You know what I don't like? People that delete me, even though we chat all the time on here, and never tell me (or make a post saying they are even cutting people). So I am making this a public entry. I was hurt to see several people I enjoyed talking to just randomly delete me. I can understand if we never talk or don't seem to connect, but I felt like these people were my friends. But anyways, I deleted them back finally. I was just wondering why they had not posted in awhile, but I was just deleted, that was it.

I deleted several people myself. Only people that haven't posted in like a year or so, or people who I never connected with and we never managed to communicate with one another. Chances are, if you are reading this, you are fine. But if you did get deleted by chance, let me know you want to stay and I will add you again. I am easy enough to get along with. I highly doubt that will be needed though, as I said, I kept most of the friends, even some I was iffy about.

Speaking of which, if you do want to delete me, feel free to. It would make me sad if I feel like we talk frequently, but if we don't, and you want to delete me, go right ahead. No one needs to post and say they want to stay, let's do it in reverse. If you want me to delete you, tell me and I will. If you want to stay and are still a friend, then do nothing. If you aren't a friend and would like to be (my entries are almost all friends only), then tell me. Sound good to everyone? Great.

I wanted to add, it isn't so much about who comments the most, more about how often they post. I hate having friends who only post every few months because I never know what is going on and it is hard to keep up (and I usually try very hard to do that). Though, if I just felt like we never connected, had nothing in comment and never talked, then I might consider deleting someone. But if they want to be added back, I would do so. I just thought if they never read my stuff, might as well delete them. But if they do read sometimes, I am happy to keep them. Make sense? So no panicking or anything :-p

I just realized I had a lot of people add me recently, and I have no clue where some of them found me! Since my journal is almost completely friends only, I need to add you back in order to let you read my entries. So, if you added me recently, please let me know and I will happily add you back. And let me know where you found me too. That way you can actually read my entries :) I love having new friends, but I do this because I used to add just anyone until I realized so many people don't ever post in their journal or read their friends page and want to make sure that whoever I add is somewhat active on LJ.

So comment here if you added me and don't think I added you back. I have so many people who list me as a friend who never post anymore, not sure who recently added me or not, so I want to make sure I only add those who are active. Thanks!

So because I realized I had so many LJ friends listed on my profile that never even post anymore, I cut a few people. I also cut anyone that I honestly feel like I just don't talk to. No concerns to most of you, because I kept the majority, just thought I would post this in case anyone wondered why they got cut. Either you haven't posted in awhile (usually a few months, some people over a year), or I just didn't feel a connection, like I tended to skip over the entries and felt you did the same thing since I would never get a comment. Even if you rarely comment on my journal, doesn't mean a cut. Some people I keep because I like reading their journal, even if they may or may not read mine. I just realized there were a few people I never read and I figure it would make it easier to read the friends posts that I actually want to read, and give me more time to comment.


That being said, if you were cut and actually liked reading my stuff and want to be added back, let me know. As I said, it is hard to tell. I think I did it about right, and doubt I will have any complaints.

Also, if you recently added me and I haven't added you back yet, please tell me so. Almost all my entries are friends only now and you must be added to read those entries.

I figured I would answer this. I had never left the midwest before and always wanted to see the beach, so my boyfriend took me to Destin, Florida where he proposed to me (exactly like I had always dreamed it would be). The best picture I think that was taken was of us on the beach, right after we got engaged. We were so happy and in love. The second best picture was of me and him parasailing. Everyone who knows me knows I am deathly afraid of heights (and deep water). You see me gripping for dear life as they are lifting us up in the air and James is just looking at me with the happiest expression on his face. I look absolutely terrified though.

I just thought I would let everyone know that most of my entries are friendly only. I have a few people who have added me. If you want me to add you, I have to know! lol So please, comment on this entry if you would like to be added. I rarely post non-friends entries anymore, just because I don't want to censor myself and be afraid someone will read it that I don't want reading it.

So comment if you aren't already a friend and recently added me if you are interested in me adding you back. I do this because I know some people friended me awhile back and never commented or read my entries and just never deleted me. I want to make sure it is an active account and someone who reads their friends pages.

Also, if you can tell me where I found you at, that would be great too!

It is 3 AM and I am not tired. This just sucks...I am not tired in the slightest. All it takes is on day to screw my whole schedule completely up *sigh*

I need more all nighter friends on here to keep me busy :-p No, actually that would just encourage me to stay up even longer (as if I need encouragement). I have been very bad about being up late, getting no sleep and not able to stay awake in my first two classes. Then I come home and take a three hour nap and the cycle continues. I need to stop. Weekends don't help much :-p I love sleeping in late, I can't explain it...

Useles entry. No need to reply to it unless you are really bored or an insomniac like me.

I am sure this would be very interesting to attend. Almost wish I could attend. Not that I support him, actually the very opposite, I would just like to see what he has to say to us.

Columbia U. to let Iran president speak
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_re_us/ahmadinejad_columbia

This is really sad and I hope it gets passed along. I found it on a local Dj's myspace page and it is terribly depressing. I have only adopted shelter animals, and always plan to do that. The reason I adopted my cat (who was full grown) over a cute little kitten that others wanted was because I felt she would probably be put down if I hadn't. As many of you know, this cat is my world now, and I could not ask for a better cat. I also adopted my dog when he was grown, I feel it makes a difference. At my local shelter, puppies and kittens go like crazy, but full grown dogs and cats are not so lucky.

*edit* someone on Myspace bought up a good point. They would rather see them euthanized then starving on the streets or getting run over. This may be true, but this is more or less about people who let their dogs and cats have babies and spread the population, and also for those who get a pet and cannot face up to the resposibility and it ends up in the shelter. We need to stop the problem before it starts. I know firsthand how hard it is. I have to find my dog a home. I will NOT take him to the local shelter, even though animal control has said that when they caught him, 20 people asked about him. I want to place him in a home. He is our resposibility and I am not pushing that off on someone else and taking the chance for him to end up dead. I love this dog and taking great care to make sure he gets a good home. I cannot imagine him living with me in my tiny apartment even if they did allow dogs, esepcailly when the person who wants to take him has a large fenced in backyard for him to run around in.

So what really happens at the animal shelter? I know it is long, but something people need to know about.


WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR PET TO A SHELTER?

From CraigsList.com 07.06.2006

(edited for grammar and layout)

I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge wake-up call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all - a view from the inside, if you will. First off, this (original website) is a forum to for adoption and / or rehoming as clearly stated in the rules. All of you breeders / sellers on craigslist should not only be flagged (and I hope the good people on craigslist will continue to do so with blind fury), but you should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day.

Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you dont even know - that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when its not a cute little puppy anymore. How would you feel if you knew that theres about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at - purebred or not!

About 50% all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays" that come into my shelter are purebred dogs. The most common excuses I hear are:

. We are moving and we cant take our dog (or cat). Really? Where are you moving to that doesnt allow pets?

. The dog got bigger than we thought it would. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?

. We dont have time for her. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!

. Shes tearing up our yard. How about bringing her inside, making her a part of your family?

They always tell me, "We just dont want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she'll get adopted - shes a good dog". Odds are your pet wont get adopted, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?

Your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isnt full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run / kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers that day to take him / her for a walk. If I dont, your pet wont get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose.

If your dog is big, black or any of the "bully" breeds (pit bull, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just dont get adopted. If your dog doesnt get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed.

If the shelter isnt full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, though not for long.

Most pets get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just dont have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

Heres a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down". First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk - happy, wagging their tails. That is, until they get to "The Room", when every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door. It must smell like death, or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there. Its strange, but it happens with every one of them.

Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs (depending on their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff".

Hopefully your pet doesnt panic from being restrained and jerk it's leg. I ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood, and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all dont just "go to sleep" - sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

When it all ends, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back, with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? Youll never know, and it probably wont even cross your mind. It was just an animal, and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and cant get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this is DONT BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE! Hate me if you want to - the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one person's mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want to adopt". That would make it all worth it.

Stolen from heeroluva, the most challenged books from 1990-2000. Very interesting little list here, I am going to show you which ones I have read (and I liked most of them, some of my all time faves are on here).

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My sisters and nieces horse, Chrissy, died yesterday. It was very sad for my family because that horse was dearly loved.

I was with my sister, and talking to her and the kids, when she went to feed the horse. I saw her running up screaming for James who was doing some work with a bobcat. I instantly had a bad feeling that something was wrong with the horse and went running, telling the kids to stay put. We were watching James on the bobcat and a tree limb was in the way, so I told Tyler I thought James was stuck and went to help him because I did not want him to worry and follow me in case it was bad. We got back there, and she was far back on the property, farther then she normally goes, and just laying there. Her leg was cut up like she had been trying to get up and cut herself. My sister gets some water for her while I call my mom who was visiting my aunt. Luckily, she was on her way. I call 411 and get the number for the vets office. It is after hours, so I get a messaging service. James was putting the kids inside so they wouldn't come down here, and Samantha watched them. Tyler told her he thought James got hit with a tree and that was what was wrong.

The vet was a complete jerk too. He was going to charge more then we could afford since it was after hours and refused to let my family make payments. So we were scrambling around, trying to find a way to pay for him to put her down. She has been sick for months, being treated for various infections, but nothing has been working. She was a very old horse and the vet recently told us that she was going to pass away soon, and we could just see her dying. We fought for what seemed like hours, but probably wasn't that long, to get the money together. I talked my sisters dad into paying for it, and he headed down. I called the vet and he said he would call when he was on his way, he was at another emergency 20 miles away. I figure he would be there soon, so I left with the kids and took them swimming with my friend Meghan and her son, Julian. We get back at 9:30 pm, hours later, and figure the vet must have been there. He hadn't been there yet. When my mom called and asked if he was still coming, he yelled at her!

My poor sister sat down there, without leaving once, for over 5 hours, just holding her head in her lap and talking to her while petting her. My family took turns bringing her water and the horse some water and food. My sisters best friend came and sat with her, comforting her as well. She stayed with her until the very end.

So he hadn't called for a long time, and Meghan said her husband could end her suffering. I really did not want to have her shot, but it seemed like the only solution after 5 or 6 hours of suffering already. He came down and around 10:30 pm, she was gone. The vet did finally call, and I told her she was already gone. He said he was sorry for our loss, but did not sound sincere. The rumors around town is that he really is not very compassionate about animals, that he is out for money. Wrong reasons to be a vet. I wanted to be a vet myself, but my love for animals actually stopped me. I knew it would bother me to see animals suffering.

Our dog, Molly, actually had to be put inside because she was too protective of the horse. She sat nearby and when other dogs would walk up to her, she was attack them. She is not an aggressive dog and this is not usual behaviour for her. She was determined to protect her, even though the other dogs were not a threat to her.

So I wanted to post some pictures of her with the kids. She was a great horse, and had a very happy life. We only had for a little over a year (My niece, Megan, got her as a birthday present last year), and she was already an old horse then. We took her to let her retire in peace. She was taken care of by my sister, who would visit with her every single day, and loved to feed her treats and pet her. No one rode on her or used her for work, she just got to live in peace with a lot of people to love her.

I took these about a year ago, during better times for the horse. Her last month had her looking bad. But here she is with the kids, during the only ditl I ever got around to doing.

More behind the cut

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