Velo Vol 

Speaking of Strava, the 24-hour rider, who I've tried to recruit to post here, posts there he's attempting another epic ride this weekend.

Stay tuned.

Scarbo

I grew up on a small cattle ranch in southern California. Growing up, of course we loved our animals; but when it was time it was time and if necessary we'd hasten them along. It simply was not an option to be spending thousands of dollars on vet bills for our personal animals.

My favorite trail horse when I was a boy was this Appaloosa/Quarter Horse mix--incredibly smart horse who, although he could resort to his horsey shenanigans from time to time, didn't have a malicious bone in his body. In fact, I owe my life to his good sense (another story). Well, he contracted a bad disease called, navicular that was slowly serving to cripple him over time. My dad had tried to save him by cutting the large nerve that ran down his right leg, which worked to give my horse about 3 more decent years of life. But, then the day came. It was extremely painful. My dad pulled one of his pistols and asked me to accompany him to the far reaches of one of our pastures. After I haltered my dear horse and kept him steady, I watched as dad put him down with one .40 cal to the head. It was time and it was the only thing to do at that point.

seedsbelize 

I'm off, at an even 100°A.

sbxx1985 

Good god. I'm thankful I didn't grow up on a small cattle ranch in CA.

sbxx1985 

Watching both my labs die by lethal injection in my living room is probably the same thing I suppose, minus the pistol.

Velo Vol 

Depressing thread is depressing.

Velo Vol 

The only cheery thing here has been @seedsbelize's temperature updates.

rpenmanparker 

We have been through this already. Sad, not depressing. I find Scarbo's post uplifting, not depressing. But it is sad.

Scarbo

Oh, don't think that. Really, I led an idyllic childhood, full of freedoms and experiences that most kids my age could only dream about; or, be completely ignorant of. And, all this, despite having to follow all of my dad's many "rules." lol

Scarbo

Thank you. I didn't mean for this to be depressing at all. There was no cruelty in what my dad did--on the contrary; he loved that animal as much as I did.

sbxx1985 

Totally. You should buy that Time and it will improve the mood. Your Trek is ready to be Bike 2.

WhyFi

Lol.

That reminds me of a PBS show, I think that it was called Frontier House, where they made people/families live as if they were on the frontier in the 1800s. One of the last shows of the season was a celebratory feast, and they had to slaughter some of their stock for the meal. One family in particular had grown fond of their pig, even giving it a name (DON'T name your food, people). The kids and mom were broken up, so the task fell to dad. Dad was having a hard time with it, too, but the part that was messed up was that he readied his rifle, called the pig over by name ("come here, Joseph..."), and shot it when when it came happily trotting under his sights. Soooo wrong.

rpenmanparker 

I was elected to take our most beloved cocker to be put down. It was just a job that the daddy had to do. I loved that dog. She was the best there ever was. That was nearly 20 years ago and friends who kept her for us when we were traveling still talk about how much they loved having her. But it had to be done. Not depressing to do what has to be done. Just sad.

sbxx1985 

ESPN spelled misdemeanor wrong in their Joe Mixon slide. Funny stuff.

rpenmanparker 

First things first. A pig named Joseph? Now that is wrong.

sbxx1985 

That's terrible.

WhyFi

It may not have been Joseph, but it was something along those lines. It was a good show and I never did watch the following season, so maybe I'll look in to it. The following season, not the pig's name.

rpenmanparker 

Perhaps it was Bruce. That would be a good name for a pig.

rpenmanparker 

What is a Joe Mixon?

WhyFi

I actually found the clip. He says, "Jo Jo, come here." so I maybe I was right.

rpenmanparker 

Best thing about that name is it's unisex. Perfect.

WhyFi

Enough about the Mixon slide - I wanna know how far Mixon will slide.

Dan333SP

Oh snap a buddy invited me to a bike weekend at a cabin near the blue ridge. It'd be like 6 cat 1s/2s... and me. In the mountains. Dan Getting Dropped '17

Bah Humbug

So... Trubisky is the next Ryan Leaf?

sbxx1985 

Bears trade maybe. Ballsy pick.