MysticExotics
(formerly NWHeather)
I don't think either of those two would be missed much. I don't know that I have ever looked at either of them, Rich.
I find myself straying away because of facebook seems like its the instant gratification over the hunt that tempted me away. Back to the forum it is. So many more people involved here that stay under the social radar.
Well, I am looking at doing a server migration right now. Doesn't make sense for me to continue paying for two servers any longer. So I took a look at the stats here. Only 11 posts made in the past 24 hours. Tsk, tsk... And there are only 18 remaining Contributor level members, and only 4 with personal forums. If this site were on it's own server, there would be no question about it going away. But sharing space with FaunaClassifieds on the server helps to keep this site at least looking like it is operating in the black. Especially with me dropping the expense of one server real soon.
I had a couple of people contribute rather recently, so I guess I'm committed to keeping the site running for at least one year from the last contribution. At that time (which will roughly be August 1 of next year) I will re-evaluate things, and see how the disk space and server loading in the new server is holding up, and decide what to do at that time. If server stats look OK, then no problem, I don't mind keeping this site running for the few people who still stop in here. But if I decide that dropping this site is prudent and reasonable, as it will begin costing me money to keep it running, the first thing I will do is to disable the contributor member payment option. Then the countdown starts for 1 year from the last payment received.
I am already dropping one of my other sites, which helped keep this site still on the table. That other site never went anywhere, and really just taking up what valuable server real estate needlessly. So the belt tightening is starting, I guess.
I am sorry I have not been able to keep this site interesting enough for you all since I retired from the business. I had hoped it had enough critical mass with the membership level we had at that time to continue, regardless, but looks like I was wrong.
I would just like to say this site is interesting too mee and i would love tobe able to afford to put an advert on the fauna classifields, but with having my own site to pay for and all my reptiles, at this momment i cannot afford extra outgoings, im sure you will understand as your having the same problem with affording 2 servers.... how come you retired from the business if you dont mind me asking is it down to old age or lack of intresst...
(I hope this site stays i wish i could contribute!!!)
Well, I guess the best way to describe the reason I decided to retire was because I didn't want to die before giving retirement a try. And I didn't want that to happen to Connie neither. We went many years without a vacation that was more that 2 days. Sick? Too bad, work needed to be done. I can remember going into the hospital with appendicitis during egg laying season and Connie had to leave me at the hospital so she could harvest eggs before they dried up. That was a wake up call to me. But I think I talked about this all at length in this thread if you are interested -> http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83979
I guess I still miss hatching season. That was always an exciting time of the year, albeit a backbreaking time. I can remember night after night standing at the work counter feeding as many baby snakes as I could before my back, legs, and feet would ache so bad that it brought tears to my eyes. But I just couldn't stop. Math was the killer. I had to take the total number of babies I had to feed, divided that by the number of days I needed in the schedule to feed them, and hoped I could pull enough 1 day old pinky mice out of the mouse building every night in order to meet the quota. Getting them onto frozen thawed was a VERY high priority. One year I produced 8,000 babies and I'll be honest, I almost did an emergency retirement that year. I have never had a nervous breakdown, but I do remember one day very clearly where the thought of just opening the door to the reptile building and go running out into the woods screaming seemed almost overwhelmingly attractive to me. That is when I decided to get some Valium and keep it in the den desk drawer. A quarter of a tablet was usually enough to keep me from the running and screaming stage.
Honestly, I am relieved to not have the pressure of live animals wanting to die unless Connie and I dedicated our lives to keep that from happening. And in the meantime, we have had time for family and friends, and they all got used to that. People just stopped inviting us to parties, because they knew we were too busy to attend. So now much of our family has passed away and friends have scattered to the winds. Sometimes I do have to wonder if it really was all worth it. I lost a lot of my life working with reptiles, and Connie followed along with me because, well, she is the most loyal person I have ever met. She would honestly and truly follow me directly into Hell if I decided that is where I wanted to go. I really could not put her through what she was doing to try to keep me from killing myself any longer.
I still have nightmares where I will walk into the reptile building and discover a door to a room I had forgotten about. And when I walk into that room, it is filled with cages of dead snakes that I had simply forgotten about and they all died from neglect. That gives me cold sweats just thinking about the dream.
Well, heck, if you didn't resurrect old posts here, probably wouldn't be much to talk about, now would it? I guess it beats saying nothing at all.
Rich Z;1727767I still have nightmares where I will walk into the reptile building and discover a door to a room I had forgotten about. And when I walk into that room said:Rich, a couple years ago I walked into my reptile room just to find my breaker had tripped and shut off power to the whole room. I lost everything, I was absolutely destroyed, that's why I haven't been back on here or fauna till now, I didn't think I would ever keep snakes again. Honestly (no sucking up here I swear) If it wasn't for you and this wonderful community I wouldn't be starting my collection again. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.