Thanks for the support, Ravyn, would have replied before now, but this forum keeps locking up on me (anyone else get that?). Y'know, the very suggestion of working with kids made me shudder, so I guess I've come to terms with my 'choice' more than I knew...lol.
LOVED that letter to pets above, especially after spending a night with Cain my half-a-lab stretched out on the bed next to me - gawd knows what he ate that he shouldn't have yesterday, but the noises coming from his tummy kept me awake half the night!
If anyone is interested, there are pics of all my animals (including the chickens) on my blog at
http://spaces/msn.com/members/darkginger (exotic ale, eh? sounds good!)
Oh gawd, Sinbad the cat just jumped on me - needs refuelling again, no doubt, so will get off here and open a tin or something...
Jo