I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Kitchenwitch

I saw a preview of "The Last Lion" last summer w/ my 10-year-old son. Bring tissues. Lots and lots and lots of tissues.

konakat

I finally watched the camel video.  I am disgusted.  That poor camel.  I enjoy Jon Stewart's show, but right now he's on my sh*t list.

crazy4carrots

I may be one of the VERY, VERY few who have never seen the movie Bambi.  Ever since I saw Old Yeller as a young child (and cried and cried) I've never wanted to see shows where animals die.  If I start watching a murder mystery and the hero(ine) has a pet, I just KNOW that the murderer is going to kill or torture the pet first, so I turn it off.  I can't watch wild animal programmes for the same reason, unless I'm sure that an animal isn't going to be hunted and killed by another animal (or human).

Anonymous

I refuse to go to any circus that uses animals. 

We have adopted two feral cats.  One had it's ear clipped which meant she had been spayed.  The other one did not, but when she had to have surgery for a kidney stone they found she WAS spayed.  We thought she was,  She's very sweet and will allow me to pick her up, but the other one...............She can be sweet, but has always been timid.  She does not want to be handled, PERIOD.  Then we have a adopted cat.

The camel video really upset me.  That's all I have to say about that. 

Wabbit

I agree that bringing that camel there was cruel ... and dumb beyond belief.

I've been trying to find out WHERE the show got the camel from.  Anybody know?  I can see where some idiot comedy writer might not realize what a bad idea that was ... but it's owner should have known better.  Bad, bad, bad idea all around. 

I don't like animals being used to perform in a circus either. 

And I have an announcement ... H*ll has just frozen over.  I agreed with Erica earlier and now I agree with Shirley   

.   

1Athena1

I dare not watch the camel clip and I have always thought Jon Stewart was silly and obvious.

konakat

I agree with Shirley and WhiteRabbit about circus animals.  Anyone who abuses animals should experience the same abuse, ten-fold.

1Athena1

Agreed!!

konakat

Re, birds -- mirrored buildings are the worst.  At a place I used to work every day there were dead hummingbirds and other birds until the building caretakers stuck up black shapes of birds flying upwards.  Apparently this, and images of spider webs, helps the birds clue in that it isn't clear sky ahead.  Sometimes I just think humans are nothing but a scourge on this planet.

kadeeb

All the dog and cat talk made me think about one of my favorites of all times, "Homeward Bound". The "Old Yeller" made me cry for weeks so I have to be careful about animal movies.

We have an abundance of opossum, usually viewed as you go by a carcass on the road. There was one on a table in my garage once. Scared the crap out of me. I took a broom and ran him out. My cousin had one visit through the cat door one night and woke up to find him on the foot of her bed. I asked her what she did. She just shrugged and said she got up and went to the other bedroom and shut the door so he couldn't get in bed with her again. He left on his own.

BTW older, country folk often cooked Mr Opossum. I don't have a recipe but I'm sure he'd be good with brussel sprouts. 

Our latest pest is of the smelly variety. They get under your house if they can, raise their family and fight among themselves producing an odor to rise into your home that would cause a dead man to grab his nose. The increase in their population is due to the decrease in the fox population and other natural enemies. I only have to drive about 6 miles to work and will pass at least 2 or 3 sites where they were evidently taking lessons from the opossum on learning how to cross the road.  

Anonymous

It is estimated that hundreds of millions of migratory songbirds are killed by domestic cats every year. A study conducted by Stanley Temple of the University of Wisconsin showed that domestic cats are responsible for  the death of 19 million migratory songbirds a year, in Wisconsin alone. Being that domestic cats are an invasive species and not native to North America, they are not part of the natural food chain there. Not only are they killing birds that would have otherwise been safe from them, but they are doing so at such an alarming rate that they are actually taking food away from the animals that would naturally prey on migratory songbirds.

konakat

Interesting Erica.  Yet another reason to keep our kitties inside.

Kitchenwitch

Shirley, we took our kids to Ringling Bros. a few years ago, and the animal part was horrible. The only minute of peace those poor tigers had was when they were lying down in a row and one of the tigers decided to lick the head of the tigert lying next to him.

 It's a different world now. The woman in front of me was shocked and upset, too. Everyone seemed to just hate this part of the circus, but I remember when I was a kid it just wasn't really considered a problem. 

How do you feel about horses, dogs and the occasional cat? I guess I used to feel that since those animals have been domesticated through thousands of years with living with humans, it's more OK than the big cats. A local circus always has a dog act and the dogs seem very well cared for.  Willing to have my mind changed, tho.

Anonymous

kadeeb,

Please when you see a dead opossum on the road,  carefully check and see if it may have a pouch full of babies.  The opossum is North America's only marsupial, there may be up to 14 babies there who will starve to death.  Keep the babies warm and take to animal shelter

NO Mr. Opossum recipes !!!

Thanking you in advance,

E

kadeeb

I had a sitz tsu for 16 years, she died the summer I was diagnosed with BC. Hope that wasn't an omen. I haven't gotten another because of travel and the cost of boarding.

Both my kids married dog lovers and have been bitten by the bug. My son has 3, a pit bull, german shorthaired pointer, and a mut. My daughter has a bull mastif and a mastif (drool city there). The dogs love the kids. The pit bull mothers the smallest one and wouldn't hurt a fly. The pointer is like a bull in a china shop, too much energy. The mut is just glad to be here. The mastif is paranoid and the bull mastif weighs 220 pounds and although intimidating, wouldn't hurt you unless he sat on you or drowned you in spit. And best of all(tongue in cheek) when they come home to visit, they bring them all. Normally there's only me here but when they come, it's 5 adults, 4 kids and 5 dogs (all in the house). I have to say, I love to see them come but the sight of tail lights fading into the distance is a beautiful site.

floralgal

delete

kadeeb

Erica,

I love it that there are people like you out there with so much compassion for animals and their survival. I too have a soft spot or I couldn't abide 5 dogs in my house for days or weeks at a time, but I draw the line at checking dead opossums on the side of the road. That's too icky for my stomach even on a good day. I'm afraid they will just have to learn to cross the road more efficiently. 

bluedahlia

I lost my Dahlia a year ago and it still hurts to think of her.  She was a regular size shih tzu and saw me through all my bad times.  It was me and her against the world. I love my little Lilah now, but she can never replace her.

Anonymous

Just turn it over so you can see if "she" has a full pouch. 

kadeeb

Yes floralgal, I even read the book about Elsa. I had forgotten about that show.

kadeeb

Blue,

Pepper was the color of pepper (black, brown, grey and very little white, also the runt of the litter)and had an attitude to match (full size too). That's one reason I haven't made any effort to find another dog.  Just not ready to fill that spot yet and if anything were to happen to me, my kids don't need another dog. Maybe when I retire.

ananda8

If the possum has been recently hit by a car, take it as quickly as possible to a wildlife shelter or vet.  Just through a blanket over it and pick it up.  If the mother possum is dead longer than an hour or so, the chances of the babies surviving is very very low. 

We had a person bring us a severely injured mother with 8 babies in her pouch.  We debated on whether to remove the babies and euthanize the mother or leave the babies in place and keep the mother alive as long as we could.  We decided that the best food is mother's food and we kept the babies in place fully expecting that the mother would die in a day or two.

The wildlife centers "possum people" cared for the mother around the clock feeding her small portions of baby food with a baby spoon.  After several weeks we were able to switch the babies to human care.. The very surprising thing is that after 2 months of a semi-conscious state mom started to walk and feed herself.  She was adopted by a volunteer and named Sadie.  She lived to the ripe old age of three, which is very old for a possum, and died in her sleep.

All our adult possums who could not be released were used as teaching animals for the local school.  The possums were given Irish names.  Sadie O'possum, Patrick O'possum....

I really miss working with these sweet animals.

bluedahlia

That's her.  She was mostly white and silver.  I called her my shadow.

kadeeb

She was beautiful, so much white.

Pepper was almost the opposite in color. She loved popcorn and potato chips. She would eat anything I was eating except pickles. I never gave her much but she would try anything. She hated my son because he taunted her and agrivated her so when he left his bedroom door open, she would pee beside his bed. She never had an accident in the house so I knew she was expressing her personal feelings for him. I had the same feelings sometimes. She would actually sneak past us by going around through the dining room to get to his room. I always knew when she had nailed him because he would have a fit. I think I could see her smiling every time he stepped in pee. 

bluedahlia

LOL!  They sure are a smart breed. 

Anonymous

She is precious, Blue.  I lost my Lakeland Terrier - Barkley - several years ago.  Very special dog.  I have his ashes to go in with mine someday.

Now I am agreeing with Notself.........this is kind of like the twilight zone today !

kadeeb

She was sure smarter than he was! He would go off and she'd look at me with those big brown eyes like she was saying "What's his problem?". It's been 3 years and the memories are more sweet and funny now instead of so sad. I can talk about her now without tearing up. She was a good friend and gave a lot of love, pleasure and company. 

konakat

I too plan to have my ashes combined with Chloe's and Ursula's ashes (my cats).  Mix us up in a bowl and scatter and/or bury (peonies like ashy soil).

bluedahlia

I also have Dahlia's ashes.  She'll be coming with me too.

sunny210

Blue - what a nice picture. I lost my Rosie the Bassett just before Thanksgiving. I got her when I was first diagnosed with bc 14 years ago. She was my buddy. Even though she was getting older, she was very peppy. When she went out for her walks, it was always nose down, tail up. And she'd kept her girlish figure! She developed stomach torsion and died very suddenly. It's so hard to be without our little pals. 

Sandy