Where ARE you all today? nt

walk dogs, eat, work, househunt, walk dogs, DU....

I posted one thing out in GD about the SFRC hearing on Pakistan...

I bet that's interesting because isn't something happening there now? I'll go look for it -- thanks.

Glad to see you! :hi:

I am a dog lover.

This is my baby-


Tobi Jo, MD. The MD stands for mud-dog because she loves to dig.
She is an Australian Cattle Dog and is the sweetest dog in the world (except for digging up my yard!). She definitely needs another dog to hang around with, but my hubby would kill me if i brought home another dog. We've only had Tobi for a couple of months and I'm still hearing from him how he did not want another dog. Oh well... :P I definitely think I need to wait awhile before I go to the pound again.

I have a GSD/husky/lab/? who is a serious small-animal predator, and a border collie/GSD? who is less difficult but also a character.

Until I find the house, I'm overflowing at two. Once I have my own house and yard I'd like to start fostering dogs again (my #2 was a foster who my #1 dog picked to stay)

I used to have a Border Collie. That was the nuttiest dog I ever had.
Beautiful dog, silky coat, but absolutely crazy. Really nervous & neurotic.
I miss him.

The actual breed name is Deutsche Schaferhund or something (48percenter, are you here?) - maybe to distinguish from the human shepherds. Anyway, I've volunteered for GS or GSD rescue and gotten in the habit of shortening it. Volunteer for BC rescue now. Used to volunteer at shelters but too stressful and time consuming for me right now.

I don't know if I'll ever have a full border collie - I don't think I could keep 'em busy enough. Fortunately my boy seems to be on the mellow end of GSD and BC :)

That is great that you volunteer for dog rescues and shelters!
I don't know if I could do that, it would break my heart too much. I'd want to take them all home.
I really admire you for doing that.

You are so right about Border Collies. What's funny is that when I got him, I got screwed over.
I was looking to buy a black/white Springer Spaniel to replace the greatest dog I ever had.
It was the one time I didn't get a dog from the pound. Funny how that Springer puppy grew up to be a Border Collie. Even funnier is that Australian Cattle Dogs have as much energy as a BC, but are much more muscular. The lucky thing for me is that we have a pool and she loves to swim. She will swim laps for hours. The bad thing is that if you are laying on a raft, she wants to as well.
It's cute, but let's just say her nails and rafts are not a good combination.

Bouviers! One of mine has his certification in the 2nd thingy for herding. The judge was salivating over him because he was such a natural. Now, I thought he was a lazy herder. He didn't run after the sheep. He hardly payed any attention to them at all, until one of them stopped grouping up. Then, he reluctantly stopped sniffing around and peeing on the perimeter, to shoosh it over with the group. Then he went back to his preferred activity. Not a lot of action. Never took his eyes off the fluffers, though.
Now, the yard cat was an entirely different matter. I was so embarrassed. It was all I could do to hold him back. He wanted that cat bad. So this was a group of bearded collie people, and they, like so many others, consider bouvs to be wanton killers. So here's my hairy bouv trying to kill the family cat. And the cat is like, is this dog serious?
Interesting experience.

Herding dogs are the bomb. Cool, calm, and collected. Most need to be busy, though. That's the thing I like about bouvs. They are really good herders, but couch potatoes when there's no reason to work.

her husband was not pleased!

http://www.acdrescueinc.com-a.googlepages.com/home2

I'm sure having this 'baby' will help when your other baby goes to college.

I have a digger pup too.



This is my beloved pound pup, Booyah. We got him 2.5 years ago. He was 6 - the oldest dog in the pound. He's a catahoula - the black leopard dog. His right eye is half blue, half brown. He can't be left in the yard alone for too long or he will dig & get into all sorts of mischief!

Years ago we had ducks. When we moved to town, they were so noisy in the wee hours that we had to build a little house to put them in so the neighbors wouldn't complain. The duck house is small - Booyah has to duck to get in it, but he has excavated the inside so that once in, he can stand just fine. It's fun to watch the dirt fly while he's excavating.

"excavating" hahaha - that cracks me up!
I'll have to use that one on my husband the next time Tobi digs up the sprinklers again.


on edit - if you put their poop where they dig, they will stop digging in that area.
It's kinda gross, but it works. Someone in the Pets Group here at DU told me that:)

How's your garden coming? Mine got scaled waaaayy back! I have some herbs in a container & two tomato plants in pots. I put a couple of pumpkins in the ground & they have finally sprouted. I've got high hopes on the pumpkins! I spent lots of bucks on carving pumpkins last year! :7

Oh, the weeds are doing fine, not the kind of weeds I would like, though. :smoke:

So we've been kinda busy.
My little curly head that used to hang on my leg is all grown up now. :cry:
Sunday orientation starts at where she is going to college.
Can someone please tell me how to make time stand still? It's going way too fast.
I can't even imagine not having her home. Ha - in 2004 she said to me -
"Thank God I will be gone before the next Presidential election". I drove my family nuts constantly talking about the runup to the election...making her go with me to hang up Kerry/Edwards signs all over the place. It will be interesting to see if I rubbed off on her when she is on her own.

It seems that once the kids hit a certain age, time flies. Makes me dizzy sometimes!

Well, she may have graduated from HS, but she's not "all grown up" yet. She'll still need you for quite some time to come, though she may not realize it yet.

And do I mean struggling! My boss is an ass. It's very likely that next week I will either be fired or quit in frustration. My husband says to make them fire me. I won't bore you with the details, but when your job goes into the crapper, it affects your entire life. I've put on 20 pounds from eating & drinking too much. My exercise program has been derailed because I'm working 50-55 hours a week. He drove another woman in our department out & I wonder if I'm his next target. He has a history of issues with women. I'm talking to HR on Monday -- assuming he doesn't fire me tomorrow.

I've never been in a situation like this before. I've never had to call HR for anything more than a benefits question. Ack!!

And I was so excited to get this job. :eyes:

Hopefully HR will help you. If not, get out of there. You don't deserve to be treated like that.

I remember when you got that job, you were so excited. :(

:hug:

I put on 20 pounds too (still trying to get it off). My hair started turning gray. I would throw up every morning.

It sucked because it was the perfect job fit for me but my bosses were unbearable. I decided it was better to save my sanity and lose the financial status. I'm still digging out of that hole, but at least I work for people I like now, and work 40-50 instead of 60-70 hours - so I'm probably making better per hour!

and it DOES affect your entire life. I knew they were going to fire me and I was looking forward to it. I DANCED out the door! Even with no job on the horizon, the feeling of freedom was incredible! The plus of letting them fire you instead of quitting is that you can draw unemployment -- and I felt I deserved some time off because of the oppressive situation I'd been in for so long.

No job is worth it. If it looks like you WON'T get fired, you really should be looking for somewhere else to work.

I said goodbye to Corporate America where no matter what I did, it wasn't good enough, and never looked back. My sweet revenge was after I left and the customers kept asking for me...they wanted me back. No thanks!

No one should have to put up with that shit.

that I was unemployed when I walked in the door - I'm not afraid to be unemployed as I walk out. You won't have to look at Asshole Misogynist every day for the rest of your life, but you will have to look in the mirror at yourself. Remember Braveheart. FREEEEEEDOMMMM !

Hope things somehow get better, or you reach a decision. Job misery is the worst! :hug:

I can totally relate to your situation. A really bad work environment does affect one's entire life. I hope you can find something else. Life's too short to put up with so much crap.

I needed a lift!

Today is Saturday & it is lovely outside! My grocery shopping was done by 9 & I just finished the laundry. The rest of the weekend is mine! The work laptop is still by the front door & I see no reason to move it till Monday morning. :evilgrin:

Grocery shopping done by 9? It is great feeling to get the necessities done early, but it rarely happens with me.

Good luck with HR on Monday. At least you know you're not alone. :toast:

Weather is perfect. Biergarten time. :toast:

Prost! :toast:

Wish I had a dog!

I'm 'visiting' in Fla, where folks live. Mother recently diagnosed with cervical mass, can't walk at all, or use arms well. No 'cure.' Also has dementia. She's in nursing home, Dad and I visit every day, and I'm kind of the overseer/advocate. Don't know when I'll get back home.

I've tuned out of much old stuff, but/am bored silly. SO thanks for y'alls tales and tails!

Do you have any brothers or sisters to help you?

:hug: You are doing one of the most important things you will ever do in your lifetime.
Hang in there, I know it's tough....there comes a time in all of our lives when we have to
take care of our parents.

Anytime you need to vent, I'm here.

Yes, a good (baby) brother and sister in law! but they live in IOWA!

We provide a pretty good advocacy group, I think, and Dad is the final arbiter! but at 94, he's not quite in the courtroom shape he was some years ago! We're all lawyers, and kind of enjoy doing our 'thing!'

I WILL vent!

I'm a Biden supporter who started reading DU after he dropped out of the race, but I don't post much, just lurk.

The puppy discussion was cool. We are down to one two year old lab who is a shit-head. But he only has eyes for me! Last fall he blew his knee out and had to have it reconstructed. So the teenagers have been taking him out now for bike rides and fetch but he is limping again. What part of "take it easy on the dog at first" did they not understand?!? I'd post a picture but I'm not sure how? We also have a couple of cats, an iguana (ask my husband about that) and a very old fish that I wish would go to fish heaven.

I can relate, or almost relate, to the whole empty nester syndrome. My eldest will graduate next year and my youngest will be a sophomore. Not sure what I'll do when they are off to collage (assuming I can get them there).

I sure enjoy reading this part of DU and I check it when I'm on-line. Too bad the stupid MSM is finally getting a clue that Biden would have been the adult in the race!

SusanWY

I don't know if it will help your dog, but I swear what's helped my cat Nero is Yucca extract. Only a few drops a day and I can really tell the difference.

You can read about it (and buy it from) this site:

www.azmira.com

Nero's got some kind of knee problems that ideally would call for surgery, but I don't have the $$$. Plus Yucca does lots of other good stuff for animals -- you might want to give it a try.

I think we'll be seeing a lot more from Biden during the next administration. We're all SO settling for second best. Or TRYING to settle!

:hi:

I too have an old fish that I can't believe is still living. I will be heartbroken when she dies tho. Never had a cat or an iguana tho. I guess living in Arizona, I never felt the need to buy a reptile. We have little lizards all over the place. I have one living in my garden...doesn't seem to be eating the vegies, so I'm hoping it's eating the bugs.

What is with the msm finally getting it about Biden? And the dems too? I was over at Huffington Post earlier today reading all the comments about Biden, and 90% of them were positive! It was not like that when he was in the race. ugh. Stupid people! Hopefully Biden will get an important position in the next administration. I will miss him as chair of the SFRC tho.

Glad to hear you've been enjoying our group. We all seem to get along so well over here. There's just something about Biden supporters or so we've been told a number of times.

Please don't be a stranger! :hi:

This is my virtual home. And now it's yours too. :hi:

I'm so un-enthused about either of the candidates. I just want this circus to be over. How much money is wasted in this never-ending political process called campaigning? And we end up with second rate candidates. If Joe were our candidate already, I would bet big bucks on our chances this fall. As it is, I hope we can get enough votes greater than election fraud to win.