The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[seminolewind]

Fortuitously, I changed the game camera batteries and put it back facing the pasture day before yesterday. This is what I caught on it last night just after 11 p.m. Can you say "YIKES!"? Glad I didn't trek to the barn to turn off the fans last night like we do sometimes.
I wonder if this is the same bear, more grown up, that I encountered in person awhile back, in almost the exact same location, but in broad daylight when I went to open up the barn that day. He sure is much bigger! View attachment 1516844

Are you kidding? A real bear?????

 

[seminolewind]

Good morning, Karen. I've been to NY once, when I was one of the safety patrols in 7th grade, we did a train trip to NY and Washington DC. I barely remember it except for seeing the balcony of Audrey Hepburn's apartment, LOL. A lot of folks boomerang between Florida and NY and back again. And then, their boomerang breaks and they end up here in our mountains, LOL. It can be fun to go back to places you remember as a kid. Mine are in bad neighborhoods now, unfortunately, and too crowded for me to even breathe.

Adding, does everything seem smaller to you when you go back to childhood haunts? My childhood house seemed super tiny to me, but then, it's probably about the same size as the one I live in now.

Actually, it's funny. Things seemed bigger or smaller, or farther away or closer. I kept getting lost on roads I know like the back of my hand because of the nearer/farther thing. Really weird.

 

[seminolewind]

Woohoo! I am 5 days short of 11 years! Long time, Cynthia!

 

[speckledhen]

There is nothing like loving your mattress. Well, yes, loving your pillow. I just stayed in a hotel for 2 nights and the pillow was heaven! I go back in November so I will definitely be copying that tag. I believe it's some sort of layered down with something. Only in a hotel, right?

I call my quest for the perfect pillow "Pillow Wars". I got a new one, yet again, some copper-infused something at Walmart, a gimmick of course, but it was only $9. For now, it's pretty good. Never get a gel pillow! Those suckers end up hard as granite in a week!
Now, Tom is complaining about the mattress, says the edge sinks. Well, buddy, stop trying to hang off the edge! It doesn't sink when I sit on the edge because it comes up under my legs and sinks under my bum. It's different because it doesn't bounce when you shift or turn over, sort of like my Rogue's CVT transmission doesn't shift like a normal trans. And that doesn't bother me, either. However, last night, some yahoo was playing war games at pitch black 1 a.m., shooting in the woods, incessantly, POWPOWPOWPOWPOW!, over 200 shots (I quit counting), as if they were running through the woods because the sound was close then further away, and my husband slept on that mattress like a log, never heard one of the shots, not one! He didn't even hear the cat when he came into the room, popped open my CD player, purred loudly and meowed for dad to come back into the livingroom.

Are you kidding? A real bear?????

Real enough that I look cautiously every time I go out there. As I said, I saw one almost a year ago, exact same spot, maybe the same one because it was much smaller, right at that gate. I don't like the idea of being on a bear's nightly rounds, but it's cool that I live in a wild enough place that we have them. Don't want to meet up with him in the dark, though.

Woohoo! I am 5 days short of 11 years! Long time, Cynthia!

Yep, but we were in the other one, too. You were, too, weren't you? So long ago! I was a member before I even got chickens under another name, then Rob revamped and revived this one. So, it's been more like 13 years, I think.

 

[speckledhen]

My son's divorce is final Sept 28 at 9 a.m. He got served the papers. Her Unfaithfulness leaves the country Oct 6 to be with her long distance playtoy. She is still living in his house that she signed away to him. He sounds resigned to letting his dog go and getting another friend for Sophie.

My question to him was this: Michael, you need to answer this for yourself, too. What if this guy dumps her when he realizes she's really coming to England and he will be outed as a teenager playing a game if she comes there and he does it before she leaves? What if she whines and cries that she was used and wants to stay in your house? We've talked about what she'll do but what if he dumps her and she's still here?

I hope, I hope, I hopeIhopeIhope, that he doesn't consider for one single moment taking that wench back. She's nutso! I've always said that a person is treated the way he allows himself to be treated, period. Self respect comes into play, but a lonely person will do ridiculous things to hang onto a bad relationship, I've seen in my lifetime.

Back to chicken stuff, we need to cut the big roost out of the main coop and put it in Bash's pen. The problem is that it was power-nailed to the wall on one support. So we'll have to try to pry that side off the wall and cut the other support at a certain point. It's 4' wide and set up/back into an alcove in that coop.
This is the roost that we want to remove, or most of it, and transfer to Bash's pen. We'll cut it where it goes into the alcove.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I want a mattress report about 6 months from now to see if you still like it.

Re your son...
Unfortunately, if she does want to come begging, the likelihood is that he will relent and allow her to stay. Not that I know your son, but just by observing other people in similar situations over the years, it seems like a good percentage just do the status-quo because it's easier.

Hopefully the div is all settled and signed before she goes. She goes. He has changed the locks and blocked all communication options (phone, fb, other social media, etc.)

 

[speckledhen]

I want a mattress report about 6 months from now to see if you still like it.

Re your son...
Unfortunately, if she does want to come begging, the likelihood is that he will relent and allow her to stay. Not that I know your son, but just by observing other people in similar situations over the years, it seems like a good percentage just do the status-quo because it's easier.

Hopefully the div is all settled and signed before she goes. She goes. He has changed the locks and blocked all communication options (phone, fb, other social media, etc.)

Will do a report for you in a few months, yup.

I hope he has more smarts than that. It's usually the old men who are stupid-lonely, like Tom's father who married 2 months after his mother died, and my father, who married an illegal alien barely older than me. Saying nice guys finish last is pretty much true in our world. But, hopefully, his self-respect will win out in the end and he'll realize he deserves better than this.

I can't concentrate on the quilt I'm trying to do. I need to get that roost moved over and DH is involved on the computer. Maybe I need to get a hand saw and a pry bar and get to it myself.

 

[Leahs Mom]

It's not that he doesn't have smarts.

It's that he HAS compassion.

I once heard someone use the term "unsanctified mercy" or "unsanctified compassion". They were trying to get the point across that not all of the things people do are really acts of mercy or compassion and can actually hurt people in the long-run.

But most GOOD people have that desire to show compassion and mercy to others and feel GUILTY if they don't rescue others. It's hard to get past feeling guilty to be able to think clearly enough to realize that there are some instances in which not "compassionately rescuing" someone is for their good so that they can learn that their choices have consequences....and hopefully give them the chance to change their ways for a better outcome in their future.

 

[1muttsfan]

I wouldn't just change the locks, I would move.

I had a long time boyfriend who broke up with me at his daughter's insistence. She was an intensely selfish individual and despite our never intending to marry, she could not tolerate him having a long-term relationship other than herself. After a few weeks he started calling me, just as he used to, to talk over his day and generally complain about his job. After a few days of this I asked him why he was calling. He said, "I just wanted to make sure YOU were okay" . I told him that I was fine, that he did not need to keep calling me to check on me, because it did not make ME feel any better. That was the end of that. No hard feelings but I was not interested in being his sympathetic ear any longer.

 

[speckledhen]

It's not that he doesn't have smarts.

It's that he HAS compassion.

I once heard someone use the term "unsanctified mercy" or "unsanctified compassion". They were trying to get the point across that not all of the things people do are really acts of mercy or compassion and can actually hurt people in the long-run.

But most GOOD people have that desire to show compassion and mercy to others and feel GUILTY if they don't rescue others. It's hard to get past feeling guilty to be able to think clearly enough to realize that there are some instances in which not "compassionately rescuing" someone is for their good so that they can learn that their choices have consequences....and hopefully give them the chance to change their ways for a better outcome in their future.

Also, he's invested 19 years of his life in her, all in good faith and he loves her still, whether she deserves it or not. He's not a vindictive person, though she definitely is. It's going to take a long time for him to heal from this. I just hope she doesn't try to worm her way back into his life. That is just too destructive to him. He can't go through this all over again...and she would do the same thing.

I wouldn't just change the locks, I would move.

I had a long time boyfriend who broke up with me at his daughter's insistence. She was an intensely selfish individual and despite our never intending to marry, she could not tolerate him having a long-term relationship other than herself. After a few weeks he started calling me, just as he used to, to talk over his day and generally complain about his job. After a few days of this I asked him why he was calling. He said, "I just wanted to make sure YOU were okay" . I told him that I was fine, that he did not need to keep calling me to check on me, because it did not make ME feel any better. That was the end of that. No hard feelings but I was not interested in being his sympathetic ear any longer.

I agree with you. I'd rather he sell the house and leave, get one that is less costly to manage, more fitting for a single man with a dog and break that tie completely. Too many memories in that place as it is. And he doesn't need to be used any longer as a launching pad for someone's fantasy life.


We got the roost moved into Bash's pen, finally. He has four 4 ft long rungs now, much more linear space, plus the lowest one is lower to the floor than the other pieced-together old one that we used from the original coop. The rung at the top is really against the wall, but it's power-nailed in so we just left it there, and hopefully, one of them won't try to fly onto it and brain herself against the wall.