Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow

**144man** · 05-30-2014, 08:14 AM

The Wonderful Elixur could be marketed as a beauty treatment. The more you drink the more beautiful everybody else looks.

**Jerry Oz** · 05-30-2014, 08:21 AM

WGB: I believe the arr&bee's decided that we're destined to delve into diverse destinations devoid of decisions designed to divert dissimilarity due to differences that developed from disco dancing.

And arr&bee: I'm amazed at how sexy I become once I've had a snoot, let alone everybody else.

**westgrandboulevard** · 05-30-2014, 09:31 AM

Jerry...anyone would need a drink after all that alliteration!

144man's beauty treatment idea has appeal ,although I'd prefer to smooth it on, rather than drink it....

**Jerry Oz** · 05-30-2014, 10:10 AM

Whoops... I read "wonderful elixur" and immediately presumed it was arr&bee. I told you I need my seeing aids...

**westgrandboulevard** · 05-30-2014, 12:43 PM

That says a lot about the power of repetition....

**144man** · 05-30-2014, 05:40 PM

That says a lot about the power of repetition....

**westgrandboulevard** · 05-30-2014, 05:44 PM

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

**144man** · 05-30-2014, 05:46 PM

I find it really difficult to fake my sincerity.

**westgrandboulevard** · 05-30-2014, 05:50 PM

Really? It's always seemed so effortless!

**Jerry Oz** · 05-30-2014, 07:16 PM

He tries quite hard to make it appear so.

**westgrandboulevard** · 05-31-2014, 03:48 AM

Or not quite hard enough.....

**Jerry Oz** · 05-31-2014, 09:46 PM

If he tries hard to make it seem effortless, he's doing well because it seems to be. If he's not trying hard enough to make it seem effortless, well, he's doing well because it is... In either case, he is good...

**westgrandboulevard** · 05-31-2014, 10:13 PM

Too complicated, Jerry! Too much rationalisation....

If 144man is insincere, and finds it really difficult to fake sincerity, then he really doesn't need to try at all, does he........

Again, I'd say the Devil made him do it....

**Jerry Oz** · 05-31-2014, 10:34 PM

And I'd say it's the Devil that has you still up and active so late into the night. Or should I say so early into the morning? What's up?

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-01-2014, 07:30 AM

Aha, you noticed!

I went to a show last night, to keep a lady friend company - as her 'walker', if you will. We met just after 5pm for coffee and cake, then the show started at 6.30pm, but we didn't come out until nearly 11.30pm.

We walked across the centre of town, and dropped in on my partner doing a shift on the' Safe Bus' [[stationary, with police, volunteers and medic on board to help people in trouble while out, contributing to the 'night time' economy - and the devil makes some of them do it !), stayed there and chatted to the team.

Walked her back to her car, and she dropped me off nearer home, on the way to her home about 45 mins drive away. [[and she was due to ring bells for Sunday morning at her own local church within the following six hours)

So I came in about 12.45 am, opened up the computer, and was on SDF while I waited for partner to return about 3am.

Hence, a later start today. We're now into the early afternoon...!

How did your last day at work go?

**Jerry Oz** · 06-01-2014, 05:49 PM

There were as many hugs and as many tears, as I suspected. They surprised me with a cake and permitted me a few words of farewell. I made a point to shake nearly everyone's hand over the course of the shift. I received many words of encouragement from almost everybody and although many believe that the place will fall apart now, I insisted to all that it would not.

I was the guy who filled in the cracks of responsibility when something came up that needed to be handled but didn't necessarily fall within anyone's area of responsibility. Unfortunately, I was the only one who knew how to do 90% of my job, so they're going to have to learn how to do it the same way that I did - through trial and error.

Only in the last couple of hours did the boss ask me about the details of my job. On one hand, I was miffed because he clearly didn't care to ask when I was ready to help and teach. On the other hand, somebody new is going to have care enough for the team to help them out with things like payroll, human resources, and attendance. And it's never a bad thing to care more.

Is it a bad thing to admit that without having to care for 60 people, I feel free for the first time in years?

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-01-2014, 06:01 PM

No, not a bad thing at all. Possibly you will now be able to see the whole scenario in a more objective light than when you were directly involved. It's possible to care too much for any given situation, although that would not generally be regarded as a fault.

It's just a pity that you had to give all that diligence and attention to a business which was always going to be owned by somebody else.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-01-2014, 08:26 PM

Never again! Now it is time to open my own doors and determine my own future. I was well on pace for early retirement, but my goal is now to work until such time as I want to quit, not simply until I'm old enough to quit.

**arr&bee** · 06-01-2014, 11:49 PM

Well i see that this wonderful elixir has you all chirping like birds...my work here is done,bye bye!!

**Jerry Oz** · 06-02-2014, 01:08 AM

What does a 400 pounds parakeet say?

Answer: CHIRP!!!

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-02-2014, 05:44 AM

I've often imagined what would happen if my much loved cat were suddenly to be increased in size by a hundred or more times.

She would probably act just the same as before, but I'd be terrified.....

**Jerry Oz** · 06-02-2014, 11:35 AM

You'd need to trade in your electric can opener for a chain saw to open the cans of cat food. And you certainly wouldn't want to dress in a mouse suit for any costume balls...

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-02-2014, 02:41 PM

She likes to sleep on my bed, leaning up against me. That would become a real worry. She'd get some sleep, but I wouldn't.

It just proves how life is so much more comfortable when we are confident we are in control. Take that away, and everything immediately changes.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-02-2014, 03:09 PM

Oh, I'm pretty sure you'd sleep if a 400 pound cat was to sleep leaning up on you. You'd probably not wake up, though...

And yeah, we like to be in control. One of the most unsettling things is when the light doesn't come on in the dark room after we flip the switch. It's really a minor thing, but somehow something that we knew would happen failed to reward our faith.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-02-2014, 06:13 PM

True, but a lightbulb is inanimate.

I was thinking more of how we see ourselves as loving, giving people, nurturing and caring for others less able to help themselves.

All very easy to feel when we are so tall and strong while a cat, for example, is so much smaller, easily malleable, and dependent on us.

Change the proportions, and the cat becomes in control. With just that one move, the whole dynamics of the relationship change.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-02-2014, 06:25 PM

That's actually a frightening thought. We think of cats as playful creatures, but really their "playing" is instinctive reaction. The actions and reactions of a giant feline could quite easily be - well - bad for the human. It's the same reason that there are people who still learn the hard way why it's a bad idea to raise a lion or tiger from a cub to adult and think that there's no danger to treating it like you would a house cat.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-02-2014, 06:40 PM

Absolutely. It's the stuff of nightmares.

If a mouse were to have the same feelings as ourselves, imagine what it experiences when a cat of vastly different proportions approaches it.

If a cat were suddenly to be increased in the same ratio, and therefore dwarf us, we would immediately know how the mouse feels.

While it would leave us unchanged in practically every way, it would completely eliminate our innate sense of superiority. And, without that, where exactly would we humans be?

**Jerry Oz** · 06-02-2014, 11:31 PM

Ah, but our opposable thumbs give us the advantage over any house-sized cat. It's the ultimate neutralizer in nature and the reason that we are alone on top..

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-03-2014, 02:59 AM

I suspect a cat would argue that opposable thumbs alone are not enough.

One also needs the intelligence to use them to personal advantage, which is how we humans developed them in the first place.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-03-2014, 10:28 AM

That may be true, but if you read the headlines it's easy to make the argument that we've slipped a rung on the intelligence ladder... And cat's seem to think that they're smarter than we are, so who's to say that they aren't? From their side of the debate, I'm sure that padded feet and claws serve them nearly as well as our thumbs serve us.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-03-2014, 12:55 PM

They do. A TV programme last night on the secret lives of cats featured a woman in your country, who lived in a Boston high rise with her house cat, Sugar.

One day in 2012, the cat had gained access through a partially open window on to a window ledge, but lost its footing. Sugar fell 19 storeys [[estimated around 200 feet) and, with incredible luck, missed bricks and concrete and, travelling at an estimated 60 mph, landed in a small piece of mulch below. Apart from minor bruising to lungs, Sugar suffered no broken bones or scratches. Got up, and went back in the building, and was traced by her microchip.

PS. if a cat tells you it's smarter than you, and you can understand what it is saying to you, then you'd better believe it....LOL

**Jerry Oz** · 06-03-2014, 05:01 PM

Well, the fact that we provide for their basic needs, and not the other way around, gives the first clue as to who is the master.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-03-2014, 05:14 PM

Quite true. I look after her bodily needs and, in return, she lifts my spirits and safeguards my mental health, helping me look after myself.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-03-2014, 07:30 PM

Are you among those who believe that animals are intuitive to human needs? That they know when we see happy or sad and related to us differently in those situations? Our do you think that those who insist that they do behave intuitively project human reactions on inhuman creatures?

**arr&bee** · 06-03-2014, 11:52 PM

400lb cats??? Wow this stuff is more potent than i thought.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-04-2014, 04:00 AM

Jerry, to get the best from any living creature, I'd say it is necessary to study them, and understand how they really are. Sometimes the findings are not what we would prefer to know.

Animals certainly do respond to humans, but in their own way, and largely based on instinct, and also routine expectation. If you know what they do, and why they do it, it can be recognised and identified.

It's quite understandable for humans to look, in certain situations, for a response from animals which replicates that of a human - and then read anything they do as confirmation of that.

Generally, I'm not one of those people, but I am still surprised at the infinite variety of behaviour they can display. I'm also open-minded to the possibility that there may be more to them than I can understand but, in the meantime, it's for me to give to them, and for them to just 'be'.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-04-2014, 10:49 AM

arr&bee: And that's why we shouldn't serve it to cats!

WGB: I agree. Every creature behaves in a manner that serves itself on some level. Even in a selfless action. Some mothers [[human or animal) will literally die in crisis situations to save their children and some [[most of these being human) will bail out and leave them to their own devices. In both, it could be argued that self-preservation was the motivator for the action. To save oneself is survive, regardless of the fallout and to save the children is to obey the biological directive that the species must survive.

We are all animals and programmed to a point to do the things that we do. Genetic memory has something to do with why we interact the way that we do, but it appears that we're in a more primal world these days. And the socially-programmed directives for many call for flight over fight in most cases.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-04-2014, 11:15 AM

A mother cat will attempt repeatedly to remove her kittens from danger [[for example, a burning building), with no regard to her own safety.

Should any of her kittens die in the nest, very often she will then eat it, to preserve valuable protein for herself, so that she may turn it into milk for the surviving kittens.

If an 'entire' male cat were to show interest in her kittens, and is not the father, she will defend them with all her strength. Otherwise, he may recognise them as the progeny of another male, kill them, and then mate with the mother when she quickly comes back into season.

It's all nature and instinct working its way within the animal world.

In the human world, we know these scenarios as soap operas!

As an afterword to #1136, I should perhaps add that the grief felt following the loss of a companion animal is now generally recognised to be equally as strong as in the loss of another human being.

Initially, it seems a little hard to understand, but they do form part of the family....and especially to those who live alone. Goodness knows, there are so many 'singletons' in society today, and for so many different reasons. A companion cat or dog [[I even saw a ferret on a lead the other day) can help many a decent, respectable citizen retain a positive outlook, and socialise with their fellow human beings.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-04-2014, 12:07 PM

They're now being taken to senior centers as elder care therapy. They've also been known to be very therapeutic of Alzheimers patients. I remember when my cat died [[nearly 30 years ago) like it was yesterday. That's the reason I have not had a pet since [[other than a pair of parakeets that someone gave me) since then.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-04-2014, 12:29 PM

Your last sentence is a phrase I have heard used very often over the years. Generally from people some way into the last chapter of their lives.

It's strange, but each variation of the same message seems to be most used by elderly people, and/or childless people. There are probably perfectly valid reasons in each of their lives why that is so, and how they have come to feel that way.

It is extremely difficult not to let one's personal sense of loss form an emotional block to any future involvement.

That said, animals are, quite unwittingly, the key to unlocking emotions,suppressed for many years and their ongoing presence can indeed be extremely therapeutic. They are, in their innocent way, far more powerful than psychiatrists and many other human beings, because they allow, without argument or debate, everyone to form their own interpretation of them.

Letting them out of our lives can be hell for the emotions but sometimes, letting them in can be just as tricky. Our cat companion chose us.....and I struggled with myself, until I was sure.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-04-2014, 12:56 PM

My cat was so cool. He was the smallest male in the neighborhood and constantly came home battered and scarred. He eventually lost an eye to a rival. One day, he was very sick and lethargic and over the next week he never got better. Whatever it was, it was more than just him needing time to heal; he was mostly blind and could barely eat or drink. I resigned myself that he'd have to be put down in the most humane manner possible but when I returned from work that night he was gone and never returned.

Someone in my line at the grocery store noticed my red eyes and tears and asked me what was wrong. I told her the story and had to suffer with her blunt but logical reply: "Well, if you would have had him 'fixed', he'd be alive right now."

Thanks, lady. Nothing like a little blame to make grief more grievous.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-04-2014, 01:09 PM

By 'fixed' I guess she meant 'neutered', so that he wouldn't fight....

I don't see how that would have made any difference when he became sick.

That woman had some emotional background and pressure to make her say that. She didn't have enough left in reserve to show any understanding. It's very possible she did understand you, but couldn't say so, as your own show of emotion was reinforcing her feeling of keeping it hid. She couldn't afford to be understanding, as she would have cried right out loud with you. Just my take.

But it's a hard thing for a young person to hear. If I may say, in the long run, it's not the blame and the sadness at the time which affected you the most, it's the sense of doubt and possible guilt which the circumstances and her words instilled within you.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-04-2014, 01:19 PM

I don't think that she meant to be cruel. Perhaps she was suggesting that next time there could be a different ending. Whatever it was, her words had bite and I definitely took them to heart. In honesty, I never wanted a pet before or after that, but once my Mom fed a stray, he wasn't a stray any more and he soon thereafter became my little buddy. But, with that being the case, I definitely empathize with people who relate on a close emotional level with their pets.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-04-2014, 01:37 PM

Believe me...should a pet animal ever give clear indications that it wants you to be its human, a struggle of titanic proportions with the emotions will ensue...

**Jerry Oz** · 06-04-2014, 07:17 PM

Mind control? The secret to mind control rests in the paws of dogs and cats? If I was a criminal mastermind, I could work with that notion...

**arr&bee** · 06-05-2014, 12:59 AM

No animals should ever drink,there was once a report of a kitten who got into his master's elixir,and two days later there were reports of a saber tooth tiger in the hood....[we aren't responsible for that read the lable].

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-05-2014, 04:19 AM

Jerry, the mind control angle is the tussle the human has, determining whether or not to let the animal into his or her life. Both dogs and cats can trigger it, just by being themselves.

All it takes is one individual animal who is lost, without a home, badly treated, or cute [[God may need to help you if it's all of those things) and one individual human with the predisposition to respond to said animal.

The result is A Situation.

Arr&bee, that 'wonderful elixur' [[either your spelling is deteriorating, or you're sober) sounds just what the doctor ordered for the meek and mild among us. Should be on prescription.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-05-2014, 09:40 AM

I understand the fixation that we have on pets and the owners' relationship with them, but I'm confused as to why it exists as strongly as it does. A few years ago, an older woman in San Francisco cut someone off in traffic. He forced her to the side of the road in a bit of road rage and they had angry words. Obviously not satisfied with her lack of contrition, he reached into the open window of her car, grabbed her lap dog, and threw it onto the busy highway.

When the story hit the news, it went viral. There was outrage nationwide over this cruel, sick human being and people began to contribute to a reward fund to find him. I believe that it was as high as $15,000 by the time he was finally caught. The sad part was hearing a local DJ lament that there was a woman who had been kidnapped and presumed dead in the same area and at the same time and the reward for information leading to the capture of her presumed assailant was only $5,000. She barely made local headlines, let alone the national headlines that the pooch received. SMH.

**westgrandboulevard** · 06-06-2014, 04:09 AM

I'd say that people's feeling towards animals has more to do with the nurture and protective instinct present in most of us, to various degrees.

A fixation would apply only to certain individuals, manifesting itself in a unique way within their own mind, as a direct result of a combination of events in their personal life.

The protective instinct towards children and animals is stronger than shown to a fellow human being who is unknown to them [[i.e. the victim of presumed murder) - as unknown fellow humans could represent an enemy i.e. the assailant on the highway.

There is also the addition of sentiment to be added to the equation, which appears to be something found in humans, but not in animals.

**Jerry Oz** · 06-06-2014, 09:43 AM

I submit to you that since "the news" has been described [[as related to me by a former mentor) as how the media covers unusual events, then perhaps the killing of the dog was shocking to folks whereas the murderer of a young woman is something that we are used to and now desensitized toward. Every day, the news reports on murders in our cities and it barely resonates beyond the 20 seconds that it takes for the anchor to read her teleprompter. Well, it lasts a little longer for the families of the victims, I'd suppose.