Sorry for your loss aruvqan. And yes, your neighbor really does sound like a big douche. But him having no pets does not excuse nor explain his douchey behaviour. There are plenty of decent people (me included ;)) who don’t have pets. Your neighbor’s just an inconsiderate asshole, and I’m sorry that you have to deal with him.
As for the OP, I hope Santa brings the caller a large bottle of clue musk!
As I understand it plenty of herbivores can and will eat meat if they get the opportunity; its just that they usually don’t. I recall reading of an incident where a flash flood stranded large numbers of smallish fish on the shore of a river, and a multitude of deer came out of the woods to suck them down like so much spaghetti. Meat’s easy to digest; it doesn’t take as much specialization as eating plants does.
Sheep too as I recall. IIRC, that’s apparently where they got mad cow disease from.
Sorry, somehow I skipped over a bunch of posts on the first page. :smack: Yes, there are horses and ponies who are more adventurous than others and will try anything they can get their lips on.
I know a Samoyed who likes to sleep outside in the winter. She does have shelter from the wind but given a choice, unless it’s really horrible and awful outside, she prefers it that way. Also, your average lab can handle sitting in the car for five or ten minutes in the winter. Really. Labs originated in Newfoundland. Cold is not a problem for them, within reason of course.
And this is Idaho. We have fairly serious winter here. Especially this week. Gaaaaaah!
What a frickin #%$@! lop!! You know, this kind of thing is a real pet peeve of mine – people who are scared/disdainful of Nature; as if it must be groomed and clipped and managed and sanitized, all the time, in every situation. Of course, you want your brain surgeon’s hands to be clean. And your food server’s, etc etc.
But I was reading an article in New Scientist, something to the effect that IBS may be caused by an underactive immune system. And I surely wouldn’t be surprised if an underactive immune system comes from an overly sterile environment.
“Weeds,” decay, fungi, deadwood, bugs and all are part of a lovely natural place, prettier than we could ever make it. (but no spiders in the house, OK?)
A nitpick, but it’s an overactive immune system that is thought to come from an overly sterile environment. The child’s immune system does not develop a tolerance to foreign substances, because it was underexposed. When it is exposed, the immune system goes all Yosemite Sam producing allergic reactions and anaphylaxis. It’s called the “Hygiene Theory” and the NIH has an interesting abstract here.
And don’t even get me started on how bad an idea antibacterial soap is for everyday use.
Apologies for the threadjack, but thanks for the funniest mental image I’ve had all week! 
I like underbrush, you get pretty plants like trillium, forget me nots, violets, ground ivys … you see wild fowls and deer in our woods, but rarely over on his property.
Years ago, I gave our miniature horse a blanket clip. Minis get a winter coat like a woolly mammoth, and in the mild SoCal winters, she was miserable. She’d get soaked in sweat after a gallop or two in turnout. A blanket clips trims the hair around the hottest part of the body–the chest and belly–while leaving a furry blanket on the back and legs. Immediately after clipping her, you could see how much better she felt–she’d buck, kick, snort and play in turn out and resume her bossing-the-big-horses-around task.
Here’s a pic of her after I finished the clip. She’s such a cute thing.
Once, while leading her to a turnout, a nonhorsey observer (they come all the time with their kids to show them the pretty horseys; I don’t mind) struck up a conversation about Firefly. One of her questions: “Does her hair naturally grow like this?” :dubious:
Really? Do people think that about poodles, too, when they have their over-the-top show clip? Oh…kay.
This reminds me of when hubby had blue hair for fun one summer. He went to an open mic and was asked, I’m not kidding, “Oh, I like your hair. Is it natural?”
Interesting! I always thought ruminates *couldn’t *eat meat, rather than just limiting themselves to meat that’s easy to catch.
Thanks for the education, everybody.
My inlaws have two minis, and they’ve had looky-loo skukes (who are trespassing, and who they DO mind being there) come pound on their door and complain that the minis are being mistreated because they’re too hairy. In the middle of a Massachusetts winter.
Yes, herbivores can and do eat meat.
I would bet money there are plenty of people who think a poodle’s hair grows like that naturally…
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