What's on your mind today?

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Adults are creepy; children just have potential.

[Magdalena]

Some adults are creepy. Like a stranger who asked me if I wanted to go inside his car and watch him smoke a cigarette. 
I'm sure a lot of people on Rodeo Drive are creepy too. 

[xSilverPhinx]

For the first time in well over two weeks I don't have to get up early tomorrow. So relieved because I really need to catch up on sleep since my body has decided it wants to be nocturnal all of a sudden. Haven't gotten more than five hours of sleep in over a week with no explanation.

I think I will wax the mini tomorrow. I want it to look as nice as possible for the trip I am taking to a Mini club meetup at the Indiana Dunes on Sunday. Other than that, my plans for tomorrow are to be as lazy as possible.

Speaking of waxing I think it's time to schedule an appointment at the Queen Bee Salon & Spa and get my spring "Brazilian Bikini Wax".

Anyone else?

Jump to 1:07 if you're not feeling particularly patient today.  

[Bad Penny]

Adults are creepy; children just have potential.

I've met a creepy kid, he was potentially larger scale ugly but particularly creepy, a sly mind behind a little face.

[Crow]

Crow!
Children are not creepy! 
And if there's such a thing, they are only as creep as you were.

Yes they are. Have you not watched a horror film? They are used in them for a reason, because they are creepy.

[Biggus Dickus]

You folks have this all wrong. Kids are cute, though at times loud, impatient and intolerable.
Adults are assholes, often times despicable, mean, disgusting and capable of unimaginable horrors.

Nuns are fucking creepy.

[Bad Penny]

You folks have this all wrong. Kids are cute, though at times loud, impatient and intolerable.
Adults are assholes, often times despicable, mean, disgusting and capable of unimaginable horrors.

Nuns are fucking creepy.

I have a memory, it's not perfect, it's about 17 years old.
My 2nd daughter, she's about four, male cousin same age, he looks about to see if anyone's watching, doesn't see me, does violence to her.  For no reason I could see, it was obvious he knew it was was wrong/disproved, he was sneaking it in.
Psychopaths have childhoods too.   

[OldGit]

BP's right.  As a long-time teacher I have met a few really bad kids over the years.  Not many, a very small minority, but there are some about.

[Magdalena]

Crow!
Children are not creepy! 
And if there's such a thing, they are only as creep as you were.

Yes they are. Have you not watched a horror film? They are used in them for a reason, because they are creepy.

Adults who don't like children are creepy. 

[xSilverPhinx]

I say to my dog "where's the ball?" and she eats. This behaviour is consistent. What did I do wrong?   

[Pasta Chick]

I say to my dog "where's the ball?" and she eats. This behaviour is consistent. What did I do wrong?   

Is there actually a ball obviously in the immediate area? Or are you saying it in an attempt to get her excited enough to go find one? Have you done any training to retrieve and if so what? Do you actually want me to psychoanalyze your dog's fetch skills?

[xSilverPhinx]

I say to my dog "where's the ball?" and she eats. This behaviour is consistent. What did I do wrong?   

Is there actually a ball obviously in the immediate area? Or are you saying it in an attempt to get her excited enough to go find one? Have you done any training to retrieve and if so what? Do you actually want me to psychoanalyze your dog's fetch skills?

Sometimes there is a ball right next to her and sometimes there isn't. I didn't train her to retrieve a ball, she kind of started doing that by herself when she was a puppy. Whenever an invited stranger came to the house she would interact with them by placing her toy ball or stick at their feet and patiently wait for them to kick it or throw it for her. Then she would retrieve it and place it at their feet again and again, tirelessly. It's her favourite game, no doubt. She likes to be the center of attention, that bumbling German shepard...

I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but a while ago she would get really depressed when we removed her ball, and she would only eat if she had it with her. Now she eats fine without her toy but has suddenly  "updated" the meaning of the request to get her ball to mean "eat". It's not a problem or anything, I'm just curious why that happened.

[Pasta Chick]

I say to my dog "where's the ball?" and she eats. This behaviour is consistent. What did I do wrong?   

Is there actually a ball obviously in the immediate area? Or are you saying it in an attempt to get her excited enough to go find one? Have you done any training to retrieve and if so what? Do you actually want me to psychoanalyze your dog's fetch skills?

Sometimes there is a ball right next to her and sometimes there isn't. I didn't train her to retrieve a ball, she kind of started doing that by herself when she was a puppy. Whenever an invited stranger came to the house she would interact with them by placing her toy ball or stick at their feet and patiently wait for them to kick it or throw it for her. Then she would retrieve it and place it at their feet again and again, tirelessly. It's her favourite game, no doubt. She likes to be the center of attention, that bumbling German shepard...

I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but a while ago she would get really depressed when we removed her ball, and she would only eat if she had it with her. Now she eats fine without her toy but has suddenly  "updated" the meaning of the request to get her ball to mean "eat". It's not a problem or anything, I'm just curious why that happened.

Well, this is a lot of conjecture without actually knowing the dog and never having seen her interactions with people or the ball.

My first thought is deferring due to stress. Keeping in mind that from a physiological standpoint "stress" is not inherently positive nor negative, but a chemical reaction in our brains. Dogs deal with stress in many ways, including repetitive motion or feigning disinterest. Eating and drinking are both. Stress drinking is very, very common and I suspect the only reason stress eating isn't as common is that water is typically more readily available than food.

Without any formal training, I would guess the connection between "get your ball" and the behavior it represents may have been more circumstantial than something she truly knew. If something shifted in the environment surrounding the phrase, it could easily cause confusion or even "poisoning the cue", where even a well known a cue is repeated without follow through or proper reinforcement to the point that it means nothing or something else entirely.

tl;dr - something happened to alter what understanding she had of the cue, this causes confusion or excitement she doesn't know how to handle so she eats as a displacement behavior.

Depending on age, there may be underlying health issues in play as well. Hindered ability to sense the ball, pain when getting the ball, etc. Doesn't seem terribly likely but I've seen it happen.

[xSilverPhinx]

I say to my dog "where's the ball?" and she eats. This behaviour is consistent. What did I do wrong?   

Is there actually a ball obviously in the immediate area? Or are you saying it in an attempt to get her excited enough to go find one? Have you done any training to retrieve and if so what? Do you actually want me to psychoanalyze your dog's fetch skills?

Sometimes there is a ball right next to her and sometimes there isn't. I didn't train her to retrieve a ball, she kind of started doing that by herself when she was a puppy. Whenever an invited stranger came to the house she would interact with them by placing her toy ball or stick at their feet and patiently wait for them to kick it or throw it for her. Then she would retrieve it and place it at their feet again and again, tirelessly. It's her favourite game, no doubt. She likes to be the center of attention, that bumbling German shepard...

I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but a while ago she would get really depressed when we removed her ball, and she would only eat if she had it with her. Now she eats fine without her toy but has suddenly  "updated" the meaning of the request to get her ball to mean "eat". It's not a problem or anything, I'm just curious why that happened.

Well, this is a lot of conjecture without actually knowing the dog and never having seen her interactions with people or the ball.

My first thought is deferring due to stress. Keeping in mind that from a physiological standpoint "stress" is not inherently positive nor negative, but a chemical reaction in our brains. Dogs deal with stress in many ways, including repetitive motion or feigning disinterest. Eating and drinking are both. Stress drinking is very, very common and I suspect the only reason stress eating isn't as common is that water is typically more readily available than food.

Without any formal training, I would guess the connection between "get your ball" and the behavior it represents may have been more circumstantial than something she truly knew. If something shifted in the environment surrounding the phrase, it could easily cause confusion or even "poisoning the cue", where even a well known a cue is repeated without follow through or proper reinforcement to the point that it means nothing or something else entirely.

tl;dr - something happened to alter what understanding she had of the cue, this causes confusion or excitement she doesn't know how to handle so she eats as a displacement behavior.

Depending on age, there may be underlying health issues in play as well. Hindered ability to sense the ball, pain when getting the ball, etc. Doesn't seem terribly likely but I've seen it happen.

That's interesting, I didn't know that it could be a displacement behaviour.  Makes sense. I have just been shrugging and letting her eat when I ask for her ball instead of following through, so it's not like she's getting the correct reinforcements either....

[Biggus Dickus]

Fish and pork tonight on the grill.

2 fillets of haddock, one filet of wild pacific salmon, and one filet of Lake Michigan steelhead. Plus, fresh pork bratwurst from one of my daughter and son in-laws piggies.