Getting To Know Each Other, talk about yourself Options

[Brutus]

I thought this thread might be fun. Tell about yourself..whatever you feel comfortable posting on the web.

I am 29..11 years in a row now...no need for a calculator..lol. I am an Air Traffic Controller, my husband is as well but we are at different airports about 70 miles apart. I've been doing this job for 11 years now..only 9 1/2 until retirement! I've been married for 14 1/2 years and we met in college..hubbies name is Doug. We have no children of the human kind. We tried but I couldn't carry, I think that's one reason we are so close to our animals..they are my life. We love to be outdoors...camping, boating, fishing, bow hunting, snow skiing. I also like to tie flies, bowl, read, play piano (which I am not good at).

We have a weekend house that we go to on our days off...we are lucky we have basically the same schedule..it is near a lake..in the summer thats where we are as much as possible.

I am from Pittsburgh, PA..we moved to MI about 12 years ago. All my family is in PA and NC...so just me and the hubby up here.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. If you go to my profile there is a pic of me and Doug..It's nice to put a face with the name.

Anyhow I'd love to hear about you...and see a pic too if you've got one!

[Brutus]

Jan and Dottie - so glad you posted, was beginning to think no one was going to.

Jan congrats on your soon to be 3rd Grandchild.

And Dottie...love your outfit in that pic!

I too have always been an animal lover, love em' all...there have only been 4 special ones though, all different species, thier passing hit me hard but not like Brutus, he was the most special of all...a raccoon named Scruffy, a horse named Simon, and a cokatoo (had to spell it wrong for the forum to accept it..lol) named Clyde. let me tell you about some of my critters of the past:

I always had dogs and outdoor cats as a kid. The dogs were my father's and were outside hunting dogs. And of course, as a kid I had the parade of rodents...hamsters, mice, guninnea pigs, rats, ferrett...snakes too and tropical fish. This was when I had Scruffy, the raccoon...I was probably around 9 then. Scruffy was found in a garbage can by my father's friend, an Animal Control Officer. Scruffy had been in there with his family and everyone was able to get out but him, he was the runt. He was around 2 weeks old when he was found. We got a permit to have Scruffy and every three hours I would feed him by hand...he would only drink milk out of my hand, no one else's and he would not take from a bottle. Scruffy was the character, let me tell you, he could do tricks, walked exceptionally well on a leash...slept in my bed the majority of the time. After about two years though, Scruffy began to change. Scruffy was a wild animal and as Scruffy got older and quite large, he became not so loveable...he was always fine with me...he would never hurt me..but he did bite my father and when he bit a neighbor kid that was tormenting him, we had to have him put down. He was too tame to be let free, but not tame enough to keep...I was heartbroken.

Around 12 I went through a 4H project of raising a beef cow....didn't go so well, "Porter" (for Porterhouse) was an adorable cow that broke my heart when I had to send him to the butcher. I vowed again to never have livestock of the eatin' kind...don't get me wrong, I eat meat and I love it, but I can't eat an animal I've known...will never ever do it again. Also around that time I had ducks, bunnies, racing pigeons.

Early teens to early to mid twenties: came the horses, had 4 in all throughout that time and the one equine love of my life, Simon...I was about 17 when Simon found me. Simon was a standardbred off the track...we found him at a borders barn covered in filth and almost dead..the border hadn't paid for his stall in months and the owner of the stable moved Simon outdoors to an open barn like and he was starved to death, he could hardly stand...my father and I went with our hearts and bought him for a measly $300, papers and all. It took months to get Simon in riding condition and I spent every waking moment with that horse. Once healthy, we rode every single day just about for 5 years until he started getting sick. It started with colic and went down hill over a few months, the ultimate diagnoise was multiple organ failure...due to being starved earlier in his life, he was only 12. Simon was euthanized and burried on my parents farm. After Simon left, I sold all my horses, just didn't have the desire anymore.

Also around equine time, I got into parrots. I had an African Grey, Amazon, cokatiels, parakettes, and a Moluccan cokatoo named Clyde. (The Grey and Amazon were techinically my Mom's) Clyde was the feather love of my life. Clyde was about 2 when I got him, not tame...that bird could take a broom stick and snap it in half with his beak with no effort what-so-ever. But it only took me about a month and Clyde was so sweet...he would sit on my shoulder and kiss me for hours...he loved everyone but I was his Mom. Clyde never did speak, he didn't really have a chance...after about a year and a half of me being blessed with Clyde, he got sick. Slowly he deteriorated and was so weak he couldn't even eat...I had to feed him mush through a syringe. We never did ever really find out what was wrong with Clyde...back then there were no specialized vets in our area and parrots are hard to treat animals. We had tests done, but nothing ever showed up. When Clyde weighed just 1/2 lbs (he should of been over 2 lbs), we made the decision to end his suffering. Clyde is burried beside Simon at my parents farm.

After Scruffy, Clyde and Simon left I had no interest in animals...I vowed never again would I get that attached and I didn't want animals to complicate my life. My Mother did buy me a coker spaniel (again misspelled for the forum to accept) for my 21st birthday but he ended up being my Dad's soul dog. I got married and moved away from home, leaving the spaniel for my dad.

I went animalless for the first time time in my life...(other than fish)..it was less than two years..

Doug and I lived in an apartment for a year when we first got married, then we found out we were being moved to MI for our jobs...we didn't want to sign another lease, so we moved in with my parents for 6 months until the transfer took place. Here comes Brutus....Doug wanted a lab to take hunting and train while we were staying at my parent's farm. When I saw him I instantly fell in love...he was so big and clumsy...he was the only one left for sale in the litter, seems he was too large for what most hunter's want that's why she still had him at 3 months old. Well, Brutus never did end up being a hunting dog, instead he became my child...and you all know the rest of the story. I was blessed with him for 13 years, may seem like a long time for a very large lab who had many health complications through his life, but it was not near long enough for me.

Radar the mix, came along when Brutus was about 4, and Radar..aka Chucky...is my husband's soul dog.

Then we moved to a place with more acreage and I started a hobby farm, this was about 6 years ago...I had 4 miniature horses, 2 miniature goats, and lots of chickens..also picked up a green-cheek conure named Chicken...we started traveling alot and I didn't have time to dedicate to the farm animals or the conure so I sold them all about 2 years ago...I miss them all sometime but they were alot of work and were all placed in excellent homes.

Finally we got Tanga...aka Marpoopial...in Feb. of 2009 and he and Radar are best buds.

That takes me up until today...hope you enjoyed my story. Seems that animals were always part of my life for the most part...I have been very blessed by them for sure!

Hugs to all,
Brutus' Mom