Introduction

21 years ago

Well, I see there is at least one fellow Texan on this forum, so it must be a friendly bunch. ;)

I'm 37 y/o and work as a paralegal in Central Texas. I'm an avid mystery reader and enjoy working with my dogs (I have Australian Shepherds) which includes sheep herding and recently, agility. I do keep a few sheep for training/evaluation purposes. I enjoy gardening, but have not given it as much time as I should since I moved 18 months ago.

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Comments (20)

Wings2W
21 years ago
Welcome Sienna!

Lots of great people in TX. My DS/DDL live there too.

Avid mystery reader here too. Patterson is one of my favs.
Letters to Nicholas is going to be on the tube late this month. I think that is the one.

With everything else you do how would you have time for a lot of gardening? Unless, of course, the TX days have more hours than we do in CA.

Again........welcome!

Wing
Tinmantu
21 years ago
Welcome Sienna...I'm not Texan but I can bullshiat with the best of them ;) (sorry an old joke)...nice to see new faces on the board
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Kitchens are very personal to those that use them. One cooks dream kitchen will be another cooks nightmare. Fingers crossed in two years time I will be allowed to build MY dream kitchen in our current house. Any line cook/professional chef will feel at ease here, but most people on this forum would be shocked. I am in a very unique situation where my wife has a very well paying job that means I do not have to work to put food on the table. This is not to say I could not find work, as 13 years in the Australian Army (retiring as a Major) and four years as a Finance Professional (two finance degrees, the highest a Masters) have left me with marketable skills. After moving to Dallas TX via five years in New York City, from Sydney Australia, I was looking at short courses to improve my home cooking. Not finding any courses that were of value I enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu and completed a 15 month Culinary Associates Degree in 13 months then worked in a five star restaurant for nine months. This was all to improve my home cooking. Kitchens for me are a place of work. If you want to socialize there are other rooms in the house for that. If you need to do homework, there are other rooms in the house for that. If you are in my kitchen you are cooking and/or cleaning. By their nature kitchens are hot, noisy, dangerous places. Pets and very very young children do not belong in the kitchen as they pose a risk to themselves and others, both through injury and food contamination. My kitchen will have a commercial range hood. I'm not talking 27" deep 48" wide 1,000 cfm, but a 48" deep 9' wide 2,500 cfm hood covering the entire hot cooking area. The hot cooking area will have one gas wok burner and outlets/space for two 3,500w (240v) portable induction burners, two 1,800w (110v) portable induction burners, one 240v counter top deep fryer, two immersion circulators (110v) in their water baths, and a commercial combi oven. 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what a sweet photo! little choo choo was certainly in the right place at the right time. wishing you much joy and love! the circumstances remind me of the little great dane puppy found running through traffic in st. louis. he was scooped up by a passerby and taken to the dane rescue there. it was always a mystery where he came from as no one claimed him. he was SO tiny, it was a wonder he wasn't smooshed! he was beyond adorable, they named him "dodger" for obvious reasons and he was adopted by a friend of mine. lived to the ripe old age of 12 years.
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joulesR4me
21 years ago
Welcome!!! I'm not a Texan either, but go to Houston (well, actually Clearlake) for business sometimes. I don't leave the perimeter of the Space Center --- cept to the Kemah for dinner.

I spend most of my free time with my dogs as well. They're whippets and we're going racing this weekend (lure course racing)! It's a good drive, but they love it so much, that I'll gas up my Beast and go. I have done some agility with them too. Unfortunately, mine are neither gifted in racing or agility, but that time is really good for socialization (which they need more of).

I love watching the Border Collies at the Scottish Games - herding both sheep and duck. A real crowd pleaser.
sienna_98
Original Author
21 years ago
Thank you all for the warm welcome. I'm not a native Texan, but have lived here for almost 10 years. Before that I lived in Maine, Ohio, Pennsyvlania, New York, and Conneticut, oh and a short stint in Liverpool, England. Never would I have believed I would have settled down in one place for so long, but I really like it here! (but don't ask me in August, ugh.)
sienna_98
Original Author
21 years ago
Wings2W: I just came back from a mystery convention called Left Coast Crime. Last year it was in Monterey, CA and it was beautiful. This year it was in El Paso, which was not so nice, but I had a wonderful time. It is a lot of fun to meet the authors and ask them questions about their books, the writing process, etc. It seems to be a lot of the same people from year to year, so it is a bit like a family reunion. We always have a blast staying up late, drinking, talking, laughing.
sienna_98
Original Author
21 years ago
Tinmantu: Being in the legal community, I can certainly bullshiat with the best of them. Texans just do it a little slower.
sienna_98
Original Author
21 years ago
JoulesR4me: I've seen some whippets in agility, but I've never seen lure coursing outside of Animal Planet. Sounds pretty cool, although the last thing I need is another dog sport. Herding is a blast, but definitely involves a lot of travel and time commitment. I've been involved for about 7 years or so and am still working on some of the basics!
Wings2W
21 years ago
I'm not allowed to say the "dog" word much above a whisper here. My feline will banish me!

My grandpuppies are lure racing Basenjis.

Monterey/Big Sur are my favorite places. Glad you enjoyed
Sienna 98

^w^
sienna_98
Original Author
21 years ago
I have both cats and dogs and they get along most of the time. I currently have a young foster Aussie and he still thinks they are something to bark and chase, so I only see the cats in the evening when I put the dogs up for the night. They've learned to keep away from him. My other dogs are less aggressive and will generally just sniff the cats as they go by. They are actually doing pretty well as the cats have only been here about a year (but, I did make sure that the cats I adopted were 'dog wise.')

I know very little about Basenji's other than they are originally from Africa and they 'yodel' rather than bark. I didn't realize they did lure racing. Very cool.

The Northern California coast is stunning. Too expensive to live in CA, but it is definitely worthwhile to visit! My sister used to live in San Jose and I really enjoyed visiting Napa Valley, even though I'm not a big wine drinker. San Francisco was cool, but I'm not really a big city person as I hate crowds. We did the night tour of Alcatraz, which I highly recommend. I liked Monterey not only for its gorgeous setting, but there were 5 coffee shops between my hotel and the Convention Center -- gotta love that!
bunnyman
21 years ago
Hi Sienna!

I'm from Michigan and have not been in Texas in the last twenty years. I had my Air Force basic training in Texas so that did not make a positive impression... really nothing to do with Texas itself. This is a fairly slow paced forum so don't be surprised if threads take awhile to go. Looking forward to learning more about Texas and herding dogs.

: )
michael

... more then one "Michael" on this forum just so you know
Carrie B
21 years ago
Hey there Sienna,

CarrieB here, from Philadelphia. Have been to CA (sister in Los Gatos & one in Hollywood), nephew in Benicia.

I work for a Harm Reduction agency full time and garden (both for fun and for pay) on the side.

I have never been married, am 39, and have a boyfriend of one year+ who I met at an Online dating site (it really can happen!).

Best,

CarrieB
sienna_98
Original Author
21 years ago
Bunnyman: Well, I lived in Michigan for about a year when I was 5. Does that count? :) Not really, I guess, because I then spent the next 13 years in central Ohio, and I still root for the Buckeyes! Not so easy to catch them on tv down here unless I drive into town and go to a sports bar.

You'll hear plenty from me about Texas and herding. We had a gorgeous weekend last weekend -- it was sunny and in the low 80's. Generally not very remarkable for Texas in the spring time, but it rained for the 6 prior weekends, so people were starting to get a bit twitchy. :) Texans have *no* concept of cabin fever. I learned very quickly that the only people down here who know how to play board games (I'm a huge Trivial Pursuit fan), are non-natives. Of course, non-natives are the only ones who know how to drive when there's ice on the roads too. ;)

Herding is starting to pick up. I teach/evaluate beginning herding dogs once a month for my club. Mostly I get suburbanites who just want to know if their dog has any instinct, but this past weekend I actually had a couple of people who had some livestock. While their dogs did not necessarily do better, they understood more of what I was trying to do with their dogs. The best one in the lot was a 5 month old Kelpie puppy. He's going to be awesome if his owner handles him right.

CarrieB: What on earth is a Harm Reduction agency? I have never come across that term before. Glad to hear that the relationship is going well.

So, now that I've rambled on a bit. What do you all do for fun?
Wings2W
21 years ago
Michigan:

I visited my granparents in Kalamazoo before they moved Idaho Falls. Eons ago, of course, but I remember cold Lake Michigan, a potato chip factory and a bird sanctuary.

Anyone want to post a pix? I have one but must figure out how.

Sienna..be sure to check out Bunnyman's. He's a hoot too.

Wing
Carrie B
21 years ago
Hi Sienna,

Harm Reduction (the Harm Reduction Coalition is linked below) is, well, it is what it sounds like it is. Usually it is used as a way of working with users of illicit drugs, an alternative to "just say no". If someone is not ready/doesn't want to get off drugs, perhaps you can talk to them about not driving cars when they are high, using after work instead of at work, using sterile needles to inject, etc.

You can also think in terms of sex and any number of other things. For example, you want teenagers to not have sex, but you know that they often do and that nothing you say to some of them will get them to wait. So, you teach them about safer sex, you give them condoms, and you talk about sexual health at the same time that you are encouraging them to wait until they are older/in a meaningful monogomous relationship, etc.

For fun, I garden!

Here is a link that might be useful: Harm Reduction
Tinmantu
21 years ago
Wings, the easiest way to explain how to post a pic is to go to photobucket.com and open a free account..upload your pics then copy the link down a the bottom...I won't get into "tag" lines but once you use one it will make the picture appear like bunnymans did.
bunnyman
21 years ago
I use villagephoto. Didn't like picturetrail.
sienna_98
Original Author
21 years ago
Cute bunny picture. When I lived in Ohio we used to find their nests in the yard all the time. Very rarely do I see rabbits in my part of Texas -- too many coyotes I guess, although it could very well be the fire ants, they're vicious! I've learned how to get along with most of the critters down here, including the snakes, tarantulas and scorpions, but I *hate* fire ants.
bunnyman
21 years ago
I was stationed in Florida 20 years ago and got my fill of fire ants. The little bunny is a wild cottontail. I let him go after a couple pictures.
grammahony
21 years ago
I'm new here too.
I am retired for Kellogg's Omaha plant after 30 years. I love my clematis, day lilies, and oriental/asian lilies and hydrangeas. I have a Bluebird trail with 13 nestboxes. I have fledged 27 young so far this summer. I just installed a Bird Creek. It is a little recycling pond/creek, for the birds to drink and bathe in. I have 1 dog, Toby, part shih-tzu. I got him at the shelter. I also have 2 cats, Maggie and Blossom (short for Fart Blossom, she was so stinky when a kitten). Anyone have any tips for eliminating fur balls? I have tried a lot of things.
I've lived in Nebraska all my life. Most of it in a very small town of 1,500. In 2000 I moved into a townhome (duplex) after my husband passed away at 52. I didn't want to mow, and scoop snow any more. Then I retired the next year, and love it.
I must add, those "cute" little bunnies love to eat my flowers, and are really a pain in the butt. But, alas, no coyotes here in town.

Leslie
spunky_8
21 years ago
I am new here too - from Seattle.

Used to live 7 years in South Florida and concur on having had my fill on fireants - and mosquitos of course.

Love the wild bunnies up here, but I don't have a yard to get annoyed with them :(

I have a senior labmix and currently am fostering a cat mom and 6 kittens - hoping all will make it, but the runt worries me, so I cook up a disgusting concoction and syringe feed him/her... keep your fingers crossed for the little guy.

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