Ringling brothers shutting down

Hopefully the elephants will be treated to a well deserved retirement.

2seaoat wrote:Hopefully the elephants will be treated to a well deserved retirement.

You might want to read the story. The elephants have been gone since 2015.

Oh, and you'll be happy to know it's also reported the elephants were sent "out to pasture" in Central Florida at the time.

Good.

Horrible, Tel.

And yet I continue to eat animals -- poultry, fish, some beef. Don't you? It all often entails some pretty horrific treatment of the creatures.

Am just saying that, sadly, few of us are lily white -- if only by secondary association in creating a market-- when it comes to cruelty to animals. Know what I mean?

RealLindaL wrote:Horrible, Tel.  

And yet I continue to eat animals -- poultry, fish, some beef.  Don't you?   It all often entails some pretty horrific treatment of the creatures.

Am just saying that, sadly, few of us are lily white -- if only by secondary association in creating a market-- when it comes to cruelty to animals.  Know what I mean?

So do I but I often wonder if animals will treat humans the same if they develop the power of speech. During the days of slavery the babies were often used as alligator bait, mostly in Florida and Louisiana. Man will always be the true savage beast.

Couldn't watch the grisly UTube but regarding the Ringling Brothers and my own career as an Engineer: I was on a train in Evansville, IN and transporting it from one end of the city to the other. We were passing a main crossing when the train went into "emergency". After coming to a stop we realized one of the cars had derailed and it was the car with elephants . . . . the wrecking crew arrived and after a couple failed attempts to rerail the car the supervisor requested the circus wranglers come to the scene to remove the elephants which they did. They were unloaded on Church Street adjacent our central office building (a coincidence) taking an immense amount of weight off the derailed set of wheels. We were able to pull it back on the track and, after getting our behemoths safely loaded, proceed. This was in the late 60's as I recall.

Cool story. My grandfather used to take me to the Birmingham yard when they still had the old steam engines. I remember him letting me on one as he blew the whistle and went about a hundred yards. I was in kid heaven. He would tell me stories about having to walk in front of the train when crossing a flooded river where the water had covered the tressle. He would tell horrible stories of awful accidents to my mother and aunt which I would over hear. There were few controlled intersections with safety gates.

The family scandal was the wayward engineer. My mother who was the middle child and was quite rebellious always resented her father because she found out in high school that he had a second family in Atlanta where he would regularly travel, and spend the night and then return. Apparently for years he was living in sin with another woman, and there was a child which my grandfather swore was not his, but my mother loved her dad, but hated him for this. My grandmother who was the perfect Baptist sunday school teacher was terrified her neighbors and fellow church members would find out about the scandal. Well as soon as my mother could, she left Birmingham for art school in Chicago, but she was still angry until he passed, and then he became a saint in her eyes........you railroad guys were scallywags.

I love animals... they're delicious... lol. So meh on the eating of animals... we're omnivores. I highly recommend buying your meat and eggs from local farms however. It's more expensive... but unless you're raising them yourselves it can't be beat. The animals can be inspected... they range and graze... they see a vet. The taste is beyond compare. I also hunt and fish and have a pretty good garden every year. It's more trouble and as I said more expensive... but it's worth it.

2seaoat wrote:Cool story.  My grandfather used to take me to the Birmingham yard when they still had the old steam engines.  I remember him letting me on one as he blew the whistle and went about a hundred yards.  I was in kid heaven.  He would tell me stories about having to walk in front of the train when crossing a flooded river where the water had covered the tressle.  He would tell horrible stories of awful accidents to my mother and aunt which I would over hear.   There were few controlled intersections with safety gates.

The family scandal was the wayward engineer.   My mother who was the middle child and was quite rebellious always resented her father because she found out in high school that he had a second family in Atlanta where he would regularly travel, and spend the night and then return.  Apparently for years he was living in sin with another woman, and there was a child which my grandfather swore was not his, but my mother loved her dad, but hated him for this.  My grandmother who was the perfect Baptist sunday school teacher was terrified her neighbors and fellow church members would find out about the scandal.  Well as soon as my mother could, she left Birmingham for art school in Chicago, but she was still angry until he passed, and then he became a saint in her eyes........you railroad guys were scallywags.

Agree Mr. Oats many a scallawag there for sure. I was single until I was 47 and had biblical freedom of sorts but nevertheless I also had friends who had a separate clandestine family at the away from terminal. I am not defending the practice at all however. Concerning kids and trains and your own memories I can attest to the simple pleasure waving back to kids from the cab and when possible I invited a Dad with a wide eyed child aboard where I would sit him/her in my lap and let them ring the bell and blow the horn . . . . . so little effort on my part to receive such happy smiles and give them a memory.