By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
Could even be the mom was a Doberman Mix, if so then Tank is only 1/4 Doberman.
Bob: he doesn't purr like Hadji did.
Hah - Max; what a fun dog.
Actually, he had a sister, but she was bigger and her coat was more red/brown. Go figure.
She was happy and active literally to the day she died, and even that day she went on her own terms. :shades:
tom
Our yellow lab, now 3 years old, is starting to settle down and become a good family member. I sometimes take her to watch my daughter's High School marching band practices, and she can sit in the van, doors open, and stay put when I walk away! Amazing!
really is ecstatic about it!
32083 - Serge, looks like a great time! I imagine Michael really appreciates your
support and the time you spend with him.
32083 - Great photo Serge, everyone's color coordinated. Sounds like you guys had fun.
Bob
Energetic - yes, in fact that's why they gave him up. We have kids and a more active household so he was a better fit for our family. They were having to crate him during work hours, and he was chasing/terrorizing their cats when he wasn't crated!
He's extremely intelligent and surprisingly well potty trained. He's not much of a long distance walker but we're working on that. We have to train him not to jump on people when he greets them, but he loves company and won't even eat when he's alone.
This one is very much a dog - barks a lot, strong, full of personality.
Once he grows out of the puppy phase, we all think he'll be a fantastic pet. He's already getting there. :shades:
He had a fight with himself in the mirror the other day. LOL
He also stretches out from head to tail, it's hilarious. He must be 5 feet long when he does that.
When we adopted Ashley we didn't have to go, but they still did a home visit.
Now they require a home visit, proof of spay/neuter, chip ID, and obedience training. Our friends (the original owners) did the neutering and the chip, so we just had to re-register the chip and show receipts for the neutering.
Our shelter no longer allows people to browse the puppies. They require the adoption formalities first and then they can see the animals. Too many puppies bouncing back after they ceased to be cute and cuddly.
Many shelters require some sort of owner training when taking on an adoption. The only exceptions seem to be older dogs that are already pretty mellow or those already trained.
Fingerprinting, criminal records, good citizenship letters from the police department, letters of reference from employers, church, civic organizations & friends, financial disclosures, age and health certification, residency requirements, home studies before and at least two after, etc.
Of course, the requirements vary by State, adoption agency, and where the child is coming from, but the whole process is downright insulting.... Yet teenagers jump into the sack on a regular basis & produce offspring, and nobody would dare question their ability to raise them....
A friend recently told me about the State of Alaska process for becoming a foster parent and what goes along with that. I now have no doubts as to why my brother's experiences as a teen were so terrible. The process, with all its "safeguards," ensures to eliminate everything that is truly necessary to raise a child and turns them instead into objects of burden.
Well it's my one politically INCORRECT indugence that I wish we were all reversibly sterilized at birth and then had to pass various similar tests to have it reversed and be allowed to breed.
I'm sorry to hear that this topic hits you & your family so close to home. While I recognize that these rules are intended to protect the child, they can be taken to such extremes that they ultimately hurt those they are designed to help.
Long story short, we initially attempted (early 90's) to foster with the intent to adopt if the child was legally relinquished. Our request was turned down. Why? Well, we are white and Jewish, while most kids in the system are black/hispanic and Christian. To us, that made no difference. Diversity is really kind of cool. To the family court in NYS it was unacceptable. They would allow one mismatch, but not two! So if we changed the color of our skin, or our faith, we'd qualify....
Fortunately, many of those old statutes have fallen over the years, but I'm told that it is still not easy to do. Net, we decided to go overseas to build our dream family.
Unfortunately, you know that would just lead to subjective selections on who is "fit" to breed, etc., which is a terribly slippery slope to traverse.
As for your situation, I am glad there was an outlet to allow you to move your dream forward. It is insulting that anyone should decide your fitness/worth based on criteria such as those.
Once again I'm at the end of my Tribeca lease. I have an Outback on order. I planned to buy this car as leases are getting more expensive. I am concerned about the "shakes".
Does anybody know if production line fixes have been put into place?
My dealer's service dept. is exceptional, so no problem there, but should I even take a chance and risk going through the "fix" process?
Thanks
Charlie
On the theme of Adoption/Fostering and Dogs, I think we have a weirder story.
We have wonderful caring friends in England who dearly wanted children and were, at least to outsiders, very suitable - caring and loving, wealthy home owning professionals, happily married and indulgent of children (our kids were always spoilt like royalty). They also own a black labrador called William who likes to doze on his back on the sofa with all four paws (and male appendage, always discrete) in the air. It is the sort of house where kids or dogs doing inappropriate things with expensive and tasteful furnishings are indulged. They think that kids leaping off the sofa or the curtain rails need encouragement and cushions for a soft landing
Unfortunately a Social Worker interviewing them found William's pose (on back with all bits pointing upward) disconcerting, asking why he was doing it. The answer "Because he is a dog!" was apparently aberrant.Scratched as potential adoptive parents!
Some years later and through another agency, they are the happy parents of two very fortunate and wildly indulged kids.
William is still dozing on his back.
Cheers
Graham
We heard of one couple that was asked what their typical dinner meals consisted of. The social worker then inventoried their pantry and refrigerator to see if the items they stocked supported their claim of the meals they ate! Luckily they had a decent supply on hand, including some fresh vegetables. I guess they would have remained childless had the fridge only been filled with beer!!
Bob
None of the car mags have mentioned it, just some owners.
Bob
Fully agreed, and the reason it's only a fantasy indulgence. I would fight wholeheartedly against it in the real world. Any step towards the Brave New World should be avoided.
Recent studies suggest 20-25% of prison populations are FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder). Imagine what could be gained for the sufferers and society by eliminating that affliction.
The most ironic part was that although Georgia is desperately short of Foster families period and good foster families especially, my sister had to take the initiative and make countless follow-up phone calls and trips to the local office to ensure that their application didn't end up languishing in someone’s inbox (or file 13) indefinitely. My hat’s off to them for persevering and there's no doubt that they've made a huge difference in the young lives of numerous children (they normally only take infants). They wanted to adopt several of the kids but of course that was unacceptable since the foster kids were all most always minorities.
Our court system believes that a kid is better off with either an ex-con / drug addict single parent or a distant relative who has never even seen the kid, than with a stable family of a different race (who have already raised the kid from new-born to 2-year old). Go figure :confuse:
-Frank
I agree , I believe it's a small percentage. There is also a problem with the Continental tires, which clouds the issue.
I picked up my Outback yesterday - 3.6R LTD. Silver steel metalic, However, I leased again. The fact that the Outback is still a bit de-contented along with the "shaker" issue influenced my decision to lease. In three years if my fiscal health allows - I'll revisit purchasing.
- The steering in the Outback is hard. I thought it was only mine, after so many web induced preconceptions. This steering is never going to have a shaking issue this hard. It looks like Subaru, concerned after the shake complains worked it that way to avoid the noise. After 1 week, I even had to go to the dealer to try another one, but is the same. So no worries about shaking, but coming from the Tribeca you will feel like in the new car no sporting steering (direction wise) will be found. To be more precise, the Tribeca is a marvel when you address the highway curves. You feel you can take any curve over 100 mph. Forget about that in the Outback. Car and Driver refer to it when the first reviewed the car, to use their words: Artificially heavy steering just off-center.
- The pump trips will make you happy. I have been averaging 25.2 mpg in 60% highway. That is more than 460 miles per tank, that in my case is over 6 days between fill ups. The Tribeca was 19.5 mpg, or 300 per fill up (4 days). Maybe for some people the act of filling the car is smooth, but in Minnesota, those 13 to 14 more fill ups per winter are good to avoid. They wear you down.
- I paid Subaru VIP, that is, invoice.
- Inside the main difference again the OB are the sound system (I had the premium sound before) and the automatic passenger seat (OB is manual).
- In favor of the OB, the back seat is easier to in & out. I like the wireless link mirror (the OB had the link on the visor). Also, the OB came with the rubber tray in the back. I use the parking brake a lot, and it takes to get use to the new, electronic one (nothing to be concerned other than no one but you knows where it is, so explain to wife or friends when you lend it).
- The Tribeca never gave me issues with the transmission, but I am amaze at the easyness of the CVT. Of course the car is slower (from 0-60), but in highway I go 50-80 quick enough as to be afraid of cops.
- My estimated costs are going to be down at least by $700 a year, because uses less fuel and oil. Marginally, the 17 tires will be at least $300 cheaper when time to change comes. Also the resale can be easier and maybe better residual.
- I plan to keep the car six years. My biggest gripe is the fact that the original hitch (to be used just to carry bikes) is close to $600 installed. I still have months to decide.
All in all, is my 4th Subaru, and I am happy with it. Is a notch down in my own personal preference to the Tribeca, but I couldn't keep it for personal (marriage) issues.
I will also publish this in the OB forum.
I had leased 2 Tribecas - I did not want to lease or buy the same car without updates for more money. I also needed to get better mileage.
They had to do a RFB on the Outback - It drives great now - at the last minute I switched the purchase to a lease.
I'll post in a couple of weeks after I live with it for a while, but I would say compared to the Tribeca the 3.6R Outback had a "5 hour energy drink"
Bob
I plowed my road for the first time on Saturday! Yeah, it was only about 6" of snow, but it served for a good test run since that was my first go at plowing (ever) and the first run for the truck after all the work I did over the last couple months. I ended up having to clear up several hiccups (including a non-operational oil pump!) with the engine and the transmission, but the engine is running great now and the tranny is doing well enough to get the job done, though I think a rebuild is in the not-so-distant future. I think the gears are fine, but clutch packs, maybe seals, are close to shot (perhaps it is just the torque converter?). It seems to do the job fine when I put the transfer case in low range, but doesn't have much power in high range.
I was very excited about it, but my wife was less enthusiastic even though she was willing to "tolerate" the whole thing. She changed her tune a little when a neighbor stopped by a couple hours after the plowing and gave us a bag full of various meats from the pigs they butchered earlier this summer! Hah! That was probably $15-20 worth of meat from the store, so hey, it more than covered (about double) the fuel I used to plow that day. I'm thinking about offering up driveway plowing services to the folks in my neighborhood.
My leg is getting better. I tore the Soleus muscle (on the "inside" of my right calf) quite a bit; the doctor said there was nothing to be done. Now that the swelling has *mostly* subsided, the deformity looks rather intense. I am gaining some strength back and have stretched/exercised it enough that I can walk normally, even run for a little while, but doing a "calf raise" with that leg is really difficult. I can do about two sets of ten on my stairs before my leg screams for mercy and literally can't lift me up any more. In contrast, after doing that many with my left leg it says, "So, were you going to exercise me or what?!"
:sick:
I'm not really sure what to think about my legs talking to me, but I suspect that if I seek treatment, I'm just going to be told, "there's nothing to be done."
The Outback feels very light on its feet. Very different from the Tribeca. I need a while to get used to the way it drives
I would suggest you get PT and remember that scar tissue will not be as strong as the muscle fibers you tore, so definitely avoid too much instantaneous stress! (umm, like how you injured it in the first place) Hopefully, the muscle will heal. . . somewhat.
I'm sure you'll be up with the use of your leg soon enough.
Hmm, plow a couple more driveways and you'll have Thanksgiving dinner!!
Good luck Wes
tom