pnut Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 The last of my dogs died maybe 18 years ago and I still can't bring myself to get another. It's a cruel trick of nature that an animal you bond with as strong as any family member has such a short life :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgef8 Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 Tolliver in the driver's seat waiting for me to fill up the van. His name means metal cutter in Italian. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 With great reward comes great price. Puppies teach us to: care for the helpless, show patience to the ignorant and the value of good manners. As they grow they teach us to teach and live with others. If our dog can't teach us empathy there's something missing. They illustrate for ALL to see the measure of our character and depth of our souls. As they age they teach us perseverance in the face of: stiff joints, old weak muscles, pain, failing sight and hearing, without complaint beyond a help of pain, groan, etc. and how to accept help gracefully. With their last act a dog can teach us one of the hardest and most important lessons in life. How to comfort the dying. The harder lesson they have for us is how to show true love and let them go when it's their time. I'd grown complacent with saying good bye I love you good dog as my buddy breathed his/her last. I didn't realize how important the lesson was till I got a call from my Sister that Father was asking for me. He'd fallen a couple years earlier and never got up and mobile again, COPD complicated pneumonia started him down the last slope but as tough as he was he held on a long time. I was able to talk to him, agree with him his time was come and he'd done as good a job as any parent ever. Then we told some jokes, laughed about old memories. At dinner that night my Sister's SO told me they couldn't figure out what Dad was doing. He spent much of his time living in his memories. When I turned around to look it was obvious, he was running a lathe machining something with tight tolerances. Anyway, I said good bye for the last time the next day, I had to catch the flight out. I had to shoo the rest of the family out they were fussing so much and Dad wanted a last couple minutes. I told him I had to go, he said good he was tired. Then he said his last words to me. "Gather all the fencing and move to Oregon. That's what you should do." I repeated it back as a question and he said, "Yes, that's what you should do." I said okay, will do, I Love you Dad and he said, "goodbye Butch." He passed before I got to the airport about 45 minutes away. A couple years later Mother was suffering complications from gall bladder surgery and on life support. She wasn't cognizant when I got there, I spoke to her, said I love you,, good bye, then my sister and I signed the papers to have her removed from life support. I am thankful to the depths of my soul for the lessons I've learned from my dogs over the years. I pity folks who don't or can't have a dog. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 Very well said Frosty. I've learned the same lessons from my dogs. Still leaves a little hole in the heart when they cross over the Rainbow Bridge. One can only hope they will be there to greet us when it's our turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 I think it was in a Jimmy Stewart movie that he'd died with his dog and was walking down a path, came to a fork in the trail more beautiful than the main trail and was considering it but a keeper at the gate told him his dog couldn't come. He walked on saying it wasn't heaven without dogs, leaving the devil's minion scowling. I paraphrase, I haven't seen the movie in a long time but I remember that and agree. Deb just left with Ronnie for a "Barn Hunt" rally and I'm home with: Baxter, Abby and two we're sitting for a friend while she's on a motorcycle run. I'll be met by a real mob the other side of the Rainbow Bridge: pack of dogs, clowder of cats, herd of horses, cattle, goats, sheep. It'll be quite the trail ride. Banjo was my favorite horse and was strangely fond of cats. It wasn't odd to feed him in the morning and find a cat sleeping on his back, it was the only time he'd stand under the cover over his manger on rainy days, he much preferred to stand in the rain. DANG, I can't find a pic of Banjo! I need to see if my Sister has any. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Hoover Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 This is Iria and my grandson where I forge. It isn't much, but it's fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Frosty, one thing I learned from my cats and dogs was to take time and just lay in the sun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Lay in the shade out here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 And speaking of laying in the shade, our guinea fowl have been procreating at an alarming rate. They lay hundreds of eggs and the chick mortality rate is pretty high with raptors and snakes about. I know Das has guinea fowl … things are getting a bit out of control here, Das. Check this lot out: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 ausfire , we had some when I was a young kid. Are your guineafowl aggressive? it seems like I remember them being fairly aggro. They didn't much like people if memory serves me right , but it's been a long time and I may be thinking of the pea-hens we had. Pnut (Mike) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 Send some my way Aus! I'm down to one lonely guinea. I had 25 at one point. Come to think about it, the neighborhood is a lot quieter lol. I'd found nests with two guineas sitting on a mound of eggs they couldn't even cover. I only saw two batches get hatched out but predators wiped them out the first night. Guineas aren't really people birds unless you handle them a lot from early on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horse Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 Love hate relationship with guinea fowl. Noisy and weird but I really liked having them around. They would all roost in the barn and tell me to get out when I went down to feed the horses. They are delicious by the way. My wife did not like the racket and I eventually gave away my last few that didn’t get on the dinner plate. I miss them. Great bug eaters. I forgot to mention the people that raised the first one that I had used them for rattler control. Supposedly quite effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 That's why we got them when I was growing up. They are voracious bug eaters but don't tear up the garden like chickens will. Pnut (Mike) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 7 hours ago, ausfire said: our guinea fowl have been procreating at an alarming rate So long as they're not procreating in alarming ways! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Mike, they are not aggressive to us, but they can get a bit cranky with strangers, especially if there are chicks about. A few that my wife hand raised are very friendly and follow her around. We have a few that we put under a bantam and she hatched them out and cared for them. They were almost adult size before they realised they were not chooks and joined the guinea flock. Horse, I agree. Great bug controllers and they give any snake that happens by a hurry-up. Das, your one guinea fowl will be lonely. They really are a flock bird. Pity I can't mail you a few. Frosty, they reproduce at an alarming rate, but survival rate is not good, especially in stormy weather. They are not good mothers. And as for alarming procreation, well the dog gets a bit concerned over the action and attempts to separate them. I guess she believes there's an act of aggression going on. She's the same with the chooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) I talked to my oldest sister last night. She told me how we ended up with the birds. Four or five guineafowl showed up on our property one day out of the blue. When Mom finally figured out who their owners were and tried to return them they wouldn't take them back. They were as close to wild as a guineafowl can be and apparently took over the dooryard and tried to chase everyone away that came around, so the neighbors were happy when the birds made their way to our property. Pnut (Mike) Edited April 21, 2019 by pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Hoover Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 So now I'm conflicted. Should this be in 'Show us your blacksmith pets' or 'It followed me home'? It's a little from column A, and a little from column B!! ROFL!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 After talking to my sister it sounded more like an invasion. I was under the impression we bought them but I was only about five yrs old and was mistaken. The memory is hazy for me but my sister remembers them well. From the sound of it they weren't pets more something that was tolerated. Thinking back on it I don't know why they were never dinner. Pnut (Mike) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Olson Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Frosty....Your story crushed my heart. I'm sad, but I'm not. If my pets can't get in I don't wanna go. Twilight zone episode.. Here's 1 of 2 cats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.R. Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 These are my 4 legged family members. Dudley my lab whom I found at work abandoned as a puppy in August in the desert, I simply refused to leave him there-and he rode home in my work truck that day. Maestro the Aussie who is our 150 mph gate keeper and chicken protector. Groot is what we call our love chug. He’s a chihuahua pug mix that loves him some lap time. And then there’s the sheep and goats, Bill and Ted, Shaun, Mowgley, Splash and Ellie. Upon request I will name all the bees but it might exceed posting rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BartW Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Here are my dogs: The brown one is cross between a chocolate labrador and an irisch setter; she was going to be put down due to her previous owner getting a divorce when she was about one year old; so my wife and me took her home. She 's the friendliest dog I've ever known, she loves everybody, hunts down mouse and rats, and loves to eat :-). She's 10 years old by now. The white one is a swiss shepard dog (Like a german shepard dog, but bigger and white ). He's 2 years old; and listens to the brown boss. Guards very well, and always aiming to work / do something for you. He's not really about to let anyone unchecked approach my workshop :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 A.R. - Shaun the Sheep. I like that. Funny. Nice dogs, Bart. Your workshop is safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADHD-forge Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 This one started following me around a couple of years ago, not quite shore what brand or species it is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 3 hours ago, BartW said: a swiss shepard dog (Like a german shepard dog, but bigger and white ) And, of course, more neutral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 1 hour ago, ADHD-forge said: This one started following me around a couple of years ago, not quite shore what brand or species it is? Ha! A cute little antwerp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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