[flora May 28, 2013 at 5:37 pm Post count: 133]

#1177849

I know just what you mean, Karen – like this forum, our favourite books are like old friends, when we need them most.
Flora

[Talley May 28, 2013 at 6:31 pm Post count: 62]

#1177856

Would love some book recommendations for the flight to/from Italy…

Two good books I recently read were:
The Language of Flowers, Diffenbaugh, Vanessa
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, Jan-Philipp Sendker

We have three cats – two are Savannah cats – the male, Turley, is an F3 and the female, Quintessa an F2; and we have an F2 Geoffroy cat – Ramey…all of our cats are named after wineries:)

I love our cats, but would love a dog…grew up with dogs and miss them, but my husband says they are too much responsibility…true, we can go away for the day or even a night without needing to worry about them, but I told him once the kids are gone (and a cat or two), I’m getting a dog:)

Never thought of a turtle as a pet…came across a few snapping turtles in NJ when we lived by the river.

[Stymie May 29, 2013 at 11:31 am Post count: 195]

#1177857

I just read THE AGE OF MIRACLES. And I loved it. I’m not sure who is by though. I will check and get back to you.

Diane

[CycleColo2013 May 29, 2013 at 11:41 pm Post count: 18]

#1177858

I really enjoyed Sonya Sotomayor’s biography. Her candidness and introspection made me realize how cynical I’ve become about the high court and our legislators. Regardless of whether you are liberal or conservative it wins as an inspirational triumph over tragedy.

I couldn’t figure out a way to upload a picture of our dogs… Pete is a puggle, (half pug half beagle) Tina is all beagle. I don’t recall where my boy’s got the name. Tina is named after the inimitable actress who portrayed Ginger in Gilligan’s Island. Pete came first, followed by Tina 11 months later.

Prior to getting Tina my partner Richard had been on about Pete needing some company during the day. I did not give it much thought until one day, my birthday, he calls me at my office. “I think I’ve made a mistake. I have taken the boys to the pet store and they are determined to get you a dog for your birthday. One is crying and the other has his heart set on either a female beagle or a male chuieenie. (I am not even sure how to spell it – it is pronounced “chew-eenie”. It is a cross between a Chihuahua and a
Dacshsund.”)

After ranting and raving a bit that he was the psychologist and should know better than to take a five and six year old to “look” at dogs. But I also told him to do what he needed to do and if he couldn’t get out of there without a dog, get the beagle.

Then I thought about it. Beagles dig, chew, howl, bay and escape at every opportunity. She will remind my puggle that he is half beagle and bring out the worst traits. I sent a text – “go for the male dog.” I am not sexist when it comes to dogs, but we will end up creating two high maintenance dogs.”

I commuted by bike that day, and when I arrived home and opened the garage, there was a dainty pink leash with a gigantic pink bow on it. In a flash out came two boys and a very small beagle…

Every now and again the boys still as, “dad, what was the BEST birthday present you ever got…” and of course I say, Tina Louise. Who knew high maintenance dogs could be so much fun?

Bill

[Boomer May 30, 2013 at 3:47 pm Post count: 110]

#1177859

@ Sue and @ Shirley:

Wait… You mean you guys actually touch those shelled critters? And here I thought I wasn’t afraid of nuthin’ HA!

Back under my shell as well,

Boomer

[Boomer June 1, 2013 at 4:26 pm Post count: 110]

#1177860

Doctors sure take a verbal beating now and then. Some deservedly so. When we’re sick, though, we sure are glad to see them, huh?

I thought this was pretty appropriate for this forum:

A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a Harley
motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop.
The surgeon was there, waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike. The mechanic shouted across the garage, “Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?”

The surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, “So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take valves out, fix ’em, put ’em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?”

The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic:

“Try doing it with the engine running.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I actually pulled this old one on one of the ER docs that treated me during diagnosis:

Once the dust had settled and I was somewhat stabilised a young doc (by my old guy standards anyhow!) came in and was talking to me about Graves, my prognosis, etc. After the serious biz was done I mentioned my awful hand tremors and asked him if I’d be able to play piano in the future. (Good thing he was young and therefore not wise to this tired old joke).

He said “sure- the beta blockers will block the excess adrenaline and you should be able to play just fine”. I said “Cool! I’ve never played one before!”.

He said something about sedating me and leaving me naked in the hallway so my comedy career ended as fast as it started…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another real-life story from my past:

Myself and partner owned a busy sales and service company. I took a call one afternooon from a very rude and pushy fella who identified himself as a doctor. He asked me if he could make an appointment “as his time was very valueable”. I politely told him that we handled things on a first come-first served basis and that he coud bring his item in any time that was convenient for him. He again stated that he was a doctor and I again told him that he could come in and wait his turn like everyone else. We closed the call and I didn’t give it another thought.

An hour later in walks a guy in full-blown “Hey look at me- I’m a doctor” regalia. Lab coat, scrubs, shoe covers, even a stethescope around his neck. This guy wanted the world to know that he was a doctor and was, in his mind, so important, that he actually cut the line, bellied up to the counter, and interrupted my partner as he was speaking with a customer. The nerve of this guy! I was speechless (rare huh?).

My partner never missed a beat: He look up at the rude doctor over his reading glasses, looked him up and down, lowered his eyes back to the receipt he was writing, and I’ll never forget what he said in perfect deadpan:

“Why don’t you strip down to your underwear and have a seat over there” as he motioned to a table over in the corner.

I fell out with laughter as did all the folks waiting in line. The doctor looked at me, at my partner, at all the people laughing, adjusted his lapels, and walked out in a huff.

It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope ya’ll are hangin tough- weekends can be rough. Thanks for the laughs and I hope I managed to get a little laughter out of you guys too.

See ya in the funny papers,

Boomer

[emmtee June 1, 2013 at 5:28 pm Post count: 148]

#1177861

CycleColo2013 wrote:

I couldn’t figure out a way to upload a picture of our dogs…

This is how I learned to do it: First you have to upload the picture to a photo sharing website (i.e. Shutterfly.) Open up the photo on the photo sharing website, click on the photo, then right click and select Properties. Copy the URL Address and click OK. Then open up your GDATF message and click on the Photo icon. Paste the URL Address into the space provided and hit enter. The URL Address will be added to your message surrounded by coding that identifies it as an image. Use the Preview function to verify that everything worked and Submit.

Here’s my favorite picture of my cat lying on a space bag. [img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d820b3127ccef3163ade859300000030O01AbM27hi0cswe3nw4/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00309041873620130602001011588.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/[/img]

[MaryI June 2, 2013 at 5:06 pm Post count: 34]

#1177862

Boomer- you are killing me! You make me laugh HUGE. Thanks for coming back!
Mary

[KimberlyOnline Facilitator October 14, 2013 at 10:16 am Post count: 4294]

#1177863

Bumping this thread and hoping Shirley might share some of her European adventures here!

[flora December 29, 2013 at 10:16 am Post count: 133]

#1177864

I came back to this thread to thank everyone who has encouraged me this year, on this new and unexpected journey. From those frightening first few weeks, to “in the TSH zone” for 3 months now, your support has been priceless – with special thanks to “Momof5” Carrie, “Sue and her Zoo” Sue, LaurelM, Gabe, Stymie, Vanillasky, Boomer, Shirley, and of course, Kimberly. Your knowledge and experience has carried me through it all. Thank you again for this warm and wonderful place. And all the very best to you in the New Year – Flora

[nbark December 29, 2013 at 2:42 pm Post count: 4]

#1177865

I rescue Miniature horses and rehab them to be therapy horses. They visit nursing homes and handicapped children and the smiles are amazing, especially when they disembark from their stalls in the mini van….I mean what else would you carry your miniature horse in…they have air conditioning and Dolby surround sound…what a life. They get hugged and kissed and treated like royalty. They all own three to four sets (not pairs) of Build a Bear sneakers for those slippery floors…so it works…We started a website for Miniature Horse owners and anyone who would like to check it out here is the website www/Minicruppers.webs.com
check out the photo gallery…some really cute minis in there…just a warning, some of the before and after shots are not pretty…but the end results are great.

[KimberlyOnline Facilitator December 30, 2013 at 9:12 am Post count: 4294]

#1177866

@flora – Thanks for the kind words…wishing you all the best for the New Year as well!

@nbark – What a great project!

[npattersonModerator January 25, 2014 at 3:26 pm Post count: 398]

#1177867

Okay! I can get into this conversation. My daughter had a turtle wander into their property. They found that it was an African Spur Thigh. They live in rural North Central Florida. They kept it for over five years. She said it weighed over 60 pounds when they gave it to someone else. I remember they used to bring it inside and put it in their garden tub on cold nights.

What I have at home are two cats. I had two sister tuxedo cats for almost 20 years. One of them developed hyperthyroidism (irritable, losing weight, losing hair and hot all the time). She had surgery, and lived for another 7-8 years. Now I have a Calico, and a long-haired yellow female tabby. The first is 12 y/o and the other is almost three. I am a sucker for all cat trinkets (t-shirts, key rings, etc).

Take care,

Nancy >(**)<

[KimberlyOnline Facilitator June 16, 2014 at 10:44 am Post count: 4294]

#1177868

Bumping to the top – this “off-topic” thread is for forum members who want to chat about pets, vacation, hobbies, etc..

[KimberlyOnline Facilitator February 3, 2015 at 10:01 am Post count: 4294]

#1177869

Dug up this thread to see if the photos were still showing (they were) and figured I might as well bump it to the top for our newer members.

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