I'm totally a milk date #2 person. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that 10 days past the sell-by date is the cutoff, and so far the 10 day rule has never done me wrong.

All throughout my childhood we had a rotating cast of cats and dogs (and the occasional guinea pig and one rabbit), all very haphazardly introduced to one another and all doing just fine, except the one wee vile-tempered black cat who wasn't right in the head, who fiercely and bloodily hated everybody and everything without prejudice or preference. Naturally, she was the longest-lived of all our pets, by a good 5 years.

And in So Nice Of You of the day: someone started firing, from the side of the Syrian border, on an IDF patrol. (the patrol was, of course, within Israeli territories).

What is it with people and making this situation becoming even more complicated?

And in So Nice Of You of the day: someone started firing, from the side of the Syrian border, on an IDF patrol.

Oy. Well, at least it looks like it was just some random person, and not something organized?

I definitely walk on the wild side when it comes to externally prescribed expiration dates. And clothing sizes, for that matter. I'm very much of the 'just see if it works' school of thought. I can think of exactly one time when that policy with food turned out badly for me.

What also drives me nuts is when people allow their small dogs to run amok because they're small, and therefore behavior that would be unacceptable in a larger dog is downgraded to "cute."

This is one of my biggest peeves. Smaller, older, or fluffier dogs are somehow exempt from manners? Nuh and uh. For one thing, willfulness and aggression are conversely proportionate to size in my experience. It's the smaller ones that need more training and attention than their larger and mellower counterparts.

Living in the urban center, we don't get dogs just running very much. We DO however, have masses of out of control, under-exercised and confused dogs lunging at the end of retractable leashes. Makes me nuts. And, invariably, the people who scream at me to get Bartleby on a leash are the ones who can't control their own dogs.

The last time this happened, I was a total bitch. A mom pushing a stroller and yet paying no attention to her dog OR her baby as she was glued to her cell phone, reacted very angrily when her on-leash dog lunged after Bartleby and caused her to interrupt her phone call. She yelled at me. I stopped, snapped my fingers and gave Bartleby the non-verbal signal to return to my side. He ran about 10 feet, circled me and sat down next to me. I calmly stared at her and asked, "Would you like me to teach you how to do that? Here is my card." She stared. Paused. Then mumbled something that I couldn't hear, but included the word 'law', and stumbled off wrenching her dog after her.

I felt really sorry for the dog, to be honest. Everytime I saw them, the person was on the phone, with or without the baby, and treated the dog like having to walk her was a huge burden.

They have moved and been replaced by a wonderful Doxie mix named Hazel who is a adorable...if a little undisciplined.

Well, at least it looks like it was just some random person, and not something organized?

Looks like it.

ION, omnis' brownies made me want to marry him.
And I need to clean. And then read. A lot. Muuuffff.

Some quick & dirty Marley pix.

He's out from under the bed quite a bit now. Taz will hiss from the other side, but it's all still new to him. Marley seems to take it in stride though, Taz's hissing doesn't really scare him. He does not retaliate.

Then Taz will meow plaintively. Aw, my boys!

Speaking of drugs, I just found some genuine article Sudafed *red* in the back of the linen closet. Score! The real stuff! I'm saved!

Aw, Nora, what a doll baby! He's like sunshine.

Marley looks very much like my Jeeves. Same shade of orange, same color eyes, patch of white under the chin. I think Jeeves's head is a little rounder, though.

Barb, have you ever tried a Gentle Leader? They rock. On the off chance you could use one, I accidently bought an extra one recently that I'd be happy to send your way.