Bummin' tonight...

[Shadowhntr]

Hey I get it Kirk. We are down to one dog from 3, just a few years ago. The pain leaves but the heart will always miss our friends and the relationships. When we lose our last in a couple years we are done with dogs or cats.
One, I love the animals but I'm to a point where I'm not certain the pains of loss is worth it. Besides no new animal ever replaces the ones you lose, it just becomes a new and different relationship. I've had some great experiences, I'm thinkingjust cherish those and move on to a new chapter.
Two, as we age we are ready to go do other things that we could not do because our animals have had us too tied down to do over the last 35 years. Even going and visiting family several States away has been hindered because of the huge hassles and cost. It might be different if we had someone to "dog sit/cat sit", but the fact is, we dont. I locked our animals up at a vet's care center one time....never again. I love the vet, but locking them animals up in a kennel jail for days truly effected them and in turn effected us seeing that it effected them so badly. Not happening.
So, after Tanin leaves us....its just my fishies.

[Grizzly]

Darn you guys. I keep looking at my empty 45 gallon tall tank across the room that I wish was a 60.. I hate to spend the money to get it up and running again, but I've always enjoyed the fish. Probably the most fun we had was with breeding angels. I had one large female that kept laying eggs. The large brown plecostomas kept getting into the eggs and brought out the wrath in momma angel fish. So I went to the pet store and traded in old cozzy, which I hated to do, for a large male angel. The ladies at the shop warned me that this male had been returned to the store 3x because he would dominate the tank and fight with everyone. They said I could bring him back if it didn't work out. So he came home with me to meet his new bride.

She was no ordinary bride. She was in fact every male's nightmare. She laid some eggs and he seemed to nonchalantly say, that's nice and went about his life. Well this old "angel" was no angel. She attacked this guy with a vengeance until he did what she expected him to do. She got him down flat in the tank and beat the living daylights out of him till he went over and fertilized those eggs. Then if he didn't take his turn guarding them, it was round two. His "Archie Bunker" life was over. Next visit to the pet shop was hilarious. I told the women what had happened. Needless to say they were overjoyed with the conquering female's victory.

[Arcuites]

I really hate to see you are still hurting from your loss Captain. Grizz, good luck with that 60 ! I reckon all of us have stories of highs and lows over the years we could opine that would wear out our keyboards. My two daughters, young then, convinced me to keep an explosion of two litters of cats they found in our barn, IF, we could leave them all outside (we live in the country with many many acres to roam and hunt) Looking back at the time, I should have had my head examined, but young daughters have a way of pulling on a fathers heart...so, reluctantly, I herded up all these feral cats, got them fixed, and 9 years later, all but one is still alive. These gatos are just lazy hang around buddies that give me great joy every day. Low maintenance...Water, Food, Igloo in the winter, and I'm the veterinarian 99% of the time (I swear antibiotics do amazing things for most animal ailments) Needless to say, I'm very attached to all their personalities. Heck their are a few that follow me and sit fascinated watching me shoot arrows! I also have an inside mutt that I found working over patrons for scraps at the local Dunkin Donuts. A really smart gal, but very long in the tooth these days. I for one can't imagine life without furry friends to pass the time with, but maybe this will come as the years advance when my heart just can't bear the thought of losing another companion.....