Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 4, 2021 7:32:41 GMT -8
Here’s a moral quandary for you:
A lady drove by in her minivan while I was out watering the garden this morning. She asked me if I had seen a terrier of some type. It goes by the name, “Cammy.”
I told her that, of course, I would call her by the number on the dog’s collar and keep my eyes out. Have a good day.
The lady seemed nice enough. No problem there. Now for the moral quandary: Is this a case of a lost pet or more a case of a prison break? If you were a terrier with all the vital instincts that go with the breed, maybe you’re not happy with the name, “Cammy.” Maybe you cringe every time you hear it.
The food may be good. Having a warm and predictable place to sleep may be good. But the fact is, this dog left its abode via its own free will. Whether it was a prison break or it just wanted to go on walkabout for a while, clearly the warm comfort of Cammyville had lost some of its charm — or at least enough for the dog to want to pack and leave.
So if I see the dog, should I take the dog’s side? Should I take her side? (Egad, if it’s a “he” with a name like “Cammy”.) No, I would not kidnap the dog and take it as my own knowing that the owner lives just down the block. But maybe I should tie a few doggy treats into a bag and aid and abet his escape as if I was part of an underdog doggy railroad. I think you see what I mean.
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Aug 4, 2021 8:59:29 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Aug 4, 2021 8:59:29 GMT -8
I'm not sure what he's trying to tell us, but in the end, he sells out for the dog biscuit.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Aug 4, 2021 10:59:19 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 4, 2021 10:59:19 GMT -8
Most dogs are obviously Democrats.
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Post by kungfuzu on Sept 1, 2023 7:37:00 GMT -8
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Sept 2, 2023 8:10:54 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 2, 2023 8:10:54 GMT -8
That all makes perfect sense. I'm not sure why it took three times to figure out that the dog wanted to be there. But these are women, of course. The did finally make the right decision. I just hope Scout isn't required to wear a mask.
That's really good. But it's worth noting that no kindness today will go unnoticed by the atheists, aggrieved, and self-centered. All it will take is one of the sons or daughters of one of the residents to complain. And someone will because a nursing home is basically relegating your parents to oblivion. And making a stink about something would be their way to show they "care" and assuage the guilt. Or maybe I'm must reminded of my liberal sister.
It's just the pessimist in me because I know these kind of people, kind-hearted as they appear to be, almost certainly don't have the moral fiber to tell some idiot man or woman to go take a hike if he or she complains about the dog. What if one of the residents was Muslim, for example?
But take your victories of normalcy and decency where you can. I hope this one sticks. From all that I read, it sounds like this is an exceptional facility with some exceptional employees. This has not been my experience. This also may be a quite upscale facility. Whatever the case may be, what an extraordinary dog. And it would be a good idea for every facility to have a pet like this.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 3, 2023 16:27:43 GMT -8
Let me just say that that dog is remarkable. There is something going on there that we don't understand.
Back in the day before Disney was being financed and run by Satan, you used to have Rex Allen narrating the adventures of some raccoon...or more likely a dog. And often those dogs would be shown to behave in ways that were remarkable and, of course from our standpoint, quite human.
Well, damned if Disney didn't do a better job understanding animals at one time than they do queers, the "transgender," and other perverts.
And so, yeah, I drag the nursing home business and my sister into this for seemingly no good reason. But, good god, from taking care of my mother, I got a real inside look at both "assisted living" and, well, liberal women and the guilt factor.
Note that my younger brother and I, for years (because of the proximity of our business to her home...literally a stone's throw) took care of my mother after my father died in 2003. She was healthy and active enough for the following ten years or so but then began to decline with age.
But even before then, anytime she needed something fixed (or just needed to complain...which was often), we were there. Actually, she would often stop down at our office out of the blue and just sometimes make our lives miserable. But there were other times when she was alright. It was a mixed bag and we eventually (at my younger brother's instigation) had a siren sound at the ready whenever we saw her car pull up at our office building. Little jokes like this helped to keep us sane.
And I had been managing her personal and business finances soon after my father died. And was also her building manager (the building we were in was hers) for years. We were "there for her." My older brother wasn't. My older sister wasn't.
So it comes time to put my mother in assisted living. Of course the older brother and sister couldn't or wouldn't do the traditional decent thing and have her move in with them. She's a handful so I can understand that. But they didn't. So she goes into a fairly nice "assisted living" place, and then a few years later (with the onset of dementia) to a "memory care unit." The former was a very nice-looking concentration camp for the elderly. The latter made little pretense at nice.
And all this time her bank account was being depleted. These places are expensive. But there was enough for a few years before she needed to, for example, sell her home (which, of course, I was managing as a rental to help defer costs).
So one day my older (and only) sister is visiting. She had power of attorney for my mother. And she basically calls a meeting and informs me (and my brothers) that she was going to sell our office building to help pay for mother's care when the time came.
I pretty much exploded. I told her in no uncertain terms that that wasn't going to happen, that our business was here, that the building was willed to me (and my younger brother), that is was also my home, and that we had basically been carrying the burden all these years taking care of things (not to mention that paying rent for 30 years meant the we were well bought-into the building itself).
I'm trying to be nice. Imagine the word I am thinking of now. Why not sell her home first? That would bring in about $300,000 and would be more than enough to cover her for the rest of her life.
Nope. She wanted to sell the building out from under us. I really don't know where this animosity came from. My sister and I had always gotten along. I can only put it down to liberal guilt and just the general moral corruption of being liberal. She knows deep-down that she hadn't done shit for my mother so was going to step in (for five minutes) and spend money on her by selling the office building and pretending she had fulfilled her obligations.
My sister has since passed on. But, Jesus, do know that when it comes to understanding just how broken, corrupt, and selfish liberal women can be, I know from what I speak of. I don't think I've ever forgiven her for that, even though she has passed on. It was one of the most malicious attacks on me that I've ever had the displeasure to experience.
Thankfully it all worked out. Mother had enough money as it was in her bank account to last her until she passed on. In the meantime, my sister had passed on before her by several months. When we sold the house, we split it three-ways between the brothers and, of course, my younger brother and I inherited the office building. Which, then and now, was also my home.
So I will remain damn suspicious of the moral integrity of liberal women, as well as those in nursing homes. There are some ladies (and men) who do a bang-up job in what is a challenging job. But, Jesus, you took that dog back to the pound two times? Jesus H. Christ. But all's well that ends well. I have more respect for that dog than I do most people.
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Post by kungfuzu on Sept 3, 2023 18:34:11 GMT -8
Mdm. Flu and I experienced an equally sordid and vicious situation just before and after my mother died. After taking care of my mother for several years, literally driving over to her four times a day, 30 minutes there, thirty minutes back and an hour at her home to help her with peritoneal dialysis, Mdm. Flu told my mother she could no longer do it. She suggested my mother move in with one of my siblings who had more room. We did not have the space and couldn't afford to rent or buy a larger house. My mother flipped out and we never saw her again after that. She died within 5 weeks i.e. once my siblings had to take care of her. Something they had never done before. Under Mdm. Flu's care, my mother had gotten through 18 months of this dialysis.
Since my mother was going a bit gaga, I can just about forgive her. But I could never forgive my siblings for the way they treated us, especially Mdm. Flu, after my mother died. Mdm. Flu wasn't even a blood relative, but she was the one who took care of my mother for several years. This on top of taking care of a handicapped child.
Before that, we had moved back to Texas to be near my parents who were getting old. We rented a home within a few minutes drive from them. We got several calls a day from my parents who needed this or that. After a year it got to be too much and we moved to Plano to have some distance. That didn't much help.
As an example of the type of thing that would happen, my mother once called at about 9:00 pm saying she wanted a bowl of crayfish bisque from Pappadeaux. To get this for her would have required me to drive over to the restaurant which was about 20 minutes from me. Then order the bisque and take it to her which was another 10 minute drive away. The earliest I could have gotten the bisque to her would have been 9:45 pm. Then I would have had to drive back, which would have put me back home at 10:30 pm, earliest, as I would have had to stay at my mother's home for a while.
I told her that it was too late to do such a thing and would get her some the next day. Apparently, she had called my brother, who lived 30-40 minutes from her. He also declined to pick up the soup for her. What type of mind does it take to ask for this type of thing? It burns me up just thinking about it again.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 4, 2023 7:48:36 GMT -8
That's too bad. But when I say "I understand," those are not just throw-away words of polite sympathy.
I'm shocked that your siblings wouldn't extent to Mdm. Flu every love and sympathy due a member of the family. But as they say, you can choose your friends and not your family. You're not rotten but there is something about that (yours, mine) generation that is rotten.
Honest to god, that kind of self-centered selfishness I do not understand. I think for women, in particular, it is comforting for them if they can get the male kin to jump through hoops. I think it makes them feel secure.
I had many such incidents with my mother. I remember playing the good son and taking her on nice, long drives in the country. Trust me when I tell you that despite my (sometimes) kind heart, it could be excruciating with her in the passenger seat. It was like trying not to wake the baby. At any time she could transform into a demanding, bitter, angry, resentful, complaining old woman.
Near the end of one such drive she got it into her head that she wanted to go to a certain restaurant which was about 8 miles away. But by this time I was mentally worn out and declined. She then turned into a passive-aggressive witch. She immediately brought out how she was going to give a stash of wood (that my father had split and stacked outside near the fireplace) to my cousin.
I didn't want the wood. I had no need for the wood. I'd never given a thought to that wood. But the message was clear: You were not at my beck and call so therefore I will favor another relative.
This kind of craziness was normal, so when I tell you that my brother had rigged a siren sound effect for whenever my mother would (when she was still driving) pull into our parking lot, I hope you believe me and laugh out loud at that.
My grandmother (on my father's side) as she aged was the sweetest of old ladies...the very pleasant stereotype of such a thing. I don't know what happened to Americans. But they turned sour and rotten.
Thanks, I just had to get that off my chest. As much as it seems silly the way people treat dogs like children (and it is, and I will continue to berate these idiots), to treat them like trusted companions is an entirely different and warranted thing. I can see why many people prefer the company of pets.
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Sept 4, 2023 9:36:22 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Sept 4, 2023 9:36:22 GMT -8
It was both funny and sad.
I have long wondered how much of the behavior of old people is a matter of creeping mental decline or just not giving a damn anymore. If mental decline is it a case of base personality coming out, or a foreign warped personality coming out due to cellular damage?
Thanks.
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Brad Nelson
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Sept 4, 2023 9:47:40 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 4, 2023 9:47:40 GMT -8
The decline of mental acuity is inevitable and I can feel some of that myself. What we're really talking about is reverting back to the stage of the terrible-twos, the decline of emotional acuity, if you will.
It's reminiscent of The Riddle of The Sphinx: Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed, two-footed and three-footed? Many seem to revert to childhood.
I had the experience yesterday with an old guy from the congregation of the church. It's just funny how that seems to happen naturally with some people. They are pounding their fists in fury against reality. They are certainly not going gently into that goodnight. And considering the most poets are libtards of one type or another, I'm not sure that that poem by Dylan Thomas is anything but bad advice.
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