Another Hi from Chicago!

Hello all!
I've been lurking around these forums for a month or so and finally decided to spring for a subscription so I could see all the goodies, and I would like to start actively participating. Not sure if I'll actually be able to do that on a regular basis, but we'll see...

I'm primarily interested in houseplants. My favorites are Tradescantias (and their relatives), Syngoniums, epiphytes, and I'm starting to dabble in Gesneriads... I like succulents, but I think I might overwater them despite my best efforts, because they don't do as well for me as everything else does. I'm fascinated by propagation, but I don't have the time/money/equipment to do anything too fancy, so there are a lot of cuttings in old gingerale bottles of water and little pots of dirt around here. :) I grew up in a house filled with plants, as my mom had an EXTREMELY green thumb. She could keep almost anything alive, and if she kept it alive, she could get it to grow and bloom (even if nobody else we'd ever met even knew it could bloom!). She died from ALS (Lou Gherig's disease) in September of 2003, and keeping plants is one of my ways to remember/honor her - some of the plants I have now are actually heirlooms that were hers, that managed to survive a lapse in care during her illness/death and be revived when I took them. I hope to be able to keep them alive for a long time.

I live in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago, I'm a veterinary technician (I have my pre-vet B.S. but decided not to go on to vet school), and I do behavior counseling for my hospital and teach a puppy kindergarten and socialization class. Previously, I lived in Ithaca, NY, and was the vet tech for a large no-kill shelter there, and did behavioral rehab work on the dogs there as well. I have 2 ferrets who were dumped in the parking lot of that shelter (actually 4 were dumped, but 2 have since passed away). "My" dog lives with my Dad, to keep him company. At this point, she's pretty much His Dog. A puppy is in the works as soon as I can convince the boyfriend that as a trainer, it would be a "necessary business expense" (LOL!). He's still grieving the recent loss of his 15 yr. old cat, though, and I get my puppy fix every week in class, so no rush...

Since the question will probably come up due to the user name, yep, I'm "an herbivore". When I started taking Animal Science classes in college and learning about industrialized livestock production methods, I went vegetarian (that was in 1994), and when I started working at the SPCA, I met several really nice vegans and ate their delicious food and realized that I would not, in fact, starve without cheese, and that I would have a clearer conscience if no part of the paycheck I collected working to "prevent cruelty to animals" was funneled back into the factory farming industry. So I haven't eaten meat in nearly 14 years, and I haven't eaten dairy or eggs in nearly 5! I'm sure that sounds COMPLETELY INSANE to most of you, because it certainly would've sounded that way to me before I was on the other side of that decision. But I'm happy and much healthier. And I met my fabulous boyfriend through an online vegan community, where I'm now a moderator (he's the admin). So I spend a lot of my online time over there, but I'm hoping to free up some time to just be a regular user over here. Any other vegetarians/vegans in the house? Anyone looking for kickass vegan dessert recipes? (Another thing I learned from my Mom was baking, and I'll be darned if I'm going to go without delicious rich chocolatey desserts just because I choose not to use dairy and eggs! If you are trying to avoid animal ingredients for whatever reason (ethics, environment, allergies, cholesterol) I can probably hook you up with some recipes that you would never EVER suspect weren't "regular" desserts, BUT, they won't be low-fat low-sugar low-calorie "health foods". They'll still be desserts. :))

Also, in case you couldn't already tell, I'm famous on my other forum for extremely long-winded posts. Sorry in advance for having to read my dissertations! lol! (This is one reason why I feel like I "don't have enough time" to do everything online that I'd like to -- I probably WOULD have the time if I could learn to be more concise!)

Oh yeah, and I'm sort of "crafty", so if I have time I would like to check out those forums too. I paint and crochet, but I've always wanted to do pottery, mosaics, stained glass, etc....

Anyway, that's me! I'm looking forward to propagating some baby plants and then trading them with you guys. Or at least being able to gush about my plants with someone who understands and doesn't just think I'm some sort of obsessed "Crazy Plant Lady". (Ever since I installed a big shelf in the window so I could fit MORE, I think my boyfriend's a little scared! ;)) (WHOAH! I'm a little scared myself, since I went to type "B" "F" for "boyfriend" and got some crazy automatic "best friends" link action! I'm definitely still learning my way around this place... *peeks nervously around corner* heehee!)

Welcome, Herbivore, we previously "met" on another thread. As I mentioned there, it's good to have neighbors here at DG. I live not too far from you in the Belmont-Cragin area.

Your posts may be long but they're very interesting and entertaining. You sound like you have lots going on. I wish I had your energy and organization!

Let me say that I'm so sorry you lost your mom to ALS. That had to have been a horrible trial for her and everyone who loves her. I'm fortunate to have both my parents alive and relatively healthy in their middle 80's.

Years ago I used to be primarily interested in indoor plants. I now have a new interest in perennials, particularly since I recently moved back to my childhood home, where the gardens haven't been tended for decades. I've got quite a job on my hands.

Where are you a vet tech? I'm an animal lover. Before I adopted my dog 2 years ago, I used to volunteer at Animal Care & Control. I also did some apprentice dog training, but didn't continue on with that. My daughter, who lives with me, has 2 cats, one who is disabled (and doesn't use the litter box!) and one who is geriatric. I'm a pari-mutuel clerk. That means I take bets for horse racing at an off-track betting parlor, but I'd really much rather be working with animals than placing bets on them. I hate my job, but so far haven't been successful finding something else.

I admire you for being a vegan. I feel guilty when I eat meat, poultry, or fish, but apparently not guilty enough to stop eating it! I believe it requires self-discipline and strong motivation to make such a big commitment to change, and those qualities are pretty much in short supply for me these days.

Well, Herb, that's me in a nutshell. I look forward to seeing you again on some of the forums. Tell your BF to be brave. ;-))

Sharon

Hi!
I feel weird outing my real life online, but since probably nobody is reading over my shoulder or caring anyway, I work at North Center Animal Hospital, at Addison & Lincoln. I actually turned down a job at AC&C because even though I really wanted to stay in the shelter/rescue "industry", they didn't respond to my application until after I'd started my current job, which is really close to my house (I walk to work!), lets me work a 4 day week, and has really nice coworkers, so, given the long commute and bad hours etc, I stayed where I was. I kind of feel guilty for not volunteering anywhere at the moment, but I think I'm busy enough that if I put anything else on my plate right now I'd get burned out and exhausted. :-

It does take motivation to go vegetarian or vegan, but I can definitely say that it's much more intimidating and scary and difficult-seeming to think about before you decide to do it, than it turns out to be once you've given it a try. Once you've gotten up the wherewithal to make the commitment, it's surprisingly not that big a deal (at least that was my experience, but I was lucky to live in a very liberal/progressive veg-friendly area and know a lot of vegans who could share recipes, etc - it would've been way harder in South Dakota or something! I can't even imagine!) Also, it's not necessarily all or nothing - you can just cut back on animal products and avoid them for one meal a day, or one day a week, or one day a year, or you can cut out one specific product, and if you start really feeling comfortable in that, you can expand..... The less of your animal-lovin' money gets funneled back into those industries, the better, but I fully realize that it's just not possible to leap in headfirst for a lot of people. You need to feel like there will still be something for you to eat, and you need to have moral support. I know there were previous times in my life when I simply wouldn't've been able to do it (obviously, because I didn't, even though I too used to "feel guilty" yet keep on doing it). I am so NOT trying to pressure you or be creepy missionary girl here, but if you're "veg-curious", you should check out the Chicago Vegan Meetup at http://vegan.meetup.com/11/. It's a group from the whole Chicago area that meets up the first Saturday of every month at a different restaurant just to eat. We don't have speakers talking about gruesome cruelty cases or anything, it's pretty much just all about the food - LOL! (We like to eat!) Not everyone who comes is vegan, but all are open to trying vegan food at various Chicagoland restaurants. I can't always make it because I sometimes have to work Saturdays, but if anyone reading this ever decides to put in an appearance, lemme know and I'll make a point to look for you. :) (Also I'll make sure none of the mean people give you any crap - most of us are nice friendly individuals who don't go out of our way to make anyone feel bad for their choice to continue to eat meat, but you know every group has its crazies...)

I'm glad someone finally wrote me back! I was wondering if I scared people away by being vegan, or if I scared people away by writing such a long post..... :p

Welcome herbivore74!

I don't check out this "Welcome Mat" forum very often, but thought I would pop in this morning! I've seen you post recently on the African Violet/Gesneriad Forum, which is one of my favorites! The AV and the Houseplant forums are where I hang out the most!

I'm sure you will fit in nicely on any forum you choose to visit here, and there are a lot of them to check out. If you are crafty, there's even a forum for that. Also, check out the trash to treasure forum when you get a chance ... there have been some crafty folks on that forum too, turning trash into treasures! I saw something recently on that forum that I'm going to try. Some have taken old used bowling balls and glued on mirror chips, mosaic tile, decoupage flower prints, and turned bowling balls into yard art! Some are really Beautiful!

I'm sure, being an animal lover and a Vet Tech that you've visited the Pet forum already! I stop in there on ocassion to lurk and read the posts. My husband and I are both animal lovers too and currently have 4 cats in the household. We haven't had a dog in years and miss having one in the family. As soon as some of our old "girls" are gone to kitty heaven we plan on adopting another dog. We had 5 cats until about 4 years ago, two have since passed. But, we seem to inherit cats. We currently have one that is very old, not sure of her exact age. It's a cat that belonged to my Mother In law. We inherited her about 10 or 11 years ago when my MIL moved into assisted living. MIL passed away 3 years ago and no one in the family can remember when she got the cat. I haven't worked in 15 years and I know she had this cat when I was working. Then my own Mom passed almost 3 years ago too, and we inherited her cat. My sisters wanted to take her but Mom made me promise since we have a cat only family and her cat had never been around dogs. My oldest sister and her husband have a pure bred yellow lab, a black lab/rottie mix and their son's pure bred English Mastiff. So, it wouldn't have been a good idea for "Princess" to move in to that family. My youngest sister has a pure bred Golden Retriever, a pure bred English Springer Spaniel and two cats. We grew up with cats and dogs. It has always bothered me that some people "have" pets but really just treat them as property. To us, our pets are members of the family! We had a cat that lived to be very old, had to have her euthanized 2 months before her 24th birthday!

Well, I am rambling here .... see there are a few of us who are long winded!

Again, Welcome! You will love this Garden! There are so many kind and generous folks here on DG, always willing to share their knowledge and, especially their plants!

:) You didn't scare anyone away with your long post, I just don't think this forum gets much activity! Some may not even know it's here!

Have a great day, and I'll see you around the Garden!

Lin

Hi! Well, you obviously take fabulous care of your 4-legged family members, for your kitty to reach nearly 24. We had high hopes for our beautiful Ashley to make it to the 20 year mark, but she suddenly developed extremely aggressive liver cancer, and was gone only 3 days after showing symptoms. So sad. My boyfriend had had her since she was a tiny kitten and they'd been through so much together.

This forum is so much HUGER than the one I moderate at! It's kind of overwhelming/intimidating to see so many posts and so many users. But I think I'm starting to narrow down to a few favorite areas, and I'm noticing a community of really smart funny regular users (present company included!). I do like it here already! :)

Hi again! I haven't had a lot of on-line time the past two days but am finally getting a chance to catch up! My husband and I are both animal lovers. Our cat that lived to be almost 24 was a rescue! I happened to be coming home from the store one day and driving up into the parking lot of our Apartment building I saw a lady in the building next door, shooing this little kitten off the stairway of her apartment. I immediately went over and asked who's kitten it was and she said it was a stray and she didn't want it around! I took her and the vet estimated her as a young kitten @ 6 weeks old. I checked around the neighborhood and no one would claim her much to my delight! She began her life as an indoor/outdoor cat, ate generic grocery store cat food and people food and even canned people tuna! I guess with that said, we are lucky she lived such a long life. She became a total indoor cat at the age of 19. The four cats in the family now are strictly indoor! They have all been declawed (front) which I still don't totally agree with, but the only outside they know is the screened pool enclosure that runs the length of the back of the house. Two of the four spend a lot of time out there. They just spend lazy days out there watching the birds and squirrels through the screen. We don't let them stay out there at night because there are a couple of cats in the neighborhood that come into the yard and I'm afraid one of ours might go through the screen. We had a problem a few years ago with one of our cats fighting with a neighborhood cat.

Anyhow, we are strictly a cat family for the time being. And, my husband has a 150 gallon marine (salt water) aquarium. We will adopt another dog someday as we both miss having a dog in the family.

Well, gotta run some errands this afternoon so I better get off the computer and get it done!

Have a great day and again, Welcome to DG!

Saltwater tanks are too scary for me - I've heard so many horror stories of having to get everything JUST RIGHT or else all your fish dying. I had a small freshwater tropical tank that I inherited from someone for a while, and it was much more interesting than I thought it would be to look after the fish. They actually do have little fishy personalities. :)

Thanks for the kind welcomes!

a belated welcome from upstate new york.

From one herbi to another! :D

I used to live in central/upstate NY (Ithaca). BEAUTIFUL, and I would move back in a second.

and we would welcome you back in a second.

Hello welcome. nice to have you join Dave's..