Hey 'Dolf - I fired a shotgun the 1st time when I was about 9.It belonged to my Step-brother who was about 17 years old. He supervised me. You said "horse kick;" - I agree wholeheartedly! Now that I shoot the shotgun regularly (Old West shooting competitions) I can shoot both barrels at the same time - ONE handed (there ARE a few advantages to being a large individual) - but only for "show." I don't do it often. Nor do I shoot hunting or Magnum loads that way. Nope!

I'm with you about reptiles in general. When my Son moved out on his own he had a large lizard and later kept a boa constrictor for a friend - for a couple years - and I have handled the snake, but not much. As for those who collect tarantulas or other vermin ... nope - I don't go near them. Heck, I try to kill or get rid of any I find in my house ... why would I keep one as a "pet?"! I have a dog and I have a cat. THOSE are pets. Parakeets & Myna birds are pets (sorta) but not spiders or lizards or ... whatever.

I do love watching a lot of the BBC nature programs (especially about the Meerkats) but that's about all the wildlife adventures I can have. Although I shoot (a LOT) I don't hunt. I have - once - but no more. Enough about critters ...

Take care, amigo! Back to our regularly scheduled program about F-14s, Japanese Zeros, and F-14s & Zeros used for hunting snakes, saurians, & reptiles ... oh wait! Just the movie aircraft. LoL!

Jeff (@mikegolf)

We don't have that shotgun anymore. My father was sick for a few years, before he passed away less than 2 months ago, so my mother didn't want to keep it, and we handed it over to the authorities, so they would destroy it I think.

I felt sorry, but there was nothing I could do about it. For having it, I would need to get a permit, pay every year a licence, money, money, money... which I can't afford...

I think it was a Sauer & Sohn, but I know nothing about shotguns.
You probably will be able to know more from the following pics I took just before we handed it over.

Definitely agree with you, dogs and cats and even some birds, are pets. I've always had these as friends, since I was born (my dad would hunt, back in Africa, but no longer since we came here in 75, so we always had hunting dogs, and cats at home), as an adult since I left my parents home, I've always had cats. It was quite painful when the last one I had (I helped her mother to give birth to her, so I had her since the moment she was born!) passed away with kidney failure, at the age of 16, and I swore never to have cats again!
But some 11 years ago, as I was breeding some Psittacine birds species, a friend gave me a small female dog (mix between a Yorkshire Terrier and something else), that, according to him would be then 2 years old. Well, in 2019 she was diagnosed with visceral Leishmaniasis. It was a fight that last until last year, when she passed away! Now I only have my last dog, a white medium size female German Spitz (the one on my avatar 🙂 ), that I got when she was 3 months old. Since then we are together 24h/day, 365 days/year... She will be 6 next January, so she is still young, as their life span can go up to 15-16 years. She will be my last animal friend, no more suffering, no more pain...

Now, spiders are really my greatest terror! I guess I can say I have a serious arachnophobia problem!
Even the smallest, tiniest ones... lol...

I touched a snake once, on a Animals Exposition, but I must admit I don't like it, it's not like to caress a dog, or a cat, or even a bird... lol...

Hey, suppose we are in a way hijacking Chuck's thread, and I apologize for that...

We should call it a end here...

PM me if you want to, or have more to add to the pets we like, vs reptiles, spiders and all that creepy stuff...

Cheers!

Dolf

It's all good, I love it. It's not always about model building. Stuff like this makes us who we are and how we are today. Seeing images from the past, is the history of our lives. I totally welcome it. Though I may not comment I do enjoy the heartfelt stories of our families, the love of our pets. And what we don't like as well. So feel free to share. I had a Spitzer in my teens, love that dog. Cats love them as well. Over the years I have had some real characters that makes me wonder at times that cats aren't just furballs with sharp claws and attitude. Now I have my little Chloe, a rambunctious little Chihuahua that is such a joy to have. And I am more of a medium sized to large dog lover but she won my heart. So guys feel free to share. And thanks for sharing in advance. God Bless

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

A cautionary tail...

Well Chuck, you asked for it. My train to work has been cancelled this morning so I’ll share a story. Those of a queasy disposition should look away now...

When I was 10 years old, or thereabouts, I had a pet tortoise. His (or her, never did know) name was Speedy (I was ten, it seemed funny at the time) and I really liked the little thing. I even painted his (or her) name on its back. Our neighbourhood was pretty rough and there was a ‘traveling’ family the next street up who were one step away from feral. One kid in this family was a couple of years older than me and one fine day decided to nail my tortoise to a plank of wood. Of course the reptile died; don’t know how long that actually took, but it probably wasn’t quick.

Now, when I was ten or eleven years old, I wasn’t far off 6 foot tall. I used to go to bed at night praying to stop growing (I more or less did, in the end), but that’s another story. I tracked this kid down, threw him off the roof of a neighbours garage (where he’d tried to hide) and then proceeded to to beat him to a pulp. Really badly, apparently. So bad that the ‘authorities’ decided I needed to see a psychologist (the irony...).

Anyway, fast forward to 2018 and we have a pet tortoise that I really don’t like and I’m always trying to get my wife to offload him (apparently this one IS a male) to a local petting zoo or something similar.

I guess that psychologist was right, it wasn’t about the tortoise after all.

Chuck, you’re right, it’s good to share.

Chuck (@uscusn)

That is a lovely Chihuahua! Thanks a lot for sharing!
One can say, by her smiles and happiness in her eyes, that little Chloe is loved, and so she loves you at least as much in return. I love to see our best friends happy, it makes me happy too.

Cheers!

Dolf

David (@dirtylittlefokker)

Tortoise are only reptiles because they are included in the "Reptilia" Class.

But of a Order, Suborder, Superfamily, Family and Type Species not really reptilian.
I like tortoises, because I don't see them as pure reptiles.
Had one as a kid. They are not the brightest nor the fastest animal around, but in general they are not mean (except maybe for a certain type of "terrapin" that will bite and even eat your toes or fingers if it crosses your way you under water!) .

Cheers!

Dolf

Edit: btw, those dangerous turtles are the Snapping Turtles "Chelydra serpentina and Macrochelys temminckii), who live on freshwater (lakes, rivers).
As far as I know these are the only dangerous turtles there is.

Dolf, I’m going to ‘out’ you - you’re a ribbit counter!

Yeah, I know, when it comes to genus, I don’t know my ranas from my elbow, but I do love a little pun.

Rivet counter...

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Plastica
Genus: Minutia
Species: Detailus obsessiva