I have to agree with Lee.

Y'all let animals in your bed. From where I'm standing the quantum leap is between me and y'all, not y'all and him.

On, not in.

eta: Boy, that just can't not sound bad. I do think there's a difference though.

I have trouble with dogs in the house. Probably because I grew up on a farm with working dogs and hunting dogs, and I had pet dogs that I loved and hugged, but we never treated dogs like kids, and we never let them in the house. My grandparents wouldn't even let cats in the house. I did have a big dog in the house when I lived with DX, and that was okay, though. I love having cats around, but the longer I live without them, the more I think about cat hair and tracked kitty litter and yakked-up hairballs, and I think, clean is nice. Despite this, as soon as I move into a place where I can have pets, I know I'll be at the shelter getting a couple cats. Clean is nice, but companionship and creatures who can warn of supernatural invasions is good too.

It's 4am. Why have I not slept tonight at all?

There's a storm moving through the area. A gust of wind caused my fan to fall off the windowsill and crash to the floor, waking me up.

On the plus side, my in'ernet is working again.

On the minus side - don't know if I'll be able to get back to sleep.

On the plus side - my fave breakfast place opens in two hours. Steak and eggs babee!

On, not in.

eta: Boy, that just can't not sound bad. I do think there's a difference though.

Yep, I get the difference. Same here.

I also get that it's a cultural thing. I grew up with all of the pets in the house. I'm not really sure where that came from since my mom grew up on a farm and my dad grew up without pets. At one point, though, we had a dog, a budgie, a hamster, two albino chipmunks, and a toad (for whom my dad built a great terrarium.)

I don't expect that everyone will treat their dogs or cats the same way I would. When I say "treating them as part of the family," I mean taking responsibility for their needs. I don't understand people who have animals and don't take care of them.

Having a touch of insomnia here, too, for pretty much the past two hours. And in another two hours I have to climb into the car and drive back to MA, just to make it even more FUNFUNFUN.

I found a good and worthy volunteer organization at the 4H Fair, the PA State Animal Response Team, which works to temporarily house displaced pets and animals in an emergency. The idea got started when so many people stayed in place during Katrina, Rita et cetera because shelters would not admit their pets with them. This way, there's a network in place so that when somebody goes to a Red Cross Shelter with their pet, there's a safe place for the pet to be until the emergency is over.

When I say "treating them as part of the family," I mean taking responsibility for their needs. I don't understand people who have animals and don't take care of them.

Me too. Taking on the care of an animal, to me, means its whole life. What I can't understand and don't want to is people who treat animals as mere things, possessions to be discarded when they get in the way.

I haven't slept at all tonight. I'm just now getting sleepy, at 8:30am. This day is shot.

I'm not sure this part is a culture thing.

Yeah. I've given pets a bath, but they're not invited to participate in my own.

To me, dogs are outdoor pets. Ideally cats would be too, but since they're self-cleaning I don't have as big an objection to them sharing the furniture. My mom, however, displaced her craving for grandchildren onto her latest cat. And it is clearly the alpha in my parent's house.

My cat is part of my family for sure. And, I know I do things with him that are strange to even some animal lovers (get your minds out of the gutters, I let him lick ice cream off my spoon). He sleeps on the foot of my bed. He travels with me when I am gone for more than a couple of days. He is always in the room with me (that's more his doing than mine, he follows me around). Right now, he's laying on the desk right next to my computer which is his normal place when I'm on the computer.

My dad had a hard time with me bringing my cat to his house at first. He grew up on a farm and cats should live in the barns and be mousers, not indoor pets. My mom wasn't terribly fond of cats, either. She figured the barn was the right place for them, too.

Now, both of them refer to him as their "grandcat" and dote on him. He gets treat food and catnip and toys from them every Christmas. And, they have 8 real grandchildren, so it's not a displacement thing. I do think they've realized this is the only grand-whatever they'll get from me, however.