Thread Drift

Hi all.. happy new year. I have been busy!! I started attending a CoDA meeting (Codependent's Annonymous) which has been great just in two weeks I've been going. Helping me move along with the break-up which is good. After 8 weeks from the break-up, it was obvious my exbf was not going to call with any kind of follow-up communication. I realized last week that "I" needed some closure... and it was apparent, he wasn't going to give that to me... so I surprised him and showed up at his door on NewYearsDay. I have not talked to him since 11/7 since he left. I cried, I told him what I felt, how I felt, I apologized for what I felt I did wrong in the relationship, I said everything I could not the night he left... cause he left so sudden I had no time for anything, let alone speak. Unfortunatey his mind appears to be made up and he is fine with being out of the relationship... which boggles my mind, but whatever... that's why I'm going to CoDA to learn that I am powerless of what he chooses and to free myself from my guilt that it was all my fault... which I know it was not.

Anyway, it was a good meeting.... and I feel like I got my closure, and I feel so much better... a little more vindicated and maybe a little less humiliated because I felt I deserved to speak too.

So that's all I have to say on that... :D

but I am here to share my pic of me and Lady Marlene at the stables. She is the horse I train on... I just love her!! I have had the most amazing people come into my life the last few months. The people at the barn are just amazing and the people in my CoDA group are just great... I feel so blessed that even though I dont have the exbf, I still have lots of good things in my life... and one being is this fine horse below!! (Dont' look at my hair, I just got done riding for over and hour with her... and both she and I worked very hard!!, hehe)

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...n/IMG_0198.jpg

here she is on the cross ties. Her coat is a little messy here cause she is sweaty from riding and her coat is a little long with winter... but I love her. She looks a little skinny in this pic, it's just the angle... she's not that skinny, but she's not huge either.... although I do like her size and her breed. I think if I buy a horse I will get a Saddlebred just like her :D

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...n/IMG_0197.jpg

CC- we look forward to a description of your adventure and some pictures! :)


Great horse photos, Chicago.

Chicago, it will get better! Every day without old what's his name, he will fade a little more. Soon you'll wonder what you saw in him in the first place.


And thanks for sharing your horse with us. I remember those days. I remember when I was in my 20's we all wanted the tallest horses we could get(since i rode Arabians, they were never very tall). Then my best buddy and i rented pasture belonging to this 70 year old man. He loved to go to horse auctions and buy ponies. Not tiny ponies, ponies about 12.5-14 hands. He'd get on these ponies and make them walk out like a horse. He explained it was a lot closer to the ground in case he fell. He more than kept up with us on rides. We thought it was silly. But now I can relate to that.

Today a team of guys from the tree surgeon company we hired came and cleaned up our poor giant 60foot 50year old pine that was so devastated in the recent ice storm. I also had them do some healthy pruning and grooming of several other small neglected trees and bushes on our small property while they were here, and remove a large bush that split from the ice storm.

There were so many giant pine branches down and they had to climb all up and through the tree to make precise cuts to clean off giant splintered branch ends and try to encourage some new branches to grow. The many branches down were so big and such a mess lying there for the past several weeks- our poor beautiful tree! It was so depressing to look at in the back yard. :(
We were lucky the tree company could come help us so soon as they did- they've been super busy ever since that ice storm and are booked up all this next year as well with people like us.
4 handsome strong young men were buzzing all over the property like a swarm of bees and climbing our trees like monkeys- it all happened so fast, in like 4 hours! Their massive shredder machine-truck can chip branches (logs really) that are 15" diameter! :eek:
We are so sad to see the formerly full lush pine tree looking so bald, thin, and amputated now, but also glad it was able to be saved somehow, and happy it is all finished now and the huge mess cleared up. It was the best we could do to help the tree rather than just cut it down. They said the big pine would eventually sprout some new smaller branches to fill in the bare spots as time goes on.

That pine tree will fill in so fast you won't even remember what it looked like!

Did they leave you the nice chipped-up wood to use for mulch in the spring?

Instead of buying mulch, we rent a chipper ($100 a weekend) and chip all the branches that have fallen throughout the year. In the meantime, while we stack up the branches, the birdies have a place to nest.

Karen

I had the tree trimmers from the power company make me a bunch of mulch. I never did use it:obut Ginger likes to lay on it:o:o

BSG- Thanks for the suggestion of putting water in Maggie's food. The vet suggested it today, when we told him we were already doing that he was pleased we were a step ahead! ;)

I'm considering a remake of another bike. I want something that will take a wider tire (38's?) to go on dirt roads. The Mariposa has (I think) 29's.
Maybe I'll start perusing the pawn shops.

I've been on the Rivendell site too much...

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

BSG- Thanks for the suggestion of putting water in Maggie's food. The vet suggested it today, when we told him we were already doing that he was pleased we were a step ahead! ;)

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Oh, I'm so glad!! :p Our cat Pearl, who has had kidney issues for years off and on, started getting bad again a month ago. That's when I just switched all three cats to canned food ONLY, and added plenty of water to it all to sort of force them all to get more water. It seems to have done the trick- Pearl has slowly improved since I did this and is now a lot better than last month. I wanted to avoid giving her sub-cutaneous water injections if at all possible, and the soupy food is working. :p Of course they all complained bitterly but I held firm and eventually they had no choice but to eat the canned mush food instead of the pellets they loved. I have found a few canned brands and flavors they seem to like well enough. I avoid ones with any kind of gluten in the ingredients as I suspect the toxic chinese gluten disaster was what poisoned Pearl in the first place several years ago and damaged her kidneys early on to the point of almost killing her.
Keep us posted on Maggie's progress!

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Originally Posted by Zen

I'm considering a remake of another bike. I want something that will take a wider tire (38's?) to go on dirt roads. The Mariposa has (I think) 29's.
Maybe I'll start perusing the pawn shops.
I've been on the Rivendell site too much...

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Just a thought- I used to run 38's with inner Kevlar belts on my Rambouillet because I felt I needed super wide tires to go on dirt and gravel roads. DH suggested 32's, which worked fine for me too. Then we both switched to 28's with Kevlar (flat resistant inner layer) ....and those worked just fine too over fields and rocks and gravel and dirt and potholes. I didn't notice much of a difference except they were not as fat and heavy. Finally, last year we switched 4 of our bikes to 25's with flat resistance inner belts- and hey, I can't believe what kind of rough stuff they go over with no problems ...and no flats!...except...The only flats I've ever had were from long sharp glass shards, and that happened with both wide and thin tires- few tires can withstand a long nasty glass shard or a nail, regardless of width. So all I'm saying is that I myself found that I didn't really need super wide 38's to ride mega-rough surfaces and gravel roads- what I needed was flat resistant tires and the 25's seem just as bulletproof to me as my old 38's were, due to their tough inner belts of flat resistant material.
My DH likes his 700x25 Continental gatorskins....I like my 700x25 Continental 4 Seasons Grand Prix best.....and we both like Pasela Panaracers w/TourGuard (Kevlar) of varying widths. All those ties have inner flat-resistant belts. We put the (more expensive) Continentals on our pleasure bikes and are using up our older wider (and cheaper) Paselas on our errand bikes now. Just more stuff to think about. :)

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Originally Posted by Zen

I'm considering a remake of another bike. I want something that will take a wider tire (38's?) to go on dirt roads. The Mariposa has (I think) 29's.
Maybe I'll start perusing the pawn shops.

I've been on the Rivendell site too much...

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If my PT lets me ride this Spring I'm going to see if my Trek 7.5 can handle a switch from 28's to 38's...I need a little less jarring on the commute.

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Originally Posted by Pax

If my PT lets me ride this Spring I'm going to see if my Trek 7.5 can handle a switch from 28's to 38's...I need a little less jarring on the commute.

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That's definitely one nice thing about fat tires....they tend to smooth out bumps which is very important if you have physical issues. :)

By the way, if anyone missed the entire new life that Zen gave to an old lugged Mariposa she picked up, be sure to look at what a wonderful job she did to it:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=28547
...what a dreamy bike! :D

I think I have 35's on my FX

Zen, you will also have to find out the limits on the width of tires your Mariposa can take...with fenders. This depends on your brake clearance, your fork and rear clearance. My Rivendell Rambouillet, for instance, was made for wider tires than typical road/racing bikes- and I can put at max some 700x38's on it with no fenders. I believe it will not accommodate any tire wider than 28's with fenders. You'll have to decide whether you want to keep the fenders or ditch them for really wide tires. Even without fenders you'll have to still be sure your brakes and fork etc will fit wider tires.

Y'all are being pretty on-topic for a way off topic ongoing conversation thread...:p

shh! it's raining in Seattle!

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Originally Posted by divingbiker

Y'all are being pretty on-topic for a way off topic ongoing conversation thread...:p

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Actually, we are being off topic for the topic of this thread...
aiiiiii!!!! Brain hurting!!!!!!!!! :eek:

No, you're right of course- sorry! :p


Mimi- it's freezing rain here right now too. Weirdly, it seems to me that the NW and the NE have been echoing each other's weather this past month, getting ice storms, sunny, or snowstorms often at the same time. strange... But biking has been just about impossible here so far this winter, between ice, wind, heavy snow, frigid temps, and rain. I'm getting cabin fever and eating way too much fattening stuff! I think I'll at least go for a 5 mile walk tomorrow (.....after a hearty breakfast of course). :rolleyes:

I wonder if we should be putting more water in Maggie's food? My husband has been putting some but it is not totally soupy. She has to go on a phosphorous binder to try to bring that down. I really don't want to have to do subcu fluids. I think she needs more water.

My pansies have finally starting blooming, makes the house more cheerful since my ruellia and mexican heathers are getting dormant for the winter. Is it spring yet?

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Originally Posted by divingbiker

Y'all are being pretty on-topic for a way off topic ongoing conversation thread...:p

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Pipe down, you!

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

I wonder if we should be putting more water in Maggie's food? My husband has been putting some but it is not totally soupy. She has to go on a phosphorous binder to try to bring that down. I really don't want to have to do subcu fluids. I think she needs more water.

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Maybe add more gradually (to get her used to it) until the canned food is like a thick soup, that's what i do and the 3 cats are all used to it now.

It's another day in paradise & forecast temp is 37C. I hope there's some wind along the river when i ride home!

We will have to break out the jackets on Monday..it's only going to be 28C :rolleyes: :p

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

I wonder if we should be putting more water in Maggie's food? My husband has been putting some but it is not totally soupy. She has to go on a phosphorous binder to try to bring that down. I really don't want to have to do subcu fluids. I think she needs more water.

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Believe it or not, Murphy was terrified of water when I first got him! He absolutely would not drink. The vet thought his kidneys were not working and told me I'd have to put him to sleep. Several hundred $ later, it turned out he was just massively dehydrated.
Anyway, a friend of mine taught him to drink on command. She'd stamp her foot, point at the bowl and say "take a drink!", he'd run over, take a drink, and run away. It was an amazing thing to see.
I did that everytime I walked by his water bowl for about a year, it became a fun game for him. 8 years later, he's no longer afraid of water bowls and all is good.
So, you could teach her to drink on command ;)

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Originally Posted by TsPoet

Believe it or not, Murphy was terrified of water when I first got him! He absolutely would not drink. The vet thought his kidneys were not working and told me I'd have to put him to sleep. Several hundred $ later, it turned out he was just massively dehydrated.
Anyway, a friend of mine taught him to drink on command. She'd stamp her foot, point at the bowl and say "take a drink!", he'd run over, take a drink, and run away. It was an amazing thing to see.
I did that everytime I walked by his water bowl for about a year, it became a fun game for him. 8 years later, he's no longer afraid of water bowls and all is good.
So, you could teach her to drink on command ;)

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what a strange problem. Would he eat ice cubes?

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

Zen, you will also have to find out the limits on the width of tires your Mariposa can take...with fenders.

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Done that. It will only take 28's with the fenders and I'm keeping the fenders..
These are the tires that are on it now
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/DSC_0191.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/DSC_0192.jpg

And just to keep things off topic, this is what it looked like here today.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/DSC_0186.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/DSC_0182.jpg

{{{{{shudder....}}}}}} I remember that ice from a few weeks ago! no power for a couple of days....hundreds of $ of tree damage in our back yard....1/2" if ice on everything.....ACK!!
It's hard to believe we are still just in the beginning of winter- the weather has been so lousy!

So if you get some nice 28's with flat resistant inner belts (like maybe Kevlar for instance), you'll be able to ride that Mariposa over really rough gravel and dirt you know. It's the glass and nails that get you more than the rocks and gravel, at least for me.

I loved the photos Zen! Yes, I understand that winter can be hard & horrible but it's beautiful.

Keep warm & i'll try to keep cool down here..

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

what a strange problem. Would he eat ice cubes?

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what a great idea, where were you 8 years ago when I needed you? :rolleyes:
Murphy was ~2 when I got him and was on his way to being put to sleep for a slew of fearful and aggressive behaviors. He'd been terribly abused, had broken bones and was 14 lbs. He's now 20 lbs (and should be 19), he's under 8" at the shoulders. Took me nearly 2 days before I could touch him without being bitten. First walk I took him on, we rounded a corner in the park to find one of those barrel garbage cans - he viciously attacked it. I can't believe he didn't break a tooth on it.
Later that same week, while walking him in the neighborhood, a sprinkler popped up, and he attacked that - Lots of Murphy stories. I absolutely adore him. Eight years down the road and he's infinitely better. I still can't take my eyes off him for fear of what/who he might attack.
This last week, we ran into a snowman on a walk.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...ofsnow1of1.jpg

and last year, we ran into a porcupine
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...SadMurphy1.jpg

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

{{{{{shudder....}}}}}} I remember that ice from a few weeks ago! no power for a couple of days....hundreds of $ of tree damage in our back yard....1/2" if ice on everything.....ACK!!
It's hard to believe we are still just in the beginning of winter- the weather has been so lousy!
.

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It has been in the single digits around here with constant light snow for the last 3 weeks. It warmed up amazingly today and I've been enjoying being warm.
Until I saw those pictures, now I have a permanent chill. Thanks, Zen!

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Originally Posted by TsPoet

now I have a permanent chill. Thanks, Zen!

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Not a problem ;)

Poor pup!
How did you get those out?
Don't they have barbs on them?

TsPoet - Murphy sounds like a hoot and a half, sorry he had such a rotten start in life, thanks for giving him a good life.

We spent last night watching "Armageddon Week" on the History channel. DH asked if the end is so close should we just quit our jobs and just do nothing until it gets here? :p

Wow TSPoet, thanks for giving Murphy a second chance! I don't think most shelters would even allow him to be adopted out, would they? He's a cutie.

Hope those porcupine quills came out without too much trouble. When I was a kid our 105# black Lab got into a porcupine. That was farm country and you wouldn't have a dog anesthetized for a thing like that... even if there was money for a vet visit, which there wasn't. :( My dad held the dog and my uncle held the pliers, or the other way around, I don't remember. :(:(

Zen, hope there wasn't too much damage. Ice sure is beautiful! but it sure can be destructive.

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

DH asked if the end is so close should we just quit our jobs and just do nothing until it gets here? :p

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Honestly, I think maybe you're too young, but back in the day I didn't know a soul who thought they'd live to see the year 2000. Everyone my age thought the world was going to end in the '80s. I was just talking about that with someone else who's about 20 years older than I am, and she said her generation was the same thing. I think maybe that's part of why the Y2K bug got so over-hyped. I don't mean to imply that it wasn't an amazing amount of necessary work for hundreds or maybe thousands of programmers - because obviously it was. But you recall there was a large segment of the population in the summer of '99 who thought the programmers wouldn't get the work done. They planted wheat in their little home gardens, installed hand pumps in their wells, etc. I didn't really connect it up at the time, but I wonder how much of that apocalyptic thinking came from a conviction that the world had already overstayed its welcome.

We had a friend stock pile bullets, batteries, gas for his generator and non-perishable food on his ranch. He looked a little silly come 1/1/00.

The Mayan calendar coming to an abrupt end is fascinating but I wonder as we get closers to 12/21/12 will we see an increase in fear that the end is coming and we can't do a thing about it?

Isn't there a cycle of ever so often people thinking the end is near? This is way too much deep pondering for the morning hours!

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

We had a friend stock pile bullets, batteries, gas for his generator and non-perishable food on his ranch. He looked a little silly come 1/1/00.

The Mayan calendar coming to an abrupt end is fascinating but I wonder as we get closers to 12/21/12 will we see an increase in fear that the end is coming and we can't do a thing about it?

Isn't there a cycle of ever so often people thinking the end is near? This is way too much deep pondering for the morning hours!

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I've seen so many dooms-days go by, it should be an annual holiday.

humans predicting the end of the world are constant proof of the hubris and presumptuousness of humanity. Who do they think they are? Do they ReALLY think God is talking to them ABOVE the other few trillion of us?

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

humans predicting the end of the world are constant proof of the hubris and presumptuousness of humanity. Who do they think they are? Do they ReALLY think God is talking to them ABOVE the other few trillion of us?

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Actually in the 80s, we figured that the humans who were (very realistically) on the path to destroying the world for everyone, were the ones who weren't listening very hard to God, or to whomever.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Actually in the 80s, we figured that the humans who were (very realistically) on the path to destroying the world for everyone, were the ones who weren't listening very hard to God, or to whomever.

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++++++++ yeah, really.

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Originally Posted by redrhodie

I've seen so many dooms-days go by, it should be an annual holiday.

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Oh, and it needs to be in March, to break up the middle of the long holiday-free dry spell we have between New Years and July 4th.
I love it. Only maybe it should only be on leap years to let the doomsday sayers have time to recalibrate

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

The Mayan calendar coming to an abrupt end is fascinating but I wonder as we get closers to 12/21/12 will we see an increase in fear that the end is coming and we can't do a thing about it?

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It would help with retirement planning, at least. :cool:

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Originally Posted by jobob

It would help with retirement planning, at least. :cool:

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Maybe I should stop contributing to mine and buy more bikes. :p

There were some very smart and slightly odd people on the show that really buy into the idea that our planet will align with the sun and some black hole in the Milky Way, the poles will shift and all chaos would break lose. My mind was doing sommersaults trying to process that! Then of course they had the skeptic saying doomsday has been near so many times so who cares about this one. All quite interesting points of view and I just decided to stay on the fence, too much for me to process.

February 29th should be doomsday, it really is a weird day. :)

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Originally Posted by TsPoet

Oh, and it needs to be in March, to break up the middle of the long holiday-free dry spell we have between New Years and July 4th.

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Noooooo! My birthday is in March, I don't want the world to end on my birthday! :eek::D