The General Chat Thread (2023)

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"This Christmas Eve, my wish for you and your family is that you take a few moments of quiet reflection and find that stillness that's at the center of the Christmas story. May you find peace in this silent night. And warmth from those surrounding you." -- President Joe Biden in Christmas Eve Twitter message.

“MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!” -- Donald Trump Twitter message on Christmas Day, referring to President Biden and Prosecutor Jack Smith (yes, he wrote it in all-caps).

Trump's approval rating among likely Republican primary voters went up by two points

CD
 
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Tomorrow we are visiting TVC's family. We will be taking samosas as we always do, thing is, his sister in law has also ordered from the same place and we will be taking them as well so our car will smell of freshly made veg samosas, kochuri, batata vada and chutneys. The drive is over 2 hours...will be very hungry by the time we get there :laugh:
 
I've just eaten half a jar of pickled beetroot, I dunno what’s in beetroot but once I start on that stuff I can't stop!

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Right I have on good perfume, my wonderwoman socks are on under some sturdy boots, I’m wearing my wedding rings for some talisman protection and my Indiana Jones watch to imbue some resilience in the face of danger, so I am I believe ready to go and speak to my mum 😬😆

What’s that? I can’t go because I’m needed on the bridge? Oh ok if you insist 😂
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
caseydog how was your mum’s dogs first night? Is she realigning nicely?

If she’s a permanent resident you’ll have to give us a name for her!
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She was pretty good overnight. She's overweight and loves to eat, so I have to watch her. She has tried to snack on the oregano in my garden.

My mom loves overly feminine dog names, and this one is no exception... Trixie.

CD
 
karadekoolaid said:
How about "Mummy's little Yapper" ? :laugh: :laugh:
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She got to bark at Cooper, the dog next door. They barked at each other. Cooper is a cool dog. He and Teddy were friends.

She got to chase a rabbit across the backyard yesterday evening. I have one more small section of fence to replace, before I feel my yard is reasonably secure from bobcats. Teddy was big enough that a bobcat wouldn't bother with him. Trixie is not. We do have a sizable number of rabbits in the neighborhood, which should keep the bobcats satiated, so they don't care to mess with any dogs.

CD
 
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caseydog said:
She got to bark at Cooper, the dog next door. They barked at each other. Cooper is a cool dog. He and Teddy were friends.

She got to chase a rabbit across the backyard yesterday evening. I have one more small section of fence to replace, before I feel my yard is reasonably secure from bobcats. Teddy was big enough that a bobcat wouldn't bother with him. Trixie is not. We do have a sizable number of rabbits in the neighborhood, which should keep the bobcats satiated, so they don't care to mess with any dogs.

CD
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It's not just bobcats you have to worry about with small dogs. Raptors of any kind will swoop down and take small dogs. My former neighbors had a teacup poodle and had a hawk swoop down and almost get her. She was lucky they were outside and were able to intervene. They only let her out on a leash in their fenced yard after that. I saw a hawk swoop down in our yard 3 houses down from above and take a squirrel, plus in our home now a duckling with mama right there. We never let the pugs out by themselves when they were puppies.
 
medtran49 said:
It's not just bobcats you have to worry about with small dogs. Raptors of any kind will swoop down and take small dogs. My former neighbors had a teacup poodle and had a hawk swoop down and almost get her. She was lucky they were outside and were able to intervene. They only let her out on a leash in their fenced yard after that. I saw a hawk swoop down in our yard 3 houses down from above and take a squirrel, plus in our home now a duckling with mama right there. We never let the pugs out by themselves when they were puppies.
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We have some hawks around, but with a 3,300 acre ranch a few blocks away, they have plenty of rats and other small critters to pick from, with no trees in the way... and no humans around.

My backyard is small, and has a huge Live Oak canopy. A hawk COULD swoop down, but there are lots of things to crash into. Not to mention, Trixie is a fat dog, so a hawk might not be able to take off with her. :laugh:

We also have coyotes, but a coyote can't really get into my backyard. Bobcats can go over a six foot fence, if they want to.

BTW, the Texas State bird is the Mockingbird, and we have a lot of them. I've seen them attacking hawks many times. They are mean little birds.

CD
 
We've got buzzards , carrion hawks, hawks and owls here; at least, that's what I've seen in the garden. The buzzards and carrion hawks will only eat rotting flesh, so any time the dog kills a possum or a rat, they'll be around the following day. The hawks tend to stick to smaller animals, like mice, or poach fledglings direct from their nests.
I've never seen any bird attack another in full flight except in the UK last year. I was at my brother's house in Kent. His garden backs on to a huge park. We heard a thump against the bathroom window and when I went out to see what it was, a female sparrowhawk had snagged a wood pigeon in full flight and was enjoying her meal on the fence.
Definitely the first and probably the last time I'll ever see one of those!
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karadekoolaid said:
We've got buzzards , carrion hawks, hawks and owls here; at least, that's what I've seen in the garden. The buzzards and carrion hawks will only eat rotting flesh, so any time the dog kills a possum or a rat, they'll be around the following day. The hawks tend to stick to smaller animals, like mice, or poach fledglings direct from their nests.
I've never seen any bird attack another in full flight except in the UK last year. I was at my brother's house in Kent. His garden backs on to a huge park. We heard a thump against the bathroom window and when I went out to see what it was, a female sparrowhawk had snagged a wood pigeon in full flight and was enjoying her meal on the fence.
Definitely the first and probably the last time I'll ever see one of those!
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We have owls here, but you rarely see them in the burbs. I did have one land on the planter box outside my home-office window once late at night. We looked at each other for a brief time, and it flew off. They only hunt at night, anyway, so not a problem for the dog.

Buzzards are everywhere in the world, I believe. Scavengers don't need much to survive.

Bobcats are the biggest threat to small dogs, here. They hunt at night, too. They are also big enough for my security cameras to detect, so I would get an alert right away on my iPhone.

Funny thing. I belong to a network of people in my area who report things like porch pirates, lost and found pets, and wild animal sitings on their security cameras. We get some weird ones. In the last week alone, we had too sightings reported that made me LOL. One was a Mountain lion, with security camera footage. It was clearly a bobcat. The best, though, was two Mongoose! Considering they live in Africa and Asia, it got some fun replies. It was really two raccoons.

CD
 
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