Cheerleaders and Jocks. Surely it will get moved to the bottom of the list! This is what I get for joining Facebook. I did not even see another person from my class on the list so far, but I think it is just getting cranked up.

    Someone at church recently told me that my high school will be closed. She has children in that age range.

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  9. Good morning.
    I may have lost a friend last night over politics. She is extreme left. She champions ever cause because she likes to be seen as open minded, liberal, and enjoys the drama of being in the center of things. She has declared her hatred of the RNC and promised to take to the streets should Trump win. I was the focus of her anger. I walked away. All this happened via Facebook messenger. She is my longest friend. I have known this about her forever but I didn’t think it would devolve like this.

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  14. Michelle- by “vintage cat” do you mean advanced in age? We had a male cat that did that for a few weeks before dying. He had a blockage in his urinary track that prevented urination, so he was yowling in pain. Poor guy. The vet told us cheap cat food does that to male cats. We got better food for the remaining ones. It was when we lived on a farm and had several barn cats we tried to tame. We succeeded with one female and her kittens. This cat was one of hers.

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  15. Michelle, serious question in return here: Why keep a pet nobody likes? It isn’t a “pet” anymore, and surely it isn’t a working animal. It’s different if a fine pet becomes a little less of a good pet in its old age (Misten is requiring more work of us these days, for instance, because she can’t hear well and sometimes she trips and needs help back up), but if it just is not a good pet at all, why not say “She has lived her life, and she brings no joy to her owners and it will be very little sorrow to have her gone”?

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  16. I know you have your fill of hearing about my driver’s license thing. But I will close it out by giving you a copy of a note I sent to my regular e-mail compatriots.

    got my driver’s license yesterday!

    “BIG DEAL” You say. Everybody gets a driver’s license.

    Not everyone. Listen to this story. It has a happy ending.
    Last August I was having my annual eye exam. The ophthalmologist said, in passing, that I might not pass the vision test for my driver’s license next time. I didn’t worry much abut it because I figured that I was paying him big bucks to make it so that my vision would be good enough to pass the test. But this spring, I started wondering about it..

    In April, Elvera had a problem and had to go to the hospital. She is OK now. But that, and other circumstances made us decide to move from Hendersonville to Greensboro. I bought a house in Greensboro and put our house up for sale.

    My driver’s license expires on my birthday, August 17. In NC, you can renew your license on-line. (Elvera renewed hers that way, no problem.) I tried to renew on-line. They subtracted $25.00 from my bank account and I thought everything was OK. A couple of days later, I noticed the $25.00 was back and I never heard from the DMV.

    Things were pretty hectic for me at this time. Buying a house, selling a house, and Elvera’s health problem. But I anticipated the driver’s license issue and went to the ophthalmologist early; like 26 May vice August. I discussed the license issue with them. They weren’t bothered. They will fix it.

    I made an appointment with the DMV to get my license renewed. It was the morning of June 3. It happened that I also was schedule to close on the Greensboro house on that day. I failed the vision test. But the officer gave me an application and instructions. So? I went back to the ophthalmologist. They tested me and filled out a paper saying that I was OK to drive, but with restrictions: correctives lenses and daytime driving only.

    I went back to the DMV. I mentioned to the officer that I was moving and would like to change my address on my new license.
    He said: “Can’t do it. Your license has to have your 911 address. Where you live now.’’ I said, “OK give me the license and I’ll change address when I get to Greensboro.” He said, “You’ll have to go through the testing there, also”. It didn’t sound logical, but I didn’t pursue it.

    So? I went away with no license. Due to problems with the lawyers, which I never understood. The closing of the house in Greensboro was delayed until 14 June, So, we moved to Greensboro on 17 June.
    All this time, I was worrying about renewing my driver’s license. And praying a lot, believe me. This is not a trivial thing. All I knew was that I didn’t pass the test. I had some paper from an ophthalmologist in Flat Rock. But I didn’t know how this was going to turn out.

    Because I was so busy getting settled and selling the Hendersonville house (It closed on 8 July), I didn’t pursue the driver’s license thing. But it was always on my mind and in my prayers. But after things began to settle, I made an appointment with the DMV. 25 July.

    Yesterday, Chuck and I went over to the DMV. They sent me to talk to an officer. He didn’t test me. I handed him the paper from the ophthalmologist and looked at his computer. He changed my address, registered me to vote, charged me $25.00 and gave my a driver’s license.

    JUST LIKE THAT.

    He spent a lot of time looking and working on his computer. I suspect all previous transactions were already there. And my record is spotless. No arrests since a speeding ticket in the early eighties.
    You don’t know how thankful I am to have a driver’s license.

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  17. Current header photo: That is a wild great egret in breeding plumage, the best egret I saw in Florida (most others had no breeding plumes–young ones don’t, and mature ones only do for part of the year–or they just had the ones on the tail and had already molted the ones on the neck). It was also in the prettiest setting for a photo.

    This bird was in Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. As I mentioned, the setting was so natural and peaceful that many wild birds hang out there, too, but like wild birds in a zoo or a big city, they were used to people coming and going and pretty much ignored us unless we got too close. My husband and I were heading into a wildlife presentation about alligators, but this bird was posed so beautifully I simply had to lag behind and get a couple of photos, and if I was late I was late . . . Usually I try to send AJ only horizontal photos, but this one demanded vertical and it insisted on being sent.

    As we were preparing to go down to Florida, I read a book about herons and egrets, and I learned some more about the craze for bird plumes on ladies’ hats that was big around the turn of the last century, and almost made some species extinct. I was very familiar with the overall story, but what I didn’t know was this: Hunters would go to breeding colonies (rookeries, called heronries if all the birds are herons) and kill all the adults but just leave the chicks to starve. That was both cruel and unsustainable in terms of hunting principles, and when the public found that out, the outrage led to the end of such a hat fashion, and also to its becoming illegal to own any feathers. That’s why you can own a feather of a “game species” (such as a duck), but you can’t own so much as a blue jay feather, and you certainly can’t own a feather of a bald eagle (only American Indians can). It always seemed weird to me that I can’t pick up a fallen feather and keep it (I just take photos of it and leave it where it is), but this was an “aha” moment. The government wanted to make it impossible that such wanton destruction of birds would ever happen again. But making it illegal to owns the feathers makes it possible to see the whole, live, elegant bird.

    The great egret is the largest of the egrets, but egrets and herons are pretty much treated together in all the books (I don’t know if it’s like doves and pigeons where there is no real distinction–“pigeon” tends to be used for larger birds, but pigeons are doves, or if there is a small but insignificant difference in what makes a bird a heron or an egret) and the great egret is a bit smaller than the great blue heron. But at three to three-and-a-half feet tall, it’s a tall bird too, and a lovely one. We saw them in Indiana once–at the end of summer they tend to disperse over a wide, somewhat unpredictable area for a couple of months before they migrate, and one summer a few ended up in a swampy area a couple miles from our home–and I saw them in Alabama a couple years ago at that dam on the way to my sister’s house that has great blue herons and great egrets by the dozens or hundreds. But I had never seen them in breeding plumage, and had never had good chances to photograph them with the light right for a white bird, so this was a treat.

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  18. Chas, I’m glad you got your license. The good news is you now live close enough to your son and grandchildren that if you ever cannot drive, they can drive you places. I know that is a really hard thing for a man, and an inconvenience, too. But I’ve seen two men “fight it” when it’s to the point where their driving is a danger to others. My husband, seeing how much his own father kicked and screamed, has already said several times that when (if) it is ever his turn to give up driving, he will accept it as necessary. He has said it to the girls and he has said it to me; he has vowed to trust us with that decision if we ever need to step in. I suspect it’s a little easier to take at the time if you’ve already acknowledged the eventual possibility.

    But I’m glad you got it renewed.

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  19. Being in the boat as you Chas, I am ever so thankful that you can continue to drive. For me the sense of independence has been removed due to not being able to drive at dark…that means someone has to take me to work and to home during the winter months…depending on others is not my strong suit…but I am learning…….

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  20. Small town in the South story. I worked at a small “department” store in Fairhope many years ago. The family who owned the store were from a small town in Southwest Georgia. They used to receive the town newspaper and I had quite a few laughs reading it. Anyway, they were a “prominent” family in a small town. The man said that as his grandmother aged, and couldn’t drive very well, they bought her the largest, brightest colored Buick they could find. It wasn’t so much for her safety as it was for everyone to see her coming and stay out of her way. 😉

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  21. Nancy, last night one of the Lions said he will pick me up for the meetings when it gets dark. I can handle the daylight restriction. If we are somewhere else, I will switch and let Elvera drive. It’s a minor inconvenience.

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  22. When I was young my mother watched Days of Our Lives on TV. The main family was The Hortons. There were always Horton Family events, so I took to calling my paternal family events The Black Family Easter, The Black Family Christmas.
    Recently I have gotten a bee in my bonnet about having Black Family Christmas at my house. My Aunt C has usually done this at her beach house the weekend before Christmas. I spoke with her yesterday because I didn’t want to charge forward with this if it was something she really wanted to do. I have her blessing. She said it would be a relief for the next generation to take over.
    I have a goal. I have already started planning the menu and the decorations. Mr. P doesn’t stand a chance. Oh, yes, I did mention it to him. He was non-committal.
    The tree will go up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Gifts will have to be bought and wrapped before the first of December. Paper will have to coordinate. I think if I start planning now I can be ready by then.
    We will either have Beef Daube or Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo. Everyone else will have to bring appetizers, salads, sides, and desert.

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  25. Oh yay, Christmas is coming, I knew it couldn’t be far away.

    Interesting about the cat yowling & something being wrong, Peter — might be worth a check with the vet, michelle? She’s a beautiful cat but old age and health issues can cause behavioral changes, just like they do with us. Hope you can squeeze in a nap today? Yeah, I didn’t think so. 🙂

    I had to do a story on a controversial public art installation at our bluff-top park late yesterday and was surprised to arrive only to find there was not a parking space left and the park appeared to be packed. Odd, since it was a Monday at around 6 p.m.

    After I finally got a parking space that opened up, I walked through the park to find the installation — and then I finally figured out why the crowds were there. The park was filled with Pokemon gamers, everyone wandering around zombie-like looking at their phones …

    Have any of you run into a Pokemon event where you live?

    (Finally got the story turned in at 7:30 p.m. — editor grumpy by then — the artist was quite the enthusiastic chatterbox once I got him on the phone and I had a hard time getting him to wind it down.)

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  27. In response to my friend Cheryl’s comments on keeping pets we don’t “like” (and she and I have different viewpoints on this, I realize):

    I’d say the short answer is, like most things in life, it isn’t always about us. We take an animal in and then (i believe) have an ethical and moral responsibility to fulfill. Now if the animal develops a terminal illness that is causing distress or pain (and especially the animal is old on top of that), euthanasia is often the kindest way forward. We’ve all (or most of us have) been there and had to do that. But as my vet once said, you don’t put an animal down simply because it’s old and/or has become an inconvenience.

    Besides, I’m not fully convinced michelle dislikes “the cat” all that much. 🙂 🙂

    Chas, I’m so glad the license turned out good, that must have been an added worry through everything else you were going through. So you haven’t done any road speeding since the 1980s?

    Ann gets to go horseback riding! Sounds like you’re having a fun time.

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  28. Beautiful header shot. Our photographer caught an egret in flight the other day when we were out doing a story on one of our rambling city parks with a lake that is undergoing restoration.

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  29. We’ve been feeding her very expensive cat food for two years, she has a fountain of purified water running, a “tall” sided cat litter box to keep the urine contained (20 year old cat can’t squat well anymore), plus bowls of water elsewhere in the house.

    She prefers to hover over the toilet or drink runoff from the shower.

    She only towels in the middle of the night and while doing so hurries away from us and climbs under the bed into an inaccessible spot.

    She is silent when we dog sit or anything else concerns her.

    The night before last,Moshe pushed open the screen door after we went to bed and, because she NEVER closes said door after herself, a strange cat followed her into the house.

    We woke up to hissing and yowling at three o’clock in the morning and both cats ran over my supine body chasing each other around and over the bed.

    My husband was able to corral out outraged cat and lock her away while he stormed through the house after the gray intruder– whom we had never seen before.

    ( I had assumed is was the drunk gray and white who lolls in our catnip).

    Because she knows how to turn it on and off we don’t think there’s anything wrong with her.

    Why do we keep her?

    I’m pro-life. Would I want someone to put me down when I got old just because I’m totally annoying?

    And deliberately so?

    It’s a spiritual question and I expect there’s a lesson here for me somewhere.

    Besides, she doesn’t treat the children or my husband this way– they like her.

    Sigh.

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  30. Haha, see? The cat also supplies michele with an endless number of amusing stories to tell 🙂

    And yes, God provides lessons in all kinds of packages.

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  31. Having faced the euthanizing question with a Golden Retriever who was Marlowe the Wonder Dog and my first “child”, all I can say is you will somehow know when it is time.
    I didn’t know how to explain death to a 5 year old and a friend gave me some great advice. A year later explaining the death of her grandfather to a 6 year old was made easier. There is always a lesson. I have told the story before.

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  32. Donna, I was thinking the cat had always been annoying, Yes, I think you “put up with” stuff that a pet does in old age (to a point–if you cannot sleep because of the noise, cannot afford the medicine, or the pet has become aggressive or has accidents every night, then I think it’s totally legitimate to put the pet down). But I think our pets exist for us, and not us for our pets, and so we do not take care of the pet just to do a good deed. If it isn’t worthwhile as a pet (past minor inconveniences as noted), then it’s totally legitimate to put it down.

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  33. So sad to read, Anon, that your good friend would defriend you over such a silly reason. Neither or you will determine who is president. How you vote does reflect beliefs, which can certainly divide. Good friends can agree to disagree and find common ground. In a few years, such a reason as THIS election, will seem pretty foolish.

    Glad to hear about the license, Chas.

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  34. Michelle, now I am getting a clearer picture of life with your cat. They usually meow to communicate that they have an unmet need. At least that is how it is with Miss Bosley. She talks much more in the kitchen than anywhere else. I know you are good at research so maybe you could find something online about this. Did the cat use to have more interaction when your children were home? Maybe there is some new something on the market that would comfort her and give her a sense of companionship. It sounds like something to discuss with the vet.

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  35. I can’t see how the cat yowling all night is a spiritual discipline, to answer your original question. Well, maybe it is a reminder to pray for peace?

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  36. Chas, you have been through way too much in getting that license. It is another example of how life has gotten so complicated and stressful over things that should be easy. Now if only you could have an equal amount of joy for getting the license that would offset the distress you went through obtaining it!♡

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  37. I prayed for most of you through teeth gritted against the cat last night . . . It drives me crazy because I veer back and forth between agitation– I simply don’t sleep well– and thus confession of anger, to prayer, to anger, to confession, etc.

    It’s at night she howls. She’s perfectly fine now, opening and not closing the screen. Some nights, no problem. Most days– she’s asleep on MY side of the bed.

    So maybe she’s just mad, thinking I’m spending too much time on HER side of the bed at night?

    Lol. Who knows? It’s a minor cross to bear– except when it isn’t. 🙂

    And yes, my husband has pointed out the story angle . . .

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  39. Michelle, when you say, “Why do we keep her?

    “I’m pro-life. Would I want someone to put me down when I got old just because I’m totally annoying?”

    I know you know this, but that’s comparing apples to oranges . . . actually comparing apples to grasshoppers. Human life is precious, and euthanasia of humans is wrong. Non-human life is not created in the image of God, and some of it has value and some does not. Some has “conditional” value. I value life, and yet I’m OK with my husband killing spiders that are in the house, and even killing a raccoon (an animal I love) because it was insisting on hanging out close to the house and we feared for Misten. If you wish to keep the cat, you are morally “permitted” to do so (unless loving the cat means allowing it to hurt other people, like those people who insist on keeping dogs that have bitten repeatedly). But we are given stewardship over animal life, which includes being good caregivers of those creatures that are in our care, but it also includes permission to do things to animals that we may not do with people: kill them, give them away, even eat them. (Well, “giving away” is sometimes legitimate with people, too–giving a baby up for adoption, giving away a daughter in marriage, even divorcing an unfaithful spouse.)

    You can be pro-life and still decide “This animal is no longer worth the money and aggravation.” OR you can decide “My family loves her, it is rare that she keeps me from sleeping, and right now she is still worth it.” Neither choice is more “pro-life” than the other. Scripture tells us a righteous man cares for the life of his beast; our responsibility is to give good care to the animals that are in our care, but we have no moral obligation to keep them when they no longer offer adequate reason for us to care for us.

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  40. Michelle, after I typed my above post I left to go deal with BG. It is nice to have Nana there to tell her to calm down that we are only having this conversation because we love her. It was also nice to hear Nana say Girl is reminding her so much of her Daddy (George) with a dose of her two grandfathers thrown in.
    Anyway, I know the cat came with you from Hawaii. You often mention her in terms of “being your cross to bear”. Have you looked back to see what was happening in your life when you got her and what she represents?
    I only ask this because George used to use the excuse that Marlowe weighed 110 pounds and where would he stay and they charged by the pound for boarding as part of the reason we could never go anywhere and do anything. I never wanted to be tied down to another animal in my life once he was gone. First it hurt too much to lose him but also WE never could go anywhere because of him.
    I broke down and got Amos but I have people lined up who want to keep him. Most recently George and his new wife while BG and I were in California. Amos’ “stepmother” took him to work with her several days and growled at her son when he came over for dinner.
    I fought Mr. P on getting Lulabelle. I did not want a big dog again. We have no one to keep her now that #3 son has moved into an apartment rather than renting a house in P’cola. Sunday I asked Mr. P if he would like to go to New Orleans for his birthday the end of August. The first words out of his mouth were “What will we do with Lulabelle?” All those old emotions came flooding through me. In that moment I hated that dog. My next thought was be a party pooper. I will go to New Orleans without you. I walked out of the room and haven’t mentioned it again. We have never taken a trip together that didn’t involve grandchildren or a funeral. Remember we didn’t even go on a honeymoon. We came home and went to work the next day.
    All that to say that I attach my emotions onto an innocent dog. It isn’t fair to her and I realize it. I don’t know that that is your situation, but I thought I would toss it out there for anyone who would like to reflect on it.

    Perhaps that is a QOD: What in your life do you resent and why? Perhaps some may choose not to share the answer, but it is a good reflection anyway.

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  41. Thanks for posting it, AJ. Before I say anything about the new photo, I’ll wait for any commentary on it. 🙂

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  43. Cheryl, perhaps it is because we love them and we have been through the pain of putting an animal down before. It wasn’t too long ago that Michelle had to say goodbye to her blind dog. Remember those stories. We as humans have to face that we will most probably outlive some of the people we know and most of the pets we will ever have, but we don’t willingly go through that pain if we can avoid it.
    I have survived the death of my father and the death of a pet. I wouldn’t repeat the experience for anything. Part of the reason I didn’t want a dog when I got Amos is that I never wanted to face that pain again. He just turned 8 years old. I am one year closer to losing him. You saw us together. Have you ever seen a more beloved dog. I have to watch myself and keep from focusing on being one year closer to losing him and force myself to enjoy what I have. He could have a good 7 or 8 more years ahead of him. I still will not willingly go through the pain of losing him. We may reach the point that I make the decision because it is what is best for him. I also know that carrying a 10 pound dog outside to potty is a lot easier than picking up a 110 pound dog who looks at you with sad eyes that are embarrassed for the loss of his dignity. Each pet owner makes the best decision they can when the time comes.

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  46. Kim, it seems to me that you need to tell Mr. P exactly what you have told us (maybe not in so many words). But tell him a big dog tied you down in your first marriage, and it is why you didn’t want a big dog again. It’s fine that you have her, but you don’t want (1) to resent her or (2) to be tied down by her. See if you can find a housesitter for a couple of days, or take her to a kennel. Tell him if he doesn’t want to go for other reasons, that’s fine, but this one isn’t. 🙂

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  49. Losing a beloved pet is pain that can barely be put into words. Ya’ll know we lost Babe last August…I still cry…at the dinner table the other night someone mentioned her name and I burst out in tears…sobbing…the ugly cry….
    She was in so much pain at the end but she wouldn’t let on…she couldn’t walk without falling…we were carrying her outside…she would not have an accident in the house…she had never and she wasn’t going to start then…she was the most giving,loyal, kind hearted dog I have or will ever know….the last couple days of her life she was giving us “the look”….I didn’t want to see it…I wanted to remain in denial….our vet confirmed she was filled with fluid and could hardly breathe…the cancer had overtaken her lungs….
    I unfairly compare Lulah to Babe…I say “she’s no Babe”…I need to stop it…Lulah is 10 months old has ADD and drives me to distraction…but she is sweet…and has found a space in our hearts….one day I’ll most likely cry ove her as well…..

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  50. Yep, Nancy Jill, you see “Wally” (AJ’s post at 12:18).

    This was in the alligator exhibit at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. The exhibit had at least four gators (there might have been some we couldn’t see), but it was enough of a natural exhibit that when we were standing next to it, in the exhibit were three wild birds: this great egret, a great blue heron, and a green heron.

    The egret was on the grassy knob, and the gator was quite some distance away from it. (The gator started off way past what is the right side of this photo.) My husband said, “Wouldn’t it be interesting if that gator were close enough to that egret to get it in the same photo?” As though the reptile heard him, over the next several minutes it drifted that way. It really looked like a log drifting in the water, with no visible motion but that it was slowly moving closer. But the egret was watching it, and when the gator got past the little grassy knoll and turned a little (again, no visible motion) to come alongside the knoll rather than move past it, the egret leaned forward and I put the camera on action mode and just watched. We didn’t know if the alligator would try a lunge or not, but the egret didn’t wait around to see.

    I think this is the third shot in the action sequence; I got him flying all the way across the “screen,” but this is the shot I like best. If I’d been paying more attention, I would have moved the camera down just a tad so that I could get the bird’s whole reflection, but I was focused on waiting for takeoff and I succeeded in the timing, so not getting the cropping quite perfect is secondary. It would have been even better to get open jaws and a getaway, but as it is, the reason the egret took off is more hidden in the photo.

    The gators are well fed and my husband said he knew it would be a G-rated photo sequence, but both of us wondered if we would see a lunge. Since the bird knew the reptile was there, it wouldn’t be a successful hunt, but there might have been an attempt, and probably would have been if the egret had waited another 30 seconds.

    As it flew away, the bird said, “I didn’t hatch yesterday, you know.”

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  51. {{{{NancyJill}}}} Amos is the love of my life, but he’s no Marlowe. Marlowe was among the smartest dogs I have ever been around. Lulabelle is obnoxious and ill behaved. Her human thinks she does no wrong. He talks a good game, but he is a pushover where she is concerned. He calls her in a night and she doesn’t come. I go to the back door, snap my fingers, say, “Lulabelle, Come!” and she hauls herself in the house.

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  52. Mumsee I’ve been pulled over once…I was 18, going 35 in school zone…I contend the flashing 20mph lights had not activated when I entered the school zone…8 AM…I was driving back from staying at the hospital with my Dad all night…he had been in an explosion at the GM plant and had been burned badly….I was not going to argue with the officer, but I was annoyed!

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  53. Cheryl, he knows. It was discussed before I ever caved on him getting her. Soon Alabama football will start on we won’t be able to go anywhere or do anything if it conflicts with the football schedule. I agreed to that bargain before we married so I will stick with it.

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  55. I have someone that can do it. I was mainly using it as an example of why I unfairly resent the dog. I recognize why I feel as I do. I realize is isn’t fair to the dog.

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  56. I asked because Chas mentioned his and I have been noticing several of my children are having a difficult time with believing the law applies to them. But they always seem to get off! I want them to get the tickets and have to pay and have it on record. But the officers just say, I like you and want you to do right next time. The child goes on his or her merry way and gets pulled over again with the same result. And the number of accidents is continuing to climb. The only one not doing that stuff seems to be the seventeen year old living at home. He told me last night that he was pulled over a year or so for speeding because the twenty five sign was snow covered. He and one of his brothers were on their way home from helping eldest son move some stuff to Los Angeles. Anyway, the officer took their paperwork, chatted with them for a while, never took the paper work to his car, and sent them on their way with good wishes. He is the only one to not repeat or have an accident that required assistance.

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  57. Kim @ 12:41 & f.
    Seems to me that Kim is a perfect candidate for a pet rock.
    When we lived in Falls Church, I had to take a dog to the pound. I knew they were going to kill him, and from his attitude, I think he knew it too.
    The problem, some stray dog came and taught him to climb the fence. We couldn’t keep him in.

    I still haven’t found my rock, BTW.

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  59. I got a ticket when I was eighteen for driving without a license. I don’t remember why I was pulled over.
    I got a ticket in 1972 for doing 85 in a 65 mile zone. Chuck doubted that my 60 Chevvy would go that fast. I was going downhill.
    I got s speeding ticket sometime in the early eighties for speeding in a 35 mile zone. I still question that one.
    That’s it.

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  60. If I had posted sooner I would have gotten 57. Oh well. Chas got it. Attack boy, Chas.

    Oh, and one thing about Christmas, it’s never more than 365 days til the next one. 😉

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  62. We got the cat in Hawai’i because my mother had just died. We had had to leave our 16 year old cat behind in WA because we knew she wouldn’t survive 6 months in mandatory quarantine.

    When my mom died, I said, “Okay, I’m getting a kitten.”

    Cheers in the household.

    By that point the cat we had left behind had died in a typically classy way, so there was no reason not to get another pet.

    She’s a scruffy feral cat fighter and there is much to admire about how she has adapted to all the changes in her life. If I thought she was in pain or requiring a great deal of expensive treatment, of course we would put her down–just as we did with our beloved Suzi three years ago.

    But there’s no indication she’s in pain. My husband has done the research, she’s just acting like a really old cat–145 years old in cat years. I can handle most of the issues with her, with eye rolling irritation but I’d feel the same way about a really old person.

    It’s the sleep issues that are the problem.

    So, I’ve even pondered, maybe I’m making sleep an idol? That’s why I’m wondering if this is really a spiritual issue more than anything.

    Because she wakes me up I pray, I get up REALLY early to write, and I often make it to the gym.

    Who knows? Not me.

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  63. Kim and Nancy Jill (re how hard it is to put down a pet), I know. I haven’t totally been through it with my own dog yet, but . . . three times in my life a dog that I loved got given away without my consent. (Once when I was a child, and twice as an adult my landlord/landlady gave away a collie mix that lived in my house. One was a male half sheltie half collie that I had already said I wanted, if I could find a pet-friendly place to rent when I was ready to move out. If they had told me they didn’t want him anymore and were thinking of giving him away, I’d have looked for a place sooner. Another was a female half collie half German shepherd that my landlady didn’t like, and she kept her in the basement.)

    And my childhood dog (10 to 20) was more my dog than that of anyone in my family, though she was technically the family dog and she stayed with Mom after we all moved out, and she was put down a few months after I moved out. Actually I think my youngest brother was still at home when she was put down–I just now realized he probably was. I wasn’t still living at home, but still living locally, and it hurt, but not as much as it would have hurt if (1) I had been still living at home and (2) she had been a good dog.

    Even before I got Misten, I knew that day would come, and it brought me close to tears even imagining that for a puppy I hadn’t even met yet. And now it’s “close.” Earlier this summer I thought we at least need to have her live through the summer, past my daughter’s wedding. Now she is on medication and doing a bit better, but I’m nearly certain she is in her last year of life, and I can’t dwell on that thought. She has been an excellent dog, nearly a perfect pet. She was a companion when I was single, she was unbelievably patient with my foster kids, and now she excels as a family dog. She’ll be 12 in October, she doesn’t hear well, she sometimes has trouble standing up, she sometimes falls, and her lifetime perfect continence has betrayed her a couple of times (twice this summer in spite of being on medicine). Even as an eight-week-old puppy she “held it” a minimum of five hours, overnight from ten weeks of age, with only three accidents during housebreaking (and no poop accidents except as an adult with diarrhea).

    The day is coming, and I hate it. My last responsibility as her owner will be my hardest one. I know. I want to see her have one last fall–she loves fall and it brings back her youth, and I imagine she’ll be more agile this fall than she is now. But this is probably her last summer, it’s still possible she won’t see fall, and I cry even thinking about that.

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  64. Funny Peter, I read it as “atta boy” because Chas has said that so many times.

    Mumsee, I got my first speeding ticket 1 month after I got married. I went home and told my husband if I hadn’t had those rings on I wouldn’t have gotten that ticket. I was young and cute and could talk my way out of quicksand.
    Second ticket I got in 2004 for speeding. I was dressed in white linen with a pink top and BG was dressed in pink linen. I suppose we weren’t cute enough.
    Third ticket I got for a rolling stop at a stop sign that was at the “T” of a road where the other end was a dead end too and nothing was coming.
    I have deserved more but (deep breath before I finish typing) haven’t gotten them. Mainly because I now tell the police “I was speeding. I saw you and the speed limit sign at the same time”.

    It seems that I have had this gift for many years. My Aunt C (the one mentioned above) got out of a ticket because I was asleep in her lap (yes, I was facing her with my head on her shoulder which would have placed me between her and the steering wheel) when I sighed, turned my head toward the policeman, and smiled in my sleep. The cop didn’t give her a ticket either. Just told her to slow down, she had a precious baby.

    Alas, I did not pass this gift on to the next generation of my blood line. Since she did not do her community service to pay for her “minor in possession of tobacco products” ticket she will be coming up with 4 or 5 hundred dollars real soon to pay it herself.

    Liked by 2 people

  65. I wish minors in possession of tobacco products would get charged around here. Or minors in possession of alcohol. Or minors in possession of marijuana.

    Liked by 1 person

  66. I always end up reading this with water somehow getting in my eyes

    A Dog’s Plea

    Treat me kindly, my beloved friend, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

    Do not break my spirit with a stick, for although I should lick your hand between blows, your patience and understanding will quickly teach me the things you would have me learn.

    Speak to me often, for your voice is the world’s sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footsteps falls upon my waiting ear.

    Please take me inside when it is cold and wet, for I am a domesticated animal, no longer accustomed to bitter elements. I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth. Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.

    Feed me clean food that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.

    And, my friend, when I am very old, and I no longer enjoy good health, hearing and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me going. I am not having any fun. Please see that my trusting life is taken gently. I shall leave this earth knowing with the last breath I draw that my fate was always safest in your hands.

    Author Unknown

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  68. Though they are often pulled over by officers out of the area and they still get off. Except nineteen year old daughter who is now attending classes as per the police instruction as they say she has emotional problems and needs to deal with them. You don’t say?

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  69. PS “Consent” in the previous posting should have been “knowledge.” Three times a dog was given away without me having a chance to say goodbye, and in one of those cases I had already said that I wanted the dog, and would try to keep him. Had they given me a deadline (we’ll keep him for up to three months, but if you want him, you probably need to find your own place), I would have tried to find a pet-friendly apartment. As it was, I knew they thought him a minor nuisance and they were willing to let me take him when I moved out, but nothing was said about “sooner rather than later.” As it turns out, within a few months they asked all the boarders to leave so they could list the house for sale, so I could have moved out sooner and taken him with me.

    And my childhood cocker was put down without any chance to say goodbye, and technically without my advance knowledge. (It was a mutt we got from the pound that I was referring to having been given away; we had him for a few months, and he started climbing the fence and running away, and started urinating and defecating in the house, and my parents took him back to the pound. When we got home from school, they told us, and when we asked why they hadn’t told us before they took him, we were told we would have cried and carried on.) But my mom called me at work one day and told me my childhood cocker, Cricket, had lost continence, and she was taking her to the vet to have him put her down. I walked around in a daze the rest of the workday, crying on and off, and as soon as I got home I called my mom. “Oh, he said she was a good candidate for medicine and that should help her, so he sent her back home.” Mom was trying to move into an apartment at the time, and she was torn because she had an elderly dog who probably wouldn’t live more than a few years and she didn’t expect to get another dog–it was another 10 or 12 years before she did–and she didn’t want to limit herself to pet-friendly apartments, but she also didn’t think she should put down a healthy dog for that reason. So when Cricket got sick, she figured that was the answer, but then the vet handled the presenting problem.

    A week or two later I counseled at camp, and a few days after I got home, I asked my sister, “How is Cricket doing?” “Mom didn’t tell you?!” “Tell me what?” “She had her put down while you were at camp.” I’d already cried for her, but the way it happened was awkward, and I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. And again, she was more my dog than anybody’s–I tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to train her, I groomed her and trimmed her, and if the family went for a walk I was usually the one who wanted to bring Cricket and who leashed her and took her. So, not knowing she had been put down until a week afterward brought a bit of a shock. I don’t even know whether I ever saw her between the day Mom initially planned to put her down and the day she did. If I did see her–and I suspect I did not–I didn’t tell her goodbye, because I thought she was out of danger. I never did know the details about what happened to change Mom’s mind; I didn’t ask.

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  70. Mumsee’s QoD: I haven’t got any tickets yet. Not that I haven’t done a few stupid things, but I don’t speed or do any other traffic violations intentionally. It isn’t worth the amount of time it took me to get this driver’s license. Sometimes, I do technically violate the speed laws, by driving 10km over the speed limit, because in traffic, everyone else is driving that fast and you would actually impede traffic. The police understand the need to keep the flow, and I’ve never heard of someone being pulled over for doing 90km/hr in a 80km/hr zone in traffic. However, I do not go any further over the limit, no matter how much I am tailgated by impatient drivers.

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  71. I think I understand where Michelle is coming from. I don’t have any pets – the bees aren’t mine – so I don’t have any emotional attachments to any particular furry friend. However, I do understand that there is a sense in having taken responsibility for something, even just an animal, one needs to see that responsibility through to the end. I understand that we can end the lives of animals if they are suffering or a danger to others (or, if they are edible, for food), but neither should we get or discard them merely at whim. More than once, when my parents had goats, we had a sick goat who was not healing with reasonable treatment, so the goat was put down. We were sad at those times. We sold the male kids, knowing perfectly well they would be used for meat, but we didn’t like to destroy animals for no reason. Twice we had female goats which had congenital defects that prevented us from being able to breed and milk them, and rather than destroying them, we sent them to someone who had space and spare food to keep them, rather than destroying them.

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  72. BG said she has tried to quit smoking but it is hard. She said this to her Nana who replied she smoked for 30 years (I happen to know it was longer) so don’t tell her how hard it is to quit. Just QUIT!!!
    That is why sometimes it is better to hear it from somebody who has been there, done that. I tried cigarettes but they made me drunker and sicker than any alcohol I ever tasted. BG said they made her sick at first too but she overcame it. Isn’t it good to know she can stick to the really important stuff?
    I told her today the only reason I haven’t pinched her pretty little head off her cute little body is that I didn’t have a spare child. If she had been a twin like I wanted she would be toast. Her take on it was to smile and ask me to imagine what it would be like if there was a “good” her out there. My reply was to tell her that God knew He was only giving me one so He wanted me to get the full spectrum. We are loving towards each other that way. 😉

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  73. Before Cricket, my parents had never had a dog live its full life with them. Either they got it as an adult, or they got a puppy but it died young (like a family favorite, before I was born, that got hit by a car after a neighbor boy opened the front door to let her out). Other than the last few months, I lived with Cricket her whole life. She was four weeks old when we got her, if I recall correctly. Mom said the breeders had told us she was a purebred cocker (and she clearly was not) and that she was six weeks old but based on her birthday she was actually just four weeks old. So we grew up together.

    I’d always wanted a collie, and I figured that once at least I wanted a puppy, a dog that could spend its whole life with me. I chose Misten when she was six weeks old, and two weeks later (two days after Christmas, my half-birthday) I went to pick her up. In December, if she lives that long, I’d have had her for 12 years. Puppyhood to old age, a whole life in just a bit over a decade, almost half of those years as a family dog. I had a housemate when I got her, and that housemate continued to be willing to care for her after she moved out, and Misten always remembered her. But October will bring her 12th birthday and our fifth anniversary, and so she’ll have spent nearly half her life here. She likes having more people around, so being a family dog is a good thing, and she loves her much larger yard.

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  74. Amos doesn’t really care how large his yard is. He mainly ambles around sniffing. If the grass is wet he will walk to the edge of the patio and tinkle on the grass. The back yard is long and narrow so it give the half dog/half racehorse room to stretch her legs.

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  75. Re-reading my last couple of posts, there appears to be an echo in my brain…

    Now, all that being said, I think that the vintage cat should take her chances outside at night if she is going to yowl. Yowling animals that are outside are usually less disturbing to one’s rest. I can take braying donkeys, wailing lambs and kids, howling coywolves, and the screams and snarls of raccoon and cat fights (I have been awake for all these events, which is how I know they occur at night, but I do not wake up because of them), provided they are not doing so inside the house.

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  77. Mumsee’s QoD: I was pulled over three times (in my late teens/early 20s) for speeding, and got a ticket the first two times.

    The first time was rather surprising. I was driving home one night from church choir practice, and my mom was with me. 46 in a 30 zone. We were probably chatting, and I wasn’t aware that I’d accumulated that much speed. I may have subconsciously been anticipating the 55 mph zone that was coming up soon.

    I don’t know that there was ever a choir practice night again that Mom didn’t remind me when we’d get to that stretch of road, “30 through here.” 😉

    I paid my ticket, but that didn’t stop me from saying no to a friend of mine some years later when she said, “Let’s see if your car can do 100!”

    The needle was just a hair-breadth past the 100 when I saw the cop on the other side of the interstate.

    Clocked in at 99. Had to appear in court for that one, besides pay a fine — a lot more per mile over than the 46-in-a-30 rate.

    Third time I got pulled over was — wait for it — the week after the 100 mph adventure. Same car (little red Honda — very visible). Same friend. Except this time, the circumstances were similar to my first time speeding. I’d gone over the limit unintentionally.

    I saw the squad lights in my rear view mirror and thought, Oh no. I’m really in trouble now, not more than a week since my last speeding ticket.

    My mind was working fast, and by the time the officer had come to my car, I’d grabbed a map, and was looking at it like I was lost, and asked him how to get to [my hometown] from where I was at.

    I don’t remember what the speed zone was, or how much over I was, but he gave me directions for getting to my city (which I already knew), and maybe warned me about being more aware of my speed, but mostly I remember how flooded with relief I was that he never asked to see my license or anything.

    I would say that second speeding ticket, with the accompanying court date, went a long ways toward curing me of the “fun” of driving fast. My friend felt kind of bad, too, that she’d enticed me to speed, and I’d had to pay the consequences.

    Lesson learned. Have hardly ever sped since then — probably 35 or so years ago now. There have been a few times when I’ve foolishly gotten behind the wheel while angry, though, and have driven like the wind to blow off steam, but it’s been a long time since I’ve done anything like that, having found other ways to more safely deal with strong emotions.

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  78. Oh but how that little blue Honda Prelude loved to fly. He was happiest at 75mph. The Bayway wasn’t so congested back then. I think I was “known”. There was a trucking company in another town close to here and if I was speeding and there were police out on the interstate, if one of those trucks were around they would hem me in and not let me pass. It took me a while to realize what was going on and just not pass them if they were around. My father’s best friend who had been a deputy sheriff liked to call me Miss Andretti.

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  79. For anyone who did not see it last night, Lightning on a Quiet Night, by Donn Taylor, is free for Kindle on Amazon. It a really good book. I did a review of it a while back.

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  81. QoD: I can’t remember the first time I was pulled over. But when I was 19 I was driving through New Mexico on the way to visit my sister in Missouri. I got pulled over twice in about 90 minutes, even though I was not speeding. My sister said it was because I was a young driver in an old car on a known drug running route.

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  82. I tossed yowling cat outside this morning, then repented. My neighbors don’t deserve her either, particularly in hot July with windows open.

    Though maybe they all have air conditioning?

    My husband is now home and there’s nary a peep.

    I think I’ll go wake her up . . .

    Er, turn the other cheek. 🙂

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  83. You know I’ve run my blog for six years and never changed the header. I’m amazed we get a refresher a couple times a day! Thank you. Rich colors on that flamingo–it looks a lot better than the plastic one in my back yard. :-).

    Liked by 1 person

  84. Yep, greater flamingo. It was in the part of the park where it was hard to tell if birds were resident or visitors, since wild birds could (and did) freely come and go on the ponds, but some of the birds there were injured, resident birds. I’m all but positive all of the flamingos were residents, though, partly because several (probably all) wore leg bands, and partly because there are few wild flamingos in Florida, and apparently none in that part of the state. So any wild ones there would be accidental. I don’t want to pretend like they were wild birds, but I tried to take only photos that avoided the leg bands (since if it all possible I want my photos to look like they were taken in the wilderness, though birds on posts and the like don’t always make that possible). This a close-up it turned out to be my favorite, although also love the pretzel-y twisty poses I got in some others.

    The Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago has (had?) flamingos, and I took multiple photos, but I had a film camera with a zoom but nothing like the zoom I have today, and I was pretty much always disappointed with the resulting photos compared to what I wanted to take. This was my first time to get a chance at flamingos with a camera that could do them justice, and it was fun to play around a bit and see what I could get. I tried to draw them from my Chicago photos a few times, and had some success, so I may well try again with these photos.

    This afternoon we went over to my in-laws’ and I took my book of Florida photos (which just arrived this morning) to show them what our vacation looked like. I think they enjoyed looking at them.

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  85. When I think back (1980s) to my one speeding ticket, it seems ironical that I was on my lunch break and trying to hurry back to my accounting job in the State Patrol headquarters office, LOL! I got ticketed by the Atlanta City or Fulton County police officer. One other time I got a warning for driving too fast in our neighborhood, but no ticket.

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  86. I’ve gotten one speeding ticket. I was fairly new to freelance and not earning much. I was leaving church with a friend in my car, heading to go out to eat. (Her husband was driving separately and meeting us there.) Leaving my church meant turning left on a fairly busy street where we had a stop sign and they didn’t, so sometimes you had a long wait, and when you saw a good chance you gunned the engine and took it. And the street had a posted limit of 45 but an actual speed of 55 to 60. I was distracted by talking and clocked at 62, which sounds like a ridiculous 17 miles over, but it was actually not much faster than the speed of traffic . . . until then I never realized how much a faster-than-posted-speed flow of traffic can hurt when one does get a ticket!

    I was in my late thirties, had never been pulled over let alone gotten a ticket, and I told the police officer I’d never been pulled over, thinking he might be lenient on a first offense, but he was not. The cost of the ticket was about a third of what I earned that month, and I had no appetite for lunch with my church friends, but pretty much endured the time together, fighting back tears. It also had never occurred to me that the cost of a speeding ticket can be totally disproportionate to income–a person with a six-figure salary wouldn’t have blinked an eye, but a person on minimum wage barely making ends meet might have really suffered, for the same offense. And yet a ticket can’t really be “1% of your income for the month,” so I don’t know the answer. Maybe making community service an option for payment, if you can’t afford a ticket?

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  87. Michelle – Getting enough sleep is not merely a nice option, it is imperative for your health. I don’t think you are making it an idol. I’ve often thought, when you’ve mentioned not getting much sleep but getting up early for Zumba anyway, that maybe you should let yourself sleep once you finally get to sleep. (Although I know Zumba is important to you, too.)

    Can you keep your cat confined to a different room at night? Or find a place where you can sleep if she is unreachable but nearby? How does R feel about it? Can he sleep through her yowling?

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  88. Karen, that was my thought, too, that sleep isn’t a luxury. As a lifelong insomniac, I can say that occasionally getting up during the night because I hear Misten pacing and I know she needs to go out is fine, and if the cat thing is occasional (once a month or less) then it’s in the same category. If it is regular, especially if it’s nightly, then either invest in earplugs, use white noise like a fan that makes a bit of noise, and confine the cat to another part of the house, or (my own personal opinion) if that isn’t enough and sleep is interrupted nightly, then the cat is no longer an asset to the household, nor neutral. Pets are luxury; we take care of them, and they can provide companionship. But they are luxuries, and when they no longer function as pets, then at some point they are luxuries we can’t afford. Ten hours of sleep is a luxury; but a base minimal amount of sleep is not.

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  89. Ah, a “how do they do that?” flamingo pose is up there now. Notice the two very different ways the birds are holding the leg that is to the right looking at the photo (the birds’ left leg in both cases, I think). And their necks seem able to bend at any point and in pretty much any direction–we’re used to seeing the flexibility of their necks, but nevertheless it is an oddity and a special feature built into this bird by its Creator.

    You can see a leg band on a third bird to the far right of the photo, but I positioned the other two in the lens so as to hide theirs.

    By the way, flamingos aren’t always pink. They are bright pink if they eat the right forms of shellfish, but otherwise they can be white or gray or very pale pink.

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  93. Donna, it looks like some good ideas in that article. (By the way, I was NOT arguing earlier that a pet should be put to sleep the moment it becomes the slightest inconvenience–just that there is nothing ethically wrong with euthanizing an animal that no longer provides the owner any pleasure or that gives more inconvenience than pleasure. It is neither selfish nor immoral, but neither is it wrong to continue to provide care, as long as neither the pet nor the people are suffering.)

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