Posted on 02/01/2020 1:32:26 PM PST by Chickensoup
I have a rescue dog, an Australian Shepherd named Cooper. He’s a pain in the ass. I don’t GAF if he’s upset by noise. He’s a dog. He barks at every little thing anyway so I usually tune him out. I see those ppl on NextDoor too and they’re usually the bleeding heart liberals in my community.
I like animals and have had some wonderful, noble, loving fun animals in my life and in the life of our family.
But this substituion is hard to watch.
I am not here to argue the merits of animals versus people.
You said they are age 50-74.
They are empty nesters and grandparents, and are not having kids anymore.
Not seeing a problem here. You,know why the phone is full of pet pics? Because the pet lives with them and they can take a picture of them anytime they want.
Their grandkids don’t, they may not live nearby or see them often if they are teens.
Pets keep older people sharp. Keeps you on a schedule, a routine. Something depends on you, in your home.
No one mentioned bootsy the cat at the meal however my facebook feed is filled with those adoring snaps.
never heard of it.
these women have a two to five year history of being together two to five times a week.
Perhaps, but you can bet your tooting that my mother and grandmother did not do this, neither did aunts and uncles, except for one really narcisistic childless great aunt. She had two insufferable poodles.
If you like animals, and are interested in what veterinarians do, it’s intriguing. It’s on a National Geographic channel called NatGeoWild. Dr. Pol is from Holland, his practice is in Central Michigan. He has over 20,000 clients. On Verizon cable it’s channel 632. I’ve DVRd dozens of episodes, and my bride and I view an episode every night just before bedtime. The country folk clients are a interesting as the animals. All Pol’s staff Vets are females...and d**n good!
That doesn’t necessarily imply intimacy. Lots of people ‘get together’ like this just for something fun and distracting to do.
Pets are easy to talk about; kids, often, not so much. In my experience, serious women have heart-to-heart talks about very personal issues in one-on-one conversations with trusted confidantes, not in ‘groups’.
Not everyone wants to brag about their children; and people who wear their deepest personal concerns on their sleeves seem to me like weaklings or exhibitionists, lacking in dignity. Talking about one’s dog seems an easy and polite way to avoid getting sucked-into that.
Otter is 120lbs of dumb, I tell people he’s half black lab, half water buffalo (we think it’s great dane) but MAN can he play frisbee, gentle, loves hugs, snuck up on a neighbor last year while she was in her garage and licked her hand, got scared and ran off when she turned to pet him; he will run out the door in a heartbeat if you give him half a chance, which is rare.
‘Otter’
LOL! I’ve always wanted to have an actual Otter. Have you ever read ‘Ring of Bright Water’, or seen the film?
Fascinating animals.
Won't go into details (long story) but a year ago we ended up with a little puppy. House training Emmy Lou was a pain. Teaching her not to eat poop was REALLY a pain. Picking up all the stuff she chewed up was a pain. Taking her to the vet for shots and to the groomers for haircuts is a pain. Giving her a bath when she get's muddy playing outside is a pain.
But you know what? We can't believe how much we love that little dog. It's "Marley and Me" in real life. She makes us laugh every day and loves us unconditionally. We are her world.
She'll probably outlive us and I've made my children and grandchildren promise that one of them will take her and never ever put her in a shelter or have her put down unless she's old and in pain.
I can totally relate to those lunch ladies.
God Bless you for your sense of responsibility toward these ‘lesser’ of God’s creatures.
I take my animals so seriously that I still have bad dreams about an aquatic turtle that went missing from his pen 25 years ago. We figure a raccoon got in through the chickenwire, snatched Margaret(o) out of his pool, and carried him off to the creek.
I like to think that Margaret(o) is still alive, and was the progenitor of many other Eastern Painteds in Maryland creeks. (Sometimes raccoons just steal things because they like the way they look; and don’t eat them.)
:-)
Consider also prior generations had larger families, they had reasons why they didn’t do it, time and resources being two main ones.
Funny that you should mention your turtle Margaret. Just a couple of days ago my best friend was talking about a turtle she’d had for years disappearing (years ago). When you love something, you love them. Animal or human, it matters not.
And if you have a strong sense of your responsibility to them, you never get over wondering if you might have done better than you did.
It seems to me that this is a very valuable human quality/tendency, and we shouldn’t be judgmental as to whether it exhibits in one’s experience with regard to children, animals, or any other area of life.
It remains valuable, to the individual development and to general human progress, no matter the scenario.
Approach this weird situation from a different angle.
There indeed ARE people who are still having “real” children, lots of them, in the time-honored fashion. And you probably don’t want them living in your neighborhood, let alone in your country.
But they are winning the “War of the Delivery Room” and you aren’t even trying to compete. Give it a few decades and their kids will take over your world and their kids won’t be named Susie or Pete or Billy or Donna.
thanks for telling me about that. I will look for it when I have the technology.
disagree but see your perspective.
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