why I want to move

I have done many things in my life that some will never get to do. One would be that I got to touch a mustang that had only been captive for two years. She was big and beautiful, wild yet tame. There are very few things Id be less likely to forget than her and one of them was a funny thing her owner said.

"...when I moved to the big city."

Now this may not seem like a big thing to anyone. Where she lived was not the big city. In fact, it was a suburb area that was zoned for horses, goats, and so on. Im pretty sure someone could have had a dairy cow back in their barn. What made me giggle even more is that she moved into a tiny house that was probably put there before any other house around it. I cant say that it had a back door but had two doors to the outside. One door was in the living room and the other in the kitchen. The kitchen door led to a hallway that was parallel to it. Right across the hall was another door to the outside and to the left was a laundry room. Anyway, if you didnt go out that door, to the left was some stairs that took you to what I assume is another bedroom. Heck I dont know! From the living room, there were two rooms; a master and another room that looked like a normal bedroom but had a bathroom in it.

...and that was a city house to her....

From my understanding, she came from a place with no a/c. In fact, she couldnt figure out how to work what she thought might be an a/c. I showed her and she commented on how dumb she was. Of course she wasnt dumb at all. Her entire family and her husbands family were from a place where Id like to live. A place of beauty, peace, and in the middle of bum fuck nowhere.

In fact, it was so in the middle of bum fuck nowhere, I couldnt tell you were it was because I had never heard of it before. If Im correct, it was a small town somewhere in between Cottonwood, CA and Oregon.

My first encounter with a mountain home was when I was very little. A family that was very close to my family had
moved to a place which I now believe is Pollock Pines. I remember going down this super skinny road and hitting this beautiful house at the end. Of course that wasnt the best part. Her backyard was a few yards from a cliff. All you could see was a thin strip of black (the highway) and a vast



amount of trees. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my entire life. Ever since then, I have been set on getting out of the "big city" and out into nature.

Of course, while I worked out in Wilton, it was nice as well. Farm land is ok but not what I want. I like mountains and trees, not flat brown things. Im not dissing Wilton though. It was very nice and relaxing even when the pond was dry and the ducks were away. Here, Im at work for no more than 9 hours a day in a somewhat temperature controlled environment and it is terrible. There, I worked about the same amount in the hot July sun and still remains the best job ever. It was something about feeding the chickens, horses, ducks, (and dogs and cats back at home) that really made me feel good.

So reasons why I want to get out of here....

1. My kind of adventure is the kind you find outside.  Boy do I love outside.
2. I like trees...and lots of them.  Yes cities can have lots of trees but check reason number one.
3. I like seasons.  This may seem like an odd one since everyone knows that snow and I dont get along very well.  Well sun and I arent good friends either but one thing I DO like, is trees.  I love fall because the beautiful color it produces and as much as snow and I dont like each other, I love the beautiful things that it does.
4. Im paranoid.  I remember back on the Wilton ranch, the only theft they had in...well...ever really was someone that tried to steal a saddle.  Turns out that it was someone that boarded with them.  People in small mountain towns have more to worry about than stealing.
5. Im not materialistic.  Some city/suburban lovin folks could gladly take my place.

Annnd thats about it for now.  Moral of the story...I have a distaste for most modern day things.  Maybe Im crazy but whatever.  I miss my extra chores which included feeding chickens, horses, ducks, dogs, cats, rodents, and so on.  It is my goal to get back there.

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thoughts on vegan vegetarian pets

Anyone that personally knows me knows that I am always up to something.  Sometimes that something is harmless while other times, it leads up to something bigger.  Im not going to say what led me to this but in short, I was wondering what would happen if one of my dogs acquired a severe oral problem and they couldnt rip/chew/gnaw their raw meaty bones.  Maybe Id grind it up.  Maybe, Id feed them vegetarian!  While reading about vegetarian dogs, I noticed a few things.  Some vets are total quacks that believe any animal willing to chew on something like grass can be a vegetarian.  Some vets even suggested having a vegan (yes vegan) cat!  After sorting out the quacks, I came across people claiming to have dogs in the double digit age that have lived their entire life vegan/vegetarian.  I noticed that all of them had a lengthy amount of supplements given to them and so on.  They needed their teeth brushed and such.  Here is what I think about that.

1. Supplements?  Whats that?  My dogs dont need them because protein is easy to digest and vitamins are easily acquired from them.
2. Teeth.  Wolves in the wild dont brush their teeth and neither do prey model dogs.  Vegetarian dogs do though....
3. Fiber is really hard to digest and nearly impossible for even true omnivores like people (thank you college nutrition class!)  low and behold, it also makes some vitamins harder to obtain from plants which is why vegans should consume supplements.
4. poop.  I almost forgot what that looked like till dearest loving Adam gave Loki an apple.  My dogs poop more when they sneak plums and like fruits that have fallen on the ground.
5. Dogs dont eat fruit because it is good for them.  They eat fruit the same reason why a small child would eat chocolate.  Who cares about the health benefits?

In other words, I believe that a proper diet doesnt involve supplements and that, if one is eating correctly, nothing else is needed.  This doesnt mean I reject alternatives or anything, however.  Im allergic to fish for example.  Hemp is an awesome alternative for omega 3.



Now now pro vegan/vegetarian owners, dont go getting your panties in a bunch but hear me out.  Two dogs that died recently on the longest living dog record were either vegetarian or meatatarian (I guess you could say.)  My answer to this is that dogs now have access to what they didnt have years ago, supplements.

Before you vegetarian/vegans get super pissed at me, I think we could both agree one one thing, COMMERCIAL FOOD IS KILLING OUR PETS!!!  Most companies dont give a flying flip about our babies!  And Id never shoot down anyone that didnt feed meat to a special needs dog by the way.  I understand that dogs nowadays are being born faster than weeds are growing in unkempt lawns.

Cats...now that is completely unacceptable.  Im sure vegan cats do exist but its more like eating Soylent foods...just all multivitamin without actually being food.

Id also like to note that Im extremely shocked in how stupid vets can be.  There was a test done where cats were fed rabbits to see if theyd survive.  All of them got sick.  Lets say vets were required to take a nutrition class.  Rabbit starvation much?  Too much lean meat will kill anything!

Anyway, I still think vegan/vegetarian dog diets are a little on the iffy side (unless you have one of those cases where your dog is allergic to a crap ton of common meats out there.)  However, as a person into science and into medicine, I can say maybe I will try it someday with the whole supplements and lack of meat.  Will it be like feeding a filler with supplements or would the food be fine by itself?

Also Id like to note that I applaud human vegetarians.  Good work!  Im working towards being one myself!  However not everything is like a human.  Not for ethical reasons however (if it lived, it has a soul to me) but just simply for land management and a better me.

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