I have to say-I haven't missed my trumpet since the last day of band. In fact, I donated it to the high school on my last day. I also play the piano and I still play it often now 20 years later... The trumpet is difficult to learn and difficult to listen to while someone else learns! :D It's loud and it's so easy to sound terrible...it hurts when you've played for a long time. Even on a lovely song, which there aren't too many of for a trumpet, it can be overbearing. I chose it on a whim as a 6th grader and while I excelled at it, I often still even wish I had played the flute. Something easy to carry and listen to. LOL

Watership Down by Richard Adams A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute My Antonia by Willa Cather Anything by Wallace Stegner or Jessamyn West

It's every individual for his/herself here tonight.

This is the fence we were looking at-covers up to 100 acres for $240. http://www.dogfencediy.com/reviews/review-sportdog/

We have a milk cow so we have all the raw milk we can handle! Love the stuff-DH and I both grew up on it. We're hyper careful about sanitation and we've never had a problem in the slightest. We go through about three gallons a day of milk-more if I buy Kid Ol' Roy (the huge bags of cereal that I buy when we need to use up the milk!) We make our own butter, yogurt, and sour cream too... My SIL that is lactose intolerant can drink raw milk with no issue. Skim milk can freeze but the whole milk does indeed separate and turn into a nasty concoction that isn't fit for humans but chickens LOVE. We made a lot of sweet mash for the chickens out of ours. My 13 year old son's favorite snack is a half dozen fried eggs on homemade bread toast with a Mason jar of milk on the side-he can fix it in about 3 minutes. :)

Well I might be starting to sound like a swinger here but... We have a family cabin but we usually go camping in other places. There are different things to see while camping than the same old place, new trails, new mountains... Or maybe they are mining for victims.

Here we go... lol You can smash a dog's windpipe with a leash/collar, also. Shock collars used correctly are very effective and not a torture treatment...

Well... even if they are swingers hopefully they are harmless swingers and worst case scenario, you have to turn them down. //awkward If one has a cabin with a wood burning sauna, it's worth mentioning the sauna. Most cabins don't have that and maybe they designed it or built it themselves. It's a conversation point, IMO. So I wouldn't read too much into that. I wouldn't bat an eye at the invitation the way they mentioned it. You obviously have gotten along in a camping environment and the cabin/sauna thing is a variation on the theme. We do couple things with other couples all the time-notably especially our best friends now that we met through the internet years ago. They flew out here for a week's wilderness vacation with us without even knowing what we looked like! lol The important thing is the vibe. Maybe you need to really think about the belly ring incident-you said your husband spoke up; putting up some boundaries. Did the guy back off or respect your husband? Notice your discomfort? Have there been other incidents? Has his wife put any subtle moves on your dh? Does it feel like two couples when you're together or does it seem like they're trying to mix? When we're with our couple friends, I talk to the wife and DH talks with the guy or we all talk as a group nearly all the time. Very little isolated conversation between opposite spouses...

The nose will win with a hound! Interesting on the shock collar ideas, I will remember that. I have a Great Pyrenees pup that is still learning his boundries. We've thought about an underground fence for him too-there is a DIY version that isn't too expensive. We have set up a temporary electric fence with just odds and ends and tape, set at his level, and he respects it. It's not expensive nor permanent nor difficult to put up so it might work as long as it's there.

Six to eight weeks. Start weaning then gradually now so that mama doesn't go from all to nothing overnight. Seriously try to find them homes when they're still little and super cute. Odds are better. Right now there are eight ads for free kittens in our local paper. You can put "box trained" in the ad b/c 99% of cats are born box trained. My SIL took their kittens and the mama cat (who was a stray that happened by) to a free spay/neuter clinic and was able to offer up already fixed kittens and they went like crazy. She wished she had charged for them but she just wanted to ensure they were all fixed. Start now and give yourself time to find good homes for them, don't try to wait until they're 12 weeks old and have them compete with all the adorable 7 week old kittens that are in the paper that week.

this is going to be less than helpful, but there is some sort of magical foot cream that you have to ask for at the pharmacy... they keep it behind the counter but it's OTC. I can't remember the name! It's the bomb though-works when nothing else does. Now if only I could find the name of it for you...

Did she have eclampsia or an infection? Sounds like milk fever almost. If you can get any of her milk through the kittens she will probably start to nurture them again but that would be pretty difficult. I'm not sure if it's scientifically documented anywhere but I believe that mama animals identify their young through the poo that is made from their milk. Always when grafting lambs and calves as soon as mother's milk made it through the system the pair was stable. So operating on that concept, *I* would rub the kittens on her as much as possible if mama cat will tolerate it. If she won't let them near her I would maybe put a similar smell on the mama and the kittens-dip everyone's nose in some smelly tuna oil, make everyone smell the same. I'd keep them together 24/7 if you can do it safely-if you're not sure of safety I would keep them side by side where mama can see/smell them but not eat them if she decided. If mama is a lovey cat I would do lots of loving time with kittens, lots of contact. IMO she's mostly forgotten them. But she could still have a trace of instinct in there but you need to bring it back out of her. She was very ill and then very isolated-cats want to be left very much alone when they're scared and sick so her brain has been in isolation mode. To make her feel trusting, open and motherly again she needs to feel safe and be touched, have that contact, first from you and then by the kittens or all at once if she's tolerant. Rub her belly-lots of stimulation on her teats to get her mama hormones going again... You might ask the vet about a shot of oxy to drop the milk and see if you can get the kittens to suck-if you can get them all going through the motions she will come back. Will the kittens still nurse on her?

I went all through junior high and high school with a Yamaha trumpet. I see them in the paper here occasionally for $200 or so. The local music stores here sometimes lease instruments also.

Another crazy cat lady-I have six, indoor and outdoor. and five dogs. And a tiny house. Am I the craziest yet? :D

How is your DH going to feel when he has to install the doggy door? Or take the dog to the vet? Or build a fence? Or have to run to the store for dog food? Or fix the things that the dog chews on? You and the kids can't do all of it... I have to talk my DH into some animals around here but once he's in, he's all in and has no problems with any of his inevitable involvement. Just be sure you're not signing up for a whole lot of "I told you we didn't need a dog" arguments!

Allergies should be in the breed profile for labs and cockers-they are the top two for allergy-prone the last time I looked. As I said before, IME you can find a good dog at the shelter or from a breeder, you just need to know what you want from the dog. (all those questions I asked...) If you don't know what you're looking for you won't know it when you find it in a half-grown mutt sitting down at the local shelter and you won't know what to ask a breeder. There are good and bad in the entire mix, breeders, rescues and shelter dogs.

I have had terrible experiences with rescues, one very similar to the one above complete with hookworms, bad behavior and biting. The rescue completely misrepresented the dog just to get it placed. A dog bred two times a year is bred as often as it can be! That's pushing puppy mill status to me-the best breeders I know only breed once a year tops. Breeding takes a toll on mama dogs and their families-breeding twice a year you would just be getting over one litter when you bred for another! (maybe that was a typo? or I'm reading it wrong?) You certainly do not need to spend more than a few hundred to get a good dog. Price does not necessarily reflect quality. You find a good breeder by calling area vet clinics and asking their recommendations, asking people who have dogs you like, calling and talking to the breeder, seeing the parent dogs and sibling dogs when possible. My BMC's breeder lived in a trailer house and didn't have a lot of money (nor did she charge more than $350 for a pup) but her dogs were well taken care of, healthy, she was highly recommended by vets and other puppy owners, and she knew the dogs' family lines personally six generations back. Very knowledgable and wide open full of information.

I agree with all of this. There is no earthly reason to get a labradoodle and especially don't pay a lot of money for a glorified mutt. In my vet tech experience they can take entirely after the lab or entirely after the poodle or land anywhere on the spectrum. They can shed and they can be idiots or they can not shed and be quite smart. They can also be very prone to allergies from the lab side. I also recommend writing down what you and each family member will want and expect from this dog. A year from now is this dog sleeping peacefully at your feet or are you out jogging with it by your side? Is it going everywhere with you in the car or staying home while you run errands? Do you want a dog that is going to need daily exercise? A fetch dog? A couch potato? Care to deal with long haired dogs or short? Are you willing to spend a lot at the vet so that a breed that is likely to have health issues is ok (labs/boxers/pugs/GSD)? Do you have dog experience and TIME so that you can handle a dog that needs training (GSD, bully breeds, some terriers)? Do you mind a dog that is all Dog and tends toward drooling, farting and chewing up everything or do you prefer a more refined animal? You can find this little individual just about anywhere but unless you have a lot of dog experience I'd be careful at the shelter or a rescue. Bully traits may be hard to sort from lab traits in a pup and there is a big difference between the two when they're grown. Sounds like you're thinking of smaller dogs? Maybe also consider bostons, westies (West Highland terrier), or a schipperke...a boxer is usually a sweet happy reasonably healthy (but not too bright) dog...an australian shepherd from good COMPANION lines (not working lines-not!) is a wonderful family dog though on the fuzzy side. Golden retrievers are such sweet wonderful dogs but have some potential hip issues and they're fuzzy. A working bred aussie or a border collie has a high likelihood of herding/nipping your kids and tearing things up. A blue heeler can be a handful and tends toward heeling/nipping. The best kid dogs I've seen are good Aussies, golden retrievers, and great pyranees and newfoundland. the latter two are the size of ponies though! Beagles and any hound will be sweet but run away whenever their nose tells them to. Hunting breeds can be good or on the silly/unrefined side and they're almost always high energy right out of the box and it lasts for years. Cockers are notoriously not good with kids, GSD's are a minefield of potential health and behavior problems, Jack Russells are like adding another 2 year old to the family, labs are everywhere and prone to health issues (allergies/leg issues).... you have to do your homework to get a good one. This site will give you a lot of personality and health info on each breed and most crosses-I've found it to be pretty accurate. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/searchcategories.htm I think the best small breed for a busy family is a boston-they're enough dog that dads like them, they're clean, reasonably healthy, and smart. they can do agility or sleep on the couch, whichever you want to do that day. They can overheat and they snore but otherwise pretty darn easy!

I don't think I'd worry about any of it, to be honest. And I'm from Libby, MT! LOL You could always ask them where they got the sand and try to run it down... or you could scoop it out and stop thinking about it.

I would take this as a lesson in developing a healthy dose of skepticism without losing the wonderful trust and kindness that your daughter has. She has some great personality traits but twisted or ill people can use that against her; it will be good if she can learn some discernment in just how helpful and trusting she can and should be toward different people. As was said, an article on toxic people, maybe some coping ideas for when you get too tangled up with a toxic person, the warning signs, how to set limits. How to be very skeptical on the internet! My poor DD went through something very very similar and she learned a lot about internet drama. I felt so bad for her but we used the incident to install some self-protection.

"bring me the xbox controller" is my typical response. then he goes to his room until I'm willing to deal with him again. I keep the controller as long as I want, no rules or presets on how long or short. Keep it simple. We had a blow out here a few weeks ago where he was being really really bad to his younger sister and I pulled ALL of his fun stuff and assigned him extra chores for a week. I made him go to his room when the rest of the family watched tv. He missed everything. But he was a peach the whole time, took it on the chin and changed his evil ways.

Around here I call that um... rear-end wiping. As in "I'm willing to help but I'm not going to wipe your rear end for you." Some things people just need to do for themselves and your DH has reached that threshold. I was also raised to "take care of my man" and mine was raised that he was supposed to be taken care of by a woman. That's so limiting to both of us and I killed the concept here. Now it's something that I take completely as an option. Don't let yourself get squished into being taken for granted in a role that should be fun and appreciated.

About 40 more than when I met DH... the lifestyle has been rough on me. He's a mashed potatoes and gravy, huge steak three times a day sort of bottomless pit for food string bean and I'm an easy keeper. We figured his calories out once and he was eating about 8000 a day-all of them cooked by me. Whenever I went on a healthy eating kick he immediately lost weight and got ribby while I was lucky to lose 5#. I got to my lightest weight ever between the kids but gained it all back during/after the pregnancy and never lost it. Feeling stuck with it now and not liking it! :glare:

I never drugged them unnecessarily but I did leave them alone in cars. I feel redeemed. :D

we did least expensive. and then the dang house didn't sell and we're all still here! I hate carpet but even though this was the cheapest stuff we could find it's held up very well so I can't recommend going high end on carpet. My vote would be wood or laminate flooring and inexpensive carpet for the bedrooms-so many buyers now don't want carpet, it seems.