All About Animals discussion

Chat about anything here.

Hi Everyone! How you doing?

I'm good, happy because its raining. We've had a very long and scary drought here. My cat came in this morning all drenched from the rain. I had to get a towel and rub her down. She loves this. I'm sure she goes out in the rain and gets all wet on purpose just so she'll get a rubdown. But she hasn't had a chance for weeks with the drought.

It snowed here yesterday and we're suppose to get more tonight or tomorrow. I'm ready for spring for sure.

The water delivery truck got stuck in our driveway and it looks like we've been bombed with piles of dirt and huge gaping holes in the lawn beside the driveway. First time we've ever had to buy in water. But in spite of this bit of rain, more dry weather is predicted so we didn't cancel him. Wish we had, now I see the mess.
We usually get plenty of rainwater to fill our tanks but not this summer.

For me so far this week I went to a library book sale, bought books from them, sold some of mine at the sale, worked the library sale and sold some of their books, got a couple negative book reviews, went to play with the horse Levi, got doggy toothpaste all over my dog, and that's just some of it.
I also have done more not as interesting to mention things such as TV and DVD watching, video game playing, book reading, book writing, book drawing, and book layout designing.
When it isn't snowing anymore and spring is finally here I will be doing a lot of horse riding with Levi. I don't know if it will happen or not but in Spring I was supposed to take Levi to a Games Rally but I may have to take a different horse because Levi hasn't had enough away from barn experiences and the first year I went I took a usually calm horse that had a lot of show experience but he wasn't prepared for some of the things that happened at Games Rally such as horses running toward him which made him a little flighty.
I will also be taking the bunnies outside for grass and to run whenever I get a chance. And Taco will finally get to do his favorite daytime activity-lay in the sun.
I guess it's pretty obvious that I am ready for winter to end and spring to start.

How's everyone doing...and what has everyone been up to? Just wanted to get this thread going again :-)

I recently started taking Western riding lessons with Levi, who was originally trained this way before my riding instructor and I started teaching him English. Now he knows both styles of riding and so will I.
I have yet to decide which riding style I like best.

Melissa thanks for getting the conversation going again.

Jennifer..that sounds like alot of fun.

I was getting prepared for a tea the other day and I had a skunk theme. It turned out really nice.

A group of ladies get together, we had around 105 ladies at the tea. We get about 12 to 13 people who will do a table set up. This is the first table that I've done in awhile.

There was an Elvis theme, pearl theme, Mexican theme, Mardi Gras theme, etc.

It's alot of fun. Alot of work too but alot of fun.

If you're on Facebook and want to see photos of the tea you can see them here...https://www.facebook.com/barbf1?ref=t...

Trying to make one that works. http://tinyurl.com/cudgjwl

We get Time Magazine. This week's issue had a big article on the topic of animal grieving. Great to see that in such an influential mg. Did anyone else read it?
Funny I'm writing on that very topic right now.

Tui wrote: "We get Time Magazine. This week's issue had a big article on the topic of animal grieving. Great to see that in such an influential mg. Did anyone else read it?
Funny I'm writing on that very topic..."

Thanks for the heads up about the Time article. I'll have a look for that tomorrow, we have a book at work on animals & grieving that I've been meaning to look at.... I can't remember the name but think it's from Hubble & Hattie press.

Reawakening this thread....

What do you collect? Apart from books.

I collect glass paperweights and post cards. A little differently I gather up various odds and ends I find while out walking like feathers, stones and whisps of animal fur. I also have a small collection of carved wooden animals.

Kim wrote: "Tui wrote: "We get Time Magazine. This week's issue had a big article on the topic of animal grieving. Great to see that in such an influential mg. Did anyone else read it?
Funny I'm writing on tha..."

The book I'm thinking of is "How Animals Grieve" by Barbara J King, I haven't purchased it yet but it's the current book from ALDF's book club

What do we collect? For me, it's bicycles because I love to ride them.

Once Ripple was published I knew people would send me dolphins. I thought they would drive me crazy and be a pile of nasty little plastic things, but I am loving my growing dolphin collection that I keep in special shelves in my glass fronted cabinet where they are on show. They are made of all sorts of materials (including plastic!) and I love every one of them because they are all so different and they were given to me with love and each one has a special memory for me because of the givers. I might take a photo one day and display it here.

Currently I collect Wishbone books and everything Wishbone, favorite TV, movie, and video game character statues and stuffed animals, and realistic looking animal statues and stuffed animals. I also appear to be starting a dog toy collection. I keep buying Taco toys, which he never plays with and then store them in a container.

Hi Jennifer.
I don't get Wishbone on my TV (I don't have satellite/Sky) but I gather he's a Jack Russell Terrier.

I also have a few realistic animal ornaments about the place; mainly of native English wildlife.

What are Taco toys? Are they the same as the squeaky vynl animal toys we have for our dogs here in England?

Lastwolf wrote: "Hi Jennifer.
I don't get Wishbone on my TV (I don't have satellite/Sky) but I gather he's a Jack Russell Terrier.

I also have a few realistic animal ornaments about the place; mainly of native Eng..."

Wishbone isn't on anymore anyway, all he has now are 5 DVD releases, 4 main DVD's and a DVD collection of the 4, but yes he is a Jack Russell Terrier.

Taco toys are just random toys I bought for my dog Taco. Most of them are various stuffed animals. He did have some vinyl toys, but we had to throw those out when we learned that Taco was only interested in chewing on them and pieces would come off. While Taco probably did eat some of the pieces, we only considered it a problem when the older dog CeJaye ended up at the vets after having accidentally eaten some of the pieces Taco left behind after chewing on one of them.
Currently Taco has 15 stuffed toys and one missing one which has been missing for a few years now. Every year, one of the local pet stores send a coupon on Taco's birthday for a free toy and I keep using it. Before that, he inherited some of CeJaye's old toys, so I have been basically building a nice collection of dog toys.

I still have a couple of stuffed toys that belonged to my lurcher, Penny.
She managed to demolish most of the stuffed toys I bought her and made a right mess in so doing. I remember having to pick soggy stuffing from between her teeth!

Rabbit rabbit!! A few years ago I was looking through a fancy catalog from who remembers where and saw a lovely rabbit figurine. The description claimed that if the first words you said on the first day of a new month were rabbit rabbit, the month would be full of good luck. Supposedly this idea came from China. I never bothered to find out if it was true or not, most likely it was just a way to try to sell more bunny figurines...but ever since then my husband and I have had a little competition going on. Sometimes neither of us remembers to say it at all...but today I won.

Rabbit Rabbit! Let's see if it works for the first words you type.

That is how my husband usually wins...I will be all smug about it but he will say go look at your email....considering how often we both forget, it seems all's fair in rabbit rabbit and war...=))

Recently I went looking for a specific animal book that I really wanted to read only to find out that it was out of print and not being sold on Amazon, eBay, or anywhere else I have looked so far. That makes two books I haven't been able to buy and read as of yet. The other book I have been looking for is available on Amazon but so far I haven't been able to locate an Amazon seller willing to sell me a copy cheap enough even though it is selling on eBay for the right price. I don't have a credit card yet so buying with gift cards on Amazon is my only buying option or finding through a used bookstore. Maybe one day I will have both books that I want but today is not the day.

Jennifer wrote: "Recently I went looking for a specific animal book that I really wanted to read only to find out that it was out of print and not being sold on Amazon, eBay, or anywhere else I have looked so far. ..."

Hi Jennifer ~~ Here is a website where you can read free online
http://www.readcentral.com/
Not the same as owning, of course, but much much cheaper and they have tons of older forgotten books. You never know, but the one you're looking for might be listed and if not there are enough interesting titles there to make up for it. Good luck!

Thanks, but the couple books I am looking for aren't there. They don't have either of the authors listed either. I will just have to keep searching and hope when I finally find them I can afford to buy. Even at a little bit of a more expensive price than I would like to pay I would still rather pay for my books than get them for free whenever possible even when, as it often happens, payment is just helping out an author by leaving a review.

Lastwolf wrote: "Reawakening this thread....

What do you collect? Apart from books.

I collect glass paperweights and post cards. A little differently I gather up various odds and ends I find while out walking lik..."

Interesting collections. I collect Pepe LePew stuff and carousel horses.

Jennifer, what titles are you looking for? Perhaps I or someone else has one to send you. I often look for new homes for my books - if I have purchased them to review (I cannot ethically do that if the publisher sends me a copy).

Good idea Skye. Yes, let us know what books you are looking for, maybe someone can help.

Maybe I should add a thread that everyone can add books for they are looking for that are hard to find.

At this time this is the book I am trying to find. The other one I had been looking for was just added on Amazon by a reputable seller so I just bought it!

This one, Scream of the White Bears by David Clement Davies, I have found US listings for but no books for sale. So far both places have listed it as out of print. I have nothing against buying from the UK if shipping to the US is available if anyone does happen to locate a copy.

The thread I started on news articles with animals seems to have disappeared.

Jazzy wrote: "The thread I started on news articles with animals seems to have disappeared."

Not sure why. Which section did you put it in? I don't know if I ever seen it.

@Jazzy and Barb...Animals In The News is here under Discuss Other Stuff, but it is not on the first page anymore....you have to click to see the entire thread list and there it is...I got curious this morning when I saw the question and sent J a pm but I guess she was offline already. I am looking forward to more bits about animals in the news!! =))

Debbie, thanks. Stuff gets pushed down when new threads are started or commented on. Thanks for finding it. I didn't think of that.

I've been exploring on Project Gutenberg this weekend...look at what I just found...I thought they were cute...

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30328/...

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43790/...

I just did my morning check of my favorite online newspaper and look what I found this time....a picture article about bookshops...I want to go to Greece so I can rent a cat while I read! =))

http://www.theguardian.com/books/book...

Wow, they even have a book barge.

Who remembers IM? NPR wants to know what your most mortifying screen name was! http://www.npr.org/2014/10/13/3559040...

Jazzy, that's a cute photo of the raccoon. Love it about the garbage. LOL.

Here are some Halloween pictures...my favorite is the squirrel...=))

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandsty...

Some neat pictures. That little Sulley is cute.

So sad to hear Tom Magliozzi, one half of the wisecracking Car Talk duo known as "Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers," has died after complications from Alzheimer's Disease. He was 77.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2...

He and his brother have given me many a laugh, while teaching me something. I will miss him.

Brought home a new laptop when I came back from my trip, and now today I bought a bookcase in town. It is really a kitchen cabinet, but it will learn to be bookcase. =)) It has shelves on the inside of each main door...perfect for paperbacks. More shelves inside, and then two doors up above as well. I will finally have my books organized properly instead of sitting around in zipper bags. I'M EXCITED!!

Kirsten wrote: "So sad to hear Tom Magliozzi, one half of the wisecracking Car Talk duo known as "Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers," has died after complications from Alzheimer's Disease. He was 77.

http://www..."

Tom and Ray had dogs, specifically Golden Retrievers and would talk about dogs. I had invited them to our golden camp in PA but never received a reply. Too busy, I guess!

Sorry to hear that Skye. I'm not sure who it is but it's always sad to hear about someone passing away.

Debbie, Glad to hear you got a place for your books. That will be easier to find. I'm trying to clean out some of mine. But, as soon as one goes out, two make it's way back in.

Barb, my comment about Tom and Ray was a reply to Kirsten's post. . . . that's why Kirsten's post appears above my comment - that is automatic.

My mother used to like to listen to Click and Clack but if it had not been for that I would have had no idea who they were. I don't think she knows about this news; I will have to tell her.

Thanks, Barb...I plan to spend all day tomorrow hip-deep in books playing librarian. =))