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Yeah, that's your punishment. My collie once ate 2 sticks of butter, wrapper and all, and a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips. They were on the counter where I had carefully placed them out of his reach. My punishment was the $135 vet bill. The hydrogen peroxide I fed him at the vet's suggestion did not work. She had to put some kind of drops in his eye to make him throw up. The vet's office smelled like warm chocolate, so I figure she should have paid me! That was the only time my collie counter-surfed in his entire life. My collie also used to eat money. He'd grab it from the kids' hands as they went to put their allowances away. He'd empty my husband's wallet of all cards and money, and eat the cash (mostly 20's). Note that he never, not once, ate *my* cash! Also, we did not go through any heroic efforts to retrieve the cash at a later time. I have a line drawn there! My dog Aidan is a different story. I once had a steak on the island, covered with a kitchen towel. A 20 year old man was stationed right next to the steak to guard it. Aidan sneaked up, stuck his head under the towel, and grabbed the steak. I went to cook it, and it was gone! Moral of the story, never trust anyone to outwit a wheaten terrier.

Sorry, you'll have to punish yourself for leaving the stamps where the dogs could get them. :-)

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I hope you find him. I would be a basket case if Aidan went missing. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

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Oh, I've had that, Miss P. I went to physical therapy for awhile and that took care of it.

Some of the best books I have read were free. Here is why I like free books: * They cost nothing, so if the book is a dud, I read a few pages and delete it. The only investment is a few minutes of my time. Once in awhile, a book is not a dud, but I'm just not in the mood to read it. Those, I keep just in case -- you can make a category called Maybe. It's like a junk drawer. But as time goes on you will need it, if only to prevent yourself from having deleted a wonderful book just because you weren't in the mood for it. * Many authors or publishers will offer the first book of a series free. Yes, the object is to get you hooked on the series. It works very well, and I've discovered many excellent series over the years that I would otherwise not have known about. The only bad part is that sometimes the free book is the only book written thus far, and you will be forced to impatiently wait for the author to crank out more books. * There are lots of authors, who are not bestselling authors and who don't write series books, whose books are free or cheap on the Kindle. * Amazon has a rating system. When I'm scanning for free books, I look at the ratings and at the number of ratings. I am not often surprised that a book that has tons of really high ratings is a dud. But that's the nature of books -- sometimes a popular book isn't my cup of tea. There are plenty of cheap books available, too. By cheap, I mean $3 or less. I check Amazon's daily and monthly deals. Usually, I buy nothing, but once in awhile a real bargain shows up. It is much less time-consuming to read samples of books online (Look Inside!) rather than downloading them to your Kindle, where they will collect over time until you have time to delete them, unread, because who wants to slog through 50 samples when they already have 300+ books on the Kindle waiting to be read. I put books I want to read, but I am not willing to pay the price for, on my wish list. Then I check our library to see if they have it, and if I cannot find the book in the system, I wait until the price drops significantly. I make a note on the wish list entry: either "Amazon Prime" (one "free" book a month) or "Library" if it available locally. I have gotten so used to Kindle reading before I go to sleep that I fall asleep reading 90% of the time. It's like a sleeping pill ... insomnia no more. I advise you to get a cover that is a bright color that does not match things in your home. That way you can scan your rooms for the color when you misplace the Kindle. I gave my navy blue cover to my son because it blended in because the color didn't pop. Now my cover is hot pink -- not my favorite choice, but they didn't have lime green. Deleting books from the Kindle is a pain, thanks to the last update. Here's how I do it. My books are in collections. If I delete them from the collection, the covers are grayed out, but the books are still there. I have to remove the books from the collection after they are deleted in order for them to disappear. Actually, I haven't tried removing them from the collection before deleting them, so that may work, too. I keep a list of books read, alphabetized by author, with a numerical rating (1-5). There is also a DNR rating (do not read a book by this author ever again). Over the years, I've read a lot of books, and I do not want to pick up one twice. This is especially great for books in a series. Yes, Amazon will tell you if you've already bought a book, but sometimes their system screws up. I do not buy the Kindle edition of nonfiction books that I will use as a reference. It is easier and faster for me to use those books in paper form than to mess around with the Kindle trying to find what I need. If you "like" authors on FB, especially ones who write great books but aren't bestselling authors, you will find out when their books are available for free or very cheaply, and when they have a new book out. Regarding collections -- if you amass books on your Kindle and do not put them into collections right away, you will end up with lots of pages of book titles, and it will not usually be obvious which collection they belong in. It is time-consuming to click on books just to find out which collection they belong in, and since you will be in housekeeping mode, you will not want to read any of them.

I am so sorry. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

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I love having a dog, and I'm working on adding another one to our family. I will never have a puppy again, though.

Thermapen thermometer. I use it nearly every day, it is accurate, it still works after two years.

Another thing people can (and should) do when giving away pets, even when charging a small rehoming fee, is to get the person's name and address beforehand, along with a personal reference and a vet reference. Tell them to call their references and tell them you will be calling. You can Google the person! Call their references. Ask the vet what their address is to see if it matches the information you have. Check the phone number, too ... maybe they have a landline and you have only got their cell phone number. Find out how many pets they have and whether they have been taken to the vet routinely for check ups and vaccinations, as well as sick care. Ask the vet whether they recommend that you give over your pet to this person. Personal references, btw, do not always tell the checker that everything is great. Begin by saying that the conversation you have is confidential -- you will not tell the potential owner what transpired during the conversation. You can require a homecheck too. You just go to the person's home (with another adult for safety), meet all the people and pets who live there, look around (you are not doing a police search), and go with your gut feeling ... would you let your personal pet stay there while you are on vacation? If you are rehoming a dog that requires a fenced yard, check to make sure the fence is secured on all sides and that it is at least 4' high. All this before you hand over the pet! Also, I would not let a stranger come to my house, I'd meet that person in a neutral area.

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Wheatens are very exuberant greeters -- they go for the face, and if someone lets them, they will lick that person for 5 minutes. I don't like it. If Aidan tries to lick me, I offer him the back of my hand for one kiss or block him with my hand. He's used to me. Everyone else lets him get away with it. He even licks their ears and eyelids. Yuck!

I am so sorry about this. :grouphug:

Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Women's Day, Taste of Home, Country Living (when I bought these subscriptions, they were $5 each for a year on Amazaon) Scientific American, Scientific American Mind, Discover National Geographic Whole Dog Journal

:grouphug: and prayers.

Out of 30 faces, you correctly identified 12. You were familiar with 16 of the people in this test. If we exclude the ones you were unfamiliar with, you got 75% correct.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: I am so sorry for your loss.

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