USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Ringel05]

When things finally normalize for us, hopefully soon, I'm going to treat myself to something I've wanted for quite a while.

It's called the Ural Gear UP, made in Siberia and will go just about anywhere on road and off.

 

[saveliberty]

I have learned in the past never to work anywhere a husband and a wife are working. You basically wind up with two bosses and even if only one of them is upset with you the other one will not be on your side either. So, I don't like those odds. Of course, there are exceptions but I haven't personally experienced any.

I was there before they were, so I agree, but I was not part of that decision to sell. I found the wife more even keeled and generally agreeable.

 

[Montrovant]

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I have found that horses are the smartest animals, with cats in 2nd place, dogs in 3rd, and birds in 4th.

People are somewhere around 5th.

Cats aren't smart, just arrogant. Save being the exception.

 

[Foxfyre]

I have learned in the past never to work anywhere a husband and a wife are working. You basically wind up with two bosses and even if only one of them is upset with you the other one will not be on your side either. So, I don't like those odds. Of course, there are exceptions but I haven't personally experienced any.

I was there before they were, so I agree, but I was not part of that decision to sell. I found the wife more even keeled and generally agreeable.

I worked for awhile for a husband/wife team that ran a small insurance agency and that was great. No conflicts of any kind. The only reason I left was that they couldn't pay very much and I couldn't wait for their business to grow so accepted a much better paying job when it became available. I did recommend as my replacement an older friend who just needed something to do to supplement her social security and that was a wonderful solution for all. She stayed with them for 15 years before she finally retired.

 

[Foxfyre]

View attachment 163530

I have found that horses are the smartest animals, with cats in 2nd place, dogs in 3rd, and birds in 4th.

People are somewhere around 5th.

Cats aren't smart, just arrogant. Save being the exception.

Cats do have a good deal of intelligence though but it is cat intelligence which is going to be different from dog intelligence or horse intelligence, etc. I have watched our cats sit and figure out a solution to a problem and then execute it while a dog would be engaged in trial and error that may or may not result in solution.

Cats and dogs can be very intuitive. My Siamese once woke me between 2 and 3 in the morning and was so persistent so that I got up and turned on the light. She almost immediately settled down so we both went back to bed. The next morning I found the hood up on my car and one of the battery cables disconnected. Somebody had been trying to steal my battery and was almost certainly frightened off when I turned on the light. How did the cat know something was up out there? I have no clue.

 

[Foxfyre]

By the way, we in the USA are to have a super full moon tonight, the visually biggest (by 7% more than the average moon) and brightest (by 16% more than the average moon) of the year. Most people wouldn't really notice the difference but it should be beautiful for those of us who don't have cloud cover tonight. Worth going out for a look.

Oddly enough, there will be another super moon on January 2 and the super blue moon (meaning two full moons in a single month) on January 31.

And your trivia lesson for the day: December's full moon is called the Full Cold Moon, according to the Farmers' Almanac. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The moon is above the horizon for a long time. It has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low sun, according to the site.

 

[SeaGal]

On a warm, sunny December day, when the to-do list is too long - the best thing to-do is go fishing.

Luckily the fish didn't interrupt the 'fishing' with any catching...

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and then a friend came by to say hello...he's a much better fisherman than I am.

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He came along side the kayak and surfaced about 20' away. I was so intent on watching quietly that I missed the photo op.

Can't tell what it is. Dolphin? Porpoise? Orca?

Sorry, forgot that part - not an orca, thankfully. A dolphin - large adult male. He likes my singing.

 

[SeaGal]

Pigs outrank dogs, horses and cats on the IQ scale. Not sure how that is determined, but dolphins also rank higher than horses, dogs and cats.

Though I did once have a horse who was almost as smart as any dog.

 

[Montrovant]

Pigs outrank dogs, horses and cats on the IQ scale. Not sure how that is determined, but dolphins also rank higher than horses, dogs and cats.

Though I did once have a horse who was almost as smart as any dog.

It's so hard to measure intelligence when it's not even well-defined, but yes, pigs are supposed to be quite bright.

 

[Ava]

I have owned and loved cats, dogs, and horses and never cared about the superior intelligence factor. Unless I needed an animal for utilitarian purposes, why would I. Fetch! I do think, in general, dogs are smarter and cats are the most cunning. My last cat would do exercises with me and sit-up when requested but only if she wanted to. Many other little things as well.

This article thinks they have proved dogs are smarter:

Research suggests that dogs really are smarter than cats | Daily Mail Online

 

[Ava]

Pigs outrank dogs, horses and cats on the IQ scale. Not sure how that is determined, but dolphins also rank higher than horses, dogs and cats.

Though I did once have a horse who was almost as smart as any dog.

I also had a horse but didn't notice an intellectual superiority. She was a retired thoroughbred racehorse and we would ride with the wind in canyons and on the ridge of mountaintops. I loved her. She loved to run as that is all she ever knew and I wasn't willing to put the right bit in her mouth to cause her to lose that habit. I loved running on her too. Exciting and fun. I could make her lope when needed. She would first rear up on me trying to shake me but she sooned learned I wasn't going anywhere. I just dug in with my thighs and stayed on her back until she went back down and we rode off into the sunset, so-to-speak.

 

[Ava]

I have learned in the past never to work anywhere a husband and a wife are working. You basically wind up with two bosses and even if only one of them is upset with you the other one will not be on your side either. So, I don't like those odds. Of course, there are exceptions but I haven't personally experienced any.

I was there before they were, so I agree, but I was not part of that decision to sell. I found the wife more even keeled and generally agreeable.

That doesn't surprise me. Emotional opposites usually attract. Exceptions, of course.

 

[Foxfyre]

Pigs outrank dogs, horses and cats on the IQ scale. Not sure how that is determined, but dolphins also rank higher than horses, dogs and cats.

Though I did once have a horse who was almost as smart as any dog.

Animals are all different each with his/her own particular inate genius and there are degrees of that within each species just as there are with us humans. Our last little dog, RIP, was the most intelligent of all the many many animal friends we have had with us. He was as intuitive as any human and understand at least a 200 word vocabulary. He could perform many chores and did so with unbridled joy. I miss him so much even after all these years.

The little mini doxie we are keeping for our friend also has abilities that our own dog did not though she doesn't seem to be as intuitive, is far less trainable, and is much less capable at communications.

The difference is that we humans sometimes envy attributes, gifts, talents, genius in our fellow citizens that we may lack and there are others who probably envy those that we possess. Animals I think don't concern themselves with such as that though they can be jealous when they perceive they might not share in bounty that something else is getting.

I do think many dogs, horses, and perhaps others absolutely can and do understand competition and many play to win.

 

[SeaGal]

Pigs outrank dogs, horses and cats on the IQ scale. Not sure how that is determined, but dolphins also rank higher than horses, dogs and cats.

Though I did once have a horse who was almost as smart as any dog.

I also had a horse but didn't notice an intellectual superiority. She was a retired thoroughbred racehorse and we would ride with the wind in canyons and on the ridge of mountaintops. I loved her. She loved to run as that is all she ever knew and I wasn't willing to put the right bit in her mouth to cause her to lose that habit. I loved running on her too. Exciting and fun. I could make her lope when needed. She would first rear up on me trying to shake me but she sooned learned I wasn't going anywhere. I just dug in with my thighs and stayed on her back until she went back down and we rode off into the sunset, so-to-speak.

I know exactly what you mean. 'The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears.' ~Arabian Proverb

I've had a number of very good horses - couple of Tennessee Walkers, a thoroughbred, quarter horses and Arabians. All had distinct personalities and good qualities. But my special guy, Sammy, was a Polish Arabian. He was 10 when I got him from an elderly lady who raised him from a foal in her back yard, and had never ridden him. Sam thought he was a dog...and the only horse I've ever known who would leave the herd to be with 'his' people.

He loved to kick a ball in his paddock, no joke. He and I would play soccer - and he would delight in tossing the ball over the fence to scare the other horses. One day when mr sg was mending fence Sammy snuck up behind him, (yes, this 1000 lb+ horse would sneak up behind people then blow in their ear), took the hammer out of the tool kit, held it in his mouth by the handle and banged on the fence boards. We had a big plastic barrel with a few pebbles in it, and he would use his nose to push that barrel all around. We could hear it from inside the house. I've loved many a horse, but never one like I loved that one. Precious 'Drinker of the Wind'.

Bedouin legend has it that Allah created the Arabian horse from the south wind, "I create thee, Oh Arabian. To thy forelock, I bind Victory in battle. On thy back, I set a rich spoil and a Treasure in thy loins. I establish thee as one of the Glories of the Earth... I give thee flight without wings."

 

[SeaGal]

Pigs outrank dogs, horses and cats on the IQ scale. Not sure how that is determined, but dolphins also rank higher than horses, dogs and cats.

Though I did once have a horse who was almost as smart as any dog.

Animals are all different each with his/her own particular inate genius and there are degrees of that within each species just as there are with us humans. Our last little dog, RIP, was the most intelligent of all the many many animal friends we have had with us. He was as intuitive as any human and understand at least a 200 word vocabulary. He could perform many chores and did so with unbridled joy. I miss him so much even after all these years.

The little mini doxie we are keeping for our friend also has abilities that our own dog did not though she doesn't seem to be as intuitive, is far less trainable, and is much less capable at communications.

The difference is that we humans sometimes envy attributes, gifts, talents, genius in our fellow citizens that we may lack and there are others who probably envy those that we possess. Animals I think don't concern themselves with such as that though they can be jealous when they perceive they might not share in bounty that something else is getting.

I do think many dogs, horses, and perhaps others absolutely can and do understand competition and many play to win.

It is awfully hard to lose a beloved animal friend. They just don't live as long as we wished they could. We've been fortunate to have many good animal friends over the years, and we were sad to see them go. But there were two dogs and one horse that I still miss even today - in fact, my eyes are leaking a little as I read your post and type mine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have had some Gallus gallus domesticus more intelligent than some adult humans that I have worked with and worked for me...

 

[Dajjal]

 

[Ringel05]

Yesterday we went yard saleing, psudo retail therapy for the wife. The last place we stopped the lady was starting to put things away, well to make a long story short she had a somewhat water damaged old solid wood dresser made out of maple with a maple veneer (much of which was peeling off). Basically been sanding it and scraping the old veneer off. At some point someone had painted it black and added brass "Asian" drawer pulls.
It has a burn label in one of the drawers, Northern Furniture Company made in Sheboygan, Wisconsin sometime between 1901 and 1949 oh and we paid $20 for it.
She also gave me her grandfather's WWII Navy white sea bag.

 

[Foxfyre]

Good night darlinks. I really do love you guys.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or positive thoughts and/or keep vigil for

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Nosmo's mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
Kat's sister,
Boedicca, her dad, brother, and family,
Sherry's Mom for treatment to be successful,
The Ringels in difficult transition
Dana, Foxfyre's friend recovering from heart transplant
Mr. and Mrs. Gracie in difficult transition
Saveliberty for positive resolution for difficult transition,
Mr. and Mrs. Peach174 for full recovery from setback,
Strength and stamina for gallantwarrior in his relocation project,
Ringel's injured shoulder and general wellness
And for our students, job hunters, others in transition.
Drifter for resolution of difficult work situation,

And the light is left on for Noomi, Freedombecki, AgainSheila, Esthermoon, and all others we hope are okay and will return to us.

The super moon is positively gorgeous tonight.

 

[Foxfyre]

Wow, slow day in the Coffee Shop today. Like crickets in here. I do hope that's because everybody is happily busy. I sure have been.

Was just looking at Accuweather's white Christmas historical probability report for this year and was surprised at how many of us have at least some kind of chance: