Okay, I have chickens, dogs and a husband. I learned the hard way that hubby has "man-eyes" that do not work very well on items he is uninterested in. Walking out to lock up the coop after dark is boring, and I doubt my husband even glances at the birds, on the rare occasions that he shuts the gates. I usually do it. My husband could not tell you how many chickens we have, and even gets flustered when asked if all the dogs are inside or not. We have been married 22 years, and he still says "Oh, I forgot" when I ask him about a routine task he was supposed to do. BTW, he is very sharp, has a difficult job that he excels at, but tends to zone out at home. He has even admitted that if a task/subject does not directly affect/interest him, he "forgets" about it. My wonderful, sweet, trained dogs have on occasion, teased, chased, plucked and even killed a few of my birds over the years. I have 10 dogs and 35 chickens, all exploring the acreage every day. The poultry are locked up at night, and the dogs are in the house. Mostly they live in perfect harmony, but chickens left outside, at night, are unusual to our dogs, and may be caught, carried, plucked or eaten. I think your two birds did not go in the coop that night, your husband miscounted (if he checked at all) and the dog/s "played" with the one chicken until it stopped moving and died from being stressed or held too tightly. It should not happen again if you lock up the birds at night. It sounds like your dogs are not killers, they were just curious and playing with an oddity that should not have been there after dark. My dogs would do the same. Lisa

Judy, I lucked into iresine for sale at the Grower's Outlet for 10 cents each a couple of weeks ago. I've put some into the garden and also started rooting some cuttings to keep over winter. Thanks for the info about Lowe's and Home Depot. I don't know how I've missed seeing them there. Maybe it just took seeing a full grown plant in the actual garden for me to appreciate the plant.

'bloviate'?!? and, i don't think you need to 'have something' to have an opinion or an interest or a desire to discuss!! i think it's safe to say that all of us know people with tattoos/piercings, like people with tattoos and piercings, and many of us have loved ones with tattoos and piercings!! i personally do not know anyone very well close to my age with large, very visible tattoos- i think of small little ankle/wrist tattoos in a different way- much less of a 'commitment', more like 'pierced ears'... the friends and relatives i have who have a small dolphin, hearts, flowers, or initials, etc on their ankle or wrist or hip usually don't have much of a story or decision making process to go with it and they would not get sleeves, full leg or back tats, etc... it's a totally different commitment! the people i know with more unusual piercings or tats are much younger than me!! we know that lots of things are discussed/thought about in depth here- whether it be paint colors, toaster or mixer colors, health issues, parenting decisions, the bible, the financial crisis, etc! and we all have things that interest us more than others! there are always some who have a higher tolerance for discussing things at length(to death)! it's unfortunate that some experience hard or hurt feelings when not everyone agrees or understands.

I am kind of surprised that it upsets people to see a profile photo that isn't a perfect likeness. I don't usually use photos of myself (hate them!) but on a rare occasion, I use a photo of me with one of my (now passed) dogs. It was from almost 20 yr ago but I love the photo and the memories it reflects. Otherwise, I use something seasonal, temporal or a character that reflects my current state of mind. I've used Hit Girl (from Kick-ass), David Bowie, a painting of Ganesha, Winnie the Pooh, and (currently) the Statue of Liberty. I doubt I'd post a bunch of photos of myself even if I was young, thin and hot. Some of my nieces use the silly filters that distort their faces-- or those that swap features with another person. It's all in good fun and they laugh a bunch while doing it. No harm there. We need more giggles in the world.