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karlunity -- I understand what it's like to be on the horns of such a dilemma. Tawny may be saved, that's true, but, as Jimro said, for how long? And what of the quality of Tawny's life? I lost a very young (5 years) cat last year, almost to the day, from fatty liver disease, and in the cat's last days, his kidneys began to fail. I spent a great deal of time and effort trying to save the cat via tube feedings and injectable hydration because he wouldn't eat or drink. Of course, it's not the same, but with kidney disease in cats, it's CRITICAL to keep the animal well hydrated, and often, when diabetes comes into the equation, that will often translate to hydration using a syringe and sometimes a catheter/port type device in the cat's back. This will often result in a very squishy cat because the water is injected subcutaneously, and will drain down under the skin sort of "pooling" in the cat until it's absorbed. If the situation with my cat hadn't been so dire, I would have found his squishiness kind of funny. However, it is possible to sustain a cat in this fashion for a long time, provided that everyone has the commitment to performing the proper treatments in a timely fashion. It could be miserable for the cat though. My cat hated the feeding tube, and was forced to wear a cone of shame for the duration of his silent torment until his death. Had my cat been significantly older, I probably would have had him put to sleep instead of hoping against hope that he might have survived, but I had no reason to believe that my cat wouldn't survive. I've had to put down many aging/ill animals over the years, and every single time an animal that I love is put to sleep, I swear I will never have another because the whole loss and grieving thing just sucks, but ultimately, I keep saving pound animals and I "rescue" greyhounds because I think it's my way to help the animal, to have a cool fur child and to soothe my soul. And as much as it kills me to take the animals to their final vet trip, I do it because it's the most honorable thing I can do for my fur children when the time comes. I also have found that the animals that I take to be put to sleep usually die very quickly, and while it is perhaps a rationalization for the upset I feel, sometimes I think that they are thankful that I ultimately did right by them. I know that you are seriously considering where the pros and cons of attempting to save Tawny are, and who is most benefitted by your efforts. Tawny will thank you for making the right decision on her behalf. I hope that you can sort out the right thing to do. Take care.

Hi Paul, Look, I know that you and I clashed at least once before at FC's site, but I do hope that we can start over and get along from where we are now, if you're agreeable to it. If not, well, I can respect that too. Either way, I am glad to see you back and I look forward to reading your posts!

Yeah, FC, myspace and livejournal are pretty bad. My best friend's 19 year old daughter is on myspace and she meets all sorts of questionable characters from there. I hope the kid makes it to 20. As for livejournal, I have a friend whom I've known for 26 years and she has a page at lj that is completely and utterly shocking...even for me, and I thought I was unshockable! Some of these websites seem to cater to the most insecure people in the world, both my best friend's daughter and my old friend seem to fit the main demographics of the respective sites. It's really sad if you ask me. Putrid filth I can deal with, I just don't have to look at it, but watching these people I care about deluding themselves into thinking that these sites are somehow self-affirming is a tragedy.

swamprat! You are my long lost brother! LOL! I guess I should tell you all a bit about myself as well. I'm a 39 year old (have been for 3 years, so I am still a novice at it) woman. I've had some college even though I never graduated from high school. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have a male greyhound as well as a female cat both of which keep me entertained and fulfills any possibility of nurturing that I might have from some errant sense of maternal instinct. Therefore, I have never felt compelled to have children, even if I could. In fact, I don't even like to bother with intimate relationships of any sort! I can applaud those of you here who have lengthy marriages, or those who keep trying 'til they get it right, but it's not for me...I'm such a mean ol' cuss! I am extremely close to my relatives and to many, many friends...they are all enough for me! I grew up in Oklahoma, moved to New Mexico when I was 13 years old, back to Oklahoma at 17 and then to California when I was 20 years old and still reside here. I have lived all over California, and I really love much of the state, but I feel my real home is in New Mexico, where I will be moving in 2 months or so. I currently support myself by doing artwork on a commission basis, I often make dance regalia for American Indians on a "donation" basis and I undertake odd-jobs here and there as well as living off of some investments. Once I get to New Mexico, I intend to return to the work I love in forensics. My ancestry is pretty clearly defined, I am just a bit more than half American Indian, the other less-than half being Irish...and I mean 3 generations off the boat Irish. I identify as American Indian, but I know all about my Irish roots too. I am ashamed to admit that I once completely disavowed myself of my Indian heritage as I grew up realizing just how hated Indians are in Oklahoma. But after a number of strange, painful events unfolded in my life, I snapped out of my own self-loathing and have been proud of my ENTIRE heritage ever since! I am probably "newer" to my enjoyment of firearms than most of the members here, as I have really only been a collector and avid shooter for roughly 4 1/2 years now. Until that time I thought, as many "liberals" do, that guns are inherently evil, serve no truly noble purpose, are dangerous and pointless to boot, then I realized that I was thinking of Ted Kennedy and I've been cool with firearms ever since! I have a modest collection of basically ultra-cheap firearms that I am absurdly proud of. LOL! I have yet to move into the realm of actual investment arms, but at the same time I wonder what the point would be of that...I am a shooter first, the collecting side of it is only a fringe benefit. My current collection consists of a couple dozen long arms, and a handful (literally and figuratively) of handguns. I will be working on my collection of handguns once I leave CA, since my failure to procure handguns here is my little "protest" of CA laws. That's about all I can think of at the moment. I hope y'all know me better now!

Wahhh! I will be travelling to New Mexico in mid March to find my new house and probably buying it, so I don't think I will be able to make it to a CA shoot. Besides, y'all may not want me around anyway, since I am working toward my escape from CA! Perhaps, once I get settled in NM, thereby being a bit closer to TX, some of y'all TX boys will invite me to your get together? Even though I am an Oklahoman. LOL!

Not to be extremely picky MorgansBoss, but it was Bruce Springsteen and 57 channels. I remember seeing him perform the song on SNL. I thought it was a lame song, though the sentiment is spot on! As for me, if you had asked me last year what my favorite TV show was, I would have told you it was "Six Feet Under", on HBO. This year, since "Six Feet Under" ended, I am going with "The L Word"...yes, a show about a group of mostly lesbians in Los Angeles. It's a woman thing, we don't find lesbians as "threatening" as some guys seem to find gay men. It's almost embarrassing that this show is soap opera-y in some ways, so I find myself totally sucked into the premise. Anyway, that's about the only show I will watch with a great deal of deliberation. As for the History Channel, TLC, et al., I think I have seen or will see just about everything on those stations at some point. But I don't have an overwhelming "favorite" show otherwise. Now, as of February 28th, one of my favorite "filler"shows will start again! It's called "The Amazing Race" and it's a seriously exciting show. My cousin got me interested in it a few years ago, and I have been hooked ever since. I generally don't consider TAR to be an overall favorite show, because it's only on for about 3 months and it shows up sort of randomly throughout the year. It's on CBS, and if you guys like intelligent "reality" shows, this is the best of that genre!

Oh, definitely, the bird needs to be killed -- completely, ASAP, horsefly. I didn't think it had so much to do with my being a woman, as much as it was my being a novice hunter. I just wasn't expecting that the guys with me would do it...I figured that since it was my hunt, I should have been the one to do it. I shot the birds, it was kind of my responsibility. I was just sort of shocked by the way it was done! LOL! I could do it now if I were confronted with the situation again. Also, I forgot to add that the pheasants were delicious!

Spiris -- I have two CZ-52 pistols that I got from J&G Sales. I picked them both back when J&G had the "Very Good" condition selection of them for less than $90.00 each. I am thrilled with their overall condition, and I really feel that I some serious bang for the buck with my choices. The parkerizing on both of the pistols is excellent, as are the original grips. There is one of the legendary "dimples" on each slide of the pistols, and that is supposed to be good, if I recall correctly. I have shot handloads, Romanian surplus and Yugoslavian surplus in my CZ-52s and I think I like the Romanian best, at least where cost is concerned. I don't worry too much about the corrosive qualities of surplus ammo, I just Windex my bores out before I leave the range. However, I feel that as accuracy is concerned, all of the ammo I tried seemed up to snuff. One of my friends, another woman, tried shooting one of these pistols from a carpet-covered section of a wood 4X4, and she totally scorched the carpet on the block with the flames that shot out of the muzzle of this pistol. She thought it was great! She totally loves the CZ-52. I would love it better with better grips. Shooting this pistol, as it is, really hurts the webbing of my hand between my thumb and index finger. I have tried to change my grip on the pistol, but nothing seems to help. I am going to order a Hogue Hand-All grip when I think of it, and see if that helps, otherwise, I may end up springing for a set of aftermarket exotic wood grips, though, I can't be certain those will help. Resilience seems to be the issue for me, and I would think that the rubber grips would be more comfy! And yeah, I have never seen brass eject from a pistol with nearly equal velocity as the projectile exits the muzzle! LOL! Some folks have posted that they find their brass in adjacent counties! They are pretty cool pistols, if you ask me, and while I don't currently get out with them as much as I would like to, I anticipate that will change once I have relocated in a month or two. I noticed that J&G Sales seems to be backordered on these pistols currently. When I have been at the store, they seem to get quite a bit of attention, and I know, from speaking to the staff there, they do a pretty brisk business in them.

I went pheasant hunting for the first time in October 2004, here in CA. It was a special women's hunt through the CA DFG, in conjunction with Quail Unlimited. I won the hunt after scoring the highest in my hunter education class. It was sort of "canned", which is why I haven't gone again, I'm just not thrilled about "canned hunts". Upon arrival at the hunt, all the women were required to shoot at three thrown clays to ensure that we were somewhat prepared for the hunt. I had practiced for two weeks before my hunt, and so I was the only one to get two clays in rapid succession. The organizers for the hunt just waved me off of my third clay, they seemed to think I was ready! The hunt was supposed to last for 3 hours, maximum. I thought, "no problem". However, there is just no way that I could see hunting pheasants without dogs, which, in the case of my hunt, were matched up with women who didn't have a dog. I had two gentlemen go out into the field with me, one of which handled the dog, and the other, I don't know, was there to sort of assist me during the hunt. It was weird because I ended up feeling like what some English noblewoman might feel like with Ghillies out with her in the field. The dog, a Brittany spaniel, would find the bird and freeze, and we'd get up to the shrub where it was and the handler would have the dog flush the pheasant. All I had to do was take the shot. Once the bird was down, we'd find it and in both cases my birds were still alive, though wounded. The dog-handler would grab the pheasant by the head and swing it around, breaking it's neck. At first I was horrified at this, I was angry with myself for not having killed the pheasant straight off. Then, I was sort of upset at the method used to kill the pheasant, though I know it was probably the most humane thing to do at that point. I told the guy who was finishing off the first pheasant that I would have done it myself, because I didn't think it was fair for him to be stuck doing it...I was the "hunter" in this instance, I needed to get used to putting an animal down if I wounded it. This was another reason I declined pheasant hunting again last fall, I didn't want someone killing my birds for me when I needed to do it myself, that's nothing against the true kindness of the gentlemen who were with me during the hunt, I think their hearts were in the right place. I would have gotten my two roosters early if I had taken this one terrible shot over the heads of my companions, but I refused to take that shot as one of the guys was having to duck under my gun, and he was waving his hand around in the air. Both guys were yelling "Take it! Take the shot", but I wouldn't. I was SO embarrassed at first, but still felt that I had done the right thing. A little later on the guy who wasn't handling the dog came up and told me how impressed he was that I hadn't taken such a questionable shot. He said that they are so used to novice hunters out in the field, who just "blam, blam, blam" through their hunts. That I was concerned for the safety of my companions meant a lot to him. I was astonished that people would be so careless as to just blast fanatically through their hunts, PARTICULARLY novice hunters, like myself. I remember watching this one woman in the field adjacent to "mine", after the whistle sounded to begin hunting, she must have stepped no more than 5 steps into "her" field, when the pheasant flushed. The woman took aim at the bird and fired. It couldn't have been more than 8 feet, maybe 10 at the maximum, in front of the muzzle of her shotgun. I saw the cloud of feathers almost before I heard the report of the gun! She got the bird alright, I just can't imagine it was in one piece! LOL! However, despite all the miniscule "negatives" around the pheasant hunt, I have to say that being out there in the field, carrying a gun on a crisp, cool morning as you get a bit of a workout waiting for your dog to flush a cackling pheasant has GOT to be among the best feelings one can get from hunting. Shooter Tom, I highly recommend you give it a try. Tomme Boy, you are a lucky man to be able to go hunting with your loved ones, and to care enough for your Uncle to bring him hunting so that he will always have the memories of a great hunt when he is no longer able to go hunting anymore, that's a beautiful thing! I too wish your Uncle the best, and I do hope that he may continue to be able to hunt with you fellas for many more years! Thanks for the pictures and the tale!

I have two M1 Garands! I am fond of them both. I got them from the CMP, which relaxed their qualifications a couple of years ago, and now, if one has a C&R license it precludes the need to shoot in a qualifying match. Otherwise, one still needs to be a member of an appropriate association, for example, I'm a member of the California Rifle and Pistol Association, but other folks have joined groups like the Garand Collectors Association, and other organizations that both support the shooting sports and meet the criteria for the CMP. My Garands were both the Greek returns, and were $295.00 each, plus shipping. One of the Garands is a Springfield Armory make, the other is a Harrington & Richardson make. They shoot equally well. The throat erosion in both of the Garands is currently inconsequential for my purposes, as I don't shoot matches, or often enough to really worry about wearing out the barrel anytime soon. There is truly something to be said for firing one of these rifles and hearing that distinctive "ping" as the clip ejects from the gun! It's incredible. My Garands are plenty accurate too...and while I am definitely not the greatest shot in the world, the beauty of a Garand is that it can make me feel like I'm better than I really am. I consider that a bonus! Somewhere down the line I am considering giving these old rifles a little boost and sending them off to Dean's Garand Restorations for overhauls...perhaps even new barrels should I feel so inclined. But until then, I am quite content to shoot them as they are, I may be content with their current configuration forever...one never knows! Just remember, Garands can definitely bite! While I didn't get a case of "Garand thumb", I did get "Garand finger", and no more than 5 minutes after I took the Springfield Garand out of the CMP box! I was showing a friend the location of most "Garand thumb" incidents by pointing into the chamber of the rifle as my friend held it. What I didn't realize until it was FAR too late was that when she pulled the bolt handle back, the bolt rested on the edge of the follower. When I stuck my finger in there, I hadn't anticipated that I would actually make contact with anything. The millisecond after I touched the follower, I realized what was about to happen, and could only think of an expletive as the bolt zoomed forward. When the bolt closed on my right index finger, I almost started crying. The velocity and the pressure of the bolt closing on my poor little digit split it on both sides and caused bruising under the nail in the nail bed. Quite a few people were certain that I would lose the nail, but I didn't. Here's a picture of it: I can assure you, there is nothing like being Garand bit to get the old adrenal glands pumping! But the bright side is, once you become aware of what could happen, you take extra care to avoid it. I can only hope that I got that lesson the first time! And STILL I love my Garands...I know that karlunity is probably rolling his eyes at me for my over-affectionate word usage there...but it's a fairly appropos description of the way I feel about these rifles! Enjoy your Garand, fritz! They are wonderful!

I didn't look at the video, but I assume that you guys are talking about Suzanna Hupp? Not only was she at Luby's in Killeen, she lost both of her parents in that incident, and she even had a handgun in her vehicle, but it was against the law for her to have taken it with her into the restaurant. She mentioned on an episode of Penn & Teller's Bull**** that she wishes to this very day that she would have ignored such a stupid law. She says she has no idea what the outcome might have been had she been armed that day in the restaurant, but it may have been a very different situation had she been legal to have her pistol with her. I can't imagine how she must have felt watching her parents die at that lunatic's hands. And it would have been so easy to become an anti-gun fanatic, but she didn't...she did just the opposite, and has been a WONDERFUL advocate for the expansion of carry rights in Texas. I think she's the best!

Hmm, would you mind if I took a crack at this one? Water skiing on a local lake. You said that you never water skied before, yes? So is there a risky venture you are contemplating? Is there something in your life that you feel uncomfortable with? It seems to me that the act of water skiing on a local lake means that something is or could be going on that you don't feel certain about, that it's on a local lake means that it's close to home, you have a familiarity with some aspect of the matter. A rope being pulled by a seagull. The poor bird finally gave out and I crashed. Are you relying on someone or something that may be unlikely to come through for you? Do you doubt your own abilities to see something through? I would think that the crash after the seagull gives out is a sign of fear that you will be left to drown in whatever risk you took. If not for my faithful Lab Tucker, I would have drowned. He swam out and saved me. Something like this could be that you are "saved" by what you inherently know or have learned from the past. I would think that Tucker is symbolic of your own trusted experience, in your case what you know did in fact save you. So, either you have recently entered into, or are contemplating some sort of major thing that you may not be entirely comfortable with. Possibly, this event has already taken place and you still have some unprocessed issues around it. There is a component of trust involved, that you may or may not feel is up to the challenge, either in yourself or someone else...even the whims of fate could be symbolized by the seagull. Then, when the harsh reality comes to pass, and the seagull can no longer pull you along, it is your own experience, intuition, whatever, that saves you, either from making a mistake, making a worse mistake, avoiding the situation altogether or something along those lines. What do you think? I will try to figure out the other dreams if I am close to anything with the one I interpreted above.

I am pretty well-versed in this dream stuff as I used to have dreams so bad that I ended up in therapy for them! I've been known to wake up sobbing, I have had issues with sleep-walking and I once punched someone out who came to check on me when I was screaming in my sleep! Yeah, they were bad. The most important thing that I found out about dreams is that they are all about the person dreaming. I'm not being glib about that, it's just a very simple explanation. So, for example, if you have a dream and there are 4 very different people in it, even people you recognize and detest, those 4 people are YOU...or at least they are aspects of your personality. This is the way that your subconscious breaks down information for your brain to process. If you are being chased in a dream by a person you loathe, when you wake up, think about this for a moment, is it possible that you have a problem that you are trying to "creatively" side-step, and a part of you that won't let it go? That's generally what a dream like that can mean. Even perverted and/or sexual dreams are variations on the same thing as sometimes our brains will process our issues in a "language" that we understand, often that can be sex. So, if you fellows are dreaming of a woman, that woman is a representation of some part of your own psyche! Isn't that weird? LOL! I have never believed in that whole thing about "dreaming of a wedding means death is near" or other similar symbolic interpretations, but once I figured out how my being chased by a slasher that I KNEW was a hated co-worker only meant that there was part of me not doing something I was supposed to, I stopped fearing bedtime after a lifetime of dreading falling asleep. This particular way of interpreting dreams doesn't always fit, and it's possible that some dreams are just creative rubbish that needs to be discarded...I guess it will be up to you to decide how that works, fritz. I hope that helps in some small way.

I am going to cough up some moola too...I'm cheap, but I won't take advantage! I just hope that this site is going to be like this for good, otherwise I might stay away again! Of course, some of you would probably like that!

Hey fritz -- I answered you AGES ago about the banning matter. Did you not receive the reply? My computer's hard disk died since then, so I don't have any of the emails around the subject to refer to, however, if you PM me I will try to explain what I know about that whole thing again...at least what I can recollect. Or I can PM you...either way. I guess that explains why I never got a reply from you! LOL!

I am directly related to the last chief of one of my tribes, and as such have had the honor of representing my tribe in various formal and informal events as a young woman. I am also more distantly related to another chief of one of my tribes. There's a town in Oklahoma named after one of the chiefs to which I am related: Gotebo, OK. I know that there are quite a few people out there who claim not only American Indian heritage, but to be related to chiefs like Quanah Parker, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and the like, but I can tell you that I am the genuine article. The chiefs I am related to aren't really "stand-outs" in American history, but it's an interesting thing nonetheless. It also gets me special treatment at tribal events! LOL!

Everyone knows better than to aim a gun at someone charged with protecting the public. The kid was, as the article said, "suicidal". Everyone also knows that one of the "best" ways to commit suicide is "by police". That's what the kid did. The parents need to lay off the law suits and get some therapy to figure out where they "failed" the kid, if indeed they did. All the law suits in the world don't bring people back, how is it that we as taxpayers have to pay stupid people who can't comprehend that? I know I sound harsh here, but DANG, where's the responsibility, where's the common sense? I worked in law enforcement for many years, and while I loved my work, I have no more love for peace officers than anyone else...but still...they are charged with an impossible task overall...all we can do is try to keep the bad ones out of the loop and forgive the good ones who have to live with things like shooting a kid who might have shot them for doing their jobs.

Well, since you are changing the rules to include accessories, then I submit to you that my bank account is an accessory to my ATM card...and a mighty fine one too as it doesn't make me look fat. And, if we are going to be splitting hairs, then of course, I don't blame fritz for taking exception to my statement about not being able to live off the land without moola. What I meant to indicate with that is that if one were to acquire a parcel of 40 acres of essentially raw, unimproved land it would likely be very tough to manage without money. Now, if we're talking about the "perfect" parcel, that would be different...but come on, how likely is THAT in TX? Just kidding, fritz!

Well fritz, yes and no...the ATM card, which is what I said I would keep, not the ATM itself, is in fact mine...it goes to my account and it's my money in there, so yes, it really is mine. None of the ATMs are mine, in a purely ownership sense, however, they sort of do belong to the customers of my bank, as a matter of convenience...and as there are plenty of them around access to one doesn't have to be limited to my land. Besides, while land is great, if you don't have money to start with you can't really live off of it. My ATM card, linked to the funds in my account makes it fairly simple to live whilst developing any resources I might need in the furtherance of my well-being. Finally, 40 acres and a mule is technically two items, therefore you are trying to cheat! Maybe you're just jealous because I came up with the best answer here?

You are welcome to share my ATM card with me, horsefly! Actually, I didn't even have to think about that response...it was automatic...I don't know what I would do without my beloved ATM card! We may not be able to get everything we'd need, but I'm sure we could get enough! LOL!

Yeah, welcome dave h! I feel that I am something of an expert on many things Australian...I love Vegemite, and I even know the song. I also know that Foster's is a joke to most Australians. Personally, I like XXXX beer too. When a good friend from Australia visited me, I bought a whole bunch of items that purported to be Australian, things like "Australian Toaster Biscuits" (English muffin-like things, not cookies), and our line of "Aussie" hair care products. My Aussie mate and I had a good laugh over the stuff. I am a huge fan of just about anything Australian, and I particularly like anyone who (literally) sticks to their guns and shooting in your nation given the restrictive gun laws there. Good on you for sticking with it! BTW, your comments about the German who said that you couldn't be a shooter because you didn't have croc teeth on your hat reminded me of what my Australian friend about someone from Boston asking my friend if Australians had weekends! LOL! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it here!

My ATM card...that way I can get everything else I need.

Dearest Uncle Phoenix! Of my parents' children, I am the eldest...and my sister has always been a fitness freak, so I expect her to be a bit more flexible than I...but I would bite a hole in my lip before admitting to her that I am not as capable of doing yoga as she is! LOL! Thank goodness that I haven't had to grab the Tiger Balm or Ben Gay quite yet...but after today's workout, I may end up worshipping at the medicine cabinet soon! You have hit the nail on the head about the inspiration a flexible sibling can provide however!

A very Happy New Year to all! I don't personally "do" resolutions, but I did just begin a regimen of yoga today, and am looking forward to becoming more flexible and gaining some strength and general fitness this way. My sister has been practicing yoga for about 3 years now and she just turned 40 yet is incredibly flexible. That's my resolute non-resolution!

Yes, Happy Birthday indeed! I hope that you are celebrating or have celebrated in fine style, wherever you are! Take care and if you can't be good, at least be careful!