My Rant for Today

Butterfly said:
I love dogs, and have always had them, usually at least two. Ever since I became officially an antique, I've adopted older dogs. They are really wonderful, affectionate and seem so grateful to have a safe loving home for their retirement years.

My current companion, a great big ol' mush of a dog of indeterminate ancestry, must be pushing 11 now. I adopted him when he was about 8-9 according to the shelter. He's been a true joy and is still going strong; he doesn't like it when I'm out of his sight. Before him, I had my lovely Bonnie, a pitbull girl who was as sweet as they come. I only had her for about 4 years before she passed away, but they were great years for both her and me.
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When my daughter was about 5 and not in school yet (Cause her 6th birthday more than half way thru the year) we adopted an Irish Setter who was somewhere between 11 and 13 and had been passed around several owners. Her muzzle was white tho the rest of her coat a gorgeous auburn. She gave us 2 1/2 wonderful years of good behavior, love and joy. Have no idea why she kept getting given away she was well trained and so sweet with us and the cats we had then.

One of the big canine loves of my life was a male pittie who had been 'dumped' near a farm that already had several dogs. They passed him to a store clerk who was fostering till home could be found--i overheard them talking on the checkout line, inquired and adopted him. i've had a lot of dogs in my life but he really took a piece of my heart when he passed.
 

feywon said:
When my daughter was about 5 and not in school yet (Cause her 6th birthday more than half way thru the year) we adopted an Irish Setter who was somewhere between 11 and 13 and had been passed around several owners. Her muzzle was white tho the rest of her coat a gorgeous auburn. She gave us 2 1/2 wonderful years of good behavior, love and joy. Have no idea why she kept getting given away she was well trained and so sweet with us and the cats we had then.

One of the big canine loves of my life was a male pittie who had been 'dumped' near a farm that already had several dogs. They passed him to a store clerk who was fostering till home could be found--i overheard them talking on the checkout line, inquired and adopted him. i've had a lot of dogs in my life but he really took a piece of my heart when he passed.
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That's what is so hard about dogs...when they die. We lost our German Short Hair Pointer several years ago and never got another dog (not yet, anyway). Have cats, though!
 
Liberty said:
Butterfly, do you get your dogs from a shelter?
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Yes. Usually from the local Humane Society or the city shelter. In past years, I have gotten them from private shelters, private individuals, and in one case I found one of them (a puppy) on the road out in the middle of nowhere at night in the pouring rain. At one point I had six labs/lab crosses. They were all house dogs and got along well, with a couple of notable exceptions.
 
feywon said:
When my daughter was about 5 and not in school yet (Cause her 6th birthday more than half way thru the year) we adopted an Irish Setter who was somewhere between 11 and 13 and had been passed around several owners. Her muzzle was white tho the rest of her coat a gorgeous auburn. She gave us 2 1/2 wonderful years of good behavior, love and joy. Have no idea why she kept getting given away she was well trained and so sweet with us and the cats we had then.

One of the big canine loves of my life was a male pittie who had been 'dumped' near a farm that already had several dogs. They passed him to a store clerk who was fostering till home could be found--i overheard them talking on the checkout line, inquired and adopted him. i've had a lot of dogs in my life but he really took a piece of my heart when he passed.
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Pitties can be the dearest, most loving of dogs, contrary to their bad rap in the media. My Bonnie took a big chunk of my heart, too, when she died.
 
Irwin said:
What classes are you interested in?

I was thinking about taking a journalism class and becoming an amateur journalist. I'll report on everything I see out my window. :)

A public speaking class would do me a world of good, also. I might like talking to people more if I got into the habit of speaking.
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Not so much a class as an organization. I know people who have participated to hone their public speaking fears and abilities. I don't know if you're joking or serious but here's the link - Toastmasters International I don't think it's free but it may be worthwhile.
 
Butterfly said:
I love dogs, and have always had them, usually at least two. Ever since I became officially an antique, I've adopted older dogs. They are really wonderful, affectionate and seem so grateful to have a safe loving home for their retirement years.

My current companion, a great big ol' mush of a dog of indeterminate ancestry, must be pushing 11 now. I adopted him when he was about 8-9 according to the shelter. He's been a true joy and is still going strong; he doesn't like it when I'm out of his sight. Before him, I had my lovely Bonnie, a pitbull girl who was as sweet as they come. I only had her for about 4 years before she passed away, but they were great years for both her and me.
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you are an angel to adopt an older dog, wish there were more people like you. When I was looking I could not find an older dog so I adopted from Mexico, he was 2 at the time and he is a joy.
 
Chris P Bacon said:
Not so much a class as an organization. I know people who have participated to hone their public speaking fears and abilities. I don't know if you're joking or serious but here's the link - Toastmasters International I don't think it's free but it may be worthwhile.
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I went to a Toastmasters for about six months. It's a great organization! I even won a few awards for giving the best speech, which was quite an accomplishment for me since I'd always been terrified of speaking in front of an audience. I got to the point where I actually enjoyed it! And then I created and taught a class to help others overcome their fear of public speaking (glossophobia).

But that was over ten years ago.
 
Irwin said:
I went to a Toastmasters for about six months. It's a great organization! I even won a few awards for giving the best speech, which was quite an accomplishment for me since I'd always been terrified of speaking in front of an audience. I got to the point where I actually enjoyed it! And then I created and taught a class to help others overcome their fear of public speaking (glossophobia).

But that was over ten years ago.
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officerripley said:
So you keep hearing about how we seniors should make sure to have as many social connections as possible. (Back in the day, we were always getting told to get out there and "mingle", lol, remember that word?) So a "lifelong learning institute" affiliated with the local university has finally offered a course I'm interested in starting next month. But guess what! It's superexpensive! Because of course it is! (I hadn't paid attention to how much the prices had gone up since I've never been interested in any of the classes up 'till now.)

So I sent 'em an email asking if they've ever thought about discounts or a sliding scale or something for those of us on a fixed income; we'll see if I hear back. Anyway, my takeaway from this is, realistically, the advice is: "Seniors, make sure that you have a lot of social connections! (As long as you can afford it, of course. Or don't mind attending either a fire-and-brimstone house of worship.)~~Signed, Your Friendly, Local 1%"
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Have you tried searching "University of the Third Age"?

Sydney University of the Third Age (Sydney U3A) offers hundreds of intellectually stimulating courses, across seven regions of metropolitan Sydney and across a wide spectrum including the arts, sciences, history, leisure, language, computing and fitness.

There are no prerequisites, no exams and no qualifications awarded. If you are retired or semi-retired and enjoy learning and meeting like-minded people, all you need to do is become a member of the U3A family and participate in our activities. Members can attend any course, talk or event in any region provided there is space. To find courses in your area, click here to search for your postcode on the regionsā€™ list. Bookings are essential unless specified in the course book.
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Alligatorob said:
...This website claims dogs can understand up to 200 or more words: https://dogsservices.com/words-can-a-dog-understand/
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Your article says Border Collies are the super-learners. This one knows 1022 words. But why waste all that on learning names of all those toys? There must be something they can learn to retrieve...like "go in the store and bring me an Apple Computer". Yes, mine is 10 years old now so they won't let me download any updates which compromises my security and forces me to buy a new one.

Looks like I threw a rant in there myself. It happens šŸ˜‰
 
RadishRose said:
LOL, I love it!
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Actually, since my area has many Spanish speakers, if you adopt a pet from a rescue you have a chance of adopting a Spanish speaker. Usually the rescue has figured it out, and one of the pet food stores has a list of English common commands (like sit, stay, etc.) and their common Spanish equivalents. Or you can just ask one of your neighbors.
 
Butterfly said:
if you adopt a pet from a rescue you have a chance of adopting a Spanish speaker
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My first cat was a semi-feral stray cat that adopted me in Isreal and she loved hunting flies that got into the apartment (no window screens in my apt), so whenever a fly came in I would yell 'ZVUV!!!' (Hebrew for 'fly') and she'd come running.
 

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