Thread Drift

[Lise]

Helloooo... Bikerz mentioned that this was a great thread. Wow - tips on wine, dating, chocolate, and, um, turtles. And I wish I knew about this during the HSAI flame war. What a train wreck.

Y'all have some very cute kids and pets, I must say. I don't have kids, although I'm kind of a grandmother-in-law through my GF. But at home we do have two very short dogs.

Two very short dogs counts for a lot. But I may be a bit biased... Glad you found us over here, dachshund!

My two cats spent the night delivering their toys to my bedroom door. In an unusual fit of neatness, I picked up all their toys last night and put them on their catnip mat. (Don't ask. I had a fit of cat toy buying last week). I heard a fair amount of meowing through the night, which is what they do when they've "killed" a toy and are presenting it as a trophy (or something). I was on-call, but got to stay home all night. When I got up in the morning, there were 4 cat toys just inside my bedroom door. Goofballs!

[SadieKate]

SK, I think it means "Certified", but what that means beyond the P.A. designation, I can't tell you.

Thanks, Lise. This was our guess but really didn't have a clue.

Dad is having all sorts of problems that can't yet be pinned down. What is really awful is that his personality is getting pretty nasty though he does recognize that his anger goes beyond what is appropriate. We're guessing that maybe some strokes are happening but, again, really don't know. I'll talk to my brother and see if he sees the personality changes but not sure that he will be objective. He is very protective of my father. My mother has micro-managed for years and talked about him behind his back so some of what my dad is saying may be some years of resentment about this. However, her micro-management may be what takes care of him as he gets older. He'll be 79 in October though he's acted like 79 for decades.

NPs - Number 1 criteria for picking a gynecologist is that the NP does the annual exam so I rarely have to deal with the doc.

[maillotpois]

Wow, SK, that stinks. Sorry.

[Lise]

SK, I'm sorry to hear it. Family dynamics are so hard. Hang in there, take care of yourself, too. L.

[kelownagirl]

Sadiekate - sorry you're going thru that. It makes sense that small strokes could alter personality. Hope they get it figured out soon.

Lise - your cats sounds hilarious. How many do you have? My daughter brought home some fresh catnip for our little Zoe last night. It was in a ziplock bag in her purse but Zoe found it, ripped it open, and had catnip all over Carly's bed. Pretty strong smelling stuff...

I had my first spill on the road bike today - a stupid, slow-motion fall UPhill no less. All week, I've been only clipping in about half the time, tending to stay unclipped in heavy traffic or going uphill. Today I decided to bite the bullet and just stay in them as much as possible. Anyway, at the same time, I'm having a bit 'o trouble with my front derailleur and it's not shifting quite right sometimes. I started up a steep hill, was going fairly slowly, shifted down and the darn chain fell right off. Tried to unclip but was going too slow and ended up falling over. Got a bruise and some road rash just below my knee, and bumped my hip and elbow a bit. Didn't hurt too much but my knees were just shaking from the idea of it all. Ha ha, what a wimp I am sometimes. It's freaky knowing you are going to fall but not being able to do anything about it. Luckily Erik wasn't too far ahead and heard me swearing so stopped to help. Anyway, I'm glad I got that first fall out of the way. My knee's a bit stiff now that I've been home and resting awhile. Hope it doesn't interfere with riding tomorrow. I did well in the heat today. Maybe I'm getting used to it... Hope so...

[dachshund]

My two cats spent the night delivering their toys to my bedroom door.

Ha! I have a cat, too, though he's not quite this clever. I swear every twenty minutes his memory resets, because he looks at me wide-eyed, as if to say, "do you live here, too?"

One of the dachshunds - the one in the picture - does a routine that looks like he's killing something as a sacrifice before dinner. He'll grab whatever cloth item is handy and start ripping it. We have to keep old teeshirts around for this. Then he puts a tennis ball under the teeshirt, shakes it, and rips the cloth some more. This goes on until he's called to dinner. He picks up the tennis ball, runs over to his bowl, drops the tennis ball, then starts eating. He does this before every meal.

Lord knows what TV shows this dog is watching while we're gone....

[Lise]

Oh, man, that's funny. I mean the pre-dinner t-shirt slaughter, not kg's uphill fall. I think the only reason I've never fallen going uphill is that I live in the flatland. Sorry to hear about the chain falling off. Nothin' you can do but stop when that happens!

I have two cats, Isaac and Ariel. They're about 16 & 17 years old, but you wouldn't know it by their antics. When they decide a toy is conquered, they sit with it between their forepaws and meow like trumpets. Or sometimes walk around with it in their mouth, meowing with a mouthful of toy. One time someone brought me a catnip plant in a pot. Isaac attacked it and left nothing but stems, dirt, and broken pot. Drugs for cats. The mat I got them is about 1 ft square, with an opening for inserting catnip. When I first put it in, they wrested it all over the house. Now they just lay on it.

Our dachshund, Schatzi, always had a garden glove handy to toss around in joy when we came home. If she couldn't find it, she'd get anything else handy, especially kleenex, and throw it up in the air, run around like a maniac, throw it up again. At dinner time she'd just push her bowl around with her snout until we got the point. Maybe your guy's routine is a male thing--kill the beast, eat the beast! As far as he knows, that t-shirt and tennis ball is a badger!

[dachshund]

Lise, yeah, it took us a while, but we finally caught on to what Mr. Badger Hound was up to.

kelownagirl, boy that's tough. My bike throws the chain more often than it should. Darn thing. There must be a "stop" setting on the derailleur for that. One of my research projects.

Re chocolate: For anyone who lives or works in San Francisco, this place is has pretty fabulous chocolate,
http://www.embarcaderoshop.com/pages/confetti.html

[SadieKate]

So, are you joining us for the Tour de Scharffen Berger? Based on the early respondents it looks like it will be on August 26 or 27.

[dachshund]

Yeah, I was thinking about it. OK, put me on the list. Thanks!

[kelownagirl]

Daschund - I just love the face of your pup on your avatar. How adorable!

We have a spinny golden retriever (Angel - which she's definitely not) and a much better-mannered chocolate lab (Gabe). They have been living together for about a year and get along tremendously but they LOVE to wrestle. They tear my house apart when they start running around, chasing each other, and rolling all over the place. People can't believe we live this way when they come over but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my dogs...

[spazzdog]

OK, it's now hugely obvious I need to re-enter the workplace.

I'm watching Oprah... not necessarily a bad thing as she does have some interesting, thought provoking shows on occasion.

But today it's the British ladies that point out all the "don'ts" of fashion for women, with the main topic being bras.

I'm intrigued. I'm amazed. I'm in awe of that thing also know as a "boulder holder".

Even I, with what I term "little old lady change purse" boobies, can have breasts that are in the correct anatomical position (instead of looking south) AND fill out a t-shirt nicly.

WOW!!!

spazz (who's off to Monster to submit resumes)

[dachshund]

Thanks! They take turns wrestling with the cat. I'm not sure what the score is at this point. They're too small to destroy much, fortunately.

[SadieKate]

They take turns wrestling with the cat. I'm not sure what the score is at this point. They're too small to destroy much, fortunately.

Spazz's boobies?

[snapdragen]

Can one of you tell me what "P.A.-C." means? Physician's Assistant - what??

My dad has some weird health stuff going on and they're off for another appt s'afternoon. What is this designation?

Thanks.

The ladies are correct, I checked with a PA friend. It stands for certified.