If you don't understand your electric bill then their evil plan worked!

LOL about the cat. That is how I lost my dog. My parents convinced me to send her to Nana and Pop Pops sleep-away camp while I moved. Then she (whose name was Katy by the way) and my Dad bonded so tight that I was loath to separate them. My parents who had very strict rules about a dogs place in the world and what they could and couldnt do became weird dog people who broke all the previous rules They now completely spoil their dogs the way they never spoiled their kids! Are you a weird cat lady now? Or is she a ratter?

My youngest brother and his wife recently had a baby boy after MANY years of trying and several failed in-vitro attempts towards the end. I cant wait to meet him. Now if I could just convince them to send that little guy to Aunt Debs sleep-away camp! Maybe sleep deprivation will convince them? Somehow I doubt it.

Tube I only have basic cable and I have to brave my husbands derision just to watch TV at all. Im currently mourning the loss of Boston Legal.
Favorites:
House
Bones
Life
Heroes
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Big Bang Theory

We STILL dont know when we are moving. Maybe we will find out on Monday. (Current thinking is beginning of January. We are really hoping that the developer that is buying our house to demolish/subdivide plays it straight with us from here on out. This has been a very long process.) Or WHERE. Our lack of a timely time frame lost us the house we really were enamored with and now we are scrambling to find something else that fits the bill. There was a house that we might have bought, but it was in negotiations when we discovered it and we didnt want to mess it up for the parties involved to get in the middle so late in the game. The current plan is to rent for a year and make sure that we: 1. like the town and school system 2. find the right house without too much pressure to settle and 3 give the housing market time to get closer to the bottom.

I can't figure out my electric bill either, lol! I just know that it's too darn much!

As far as TV, pretty much the only thing I watch is Rangers hockey, and as I sit here tonight watching them lose, I'm reconsidering. But after being a fan for 30 years, I guess I'm used to them losing.

I also admit to watching soaps. All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital. For years - YEARS - I resisted GH and was never intersted. Even Luke and Laura didn't interest me. I'd watch part of it maybe once every month or two. Then inexplicably I got sucked in about a year ago. I try to catch at least the last 20 minutes of each show at least 3 times a week to stay current.

Otherwise, I wouldn't know most TV actors if they walked through my front door (unless they started on soaps, lol).

I agree with Katy on the plastic fencing in the garden - or should I say that vinyl stuff. Sorry. I know it's maintenance-free, yada, yada, yada, but fences just aren't supposed to shine in the light. Just not right.

My other pet peeve in the garden is people who let their dogs run free and they come into my yard and do their business and run through my beds. Grrr.

Our neighbor got a new dog about two years ago, a chow. That dog would come in my yard as I sat on my patio and growl at me! The nerve. It was constantly growling at me as I worked in the garden. One day I was kneeling on the ground, picking a rock with one hand out of a hole I was digging, and I still had the spade in my other hand. I heard a growl, looked up, and there she was, about 20 feet away growling. I was so pissed off I stood up and actually ran right at her, swearing at her! Stupid thing to do, I know, but I just couldn't take it any more. The dog stopped growling, looked at me in complete shock, I swear, lol, and ran away! It was soooo worth it!

To this day, she'll be trotting down the street or through my yard and catch sight of me, and she makes a huge swerve to stay out of my way. Sweet.

:)
Dee

I haven't looked at an electric bill since I got married about 25 years ago; we split the financial responsibilities and that one isn't mine. Works out well, since I'm more of an energy conservation freak than Christo is; he'd be much more flagrant if he wasn't paying the bill.

Now that I'm totally hip because I have tivo, I watch a little more tv than before. My kids are really impressed that I got one of these gizmos, by the way. I tape the daily show, all the gardening shows, including one I stumbled upon on the Rhode Island PBS station in the wee hours, during a bout of insomnia, Frontline, and BBC world news. That's IT for tv for me, although I watch Scrubs when I'm feeling like I need a dose of inane humor, and CNN or NECN in the morning when I'm not in the mood for the Brits' view of the news.

I had to google Weeds - I see it's on showtime, but I can't figure out if it's about gardening, or a sitcom...

I have no gripe with people who want maintenance-free yards. Mine is pretty much unmaintained, which I guess is an altogether different thing; it might look a little better if it had been planned to be low maintenance, but I never even considered that and it's a little late to start thinking that way now.

Deb, your rental plan sounds like a good idea. It will be hard to live without a garden for a whole season, but you're smart to take your time looking for the right place.

Nan - DH and I are VERY location sensitive. That is a big part of why we are moving. Meanwhile, I will have a pot ghetto to rival Dee's. ;-)I am really hoping to rent someplace that I can at least have a vegetable garden, but yes, it will be hard. Especially as this past year was a throw-away. I only did what maintenance my schedule allowed and even my vegetable garden didn't produce much more than basil.

AROUND THE HOUSE
What do you mean, you don't know how to read the electric bill? You just go to "amount due," and pay that amount. Sheesh. ;)
Seriously, though, last month I sent both my gas bill and my electric bill together to the electric company. Electric company was kind enough to point out my error, and send the errant check back...gas company tacked on a late fee. Sigh...

ONE THING...
I haven't slept through the night in at least 10 years...you?

THE BOOB TUBE
I don't really LOVE TV, but, I do watch it to "zone out," as needed. And, I am psyched when I find a good science fiction movie is playing!

PET PEEVES IN THE GARDEN
Hyper manicured. Can't stand those little yellow lawn care signs with a slash through the people and dog. Why is green grass more important than our health?

Cloud9
Are you a weird cat lady now? I confess that I am so enamored with this critter that it takes everything I have to hold back posting pages of cute photos and writing on and on about his daily antics. I will tell you because I cant resist is his name is Oliver Twist aka Ollie, aptly named after the twist in his tale as a result of losing one third of it prior to his being rescued by my daughter. He really is the coolest cat.
I dont blame you a weekend with your brothers new baby is a mustso here is the plan wrapped in holiday paper your offer to gift the tired couple a full nights sleeptopped off with a tough of guilt and disappointment should they not take you up on it.
Joe and I are revisiting a part time life in NZ and I thought I would never ever find a property that came close to making me as happy as the vineyard we walked away from but recently I came across another property that makes me thankful we didnt make that purchase and I am certain you too will find the right property at the right time.
Dee,
Now that I no longer stand alone in my distain for white plastic fences I did a google search hoping to come up with all sorts of info that would dissuade folks from installing these monsters and the initial info I came up with (want to research further) was that they can be recycled and plastic grocery bags are part of the recycled plastics that make up these fences. That said I still consider them esthetic eye soars.
Hockey & Soaps now thats a unique combination.
Dtd,
Just for the heck of it take a look at an Nstar bill and see if you can understand it.
Now that I'm totally hip because I have tivo You were always totally hip but dont you love no more commercials 60 minute show is actually 40 minutes.
Weeds is not a gardening show..Female lead Mary Louise Parker a California yuppie begins selling marijuana to support her family after the premature death of her husband.
Mskee
I haven't slept through the night in at least 10 years...you? I often think when I am awake at 2:34am most mornings that I could call most folks I know and they would all be awake. It would be great if we could chop up our work day, I would be happy to work from 2:30am 4:30am then sleep to 8:30am and quit for the day at 3:30 just in time to take a little nap.
Can't stand those little yellow lawn care signs with a slash through the people and dog. Why is green grass more important than our health? Maybe I am naive but I think social pressures will be changing this type of excess.

The most brilliant computer geek in the entire world took a second go round and resurrected my lap top from the evil world of viruses. When I came out of the computer lab there was a car that I thought has turned the bumper sticker into an art form.

New questions for you.
Do you live with or are you a pack rat? Is your basement/attic anything more than a stage to hold the discards that you dont have the courage to free yourself from?

Are you Mac or PC?

Are the files on your computer as organized as your closets at home?

Best book in recent past memory.

Are you crafty?

I'll bite. Yes, I am a pack rat. I am the type who will find a box in the closet full of stuff I haven't looked at in ten years, but at that point I could never throw it out because I just have to have it, lol. My house is very cluttered, mostly papers/mail, and clothes/laundry that is not put away (on the part of all family members, not just me!). I figure I have better things to do than clean house. As someone told me, when she dies, she didn't want the only thing to be said about her was, "She kept such a clean house!".

Besides, lots of my papers and other things are items for recycling - paper waiting to be shredded for the compost pile, cardboard/paperboard boxes waiting to be ripped for the compost pile, milk jugs waiting for winter-sowing, clothes to be freecycled/donated, etc.

I was originally a Mac person, but it got to be that the peripherals were just too expensive and the software just wasn't there, so I switched to a PC, about 7 years ago. My daughter got a MacBook for college, and I'm seriously rethinking going back to a Mac. Actually, I just got a free OLD Mac on freecycle just to play a game which I was seriously addicted to - Scarab of Ra - but I can't get the darn game onto the computer. Wish I was more computer-savvy.

Yes, my computer files are as organized as my closets - which is NOT a good thing, lol!

Ah, books! Too many books to answer this question. I'm in the middle of an excellent book on the Borgias at the moment(history buff here) in addition to three other books I'm also reading. I guess a big-impact book in the last year for me was "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Very good book.

Crafty? Not as much as I'd like. I go to the craft store for one tiny thing, come out $150 poorer, ready to be creative and fabulous, and the stuff sits for months on my dining room table with my piles of paper waiting to be shredded (I've come full circle, lol!)

Cool car! There is a car in the area that is also brightly painted. I think it has guitars on it, maybe some music notes, etc. Very eye-catching.

:)
Dee

Can't keep up with all these talking points... but thought I'd jump in on a few:

Plastic fences: NO! The new house (built by two 80-something-year-olds two years ago) next door to us is ALL vinyl/composite/whatever. No "real" anything in or on it, including the "horse corral" fencing. Shiny white plastic. Worst part of this one: they only ran the plastic fencing partway around; then (so I've heard) they ran out of money, so they did the rest in black chainlink. Go figure. So what I see, from my house "uphill" of this monstrosity, is a run of white fencing that simply stops partway around the yard (you can't even see the black chainlink from our house so it looks as if the white just peters out and ends... making anyone not knowing the real story wonder, what keeps those dogs in the yard?? :)

That's my vent (I HATE that house!!). Now, as for cats... I am a cat lover from way back. My brothers and I used to fight, at bedtime, over who would "get" the cats (we had several) on their bed :) Our current cat is a stray that my now-28-year-old daughter's best friend "found" on the side of a road. The story is that she was all set to give this mangy, ugly, pest-infested runt of a cat -- ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life -- to a stable where she rode, who had agreed to take him. However, when the rescue league (who was going to provide free shots/medical check/etc.) heard of this, they nixed it on the spot: long-haired cats can NOT be released to barn settings, it seems, because their coats will mat if they aren't combed, etc. etc... SO... quick thinker that she is, my daughter's friend blithely gives them our name and address and says we're going to take the cat (we had agreed to keep him -- TEMPORARILY! -- at the time, quarantined on the third floor of our house)... THEN, my daughter's friend tells my daughter what she's done, and my daughter says, confidently, "it's okay, my mom will NEVER say no to another cat!")

Mind you, this cat had three strikes (in my book) against him: (a) male (I prefer female cats on many grounds and hadn't had a male since I was a kid); (b) long-haired (never had a long-haired cat and kind of liked the low-maintenance of tabbies and calicos); and (c) UGLY. This kitten was SO ugly, you wouldn't believe! So, my daughter tells me, looks as if we have to take the cat. I tell her "think again" ... she tells her friend "mom says okay" (how does "think again" translate into "mom says okay"?) ... the rescue league calls me, and guess what I say? (Ah, you guessed ....).

And as a reward for being such an easy mark, I now have the loveliest, sweetest little guy in the world. He is a perfectly stunning little cat, part Maine Coon (hence the long hair, sweet little voice, big round eyes). AND ... a terrific mouser, though that took a few years (well, eight, actually) to manifest itself. I will attach a photo of my gorgeous guy.

When it comes to computers ... I'm Mac all the way. Can't understand why any home user would want anything else! (Of course, my 22-inch cinema display helps... but still...)

Deb ... don't know if you're still looking in our area, but you are welcome to "borrow" a section of my meadow come spring if you end up nearby and don't have a garden! :) Sorry to hear you lost the house you wanted but there are such lovely ones in this part of the state -- you'll find another!

Don't know about electric bills ... ours gets paid online and I never even see it! (I suppose it would be good to check it now and then...?)

Phones: still have a land line but my kids only have cell phones and I think that's definitely the way to go in the future. I think I could get by with just my cell quite nicely, but in reality, since our phone is bundled with high-speed internet and cable, I think the phone itself is the smallest part of the fee by far. So we've left it, as an alternative contact if nothing else, but aside from being listed in the phone book (which can be a pro or a con, depending!), I'm not sure I see any reason to have it.

Health insurance: I THINK I understand ours, but that's primarily because we had to go out on our own and get insurance privately last year, when my husband joined me in the freelance, consulting world. Whew! Talk about double-speak and gobbledly-goop! We are both fairly well educated and much of it was nonsensical. (What I REALLY don't get is why the premium rate goes UP --- by 50 percent! -- for me when they learn I'm taking a preventive medication for osteoporosis. I mean, isn't that GOOD .. that I'm taking something to theoretically SAVE them having to pay to replace my hip? If anything (in a logical world!), shouldn't they give me a DISCOUNT for being proactive about my health care and taking preventive measures?? But that is decidedly NOT how it works! Talk about cherry-picking!!!

Here's my ugly duckling, all grown up into a class act:

{{gwi:1099707}}and because I CAN'T resist lots of photos:

{{gwi:1099710}}and my personal favorite (assuming the classic "daffodil disguise" as he watches birds... a rocket scientist he is not)

{{gwi:1099711}}... I have more! ;)

Love the car!

Pack rat? I guess so. I haven't thrown out a handbag in 25 years, and have a hard time throwing away comfortable shoes - if they hurt, they go to the Salvation Army after 2 days; if they feel good, they live forever, no matter what they look like.

Fave recent non-fiction books: The Places in Between, about a trek across Afghanistan, Nine Parts of Desire, about women in Muslim societies, and with some interesting history about that faith, Three Cups of Tea, about a mountain-climber turned school-builder in Afghanistan (yeah, I read about that area quite a bit), The Lemon Tree, about Palestine/Israel, as well as Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Palen.

Fiction: I'm reading Great Expectations and just love it, and I recently read or re-read most of Jane Austen's works. Also loved Out Stealing Horses and The Boys in the Trees, which I read this fall - I highly recommend them both.

I'm not really a Mac or PC person, I'm real geek, a Linux fan. Right now most of my computers are Macs, because the operating system has all the power of Linux plus it runs the ubiquitous commercial software, like Photoshop and Word. We have to use PCs at sea because instruments have an easier time talking to them, but it's like working with one hand tied behind your back. If I had to choose, I'd go with a Mac, although they're quite a bit more expensive.

I've got to stick my neck out on plastic pots. Some of my neighbors use them, and I guess the ones that "look just like terra cotta" are the ones I dislike most. I know clay is expensive and fragile, but it's so beautiful that I can't stand seeing it imitated in a "low maintenance" copy. It *never* looks real. Even the plain black plastic pots are preferable, to my eye.

Admission: I'm sitting here with 4 lovely lavenders, in green plastic pots on my desk... they never got planted so now they're here. They're sharing the space with about a year's worth of bills (mostly paid, I think), a huge tangle of wires from all sorts of devices, a couple of mice, my unsent Christmas cards .... what a mess. The plastic doesn't offend me here.

I forgot to mention above that I hope I didn't offend anyone by saying I dislike the vinyl fencing - although I see most here (at least most who posted) share my dislike.

I don't like vinyl siding either, but I have it. My husband really, really wanted it, while I wanted to paint. I finally caved, and even though we got the shingle style, which looks better, IMO, I still dislike having a "plastic" house. Had to get used to the new sound of rain hitting it, too, lol.

The kicker? We have a large, attached garage in the back of the house, and couldn't afford to side that too, so after the house was done, we matched the paint to the siding and had it professionally painted. My DH came home that day, walked around the garage a few times without saying a word, then said, "Wow, they did a great job. Maybe we *should have* gotten the house painted." I almost throttled him on the spot.

No one else seems to even notice that the garage and the house are different, unless we point it out.

Anyway, just wanted to say I hope I didn't offend.

:)
Dee

who has plastic pots too, lol!

After posting I remembered I had a photo with the house and garage, so I thought I'd post to show the two. Not a great photo, but you can see how closely the color matches, and while I think the siding itself is very obviously different (the wood and the vinyl) I'm always amazed at how no one notices!

You can also see some of my plastic pots in the shot, lol.

:)
Dee
{{gwi:224142}}

I enjoyed everyones comments but mostly I enjoyed the pix of the car and the daffodil disguise.

Re:bills..I have managed a coup. After a decade of being the bill payer in our house, I managed to somehow convince my wife that we would be better off if she paid all the bills. She really is more organized than I am and now has calendars and charts and stuff to make it easy. My style was to open the mail, put the bills somewhere, find them later and then pay them hopefully before they were due. So now I dont have to waste any mental energy or time knowing how to read or understand the electric bill (or any for that matter).

Re:Phones. I dont have a cell phone. I never answer my home phone. If you want to speak with me, leave a message and Ill call you back. My wife has a cell phone and it is convenient when the power is out or you want to know if something is needed to be picked up on the way home. But I really find cell phones a disruption to my life. I find it annoying that society is leaning toward instant gratification. I dont want to be interrupted by my phone dozens of times per day. My collegues at work are constantly texting and annoying ring sounds going off all day. 99% of the time, its frivolous chit chat (wait a minute....whats the subject matter of this thread?)

Re:pets. We are animal crazy in this house (all 5 cats and the dog huddled with us around the fireplace during the ice storom power outage).

Re:computers...Im tech retarded. I have PCs. My computer geek friend tells me what to buy and gets it working when there are problems.

Re:TV. We like mindless stuff at night after the kids are in bed. I love watching intervention, or any documentary about conjoined twins and sex change shows or little people or people without faces. I know its weird but my wife and I love this crap. And it isnt to make us feel good about our lives....rather it is just awe. Sort of like the new age carni-shows. Also we have netflix for movies and watching hbo/showtime series. We like six feet under, oz, entourage, weeds, etc. And a segway to healthcare--we just watched Michael Moores Sicko (about the screwed up healthcare in the us).

Well, I gotta go to work. Thanks for the chit chat--

Electric bill: I definitely understand it's TOO expensive!

Agree w/Sunshineboy about the cellphone. I have a landline and a cell, but not too many people have my number. Also agree about the instant-gratification thing that has been going on. I never use IM becuase I find that it really is too interrupting.

I got an ipod a few years ago from my company. My brother was so excited about how much I would love it! It's still in my desk in the box. Oh well.

I understand that health insurance companies needs to be not-for-profit. I do understand my health insurance policy. I understand that any time we need something for my special-needs son, they generally reject it. Say the school should be taking care of therapies, etc. No wonder why they make so much money and our healthcare is so messed up. But I'm not bitter.....

White, plastic fencing...Uh Oh! I have a wood picket fence painted white. It desperately needs another paint job. My husband and I have always sworn off ALL plastic. We have wood everything. But...we have been discussing possibly in another 5 or 7 years, when the fence would be ready for a third paint job, replacing it with white plastic depending on how far along they come with the look of it. This post is making me go back and remember how much I really do dislike white plastic fences!

I was a pack-rat, actually of crafty things. Used to craft quite a bit and had tons of crap in a closet. One day a charity was looking for crafty stuff and I hadn't crafted in a number of years, so I donated it all. My husband is the purger in our household. Sometimes he gets in trouble for it, but I think most times I don't even know what the heck has been thrown out!

LOVE "daffodil disguise"! Thanks for sharing those photos.

I also love the photo of the Daffodil Disguise! "Pay no attention to the cat hiding next to the peonies...!" And that car is just great.

Regarding good reads: I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't read a good book in years. My attention span seems to be along the lines of gardening magazine articles these days. Must be the lack of sleep!

Regarding craftiness: Yes, although not in the scrapbooking sense. I think all of us here are crafters in the garden, for sure. I also like to play around with photography.

Regarding pack rattiness: Oh, yes. As soon as I clear off my computer desk or kitchen table, the "mess fairies" come in the night and clutter it up again. And, the basement is filled with "stuff" that I just might be able to use some day. Unfortunately, about once every 5 years, I CAN use a piece of that stuff, so I get reinforced for hanging on to it!

Regarding computers: I am currently running a Mac, but, I am not as thrilled with it as I had hoped. The peripherals are way too expensive, and the basic stuff it comes with aren't enough for me. I think iPhoto is sub par. And, currently, I am dealing with the "whirling beach ball of death," which means the screen freezes up with a multi-colored disc spinning around in the middle. I got rid of my PC because I was sick of it freezing up.

Regarding pets: I have 3 rescued dogs, who I love, but, I can no longer sit on my sofa, which is perpetually covered with a sheet. Seriously, though, if I had a farm, I'd rescue more

Emily

Electric bill: regardless, right now I'm feeling it's worth it since after that horrible ice storm we were back on line in less than 24 hrs, despite being on a sparsely populated rural road 1/2 mile from the end of the line while our neighbors in more populated areas on a different company didn't get power back for 3 days . . . But yes I basically understand it and my health insurance (like CTLady we are self-employed and have to get our own.) My homeowner's insurance is one of my next projects, so right now I'd have to say I'm not too clear on it.

White plastic fences: Our neighbors (who have NO sense) put them in and expected them to keep the horses in. The horses learned quite quickly that a little bit of weight against the fence would break it, but it took 6 or 8 escapes for the owners to learn. So while the aesthetics are not what I prefer, the practical aspects for farm use are nil. The same neighbors cut down every tree (and then planted saplings that are dwarfed by their huge house) and not only stripped and sold the topsoil, but dug a dangerously steep-sided pond just so they could sell that soil as well.

By preference & for personal use, Mac, though I do dual platform for work.

I use a cell phone for my convenience (ordering take-out as I'm leaving town to drive home) and to communicate with my husband at his shop and at craft shows. One thing I like about our landline, that in an emergency it will tell 911 my address if I can't, whereas my cell can't.

Crafty: Not in the usual sense. I'm a wood turner and plan to learn to weld this winter so I can make garden trellises.

Pack rat: I prefer the term cluttered, but yes I am. But my closets & computer files are pretty well organized.

Books & TV: I read a lot. I've enjoyed '3 Cups of Tea' and 'Born on a Blue Day,' both biography/memoir, and in general read lots of garden & plant books & mysteries. TV is often evening background noise while we're reading or web cruising or when I'm too tired to do other than just veg.

I'm quite jealous of all the pets (some great photos!) We are catless currently due to the danger cars present to pets on our road (the house is only about 15 from the road.) We have many more voles than when we had cats. Eventually we'll be further away from the road, and then we'll once again have cats.

Oh Emily ... what BEAUTIFUL dogs! Two goldens (one looks OLD and the light one looks like an English golden?) and is that a Rhodesian Ridgeback or what/who is the third one?? And so wonderful that they're rescued (would someone rescue me so I can hang out on a nice, warm sofa??) They are just beautiful and must make quite a trio -- how do they get along? I always worry about introducing adult dogs into a household that has dogs -- and especially rescue dogs where sometimes they're stressed to begin with. Looks as if you manage it with flying colors!

And to nhbabs... our neighbors (the ones with the plastic "horse" fence) also clear-cut their lot when they built, taking down magnificent old maples (claiming it was a "clear case of overcrowding" and they were "leaving the healthy ones"... that would be three (3) healthy ones, and roughly 200 that were apparently NOT healthy. Those trees were healthy enough to put on a magnificent fall color extravaganza every year -- hard to imagine they were at death's door. Then, of course, their contractor piled all the soil from the excavation (formerly a meadow, so FULL of seeds -- they spend all summer spraying herbicides everywhere!) back around the three lone survivors, way higher on the trunks than the forest floor ever was. My tree man says that he sees that "all the time" -- contractors smothering trees by piling topsoil around them to create a nice, new yard for the homeowners.

What I'm trying to figure out is why their two dogs -- admittedly big ones -- can't co-exist WITH trees. SOME trees, anyway? I know they like to run, but can't they run AROUND trees? We have great, huge old maples and my golden knows how to run around them (she only ran into one once!) ...;)

[Sigh.]

So here's to real wood fencing, which has a certain charm (for me) even when it's in need of paint ... and in my experience, vinyl fences don't look so great after a few years ... and then you're stuck with them because you CAN'T spruce them up with paint ...!

There. I'm done venting. Thanks for listening ;)

Simply put you all make me smile.

ctlady,
Thanks, the pups are a good looking bunch, and people often comment on them while I'm walking the three together. Both goldens are old (10 &11), and they came as a "bonded pair." The third one came as a "lab mix," and, I agree, he looks very much like a Ridgeback! Born in a pound, I don't have any more info on him. He's almost 3 years old, and came to me when he was 4 months. They get along great--mostly I think due to the personalities of the goldens. They are mellow and very tolerant of the "youngster" behavior of the third!

I don't blame you for venting about that tree massacre. That's totally sickening--I really don't understand why people do that. Well, except for the fact that they have no sense.

nhbabs--I laughed when I read about the horses leaning against the fence to escape. Had no idea people stripped topsoil to sell it, either. sheesh.

Emily