Please go to my blog, http://www.garybaumgarten.com to join in the conversation then.

Thanks,

Gary

I am sure we will manage to inflame overzealous passions toward each other about our relative positions in the future, but for now let's just enjoy the glow of mutual respect on this matter.

Sounds good to me. Love that purple prose, too.

I don't know if I could have written an apology as open-hearted and classy as the one you wrote.

I don't know. I think you did a pretty good job yourself. Thank you.

I am sure we will manage to inflame overzealous passions toward each other about our relative positions in the future, but for now let's just enjoy the glow of mutual respect on this matter.

That's exactly what I did after my beagle died. A few weeks later, I adopted another beagle, but it didn't work out.The cats didn't like him, but the bigger problem was that he was uncontrollable on the leash (at least for me). Since I live in a very urbanized area, I absolutely could not walk him w/o his leash, and I could not control him. He *galloped* the instant he got out the door. SO different from Shiloh (beagle no. 1), who even when I first got him and he was much younger, *never* walked fast. In fact, my problem with him was more learning to be patient when he moved like a snail. Anyway, I tripped and fell several times walking Caleb (beagle no. 2), and one time pretty seriously injured myself. I had to return him to the shelter.

Then after that I got a pit bull from a shelter that was being forced to close by the town (not for any good reason — it's a long story, but the town was the villain), and they were trying to get all their animals adopted out because what was replacing the shelter was a kill facility. He was fine on the leash (oddly!) but he was a disaster with the cats. (He was, shall we say, too interested in them.) So I had to find a new home for him, too.

After that, my daughter made me promise I would not adopt another dog — at least as long as the cats were still around.

It breaks my heart, but I guess a dog doesn't fit my life circumstances at the moment.

I have started and deleted a response to what you wrote several times. Nothing seems adequate. All I can say is thank you, and I feel the same way you do about how it feels to find that people can disagree on political matters so vehemently and then find that on a much more basic human level they have so much in common.

I don't know if I could have written an apology as open-hearted and classy as the one you wrote. I appreciate it, and respect you greatly for it.

I had to put down two cats that I loved to pieces– so I sympathize. We buried them in the woods near our house- had funerals and everything.

One died in my arms from heart disease the day before my birthday- and I couldn't celebrate it. The other was hit by a car and had a serious spinal column injury. I was bereft both times– as though my best friend or a close relative had died. No one understood it but the vet and her staff who sent a condolence card. But, as you said, it was horrible. I finally got over it by getting a kitten that looked just like the cat that had passed away.

Wow, you have a regular farm there- that's great! I've never had birds but I do feed the birds outside giving the cats something to watch. The cats get so excited. As soon as the cats hear the birds singing they'll rush to the window and watch them.

Enjoy your farm- it seems very delightful! And I bet whatever mess they make, in the long run they're worth it. They're family so what are you gonna do?

I also agree that some days I only want to be around the animals. Whatever trouble they get into only lasts five minutes and then you're guaranteed to have their unconditional love for the next 24 hours.

Animals are a real delight and I'm so glad I grew up cats and dogs. We also had fish and as my brother I got older we had gerbils. We have a place in the country (still have it, but rarely go there now) and during the summers we used to catch snakes, even poisonous ones (we were very careful and were never bitten).

The closest neighbors out there raised snakes (seriously they did, they even had cobras and pythons). We used to sell them the snakes we caught.

It was a great way to spend summers, and gain a healthy respect for all things living (especially those poisonous snakes).

If I had more space I'd have dogs too (I'll pass on snakes). You are so lucky and blessed! Sounds like a great family. Whatever you're doing keep up the good work!

Sorry to hear about your loss. Pets are part of our family and we love and care for them just as much as the “people people” in our family. The grief process is just the same when a pet dies as when a person dies. It's heartbreaking….

Sorry again for your pain. And I want to add that it is nice to know that two people who can disagree as deeply as we do on certain political issues still have in common the traits that are most important in people – the ability to love both other people and the extensions to their family we choose (like pets) and to empathize with the pain of even with those with whom we do not see eye to eye.

As a final thought, I wish to say I have recently let at times my emotions run ahead of my thoughts in some of our back-and-forth comments. I do have a habit of returning fire-for-fire, if you will, and even throwing the first bomb at times, and I am well aware that nothing contructive comes from that.

For those comments that I made that had no purpose but to be mean mean-spirited toward you I apologize.

I do actually respect the deepness with which you hold to your convictions, even if some of them are SO obviously wrong!

Ain't that the truth. Carole King (one of my favorite singers) once said that animals are the real people, and I believe that says it all.

Thank you. It was among the worst weeks of my life. The cat was my favorite (I know, you're not supposed to have a favorite, but…) and the dog… I adored him. They both died before I could put them down; I knew they were sick but in the chaos of moving, I hadn't been able to do it. It was horrible.

SB enjoy your kitties– they are really gorgeous. Some days, the only ones I want to be around are the animals!

Sorry (belated) about your loss. I have been surrounded by pets my whole life, and the loss of each and every one is a clear, and painful, memory, even when I knew I was doing it for them.

btw – a long-haired shorthair?? That is indeed…an interesting combination.

I have two cats. One is the kitten of the other (although that kitten is now over 11 years old).

Until a year ago, I had another cat (a one-eared black-and-white long-haired domestic shorthair — go figure), and a dog (a beagle). That cat, and the dog, both died the week I moved into this apartment (a year ago this month).

Well, she is very cute. I go both ways, myself, and have passed that trait onto both my children!

OK, enough with the double entendres.

We are a HUGE pet family, and all of out pets are indoor members of the family. I do have 3 dogs (Ranger, a cream-colored Golden; Bandit, a undetermined mix-breed rescue terrier; and Molly, a PomaPoo (the wife's, if you couldn't guess!), and 2 cats (a brother and sister set of American short hair rescue cats, one an orange Tom and the female (of course) a Calico); my daughter has one of each (Toby, a mixed-breed rescue terrier; and Sookie, a Calico Manx she pulled out of a sewer as a 3 week old kitten!); and finally my son has one of each as well (Sam, a rescue Red-Nosed Terrier; and a Max, a rescue black American long-haired) at least until this past Monday when my son had to put Max down.

He is heading out this weekend to the shelters to start the search for two kittens to replace Max.

I knew you were an OK guy, and having multiple cats (and liking dogs, too) only confirms it!

Kathy – sorry we hijacked your thread.

You should her go at times…. She'll jump up on my bed, lay flat on her back and demand to be stroked. Gets her little engine going. If I stop before she's had her fill she'll swat at me. Fortunately her claws are mostly retracted so it's more of a love swat than a clawing that does real damage.